Get specific value without having to loop with db class

Question

So I am trying to get a specific setting out of the database. And it seems that most of the CodeIgniter DB actions don't work in ExpressionEngine( http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/database/results.html)

I am wanting to do something like this:

$facebook_id = $this->EE->db->some_db_function('table_name', array('column_name', 'value'));

And that would create a query like this:

Select column_name FROM table_name WHERE column_name=`value`;

Just in case there is any confusion, here is my actual code currently:

$query = $this->EE->db->get_where( 'fb_photo_settings', array('setting_name' => 'facebook_id') );

But that returns an object and I'm wanting to just run a query that returns just the value.

And it just returns the value in the field, not an object or an array just the value. Is there any way to do this. And if not - how can I use the result() type functions on the link above?

Thanks.

Answer 1

To get a single value, you want to use the row() method on your $query object:

$this->EE->db->select('my_col');
$query = $this->EE->db->get_where( 'fb_photo_settings', array('setting_name' => 'facebook_id') );
$var = $query->row('my_col');

To get an object with a whole row:

$query = $this->EE->db->get_where( 'fb_photo_settings', array('setting_name' => 'facebook_id') );
$row = $query->result_array();

Always a good idea to check for the existence of results first though:

if($query->num_rows() > 0)
{
    // do stuff with $query
}

All of CodeIgniter's Active Record querying methods should work in EE. You can even load Database Forge to create and edit tables via $this->EE->load->dbforge().