Mysql - Left join issues in the where clause - mysql

I have two tables : activities and activity_images and the foreign key constraint is :
activities.id = activitiy_images.activity_id
Now some activities have images and some do not, which means for a particular activities.id , there might not be an entry on activity_images.
i want to fetch all the data by default , regardless of the data present in activity_images .
Below is my query :
select a.*,a.id as 'activity_id',b.*
from activities a
left join activity_images b on a.id = b.activity_id
where b.image_type='main' LIMIT 0, 9
The issue is with the output . The above query only gives me the data for the matching rows and where b.image_type='main'. It does not output the rows for which there is no entry in activity_images .
I want all the rows but at the same time i want to make sure that b.image_type='main' because there are other values for image_type and i just want to grab the values for image_type= 'main' (If at all there is a match) .
Please advice . Thanks in advance.

select a.*,a.id as 'activity_id',b.*
from activities a
left join activity_images b on a.id = b.activity_id
where b.image_type='main' OR b.image_type IS NULL
LIMIT 0, 9
Would this do what you want?
I would recommend image_type to be a not null column in this case otherwise you could get data that has a matching row but image_type is actually set to null.

When criteria in a WHERE clause applies to a joined table, it's basically treated as an INNER JOIN.
The proper way to handle this is to move the criteria into the ON clause:
SELECT a.*, a.id as 'activity_id', b.*
FROM activities a
LEFT JOIN activity_images b
ON b.activity_id = a.id
AND b.image_type = 'main'

Try a subquery. This will pre-select only the rows in your activity images table with your preferred image type, and will still select everything from your activities table:
SELECT a.*,b*
FROM activities a
LEFT JOIN (
SELECT * FROM activity_images WHERE image_type = 'main'
) b ON a.id = b.activity_id;
SELECT * FROM activity_images WHERE image_type = 'main' a;

Related

Not quite a good enough JOIN? [duplicate]

I need to retrieve all default settings from the settings table but also grab the character setting if exists for x character.
But this query is only retrieving those settings where character is = 1, not the default settings if the user havent setted anyone.
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM (`settings`)
LEFT JOIN `character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
WHERE `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1'
So i should need something like this:
array(
'0' => array('somekey' => 'keyname', 'value' => 'thevalue'),
'1' => array('somekey2' => 'keyname2'),
'2' => array('somekey3' => 'keyname3')
)
Where key 1 and 2 are the default values when key 0 contains the default value with the character value.
The where clause is filtering away rows where the left join doesn't succeed. Move it to the join:
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM `settings`
LEFT JOIN
`character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
AND `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1'
When making OUTER JOINs (ANSI-89 or ANSI-92), filtration location matters because criteria specified in the ON clause is applied before the JOIN is made. Criteria against an OUTER JOINed table provided in the WHERE clause is applied after the JOIN is made. This can produce very different result sets. In comparison, it doesn't matter for INNER JOINs if the criteria is provided in the ON or WHERE clauses -- the result will be the same.
SELECT s.*,
cs.`value`
FROM SETTINGS s
LEFT JOIN CHARACTER_SETTINGS cs ON cs.setting_id = s.id
AND cs.character_id = 1
If I understand your question correctly you want records from the settings database if they don't have a join accross to the character_settings table or if that joined record has character_id = 1.
You should therefore do
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM (`settings`)
LEFT OUTER JOIN `character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
WHERE `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1' OR
`character_settings`.character_id is NULL
You might find it easier to understand by using a simple subquery
SELECT `settings`.*, (
SELECT `value` FROM `character_settings`
WHERE `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
AND `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1') AS cv_value
FROM `settings`
The subquery is allowed to return null, so you don't have to worry about JOIN/WHERE in the main query.
Sometimes, this works faster in MySQL, but compare it against the LEFT JOIN form to see what works best for you.
SELECT s.*, c.value
FROM settings s
LEFT JOIN character_settings c ON c.setting_id = s.id AND c.character_id = '1'
For this problem, as for many others involving non-trivial left joins such as left-joining on inner-joined tables, I find it convenient and somewhat more readable to split the query with a with clause. In your example,
with settings_for_char as (
select setting_id, value from character_settings where character_id = 1
)
select
settings.*,
settings_for_char.value
from
settings
left join settings_for_char on settings_for_char.setting_id = settings.id;
The way I finally understand the top answer is realising (following the Order Of Execution of the SQL query ) that the WHERE clause is applied to the joined table thereby filtering out rows that do not satisfy the WHERE condition from the joined (or output) table. However, moving the WHERE condition to the ON clause applies it to the individual tables prior to joining. This enables the left join to retain rows from the left table even though some column entries of those rows (entries from the right tables) do not satisfy the WHERE condition.
The result is correct based on the SQL statement. Left join returns all values from the right table, and only matching values from the left table.
ID and NAME columns are from the right side table, so are returned.
Score is from the left table, and 30 is returned, as this value relates to Name "Flow". The other Names are NULL as they do not relate to Name "Flow".
The below would return the result you were expecting:
SELECT a.*, b.Score
FROM #Table1 a
LEFT JOIN #Table2 b
ON a.ID = b.T1_ID
WHERE 1=1
AND a.Name = 'Flow'
The SQL applies a filter on the right hand table.

