MySQL Union on Dissimilar Fields without Dummy Columns - mysql

Question

So lets say I have 2 or more tables consisting of dissimilar columns in which a shared key (id) is not necessarily present :
Alpha:
+----+-------+-------+-------+
| id | paula | randy | simon |
+----+-------+-------+-------+
| 1 | 8 | 7 | 2 |
| 2 | 9 | 6 | 2 |
| 3 | 10 | 5 | 2 |
+----+-------+-------+-------+
Beta:
+----+---------+-----+------------+------+
| id | is_nice | sex | dob | gift |
+----+---------+-----+------------+------+
| 2 | 1 | F | 1990-05-25 | iPod |
| 3 | 0 | M | 1990-05-25 | coal |
+----+---------+-----+------------+------+
Gamma:
+----+---------+--------+
| id | is_tall | is_fat |
+----+---------+--------+
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 99 | 0 | 1 |
+----+---------+--------+
The desired effect is to mash the tables together on id inserting NULLs where data is not available:
+----+-------+-------+-------+---------+-----+------------+------+---------+--------+
| id | paula | randy | simon | is_nice | sex | dob | gift | is_tall | is_fat |
+----+-------+-------+-------+---------+-----+------------+------+---------+--------+
| 1 | 8 | 7 | 2 | | | | | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | F | 1990-05-25 | iPod | | |
| 3 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | M | 1990-05-25 | coal | 1 | 1 |
| 99 | | | | | | | | 0 | 0 |
+----+-------+-------+-------+---------+-----+------------+------+---------+--------+
I can use NULL 'dummy' columns and UNION (MySql SELECT union for different columns?) but that seems like a royal pain if the number of tables is great. I'd like to think there is a JOIN method I can use to accomplish this, but I need some help to figure this out.
This works:
SELECT `id`, `paula`, `randy`, ..., NULL AS `is_nice`, ... FROM `Alpha`
UNION SELECT `id`, NULL AS `paula`, ..., FROM `Beta`
UNION SELECT `id`, NULL AS `paula`, ..., `is_fat` FROM `Gamma` ;
but it sure feels like the wrong way to do it. How can I get the same results without having to edit lines and lines of SQL inserting NULL AS whatever all over the place whenever I want to tack on additional tables?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

SELECT
allid.id
, a.paula, a.randy a.simon
, b. ...
, c. ...
FROM
( SELECT id
FROM Alpha
UNION
SELECT id
FROM Beta
UNION
SELECT id
FROM Gamma
) AS allid
LEFT JOIN
Alpha AS a
ON a.id = allid.id
LEFT JOIN
Beta AS b
ON b.id = allid.id
LEFT JOIN
Gamma AS g
ON g.id = allid.id
If the tables share no other column except the id, you could use the simple to write (but easier to break):
SELECT
*
FROM
( SELECT id
FROM Alpha
UNION
SELECT id
FROM Beta
UNION
SELECT id
FROM Gamma
) AS allid
NATURAL LEFT JOIN
Alpha
NATURAL LEFT JOIN
Beta
NATURAL LEFT JOIN
Gamma

Answer 2

You want to use LEFT JOINs.
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/join.html
In your example:
SELECT id_t.id, a.paula, a.randy, a.simon, b.is_nice, b.sex, b.dob, b.gift, g.is_tall, g.is_fat
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT id FROM alpha,beta,gamma) as id_t
LEFT JOIN alpha a ON a.id = id_t.id
LEFT JOIN beta b on b.id = id_t.id
LEFT JOIN gamma g on g.id = id_t.id