Best practice to get newest row in a table - mysql

Consider a table like this:
The id column is set to auto-increment, update_time column is supposed to be the date that the row was inserted in the table.
I want to simply get the latest entry for a user with user_id = x, I found out there are some ways:
SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE user_id = x ORDER BY update_time DESC LIMIT 1
And
SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE user_id = x MAX(update_time)
And another query would be selecting the row with highest id number
I am not quite sure about the syntax of the later one (please correct me).
This may seem to be a trivial task, but there was a case that someone else has altered the auto_increment value on the table, and sometimes the time of the server has changed (well this has not been happened in my case but what if it does!!?)
What would be the safest query to get the latest entry row for a user_id ( I mean a query to return weigh, height and activity_level for a user with user_id = x)
Do I need to add more columns to the table? if so, what?

I like the join approach for this. Assumes that userID + update_time is unique...it'll pull back multiple rows if it isn't.
select user_id, max(update_time) maxtime from table group by user_id
Simple statement to get the max update time by user ID. Use it as a subquery with inner join (inner join will function as a filter)
select t.*
from table t
inner join
(select user_id, max(update_time) maxtime
from table group by user_id
--where user_id = x
)a
on a.user_id = t.user_id and a.maxtime = t.update_time
I commented out the where user_id = x line...the advantage to this method is you can get all users and their most recent at once.

SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE user_id = x AND update_time = (SELECT MAX(update_time) FROM mytable WHERE user_id = x)

This really does not have to be so complicated:
SELECT id
FROM table
WHERE user_id = x
ORDER BY update_time DESC
LIMIT 1
This version will be the quickest, simplest, and easiest to read. It is a win in every regard.

Related

Obtain a list with the items found the minimum amount of times in a table

I have a MySQL table where I have a certain id as a foreign key coming from another table. This id is not unique to this table so I can have many records holding the same id.
I need to find out which ids are seen the least amount of times in this table and pull up a list containing them.
For example, if I have 5 records with id=1, 3 records with id=2 and 3 records with id=3, I want to pull up only ids 2 & 3. However, the data in the table changes quite often so I don't know what that minimum value is going to be at any given moment. The task is quite trivial if I use two queries but I'm trying to do it with just one. Here's what I have:
SELECT id
FROM table
GROUP BY id
HAVING COUNT(*) = MIN(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table GROUP BY id)
If I substitute COUNT(*) = 3, then the results come up but using the query above gives me an error that MIN is not used properly. Any tips?
I would try with:
SELECT id
FROM table
GROUP BY id
HAVING COUNT(*) = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table GROUP BY id ORDER BY COUNT(*) LIMIT 1);
This gets the minimum selecting the first row from the set of counts in ascendent order.
You need a double select in the having clause:
SELECT id
FROM table
GROUP BY id
HAVING COUNT(*) = (SELECT MIN(cnt) FROM (SELECT COUNT(*) as cnt FROM table GROUP BY id) t);
The MIN() aggregate function is suposed to take a column, not a query. So, I see two ways to solve this:
To properly write the subquery, or
To use temp variables
First alternative:
select id
from yourTable
group by id
having count(id) = (
select min(c) from (
select count(*) as c from yourTable group by id
) as a
)
Second alternative:
set #minCount = (
select min(c) from (
select count(*) as c from yourTable group by id
) as a
);
select id
from yourTable
group by id
having count(*) = #minCount;
You need to GROUP BY to produce a set of grouped values and additional select to get the MIN value from that group, only then you can match it against having
SELECT * FROM table GROUP BY id
HAVING COUNT(*) =
(SELECT MIN(X.CNT) AS M FROM(SELECT COUNT(*) CNT FROM table GROUP BY id) AS X)

UPDATE table using IN and COUNT

I am updating my table setting a field named "status" based on the condition that the total number of distinct rows should be more than 10 and less than 13. The query is as follows:
update myTable set status='Established'
where id IN(select id, count(*) as c
from myTable
where year>=1996 and year<=2008
group by id
having count(distinct year)>=10 and count(distinct year)<=13)
The problem is, I'm getting error1241 that is "operand should contain 1 column"! Could you please advise how can I solve this? Thanks!
The result of the sub query must return only 1 column :
update myTable set status='Established'
where id IN(select id
from myTable
group by id
having count(distinct year)>=10 and count(distinct year)>=13)
In MySQL, an update with a join often performs better than an update with a subquery in the where clause.
This version might have better performance:
update myTable join
(select id, count(*) as c
from myTable
where year >= 1996 and year <= 2008
group by id
having count(distinct year) >= 10 and count(distinct year) <= 13
) filter
on myTable.id = filter.id
set status = 'Established';
I will also note that you have a table where a column called id is not unique among the rows. Typically, such a column would be a primary key, so the having clause would always fail (there would only be one row).
update myTable
set status='Established'
where id IN(select id from myTable
group by id
having count(distinct year)>=10
and count(distinct year)>=13)
You are using IN operator and then you inner query returns two columns id and count(*) it should return only one column back.

