MySQL join with a subquery - mysql

Question

I have three tables and am trying to get info from two and then perform a calculation on the third and display all the results in one query.
The (simplified) tables are:
table: employee_work
employee_id name
1 Joe
2 Bob
3 Jane
4 Michelle
table: carryover
employee_id days
1 5
2 10
3 3
table: timeoff
employee_id time_off_type days
1 Carryover 2
1 Leave 3
1 Carryover 1
2 Sick 4
2 Carryover 4
3 Leave 1
4 Sickness 4
The results I would like are:
employee_id, carryover.days, timeoff.days
1 5 3
2 10 4
3 3 0
However when I run the query, whilst I get the correct values in columns 1 and 2, I get the same number repeated in the third column for all entries.
Here is my query:
Select
employee_work.employee_id,
carryover.carryover,
(SELECT SUM(days) FROM timeoff WHERE timeoff.time_off_type = 'Carryover'
AND timeoff.start_date>='2013-01-01') AS taken
From
carryover Left Join
employee_work On employee_work.employee_id = carryover.employee_id Left Join
timeoff On employee_work.employee_id = timeoff.employee_id Left Join
Where
carryover.carryover > 0
Group By
employee_work.employee_id
I have tried to group by in the sub query but I then get told "Subquery returns more than one row" - how can I ensure that the sub query is respecting the join so it only looks at each employee at a time so I get my desired results?

Answer 1

The answer to your question is to use a correlated subquery. You don't need to mention the timeoff table twice in this case:
Select
employee_work.employee_id,
carryover.carryover,
(SELECT SUM(days)
FROM timeoff
WHERE timeoff.time_off_type = 'Carryover' and
timeoff.start_date>='2013-01-01' and
timeoff.employee_id = employee_work.employee_id
) AS taken
From
carryover Left Join
employee_work On employee_work.employee_id = carryover.employee_id
Where
carryover.carryover > 0
Group By
employee_work.employee_id;
An alternative structure is to do the grouping for all employees in the from clause. You can also remove the employee_work table, because it does not seem to be being used. (You can use carryover.employee_id for the id.)
Select co.employee_id, co.carryover, et.taken
From carryover c Left Join
(SELECT employee_id, SUM(days) as taken
FROM timeoff
WHERE timeoff.time_off_type = 'Carryover' and
timeoff.start_date>='2013-01-01'
) et
on co.employee_id = et.employee_id
Where c.carryover > 0;
I don't think the group by is necessary. If it is, then you should probably have an aggregation function in the original query.