Drop Off Funnel in SQL - mysql

I have a table that has user_seq_id and no of days a user was active in the program. I want to understand the drop-off funnel. Like how many users were active on day 0 (100%) and on day 1, 2 and so on.
Input table :
create table test (
user_seq_id int ,
NoOfDaysUserWasActive int
);
insert into test (user_seq_id , NoOfDaysUserWasActive)
values (13451, 2), (76453, 1), (22342, 3), (11654, 0),
(54659, 2), (64420, 1), (48906, 5);
I want Day, ActiveUsers, and % Distribution of these users.

One method doesn't use window functions at all. Just a list of days and aggregation:
select v.day, count(t.user_seq_id),
count(t.user_seq_id) / c.cnt as ratio
from (select 0 as day union all select 1 union all select 2 union all select 3 union all select 4 union all select 5
) v(day) left join
test t
on v.day <= t.NoOfDaysUserWasActive cross join
(select count(*) as cnt from test) c
group by v.day, c.cnt
order by v.day asc;
Here is a db<>fiddle.
The mention of window function suggests that you are thinking:
select NoOfDaysUserWasActive,
sum(count(*)) over (order by NoOfDaysUserWasActive desc) as cnt,
sum(count(*)) over (order by NoOfDaysUserWasActive desc) / sum(count(*)) over () as ratio
from test
group by NoOfDaysUserWasActive
order by NoOfDaysUserWasActive
The problem is that this does not "fill in" the days that are not explicitly in the original data. If that is not an issue, then this should have better performance.

Related

How to determine columns dynamically for the SELECT query in MySQL with CASE statement. OR: How to replace columns dynamically in the SELECT query

I have to make some SQL query.
I'll only put here tables and results I need - I am sure this is the best way for a clear explanation (at the bottom of the question I provided SQL queries for database filling).
short description:
TASK: After full join concatenation I receive a result where (for example) tableA.point column (that is used in the SELECT statement) in some cells returns NULL. In these cases, I need to change tableA.point column to the tableB.point (from the joined table).
So, tables:
(Columns point + date are composite key.)
outcome_o:
income_o:
The result I need an example (we can see - I need a concatenated table with both out and inc columns in rows)
My attempt:
SELECT outcome_o.point,
outcome_o.date,
inc,
out
FROM income_o
FULL JOIN outcome_o ON income_o.point = outcome_o.point AND income_o.date = outcome_o.date
The result is the same as I need, except NULL in different point and date columns:
I tried to avoid this with CASE statement:
SELECT
CASE outcome_o.point
WHEN NULL
THEN income_o.point
ELSE outcome_o.point
END as point,
....
But this not works as I imagined (all cells became NULL in point column).
Could anyone help me with this solution? I know there is I have to use JOIN, CASE (case-mandatory) and possibly UNION commands.
Thanks
Tables creation:
CREATE TABLE income(
point INT,
date VARCHAR(60),
inc FLOAT
)
CREATE TABLE outcome(
point INT,
date VARCHAR(60),
ou_t FLOAT
)
INSERT INTO income VALUES
(1, '2001-03-22', 15000.0000),
(1, '2001-03-23', 15000.0000),
(1, '2001-03-24', 3400.0000),
(1, '2001-04-13', 5000.0000),
(1, '2001-05-11', 4500.0000),
(2, '2001-03-22', 10000.0000),
(2, '2001-03-24', 1500.0000),
(3, '2001-09-13', 11500.0000),
(3, '2001-10-02', 18000.0000);
INSERT INTO outcome VALUES
(1, '2001-03-14 00:00:00.000', 15348.0000),
