How to Select records with over 4 criteria - mysql

Select records based on the criteria shown
Is there any way i can select records from MySQL based on this criteria apart using the many if else statements.
Actually what i have in mind is below
if CurrentLevel.SelectedItem <> Nothing AND Programme.SelectedItem = Nothing AND Gender.SelectedItem = Nothing Then
myconnection.Open()
Dim SelCmd as SqlCommand = New SqlCommand("Select * From StudentsList Where CurrentLevel = '"& CurrentLevel.SelectedItem &"'",myconnection)
And I'll have to do it for all the possible outcomes.
Which makes the code very lengthy and tiresome to write.
Is there a shorter way of performing this search because I'll perform another search with almost 16 criteria.

The question is not entirely clear to me. You won't need a new if statement for all the criteria. You can achieve this by modifying the SQL query itself. One of the main purpose of SQL is to get data that match certain criteria.
SELECT * FROM StudentsList WHERE `CurrentLevel` = "level" AND `gender` = "male" AND `programme` = "something"
The above SQL query should give you a basic idea. It will select the rows which have CurrentLevel as level, gender as male and programme as something only, the rest will be ignored.
EDIT:
I don't know VB. Here is a quick, dirty example in C# which will help you understand the basic logic behind this.
string sqlQuery = "SELECT * FROM StudentsList ";
if(currentLevelDropDown.SelectedItem.Text != "")
{
sqlQuery + "WHERE CurrentLevel = " + currentLevelDropDown.SelectedItem.Text;
}
if(ProgrammeDropDown.SelectedItem.Text != "")
{
sqlQuery + " AND WHERE programme = " + ProgrammeDropDown.SelectedItem.Text;
}
//Final Query becomes: SELECT * FROM StudentsList WHERE CurrentLevel = userSelectedOption AND WHERE programme = userSelectedProgrammeOption
//Finally execute the sqlQuery

Related

Query by date with ASP and MySQL

I need to make a query in a MySQL database returning records with the current date.
I found the command below and it works perfectly inside MySQL:
SELECT * FROM TBAvaliacoes WHERE DataHora = (Date_Format(Now(),'%Y-%m-%d'))
But when I do this inside ASP, it returns me the error below:
See how I am doing:
' ## LISTA RAMAIS
Set cmdListaAvaliacoes = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Command")
cmdListaAvaliacoes.ActiveConnection = conn
cmdListaAvaliacoes.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM TBAvaliacoes WHERE DataHora = (Date_Format("&Now()&",'%Y-%m-%d'))"
response.write cmdListaAvaliacoes.CommandText
cmdListaAvaliacoes.CommandType = 1
Set rsListaAvaliacoes = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
rsListaAvaliacoes.Open cmdListaAvaliacoes, , 3, 3
If I enclose Now () in single quotation marks, it gives no error, but returns nothing.
Does anyone know how to get around this?
Awaiting,
If you want to call the Now() function defined by MySql then you shouldn't use the VB.NET function and concatenate its output to your sql. Just write the code exactly how you write it in the MySql Workbench
cmdListaAvaliacoes.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM TBAvaliacoes
WHERE DataHora = (Date_Format(Now(),'%Y-%m-%d'))"
If you want to pass a particular date then you need to format your date as expected by MySql
Dim myDate As DateTime = new DateTime(2019,8,10)
cmdListaAvaliacoes.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM TBAvaliacoes
WHERE DataHora = '" & myDate.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd") & "'"
But in this case the better approach is to use parameters (even if you have full control of what your date is)
Dim myDate As DateTime = new DateTime(2019,8,10)
cmdListaAvaliacoes.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM TBAvaliacoes
WHERE DataHora = #dat"
Dim prm = cmdListaAvaliacoes.CreateParameter("#dat", adDBDate, adParamInput)
prm.Value = myDate
cmdListaAvaliacoes.parameters.Append prm
Side note
A lot of time has passed from the last time I have used ADODB. So the parameter solution is how I remember it. Search on the net for more complete CreateParameter examples

How to implement a more efficient search feature?

