Node.js mysql query syntax issues UPDATE WHERE

Question

I trying to update some info in MYSQL DB, but I'm not sure of how to do it with in node.js. This is the mysql driver I'm using https://github.com/felixge/node-mysql

What I have so far

connection.query('SELECT * FROM users WHERE UserID = ?', [userId], function(err, results) { if (results[0]) { if (results[0].Name!=name) { console.log(results[0].Name); connection.query('UPDATE users SET ? WHERE UserID = ?', [userId], {Name: name}); } console.log(results[0].UserID); } }); 

Everything works except...

connection.query('UPDATE users SET ? WHERE UserID = ?', [userId], {Name: name}); 

In PHP I would have this...

mysql_query("UPDATE users SET Name='".$_GET["name"]."' WHERE UserID='".$row['UserID']."'"); 

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, But I'm positive that the issue is here

connection.query('UPDATE users SET ? WHERE UserID = ?', [userId], {Name: name}); 

Answer 1

The answer by ruakh isn't entirely correct, you can use the SET ? feature with another ?.

The syntax is:

connection.query('UPDATE users SET ? WHERE UserID = ?', [{ Name: name }, userId]) 

Answer 2

[Note (added 2016-04-29): This answer was accepted, but it turns out that there is a reasonable way to use SET ?. For details, see Bala Clark's answer on this same page. —ruakh]

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From the code for Connection.prototype.query() and Connection.createQuery(), it's clear that you can only pass in a single values object. I don't see where the code for the special SET ? behavior is defined — it's clearly not in SqlString.formatQuery() — but if it uses SqlString.objectToValues(), then I guess there's no way to use it together with another ?.

I think the best approach is to just dispense with the neat SET ? feature, and write either of these:

connection.query('UPDATE users SET Name = ? WHERE UserID = ?', [name, userId]) 

connection.query('UPDATE users SET Name = :Name WHERE UserID = :UserID',                      {UserID: userId, Name: name}) 

but if you really want to use SET ?, I suppose you could write this:

connection.query('UPDATE users SET ? WHERE UserID = :UserID',                      {UserID: userId, Name: name}) 

which would update both UserID and Name; unless you have a trigger, this should be O.K., in that it's updating UserID to the value it already had anyway. But it's kind of disconcerting, and I don't recommend it.