SiteCrafting, Inc.

Sometimes, you just need a way to GOTO. Here is a little trick that will duck out of a section of code using break

Before:

function addManyToMany($vars) {
	$sql = "
		SELECT id
		FROM table_a
		WHERE desc = '{$vars['desc']}'
	";
	$res = mysql_query($sql);
	if(mysql_num_rows($res) == 1) {
		$a_id = mysql_results($res, 'id', 0);
		$sql = "
			INSERT INTO join_table
			SET
				table_a_id = $a_id,
				table_b_id = {$vars['b_id']}
		";
		return mysql_query($sql);
	}
	
	$sql = "
		SELECT id
		FROM table_a
		WHERE desc LIKE '%{$vars['desc']}%'
	";
	$res = mysql_query($sql);
	if(mysql_num_rows($res) == 1) {
		$a_id = mysql_results($res, 'id', 0);
		$sql = "
			INSERT INTO join_table
			SET
				table_a_id = $a_id,
				table_b_id = {$vars['b_id']}
		";
		return mysql_query($sql);
	}
	
	$sql = "
		INSERT INTO table_a
		SET {$vars['sql']}
	";
	mysql_query($sql);
	$a_id = mysql_insert_id();
	$sql = "
		INSERT INTO join_table
		SET
			table_a_id = $a_id,
			table_b_id = {$vars['b_id']}
	";
	return mysql_query($sql);
}

As you can see, the query to insert the many-to-many table entry is the same for each case that I have. The variables are of the same type, and do roughly the same thing. This list of cases could easily grow as time progresses. And the query to insert into the many-to-many table could be changed, which would mean editing many lines of code for just one update.

After:

function addManyToMany($vars) {
	do {
		$sql = "
			SELECT id
			FROM table_a
			WHERE desc = '{$vars['desc']}'
		";
		$res = mysql_query($sql);
		if(mysql_num_rows($res) == 1) {
			$a_id = mysql_results($res, 'id', 0);
			break;
		}
		
		$sql = "
			SELECT id
			FROM table_a
			WHERE desc LIKE '%{$vars['desc']}%'
		";
		$res = mysql_query($sql);
		if(mysql_num_rows($res) == 1) {
			$a_id = mysql_results($res, 'id', 0);
			break;
		}
		
		$sql = "
			INSERT INTO table_a
			SET {$vars['sql']}
		";
		mysql_query($sql);
		$a_id = mysql_insert_id();
	} while(false);
	
	$sql = "
		INSERT INTO join_table
		SET
			table_a_id = $a_id,
			table_b_id = {$vars['b_id']}
	";
	return mysql_query($sql);
}

Now all the cases are wrapped in a do while clause. This allows for arbitrary breaks in code which will drop out right above the insert into the many-to-many table. Now there is only one insert query which will greatly improve manageability. The other way to solve this would have been to create a function (maybe a lambda?) that would take in the id's and insert them. But this is just an example of what can be done.