MySQL Sum even if records doesnt exist [duplicate]

I need to retrieve all default settings from the settings table but also grab the character setting if exists for x character.
But this query is only retrieving those settings where character is = 1, not the default settings if the user havent setted anyone.
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM (`settings`)
LEFT JOIN `character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
WHERE `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1'
So i should need something like this:
array(
'0' => array('somekey' => 'keyname', 'value' => 'thevalue'),
'1' => array('somekey2' => 'keyname2'),
'2' => array('somekey3' => 'keyname3')
)
Where key 1 and 2 are the default values when key 0 contains the default value with the character value.
The where clause is filtering away rows where the left join doesn't succeed. Move it to the join:
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM `settings`
LEFT JOIN
`character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
AND `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1'
When making OUTER JOINs (ANSI-89 or ANSI-92), filtration location matters because criteria specified in the ON clause is applied before the JOIN is made. Criteria against an OUTER JOINed table provided in the WHERE clause is applied after the JOIN is made. This can produce very different result sets. In comparison, it doesn't matter for INNER JOINs if the criteria is provided in the ON or WHERE clauses -- the result will be the same.
SELECT s.*,
cs.`value`
FROM SETTINGS s
LEFT JOIN CHARACTER_SETTINGS cs ON cs.setting_id = s.id
AND cs.character_id = 1
If I understand your question correctly you want records from the settings database if they don't have a join accross to the character_settings table or if that joined record has character_id = 1.
You should therefore do
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM (`settings`)
LEFT OUTER JOIN `character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
WHERE `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1' OR
`character_settings`.character_id is NULL
You might find it easier to understand by using a simple subquery
SELECT `settings`.*, (
SELECT `value` FROM `character_settings`
WHERE `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
AND `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1') AS cv_value
FROM `settings`
The subquery is allowed to return null, so you don't have to worry about JOIN/WHERE in the main query.
Sometimes, this works faster in MySQL, but compare it against the LEFT JOIN form to see what works best for you.
SELECT s.*, c.value
FROM settings s
LEFT JOIN character_settings c ON c.setting_id = s.id AND c.character_id = '1'
For this problem, as for many others involving non-trivial left joins such as left-joining on inner-joined tables, I find it convenient and somewhat more readable to split the query with a with clause. In your example,
with settings_for_char as (
select setting_id, value from character_settings where character_id = 1
)
select
settings.*,
settings_for_char.value
from
settings
left join settings_for_char on settings_for_char.setting_id = settings.id;
The way I finally understand the top answer is realising (following the Order Of Execution of the SQL query ) that the WHERE clause is applied to the joined table thereby filtering out rows that do not satisfy the WHERE condition from the joined (or output) table. However, moving the WHERE condition to the ON clause applies it to the individual tables prior to joining. This enables the left join to retain rows from the left table even though some column entries of those rows (entries from the right tables) do not satisfy the WHERE condition.
The result is correct based on the SQL statement. Left join returns all values from the right table, and only matching values from the left table.
ID and NAME columns are from the right side table, so are returned.
Score is from the left table, and 30 is returned, as this value relates to Name "Flow". The other Names are NULL as they do not relate to Name "Flow".
The below would return the result you were expecting:
SELECT a.*, b.Score
FROM #Table1 a
LEFT JOIN #Table2 b
ON a.ID = b.T1_ID
WHERE 1=1
AND a.Name = 'Flow'
The SQL applies a filter on the right hand table.