In my database there are 3 column which is Name, Age, Gender.
In the program, I only want to use 1 search button. When the button is clicked, the program determine which 3 of the textbox has input and search for the right data.
How do you work with the query? For example if Name and Gender has text, the query :
"Select * from table Where (Name = #name) AND (Gender = #gender)"
And when only name is entered, I only query for the name. Must I check textbox by textbox whether there is user input and then write multiple query for each of them? Or is there a better way to do this?
Edit (29/5/16) : I tried doing this another way like this
myCommand = New MySqlCommand("Select * from project_record Where
(FloatNo = #floatNo OR FloatNo = 'None') AND
(DevCompanyName = #devCompanyName OR DevCompanyName = 'None') AND
(DevType = #devType OR DevType = 'None') AND
(LotPt = #lotPt OR LotPt = 'None') AND
(Mukim = #mukim OR Mukim = 'None') AND
(Daerah = #daerah OR Daerah = 'None') AND
(Negeri = #negeri OR Negeri = 'None') AND
(TempReference = #tempRef OR TempReference = 'None')", sqlConn)
But as you can guess already it will not work efficiently as well because if I only enter input for DevType and leave other textboxes blank, the query will not pull up all the records for DevType only. It will just display as no records.
Select * from table
Where (Name = #name OR #name is Null)
AND (Gender = #gender OR #gender is Null)
...
it should be one query
Other answers have explained how to simplify the query. It is especially important to get rid of the ORs, since they inhibit any use of indexes.
Once you have the query build cleanly, you need to think about the dataset and decide which columns are usually used for filtering. Then make a few INDEXes for them. You won't be able to provide 'all' possible indexes, hence my admonition that you think about the dataset.
When building indexes, you can have single-column or multiple-column indexes. For your type of data, I would suggest starting with several 2-column indexes. Make sure each index starts with a different column.
For Where (Name = #name) AND (Gender = #gender), here are some notes:
INDEX(gender) is useless because of low 'cardinality';
INDEX(gender, name) might be useful, but the following would be better:
INDEX(name)
Things like name and DevCompanyName are virtually unique, so a 1-column index is probably good.
If you had gender and age, then INDEX(age, gender) might be useful.
MySQL will almost never use two indexes for a single SELECT.
By the way, the construction of the WHERE could be done in a Stored Procedure. You would need CONCAT, PREPARE, etc.
Original answer
(scroll down to see update)
Can you try the following:
build a list only including values of the textboxes that have an input
set a string of the join the items of that list together with the " AND " string
append that string to your standard SELECT statement
The code looks like this:
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim Predicate1 As String = Me.TextBox1.Text
Dim Predicate2 As String = Me.TextBox2.Text
Dim Predicate3 As String = Me.TextBox3.Text
Dim PredicateList As New List(Of String)
Dim WhereClause As String
Dim Query As String
If Predicate1 <> String.Empty Then
PredicateList.Add("Name=""" & Predicate1 & """")
End If
If Predicate2 <> String.Empty Then
PredicateList.Add("Age=""" & Predicate2 & """")
End If
If Predicate3 <> String.Empty Then
PredicateList.Add("Gender=""" & Predicate3 & """")
End If
WhereClause = String.Join(" AND ", PredicateList.ToArray)
Query = "SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE " & WhereClause
MessageBox.Show(Query)
End Sub
Update
Further to the comments re SQL injection, here is an updated sample.
Dim Command As SqlClient.SqlCommand
Dim Predicate1 As String = Me.TextBox1.Text
Dim Predicate2 As String = Me.TextBox2.Text
Dim Predicate3 As String = Me.TextBox2.Text
Dim ParameterList As New List(Of SqlClient.SqlParameter)
Dim PredicateList As New List(Of String)
Dim BaseQuery As String = "SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE "
If Predicate1 <> String.Empty Then
PredicateList.Add("name = #name")
ParameterList.Add(New SqlClient.SqlParameter("#name", Predicate1))
End If
If Predicate2 <> String.Empty Then
PredicateList.Add("age = #age")
ParameterList.Add(New SqlClient.SqlParameter("#age", Predicate2))
End If
If Predicate3 <> String.Empty Then
PredicateList.Add("gender = #gender")
ParameterList.Add(New SqlClient.SqlParameter("#gender", Predicate3))
End If
Command = New SqlClient.SqlCommand(BaseQuery & String.Join(" AND ", PredicateList.ToArray))
Command.Parameters.AddRange(ParameterList.ToArray)
COALESCE is your friend here. You can use it to make the where clause ignore comparisons where the parameter is NULL.
Select * from table Where (Name = COALESCE(#name,table.Name))
AND (Gender = COALESCE(#gender,table.Gender))
