/**
 * Implements hook_update_N().
 */
function {{ machine_name }}_update_N(&$sandbox) {
  // For non-multipass updates, the signature can simply be;
  // function {{ machine_name }}_update_N() {

  // For most updates, the following is sufficient.
  db_add_field('mytable1', 'newcol', array('type' => 'int', 'not null' => TRUE, 'description' => 'My new integer column.'));

  // However, for more complex operations that may take a long time,
  // you may hook into Batch API as in the following example.

  // Update 3 users at a time to have an exclamation point after their names.
  // (They're really happy that we can do batch API in this hook!)
  if (!isset($sandbox['progress'])) {
    $sandbox['progress'] = 0;
    $sandbox['current_uid'] = 0;
    // We'll -1 to disregard the uid 0...
    $sandbox['max'] = db_query('SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT uid) FROM {users}')->fetchField() - 1;
  }

  $users = db_select('users', 'u')
    ->fields('u', array('uid', 'name'))
    ->condition('uid', $sandbox['current_uid'], '>')
    ->range(0, 3)
    ->orderBy('uid', 'ASC')
    ->execute();

  foreach ($users as $user) {
    $user->name .= '!';
    db_update('users')
      ->fields(array('name' => $user->name))
      ->condition('uid', $user->uid)
      ->execute();

    $sandbox['progress']++;
    $sandbox['current_uid'] = $user->uid;
  }

  $sandbox['#finished'] = empty($sandbox['max']) ? 1 : ($sandbox['progress'] / $sandbox['max']);

  // To display a message to the user when the update is completed, return it.
  // If you do not want to display a completion message, simply return nothing.
  return t('The update did what it was supposed to do.');

  // In case of an error, simply throw an exception with an error message.
  throw new DrupalUpdateException('Something went wrong; here is what you should do.');
}