(1, '2001-03-24 00:00:00.000', 3663.0000),
(1, '2001-03-26 00:00:00.000', 1221.0000),
(1, '2001-03-28 00:00:00.000', 2075.0000),
(1, '2001-03-29 00:00:00.000', 2004.0000),
(1, '2001-04-11 00:00:00.000', 3195.0400),
(1, '2001-04-13 00:00:00.000', 4490.0000),
(1, '2001-04-27 00:00:00.000', 3110.0000),
(1, '2001-05-11 00:00:00.000', 2530.0000),
(2, '2001-03-22 00:00:00.000', 1440.0000),
(2, '2001-03-29 00:00:00.000', 7848.0000),
(2, '2001-04-02 00:00:00.000', 2040.0000),
(3, '2001-09-13 00:00:00.000', 1500.0000),
(3, '2001-09-14 00:00:00.000', 2300.0000),
(3, '2002-09-16 00:00:00.000', 2150.0000);
The first step is to create a date range reference table. To do that, we can use Common Table Expression (cte):
WITH RECURSIVE cte AS (
SELECT Min(mndate) mindt, MAX(mxdate) maxdt
FROM (SELECT MIN(date) AS mndate, MAX(date) AS mxdate
FROM outcome
UNION
SELECT MIN(date), MAX(date)
FROM income) v
UNION
SELECT mindt + INTERVAL 1 DAY, maxdt
FROM cte
WHERE mindt + INTERVAL 1 DAY <= maxdt)
SELECT mindt
FROM cte
Here I'm trying to generate the dynamic date range based on the minimum & maximum date value from both of your tables. This is particularly useful when you don't to keep on changing the date range but if you don't mind, you can just generate them simply like so:
WITH RECURSIVE cte AS (
SELECT '2001-03-14 00:00:00' dt
UNION
SELECT dt + INTERVAL 1 DAY
FROM cte
WHERE dt + INTERVAL 1 DAY <= '2002-09-16')
SELECT mindt
FROM cte
From here, I'll do a CROSS JOIN to get the distinct point value from both tables:
...
CROSS JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT point FROM outcome
UNION
SELECT DISTINCT point FROM income) p
Now we have a reference table with all the point and date range. Let's wrap those in another cte.
WITH RECURSIVE cte AS (
SELECT Min(mndate) mindt, MAX(mxdate) maxdt
FROM (SELECT MIN(date) AS mndate, MAX(date) AS mxdate
FROM outcome
UNION
SELECT MIN(date), MAX(date)
FROM income) v
UNION
SELECT mindt + INTERVAL 1 DAY, maxdt
FROM cte
WHERE mindt + INTERVAL 1 DAY <= maxdt),
cte2 AS (
SELECT point, mindt
FROM cte
CROSS JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT point FROM outcome
UNION
SELECT DISTINCT point FROM income) p)
SELECT *
FROM cte2;
Next step is taking your current query attempt and LEFT JOIN it to the reference table:
WITH RECURSIVE cte AS (
SELECT Min(mndate) mindt, MAX(mxdate) maxdt
FROM (SELECT MIN(date) AS mndate, MAX(date) AS mxdate
FROM outcome
UNION
SELECT MIN(date), MAX(date)
FROM income) v
UNION
SELECT mindt + INTERVAL 1 DAY, maxdt
FROM cte
WHERE mindt + INTERVAL 1 DAY <= maxdt),
cte2 AS (
SELECT point, CAST(mindt AS DATE) AS rdate
FROM cte
CROSS JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT point FROM outcome
UNION
SELECT DISTINCT point FROM income) p)
SELECT *
FROM cte2
LEFT JOIN outcome
ON cte2.point=outcome.point
AND cte2.rdate=outcome.date
LEFT JOIN income
ON cte2.point=income.point
AND cte2.rdate=income.date
/*added conditions*/
WHERE cte2.point=1
AND COALESCE(outcome.date, income.date) IS NOT NULL
/*****/
ORDER BY cte2.rdate;
I noticed that your date column is using VARCHAR() datatype instead of DATE or DATETIME. Which is why my initial test return only one result. However, I do notice that if I compare YYYY-MM-DD format against your table date value, it returns other results, which is why I did CAST(mindt AS DATE) AS rdate in cte2. I do recommend that you change the date column to MySQL standard date format though.