So, if the #name parameter is NULL, COALESCE(#name,table.Name) will return the value of the 'Name' column of the current row and (Name = COALESCE(#name,table.Name)) will always be true.
This assumes that if no value is entered in a textbox the corresponding parameter will be NULL. If instead it is a value such as 'None', you can use the NULLIF function to map 'None' to NULL
Select * from table Where
(Name = COALESCE( NULLIF( #name, 'None'), table.Name))
AND (Gender = COALESCE( NULLIF( #gender, 'None'), table.Gender))
How to implement a more efficient search?
The answer partly depends on what your definition of efficient is. I suspect you mean less code and fewer if blocks etc. But fundamentally, running a new SELECT * query to apply a filter is inefficient because your base data set can be all the rows and you just fiddle with the users View of it.
I have a DB with random data in columns for Fish, Color (string), Bird, Group (int) and Active which should be similar enough for Name, Age and Gender in the question - or that other long thing at the bottom.
DataTable
Fill a datatable and bind it to a DGV:
' form level object
Private dtSample As DataTable
...
' elsewhere
Dim sql = "SELECT Id, Name, Descr, `Group`, Fish, Bird, Color, Active FROM Sample"
Using dbcon As MySqlConnection = New MySqlConnection(MySQLConnStr)
' create SELECT command with the Query and conn
Dim cmd As New MySqlCommand(sql, dbcon)
...
daSample.Fill(dtSample)
daSample.FillSchema(dtSimple, SchemaType.Source)
End Using
dgv2.DataSource = dtSample
Going forward, we can filter the user's view of that table without issuing a new query.
Filter Controls
If some of the fields are limited to certain selections, for instance Gender, you can use a ComboBox instead of a TextBox. This is to help the user succeed and avoid typos (Make or Mael instead of Male; or here, correctly spelling Baracuda I mean Baraccuda, er Barracuda correctly.
For illustration purposes, Fish is something where the user can type in anything at all, but Bird is constrained to a set of choices. If there is a Bird table, cboBird can be bound or populated from it. But you may also be able to populate it from the master/base table:
Dim birds = dtSample.AsEnumerable.Where(Function(d) d.IsNull(5) = False).
Select(Function(d) d.Field(Of String)("Bird")).
Distinct.
ToArray()
cboBird.Items.AddRange(birds)
If "Finch" is a legal choice but there are none in the database, it wont show in the list. Depending on the app, this can be a Good Thing:
If the user filters on Finch and there a no resulting records, you won't need a MessageBox or StatusBar message explaining the empty result set.
If something is not in the list, you are signalling up front that there are none of those. It then becomes a matter of training why a known element isnt in the list.
On the other hand, you'd have to repopulate those filter controls each time before they are used in case new records were added recently. If the controls are on a Dialog or different TabPage, this is easy to do as needed.
It isnt always applicable, but it can help the user avoid typos.
It depends on the app whether either method is of value.
DBNull / 'none'
I am not sure why you are adding 'none' to each clause. If someone want to see all the 'John` or all the 'Cod' records, it doesn't seem like they would also be interested in 'none'. Personally, Null/DBNull seems a better way to handle this, but it is easy to add or not add either form.
It would seem more valuable to filter to just those with DBNull/None. The code above for the Bird List filters out DBNull and I would do so for none as well. Then, before the result is added to the ComboBox, add a `None' item first so it is at the top.
Again it depends on what the app does; Or = 'None', may make perfect sense in this case.
Filter
Using a TextBox for Fish and Group, a ComboBox for Bird and Color and a CheckBox for Active, the code can form the filter thusly:
Dim filterTerms As New List(Of String)
Dim filterFmt = "{0} = '{1}' "
' OR:
' Dim filterFmt = "{0} = '{1}' OR {0} Is Null"
' OR:
' Dim filterFmt = "{0} = '{1}' OR {0} = 'none'"
If String.IsNullOrEmpty(tbSearchFish.Text) = False Then
Dim txt = tbSearchFish.Text.Replace("'", "''")
filterTerms.Add(String.Format(filterFmt, "Fish", txt))
End If
If cboBird.SelectedIndex > -1 Then
filterTerms.Add(String.Format(filterFmt, "Bird", cboBird.SelectedItem.ToString))
End If
If String.IsNullOrEmpty(tbGroup.Text) = False Then
Dim n As Int32
If Int32.TryParse(tbGroup.Text, n) Then
filterTerms.Add(String.Format(filterFmt, "[Group]", n))
End If
End If
If cboColor.SelectedIndex > -1 Then
filterTerms.Add(String.Format(filterFmt, "Color", cboColor.SelectedItem.ToString))
End If
If chkActive.Checked Then
' NOTE: I do not have TreatTinyAsBoolean turned on
' for some reason
filterTerms.Add(String.Format(filterFmt, "Active", "1"))
End If