SQL: LEFT JOIN and alias not working together

$query = "SELECT a.comment_user_id as main_id, a.comment_date as timestamp, a.comment_content as content, a.comment_link_id as link_unique, a.comment_id as status, NULL as url, b.user_login as ulogin, b.user_avatar_source as uavatar, c.link_title as ltitle, NULL as desc FROM kliqqi_comments as a WHERE comment_user_id IN ('$following2')
LEFT JOIN kliqqi_users as b ON a.comment_user_id = b.user_id
LEFT JOIN kliqqi_links as c ON a.comment_user_id = c.link_author
ORDER BY timestamp DESC LIMIT 10";
$result = mysqli_query($db_conx, $query);
$row = $result->fetch_array(MYSQLI_ASSOC);
Can anybody tell me what's wrong with the code? It is always returning this error:
Fatal error: Call to a member function fetch_assoc() on boolean
Boolean means this query is not getting executed due to some error in $query variable which I am unable to figure out.
$following is an array. kliqqi_comments alias a, kliqqi_users alias b, kliqqi_links alias c. I am storing all the other fields as alias too. There is no typo or any other silly mistake. I've checked it thoroughly.
UPDATE:
I'm updating this thread because my query actually has many parts and many users may find it helpful.
$query = "SELECT a.comment_user_id as main_id, a.comment_date as timestamp2, a.comment_content as content, a.comment_link_id as link_unique, a.comment_id as status, b.user_login as ulogin, b.user_avatar_source as uavatar, c.link_title as ltitle FROM kliqqi_comments a
LEFT JOIN kliqqi_users b ON a.comment_user_id = b.user_id
LEFT JOIN kliqqi_links c ON a.comment_link_id = c.link_id
WHERE comment_user_id IN ('$following')
UNION ALL
SELECT d.link_author as main_id, d.link_date as timestamp2, d.link_status as content, d.link_id as link_unique, NULL as status, e.user_login as ulogin, e.user_avatar_source as uavatar, d.link_title as ltitle FROM kliqqi_links d
LEFT JOIN kliqqi_users e ON d.link_author = e.user_id
WHERE link_author IN ('$following') AND link_status IN ('new','published')
UNION ALL
SELECT f.vote_user_id as main_id, f.vote_date as timestamp2, f.vote_value as content, f.vote_link_id as link_unique, NULL as status, g.user_login as ulogin, g.user_avatar_source as uavatar, h.link_title as ltitle FROM kliqqi_votes f
LEFT JOIN kliqqi_users g ON f.vote_user_id = g.user_id
LEFT JOIN kliqqi_links h ON f.vote_link_id = h.link_id
WHERE vote_user_id IN ('$following')
ORDER BY timestamp2 DESC LIMIT 30";
What does it do?
I've 3 tables: kliqqi_links, kliqqi_users, kliqqi_votes
UNION ALL
All of them have a timestamp field.
I wanted to fetch contents from these 3 tables combined in decreasing order of timestamp. And to do so, I used UNION ALL (UNION can also be used here but UNION has to run duplicate checks so it's better to avoid it if you can.). But UNION ALL works only when all of the tables have same number of fields. So, I created NULL elements for equating the numbers.
It is to be noted that there is no restriction of datatype for uniting respective fields. But since I had to use timestamp for sequence, I kept them together.
Alias
Since all the respective fields have different names in different tables, I used alias to avoid confusion. Without alias, results are stored in fields mentioned in first SELECT statement which would be a mess.
Multiple LEFT JOIN
Now, I wanted to grab some data from other tables for each SELECT query.
e.g. for kliqqi_comments (first SELECT statement), I wanted to grab user data for the person who made the comment from kliqqi_users plus I wanted to fetch the link where this comment was made from kliqqi_links table. So, I used left join with kliqqi_comments query where comment_user_id from kliqqi_comments equals to user_id from kliqqi_users and comment_link_id from kliqqi_comments equals link_id from kliqqi_links.
Notice that I managed to equate fields in all 3 statements for UNION ALL.
WHERE IN
$following is comma separated array to ensure that it returns result from the people user is following.
ORDER BY DESC, LIMIT
To order by timestamp and LIMIT output result.
That's it.
The where clauses should come after the join clauses, not before them. Additionally, desc and timestamp are reserved words. If you absolutely must use them as a column aliases, you need to escape them:
SELECT a.comment_user_id as main_id,
a.comment_date as `timestamp`, -- Notice the escaping
a.comment_content as content,
a.comment_link_id as link_unique,
a.comment_id as status,
NULL as url,
b.user_login as ulogin,
b.user_avatar_source as uavatar,
c.link_title as ltitle,
NULL as `desc` -- Notice the escaping
FROM kliqqi_comments as a
LEFT JOIN kliqqi_users as b ON a.comment_user_id = b.user_id
LEFT JOIN kliqqi_links as c ON a.comment_user_id = c.link_author
WHERE comment_user_id IN ('$following2') -- Where clause after the joins
ORDER BY `timestamp` DESC LIMIT 10";

