[PHP-DB] Another PDO ?

2012-09-10 Thread Jim Giner
Reading up on the pdostatement class.  Wondering what the intent of the 
columnCount function is.  I mean, aren't the number of columns in a 
result known when you write the query?  Granted, you might have some 
very complex query that you may not know the number, but for most 
queries you will know the columns you are expecting.  So - what am I not 
seeing?


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Re: [PHP-DB] Another PDO ?

2012-09-10 Thread Bastien Koert
On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Jim Giner jim.gi...@albanyhandball.com wrote:
 Reading up on the pdostatement class.  Wondering what the intent of the
 columnCount function is.  I mean, aren't the number of columns in a result
 known when you write the query?  Granted, you might have some very complex
 query that you may not know the number, but for most queries you will know
 the columns you are expecting.  So - what am I not seeing?

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It might be for those cases where you run a select * from ...

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Re: [PHP-DB] Another PDO ?

2012-09-10 Thread Jim Giner

On 9/10/2012 10:49 AM, Bastien Koert wrote:

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Jim Giner jim.gi...@albanyhandball.com wrote:

Reading up on the pdostatement class.  Wondering what the intent of the
columnCount function is.  I mean, aren't the number of columns in a result
known when you write the query?  Granted, you might have some very complex
query that you may not know the number, but for most queries you will know
the columns you are expecting.  So - what am I not seeing?

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It might be for those cases where you run a select * from ...

But - again - one already knows how many fields are in that table when 
one writes the query...


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Re: [PHP-DB] Another PDO ?

2012-09-10 Thread Graham H.
I think it's so that you could write functions as generically as possible.
So you don't have to pass in the number of columns or hard code in values
for number of columns, you can dynamically check the column count for each
result set that gets passed in. That's my guess.

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 8:51 AM, Jim Giner jim.gi...@albanyhandball.comwrote:

 On 9/10/2012 10:49 AM, Bastien Koert wrote:

 On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Jim Giner jim.gi...@albanyhandball.com
 wrote:

 Reading up on the pdostatement class.  Wondering what the intent of the
 columnCount function is.  I mean, aren't the number of columns in a
 result
 known when you write the query?  Granted, you might have some very
 complex
 query that you may not know the number, but for most queries you will
 know
 the columns you are expecting.  So - what am I not seeing?

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 To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php


 It might be for those cases where you run a select * from ...

  But - again - one already knows how many fields are in that table when
 one writes the query...


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 To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php




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mene...@gmail.com


Re: [PHP-DB] Another PDO ?

2012-09-10 Thread Jim Giner

On 9/10/2012 10:53 AM, Graham H. wrote:

I think it's so that you could write functions as generically as possible.
So you don't have to pass in the number of columns or hard code in values
for number of columns, you can dynamically check the column count for each
result set that gets passed in. That's my guess.

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 8:51 AM, Jim Giner jim.gi...@albanyhandball.comwrote:


On 9/10/2012 10:49 AM, Bastien Koert wrote:


On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Jim Giner jim.gi...@albanyhandball.com
wrote:


Reading up on the pdostatement class.  Wondering what the intent of the
columnCount function is.  I mean, aren't the number of columns in a
result
known when you write the query?  Granted, you might have some very
complex
query that you may not know the number, but for most queries you will
know
the columns you are expecting.  So - what am I not seeing?

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It might be for those cases where you run a select * from ...

  But - again - one already knows how many fields are in that table when

one writes the query...


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I have not yet had a design where the results of queries could be 
handled generically.  Yes I may save some coding time in one way, but 
for each field in a result the handling is not usually the same, 
therefore my code would have to specify unique field names at some 
point.  This would only apply to a query that used * instead of distinct 
names too.


To me it seems a function with rather limited use.

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Re: [PHP-DB] Another PDO ?

2012-09-10 Thread Bruno Sandivilli
Imagine if you are building a generic database framework, so you (dont
have, but) can generalize your queries functions and abstract some tables
info.


2012/9/10 Graham H. mene...@gmail.com

 I think it's so that you could write functions as generically as possible.
 So you don't have to pass in the number of columns or hard code in values
 for number of columns, you can dynamically check the column count for each
 result set that gets passed in. That's my guess.

 On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 8:51 AM, Jim Giner jim.gi...@albanyhandball.com
 wrote:

  On 9/10/2012 10:49 AM, Bastien Koert wrote:
 
  On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Jim Giner 
 jim.gi...@albanyhandball.com
  wrote:
 
  Reading up on the pdostatement class.  Wondering what the intent of the
  columnCount function is.  I mean, aren't the number of columns in a
  result
  known when you write the query?  Granted, you might have some very
  complex
  query that you may not know the number, but for most queries you will
  know
  the columns you are expecting.  So - what am I not seeing?
 