If filterTerms.Count > 0 Then
Dim filter = String.Join(" AND ", filterTerms)
dtSample.DefaultView.RowFilter = filter
Dim rows = dtSample.DefaultView.Count
End If
Use whichever filterFmt is appropriate for what the app needs to do
A filter term is only added to the list if the related control has a value (as per above, this could include a 'None').
For the TextBox, it escapes any embedded ticks such as might be found in names like O'Malley or D'Artgnan. It replaces one tick with two.
Since Group is a numeric, a valid Int32 input is tested
If there are elements in the filterTerms list, a filter string is created
The filter is applied to the DefaultView.Filter (you can use also use a DataView or a BindingSource) so that the code need not query the database to provide filter capabilities.
Rows will tell you how many rows are in the current View.
The only halfway tricky one is a Boolean like Gender or Active because those actually resolve to three choices: {Any/Either, A, B}. For that, I would use a ComboBox and ignore it for SelectedIndex 0 as well. I didn't bother with this because the Combo concept is amply covered. Result:
Is it More "Efficient"?
It still depends.
It doesn't re-query the database to get rows the app can already have.
No new DBConnection, DBCommand or other DBProvider objects are created, just a list.
No need to dynamically create a SQL statement with N parameters in a loop to avoid SQL injection/special words and chars.
It doesn't even query the database for the items for the filter terms. If there is a static list of them in the DB, they could be loaded once, the first time they use the filters.
It is easy to remove the filter, no need to query yet again without WHERE clauses.
A ComboBox where applicable helps the user find what they want and avoid typos.
Is the SQL "cleaner". more "efficient? The code doesn't really mess with new SQL, just some WHERE clauses.
Is there less code? I have no idea since we just see the result. It doesnt string me as a lot of code to do what it does.
In my database there are 3 column which is Name, Age, Gender. In the program, I only want to use 1 search button. When the button is clicked, the program determine which 3 of the textbox has input and search for the right data.
And when only name is entered, I only query for the name. Must I check textbox by textbox whether there is user input and then write multiple query for each of them? Or is there a better way to do this?
SELECT * FROM `table`
WHERE (`name` = #name AND `name` IS NOT NULL)
OR (`age` = #age AND (`age`>0 OR `age` IS NOT NULL))
OR (`gender` = #gender AND `gender` IS NOT NULL);
With the above query if all text boxes have value, the result will not be one record (as if you where using logical AND between fields). If you want only that record you will filter it server-side with php from the rest of the results.
You can check the results on your own in this Fiddle
EDIT
In order to solve the above inconvenience (not bringing easily single results when needed) i got a little help from this answer and re-wrote the above query as:
SELECT *, IF(`name`=#name, 10, 0) + IF(`age`=#age, 10, 0) + IF(`gender`=#gender, 10, 0) AS `weight`
FROM `table`
WHERE (`name` = #name AND `name` IS NOT NULL)
OR (`age` = #age AND (`age`>0 OR `age` IS NOT NULL))
OR (`gender` = #gender AND `gender` IS NOT NULL)
HAVING `weight`=30;
OR to still get all records with a weight on result
SELECT *, IF(`name`=#name, 10, 0) + IF(`age`=#age, 10, 0) + IF(`gender`=#gender, 10, 0) AS `weight`
FROM `table` WHERE (`name` = #name AND `name` IS NOT NULL)
OR (`age` = #age AND (`age`>0 OR `age` IS NOT NULL))
OR (`gender` = #gender AND `gender` IS NOT NULL)
ORDER BY `weight` DESC;
You were pretty close. Let's look at
(FloatNo = #floatNo OR FloatNo = 'None')
So you want the field either to be the given input or 'None'? But there are (supposedly) no records in your table with FloatNo 'None'. What you really want to do is find out whether the input is none (i.e. empty):
(FloatNo = #floatNo OR #floatNo = '')
And for the case the user types in a blank by mistake, you can ignore this, too:
(FloatNo = #floatNo OR TRIM(#floatNo) = '')
The whole thing:
myCommand = New MySqlCommand(
"Select * from project_record Where
(FloatNo = #floatNo OR TRIM(#floatNo) = '') AND
(DevCompanyName = #devCompanyName OR TRIM(#devCompanyName) = '') AND
(DevType = #devType OR TRIM(#devType) = '') AND
(LotPt = #lotPt OR TRIM(#lotPt) = '') AND
(Mukim = #mukim OR TRIM(#mukim) = '') AND
(Daerah = #daerah OR TRIM(#daerah) = '') AND
(Negeri = #negeri OR TRIM(#negeri) = '') AND
(TempReference = #tempRef OR TRIM(#tempRef) = '')", sqlConn)
What is wrong with your approach?
Just change
(FloatNo = #floatNo OR FloatNo = 'None')
to
(FloatNo = #floatNo OR FloatNo = '' or FloatNo IS NULL)
And do that for every criteria.
Your query will respect empty values and NULL values after that.