You probably find the query a bit too long but if you have a table where you store dates or as we call it calendar table, the query will be much shorter, perhaps like this:
SELECT *
FROM calendar
LEFT JOIN outcome
ON calendar.point=outcome.point
AND calendar.rdate=outcome.date
LEFT JOIN income
ON calendar.point=income.point
AND calendar.rdate=income.date
/*added conditions*/
WHERE calendar.point=1
AND COALESCE(outcome.date, income.date) IS NOT NULL
/*****/
ORDER BY calendar.rdate;
Demo fiddle
It seems I was using the wrong syntax for the solution. So, as I found out, dynamically column selection is accessible in the SELECT query:
correct CASE statement:
(
CASE
WHEN outcome_o.point IS NULL
THEN income_o.point
ELSE outcome_o.point
END
) as point,
In this case query selects joined table column in the case the main table column is NULL.
Full query (returns result exactly I need):
SELECT
(
CASE
WHEN outcome_o.point IS NULL
THEN income_o.point
ELSE outcome_o.point
END
) as point,
(
CASE
WHEN outcome_o.date IS NULL
THEN income_o.date
ELSE outcome_o.date
END
) as date,
inc,
out
FROM income_o
FULL JOIN outcome_o ON income_o.point = outcome_o.point AND income_o.date = outcome_o.date

How to transpose values in rows to columns in MySQL

This image shows how my raw table looks like:
Following are the conditions to get the transposed table from the image below:
Each row has a unique id
We only need columns for groups A,B,C in the group field and not others.
There could be single or multiple id for group A for the same app id, I need to get those rows for which date is minimum.
There could be single or multiple id for group B and C for the same app id, I need to get those rows for which date is maximum
The image below shows how my final table should look like:
Each row has a unique id
We only need columns for groups A,B,C in the group field and not others.
add this to your query
WHERE `GROUP` IN ('A','B','C')
There could be single or multiple id for group A for the same app id, I need to get those rows for which date is minimum.
add somewhere after the SELECT:
MIN(date) OVER (PARTIITON BY appid)
There could be single or multiple id for group B and C for the same app id, I need to get those rows for which date is maximum
change the added option on point 3 to:
CASE WHEN `group` IN ('B','C')
THEN MAX(date) OVER (PARTIITON BY appid)
ELSE MIN(date) OVER (PARTIITON BY appid)
END
Maybe this helps you to try and take a serious request of solving this yourself (and learn from it) in stead of asking for a solution and then do copy/paste...
BTW: Naming fiels with reserved words, like GROUP and DATE is not a very smart thing to do. A better name for the column GROUP might be CategoryGroup (or whatever this group is referring to)
I took a different approach to this. The SQL is longer but I think it's more auditable.
The main logic point is that I broke A and BC into 2 different subqueries, and used QUALIFY ROW_NUMBER() to choose the correct row, based on either ASC or DESC per your requirements.
I know you are using mysql and this might not work since I don't have an instance to test this one, but here is the SQL I got from building this logic in Rasgo, which I tested on Snowflake and it worked.
-- This splits the data into group A only
WITH CTE_A AS (
SELECT
*
FROM
{{ your_table }}
WHERE
my_group = 'A'
),
-- This splits the data into group B and C only
CTE_B AS (
SELECT
*
FROM
{{ your_table }}
WHERE
my_group IN('B', 'C')
),
