MySQL Query limiting results by sub table - mysql

Question

I'm really struggling with this query and I hope somebody can help.
I am querying across multiple tables to get the dataset that I require. The following query is an anonymised version:
SELECT main_table.id,
sub_table_1.field_1,
main_table.field_1,
main_table.field_2,
main_table.field_3,
main_table.field_4,
main_table.field_5,
main_table.field_6,
main_table.field_7,
sub_table_2.field_1,
sub_table_2.field_2,
sub_table_2.field_3,
sub_table_3.field_1,
sub_table_4.field_1,
sub_table_4.field_2
FROM main_table
INNER JOIN sub_table_4 ON sub_table_4.id = main_table.id
INNER JOIN sub_table_2 ON sub_table_2.id = main_table.id
INNER JOIN sub_table_3 ON sub_table_3.id = main_table.id
INNER JOIN sub_table_1 ON sub_table_1.id = main_table.id
WHERE sub_table_4.field_1 = '' AND sub_table_4.field_2 = '0' AND sub_table_2.field_1 != ''
The query works, the problem I have is sub_table_1 has a revision number (int 11). Currently I get duplicate records with different revision numbers and different versions of sub_table_1.field_1 which is to be expected, but I want to limit the result set to only include results limited by the latest revision number, giving me only the latest sub_table_1_field_1 and I really can not figure it out!
Can anybody lend me a hand?
Many Thanks.

Answer 1

It's always important to remember that a JOIN can be on a subquery as well as a table. You could build a subquery that returns the results you want to see then, once you've got the data you want, join it in the parent query.
It's hard to 'tailor' an answer that's specific to you problem, as it's too obfuscated (as you admit) to know what the data and tables really look like, but as an example:
Say table1 has four fields: id, revision_no, name and stuff. You want to return a distinct list of name values, with their latest version of stuff (which, we'll pretend varies by revision). You could do this in isolation as:
select t.* from table1 t
inner join
(SELECT name, max(revision_no) maxr
FROM table1
GROUP BY name) mx
on mx.name = t.name
and mx.maxr = t.revision_no;
(Note: see fiddle at the end)
That would return each individual name with the latest revision of stuff.
Once you've got that nailed down, you could then swap out
INNER JOIN sub_table_1 ON sub_table_1.id = main_table.id
....with....
INNER JOIN (select t.* from table1 t
inner join
(SELECT name, max(revision_no) maxr
FROM table1
GROUP BY name) mx
on mx.name = t.name
and mx.maxr = t.revision_no) sub_table_1
ON sub_table_1.id = main_table.id
...which would allow a join with a recordset that is more tailored to that which you want to join (again, don't get hung up on the actual query I've used, it's just there to demonstrate the method).
There may well be more elegant ways to achieve this, but it's sometimes good to start with a simple solution that's easier to replicate, then simplify it once you've got the general understanding of the what and why nailed down.
Hope that helps - as I say, it's as specific as I could offer without having an idea of the real data you're using.
(for the sake of reference, here is a fiddle with a working version of the above example query)

Answer 2

In your case where you only need one column from the table, make this a subquery in your select clause instead of than a join. You get the latest revision by ordering by revision number descending and limiting the result to one row.
SELECT
main_table.id,
(
select sub_table_1.field_1
from sub_table_1
where sub_table_1.id = main_table.id
order by revision_number desc
limit 1
) as sub_table_1_field_1,
main_table.field_1,
...
FROM main_table
INNER JOIN sub_table_4 ON sub_table_4.id = main_table.id
INNER JOIN sub_table_2 ON sub_table_2.id = main_table.id
INNER JOIN sub_table_3 ON sub_table_3.id = main_table.id
WHERE sub_table_4.field_1 = ''
AND sub_table_4.field_2 = '0'
AND sub_table_2.field_1 != '';