Updating a db count

There is no num_topics column in users by default: did you mean num_posts?
Other than that, I see no issue, the code looks correct to me.
Yeah, and as you figured out you can safely not use that expensive join

This is the original db lookup, without the uid lookup:

$result = $db->query('SELECT poster FROM '.$db->prefix.'topics WHERE forum_id IN ('.implode(', ', $topic_array).')') or error('Unable to fetch topic info', __FILE__, __LINE__, $db->error());

Then

username=\''.$topic['poster'].'\'

is used for the WHERE statement in the UPDATE query. I'm terrible at doing the join statements, so just thought this might be a nice easy statement with which to practice joins whilst I was trying to eliminate possible cockups on my part for this script not working.

I've managed to get a very basic grasp of join statements now, but still ain't got the script working as expected.

It won't do naff all for me. Just checked it on the test forum on the production server too, and still the same. Zilch.

Btw, is this code correct for the username only lookup? I'm just going to post the code on that other thread and give it up as a bad job getting it working here.

<?php

define('PUN_ROOT', './');
require PUN_ROOT.'include/common.php';
$topic_array = array(1);

$result = $db->query('SELECT poster FROM '.$db->prefix.'topics WHERE forum_id IN ('.implode(', ', $topic_array).')') or error('Unable to fetch topic info', __FILE__, __LINE__, $db->error());

if (!$db->num_rows($result))
{
        message('No topic info');
}
else
{
        require PUN_ROOT.'header.php';
?>
<div class="block">
        <h2><span>OUTPUT</span></h2>
        <div class="box">
                <div class="inbox">
                        <table>
<?php

        while ($topic = $db->fetch_assoc($result))
        {
                $db->query('UPDATE '.$db->prefix.'users SET num_topics=num_topics+1 WHERE username=\''.$db->escape($topic['poster']).'\'') or error('Unable to update topic counts', __FILE__, __LINE__, $db->error());
                echo '<tr><td>Topic poster: '.$topic['poster'].' - Topic count incremented.</td></tr>'."\n";
        }

?>
                        </table>
                </div>
        </div>
</div>
<?php

        require PUN_ROOT.'footer.php';

}

?>

Cheers ever so much for your help on this one. It's got me hellishly stumped why it won't work here though.

Thanks,

Matt

Cheers.

I've updated that code above with those two. Is that correct as it is now?

Just on a side note with the db->escape, when exactly should that be used? I've never been 100% sure whether it's only needed when inserting info into the db, or whether it should also be used in queries too, for escaping unknown input in a lookup? Or is it better to simply err on the side of caution and always use it for anything other than integer values when working with the db?

Thanks again,

Matt

Thanks. That's one point where I've usually tried to err on the side of caution, but never knew the exact specifics. It's now a lot clearer. Cheers.