-- Selecting from A only, it keeps the most recent row ASCENDING
CTE_A_FIRST AS (
SELECT
*
FROM
CTE_A QUALIFY ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
PARTITION BY APP_ID,
MY_GROUP
ORDER BY
MY_DATE ASC
) = 1
),
-- Selecting from A only, it keeps the most recent row DESCENDING
CTE_B_LAST AS (
SELECT
*
FROM
CTE_B QUALIFY ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
PARTITION BY APP_ID,
MY_GROUP
ORDER BY
MY_DATE DESC
) = 1
),
-- Here we just union A and BC back to one another
CTE_ABC AS (
SELECT
ID,
APP_ID,
MY_DATE,
MY_GROUP,
SCORE1,
SCORE2
FROM
CTE_B_LAST
UNION ALL
SELECT
ID,
APP_ID,
MY_DATE,
MY_GROUP,
SCORE1,
SCORE2
FROM
CTE_B
),
-- We pivot the date horizontally so we get a date for A B C
-- the MIN does not matter, since at this point, we only have 1
CTE_PVT_DATE AS (
SELECT
APP_ID,
B,
C,
A
FROM
(
SELECT
APP_ID,
MY_DATE,
MY_GROUP
FROM
CTE_ABC
) PIVOT (
MIN (MY_DATE) FOR MY_GROUP IN ('B', 'C', 'A')
) as p (APP_ID, B, C, A)
),
-- We pivot the SCORE1 horizontally so we get a date for A B C
-- the MIN does not matter, since at this point, we only have 1
CTE_PVT_SCORE1 AS (
SELECT
APP_ID,
B,
C,
A
FROM
(
SELECT
APP_ID,
SCORE1,
MY_GROUP
FROM
CTE_ABC
) PIVOT (
MIN (SCORE1) FOR MY_GROUP IN ('B', 'C', 'A')
) as p (APP_ID, B, C, A)
),
-- We pivot the SCORE2 horizontally so we get a date for A B C
-- the MIN does not matter, since at this point, we only have 1
CTE_PVT_SCORE2 AS (
SELECT
APP_ID,
B,
C,
A
FROM
(
SELECT
APP_ID,
SCORE2,
MY_GROUP
FROM
CTE_ABC
) PIVOT (
MIN (SCORE2) FOR MY_GROUP IN ('B', 'C', 'A')
) as p (APP_ID, B, C, A)
),
-- We join the subqueries above together on the APP_IDs
CTE_JOINED AS (
SELECT
t0.*,
t1.APP_ID as SCORE1_APP_ID,
t1.B as SCORE1_B,
t1.C as SCORE1_C,
t1.A as SCORE1_A,
t2.APP_ID as SCORE2_APP_ID,
t2.B as SCORE2_B,
t2.C as SCORE2_C,
t2.A as SCORE2_A
FROM
CTE_PVT_DATE t0
INNER JOIN CTE_PVT_SCORE1 t1 ON t0.APP_ID = t1.APP_ID
INNER JOIN CTE_PVT_SCORE2 t2 ON t0.APP_ID = t2.APP_ID
)
-- The final select is really just renaming ...
-- the magic has already happened
SELECT
A AS DATE_A,
B AS DATE_B,
C AS DATE_C,
APP_ID,
SCORE1_B,
SCORE1_C,
SCORE1_A,
SCORE2_B,
SCORE2_C,
SCORE2_A
FROM
CTE_JOINED
I'll roll out my attempt along several steps and then show you the full solution made up of these steps, so that you can understand it piece by piece, given the following definition of your input table:
CREATE TABLE tab(
id INT,
app_id INT,
date VARCHAR(20),
group VARCHAR(20),
score1 INT,
score2 INT
);
STEP 1. Formatting date using a proper DATE format ("YYYY-MM-DD"). For this purpose the function STR_TO_DATE can come in handy.
WITH formatted_tab AS (
SELECT id,
app_id,
STR_TO_DATE(date, '%m/%d/%Y') AS date,
group,
score1,
score2
FROM tab
)
STEP 2. Extracting the useful dates according to the group field. As long as you treat group "A" differently with respect to group "B" and "C" specifically, the idea here is to address each group with a different query, where
in the former case the MIN aggregation function is applied,
in the latter case the MAX aggregation function is applied,
Then the two output result sets are combined with a UNION operation.
(
SELECT app_id,
MIN(date) AS date,
group
FROM formatted_tab
WHERE group IN ('A')
GROUP BY app_id,
group
UNION
SELECT app_id,
MAX(date) AS date,
group
FROM formatted_tab
WHERE group IN ('B', 'C')
GROUP BY app_id,
group
) needed_dates
STEP 3. Getting back scores corresponding to group and date field. This is done with a simple INNER JOIN between the last generated table and the formatted table.
