TYPO3: How do i change a part of a string in the database with QueryBuilder?

Question

I am using TYPO3 10 and i would like to change a specific text/word inside the pi_flexform column in the tt_content table.

The concept: I want to migrate the forms folder from user_upload to form_definitions (Updating a Project from TYPO3 8 to 10) using the QueryBuilder.

I could just override the form_definitions folder back to the user_upload, but i want a clean structure. Now if i change the folder from where the forms are coming, the forms do not work anymore because in the database and in the pi_flexform column exists the following:

...
<field index="settings.persistenceIdentifier">
      <value index="vDEF">1:/user_upload/NameOfTheForm.form.yaml</value>
</field>
...

What i want, is to change the 1:/user_upload/ to 1:/form_definitions/ .

I know i will have to use the UPDATE & SET with QueryBuilder but i do not know how to use it for a specific string inside a string.

How do i achieve this?

Answer 1

In order to replace a specific text/word in a column, one can use QueryBuilder's UPDATE & SET functions. It looks like this:

$queryBuilder = $this->connection->createQueryBuilder();
$queryBuilder->getRestrictions()->removeAll();
$queryBuilder
    ->update('tt_content')
    ->where(
        $queryBuilder->expr()->andX(
            $queryBuilder->expr()->like(
                'tt_content.pi_flexform',
                   $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter(
                      '%user_upload%',
                      Connection::PARAM_STR
                   )
             )
         )
     )
     ->set(
         'tt_content.pi_flexform',
         sprintf(
             'REPLACE(tt_content.pi_flexform, %s, %s)',
              $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter('user_upload', Connection::PARAM_STR),
              $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter('form_definitions', Connection::PARAM_STR)
         ),
         false
     )
     ->execute();

Breaking the code down:

$queryBuilder = $this->connection->createQueryBuilder();
$queryBuilder->getRestrictions()->removeAll();

We initialise the query and we are removing all the restrictions. QueryBuilder only performs to the entries that are not set to deleted=1 or hidden =1 . We want to perform the updated path to all entries, so we remove the restrictions.

$queryBuilder->expr()->like(
   'tt_content.pi_flexform',
       $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter(
       '%user_upload%',
        Connection::PARAM_STR
    )
 )

We only want to update the entries that in the pi_flexform column the word user_upload exists.

 ->set(
     'tt_content.pi_flexform',
     sprintf(
         'REPLACE(tt_content.pi_flexform, %s, %s)',
          $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter('user_upload', Connection::PARAM_STR),
          $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter('form_definitions', Connection::PARAM_STR)
     ),
     false
 )
 ->execute();

We use the SQL REPLACE command to find the word and replace it. With the $queryBuilder->createNamedParameter() we avoid SQL injections.

---

Hope it helped

Best regards

Answer 2

You can also use a raw DB query with

$connection->query('Your raw query');

Be aware that this will only work for the specific database type and you need to take care about security yourself.