How to join these tables safely? - sql

I have a table Table1. My application code reads from Table1 like this:
Select id, table2_id, table3_id from Table1
I would like it to also return values name from tables Table2 and Table3 by changing my query like this:
select t1.id, t1.table2_id, t1.table3_id, t2.name, t3.name
from table1 t1
left outer join table2 t2 on t1.table2_id = t2.id
left outer join table3 t3 on t1.table3_id = t3.id
However, I don't want to change the behavior of the original query, which returns 1 result per row in Table1.
I believe my changes to the query are safe because they t2.id and t3.id are unique columns, so Table2 and Table3 will contain at most 1 record for each Table3 record. If I was to user inner join, this changes would not be safe, because my query would return no results if Table2 or Table3 happen to not contain the expected record.
For this scenario, are my changes safe and correct? Or is it necessary to write some subqueries to join on?

Your query looks safe:
select t1.id, t1.table2_id, t1.table3_id, t2.name, t3.name
from table1 t1 left join
table2 t2
on t1.table2_id = t2.id left join
table3 t3
on t1.table3_id = t3.id;
You can also phrase this using correlated subqueries (or a lateral join):
select t1.*,
(select t2.name from table2 t2 where t1.table2_id = t2.id) as t2_name,
(select t2.name from table3 t3 where t1.table2_id = t3.id) as t3_name,
from table1 t1;
This is even more of a guarantee that there are no duplicates. If there were, the query would return an error.

Related

How do I look for non-matching values across 3 SQL tables?

I'm looking to do what I believe is a double-nested check across three tables, but have no idea how to do so.
I have Table1, Table2, and Table3.
All are tied by an ID and a "Longform" and "Shortform" in Table1:
I'm trying to find:
Entries whose IDs appear in Table2 that have the same Longform as those in Table3, but don't share the same Shortform.
This is about as far as I've gotten:
SELECT T2.Longform,T2.Shortform FROM(
SELECT Table1.Longform,Table1.Shortform,Table1.ID FROM OuterTable1.Table1
LEFT JOIN OuterTable2.Table2 on Table1.ID = Table2.ID)
WHERE Table2.ID IS NOT NULL) T2
;
I know I'm probably going to have to do another nested select, or a join, on Outertable3.Table3 but I'm not sure which... Or where...
Any help appreciated as always.
Try the following:
Select *
(
Select T1.*
from T2
inner join T1
on T1.ID = T2.ID
) as Tab
inner join
(
Select T1.*
from T3
inner join T1
on T1.ID = T3.ID
) as Tab2
on Tab.id = Tab2.id
and Tab.Longform = Tab2.Longform
and Tab.Shortform <> Tab2.Shortform
To get the longform join table1 to table2 or table3. Then use EXISTS to check in a subquery if the IDs of table1 are different but the longform is equal.
SELECT *
FROM table2 t21
INNER JOIN table1 t11
ON t11.id = t21.id
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT *
FROM table3 t32
INNER JOIN table1 t12
ON t12.id = t32.id
WHERE t12.id <> t11.id
AND t12.longform = t11.longform);
Assuming ID is unique in all three tables
Select t2.id,t2.shortform, t1.shortform AS shortformTab1, t2.longform
FROM table2 t2
JOIN table3 t3
ON t2.id = t3.id AND t2.longform = t3.longform
JOIN table1 t1
ON t2.id = t1.id AND t2.shortform != t1.shortform

Get values from one table that are not in another

The first query works to get a value from t1 that is not in t2.
select t1.*
from table1 t1
where t1.id = '1'
and t1.id2 not in (select t2.id2 from table2 t2 where t2.id='1')
But how do how can I do the same thing using this format instead of an inner select?
select t1.*
from table1 t1, table2 t2
where t1.id = '1'
and t2.id = t1.id
and t1.id2 != t2.id2
You can use a LEFT OUTER JOIN:
select t1.*
from table1 t1
LEFT OUTER JOIN table2 t2
ON t1.id = t2.id
WHERE t2.id IS NULL
LEFT OUTER JOIN says to take all results from the LEFT-most table (table1 here) and only those results from your joined table (table2 here) that match the ON condition. By filtering in your WHERE clause to drop any results where table2.id IS NULL you effectively only leave T1 results that are unmatched to T2.
Also try to stay away from the FROM table1, table2 type of implicit join. It's very old school. INNER JOIN, LEFT OUTER JOIN, RIGHT OUTER JOIN are better options for nearly any situation.

