Why am I receiving a bind parameter issue?

This is the error:

Warning: mysqli_stmt_bind_param(): Number of elements in type definition string doesn’t match number of bind variables

Let me show you a snippet of code followed by the output.

if (!empty($par_val))
      {
        echo "$sql_update<br>";
        // append par_type with 2 integers for $req_setstatus and $req_activator.
        $par_type .= 'ii';
        echo "$par_type<br>";
        // append par_val with $req_setstatus and $req_activator
        $par_val .= "$req_setstatus,$req_activator";
        echo "$par_val";
        mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt,$par_type,$par_val);
      }

here are the outputs:

UPDATE request SET priority = ?,status = ?, activator = ? WHERE id = 35 –> this is the update statement, 3 fields to update.

sii –>this is the $par_type, there are 3 values.

Urgent,2,6 –>this is the $par_val, there are 3 values.

Why am I receiving this error.

I’m thinking that possibly, it is the multiple values being tied into 1 single variable, but if this is the problem, then how would I set this up to take a dynamic set of variables each time it is ran. Sometimes the in inputs can be 3, sometimes 8.

Answer

If you need a dynamic amount of parameters, you can use $par_val as an array. So…

$par_val = [2,6];

and then use the array unpacking operator (...)…

mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, $par_type, ...$par_val);

You could have $par_val as a csv and use explode() to make it into an array and then unpack it as above…

$par_val = explode(",", "2,6);

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Answer