I just finished writing a flatfile db class for PHP which supports selecting, updating, inserting and deleting. I was wondering if there are any ways to make it faster or if I'm doing anything the wrong way here's my source code <?php class FlatDB { private static $field_deliemeter = "\t"; private static $linebreak = "\n"; private static $table_extension = '.tsv'; public $table_name; public $table_contents = array("FIELDS" => NULL, "RECORDS" => NULL); /* ** This method creates a table ** ** @param string $table_name ** ** @example ** $db = new FlatDB; ** $db->createTable('Administrators'); **/ public function createTable($table_name, $table_fields) { // Create the file $tbl_name = $table_name.self::$table_extension; $header = ''; foreach($table_fields as $field) { $header .= $field.self::$field_deliemeter; } file_put_contents($tbl_name, $header); } /* ** This method opens a table for querying, editing, etc ** ** @param string $table_name ** ** @example ** $db = new FlatDB; ** $db->openTable('Test.csv'); **/ public function openTable($table_name) { // Check if this table is found $table_name = $table_name.self::$table_extension; if(file_exists($table_name) === FALSE) throw new Exception('Table not found.'); // Set the table in a property $this->table_name = $table_name; // Get the fields $table = file($this->table_name, FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES); $table_fields = explode(self::$field_deliemeter, $table[0]); unset($table[0]); // Put all records in an array $records = array(); $num = 0; foreach($table as $record) { $records_temp = explode(self::$field_deliemeter, $record); $count = count($records_temp); for($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) $records[$num][$table_fields[$i]] = $records_temp[$i]; $num++; } $this->table_contents['FIELDS'] = $table_fields; $this->table_contents['RECORDS'] = $records; } /* ** This method returns fields selected by the user based on a where criteria ** ** @param array $select an array containing the fields the user wants to select, if he wants all fields he should use a * ** @param array $where an array which has field => value combinations ** @return array it returns an array containing the records ** ** @example ** $db = new FlatDB; ** $db->openTable('Test.csv'); ** $select = array("id", "name", "group_id"); ** $where = array("group_id" => 2); ** $db->getRecords($select, $where); **/ public function getRecords($select, $where = array()) { // Do some checks if(is_array($select) === FALSE) throw new Exception('First argument must be an array'); if(is_array($where) === FALSE && isset($where)) throw new Exception('Second arguement must be an array'); if(empty($this->table_name) === TRUE) throw new Exception('There is no connection to a table opened.'); // If the array contains only one key which is a *, then select all fields if($select[0] == '*') $select = $this->table_contents['FIELDS']; // Check if the fieldnames in select are all found foreach($select as $field_name) if(in_array($field_name, $this->table_contents['FIELDS']) === FALSE) throw new Exception($field_name." is not found in the table."); // Check if the fieldnames in where are all found foreach($where as $field_name => $value) if(in_array($field_name, $this->table_contents['FIELDS']) === FALSE) throw new Exception($field['name']." is not found in the table."); // Find the record that the user queried in where $user_records = $this->table_contents['RECORDS']; if(isset($where)) { foreach($where as $field => $value) { foreach($this->table_contents['RECORDS'] as $key => $record) { if($record[$field] != $value) { unset($user_records[$key]); } } } } // Preserve only the keys that the user asked for $final_array = array(); $temp_fields = array_flip($select); foreach($user_records as &$record) { $final_array[] = array_intersect_key($record, $temp_fields); } return $final_array; } /* ** This method updates fields based on a criteria ** ** @param array $update an array containing the fields the user wants to update ** @param array $where an array which has field => value combinations which is the criteria ** ** @example ** $db = new FlatDB; ** $db->openTable('Test.csv'); ** $update = array("group_id" => 1); ** $where = array("group_id" => 2); ** $db->updateRecords($update, $where); **/ public function updateRecords($update, $where) { // Check if the connection is opened if(empty($this->table_name) === TRUE) throw new Exception('There is no connection