allspiritseve

You know, I figured it out. I had a multi column INDEX instead of UNIQUE.

Yes, though I wasn't sure exactly if that was what I needed. Even with the multi-column index, a REPLACE query still inserts when both columns are specified. Is there something else I need to do?

I would like to use a REPLACE query using two separate text fields as keys. If both keys match, the record is replaced, while if one or the other matches, but not both, a new record is inserted. I am not sure exactly what my db structure needs to look like, as I've only ever used an int pkey with auto-increment. I am using MySQL 5.0.45 on a LAMP server. Thanks, Cory

I agree, I definitely learned my lesson on this one. I didn't really see it as something unmaintainable at the beginning, otherwise I definitely would have put more effort into it, but now having done quite a bit of additions and seeing it take longer and longer as I had hack after hack, its clear that it is only going to get worse. I don't feel like it is fair to charge him for refactoring, and I guess I can see that it may still be worth my time if he continues in the same vein. Thanks, Cory

Well I charge him for new features, but it takes me longer and longer to add a feature and have the program work correctly, without bugs. Do you mean I should charge him for a refactoring of the code?

OK, I got this client a couple of months ago, who requested an inventory program of sorts for a hobby of his. His budget was small, and I was leaving for Spain on study abroad fairly soon, so I did a quickie job. The program works just fine, exactly as he requested, but ever since then, he's been requesting little features added on here and there, and it's becoming a mess to maintain. I feel like if I took the code and did some refactoring, it could internally work a lot smoother and wouldn't be so difficult to add features... Should I have done something different? Should I have designed the site to be flexible and work even after I've added a good 20 other features? I wasn't paid for that, I was paid to make a program that works. Should I just refactor the code on my own time, so its easier to maintain? I don't feel like that's something I could charge him for. Any thoughts?