passing an Array as a Parameter to be used in a SQL Query using the "IN" Command

Good Afternoon to All,
I have a question concerning on SQL Queries. is it possible to use an array as a parameter to a query using the "IN" command?
for example,
int x = {2,3,4,5}
UPDATE 'table_name' set 'field' = data WHERE field_ID IN (x)
the reason I am asking this is to avoid an iterative SQL Statement when I have to update data in a database.
I also thought of using a for each statement in for the UPDATE Query but I don't know if it will affect the performance of the query if it will slow down the system if ever 100+ records are updated.
I am using VB.Net btw.
My Database is MySQL Workbench.
I have gotten the answer. I just simply need to convert each elements to a String then concatenate it with a "," for each element. so the parameter that i will pass will be a string.
ANSWER:
int x = {2,3,4,5}
will become
string x = "2,3,4,5"
My Query string will become "UPDATE tablename SET field=value WHERE ID IN("&x&")"
Thank you to all who helped.
If you have the query in a variable (not a stored procedure) and you don't have a huge amount of ids, you could built your own IN. I haven't tested the speed of this approach.
This code won't compile, it's just to give you an idea.
query = "SELECT * FROM table WHERE col IN ("
For t = 0 TO x.Length-1
If t > 0 Then query &= ","
query &= "#var" & t
Next
query &= ")"
...
For t = 0 TO x.Length-1
cmd.Parameters.Add("#var" & t, SqlDbType.Int).Value = x(t)
Next
i am not familiar with mySQL, but when dealing with MSSQL, I normally have a split function in DB so that I can use it to split concatenated integer values as a table, at VB side, something like:
Dim myIds = {1, 2, 3, 4}
Dim sql = <sql>
SELECT m.* FROM dbo.tblMyData m
INNER JOIN dbo.fncSplitIntegerValues(#Ids, ',') t ON t.id = m.Id
</sql>.Value
Using con As New SqlConnection("My connection string..."),
cmd As New SqlCommand(sql, con)
cmd.Parameters.Add("#Ids", SqlDbType.VarChar).Value =
myIds.Select(Function(m) m.ToString).Aggregate(Function(m, n) m & "," & n)
con.Open()
Dim rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection)
While rdr.Read()
Console.WriteLine(rdr.GetValue(0))
' do something else...
End While
End Using
dbo.fncSplitIntegerValues is a db function to split concatenated integer varchar into integer Id with given separator.
it's important not to use plain sql, instead, use sql parameters.
Note: above sample is not tested...

PreparedStatement: Can I supply the column name as parameter?

