MySql - Create view to read from Multiple Tables - mysql

Question

I have archived some old line items for invoices that are no longer current but still need to reference them. I think I need to create a VIEW but not really understanding it. Can someone help so I can run a query to pull the invoice and then the total of all the line items assigned (no matter what table the items are in)?
CREATE TABLE `Invoice` (
`Invoice_ID` INT(11) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`Invoice_CreatedDateTime` DATETIME DEFAULT NULL,
`Invoice_Status` ENUM('Paid','Sent','Unsent','Hold') DEFAULT NULL,
`LastUpdatedAt` TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
PRIMARY KEY (`ID`),
KEY `LastUpdatedAt` (`LastUpdatedAt`)
) ENGINE=MYISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1
CREATE TABLE `Invoice_LineItem` (
`LineItem_ID` INT(11) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`LineItem_ChargeType` VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`LineItem_InvoiceID` INT(11) UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
`LineItem_Amount` DECIMAL(11,4) DEFAULT NULL,
`LastUpdatedAt` TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
PRIMARY KEY (`LineItem_ID`),
KEY `LastUpdatedAt` (`LastUpdatedAt`),
KEY `LineItem_InvoiceID` (`LineItem_InvoiceID`)
) ENGINE=MYISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=1 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1
CREATE TABLE `Invoice_LineItem_Archived` (
`LineItem_ID` INT(11) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`LineItem_ChargeType` VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`LineItem_InvoiceID` INT(11) UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
`LineItem_Amount` DECIMAL(11,4) DEFAULT NULL,
`LastUpdatedAt` TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
PRIMARY KEY (`LineItem_ID`),
KEY `LastUpdatedAt` (`LastUpdatedAt`),
KEY `LineItem_InvoiceID` (`LineItem_InvoiceID`)
) ENGINE=MYISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=1 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1
Typically I would just run the following query to get the amount due on the invoices
SELECT
Invoice_ID,
Invoice_CreatedDateTime,
Invoice_Status,
(SELECT SUM(LineItem_Amount) AS totAmt FROM Invoice_LineItem WHERE LineItem_InvoiceID=Invoice_ID) AS Invoice_Total
FROM
Invoice
WHERE
Invoice_Status='Sent'
Also how can I select all the line items from both tables in one query?
SELECT
LineItem_ID,
LineItem_ChargeType,
LineItem_Amount
FROM
Invoice_LineItem
WHERE
LineItem_InvoiceID='1234'

Answer 1

You can use the MERGE Storage Engine to create a virtual table that's the union of two real tables:
CREATE TABLE Invoice_LineItem_All
(
`LineItem_ID` INT(11) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`LineItem_ChargeType` VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`LineItem_InvoiceID` INT(11) UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
`LineItem_Amount` DECIMAL(11,4) DEFAULT NULL,
`LastUpdatedAt` TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
KEY (`LineItem_ID`),
KEY `LastUpdatedAt` (`LastUpdatedAt`),
KEY `LineItem_InvoiceID` (`LineItem_InvoiceID`)
) ENGINE=MERGE UNION=(Invoice_LineItem_Archived, Invoice_LineItem);

Answer 2

You can use UNION :
SELECT a.* FROM a
UNION
SELECT b.* FROM b;
You just need to have the same number and type of column in your different queries.
As far as I remember, you can add test in sub-queries, but I'm not sure you can order on the global result.
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/union.html