All of the records ...

The update() method wraps SQL's UPDATE. In its simplest form, it updates some part of every record in a table, e.g.:

points.update(points->y, 9.4f);

sets all the ys in points to 9.4f,

points.update(points->y, points->x);

copies the entire x column into the y column, and:

points.update(points->y, (points->x + points->y) * 3.0f);

sets each y to the result of a server-side computation involving its previous value and the x value from the same record.

For any table t, the call t.update(m, exprn) is allowed when:

t's value mapper will be visible to exprn.

serial_table also has an update() method, which differs in just one respect: it never updates the primary key. If the set of columns that you ask it to update includes the primary key, that is not an error, but serial_table::update() will ignore the primary key as it updates the other columns.

... or some of the records

To update only some of the records in the table, we can add a call to where() before update(). E.g., to set y to 9.4f in the points whose x is greater than 5:

points.where(points->x > 5.0f).update(points->y, 9.4f);

Here is a single-cell update (remembering that x is points's primary key):

points.where(points->x == 5.0f).update(points->y, 9.4f);

And a single-record update:

points.where(points->x == 5.0f).update(*points, point{4.2f, 3.5f});

Or we can pick records to update by means other than where(). E.g. this:

points.order(points->x).limit(3).update(points->y, 9.4f);

sets points->y to 9.4f in the rows with the three lowest x values; and this:

screens
.jump(movies, screens->current_movie_id == movies->id)
.update(movies->title, movies->title + "*");

adds an asterisk to the title of each movie that is currently being screened.

You can't call update() on absolutely any query, however. The rule is that the query's value mapper must be identical to, or a copy of, some table's value mapper. That lets quince know which table to update (the one whose value mapper matches the query's), and also which records to update (the ones whose current values are equal to one or more of the values that the query would produce ^[13] ).