Mass update w/ 1 submit-- possible?

[Nico]

I'm pulling some info from a single table and its being populated in a dynamic table. There is a single field on every record that I want to change (each field will be different however and some may need to remain null).

Is it possible to have a single submit button and update all the fields that have something in them?

i.e. I'll have a mysql query dynamically populate a table with X number of rows, each row has a field I want to change and I'd like to do them all at once but only if there is something in the input textbox.

I don't know how I would get the mysql query to understand that each row was a different update. Anyone know?

If you need more info I'll try my best to re-explain

Thanx

Nico

This is what I was thinking, it obviously doesn't work, but hopefully you can get a better idea of what I'm trying to do.

$sql=mysql_query("SELECT srnumber,originalorder,date,newrplnumber,serialnumber FROM $table WHERE newrplnumber=0 ORDER BY $sort")
	or die("Shizzle mah Nizzle..." . mysql_error());

while($res=mysql_fetch_array($sql)) {
?>	
	<tr class=normal>
	 <td><?=$res["date"];?></td>
	 <td><?=$res["originalorder"];?></td>
	 <td><?=$res["srnumber"];?></td>
	 <td><?=$res["newrplnumber"];?></td>
	 <td><?=$res["serialnumber"];?><? $serialnumber=$res['serialnumber'];?></td>
	 <td><input type='text' name='newrplnumber'></td>
	 <td align=center><input type='submit' value=Update><input type='hidden' name='submit' value='2'></td>
	</tr>
<? 
	}
?>
	</table></td></tr></table>
<?
if($submit==2) {

$sql1=mysql_query("UPDATE $table SET newrplnumber='$newrplnumber' WHERE serialnumber='$serialnumber'")
	or die("dammit... " . mysql_error());

}else{print "wtf happened?";}

[LordShryku]

Well, your example only shows updating one field, but I think I understand your question. What I would do is for every field that is updateable, also create a hidden input for the original value. On your update page, put a check in to make sure they are populated, and not the same as the hidden field. If it's different, add it to the SQL.

[Nico]

my bad... it is only updating a single field, but on multiple records. Since each record has the same field name that needs to be updated, the query I currently have can't distinguish between each update I want to do.

i.e. line 1 is an update based on the serialnumber of the line
line 2 is a different update based on teh serialnumber of line2

multiple updates of the same field for different records

Nico

[LordShryku]

Well, then you can just build an IN statement based on serial numbers and just put them into the SQL query. Same concept, verify that theu are set and different, then put them into the IN statement.

[Nico]

I don't understand -- could you elucidate or give an example of what you mean please?

Thanx much

Nico