Let's say I have a table with 3 columns: C1, C2, C3
I make a search based on the C1 column.
Could I make something similar like this (this is not working - because this is not the way prepareStatement it's used:) )
String c;// the name of the column
...
String sql = "select * from table where ? = ?";
pre = con.prepareStatement(sql);
pre.setString(1, c);
pre.setString(1, i);
rs = pre.executeQuery();
The main idea, I don't want to have 3 ifs for every column. An elegant solution?
This won't work. The prepare statement parses the SQL, sends to the database for validation and compilation. If question marks could substitute parts of the SQL, you would loose the whole point of bound variables - speed and security. You would reintroduce SQL injection back and statements will have to be recompiled for all parameters.
Wouldn't something like SELECT * FROM table WHERE c1 = ? OR c2 = ? OR c3 = ? be better (of course depending on indexes and table sizes).
you could code up a a set of sql queries and store them in a map, then grab one based on the column in question.
enum column { a, b, c}
Map<column, string> str;
static {
str.put(a, "select * from tbl where a = ? ");
...
}
then just grab one out of the map later based on the enum. String appends in sql statements have a way of becoming security problems in the future.
Use a dynamic query and a java.sql.Statement:
String whereClause = c + " = " + i;
// Form the dynamic Query
StringBuffer query = new StringBuffer( "SELECT * FROM TABLE" );
// Add WHERE clause if any
query.append(" WHERE " + whereClause);
// Create a SQL statement context to execute the Query
Statement stmt = con.createStatement();
// Execute the formed query and obtain the ResultSet
ResultSet resultSet = stmt.executeQuery(query.toString());
can't you do this:
String c;// the name of the column
...
String sql = "select * from table where " + c + " = ?";
pre = con.prepareStatement(sql);
pre.setString(1, i);
rs = pre.executeQuery();
?
If not then this might be a solution:
String c;// the name of the column
...
String sql = "select * from table where ('C1' = ? AND C1 = ?)
OR ('C2' = ? AND C2 = ?)
OR ('C3' = ? AND C3 = ?)"
pre = con.prepareStatement(sql);
pre.setString(1, c);
pre.setString(2, i);
pre.setString(3, c);
pre.setString(4, i);
pre.setString(5, c);
pre.setString(6, i);
rs = pre.executeQuery();

MS ACCESS - Hierarchical tree sort

I'm struggling with a sorting problem.
I've got a table which is as follows:
aspect_id (int)
aspect_text (memo)
root_id (int) which has as a foreign key a aspect_id
I've got a non cyclic tree with the following dummy data:
aspect_id aspect_text root_id
1 root null
2 aspect1 1
3 aspect2 1
4 aspect3 2
5 aspect5 4
In the example the data is sorted correctly, in my database its not. I want to sort that it starts at the root element, then finds a child, output that child and does that recursively.
With CTE it is fairly doable. Access doesn't support this. With CTE it would be something like:
WITH aspectTree (aspect_id, root_id, Level#) AS
(
Select
aspect.aspect_id,
aspect.root_id,
0
FROM aspect
WHERE aspect.aspect_id = 44
UNION ALL
SELECT
aspect.aspect_id,
aspect.root_id,
T.Level# + 1
FROM aspect
INNER JOIN aspectTree AS T
On T.aspect_id = aspect.root_id
)
SELECT * FROM aspectTree;
If performance is not a consideration, this fairly simple solution would work:
Public Function GetLevel(ByVal lngNodeId As Long) As Long
Dim varRootId As Variant
varRootId = DLookup("root_id", "aspect", "aspect_id=" & lngNodeId)
If IsNull(varRootId) Then
GetLevel = 0
Else
GetLevel = GetLevel(varRootId) + 1
End If
End Function
You could then use that function in your ORDER BY clause:
SELECT aspect.*
FROM aspect
ORDER BY GetLevel([aspect_id]), aspect_text
I don't know if the following will work for you but here you go using Bill of Materials algorithms.
Bill Of Materials
BOM, with Joe Celko Nested Sets
Its full of test code, but i did something that works in vb code. Its really ugly and slow, but it works. Im now cleaning it up, just got it working. The solution is a recursive function. The function calls on itself if it finds that the node has childs. It seemed to overwrite the arrays, that why its an array of arrays. The code is hideous, but it works and thats all i needed. The database is and will stay small (<1000 records) so speed is not an issue. Thanks for the comments and answers, if someones knows i better solution, i would love to hear it.
Private Function Fillarray(value As Integer)
Dim done As Boolean
j = j + 1
esql = "select aspect_id from aspect where root_id = " & value
Set rec(j) = db.OpenRecordset(esql)
Dim k As Integer
k = j
Do While Not rec(k).EOF
done = True
arra(i) = rec(k).Fields(0)
Dim temp1 As String
temp1 = DLookup("[aspects]", "[aspect]", "[aspect_id] = " & rec(k).Fields(0))
db.Execute "INSERT INTO sortedaspect (aspect_id, aspect) VALUES (" & rec(k).Fields(0) & ", '" & temp1 & "')"
esql = "select aspect_id from aspect where root_id = " & rec(k).Fields(0)
Set rec(90) = db.OpenRecordset(esql)
Do While Not rec(90).EOF And done
'fix this without a loop,you only need to know if it has childs...
Fillarray (rec(k).Fields(0))
done = False
Loop
'next child
rec(k).MoveNext
'value = arra(i)
i = i + 1
'MsgBox arra(i - 1)
Loop
End Function