How to insert a NULL into a database with CodeIgniter? - mysql

Question

I have the same problem, and do not understand the answer #5343141 titled "The proper way to insert a NULL into a database with CodeIgniter". I tried all given answers, without success.
This is my MySQL table:
The 2 last columns:
`id_etablissement_commanditaire` int(10) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
`id_etablissement_payeur` int(10) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
that makes problem, do have "NULL", so they accept NULL value (tried with phpMyAdmin, it works).
SET SQL_MODE = "NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO";
SET time_zone = "+00:00";
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `contacts` (
`id_contact` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`service` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`civilite` set('Monsieur','Madame') NOT NULL,
`prenom` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`nom` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`email` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
`tel_fixe` varchar(14) NOT NULL,
`tel_mobile` varchar(14) NOT NULL,
`fax` varchar(14) NOT NULL,
`id_etablissement_commanditaire` int(10) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
`id_etablissement_payeur` int(10) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id_contact`),
KEY `id_etablissement_payeur` (`id_etablissement_payeur`),
KEY `id_etablissement_commanditaire` (`id_etablissement_commanditaire`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=28 ;
ALTER TABLE `contacts`
ADD CONSTRAINT `contacts_ibfk_2` FOREIGN KEY (`id_etablissement_payeur`) REFERENCES `etablissements_payeurs` (`id_etablissement_payeur`) ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION,
ADD CONSTRAINT `contacts_ibfk_3` FOREIGN KEY (`id_etablissement_commanditaire`) REFERENCES `etablissements_commanditaires` (`id_etablissement_commanditaire`) ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION;
This is my CodeIgniter controller code :
1) I need to initialize $_POSTs to '' if they do not exist.
if ( ! isset( $_POST['action'] ) ) $_POST['action'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['id_contact'] ) ) $_POST['id_contact'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['service'] ) ) $_POST['service'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['civilite'] ) ) $_POST['civilite'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['prenom'] ) ) $_POST['prenom'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['nom'] ) ) $_POST['nom'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['email'] ) ) $_POST['email'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['tel_fixe'] ) ) $_POST['tel_fixe'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['tel_mobile'] ) ) $_POST['tel_mobile'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['fax'] ) ) $_POST['fax'] = '';
if ( ! isset( $_POST['id_etablissement_commanditaire'] ) ) $_POST['id_etablissement_commanditaire'] = NULL;
if ( ! isset( $_POST['id_etablissement_payeur'] ) ) $_POST['id_etablissement_payeur'] = NULL;
For the last 2 if, I tried to initialize to '' and NULL, but none works.
2) Insert into database :
$donnees = array(
'service'=> $_POST['service'],
'civilite'=> $_POST['civilite'],
'prenom'=> $_POST['prenom'],
'nom'=> $_POST['nom'],
'email'=> $_POST['email'],
'tel_fixe'=> $_POST['tel_fixe'],
'tel_mobile'=> $_POST['tel_mobile'],
'fax'=> $_POST['fax'],
'id_etablissement_commanditaire'=> $_POST['id_etablissement_commanditaire'] ,
'id_etablissement_payeur'=> $_POST['id_etablissement_payeur']);
$this->db->insert('contacts', $donnees);
If I add an empty record CodeIgniter says :
Error Number: 1452
Cannot add or update a child row: a foreign key constraint fails (`france-medical-transport`.`contacts`, CONSTRAINT `contacts_ibfk_2` FOREIGN KEY (`id_etablissement_payeur`) REFERENCES `etablissements_payeurs` (`id_etablissement_payeur`) ON DELETE NO ACTION )
INSERT INTO `contacts` (`service`, `civilite`, `prenom`, `nom`, `email`, `tel_fixe`, `tel_mobile`, `fax`, `id_etablissement_commanditaire`, `id_etablissement_payeur`) VALUES ('', '', '', '', '', '', '', '', '', '')

Answer 1

Try changing your DB insert script to not include the columns at all if they have no value:
$donnees = array(
'service'=> $_POST['service'],
'civilite'=> $_POST['civilite'],
'prenom'=> $_POST['prenom'],
'nom'=> $_POST['nom'],
'email'=> $_POST['email'],
'tel_fixe'=> $_POST['tel_fixe'],
'tel_mobile'=> $_POST['tel_mobile'],
'fax'=> $_POST['fax']);
if ($this->input->post('id_etablissement_commanditaire')) $donnees['id_etablissement_commanditaire'] = $this->input->post('id_etablissement_commanditaire');
if ($this->input->post('id_etablissement_payeur')) $donnees['id_etablissement_payeur'] = $this->input->post('id_etablissement_payeur');
$this->db->insert('contacts', $donnees);
This will allow MySQL to insert the default NULL value without getting confused by any values you're trying to pass in, like an explicit NULL or an empty string.

Answer 2

A good way to do this is :
$this->db->set('id_etablissement_commanditaire' , $_POST['id_etablissement_commanditaire'] , FALSE );
$this->db->set('id_etablissement_payeur' , $_POST['id_etablissement_payeur'] , FALSE );
$this->db->insert('contacts');
This way, the last argument FALSE, means, NULL values won't be escaped, then I have NULL and not 'NULL'.
It works.
Nota : FALSE remove '', but it removes `` as well.