db_query($query, $a, $b, $c);
db_query($query, array($a, $b, $c));
This usage is particularly interesting when the query is constructed dynamically, and the amount of arguments to pass varies. In that case we use the second method to avoid using call_user_func_array(). This behaviour is not documented explicitly, but it is used in several places.
However, db_query_range() and pager_query() do not support this syntax properly, which means there are several pieces of code which still revert to the ugly call_user_func_array() call.
This patch updates db_query_range() and pager_query() so they support the array-passing method. I also added documentation about this method to each of the db functions.
I also cleaned up the code for db_query (it was weird and hard to understand) and moved db_query() and db_queryd() from database.xxxxx.inc to database.inc: it was the same between both mysql and pgsql, as it doesn't do anything database specific. It just prefixes the tables and inserts the arguments. The actual db query is performed in _db_query(), which is still in database.xxxxx.inc.
Finally, I updated several places with the new syntax, and the code is a lot cleaner. For example:
- array_unshift($params, "SELECT u.* FROM {users} u WHERE $query u.status < 3");
- $params[] = 0;
- $params[] = 1;
- $result = call_user_func_array('db_query_range', $params);
+ $result = db_query_range("SELECT u.* FROM {users} u WHERE $query u.status < 3", $params, 0, 1);
and
- return call_user_func_array('db_query_range', array_merge(array($query), $args, array((int)$pager_from_array[$element], (int)$limit)));
+ return db_query_range($query, $args, (int)$pager_from_array[$element], (int)$limit);
I've tested it on mysql. I didn't alter the actual db behaviour, so pgsql should be okay too.
This patch is important because many people avoid the call_user_func_array() method and put data directly into the db query. This is very, very bad because the database prefix will be applied to it, and strip out braces. It's also generally bad form as you have to call check_query() yourself. With the new, documented syntax, there is no more excuse to put data directly in the query.
Currently pager_query() is the black sheep of the database query family, because it does not allow for printf-style arguments to be inserted in the query. This is a problem because it introduces developer confusion when moving from an unpaged query to a paged one, and it encourages substitution of variables directly into the query, which can bypass our check_query() security feature.
This patch adds this ability to pager_query(). The change is backwards-compatible, but a couple calls to the function in core have been changed to use the new capability.
Dries Buytaert
Angie Byron
Gábor Hojtsy
Neil Drumm
Gerhard Killesreiter
Steven Wittens