Order by clause not behaving correctly after several joins - mysql

Question

Here is my query:
SELECT DISTINCT `post_data`. * , pv.`seller_id` , pv.`islimited` , pv.`isquantity` , pv.`isslider`, `price`.`original_price` , `price`.`discount_percentage` , `timelimit`.`start_date` , `timelimit`.`expire_date` , `quantity`.`in_stock`, `currency`.`currency_symbol`, `seller`.`directory`, `post_to_cat`.`cat_id`, count(`sales`.`sales_id`) as sale FROM `post_view` AS pv
INNER JOIN `post_data` ON pv.`post_id` = `post_data`.`post_id` AND pv.`status` = 1
INNER JOIN `price` ON pv.`post_id` = `price`.`post_id`
INNER JOIN `currency` ON `price`.`currency_id` = `currency`.`currency_id`
INNER JOIN `seller` ON pv.`seller_id` = `seller`.`seller_id`
INNER JOIN `post_to_cat` ON `post_to_cat`.`cat_id` = 1 AND `post_to_cat`.`post_id` = `post_data`.`post_id`
LEFT JOIN `timelimit` ON ( CASE WHEN pv.`islimited` = 1 THEN `timelimit`.`post_id` ELSE -1 END ) = pv.`post_id`
LEFT JOIN `quantity` ON ( CASE WHEN pv.`isquantity` = 1 THEN `quantity`.`post_id` ELSE -1 END ) = pv.`post_id`
LEFT JOIN `sales` ON `sales`.`post_id` = pv.`post_id` AND `sales`.`status` = 1
WHERE pv.`status` = 1
ORDER BY pv.`post_id` DESC LIMIT 1
The ORDER BY DESC is not working, it just returns the first row from the table, but I want to get the highest post_id value row. What is the mistake I am making?

Answer 1

AS #Alex said in the comments you've got a LIMIT 1 at the end, you should probably bracket the last LEFT JOIN also for readability.

Answer 2

As #McAdam331 said we need data sample and sql fiddle to investigate what is wrong with you query. But at the moment I have some suggestions how to improve and debug your query.
First off all, what do I see the main and very left table in your query is post_view so all other tables should be LEFT JOIN if you want to get the max id. You should use INNER JOIN only if you think that other table could filter your main table somehow and order or result could be other table dependend. But in your case I see no reason to use INNER JOIN.
Second point is your very weird ON conditions:
LEFT JOIN `timelimit` ON ( CASE WHEN pv.`islimited` = 1 THEN `timelimit`.`post_id` ELSE -1 END ) = pv.`post_id`
LEFT JOIN `quantity` ON ( CASE WHEN pv.`isquantity` = 1 THEN `quantity`.`post_id` ELSE -1 END ) = pv.`post_id`
I have converted them into another one
CASE WHEN pv.`islimited`=1 THEN `timelimit`.`start_date` ELSE NULL END as start_date ,
CASE WHEN pv.`islimited`=1 THEN `timelimit`.`expire_date` ELSE NULL END as expire_date,
CASE WHEN pv.`isquantity`=1 THEN `quantity`.`in_stock` ELSE NULL END as in_stock,
But I still don't like it. It seems very useless to me. And has no sense when I read CASE WHEN pv.islimited=1 THEN timelimit.start_date ELSE NULL END as start_date so if flag pv.islimited=0 you don't need start_date? Are you sure?
And the last thing I can suggest: try to use my or even your query. But add every table by step while debugging. So First query just:
SELECT
pv.`post_id`, pv.`seller_id` , pv.`islimited` , pv.`isquantity` ,
pv.`isslider`
FROM `post_view` AS pv
WHERE pv.`status` = 1
ORDER BY pv.`post_id` DESC
LIMIT 1
If it returns correct post_id add next table:
SELECT
pv.`post_id`, pv.`seller_id` , pv.`islimited` , pv.`isquantity` ,
pv.`isslider`,
`post_data`. *
FROM `post_view` AS pv
LEFT JOIN `post_data`
ON pv.`post_id` = `post_data`.`post_id`
WHERE pv.`status` = 1
AND `post_data`.`slug` = 'abc'
ORDER BY pv.`post_id` DESC
LIMIT 1
Check the result. And continue step by step.
Yes it takes time. But that is debugging process. It could be the fastest way to get that query done. :-)
SELECT `post_data`. * ,
pv.`post_id`, pv.`seller_id` , pv.`islimited` , pv.`isquantity` ,
pv.`isslider`, `price`.`original_price` , `price`.`discount_percentage` ,
CASE WHEN pv.`islimited`=1 THEN `timelimit`.`start_date` ELSE NULL END as start_date ,
CASE WHEN pv.`islimited`=1 THEN `timelimit`.`expire_date` ELSE NULL END as expire_date,
CASE WHEN pv.`isquantity`=1 THEN `quantity`.`in_stock` ELSE NULL END as in_stock,
`currency`.`currency_symbol`, `seller`.`directory`, `post_to_cat`.`cat_id`, count(`sales`.`sales_id`) as sale
FROM `post_view` AS pv
LEFT JOIN `post_data`
ON pv.`post_id` = `post_data`.`post_id`
LEFT JOIN `price`
ON pv.`post_id` = `price`.`post_id`
LEFT JOIN `currency`
ON `price`.`currency_id` = `currency`.`currency_id`
LEFT JOIN `seller`
ON pv.`seller_id` = `seller`.`seller_id`
LEFT JOIN `post_to_cat`
ON `post_to_cat`.`cat_id` = 1
AND `post_to_cat`.`post_id` = pv.`post_id`
LEFT JOIN `timelimit`
ON `timelimit`.`post_id` = pv.`post_id`
LEFT JOIN `quantity`
ON quantity`.`post_id` = pv.`post_id`
LEFT JOIN `sales`
ON `sales`.`post_id` = pv.`post_id`
AND `sales`.`status` = 1
WHERE pv.`status` = 1
AND `post_data`.`slug` = 'abc'
GROUP BY pv.`post_id`
ORDER BY pv.`post_id` DESC
LIMIT 1
EDIT 1 - last GROUP BY pv.post_id was added as per #McAdam331 notice about count() function without GROUP BY

Answer 3

I believe the issue here is mostly as a result of preforming aggregation (using the COUNT()) function, without any group by. Although, it seems like you don't necessarily need it because you want that count only for the post in question.
If you're trying to gather all of that information for a single post, I would adjust your WHERE clause to have a condition to only gather that information for the post with the largest ID.
Instead of ordering by ID and limiting by 1, use a subquery to get the largest id, like this:
...
WHERE pv.status = 1 AND post_data.slug = 'abc' AND pv.post_id = (SELECT MAX(post_id) FROM post_view);