Joining Tables: case statement for no matches? - mysql

I have this query:
SELECT p.text,se.name,s.sub_name,SUM((p.volume / (SELECT SUM(p.volume)
FROM phrase p
WHERE p.volume IS NOT NULL) * sp.position))
AS `index`
FROM phrase p
LEFT JOIN `position` sp ON sp.phrase_id = p.id
LEFT JOIN `engines` se ON se.id = sp.engine_id
LEFT JOIN item s ON s.id = sp.site_id
WHERE p.volume IS NOT NULL
AND s.ignored = 0
GROUP BY se.name,s.sub_name
ORDER BY se.name,s.sub_name
There are a few things I want to do with it:
1) The end of the calculation for 'index', I multiple it all by sp.position, then get it's SUM. If there is NO MATCH in the first LEFT JOIN 'position', I want to give sp.position a value of 200. So basically if in the 'phrase' table I have an ID=2, but that does not exist in sp.phrase_id in the entire 'position' table, then sp.position=200 for the 'index' calculation, otherwise it will it will be whatever value is stored in the 'position' table. I hope that makes sense.
2) I do a GROUP BY se.name. I would like to actually SUM the entire 'index' values for similar se.name fields. So in the resultset as it stands now, if there were 20 p.text rows with the same se.name, I would like to SUM the index column for the same se.name(s).
I am more of a PHP guy, but trying to learn more MySQL. I have become a big believer in making the DB do as much of the work as possible instead of trying to manipulate the dataset after it's been returned.
I hope the questions were clear. Anyways, can both 1) and 2) be done? There's much more I want to modify this query to do, but I think if I need more help in the future on it, it would require a different question.
The position table has a engines_id, phrase_id, item_id which will make it a unique entry. The value I am trying to calculate is the sp.position value. But there are cases when there is no entry for these IDs combined. If there is no entry for the combo of 3 IDs I just listed, I would like to use sp.position=200 in my calculation.

How's this:
select x.name, sum(index) from
(
SELECT p.text,se.name,s.sub_name,SUM((p.volume / (SELECT SUM(p.volume)
FROM phrase p
WHERE p.volume IS NOT NULL) * if(sp.position is null,200,sp.position)))
AS `index`
FROM phrase p
LEFT JOIN `position` sp ON sp.phrase_id = p.id
LEFT JOIN `engines` se ON se.id = sp.engine_id
LEFT JOIN item s ON s.id = sp.site_id
WHERE p.volume IS NOT NULL
AND s.ignored = 0
GROUP BY se.name,s.sub_name
ORDER BY se.name,s.sub_name
)x
GROUP BY x.name

Try the following:
1.) Use IFNULL(), in your case IFNULL(sp.position, 200)
2.) I am not entirely clear on this part, but it seems like you already have part of what you are asking.

Related

Not quite a good enough JOIN? [duplicate]

