SQL proofreading

morgan

hello

this is my first post on this site. I'm looking forward to sharing the tiny amount of knowledge and experience I have, and getting help from others.

So here's where I'm at:

SQL queries seem to be a major sticking point with me. I always have trouble getting them right.

this one doesn't work, but I can't tell what's wrong with it.

UPDATE student_work SET sort_order = '3'

I'd love it if someone else could take a look and tell me if the syntax looks ok.

thanks

-Morgan

matt_4013

It looks fine, what error is it returning?

morgan

that's for affirming that it looks ok. I'm too sleepy to work more on this, but will be back tomorrow if i still haven't figured it out.

thanks

-Morgan

resync

print mysql_error();

morgan

thanks for that. That will be helpful.

morgan

OK, it looks like the last query I posted here WAS ok. I seem to have somehow left a close parens ")" at the end of it - needed to go to sleep.

So with out that, it works fine. But this one doesn't:

UPDATE student_work SET sort_order = '$sort_order', delete = 'no' WHERE work_id = '1'

I get the following error (using my newly acquired knowledge of mysql_error())

You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'delete = 'no' WHERE work_id = '1'' at line 1

I'd be very greatful if anyone could help set me straight. Seeing as I consistantly get hung up on these, it might be a good idea for me to practice more with them. If anyone has a recommendation of a good book or web site which will help, that'd be great.

thanks

-Morgan

blindeddie

Delete is a reserved keyword in SQL(it is an actual SQL command), surround the column name delete with square brackets i.e. [delete]='no'...That should correct the problem.

morgan

thanks! I sort of came to that conclusion myself, and renamed the table. Thanks for the brackets tip. That'll be handy in the future. So I assume I would have to do the same with the words "select", "update", etc?

-Morgan

ahundiak

http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Reserved_words.html

blindeddie

Your best bet is to try and avoid using keywords as column names altogether.