Avoid Duplicate in Mysql Left Join Query

i have to take data from three tables like Userdetails,tasks,timedetails so i am getting data but it is duplicating based on the timedetails table. for example person id is - 1. it is presented two times in timedetails table then i'm getting duplicate rows.
my query is
SELECT GROUP_CONCAT(B.task_status) as task_status,
GROUP_CONCAT(B.task_type) as task_type,
GROUP_CONCAT(B.task_id) as task_id,
GROUP_CONCAT(B.task_name) as task_name,
A.us_id,
A.us_name,
C.out_time
FROM ts_userdetails A
LEFT JOIN
cms_task B
ON B.emp_id = A.us_id
LEFT JOIN
ts_timedetails C
ON C.user_id=A.us_id
WHERE C.entry_date='2017-05-09' AND
A.us_id!='1'
GROUP BY C.user_id
I am getting results like
I don't want duplicated things in displayed fields.
If I have 2 timedetails for one particular person id means 2 times duplication occurs. I just want one time.
use distinct keyword
SELECT GROUP_CONCAT(distinct B.task_status) as task_status,GROUP_CONCAT(distinct B.task_type) as task_type,GROUP_CONCAT(distinct B.task_id) as task_id,GROUP_CONCAT(distinct B.task_name) as task_name,A.us_id,A.us_name,C.out_time FROM ts_userdetails A LEFT JOIN cms_task B ON B.emp_id = A.us_id LEFT JOIN ts_timedetails C ON C.user_id=A.us_id WHERE C.entry_date='2017-05-09' AND A.us_id!='1' GROUP BY C.user_id