I need to retrieve all default settings from the settings table but also grab the character setting if exists for x character.
But this query is only retrieving those settings where character is = 1, not the default settings if the user havent setted anyone.
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM (`settings`)
LEFT JOIN `character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
WHERE `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1'
So i should need something like this:
array(
'0' => array('somekey' => 'keyname', 'value' => 'thevalue'),
'1' => array('somekey2' => 'keyname2'),
'2' => array('somekey3' => 'keyname3')
)
Where key 1 and 2 are the default values when key 0 contains the default value with the character value.
The where clause is filtering away rows where the left join doesn't succeed. Move it to the join:
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM `settings`
LEFT JOIN
`character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
AND `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1'
When making OUTER JOINs (ANSI-89 or ANSI-92), filtration location matters because criteria specified in the ON clause is applied before the JOIN is made. Criteria against an OUTER JOINed table provided in the WHERE clause is applied after the JOIN is made. This can produce very different result sets. In comparison, it doesn't matter for INNER JOINs if the criteria is provided in the ON or WHERE clauses -- the result will be the same.
SELECT s.*,
cs.`value`
FROM SETTINGS s
LEFT JOIN CHARACTER_SETTINGS cs ON cs.setting_id = s.id
AND cs.character_id = 1
If I understand your question correctly you want records from the settings database if they don't have a join accross to the character_settings table or if that joined record has character_id = 1.
You should therefore do
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM (`settings`)
LEFT OUTER JOIN `character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
WHERE `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1' OR
`character_settings`.character_id is NULL
You might find it easier to understand by using a simple subquery
SELECT `settings`.*, (
SELECT `value` FROM `character_settings`
WHERE `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
AND `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1') AS cv_value
FROM `settings`
The subquery is allowed to return null, so you don't have to worry about JOIN/WHERE in the main query.
Sometimes, this works faster in MySQL, but compare it against the LEFT JOIN form to see what works best for you.
SELECT s.*, c.value
FROM settings s
LEFT JOIN character_settings c ON c.setting_id = s.id AND c.character_id = '1'
For this problem, as for many others involving non-trivial left joins such as left-joining on inner-joined tables, I find it convenient and somewhat more readable to split the query with a with clause. In your example,
with settings_for_char as (
select setting_id, value from character_settings where character_id = 1
)
select
settings.*,
settings_for_char.value
from
settings
left join settings_for_char on settings_for_char.setting_id = settings.id;
The way I finally understand the top answer is realising (following the Order Of Execution of the SQL query ) that the WHERE clause is applied to the joined table thereby filtering out rows that do not satisfy the WHERE condition from the joined (or output) table. However, moving the WHERE condition to the ON clause applies it to the individual tables prior to joining. This enables the left join to retain rows from the left table even though some column entries of those rows (entries from the right tables) do not satisfy the WHERE condition.
The result is correct based on the SQL statement. Left join returns all values from the right table, and only matching values from the left table.
ID and NAME columns are from the right side table, so are returned.
Score is from the left table, and 30 is returned, as this value relates to Name "Flow". The other Names are NULL as they do not relate to Name "Flow".
The below would return the result you were expecting:
SELECT a.*, b.Score
FROM #Table1 a
LEFT JOIN #Table2 b
ON a.ID = b.T1_ID
WHERE 1=1
AND a.Name = 'Flow'
The SQL applies a filter on the right hand table.

MySQL Sum even if records doesnt exist [duplicate]

I need to retrieve all default settings from the settings table but also grab the character setting if exists for x character.
But this query is only retrieving those settings where character is = 1, not the default settings if the user havent setted anyone.
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM (`settings`)
LEFT JOIN `character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
WHERE `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1'
So i should need something like this:
array(
'0' => array('somekey' => 'keyname', 'value' => 'thevalue'),
'1' => array('somekey2' => 'keyname2'),
'2' => array('somekey3' => 'keyname3')
)
Where key 1 and 2 are the default values when key 0 contains the default value with the character value.
The where clause is filtering away rows where the left join doesn't succeed. Move it to the join:
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM `settings`
LEFT JOIN
`character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
AND `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1'
When making OUTER JOINs (ANSI-89 or ANSI-92), filtration location matters because criteria specified in the ON clause is applied before the JOIN is made. Criteria against an OUTER JOINed table provided in the WHERE clause is applied after the JOIN is made. This can produce very different result sets. In comparison, it doesn't matter for INNER JOINs if the criteria is provided in the ON or WHERE clauses -- the result will be the same.
SELECT s.*,
cs.`value`
FROM SETTINGS s
LEFT JOIN CHARACTER_SETTINGS cs ON cs.setting_id = s.id
AND cs.character_id = 1
If I understand your question correctly you want records from the settings database if they don't have a join accross to the character_settings table or if that joined record has character_id = 1.
You should therefore do
SELECT `settings`.*, `character_settings`.`value`
FROM (`settings`)
LEFT OUTER JOIN `character_settings`
ON `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
WHERE `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1' OR
`character_settings`.character_id is NULL
You might find it easier to understand by using a simple subquery
SELECT `settings`.*, (
SELECT `value` FROM `character_settings`
WHERE `character_settings`.`setting_id` = `settings`.`id`
AND `character_settings`.`character_id` = '1') AS cv_value
FROM `settings`
The subquery is allowed to return null, so you don't have to worry about JOIN/WHERE in the main query.
Sometimes, this works faster in MySQL, but compare it against the LEFT JOIN form to see what works best for you.
SELECT s.*, c.value
FROM settings s
LEFT JOIN character_settings c ON c.setting_id = s.id AND c.character_id = '1'
For this problem, as for many others involving non-trivial left joins such as left-joining on inner-joined tables, I find it convenient and somewhat more readable to split the query with a with clause. In your example,
with settings_for_char as (
select setting_id, value from character_settings where character_id = 1
)
select
settings.*,
settings_for_char.value
from
settings
left join settings_for_char on settings_for_char.setting_id = settings.id;
The way I finally understand the top answer is realising (following the Order Of Execution of the SQL query ) that the WHERE clause is applied to the joined table thereby filtering out rows that do not satisfy the WHERE condition from the joined (or output) table. However, moving the WHERE condition to the ON clause applies it to the individual tables prior to joining. This enables the left join to retain rows from the left table even though some column entries of those rows (entries from the right tables) do not satisfy the WHERE condition.
The result is correct based on the SQL statement. Left join returns all values from the right table, and only matching values from the left table.
ID and NAME columns are from the right side table, so are returned.
Score is from the left table, and 30 is returned, as this value relates to Name "Flow". The other Names are NULL as they do not relate to Name "Flow".
The below would return the result you were expecting:
SELECT a.*, b.Score
FROM #Table1 a
LEFT JOIN #Table2 b
ON a.ID = b.T1_ID
WHERE 1=1
AND a.Name = 'Flow'
The SQL applies a filter on the right hand table.

