MySQL Placeholder Date Problem

shockme has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have code such as the following:

my $numParams = 1;
my $SQL = 'SELECT syslog_timestamp, syslog_host, syslog_text
             FROM syslog
            WHERE syslog_text like ?';

if ($begMonth)
{
    $begDate = "$begYear\-$begMonth\-$begDay 00:00:00";
    $endDate = "$endYear\-$endMonth\-$endDay 23:59:59";
    $SQL .= ' AND syslog_timestamp >= ?';
    $SQL .= ' AND syslog_timestamp <= ?';
    $numParams += 2;
}

my $sth = $dbh->prepare($SQL);

if ($numParams == 1)
{
    my $DBquery= $sth->execute($SearchPhrase);
}
elsif ($numParams == 3)
{
    my $DBquery= $sth->execute($SearchPhrase, $begDate, $endDate);
}
[download]

I've narrowed the following problem down to the involvement of $begDate and $endDate. Here's what's happening:

When I execute this, it always returns 0 rows. I've omitted some code which displays the contents of $SQL to me, as well as code which displays the contents of $begDate and $endDate. When I cut and paste the contents of $SQL and the values of $begDate and $endDate into the MySQL commandline, it returns over 1,000 rows (which is what I would expect). If I don't give it $begDate or $endDate, it works fine. However, any time I use the date logic, it returns 0 rows and no errors.

Also, if I omit the placeholders and construct the following:

if ($begMonth)
{
    $begDate = "$begYear\-$begMonth\-$begDay 00:00:00";
    $endDate = "$endYear\-$endMonth\-$endDay 23:59:59";
    $SQL .= " AND syslog_timestamp >= '$begDate'";
    $SQL .= " AND syslog_timestamp <= '$endDate'";
}
[download]

It works like a charm, returning in excess of 1,000 rows.

So, I'm apparently missing something obvious in the placeholder construction/execution. Any suggestions?

(Note: Typos in the above are due to cut and paste errors.)

If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me.

Comment on MySQL Placeholder Date Problem Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: MySQL Placeholder Date Problem by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Nov 25, 2003 at 16:36 UTC
If you turn on tracing in the DBI, you can see what exactly is being send to the server. (Note: Typos in the above are due to cut and paste errors.) Then how are we supposed to know what's a cut-and-paste typo, and what's a bug in the real code?. Abigail	[reply]
Re: Re: MySQL Placeholder Date Problem by shockme (Chaplain) on Nov 25, 2003 at 16:49 UTC
Fair enough. I guess the point I was trying to make was that the code compiles and runs, so in the event I've incorrectly pasted a ; or ", which would cause the code to not compile, then that can be overlooked. But I get your point, and you are correct. If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me.	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: MySQL Placeholder Date Problem by vek (Prior) on Nov 26, 2003 at 13:46 UTC
If it's a true cut-n-paste from your code there shouldn't really be any typos - unless your original code had typos of course. Maybe you're re-typing the code by hand, in which case typos can and do frequently crop up. -- vek --	[reply]
Re: Re: MySQL Placeholder Date Problem by shockme (Chaplain) on Nov 25, 2003 at 17:06 UTC
And thanks for the advise on tracing. That helped me pinpoint the error exactly! If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me.	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: MySQL Placeholder Date Problem by Art_XIV (Hermit) on Nov 25, 2003 at 18:42 UTC
What WAS the error? Hanlon's Razor - "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity"	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Re: MySQL Placeholder Date Problem by shockme (Chaplain) on Nov 25, 2003 at 22:42 UTC
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: MySQL Placeholder Date Problem by runrig (Abbot) on Nov 26, 2003 at 18:52 UTC
Re: MySQL Placeholder Date Problem by runrig (Abbot) on Nov 25, 2003 at 21:53 UTC
You already have your answer (although we don't yet know what it was), but you can reduce your logic by doing something like this: `my @args = ($SearchPhrase); ... if ($begMonth) { ... $SQL .= " AND syslog_timestamp BETWEEN ? AND ?"; push @args, $begDate, $endDate; } ... $sth->execute(@args);` [download]	[reply] [d/l]


Do you know where your variables are?
	PerlMonks