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  It might be for those cases where you run a select * from ...
 
   But - again - one already knows how many fields are in that table when
  one writes the query...
 
 
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  To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
 
 


 --
 Graham Holtslander
 Computer Systems Technologist
 www.graham.holtslander.com
 mene...@gmail.com



Re: [PHP-DB] Another PDO ?

2012-09-10 Thread Lester Caine

Jim Giner wrote:

On 9/10/2012 10:49 AM, Bastien Koert wrote:

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Jim Giner jim.gi...@albanyhandball.com wrote:

Reading up on the pdostatement class.  Wondering what the intent of the
columnCount function is.  I mean, aren't the number of columns in a result
known when you write the query?  Granted, you might have some very complex
query that you may not know the number, but for most queries you will know
the columns you are expecting.  So - what am I not seeing?

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It might be for those cases where you run a select * from ...


But - again - one already knows how many fields are in that table when one
writes the query...


You do not necessarily KNOW how many fields. You know how many fields should be 
in the version of the database you are coding for, so any difference would flag 
a problem. Also you may not ACTUALLY have the schema for a database in which 
case a count of the fields found is useful for further processing those fields.


Another area is when you are working with fabricated joined queries where 
duplicate field names between tables will give a reduced number of final fields 
in the result.


Of cause it IS often better to work with named fields rather than using '*' 
which does allow better handing of the process anyway.


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Re: [PHP-DB] Another PDO ?

2012-09-10 Thread Jim Giner

On 9/10/2012 11:10 AM, Lester Caine wrote:

Jim Giner wrote:

On 9/10/2012 10:49 AM, Bastien Koert wrote:

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Jim Giner
jim.gi...@albanyhandball.com wrote:

Reading up on the pdostatement class.  Wondering what the intent of the
columnCount function is.  I mean, aren't the number of columns in a
result
known when you write the query?  Granted, you might have some very
complex
query that you may not know the number, but for most queries you
will know
the columns you are expecting.  So - what am I not seeing?

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It might be for those cases where you run a select * from ...


But - again - one already knows how many fields are in that table when
one
writes the query...


You do not necessarily KNOW how many fields. You know how many fields
should be in the version of the database you are coding for, so any
difference would flag a problem. Also you may not ACTUALLY have the
schema for a database in which case a count of the fields found is
useful for further processing those fields.

Another area is when you are working with fabricated joined queries
where duplicate field names between tables will give a reduced number of
final fields in the result.

Of cause it IS often better to work with named fields rather than using
'*' which does allow better handing of the process anyway.

I find it difficult to fathom a scenario where I am able to write 
queries against a db but not have access to the layouts.  Makes it kind 
of hard to know what I'm going to get back  but I guess it must 
occur somewhere since someone decided this function was necessary.


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Re: [PHP-DB] Another PDO ?

2012-09-10 Thread Toby Hart Dyke


On 9/10/2012 4:54 PM, Jim Giner wrote:

On 9/10/2012 11:10 AM, Lester Caine wrote:

Jim Giner wrote:

On 9/10/2012 10:49 AM, Bastien Koert wrote:

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Jim Giner
jim.gi...@albanyhandball.com wrote:
Reading up on the pdostatement class.  Wondering what the intent 
of the

columnCount function is.  I mean, aren't the number of columns in a
result
known when you write the query?  Granted, you might have some very
complex
query that you may not know the number, but for most queries you
will know
the columns you are expecting.  So - what am I not seeing?

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It might be for those cases where you run a select * from ...


But - again - one already knows how many fields are in that table when
one
writes the query...


You do not necessarily KNOW how many fields. You know how many fields
should be in the version of the database you are coding for, so any
difference would flag a problem. Also you may not ACTUALLY have the
schema for a database in which case a count of the fields found is
useful for further processing those fields.

Another area is when you are working with fabricated joined queries
where duplicate field names between tables will give a reduced number of
final fields in the result.

Of cause it IS often better to work with named fields rather than using
'*' which does allow better handing of the process anyway.

I find it difficult to fathom a scenario where I am able to write 
queries against a db but not have access to the layouts.  Makes it 
kind of hard to know what I'm going to get back  but I guess it 
must occur somewhere since someone decided this function was necessary.


You have access to the source table layouts, but it is possible to do 
pivot table type queries where the resultant table bears no resemblance 
to any of the source tables, and the number of columns in your result 
depends on the data.


  Toby


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