AR force update

[genichyar]

Sometimes I need to update optimistic locks's counter even if no attribute was changed. In the current version It's hard to do it.

I propose to set a variable $forceUpdate at \yii\db\BaseActiveRecord class.
Also updateInternal method should be updated.

public $forceUpdate = false;

protected function updateInternal($attributes = null)
{
        if (!$this->beforeSave(false)) {
                return false;
        }
        $values = $this->getDirtyAttributes($attributes);

        $lock = $this->optimisticLock();    
        if (empty($values) && ($lock === null || !$this->forceUpdate)) {
                $this->afterSave(false);
                return 0;
        }
        $condition = $this->getOldPrimaryKey(true);

        if ($lock !== null) {
                if (!isset($values[$lock])) {
                        $values[$lock] = $this->$lock + 1;
                }
                $condition[$lock] = $this->$lock;
        }
        // We do not check the return value of updateAll() because it's possible
        // that the UPDATE statement doesn't change anything and thus returns 0.
        $rows = $this->updateAll($values, $condition);

        if ($lock !== null && !$rows) {
                throw new StaleObjectException('The object being updated is outdated.');
        }

        foreach ($values as $name => $value) {
                $this->_oldAttributes[$name] = $this->_attributes[$name];
        }
        $this->afterSave(false);
        return $rows;
}

[samdark]

What's your situation exactly?

[qiangxue]

Added markAttributeDirty(). You can call this method to mark an attribute as dirty to force updating a record.

[genichyar]

@samdark , I have a following situation: There is an AR Model Form with a file field. File field is perfomed in beforeSave() method of the AR Model. If two users is editing same record simultaneously and one of them will update only file field, second will not received an StaleObjectException. Solution is increase lock attribute value when file is uploading.

@qiangxue , thank you for your job, but I can't solve an problem with markAttributeDirty()
For example we have a table with following attributes: id, name, version. version is used for optimisticLock.
I have only one way to force update. It is calliing $this->markAttributeDirty('name');
But I will get next sql: UPDATE table SET name='name', version=2 WHERE id=1 AND version=1
I no need to update name. I want to get UPDATE table SET version=2 WHERE id=1 AND version=1

If table has only 2 fields id and version I haven't ways to call markAttributeDirty()

If you don't want to set a variable $forceUpdate, what do you think about following change?

$condition[$lock] = $this->$lock;

to

$condition[$lock] = $this->getOldAttribute($lock);

I think it solves the problem. If I want to force update I will call $this->version++;

[qiangxue]

If two users is editing same record simultaneously and one of them will update only file field, second will not received an StaleObjectException.

Why the second will not receive the exception? If the first user saves the record first, the lock counter will be incremented by one, and when the second user tries to save the record, he will find the lock counter is outdated.

[genichyar]

If the first user saves the record first, the lock counter will be incremented by one

You're right, it would have happened if first user change at least one field. But if user change only file field of the form, AR model will not be saved. So lock counter will not be incremented.

[qiangxue]

But why don't you modify the AR model (e.g. set the update time) since the model does get changed? It seems your design is problematic...

[genichyar]

Setting update time is good idea. But in my task it will be unused field. When model is changed I have to update update_time and lock field instead of a just lock.

[qiangxue]

I think your use case is uncommon. We certainly don't want to introduce an extra property to solve this uncommon problem because it means extra memory cost (we are very careful at adding any additional new properties to base classes.) For your case, I think markAttributeDirty() should be a sufficient workaround, although you would argue it won't work if there are only id and version columns. I don't think forcing updating a column such as name should be a big issue, since it doesn't really change anything.