update an delete

[Anon]

hello all,
can anyone let meknow whether it is possible to
update and delete a particular record from a table
wherein the none of the fields are a primary key
like i have a form wherein i dispaly records from table
i want to update aparticular row by clicking the update button
and i want to delete a particular row by checking the box i have provided and then click the delete button
can i get this done?
is it necessary to have a primary key?
what if i cannot have any of the table fields as primary key?
or can i get a row selected by the mouse and tehn perform these operations?
please help me in this direction
roopa

[van__]

Delete doesn't need a primary key to operate.

just say:
$stmt = "DELETE FROM myTable WHERE myColumn='$this_value'";

[Anon]

but what if the column value is same for more than 1 records????
in case $this_value=35 for nrealy 3 records

           then a;ll the 3 records will be deleted
        $stmt = "DELETE FROM myTable WHERE myColumn='35;

then what????????

[van__]

Well, you'll have to be more verbose...
$stmt = "DELETE FROM myTable WHERE this='$this_val' AND this_other_thing='$this_other_val'";

You can keep on going, adding more and more criteria to it till you finally narrow in on that one row.

Generally speaking, it's a good idea to have atleast one indexable column in there so you can better associate a row with other data in other tables, but hey... live and learn.