MySQL Max statement not returning result

I have the following MySQL statement
SELECT * FROM user_messages AS T WHERE user_id = '33' AND id = (SELECT Max(id) from user_messages AS TT WHERE T.from_userid = TT.from_userid) ORDER BY status, id DESC
The problem I seem to be having is when I only have one record. I would think that MySQL would return the single record associated with user_link = '33', but instead it returns nothing.
I need to use the "Max" function because I use it to pull the most recent entries. I am trying to avoid having multiple queries or having to use php to sort also. Any help much appreciated!
This is your query:
SELECT *
FROM user_messages AS T
WHERE user_id = '33' AND
id = (SELECT Max(id)
from user_messages AS TT
WHERE T.from_userid = TT.from_userid
)
ORDER BY status, id DESC
Here are three reasons it could be failing to return any rows. First, user_id = '33' may not exist in the table. Second from_userid may be NULL. Third, the id value may be NULL for all matching records.
Perhaps this simpler version would help:
select *
from user_messages um
where user_id = '33'
order by id desc
limit 1
Thanks for your answer Gordon, I checked the database, and the record exists. I did some more research, and what it turns out to be is that I needed to join the data. I was able to return the Min or Max record, but the corresponding/related fields weren't returned with it.
SELECT * FROM user_messages INNER JOIN(SELECT from_username, MAX(id) AS id FROM user_messages WHERE user_link = '33' GROUP BY from_username ORDER BY status, id DESC) t2 ON user_messages.id = t2.id AND user_messages.from_username = t2.from_username
The thread that answered the question was this one - Need To Pull Most Recent Record By Timestamp Per Unique ID

What is faster in MySQL? WHERE sub request = 0 or IN list

I was wondering what is better in MySQL. I have a SELECT query that exclude every entry associated to a banned userID.
Currently I have a subquery clause in the WHERE statement that goes like
AND (SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM TheBlackListTable
WHERE userID = userList.ID
AND blackListedID = :userID2 ) = 0
Which will accept every userID not present in the TheBlackListTable
Would it be faster to retrieve first all Banned ID in a previous request and replace the previous clause by
AND creatorID NOT IN listOfBannedID
LEFT JOIN / IS NULL and NOT IN are fastest:
SELECT *
FROM mytable
WHERE id NOT IN
(
SELECT userId
FROM blacklist
WHERE blackListedID = :userID2
)
or
SELECT m.*
FROM mytable m
LEFT JOIN
blacklist b
ON b.userId = m.id
AND b.blackListedID = :userID2
WHERE b.userId IS NULL
NOT EXISTS yields the same plan but due to implementation flaws is marginally less efficient:
SELECT *
FROM mytable
WHERE NOT EXISTS
(
SELECT NULL
FROM blacklist b
WHERE b.userId = m.id
AND b.blacklistedId = :userID2
)
All these queries stop on the first match in blacklist (hence performing a semi-join)
The COUNT(*) solution is the least efficient, since MySQL will calculate the actual COUNT(*) rather than stopping on the first match.
However, if you have a UNIQUE index on (userId, blacklistedId), this is not much of problem as there cannot be more than one match anyway.
Use EXISTS clause to check for user not in blacklist.
Sample Query
Select * from userList
where not exists( Select 1 from TheBlackListTable where userID = userList.ID)
IN clause is used when there is fixed values or low count of values.

How do I write this kind of query (returning the latest avaiable data for each row)

I have a table defined like this:
CREATE TABLE mytable (id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, PRIMARY KEY(id),
user_id INT REFERENCES user(id) ON UPDATE CASCASE ON DELETE RESTRICT,
amount REAL NOT NULL CHECK (amount > 0),
record_date DATE NOT NULL
);
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX idxu_mybl_key ON mytable (user_id, amount, record_date);
I want to write a query that will have two columns:
user_id
amount
There should be only ONE entry in the returned result set for a given user. Furthermore, the amount figure returned should be the last recoreded amount for the user (i.e. MAX(record_date).
The complication arises because weights are recorded on different dates for different users, so there is no single LAST record_date for all users.
How may I write (preferably an ANSI SQL) query to return the columns mentioned previously, but ensuring that its only the amount for the last recorded amount for the user that is returned?
As an aside, it is probably a good idea to return the 'record_date' column as well in the query, so that it is eas(ier) to verify that the query is working as required.
I am using MySQL as my backend db, but ideally the query should be db agnostic (i.e. ANSI SQL) if possible.
First you need the last record_date for each user:
select user_id, max(record_date) as last_record_date
from mytable
group by user_id
Now, you can join previous query with mytable itself to get amount for this record_date:
select
t1.user_id, last_record_date, amount
from
mytable t1
inner join
( select user_id, max(record_date) as last_record_date
from mytable
group by user_id
) t2
on t1.user_id = t2.user_id
and t1.record_date = t2.last_record_date
A problem appears becuase a user can have several rows for same last_record_date (with different amounts). Then you should get one of them, sample (getting the max of the different amounts):
select
t1.user_id, t1.record_date as last_record_date, max(t1.amount)
from
mytable t1
inner join
( select user_id, max(record_date) as last_record_date
from mytable
group by user_id
) t2
on t1.user_id = t2.user_id
and t1.record_date = t2.last_record_date
group by t1.user_id, t1.record_date
I do not now about MySQL but in general SQL you need a sub-query for that. You must join the query that calculates the greatest record_date with the original one that calculates the corresponding amount. Roughly like this:
SELECT B.*
FROM
(select user_id, max(record_date) max_date from mytable group by user_id) A
join
mytable B
on A.user_id = B.user_id and A.max_date = B.record_date
SELECT datatable.* FROM
mytable AS datatable
INNER JOIN (
SELECT user_id,max(record_date) AS max_record_date FROM mytable GROUP BS user_id
) AS selectortable ON
selectortable.user_id=datatable.user_id
AND
selectortable.max_record_date=datatable.record_date
in some SQLs you might need
SELECT MAX(user_id), ...
in the selectortable view instead of simply SELECT user_id,...
The definition of maximum: there is no larger(or: "more recent") value than this one. This naturally leads to a NOT EXISTS query, which should be available in any DBMS.
SELECT user_id, amount
FROM mytable mt
WHERE mt.user_id = $user
AND NOT EXISTS ( SELECT *
FROM mytable nx
WHERE nx.user_id = mt.user_id
AND nx.record_date > mt.record_date
)
;
BTW: your table definition allows more than one record to exist for a given {id,date}, but with different amounts. This query will return them all.