(
SELECT needed_dates.*,
formatted_tab.score1,
formatted_tab.score2
FROM needed_dates
INNER JOIN formatted_tab
ON needed_dates.app_id = formatted_tab.app_id
AND needed_dates.date = formatted_tab.date
AND needed_dates.group = formatted_tab.group
) needed_infos
STEP 4. Pivoting the table exploiting MySQL tools like:
the IF statement to retrieve the values corresponding to a specific group
the MAX aggregation function, to aggregate on the same group
These tools are applied for each group you specified ('A', 'B' and 'C').
SELECT app_id,
MAX(IF(group='A', date , NULL)) AS date_groupA,
MAX(IF(group='B', date , NULL)) AS date_groupB,
MAX(IF(group='C', date , NULL)) AS date_groupC,
MAX(IF(group='A', score1, NULL)) AS score1_groupA,
MAX(IF(group='A', score2, NULL)) AS score2_groupA,
MAX(IF(group='B', score1, NULL)) AS score1_groupB,
MAX(IF(group='B', score2, NULL)) AS score2_groupB,
MAX(IF(group='C', score1, NULL)) AS score1_groupC,
MAX(IF(group='C', score2, NULL)) AS score2_groupC
FROM needed_infos
GROUP BY app_id
Full attempt. This is the combination of the previous snippets. The only difference is the presence of backticks for the field names, that avoid MySQL to misunderstand them with MySQL private keywords like "date" (indicating the DATE type), "group" (use as keyword in the GROUP BY clause) or similar.
WITH `formatted_tab` AS (
SELECT `id`,
`app_id`,
STR_TO_DATE(`date`, '%m/%d/%Y') AS `date`,
`group`,
`score1`,
`score2`
FROM `tab`
)
SELECT `app_id`,
MAX(IF(`group`='A', `date` , NULL)) AS date_groupA,
MAX(IF(`group`='B', `date` , NULL)) AS date_groupB,
MAX(IF(`group`='C', `date` , NULL)) AS date_groupC,
MAX(IF(`group`='A', `score1`, NULL)) AS score1_groupA,
MAX(IF(`group`='A', `score2`, NULL)) AS score2_groupA,
MAX(IF(`group`='B', `score1`, NULL)) AS score1_groupB,
MAX(IF(`group`='B', `score2`, NULL)) AS score2_groupB,
MAX(IF(`group`='C', `score1`, NULL)) AS score1_groupC,
MAX(IF(`group`='C', `score2`, NULL)) AS score2_groupC
FROM ( SELECT needed_dates.*,
formatted_tab.score1,
formatted_tab.score2
FROM ( SELECT `app_id`,
MIN(`date`) AS `date`,
`group`
FROM `formatted_tab`
WHERE `group` IN ('A')
GROUP BY `app_id`,
`group`
UNION
SELECT `app_id`,
MAX(`date`) AS `date`,
`group`
FROM `formatted_tab`
WHERE `group` IN ('B', 'C')
GROUP BY `app_id`,
`group`
) needed_dates
INNER JOIN formatted_tab
ON needed_dates.app_id = formatted_tab.app_id
AND needed_dates.date = formatted_tab.date
AND needed_dates.group = formatted_tab.group
) needed_infos
GROUP BY `app_id`
You'll find a tested SQL Fiddle here.

SELECT multiple discrete records from a set like with LIMIT

Let's say I have a query
SELECT *
FROM foo
ORDER BY id
And I want the 1st, 5th, 100th, 250th result, etc.
SELECT *
FROM foo
ORDER BY id
LIMIT 5, 1
Gives you the 5th. And I could run a similar query N times. But, how can I do it more elegantly in only one query?
Something like this (which doesn't work) would be amazing!
LIMIT 1, 5, 100, 250
One way would be ROW_NUMBER(MySQL 8.0):
SELECT *
FROM (SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY id) AS rn FROM foo) sub
WHERE rn IN (1, 5, 100, 250)
ORDER BY rn;
You can achieve it by using a variable for MySQL >= 5.x.x
SELECT z.*
FROM (
SELECT *, #row_number:=#row_number+1 AS row_number
FROM foo, (SELECT #row_number:=0) AS t
ORDER BY pkey
) AS z
WHERE row_number IN (1, 5, 100, 250);
Here the variable is declared as a table t. #row_number will be incremented by 1 for each row which can then be filtered using WHERE clause.