MYSQL multiple INNER JOIN retrieve every information

i want to run the following query in my script but it won't work correctly.
I'm not getting any errors, it just selects the data from hs_data correct (and everything) but from hs_download_links it only retrieved as much data as there are entries in hs.images.
The goal of this query should be to get any entry from hs_data. If there's information related to these entries in hs_download_links or hs_images it should get them as well.
SELECT
h.hacks_ID, h.hacks_Name, h.hacks_Name_Full,
h.hacks_Version, h.hacks_Description, h.hacks_AddDate,
h.hacks_Type, SUM(dl.link_count) AS link_count, i.image_NameThumb
FROM
hs_data h
LEFT JOIN
(hs_download_links dl CROSS JOIN hs_images i)
ON
((dl.link_hackID = h.hacks_ID AND i.image_HackID = h.hacks_ID)
OR
(dl.link_hackID = h.hacks_ID AND i.image_HackID is NULL)
OR
(dl.link_hackID is NULL AND i.image_HackID = h.hacks_ID)
OR
(dl.link_hackID is NULL AND i.image_HackID is NULL) )
GROUP BY
h.hacks_ID
ORDER BY link_count DESC
Would be great if you guys could help me, much thanks :)
I think you can write this as:
SELECT h.hacks_ID, h.hacks_Name, h.hacks_Name_Full,
h.hacks_Version, h.hacks_Description, h.hacks_AddDate,
h.hacks_Type, SUM(dl.link_count) AS link_count, i.image_NameThumb
FROM hs_data h LEFT JOIN
hs_download_links dl
on dl.link_hackID = h.hacks_ID LEFT JOIN
hs_images i
on i.image_HackID = h.hacks_ID
GROUP BY h.hacks_ID
ORDER BY link_count DESC;
I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish with the cross join, but it seems unnecessarily confusing. You can chain left outer joins together. They still keep all the rows in the first table.
By the way, your select has a dangling i.image_NameThumb. That means that only one such value will appear. If there are multiple values, you might want to use group_concat(). Or even min() or max() just to clarify the intent of the query.
This will return the number of download links and the first image, if any, for each record in hs_data:
SELECT d.*,
(
SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM hs_download_links dl
WHERE dl.link_hackId = d.hacks_Id
),
(
SELECT i.image_NameThumb
FROM hs_images i
WHERE i.image_hackId = d.hacks_Id
ORDER BY
image_NameThumb
LIMIT 1
)
FROM hs_data d

