MySQL UPDATE and SELECT in one pass - mysql

Question

I have a MySQL table of tasks to perform, each row having parameters for a single task.
There are many worker apps (possibly on different machines), performing tasks in a loop.
The apps access the database using MySQL's native C APIs.
In order to own a task, an app does something like that:
Generate a globally-unique id (for simplicity, let's say it is a number)
UPDATE tasks
SET guid = %d
WHERE guid = 0 LIMIT 1
SELECT params
FROM tasks
WHERE guid = %d
If the last query returns a row, we own it and have the parameters to run
Is there a way to achieve the same effect (i.e. 'own' a row and get its parameters) in a single call to the server?

Answer 1

try like this
UPDATE `lastid` SET `idnum` = (SELECT `id` FROM `history` ORDER BY `id` DESC LIMIT 1);
above code worked for me

Answer 2

You may create a procedure that does it:
CREATE PROCEDURE prc_get_task (in_guid BINARY(16), OUT out_params VARCHAR(200))
BEGIN
DECLARE task_id INT;
SELECT id, out_params
INTO task_id, out_params
FROM tasks
WHERE guid = 0
LIMIT 1
FOR UPDATE;
UPDATE task
SET guid = in_guid
WHERE id = task_id;
END;
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
CALL prc_get_task(#guid, #params);
COMMIT;

Answer 3

If you are looking for a single query then it can't happen. The UPDATE function specifically returns just the number of items that were updated. Similarly, the SELECT function doesn't alter a table, only return values.
Using a procedure will indeed turn it into a single function and it can be handy if locking is a concern for you. If your biggest concern is network traffic (ie: passing too many queries) then use the procedure. If you concern is server overload (ie: the DB is working too hard) then the extra overhead of a procedure could make things worse.

Answer 4

I have the exact same issue. We ended up using PostreSQL instead, and UPDATE ... RETURNING:
The optional RETURNING clause causes UPDATE to compute and return value(s) based on each row actually updated. Any expression using the table's columns, and/or columns of other tables mentioned in FROM, can be computed. The new (post-update) values of the table's columns are used. The syntax of the RETURNING list is identical to that of the output list of SELECT.
Example: UPDATE 'my_table' SET 'status' = 1 WHERE 'status' = 0 LIMIT 1 RETURNING *;
Or, in your case: UPDATE 'tasks' SET 'guid' = %d WHERE 'guid' = 0 LIMIT 1 RETURNING 'params';
Sorry, I know this doesn't answer the question with MySQL, and it might not be easy to just switch to PostgreSQL, but it's the best way we've found to do it. Even 6 years later, MySQL still doesn't support UPDATE ... RETURNING. It might be added at some point in the future, but for now MariaDB only has it for DELETE statements.
Edit: There is a task (low priority) to add UPDATE ... RETURNING support to MariaDB.

Answer 5

I don't know about the single call part, but what you're describing is a lock. Locks are an essential element of relational databases.
I don't know the specifics of locking a row, reading it, and then updating it in MySQL, but with a bit of reading of the mysql lock documentation you could do all kinds of lock-based manipulations.
The postgres documenation of locks has a great example describing exactly what you want to do: lock the table, read the table, modify the table.

Answer 6

UPDATE tasks
SET guid = %d, params = #params := params
WHERE guid = 0 LIMIT 1;
It will return 1 or 0, depending on whether the values were effectively changed.
SELECT #params AS params;
This one just selects the variable from the connection.
From: here