Problems with an UNION MySQL

I have this query:
SELECT COUNT(*) AS invoice_count, IFNULL(SUM(qa_invoices.invoice_total), 0)
AS invoice_total, IFNULL(SUM(qa_invoices.invoice_discount) ,0) AS invoice_discount
FROM qa_invoices
WHERE (DATE(qa_invoices.invoice_date) BETWEEN '12/06/25' AND '12/06/25')
AND qa_invoices.status_code IN (5, 8)
UNION
SELECT IFNULL(SUM(qa_returns.client_credit), 0)
FROM qa_returns
WHERE (DATE(qa_returns.returnlog_date) BETWEEN '12/06/25' AND '12/06/25');
I get the error:
The used SELECT statements have a different number of columns.
I'm trying to join this 2 selects with an UNION command, if we look returnlog_date and invoice_date have the same data condition, if there is any way to perform both queries into one would be better.
Use a subselect:
SELECT
COUNT(*) AS invoice_count,
IFNULL(SUM(invoice_total), 0) AS invoice_total,
IFNULL(SUM(invoice_discount), 0) AS invoice_discount,
(
SELECT IFNULL(SUM(qa_returns.client_credit), 0)
FROM qa_returns
WHERE qa_returns.returnlog_date >= '2012-06-25'
AND qa_returns.returnlog_date < '2012-06-26'
) AS client_credit
FROM qa_invoices
WHERE invoice_date >= '2012-06-25'
AND invoice_date < '2012-06-26'
AND status_code IN (5, 8)
The error is telling you exactly what the problem is, for a UNION you have to have the same number of columns in each query.
I am not sure which column in your second query corresponds to your first query, but you can insert a zero in your second query.
Something like this:
SELECT COUNT(*) AS invoice_count
, IFNULL(SUM(qa_invoices.invoice_total), 0) AS invoice_total
, IFNULL(SUM(qa_invoices.invoice_discount) ,0) AS invoice_discount
FROM qa_invoices
WHERE (DATE(qa_invoices.invoice_date) BETWEEN '12/06/25' AND '12/06/25')
AND qa_invoices.status_code IN (5, 8)
UNION
SELECT 0
, IFNULL(SUM(qa_returns.client_credit), 0)
, 0
FROM qa_returns
WHERE (DATE(qa_returns.returnlog_date) BETWEEN '12/06/25' AND '12/06/25');
Result set you union together have to have the exact same columns.
Well in order to do a UNION u need to have same number of columns

How to generate data in MySQL?

Here is my SQL:
SELECT
COUNT(id),
CONCAT(YEAR(created_at), '-', MONTH(created_at), '-', DAY(created_at))
FROM my_table
GROUP BY YEAR(created_at), MONTH(created_at), DAY(created_at)
I want a row to show up even for days where there was no ID created. Right now I'm missing a ton of dates for days where there was no activity.
Any thoughts on how to change this query to do that?
SQL is notoriously bad at returning data that is not in the database. You can find the beginning and ending values for gaps of dates, but getting all the dates is hard.
The solution is to create a calendar table with one record for each date and OUTER JOIN it to your query.
Here is an example assuming that created_at is type DATE:
SELECT calendar_date, COUNT(`id`)
FROM calendar LEFT OUTER JOIN my_table ON calendar.calendar_date = my_table.created_at
GROUP BY calendar_date
(I'm guessing that created_at is really DATETIME, so you'll have to do a bit more gymnastics to JOIN the tables).
General idea
There are two main approaches to generating data in MySQL. One is to generate the data on the fly when running the query and the other one is to have it in the database and using it when necessary. Of course, the second one would be faster than the first one if you're going to run your query frequently. However, the second one will require a table in the database which only purpose will be to generate the missing data. It will also require you to have privileges enough to create that table.
