Column 'name' in field list is ambiguous codigniter - mysql

Question

this is my table structure.
tbl_user:
companyname,name,email.
tbl_userinfo:
phone,address,area,state,city,description.
tbl_category:
category_id,name.
i am joining three tables here is my model
$this->db->select(array('name', 'companyname','phone','address','email','state','city','pincode','area','description','image', 'c.name AS categoryname'));
$this->db->from('tbl_user');
$this->db->join('tbl_userinfo', 'tbl_userinfo.user_id = tbl_user.user_id');
$this->db->join ('tbl_category', 'tbl_category.category_id = tbl_userinfo.service_category');
$this->db->group_by(array('name', 'companyname', 'phone', 'address', 'email','state','city','pincode','area','description','image','categoryname'));
//$this->db->order_by('tbl_category.category_id');
$this->db->where(array('tbl_user.user_id' => 16));
i wanted third column name as well but i m getting Column 'name' in field list is ambiguous codigniter
another code that i did use but it wont show me any values for joining of two table.
$this->db->select(array('tbl_user.name', 'tbl_user.companyname','tbl_userinfo.phone','tbl_userinfo.address','tbl_user.email','tbl_userinfo.state','tbl_userinfo.city','tbl_userinfo.pincode','tbl_userinfo.area','tbl_userinfo.description','tbl_userinfo.image', 'tbl_category.name'));
$this->db->from('tbl_user');
$this->db->join('tbl_userinfo', 'tbl_userinfo.user_id = tbl_user.user_id');
$this->db->join ('tbl_category', 'tbl_userinfo.service_category = tbl_category.category_id');
$this->db->group_by(array('tbl_user.name', 'tbl_user.companyname','tbl_userinfo.phone','tbl_userinfo.address','tbl_user.email','tbl_userinfo.state','tbl_userinfo.city','tbl_userinfo.pincode','tbl_userinfo.area','tbl_userinfo.description','tbl_userinfo.image', 'tbl_category.name'));
$this->db->where(array('tbl_user.user_id' => 16));

Answer 1

This is most likely happening because two of your tables both have a 'name' column. I would suggest explicitly selecting the column by using [table name].[column].
$result = $this->db->query('past your query here after checking it in an sql browser');

Answer 2

Try this:
$user_id = '16';
$query = $this->db->select('tbl_user.companyname, tbl_user.name as UserName, tbl_user.email, tbl_userinfo.phone, tbl_userinfo.address, tbl_userinfo.area, tbl_userinfo.state, tbl_userinfo.city, tbl_userinfo.description, tbl_category.category_id, tbl_category.name as CategoryName')
->from('tbl_user')
->join('tbl_userinfo', 'tbl_userinfo.user_id = tbl_user.user_id')
->join ('tbl_category', 'tbl_category.category_id = tbl_userinfo.service_category')
->where('tbl_user.user_id', $user_id)
->group_by('tbl_user.companyname')
->get()
->result();
You can replate 'tbl_user.*' with the columns names you want to get from that table, example: 'tbl_user.user_id, tbl_user.name as UName, tbl_category.name as CName' change the name of column if you have 2 or more columns with the same name in diferent tables you are joining, it will create always an ambiguous error because there are 2 columns with the same name and codeigniter doesn't know which one you want, if you want both you need to rename the both columns.
Also add the join to left because if there is no user_id or category_id it will not display you the result.
Hope this will help you.

Answer 3

comes with my own code.
$this->db->select(array('u.name', 'u.companyname','i.phone','i.address','u.email','i.state','i.city','i.pincode','i.area','i.description','i.image', 'c.name AS categoryname'));
$this->db->from('tbl_user as u');
$this->db->join('tbl_userinfo as i', 'i.user_id = i.user_id');
$this->db->join ('tbl_category as c', 'c.category_id = i.service_category');
$this->db->group_by(array('u.user_id'));
$this->db->where(array('u.group_id' => 16));
$query = $this->db->get ();
return $query->result();