Re: Looking up a value in a 'subtable' and inserting it if it doesn't exist

[Dave Kennard]

Thanks for those links, so I guess
INSERT INTO cameras SET camera = 'my camera' ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE id=LAST_INSERT_ID(id);
SET @camera = LAST_INSERT_ID(); etc.
INSERT INTO imageData SET camera = @camera, etc.

Is faster than:
INSERT IGNORE INTO cameras SET camera = 'my camera'; etc.
INSERT INTO imageData SET camera = (SELECT id FROM cameras WHERE camera = 'mycamera'), etc.

In those posts you linked to, the examples were using the API to get the LAST_INSERT_ID(). I presume it's just as fast (or faster) to set a variable in mysql to the LAST_INSERT_ID() than it is to do this in PHP (or whatever language)?

Thanks

Dave