If you already have the primary key I don't understand your problem with the first issue. Just update the records with that primary key.

As for the second problem, you may want to change your db design to either use timestamps (if your database allows, like MySQL) which will UPDATE every time you update a record but NOT when someone reads from it. You can check to see if the timestamp in the current record is greater than the one being updated by the form's fields. If it is, you know that the record was changed in some way.

BTW, if your database doesn't keep track of time in the timestamp down to the millisecond you may want to use a module like Time::HiRes to create the timestamp and convert the DB table to a string type.

Here's an article which discusses the problem in a different language and suggests you use GUIDs (which I think you can do in Perl too. Check CPAN).

Celebrate Intellectual Diversity

In reply to Re: Tracking records to change/insert during CGI by InfiniteSilence
in thread Tracking records to change/insert during CGI by pboin

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