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Date: Sun, 5 May 2013 15:55:34 +0200
To: PHP Developers Mailing List <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Adding a new mysqli::bind_value method
From: bobwei9@hotmail.com (Bob Weinand)

I propose to add, contrary to the mysqli::bind_param method which =
accepts parameters only by ref (and triggers a fatal error when passing =
non-ref variables or values), a mysqli::bind_value method which accepts =
the variables by value.

There are a few problems when using bind_param which bind_value tries to =
solve:

a) When you aren't binding in a small scope, you have to make attention =
to not reusing the variable before execute()'ing the mysqli_stmt =
instance.
b) You have to pass values per reference, so that you cannot do for =
example in a function:
          call_user_func_array([$stmt, "bind_param"], =
array_merge([str_repeat("s", func_num_args())], func_get_args()));
     this would fail in a message you couldn't pass them by value (when =
you cannot write the function expecting references as variable for some =
reason). A workaround would be to array_walk the array and pass the =
variable by ref to a new array, which is not really handy.
c) When you try to pass raw values instead of a reference, it results in =
a "Fatal error:  Cannot pass parameter 2 by reference".  =20
d) Executing $stmt->bind_param("s", $a?$b:$c); would result in a "Strict =
Standards: Only variables should be passed by reference". Yeah, it's =
only a strict error, but I think it's best practice to code error =
free...

For c) and d): Yes, you could assign the result / raw value to a =
variable and then pass it to the function, but this are only a variable =
more, a code line more and a fraction of a nanosecond more =
(microoptimization, I just wanted to say it).

The PR for this request is at: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/338

Bob