'If case within string in JavaScript with variable either inside quotation marks or NULL?

This question is difficult to title but easy to show. I would like to add multiple sets of values to an SQL insert such as

var sqlInsertString = `INSERT INTO events (url) VALUES`
var sqlInsertValuesString = `(`('${event.url ? event.url : null}'), null, 1, 2, 3)`

pg_client.query(sqlInsertString + sqlInsertValuesString)

this happens in a loop and thus the separation of insert string and values string. Now, what I want to happen is that if event.url contains a url it should insert the url as 'https://www.example.com' (with quotation marks) but if event.url is empty, it should insert null.

My code above will insert 'null' (with quotation marks) instead of an actual null in the database. Removing the quotation marks will cause errors because of the ':' in the url.

How do I, in sqlInsertValuesString either provide a valid url string OR a 'real' null (without quotation marks) with this method?

javascriptsql


Solution 1:[1]

There is more than one reason to use parametrised queries, not just preventing injection attacks. They make it as simple as

pg_client.query(
  "INSERT INTO events (url, nothing, one, two, three) VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5)",
  [event.url || null, null, 1, 2, 3]
)
.then(res => ...)
.catch(err => ...)

No quoting necessary, the driver handles all the mechanics behind the scenes.

So even if you are not making your program safer, it is still good to use parametrised queries at least for legibility, and also for practice: if you get into a habit of using parametrised queries always, you will not need to think whether an injection is possible, and you will never make a mistake of misjudging it and leaving a security hole in your program.

Solution 2:[2]

Unless you particularly want to use the backticks, you can do this

var event = {};
event.url = 'http://someurl.com';
var sqlInsertString = "INSERT INTO events (url, a, b, c, d) VALUES ";
var sqlInsertValuesString = "('" + (event.url ? event.url + "'" : null) + ", null, 1, 2, 3)";

console.log(sqlInsertString + sqlInsertValuesString);

var event = {};
var sqlInsertString = "INSERT INTO events (url, a, b, c, d) VALUES ";
var sqlInsertValuesString = "(" + (event.url ? "'" + event.url + "'" : null) + ", null, 1, 2, 3)";

console.log(sqlInsertString + sqlInsertValuesString);

Solution 3:[3]

It probably makes sense to split the assignment for clarity:

let eventUrl = event.url ?? null;
const sqlInsertString = `INSERT INTO events (url) VALUES (${eventUrl}, null, 1, 2, 3)`

I have used the coalescing operator for the eventUrl

Solution 4:[4]

You can try

`(${event.url ? `'${event.url}'` : `null`})`

So there are only single quotes around the url if it exists, and not for nulls.

Solution 5:[5]

If someone finds this through Google I also found that escaping the backtick works as well:

${event.url ? (`\'` + event.url + `\'`) : null},

but the chosen answer is better.

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1
Solution 2 K Scandrett
Solution 3 Ankit Gupta
Solution 4 James
Solution 5 Christoffer

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