WITH RECURSIVE SELECT via secondary table - sql

Question

I'm having a bit of a hard time trying to piece this together. I'm not adept with databases or complex queries.
The Database
I'm using the latest MariaDB release.
I have a database table configuration like so, representing a hierarchical data structure:
|----------------------|
| fieldsets |
|----+-----------------|
| id | parent_field_id |
|----+-----------------|
| 1 | NULL |
| 2 | 1 |
|----------------------|
|-------------------------|
| fields |
|----+--------------------|
| id | parent_fieldset_id |
|----+--------------------|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 |
|-------------------------|
The Problem
I'm trying to piece together a recursive query. I need to select every fieldset in a given hierarchy. For example, in the above, stripped-down example, I want to select fieldset of id = 1, and every descendant fieldset.
The IDs of the next rung down in any given level in the hierarchy are obtained only via columns of a secondary table.
The table fieldsets contains no column by which I can directly get all child fieldsets. I need to get all fields that are a child of a given fieldset, and then get any fieldsets that are a child of that field.
A Better Illustration of the Problem
This query does not work because of the reported error: "Restrictions imposed on recursive definitions are violated for table all_fieldsets"
However, it really illustrates what I need to do in order to get all descendant fieldsets in the hierarchy (remember, a fieldset does not contain the column for its parent fieldset, since a fieldset cannot have a fieldset as a direct parent. Instead, a fieldset has a parent_field_id which points to a row in the fields table, and that row in the fields table correspondingly has a column named parent_fieldset_id which points to a row back in the fieldsets table, which is considered the parent fieldset to a fieldset, just an indirect parent.
WITH RECURSIVE all_fieldsets AS (
SELECT fieldsets.* FROM fieldsets WHERE id = 125
UNION ALL
SELECT fieldsets.* FROM fieldsets
WHERE fieldsets.parent_field_id IN (
SELECT id FROM fields f
INNER JOIN all_fieldsets afs
WHERE f.parent_fieldset_id = afs.id
)
)
SELECT * FROM all_fieldsets
My Attempt
The query I have thus far (which does not work):
WITH RECURSIVE all_fieldsets AS (
SELECT fieldsets.* FROM fieldsets WHERE id = 125
UNION
SELECT fieldsets.* FROM fieldsets WHERE fieldsets.id IN (SELECT fs.id FROM fieldsets fs LEFT JOIN fields f ON f.id = fs.parent_field_id WHERE f.parent_fieldset_id = fieldsets.id)
)
SELECT * FROM all_fieldsets
My Research
I'm also having a hard time finding an example which fits my use-case. There's so many results for hierarchical structures that involve one table having only relations to itself, not via a secondary table, as in my case. It's difficult when you do not know the correct terms for certain concepts, and any layman explanation seems to yield too many tangential search results.
My Plea
I would be enormously grateful to all who can point out where I'm going wrong, and perhaps suggest the outline of a query that will work.

Answer 1

The main problem I see with your current code is that the recursive portion of the CTE (the query which appears after the union) is not selecting from the recursive CTE, when it should be. Consider this updated version:
WITH RECURSIVE all_fieldsets AS (
SELECT * FROM fieldsets WHERE id = 125
UNION ALL
SELECT f1.*
FROM fieldsets f1
INNER JOIN all_fieldsets f2
ON f1.parent_field_id = f2.id
)
SELECT *
FROM all_fieldsets;
Note that the join in the recursive portion of the CTE relates a given descendant record in fieldsets to its parent in the CTE.

Answer 2

I got home from work, and I just could not set this down!
But, out of that came a solution.
I highly recommend reading this answer about recursive queries to get a better idea of how they work, and what the syntax means. Quite brilliantly explained: How to select using WITH RECURSIVE clause
The Solution
WITH RECURSIVE all_fieldsets AS (
SELECT * FROM fieldsets fs
WHERE id = 59
UNION ALL
SELECT fs.* FROM fieldsets fs
INNER JOIN all_fieldsets afs
INNER JOIN fields f
ON f.parent_fieldset_id = afs.id
AND fs.parent_field_id = f.id
)
SELECT * FROM all_fieldsets
I had to use joins to get the information from the fields table, in order to get the next level in the hierarchy, and then do this recursively until there is an empty result in the recursive query.