LEFT JOIN to a single row in order of criteria in MySQL

Ok, I tried to simplify my question by abstracting away the details but I'm afraid I wasn't clear and didn't meet moderator requirements. So I will post the full query with my problem in more detail and the actual query I am struggling with. If the question is still inadequate, could you please comment with specifics about what is unclear and I will do my best to clarify.
First, here is the current query that returns all assignment rows for each bed:
SELECT
beds.bed_id,
beds.bedstatus,
beds.position as bed_position,
rooms.room_id,
rooms.room,
wings.wing_id,
wings.name as wing_name,
buildings.building_id,
buildings.name as building_name,
assignments.assignment_id,
assignments.student_id,
assignments.assign_dt,
assignments.assigned_by,
assignments.assignment_status,
assignments.expected_arrival_dt as arrival_dt,
assignments.room_charge_type,
students.first_name,
students.last_name,
meal_plans.name as meal_plan_name,
room_rates.rate_name
FROM
beds
LEFT JOIN
rooms ON (beds.room_id = rooms.room_id)
LEFT JOIN
wings ON (rooms.wing_id = wings.wing_id)
LEFT JOIN
buildings ON (wings.building_id = buildings.buildings_id)
LEFT JOIN assignments ON
((beds.bed_id=assignments.bed_id) AND (term_id = #term_id))
LEFT JOIN
students ON (assignments.student_id = students.student_id)
LEFT JOIN
meal_plans ON (assignments.meal_plan_id = meal_plans.meal_plan_id)
LEFT JOIN
room_rates ON (room_rate_id = room_rates.room_rate_id)
WHERE
(
(rooms.room IS NOT NULL) AND
(rooms.assignable = 1) AND
(buildings.active = 1) AND
(buildings.building_id = #building_id)
)
ORDER BY BY rooms.room;
The problem is that there may be multiple rows in the "assignments" table for each room distinguished by the "assignment_status" field and I want a single row for each assignment. I want to determine which assignment row to select based on the value in assignment_status. That is if the assignment status is "active", I want that row, otherwise, if there is a row with status "waiting approval" then I want that row, etc...
Barmar's suggestion is given here:
LEFT JOIN (SELECT *
FROM OtherTable
WHERE <criteria>
ORDER BY CASE status
WHEN 'Active' THEN 1
WHEN 'Waiting Approval' THEN 2
WHEN 'Canceled' THEN 3
...
END
LIMIT 1) other
This was very helpful and I attempted this approach:
SELECT
beds.bed_id,
beds.bedstatus,
beds.position as bed_position,
rooms.room_id,
rooms.room,
wings.wing_id,
wings.name as wing_name,
buildings.building_id,
buildings.name as building_name,
assign.assignment_id,
assign.student_id,
assign.assign_dt,
assign.assigned_by,
assign.assignment_status,
assign.expected_arrival_dt as arrival_dt,
assign.room_charge_type,
students.first_name,
students.last_name,
meal_plans.name as meal_plan_name,
room_rates.rate_name
FROM
beds
LEFT JOIN
rooms ON (beds.room_id = rooms.room_id)
LEFT JOIN
wings ON (rooms.wing_id = wings.wing_id)
LEFT JOIN
buildings ON (wings.building_id = buildings.buildings_id)
LEFT JOIN (SELECT *
FROM assignments
WHERE ((assignments.bed_id==beds.bed_id) AND (term_id = #term_id))
ORDER BY CASE assignment_status
WHEN 'Active' THEN 1
WHEN 'Waiting Approval' THEN 2
WHEN 'Canceled' THEN 3
END
LIMIT 1) assign
LEFT JOIN
students ON (assign.student_id = students.student_id)
LEFT JOIN
meal_plans ON (assign.meal_plan_id = meal_plans.meal_plan_id)
LEFT JOIN
room_rates ON (room_rate_id = room_rates.room_rate_id)
WHERE
(
(rooms.room IS NOT NULL) AND
(rooms.assignable = 1) AND
(buildings.active = 1) AND
(buildings.building_id = #building_id)
)
ORDER BY rooms.room;
But I realized, the problem here is that OtherTable (assignments) is joined to the parent query based on a FK:
