Update single attribute value

Question

I'm a Magento newbee so please forgive me if there is ... a crap in the code ... Sending Ajax request with Brand ID and current state "status = 1 or 0" and would like to update state in table:

public function BrandsAction()
{
    $brand_id = $this->getRequest()->getPost("brand_id");
    $status = $this->getRequest()->getPost("status");
    $_category = Mage::getResourceModel('catalog/category_collection')
            ->addFieldToFilter('name', 'Brands')
            ->getFirstItem();

    $categoryId = $_category->getId();
    $brands = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($categoryId);
    $brand = $brands->load($brand_id);
    foreach($brand as $element){
        echo $element;
        if($element->getId() == $brand_id){
            $element->getData();
            $element->getAttribute('show_brand');
            $element->setData('show_brand',$status);
            $element->save();
        }
    }

I expected it will update value in column 'show_brand' but it actually does nothing just returning data back so I can see in console what values were sent. How to update value for specified "category -> Brand -> Somebrand" ?? Did I miss something ?

//just checking category id
$categoryId = $_category->getId();
//loading selected category
$brands = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($categoryId);
//Loading Brand Data
$brand = $brands->load($brand_id);

isn't it ? Or I misunderstood something ?

Current code:

    public function BrandsAction()
    {
    $brandNameId = $this->getRequest()->getPost("brand_id");
    $status = $this->getRequest()->getPost("status");
    $brandsNameCat = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($brandNameId);
    $brandsNameCat->setShowBrand($status);
    $brandsNameCat->save();
    }

not updating values in table ... what I should check to make sure it willl update values ?

Answer 1

In that case below code should work

<?php
function BrandsAction()
{
    $brand_id = $this->getRequest()->getPost("brand_id");
    // I assume $brand_id is your brand name category id which is subcategory or brands (Parent category)
    $status = $this->getRequest()->getPost("status");
    $brandsNameCat = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($brand_id);
    $brandsNameCat->setShowBrand($status);
    $brandsNameCat->save();
}

Answer 2

To avoid saving the entire model and improve the performance, you can replace the following code:

$brandsNameCat->save();

With:

$brandsNameCat->saveAttribute($brandsNameCat, 'show_brand');