Hi, A few weeks ago I created ticket 4037 with the description:
The following query select databasename.tablename.* from databasename.tablename returns: near "*": syntax error However, the following query returns no error: select databasename.tablename.fieldname from databasename.tablename I just noticed the ticket was closed without being fixed, with the following remark: "Please discuss this on the sqlite-users mailing list, especially including what the SQL standard says and what other databases say." Now, I have to admit that English is not my first language, nor the second, but the way I see it this remark means something like: "This is not a bug, and if you want to find out why please ask this question in the mailing list. " So here I am asking the question here: is this a bug or not? More info: I found this issue while using a query builder component available for Delphi (the Active Query Builder) which may generate the above query based on the user selection. I suppose I will have a hard time trying to convince the developers of Active Query Builder to "fix" their tool because it generates a query that SQLite does not support. Regarding "what other databases say": the only other database that I currently have access to is SQL Server, and it supports the syntax without complaining. I also downloaded the SQL92 standard, and I didn't find anything relevant but maybe I didn't know where to look so I would appreciate any pointers. I am perfectly willing to accept an explanation like: "yes, it is a bug but it's a corner case and we have better things to do, so stop bugging us and get a life". In which case I will probably have to find a workaround like parsing the query and stripping the "databasename" to get something like: select tablename.* from databasename.tablename which works fine. However, the following scenario still does not work: 1. The "main" database and the attached database "databasename" both contain a table called "tablename" 2. The tables with duplicate names from both databases participate in the generated query, which looks like select databasename.tablename.*, main.tablename.fieldname from databasename.tablename, main.tablename In this case we cannot strip the "databasename" because the syntax would be ambiguous. Could anybody help me with this? Basically what I'm looking for is the answers to these questions: 1. Is this a bug or not? If not, any reason why not? 2. Are other databases supporting this syntax? 3. Is this an invalid syntax according to the SQL standard? 4. Is there a workaround? I would appreciate any help. Bogdan Ureche _______________________________________________ sqlite-users mailing list sqlite-users@sqlite.org http://sqlite.org:8080/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sqlite-users