to a table opened.'); // Check if each field in update and where are found foreach($update as $field => $value) if(in_array($field, $this->table_contents['FIELDS']) === FALSE) throw new Exception($field." is not found."); foreach($where as $field => $value) if(in_array($field, $this->table_contents['FIELDS']) === FALSE) throw new Exception($field." is not found."); // Find the record that the user queried in where $user_records = $this->table_contents['RECORDS']; $preserved_records = array(); foreach($where as $field => $value) { foreach($this->table_contents['RECORDS'] as $key => $record) { if($record[$field] != $value) { unset($user_records[$key]); $preserved_records[$key] = $record; } } } // Update whatever needs updating $user_records_temp = $user_records; foreach($user_records_temp as $key => $record) { foreach($update as $field => $value) { $user_records[$key][$field] = $value; } } // Merge the preserved records and the records that were updated, then sort them by their record number $user_records += $preserved_records; ksort($user_records, SORT_NUMERIC); // Modify the property of the records and insert the new table $this->table_contents['RECORDS'] = $user_records; // Implode it so we can save it in a file $final_array[] = implode(self::$field_deliemeter, $this->table_contents['FIELDS']); foreach($user_records as $record) $final_array[] = implode(self::$field_deliemeter, $record); // Implode by linebreaks $data = implode(self::$linebreak, $final_array); // Save the file file_put_contents($this->table_name, $data); } /* ** This method inserts a new record to the table ** ** @param array $insert an array containing field => value combinations ** @param array $where an array which has field => value combinations which is the criteria ** ** @example ** $db = new FlatDB; ** $db->openTable('Test.csv'); ** $array = array("id" => 7, "name" => "Jack", "password" => "1234567", "group_id" => 2); ** $db->insertRecord($array); **/ public function insertRecord($insert) { if(is_array($insert) === FALSE) throw new Exception('The values need to be in an array'); if(empty($this->table_name) === TRUE) throw new Exception('You need to open a connection to a table first.'); // Check if each field in insert is found foreach($insert as $field => $value) if(in_array($field, $this->table_contents['FIELDS']) === FALSE) throw new Exception($field." is not found."); // Build the new record $newRecord = array(); foreach($this->table_contents['FIELDS'] as $field) { if(isset($insert[$field])) $newRecord[$field] = $insert[$field]; else $newRecord[$field] = NULL; } // Add the new record to the pre-existing table and save it in the records $records = $this->table_contents['RECORDS']; $records[] = $newRecord; $this->table_contents['RECORDS'] = $records; // Format it for saving $data = array(); $data[] = implode(self::$field_deliemeter, $this->table_contents['FIELDS']); foreach($records as $record) $data[] = implode(self::$field_deliemeter, $record); // Implode by linebreaks $data = implode(self::$linebreak, $data); // Save in file file_put_contents($this->table_name, $data); } /* ** This method deletes records from a table ** ** @param array $where an array which has field => value combinations which is the criteria ** ** @example ** $db = new FlatDB; ** $db->openTable('Test.csv'); ** $where = array("group_id" => 3); ** $db->deleteRecords($where); **/ public function deleteRecords($where) { if(is_array($where) === FALSE) throw new Exception('The argument must be an array'); if(empty($this->table_name) === TRUE) throw new Exception('You need to open a connection to a database first.'); // Check if each field in insert is found foreach($where as $field => $value) if(in_array($field, $this->table_contents['FIELDS']) === FALSE) throw new Exception($field." is not found."); // Find the records that match and delete them $records = $this->table_contents['RECORDS']; foreach($records as $key => $record) { foreach($where as $field => $value) { if($record[$field] == $value) unset($records[$key]); } } // Save the records in the property $this->table_contents['RECORDS'] = $records; // Format it for saving $data = array(); $data[] = implode(self::$field_deliemeter, $this->table_contents['FIELDS']); foreach($records as $record) $data[] = implode(self::$field_deliemeter, $record); // Implode by linebreaks $data = implode(self::$linebreak, $data); // Save the file file_put_contents($this->table_name, $data); } } ?>