MySQL: UPDATE trigger. Get the value of a column used in the UPDATE where clause if it does not match any rows?

MySQL: In update trigger's body, can I obtain the value of a column that is specified in the where clause of the triggering query if the where clause does not match any rows at all?

I have to do the following, but NOT USING direct query such as ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE so on:

If I have:

UPDATE my_table SET idiotism_level=5 WHERE name='Pencho'

... and the where clause match NO ROWS, I'd want to automatically trigger an insertion of a row having name='Pencho' before the update, and then the UPDATE would presumably match, and work properly.

Is it possible ?

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This could be make in a RULE in other database systems (PostgreSQL), that does not exists in MySQL. It's a Rule and not a trigger as you should analyse the query and not the result of the query.

But for MySQL you can make pre-query jobs by using MySQL-Proxy. You should be able to alter your update query and build an insert, By running some 'check row exists' extra query from the MySQL-Proxy (I'm not saying this is a nice solution, but if you have no way to make the code to act better you can fix it at this level).