;>>> 2012/04/12 11:56 -0700, Haluk Karamete >>>> My initial goal was to write a very convenient php function that display a table view based on arguments that are super simple to write - without requiring the developer to type-in ( or know ) the ins and outs of joins, natural joins etc.
Something like this function showtable($dbh,$table,$fields){ //get the $fields argument & parse it out to come up //with one of the SQL statements you guys are discussing. SQL = BuildSQL($table,$fields) //and then use this SQL to output the table } The magic would be happening in the $fields argument. .... What's the most straightforward way to achieve the following view with one SQL statement? ____peopleID__________stateID_____________ ____1_(joe)___________1__(california)_____ ____2_(bob)___________4__(texas)__________ ____3_(charlie)_______5__(florida)________ </quote> if the final table ( PeopleAndStates ) view I want were to be as follows; ____peopleID__________stateID_____________ ____1_________________1___________________ ____2_________________4___________________ ____3_________________5___________________ Then I would have called the function like this; showtable($dbh,$myTable,"peopleID,stateID") But if I want to get, the following view instead; ____peopleID__________stateID_____________ ____1_(joe)___________1___________________ ____2_(bob)___________4___________________ ____3_(charlie)_______5___________________ I would like to be able to call my function as follows; showtable($dbh,$PeopleAndStates,"peopleID(PeopleTable.PeopleID >> FName),stateID") To mean the following; When you are outputting the peopleID, provide the corresponding "Fname" field from the "PeopleTable" where peopleID there is equal to the peopleID you are outputting. What I was seeking from you guys was to find out to most simplistic SQL statement so that when I parse the area with (PeopleTable.PeopleID >> FName), I can extract the pieces and place it in the final SQL. I'm not sure if you all get the idea of how such a function make debugging super easy. Once you write the parser, you can deploy it over many different cases such as ShowRecord($dbh,$table,$fields,"where peopleID<5","limit 100") and so on. So, the simpler the SQL, the easier the transition from the starting slate which is really no different than SELECT peopleID(PeopleTable.PeopleID >> FName),stateID from PeopleAndStates <<<<<<<< (note that in MySQL '>>' is only right-shift.) I fear that for this function in the end you will need information_schema.COLUMNS. Peter Brawley already gave you a good answer for one of your examples (but I thus would write it): select concat(peopleID, ' (',fname,')') AS peopleID, concat(stateID, ' (',state,')') AS stateID from people join PeopleAndStates USING(peopleID) join state USING(stateID) The middle example: select peopleID, stateID from PeopleAndStates The last: select concat(peopleID, ' (',fname,')') AS peopleID, stateID from people join PeopleAndStates USING(peopleID) join state USING(stateID) I have assumed that you mean to join only on same-named fields with equality; if not, JOIN ... ON ... is needed. In any case, you have to keep track of it, whether in a result field the table name, too, is needed. If you use USING, for that field leave the table name out. -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql