How do I stop my query from pulling duplicates? - sql

Question

Yes, I know this seems simple:
SELECT DISTINCT(...)
Except, it apparently isn't
Here is my actual Query:
SELECT
DeclinationReasons.Reason,
EmployeeInformation.ID,
EmployeeInformation.Employee,
EmployeeInformation.Active,
CompletedTrainings.DecShotDate,
CompletedTrainings.DecShotLocation,
CompletedTrainings.DecReason,
CompletedTrainings.DecExplanation,
IIf([DecShotLocation]="MCS","Yes","No") AS YesMCS,
IIf([DecReason]=1,1,0) AS YesAllergy,
IIf([DecReason]=2,1,0) AS YesImmune,
IIf([DecReason]=3,1,0) AS YesAdverse,
IIf([DecReason]=4,1,0) AS YesMedical,
IIf([DecReason]=5,1,0) AS YesSpiritual,
IIf([DecReason]=6,1,0) AS YesOther,
IIf([DecReason]=7,1,0) AS YesAlready
FROM
EmployeeInformation
INNER JOIN (CompletedTrainings
LEFT JOIN DeclinationReasons ON CompletedTrainings.DecReason = DeclinationReasons.ReasonID)
ON EmployeeInformation.ID = CompletedTrainings.Employee
GROUP BY
DeclinationReasons.Reason,
EmployeeInformation.ID,
EmployeeInformation.Employee,
EmployeeInformation.Active,
CompletedTrainings.DecShotDate,
CompletedTrainings.DecShotLocation,
CompletedTrainings.DecReason,
CompletedTrainings.DecExplanation,
IIf([DecShotLocation]="MCS","Yes","No"),
IIf([DecReason]=1,1,0),
IIf([DecReason]=2,1,0),
IIf([DecReason]=3,1,0),
IIf([DecReason]=4,1,0),
IIf([DecReason]=5,1,0),
IIf([DecReason]=6,1,0),
IIf([DecReason]=7,1,0)
HAVING
((((EmployeeInformation.Active) Like -1)
AND ((CompletedTrainings.DecShotDate + 365 >= DATE())
OR (CompletedTrainings.DecShotDate IS NULL))));
This is Joining a few tables (obviously) in order to get a number of records. The problem is that if someone is duplicated on the table with a NULL in one of the date fields, and a date in another field, it pulls both the NULL and the DATE, or pulls multiple NULLS it might pull multiple dates but those are not present right at the moment.
I need the Nulls, they are actual data in this particular case, but if someone has a date and a NULL I need to pull only the newest record, I thought I could add MAX(RecordID) from the table, but that didn't change the results of the query either.
That code:
SELECT
DeclinationReasons.Reason,
EmployeeInformation.ID,
EmployeeInformation.Employee,
EmployeeInformation.Active,
MAX(CompletedTrainings.RecordID),
CompletedTrainings.DecShotDate
...
And it returned the same issue, Duplicated EmployeeInformation.ID with different DecShotDate values.
Currently it returns:
ID
Active
DecShotDate
etc. x a bunch
1
-1
date date
whatever goes
2
-1
in these
2
-1
date date
columns
These are being used in a report, that is to determine the total number of employees who fit the criteria of the report. The NULLs in DecShotDate are needed as they show people who did not refuse to get a flu vaccine in the current year, while the dates are people who did refuse.
Now I have come up with one simple solution, I could add a column to the CompletedTrainings Table that contains a date or other value, and add that to the HAVING statement. This might be the right solution as this is a yearly training questionnaire that employees have to fill out. But I am asking for advice before doing this.
Am I right in thinking I need to add a column to filter by so that older data isn't being pulled, or should I be able to do this by pulling recordID, and did I just bork that part of the query up?
Edited to add raw table views:
EmployeeInformation Table:
ID
Last
First
empID
Active
Termdate
DoH
Title
PT/FT/PD
PI
1
Doe
Jane
982
-1
date
Sr
PD
X
2
Roe
John
278
0
date
date
Jr
PD
X
3
Moe
Larry
1232
-1
date
Sr
FT
X
4
Zoe
Debbie
1424
-1
date
Sr
PT
X
DeclinationReasons Table:
ReasonID
Reason
1
Allergy
2
Already got it
3
Illness
CompletedTrainings Table:
RecordID
Employee
Training
...
DecShotdate
DecShotLocation
DecShotReason
DecExp
1
1
4
date
location
2
text
2
1
4
3
2
4
4
3
4
date
location
3
text
5
3
4
date
location
1
text
6
4
4

Answer 1

After some serious soul searching, I decided to use another column and filter by that.
In the end my query looks like this:
SELECT *
FROM (
(
SELECT RecordID, DecShotDate, DecShotLocation, DecReason, DecExplanation, Employee,
IIf([DecShotLocation]="MCS","Yes","No") AS YesMCS, IIf([DecReason]=1,1,0) AS YesAllergy,
IIf([DecReason]=2,1,0) AS YesImmune, IIf([DecReason]=3,1,0) AS YesAdverse,
IIf([DecReason]=4,1,0) AS YesMedical, IIf([DecReason]=5,1,0) AS YesSpiritual,
IIf([DecReason]=6,1,0) AS YesOther, IIf([DecReason]=7,1,0) AS YesAlready
FROM CompletedTrainings WHERE (CompletedDate > DATE() - 365 ) AND (Training = 69)) AS T1
LEFT JOIN
(
SELECT ID, Active FROM EmployeeInformation) AS T2 ON T1.Employee = T2.ID)
LEFT JOIN
(
SELECT Reason, ReasonID FROM DeclinationReasons) AS T3 ON T1.DecReason = T3.ReasonID;
This may not have been the best solution, but it did exactly what I needed. Which is to get the information by latest entry into the database.
Previously I had tried to use MAX(), DISTINCT(), etc. but always had a problem of multiple records being retrieved. In this case, I intentionally SELECT the most recent records first, then join them to the results of the next query, and so on. Until I have all the required data for my report.
I write this in hopes someone else finds it useful. Or even better if someone tells me why this is wrong, so as to improve my own skills.