Codeigniter parentheses in dynamic Active Record query - mysql

Question

I'm producing a query like the following using ActiveRecord
SELECT * FROM (`foods`) WHERE `type` = 'fruits' AND
`tags` LIKE '%green%' OR `tags` LIKE '%blue%' OR `tags` LIKE '%red%'
The number of tags and values is unknown. Arrays are created dynamically. Below I added a possible array.
$tags = array (
'0' => 'green'.
'1' => 'blue',
'2' => 'red'
);
Having an array of tags, I use the following loop to create the query I posted on top.
$this->db->where('type', $type); //var type is retrieved from input value
foreach($tags as $tag):
$this->db->or_like('tags', $tag);
endforeach;
The issue: I need to add parentheses around the LIKE clauses like below:
SELECT * FROM (`foods`) WHERE `type` = 'fruits' AND
(`tags` LIKE '%green%' OR `tags` LIKE '%blue%' OR `tags` LIKE '%red%')
I know how to accomplish this if the content within the parentheses was static but the foreach loop throws me off..

Answer 1

From the CI wiki:
The codeignighter ActiveRecord feature
allows you to create SQL queries
relatively simply and
database-independant, however there
isno specific support for including
parenthesis in an SQL query.
For example when you want a where statement to come out simmilarly to the folowing:
WHERE (field1 = value || field2 = value) AND (field3 = value2 || field4 = value2)
This can be worked around by feeding a string to the CI->db->where() function, in this case you will want to specifically escape your values.
See the following example:
$value=$this->db->escape($value);
$value2=$this->db->escape($value2);
$this->db->from('sometable');
$this->db->where("($field = $value || $field2 = $value)");
$this->db->where("($field3 = $value2 || $field4 = $value2)");
$this->db->get();
A simmilar workaround can be used for LIKE clauses:
$this->db->where("($field LIKE '%$value%' || $field2 LIKE '%$value%')");
$this->db->where("($field3 LIKE '%$value2%' || $field4 LIKE '%$value2%')");

Answer 2

In the CI 3.0-dev you can add groups in query:
$this->db->select('id, title')
->group_start()
->or_like([ 'title' => $s, 'id' => $s ])
->group_end()
->where([ 'b_del' => 0 ]);
Produces:
SELECT `id`, `title`, `venda1`
FROM `itens`
WHERE
(
`title` LIKE '%a%' ESCAPE '!'
OR `id` LIKE '%a%' ESCAPE '!'
)
AND `b_del` =0

Answer 3

One of best feature to save your query when you applying multiple where or_where clauses.
$this->db->group_start();
$this->db->where();
$this->db->or_where();
$this->db->group_end();
Happy Coding. :)

Answer 4

Going off of The Silencer's solution, I wrote a tiny function to help build like conditions
function make_like_conditions (array $fields, $query) {
$likes = array();
foreach ($fields as $field) {
$likes[] = "$field LIKE '%$query%'";
}
return '('.implode(' || ', $likes).')';
}
You'd use it like this:
$search_fields = array(
'field_1',
'field_2',
'field_3',
);
$query = "banana"
$like_conditions = make_like_conditions($search_fields, $query);
$this->db->from('sometable')
->where('field_0', 'foo')
->where($like_conditions)
->get()

Answer 5

Just adding my successful solution:
$this->db->where("(table.field = $variable OR table.field IS NULL)");

Answer 6

use codeigniter 3
$this->db->select('*');
$this->db->from($this->MasterMember);
$this->db->group_start();
$this->db->where($this->IDCardStatus, '1');
$this->db->or_where($this->IDCardStatus, '2');
$this->db->group_end();
if ($searchKey1 != null) {
$this->db->group_start();
$this->db->like($this->MemberID, $searchKey1);
$this->db->or_like($this->FirstName, $searchKey2);
$this->db->or_like($this->LastName, $searchKey3);
$this->db->group_end();
}
$this->db->limit($limit, $offset);
$data = $this->db->get();
this is my native query
SELECT
*
FROM
`Member`
WHERE ( `Member`.`IDCardStatus` = '1' OR `Member`.`IDCardStatus` = '2' )
AND ( `Member`.`MemberID` LIKE '%some_key%' ESCAPE '!' OR `Member`.`FirstName` LIKE '%some_key%' ESCAPE '!' OR `Member`.`LastName` LIKE '%some_key%' ESCAPE '!' )
LIMIT 10

Answer 7

Update for codeigniter 4:
$builder->select('*')->from('my_table')
->groupStart()
->where('a', 'a')
->orGroupStart()
->where('b', 'b')
->where('c', 'c')
->groupEnd()
->groupEnd()
->where('d', 'd')
->get();
// Generates:
// SELECT * FROM (`my_table`) WHERE ( `a` = 'a' OR ( `b` = 'b' AND `c` = 'c' ) ) AND `d` = 'd'
from official docs on: https://codeigniter.com/user_guide/database/query_builder.html#query-grouping

Answer 8

$likes = array (
'0' => 'green'.
'1' => 'blue',
'2' => 'red'
);
$where_like = "(";
$or_counter = 1;
foreach($likes as $like_key => $like_val):
$or_content = ($or_counter > 1) ?'OR': '';
$newlikeval = $this->db->escape_like_str($like_val);
$where_like .= $or_content." `$like_key` LIKE '%$newlikeval%' ";
$or_counter++;
endforeach;
$where_like .= ")";
$this->db->where($where_like);

Answer 9

You can't add parentheses in ActiveRecord, but maybe WHERE IN is what you're looking for?
$names = array('Frank', 'Todd', 'James');
$this->db->where_in('username', $names);
// Produces: WHERE username IN ('Frank', 'Todd', 'James')