Dynamic data generation
This approach involves making UNIONs to generate a fake table that can be used to join the actual table with. The awful and repetitive query is:
select aDate from (
select #maxDate - interval (a.a+(10*b.a)+(100*c.a)+(1000*d.a)) day aDate from
(select 0 as a union all select 1 union all select 2 union all select 3
union all select 4 union all select 5 union all select 6 union all
select 7 union all select 8 union all select 9) a, /*10 day range*/
(select 0 as a union all select 1 union all select 2 union all select 3
union all select 4 union all select 5 union all select 6 union all
select 7 union all select 8 union all select 9) b, /*100 day range*/
(select 0 as a union all select 1 union all select 2 union all select 3
union all select 4 union all select 5 union all select 6 union all
select 7 union all select 8 union all select 9) c, /*1000 day range*/
(select 0 as a union all select 1 union all select 2 union all select 3
union all select 4 union all select 5 union all select 6 union all
select 7 union all select 8 union all select 9) d, /*10000 day range*/
(select #minDate := '2001-01-01', #maxDate := '2002-02-02') e
) f
where aDate between #minDate and #maxDate
Anyway, it is simpler than it seems. It makes cartesian products of derived tables with 10 numeric values so the result will have 10^X rows where X is the amount of derived tables in the query. In this example there is 10000 day range so you would be able to represent periods of over 27 years. If you need more, add another UNION to the query and update the interval, and if you don't need so many you can remove UNIONs or individual values from the derived tables. Just to clarify, you can fine tune the date period by applying a filter with a WHERE clause on #minDate and #maxDate variables (but don't use a longer period than the one you created with the cartesian products).
Static data generation
This solution will require you to generate a table in your database. The approach is similar to the previous one. You'll have to first insert data into that table: a range of integers ranging from 1 to X where X is the maximum needed range. Again, if you are unsure just insert 100000 values and you'll be able to create day ranges for over 273 years. So, once you've got the integer sequence, you can transform it into a date range like this:
select '2012-01-01' + interval value - 1 day aDay from seq
having aDay <= '2012-01-05'
Assuming a table named seq with a column named value. On top the from date and at the bottom the to date.
Turning this into something useful
Ok, now we have our date periods generated but we're still missing a way to query data and display the missing values as an actual 0. This is where left join comes to the rescue. To make sure we're all on the same page, a left join is similar to an inner join but with only one difference: it will preserve all records from the left table of the join, regardless of whether there is a matching record on the table of the right. In other words, an inner join will remove all non-matched rows on the join while the left join will keep the ones on the left table and, for the records on the left that have no matching record on the right table, the left join will fill that "space" with a null value.
So we should join our domain table (the one that has "missing" data) with our newly generated table putting the latter on the left part of the join and the former on the right, so that all elements are considered, regardless of their presence in the domain table.
For example, if we had a table domainTable with fields ID, birthDate and we would like to see a count of all the birthDate in the first 5 days of 2012 per day and if the count is 0 to show that value, then this query could be run:
select allDays.aDay, count(dt.id) from (
select '2012-01-01' + interval value - 1 day aDay from seq
having aDay <= '2012-01-05'
) allDays
left join domainTable dt on allDays.aDay = dt.birthDate
group by allDays.aDay
This generates a derived table with all the requried days (notice I'm using the static data generation) and performs a left join against our domain table, so all days will be displayed, regardless of whether they have a matching values in our domain tables. Also note the count should be done on the field that will have null values as those are not counted.
Notes to be considered
1) The queries can be used to query other intervals (months, years) performing small changes to the code
2) Instead of hardcoding the dates you can query for min and max values from the domain tables like this:
select (select min(aDate) from domainTable) + interval value - 1 day aDay
from seq
having aDay <= (select max(aDate) from domainTable)
This would avoid generating more records than necessary.
Actually answering your question
I think you should have already figured out how to do what you want. Anyway, here are the steps so that others can benefit from them too. Firstly, create the integer table. Secondly, run this query:
select allDays.aDay, count(mt.id) aCount from (
select (select date(min(created_at)) from my_table) + interval value - 1 day aDay
from seq s
having aDay <= (select date(max(created_at)) from my_table)
) allDays
left join my_table mt on allDays.aDay = date(mt.created_at)
group by allDays.aDay
I guess created_at is a datetime and that's why you're concatenating that way. However, that happens to be the way MySQL natively stores dates, so I'm just grouping by the date field but casting the created_at to an actual date datatype. You can play with it using this fiddle.