LEFT JOIN to a single row in order of criteria in MySQL

Ok, I tried to simplify my question by abstracting away the details but I'm afraid I wasn't clear and didn't meet moderator requirements. So I will post the full query with my problem in more detail and the actual query I am struggling with. If the question is still inadequate, could you please comment with specifics about what is unclear and I will do my best to clarify.
First, here is the current query that returns all assignment rows for each bed:
SELECT
beds.bed_id,
beds.bedstatus,
beds.position as bed_position,
rooms.room_id,
rooms.room,
wings.wing_id,
wings.name as wing_name,
buildings.building_id,
buildings.name as building_name,
assignments.assignment_id,
assignments.student_id,
assignments.assign_dt,
assignments.assigned_by,
assignments.assignment_status,
assignments.expected_arrival_dt as arrival_dt,
assignments.room_charge_type,
students.first_name,
students.last_name,
meal_plans.name as meal_plan_name,
room_rates.rate_name
FROM
beds
LEFT JOIN
rooms ON (beds.room_id = rooms.room_id)
LEFT JOIN
wings ON (rooms.wing_id = wings.wing_id)
LEFT JOIN
buildings ON (wings.building_id = buildings.buildings_id)
LEFT JOIN assignments ON
((beds.bed_id=assignments.bed_id) AND (term_id = #term_id))
LEFT JOIN
students ON (assignments.student_id = students.student_id)
LEFT JOIN
meal_plans ON (assignments.meal_plan_id = meal_plans.meal_plan_id)
LEFT JOIN
room_rates ON (room_rate_id = room_rates.room_rate_id)
WHERE
(
(rooms.room IS NOT NULL) AND
(rooms.assignable = 1) AND
(buildings.active = 1) AND
(buildings.building_id = #building_id)
)
ORDER BY BY rooms.room;
The problem is that there may be multiple rows in the "assignments" table for each room distinguished by the "assignment_status" field and I want a single row for each assignment. I want to determine which assignment row to select based on the value in assignment_status. That is if the assignment status is "active", I want that row, otherwise, if there is a row with status "waiting approval" then I want that row, etc...
Barmar's suggestion is given here:
LEFT JOIN (SELECT *
FROM OtherTable
WHERE <criteria>
ORDER BY CASE status
WHEN 'Active' THEN 1
WHEN 'Waiting Approval' THEN 2
WHEN 'Canceled' THEN 3
...
END
LIMIT 1) other
This was very helpful and I attempted this approach:
SELECT
beds.bed_id,
beds.bedstatus,
beds.position as bed_position,
rooms.room_id,
rooms.room,
wings.wing_id,
wings.name as wing_name,
buildings.building_id,
buildings.name as building_name,
assign.assignment_id,
assign.student_id,
assign.assign_dt,
assign.assigned_by,
assign.assignment_status,
assign.expected_arrival_dt as arrival_dt,
assign.room_charge_type,
students.first_name,
students.last_name,
meal_plans.name as meal_plan_name,
room_rates.rate_name
FROM
beds
LEFT JOIN
rooms ON (beds.room_id = rooms.room_id)
LEFT JOIN
wings ON (rooms.wing_id = wings.wing_id)
LEFT JOIN
buildings ON (wings.building_id = buildings.buildings_id)
LEFT JOIN (SELECT *
FROM assignments
WHERE ((assignments.bed_id==beds.bed_id) AND (term_id = #term_id))
ORDER BY CASE assignment_status
WHEN 'Active' THEN 1
WHEN 'Waiting Approval' THEN 2
WHEN 'Canceled' THEN 3
END
LIMIT 1) assign
LEFT JOIN
students ON (assign.student_id = students.student_id)
LEFT JOIN
meal_plans ON (assign.meal_plan_id = meal_plans.meal_plan_id)
LEFT JOIN
room_rates ON (room_rate_id = room_rates.room_rate_id)
WHERE
(
(rooms.room IS NOT NULL) AND
(rooms.assignable = 1) AND
(buildings.active = 1) AND
(buildings.building_id = #building_id)
)
ORDER BY rooms.room;
But I realized, the problem here is that OtherTable (assignments) is joined to the parent query based on a FK:
((beds.bed_id=assignments.bed_id) AND (term_id = #term_id))
So I can't do the subselect as the beds.bed_id isn't in scope for the subselect. So as Barmar's comment indicates the join criteria needs to be outside the subselect--but I'm having trouble figuring out how to both restrict the results to a single row per room and move the join outside the subselect. I'm wondering if travelboy's suggestion to use GROUP BY may be more fruitful, but haven't been able to determine how the grouping should be done.
Let me know if I can provide additional clarification.
Original Question:
I need from Table A to do a LEFT JOIN on a SINGLE row in another table, Table B meeting certain criteria (there may be multiple or no rows in Table B that meet the criteria). If there are multiple rows I want to select which row in B to join based on the value of a field in Table B. For example, if there is a row in B with status column='Active', I want that row, if not, if there is a row with status='Waiting Approval', I want that row, if there is a row with status='Canceled', I want that row, etc... Can I do this without a sub select? With a sub select?
Use:
LEFT JOIN (SELECT *
FROM OtherTable
WHERE <criteria>
ORDER BY CASE status
WHEN 'Active' THEN 1
WHEN 'Waiting Approval' THEN 2
WHEN 'Canceled' THEN 3
...
END
LIMIT 1) other
In some cases (but not in all cases) you can do it without a sub-select. You would need to GROUP BY a unique field in table A, typically an ID. This ensures that you get only one (or none) row from table B. However, selecting the row you want is the tricky part. You need an aggregating function such as MAX(). If the field in B is a number, that's easy to do. If not, you can apply some SQL functions on the fields in B to calculate something like a score to sort by. For example, Active could correspond to a higher value than Cancelled etc. That will work without a sub-select and likely be faster on big data sets.
With a sub-select it's easy to do. You can either use Barmar's solution, or, if you only need one specific field from B, you can also put the sub-select within the SELECT clause of the outer query.
I need to follow up with some additional testing to make sure this is accomplishing my goal--but I think I've done this using travelboy's suggestion of a group by query combined with barmar's case logic (wish I could split the answer). Here's the query:
SELECT
beds.bed_id,
beds.bedstatus,
beds.position as bed_position,
rooms.room_id,
rooms.room,
wings.wing_id,
wings.name as wing_name,
buildings.building_id,
buildings.name as building_name,
assignments.assignment_id,
assignments.student_id,
assignments.assign_dt,
assignments.assigned_by,
assignments.assignment_status,
assignments.expected_arrival_dt as arrival_dt,
assignments.room_charge_type,
MIN(CASE assignments.assignment_status
WHEN 'Active' THEN 1
WHEN 'Waiting Approval' THEN 2
WHEN 'Canceled' THEN 3
END),
students.first_name,
students.last_name,
meal_plans.name as meal_plan_name,
room_rates.rate_name
FROM
beds
LEFT JOIN
rooms ON (beds.room_id = rooms.room_id)
LEFT JOIN
wings ON (rooms.wing_id = wings.wing_id)
LEFT JOIN
buildings ON (wings.building_id = buildings.building_id)
LEFT JOIN assignments
ON ((assignments.bed_id=beds.bed_id) AND (term_id = 28))
LEFT JOIN
students ON (assignments.student_id = students.student_id)
LEFT JOIN
meal_plans ON (assignments.meal_plan_id = meal_plans.meal_plan_id)
LEFT JOIN
room_rates ON (assignments.room_rate_id = room_rates.room_rate_id)
WHERE
(
(rooms.room IS NOT NULL) AND
(rooms.assignable = 1) AND
(buildings.active = 1)
)
GROUP BY
bed_id
ORDER BY rooms.room;