Sql Result IN a Query - mysql

Question

dont blame for the database design.I am not its database architect. I am the one who has to use it in current situation
I hope this will be understandable.
I have 3 tables containing following data with no foreign key relationship b/w them:
groups
groupId groupName
1 Admin
2 Editor
3 Subscriber
preveleges
groupId roles
1 1,2
2 2,3
3 1
roles
roleId roleTitle
1 add
2 edit
Query:
SELECT roles
from groups
LEFT JOIN preveleges ON (groups.groupId=preveleges.groupId)
returns specific result i.e roles.
Problem: I wanted to show roleTitle instead of roles in the above query.
I am confused how to relate table roles with this query and returns required result
I know it is feasible with coding but i want in SQL.Any suggestion will be appreciated.

Answer 1

SELECT g.groupName,
GROUP_CONCAT(r.roleTitle
ORDER BY FIND_IN_SET(r.roleId, p.roles))
AS RoleTitles
FROM groups AS g
LEFT JOIN preveleges AS p
ON g.groupId = p.groupId
LEFT JOIN roles AS r
ON FIND_IN_SET(r.roleId, p.roles)
GROUP BY g.groupName ;
Tested at: SQL-FIDDLE

Answer 2

I would change the data structure it self. Since It's not normalised, there are multiple elements in a single column.
But it is possible with SQL, if for some (valid) reason you can't change the DB.
A simple "static" solution:
SELECT REPLACE(REPLACE(roles, '1', 'add'), '2', 'edit') from groups
LEFT JOIN preveleges ON(groups.groupId=preveleges.groupId)
A more complex but still ugly solution:
CREATE FUNCTION ReplaceRoleIDWithName (#StringIds VARCHAR(50))
RETURNS VARCHAR(50)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #RoleNames VARCHAR(50)
SET #RoleNames = #StringIds
SELECT #RoleNames = REPLACE(#RoleNames, CAST(RoleId AS VARCHAR(50)), roleTitle)
FROM roles
RETURN #RoleNames
END
And then use the function in the query
SELECT ReplaceRoleIDWithName(roles) from groups
LEFT JOIN preveleges ON(groups.groupId=preveleges.groupId)
It is possible without function, but this is more readable. Made without editor so it's not tested in anyway.

Answer 3

You also tagged the question with PostgreSQL and it's actually quite easy with Postgres to work around this broken design:
SELECT grp.groupname, r.roletitle
FROM groups grp
join (
select groupid, cast(regexp_split_to_table(roles, ',') as integer) as role_id
from privileges
) as privs on privs.groupid = grp.groupid
join roles r on r.roleid = privs.role_id;
SQLFiddle: http://sqlfiddle.com/#!12/5e87b/1
(Note that I changed the incorrectly spelled name preveleges to the correct spelling privileges)
But you should really, really re-design your data model!
Fixing your design also enables you to define foreign key constraints and validate the input. In your current model, the application would probably break (just as my query would), if someone inserted the value 'one,two,three' into the roles table.
Edit
To complete the picture, using Postgres's array handling the above could be slightly simplified using a similar approach as MySQL's find_in_set()
select grp.groupname, r.roletitle
from groups grp
join privileges privs on grp.groupid = privs.groupid
join roles r on r.roleid::text = any (string_to_array(privs.roles, ','))
In both cases if all role titles should be shown as a comma separated list, the string_agg() function could be used (which is equivalent to MySQL's group_concat()
select grp.groupname, string_agg(r.roletitle, ',')
from groups grp
join privileges privs on grp.groupid = privs.groupid
join roles r on r.roleid::text = any (string_to_array(privs.roles, ','))
group by grp.groupname