Using Primary Keys in php/mysql

[OmniX]

Im trying to figure out a way to access a row I 'just created' via the primary key.

As it being a primary key it is auto incremented.

I am using php/mysql to create the row then I require to access that same row (via the primary key) to be able to do the required adjustments.

So any ideas?

Thanks, Regards X

Entries in a database are not supposed to be identifiable by their row position. You identify it by a field in the row.

Please show us your code to generate the tables and the insertion.

[OmniX]

Theres 500 lines worth, so I wont be spamming the forums. In short I just need some sort of concept or idea that allows you to access a row not based on the Primary Key. Eg:

SELECT * FROM WHERE pk = "1";

Now what could you use instead of that pk?

I was thinking just all the newly added cells but on the off chance that ALL cells are the same on a previous row there would be trouble...

Hence is there anyway to access the primary key before it has been made (the next one in the list - due to auto incremement) or any other way to identify the row?

Thanks

[nav33n]

One of the main reason to use primary key is, because of its uniqueness. Say for example you have 4 columns in your table(name, age, city, country). If you don't have a primary key/unique id to differentiate between rows, your query may not do what you expect it to. Eg. Select * from user where name='name1' AND age='30'; might return several rows!
If you have a table with an auto_increment column (primary key/unique id) you can fetch the data (you want) using the unique id.

If you are inserting a record to a table with auto_increment field.
insert into table (id,name,age) values ('','name3','40'); You can access the last generated auto increment field (last inserted record's id) by using last_insert_id() or mysql_insert_id() .

If I am off topic, my apologies. (I didn't understand your question!)

[TopDogger]

nav33n's solution will work if you just want to capture the ID for the last row that you wrote to the table.

If you wish to access a different row, you really need to know how to use the SELECT statement to filter the data.

Here is a link to a freebie MySQL cheatsheet that may help.

Basically, if you want to access a unique row, you need to SELECT one or more columns of data that represent a unique value or combination of values--but you need to know those values before you can pull the related data from a table.