How to UPDATE 1 column in 1 row using placeholders

Question

I need to update 1 item in 1 row in a database table in mysql using placeholders. The syntax I'm trying to use is:

"UPDATE table SET column_name = newValue WHERE id = selectedID"

I know the table name and I want to select the row to update using the id. I want to pass in the column_name, newValue, and selectedID using placeholders, so I think the statement should look like this:

"UPDATE table SET ?? = ? WHERE id = ?", [{column_name: newValue}, {id: selectedID}]

Here is my code:

employeeToUpdate(columnToUpdate, newValue, employeeToUpdateId) {
    console.log("Updating employee information \n");
    // console.log('col: ' + columnToUpdate + "  newV: " + newValue + "  id: " + employeeToUpdateId);
    this.connection.query(
      // insert a new role with the given information
      // "UPDATE employee SET last_name = 'Johnson' WHERE id = 4"
      "UPDATE employee SET ?? = ? WHERE id = ?",
      [
        {
          columnToUpdate: newValue
        },
        {
          id: employeeToUpdateId
        }
      ]
    )
  }

The commented out console.log confirms that the values passed in are correct. The commented out "UPDATE..." statement works for the values provided.

But this results in a parse error. Is there a better way to do this? I'm not finding good documentation to help me.

Answer 1

I think the second parameter should be an array.I could not test it but something like this should work.

this.connection.query("UPDATE employee SET ?? = ?? WHERE id = ?", 
    [columnToUpdate,newValue,employeeToUpdateId], 
    function (error, results) {
             if (error){
             return console.error(error.message);
             }
             console.log('Rows affected:', results.affectedRows);
    });