2 inner joins between same 2 tables - mysql

Question

I am trying to select columns from 2 tables,
The INNER JOIN conditions are $table1.idaction_url=$table2.idaction AND $table1.idaction_name=$table2.idaction.
However, From the query below, there is no output. It seems like the INNER JOIN can only take 1 condition. If I put AND to include both conditions as shown in the query below, there wont be any output. Please look at the picture below. Please advice.
$mysql=("SELECT conv(hex($table1.idvisitor), 16, 10) as visitorId,
$table1.server_time, $table1.idaction_url,
$table1.time_spent_ref_action,$table2.name,
$table2.type, $table1.idaction_name, $table2.idaction
FROM $table1
INNER JOIN $table2
ON $table1.idaction_url=$table2.idaction
AND $table1.idaction_name=$table2.idaction
WHERE conv(hex(idvisitor), 16, 10)='".$id."'
ORDER BY server_time DESC");

Answer 1

Short answer:
You need to use two separate inner joins, not only a single join.
E.g.
SELECT `actionurls`.`name` AS `actionUrl`, `actionnames`.`name` AS `actionName`
FROM `table1`
INNER JOIN `table2` AS `actionurls` ON `table1`.`idaction_url` = `actionurls`.`idaction`
INNER JOIN `table2` AS `actionnames` ON `table1`.`idaction_name` = `actionurls`.`idaction`
(Modify this query with any additional fields you want to select).
In depth: INNER JOIN, when done on a value unique to the second table (the table joined to the first in this operation) will only ever fetch one row. What you want to do is fetch data from the other table twice, into the same row, reading the select part of the statement.
INNER JOIN table2 ON [comparison] will, for each row selected from table1, grab any rows from table2 for which [comparison] is TRUE, then copy the row from table1 N times, where N is the amount of rows found in table2. If N = 0, then the row is skipped. In our case N=1 so INNER JOIN of idaction_name in table1 to idaction in table2 for example will allow you to select all the action names.
In order to get the action urls as well we have to INNER JOIN a second time. Now you can't join the same table twice normally, as SQL won't know which of the two joined tables is meant when you type table2.name in the first part of your query. This would be ambiguous if both had the same name. There's a solution for this, table aliases.
The output (of my answer above) is going to be something like:
+-----+------------------------+-------------------------+
| Row | actionUrl | actionName |
+-----+------------------------+-------------------------+
| 1 | unx.co.jp/ | UNIX | Kumamoto Home |
| 2 | unx.co.jp/profile.html | UNIX | Kumamoto Profile |
| ... | ... | ... |
+-----+------------------------+-------------------------+
While if you used only a single join, you would get this kind of output (using OR):
+-----+-------------------------+
| Row | actionUrl |
+-----+-------------------------+
| 1 | unx.co.jp/ |
| 2 | UNIX | Kumamoto Home |
| 3 | unx.co.jp/profile.html |
| 4 | UNIX | Kumamoto Profile |
| ... | ... |
+-----+-------------------------+
Using AND and a single join, you only get output if idaction_name == idaction_url is TRUE. This is not the case, so there's no output.
If you want to know more about how to use JOINS, consult the manual about them.
Sidenote
Also, I can't help but notice you're using variables (e.g. $table1) that store the names of the tables. Do you make sure that those values do not contain user input? And, if they do, do you at least whitelist a list of tables that users can access? You may have some security issues with this.

Answer 2

INNER JOIN does not put any restriction on number of conditions it can have.
The zero resultant rows means, there is no rows satisfying the two conditions simultaneously.
Make sure you are joining using correct columns. Try going step by step to identify from where the data is lost