((beds.bed_id=assignments.bed_id) AND (term_id = #term_id))
So I can't do the subselect as the beds.bed_id isn't in scope for the subselect. So as Barmar's comment indicates the join criteria needs to be outside the subselect--but I'm having trouble figuring out how to both restrict the results to a single row per room and move the join outside the subselect. I'm wondering if travelboy's suggestion to use GROUP BY may be more fruitful, but haven't been able to determine how the grouping should be done.
Let me know if I can provide additional clarification.
Original Question:
I need from Table A to do a LEFT JOIN on a SINGLE row in another table, Table B meeting certain criteria (there may be multiple or no rows in Table B that meet the criteria). If there are multiple rows I want to select which row in B to join based on the value of a field in Table B. For example, if there is a row in B with status column='Active', I want that row, if not, if there is a row with status='Waiting Approval', I want that row, if there is a row with status='Canceled', I want that row, etc... Can I do this without a sub select? With a sub select?
Use:
LEFT JOIN (SELECT *
FROM OtherTable
WHERE <criteria>
ORDER BY CASE status
WHEN 'Active' THEN 1
WHEN 'Waiting Approval' THEN 2
WHEN 'Canceled' THEN 3
...
END
LIMIT 1) other
In some cases (but not in all cases) you can do it without a sub-select. You would need to GROUP BY a unique field in table A, typically an ID. This ensures that you get only one (or none) row from table B. However, selecting the row you want is the tricky part. You need an aggregating function such as MAX(). If the field in B is a number, that's easy to do. If not, you can apply some SQL functions on the fields in B to calculate something like a score to sort by. For example, Active could correspond to a higher value than Cancelled etc. That will work without a sub-select and likely be faster on big data sets.
With a sub-select it's easy to do. You can either use Barmar's solution, or, if you only need one specific field from B, you can also put the sub-select within the SELECT clause of the outer query.
I need to follow up with some additional testing to make sure this is accomplishing my goal--but I think I've done this using travelboy's suggestion of a group by query combined with barmar's case logic (wish I could split the answer). Here's the query:
SELECT
beds.bed_id,
beds.bedstatus,
beds.position as bed_position,
rooms.room_id,
rooms.room,
wings.wing_id,
wings.name as wing_name,
buildings.building_id,
buildings.name as building_name,
assignments.assignment_id,
assignments.student_id,
assignments.assign_dt,
assignments.assigned_by,
assignments.assignment_status,
assignments.expected_arrival_dt as arrival_dt,
assignments.room_charge_type,
MIN(CASE assignments.assignment_status
WHEN 'Active' THEN 1
WHEN 'Waiting Approval' THEN 2
WHEN 'Canceled' THEN 3
END),
students.first_name,
students.last_name,
meal_plans.name as meal_plan_name,
room_rates.rate_name
FROM
beds
LEFT JOIN
rooms ON (beds.room_id = rooms.room_id)
LEFT JOIN
wings ON (rooms.wing_id = wings.wing_id)
LEFT JOIN
buildings ON (wings.building_id = buildings.building_id)
LEFT JOIN assignments
ON ((assignments.bed_id=beds.bed_id) AND (term_id = 28))
LEFT JOIN
students ON (assignments.student_id = students.student_id)
LEFT JOIN
meal_plans ON (assignments.meal_plan_id = meal_plans.meal_plan_id)
LEFT JOIN
room_rates ON (assignments.room_rate_id = room_rates.room_rate_id)
WHERE
(
(rooms.room IS NOT NULL) AND
(rooms.assignable = 1) AND
(buildings.active = 1)
)
GROUP BY
bed_id
ORDER BY rooms.room;

