How to make EE ignore database table prefix when writing your own queries

Question

I'm working on an ExpressionEngine 3.5.10 website. All my tables are prefixed with exp_

I've added 3 tables to my database to store some data relating to a custom written PHP ecommerce module. These tables do not use the prefix, and are called: ecom_orders, ecom_attendees and ecom_products.

In one of my EE templates - with PHP set on output - I've written the following to try and insert data in one of my tables:

 ee()->db->insert(
        'ecom_orders',
        array(
            'billing_title'  => $_SESSION['basket']['billing']['title'],
            'billing_firstName' => $_SESSION['basket']['billing']['firstName'],
            'billing_surname' => $_SESSION['basket']['billing']['surname'],
    // ...
    ) );

The trouble with this is that I get an SQL error because instead of using the table name ecom_orders, it's changing it to exp_ecom_orders.

How can I reference the table by the name I want (ecom_orders) and get it to ignore the prefix?

I checked the database class docs https://docs.expressionengine.com/latest/development/legacy/libraries/database.html but there's nothing in it about that.

Answer 1

You should never use any table in EE without prefix. Its totally not recommended. Now you have only 1 possibility. Instead of using EE (CI) query, use sql.

ee()->db->query( "INSERT INTO `ecom_orders` (`billing_title`, `billing_firstName`, `billing_surname`) VALUES ('".$_SESSION['basket']['billing']['title']."', '".$_SESSION['basket']['billing']['firstName']."', '".$_SESSION['basket']['billing']['surname']."')");