And here is the solution generating data dynamically:
select allDays.aDay, count(mt.id) aCount from (
select #maxDate - interval a.a day aDay from
(select 0 as a union all select 1 union all select 2 union all select 3
union all select 4 union all select 5 union all select 6 union all
select 7 union all select 8 union all select 9) a, /*10 day range*/
(select #minDate := (select date(min(created_at)) from my_table),
#maxDate := (select date(max(created_at)) from my_table)) e
where #maxDate - interval a.a day between #minDate and #maxDate
) allDays
left join my_table mt on allDays.aDay = date(mt.created_at)
group by allDays.aDay
As you can see the skeleton of the query is the same as the previous one. The only thing that changes is how the derived table allDays is generated. Now, the way the derived table is generated is also slightly different from the one I added before. This is because in the example filddle I only needed a 10-day range. As you can see, it is more readable than adding a 1000 day range. Here is the fiddle for the dynamic solution so that you can play with it too.
Hope this helps!
The way to do it in one query:
SELECT COUNT(my_table.id) AS total,
CONCAT(YEAR(dates.ddate), '-', MONTH(dates.ddate), '-', DAY(dates.ddate))
FROM (
-- Creates "on the fly" 65536 days beginning from 2000-01-01 (179 years)
SELECT DATE_ADD("2000-01-01", INTERVAL (b1.b + b2.b + b3.b + b4.b + b5.b + b6.b + b7.b + b8.b + b9.b + b10.b + b11.b + b12.b + b13.b + b14.b + b15.b + b16.b) DAY) AS ddate FROM
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 1) b1,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 2) b2,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 4) b3,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 8) b4,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 16) b5,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 32) b6,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 64) b7,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 128) b8,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 256) b9,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 512) b10,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 1024) b11,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 2048) b12,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 4096) b13,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 8192) b14,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 16384) b15,
(SELECT 0 AS b UNION SELECT 32768) b16
) dates
LEFT JOIN my_table ON dates.ddate = my_table.created_at
GROUP BY dates.ddate
ORDER BY dates.ddate
The next code is only necessary if you want to test and don't have the "my_table" indicated on the question:
create table `my_table` (
`id` int (11),
`created_at` date
);
insert into `my_table` (`id`, `created_at`) values('1','2000-01-01');
insert into `my_table` (`id`, `created_at`) values('2','2000-01-01');
insert into `my_table` (`id`, `created_at`) values('3','2000-01-01');
insert into `my_table` (`id`, `created_at`) values('4','2001-01-01');
insert into `my_table` (`id`, `created_at`) values('5','2100-06-06');
Testbed:
create table testbed (id integer, created_at date);
insert into testbed values
(1, '2012-04-01'),
(1, '2012-04-30'),
(2, '2012-04-02'),
(3, '2012-04-03'),
(3, '2012-04-04'),
(4, '2012-04-04');
I also use any_table, which I created artificially like this:
create table any_table (id integer);
insert into any_table values (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10);
insert into any_table select * from any_table; -- repeat this insert 7-8 times
You can use any table in your database that is expected to have more rows then max(created_dt) - min(created_dt) range, at least 365 to cover a year.
Query:
SELECT concat(year(dr._date),'-',month(dr._date),'-',day(dr._date)),
-- or, instead of concat(), simply: dr._date
count(id)
FROM (
SELECT date_add(r.mindt, INTERVAL #dist day) _date,
#dist := #dist + 1 AS days_away
FROM any_table t
JOIN (SELECT min(created_at) mindt,
max(created_at) maxdt,
#dist := 0
FROM testbed) r
WHERE date_add(r.mindt, INTERVAL #dist day) <= r.maxdt) dr
LEFT JOIN testbed tb ON dr._date = tb.created_at
GROUP BY dr._date;