Why Does My MySQL Query Using a Subselect Hang?

The following query hangs: (although subqueries perfomed separately are fine)
I don't know how to make the explain table look ok. If someone tells me, I'll clean it up.
select
sum(grades.points)) as p,
from assignments
left join grades using (assignmentID)
where gradeID IN
(select grades.gradeID
from assignments
left join grades using (assignmentID)
where ... grades.date <= '1255503600' AND grades.date >= '984902400'
group by assignmentID order by grades.date DESC);
I think the problem is with the first grades table... the type ALL with that many rows seems to be the cause.. Everything is indexed.
I uploaded the table as an image. Couldn't get the formatting right:
http://imgur.com/AjX34.png
A commenter wanted the full where clause:
explain extended select count(assignments.assignmentID) as asscount, sum(TRIM(TRAILING '-' FROM grades.points)) as p, sum(assignments.points) as t
from assignments left join grades using (assignmentID)
where gradeID IN
(select grades.gradeID from assignments left join grades using (assignmentID) left join as_types on as_types.ID = assignments.type
where assignments.classID = '7815'
and (assignments.type = 30170 )
and grades.contactID = 7141
and grades.points REGEXP '^[-]?[0-9]+[-]?'
and grades.points != '-'
and grades.points != ''
and (grades.pointsposs IS NULL or grades.pointsposs = '')
and grades.date <= '1255503600'
AND grades.date >= '984902400'
group by assignmentID
order by grades.date DESC);
See "The unbearable slowness of IN":
http://www.artfulsoftware.com/infotree/queries.php#568
Super messy, but: (thanks for everyone's help)
SELECT *
FROM grades
LEFT JOIN assignments ON grades.assignmentID = assignments.assignmentID
RIGHT JOIN (
SELECT g.gradeID
FROM assignments a
LEFT JOIN grades g
USING ( assignmentID )
WHERE a.classID = '7815'
AND (
a.type =30170
)
AND g.contactID =7141
g.points
REGEXP '^[-]?[0-9]+[-]?'
AND g.points != '-'
AND g.points != ''
AND (
g.pointsposs IS NULL
OR g.pointsposs = ''
)
AND g.date <= '1255503600'
AND g.date >= '984902400'
GROUP BY assignmentID
ORDER BY g.date DESC
) AS t1 ON t1.gradeID = grades.gradeID
Suppose you use a Real Database (ie, any database except MySQL, but I'll use Postgres as an example) to do this query :
SELECT * FROM ta WHERE aid IN (SELECT subquery)
a Real Database would look at the subquery and estimate its rowcount :
If the rowcount is small (say, less than a few millions)
It would run the subquery, then build an in-memory hash of ids, which also makes them unique, which is a feature of IN().
Then, if the number of rows pulled from ta is a small part of ta, it would use a suitable index to pull the rows. Or, if a major part of the table is selected, it would just scan it entirely, and lookup each id in the hash, which is very fast.
If however the subquery rowcount is quite large
The database would probably rewrite it as a merge JOIN, adding a Sort+Unique to the subquery.
However, you are using MySQL. In this case, it will not do any of this (it is gonna re-execute the subquery for each row of your table) so it will take 1000 years. Sorry.
If your subquery performs fine when it is executed separately, then try using a JOIN rather than IN, like this:
select count(assignments.assignmentID) as asscount, sum(TRIM(TRAILING '-' FROM grades.points)) as p, sum(assignments.points) as t
from assignments left join grades using (assignmentID)
join
(select grades.gradeID from assignments left join grades using (assignmentID) left join as_types on as_types.ID = assignments.type
where assignments.classID = '7815'
and (assignments.type = 30170 )
and grades.contactID = 7141
and grades.points REGEXP '^[-]?[0-9]+[-]?'
and grades.points != '-'
and grades.points != ''
and (grades.pointsposs IS NULL or grades.pointsposs = '')
and grades.date <= '1255503600'
AND grades.date >= '984902400'
group by assignmentID
order by grades.date DESC) using (gradeID);
There really isn't enough information to answer your question, and you've put a ... in the middle of the where clause which is weird. How big are the tables involved and what are the indexes?
Having said that, if there are too many terms in an in clause, you can see seriously degraded performance. Replace the use of in with a right join.
For starters, the table as_types in the in clause is not used. Left joining it serves no purpose so get rid of it.
That leaves the in clause having only the assignments and grades table from the outer query. Clearly the wheres the modify assignments belong in the where clause for the outer query. You should move all of the where grades=whatever into the on clause of the left join to grades.
The query is a little tough to follow, but I suspect that the subquery isn't necessary at all.
It seems like your query is basically thus:
SELECT FOO()
FROM assignments LEFT JOIN grades USING (assignmentID)
WHERE gradeID IN
(
SELECT grades.gradeID
FROM assignments LEFT JOIN grades USING (assignmentID)
WHERE your_conditions = TRUE
);
But, you're not doing anything really fancy in the where clause in the subquery.
I suspect something more like
SELECT FOO()
FROM assignments LEFT JOIN grades USING (assignmentID)
GROUP BY groupings
WHERE your_conditions_with_some_tweaks = TRUE;
would work just as well.
If I'm missing some key logic here please comment back and I'll edit/delete this post.