Applying joins conditionally in SQL Server

I have some set of records, but now i have to select only those records from this set which have theeir Id in either of the two tables.
Suppose I have table1 which contains
Id Name
----------
1 Name1
2 Name2
Now I need to select only those records from table one
which have either their id in table2 or in table3
I was trying to apply or operator witin inner join like:
select *
from table1
inner join table2 on table2.id = table1.id or
inner join table3 on table3.id = table1.id.
Is it possible? What is the best method to approach this? Actually I am also not able to use
if exist(select 1 from table2 where id=table1.id) then select from table1
Could someone help me to get over this?
Use left join and then check if at least one of the joins has found a relation
select t1.*
from table1 t1
left join table2 t2 on t2.id = t1.id
left join table3 t3 on t3.id = t1.id
where t2.id is not null
or t3.is is not null
I would be inclined to use exists:
select t1.*
from table1 t1
where exists (select 1 from table2 t2 where t2.id = t1.id) or
exists (select 1 from table3 t3 where t3.id = t1.id) ;
The advantage to using exists (or in) over a join involves duplicate rows. If table2 or table3 have multiple rows for a given id, then a version using join will produce multiple rows in the result set.
I think the most efficient way is to use UNION on table2 and table3 and join to it :
SELECT t1.*
FROM table1 t1
INNER JOIN(SELECT id FROM Table2
UNION
SELECT id FROM Table3) s
ON(t.id = s.id)
Alternatively, you can use below SQL as well:
SELECT *
FROM dbo.Table1
WHERE id Table1.IN ( SELECT table2.id
FROM dbo.table2 )
OR Table1.id IN ( SELECT table3.id
FROM Table3 )

Multiple joins in a sql query - which is best option

I want to use a sql query with multiple joins similar to the example below.
SELECT t1.column1, t1.column2, t1.column3
FROM
table1 t1
LEFT JOIN table2 t2 ON (t1.id1 = t2.id)
LEFT JOIN table3 t3 ON (t1.id1 = t3.id)
JOIN table4 t4 ON t1.id2 = t4.id
WHERE
...
Would this give different results than the following query:
SELECT t1.column1, t1.column2, t1.column3
FROM
table1 t1
LEFT JOIN table2 t2 ON (t1.id1 = t2.id)
LEFT JOIN table3 t3 ON (t2.id = t3.id)
JOIN table4 t4 ON t1.id2 = t4.id
WHERE
...
If they are both 'correct' is the second more efficient than the first?
Thanks
The queries are different, so this isn't a performance issue. The difference are these lines:
LEFT JOIN table3 t3 ON (t1.id1 = t3.id)
and
LEFT JOIN table3 t3 ON (t2.id1 = t3.id)
For the first, t3.id needs to only match t1.id. For the second, it needs to match t2.id1, which in turn must also match t1.id. In other words, the second version requires that the id be in both t1 and t2.
This is because of the LEFT JOIN. The queries would be equivalent if they used INNER JOIN.
The second one is more efficient because it will always return the same or less amount of data.
In the first query you are asking for all the records that are both in table1 and table4 + records from table2 if they exists in table1 + records from the table3 if they exists in table1.
In the second query you are asking for all the records that are both in table1 and table4 + records from table2 if they exists in table1 + records from the table3 if they exists BOTH in in table1 and in table2

join with the on supplied later

I have a query in the following format
select
*
from
Table1 t1
inner join Table2 t2
inner join Table3 t3 on t2.ID = t3.ID
on t3.ID = t1.ID
What I do know:
Not providing the last on condition results in an error.
Additionally changing the first join condition from on t2.ID = t3.ID to on t1.ID = t2.ID results in an error that t1.ID could not be bound.
Obviously the above examples are arbitrary and may not actually produce a practically useful result. However, an explanation of what providing the on later is actually doing would be great.
Thanks
EDIT
I'm not trying to change the question to something that works but to understand what MSSQL is doing when I provide it.
You can use the format you specified (presuming the correct table aliases), if you use parenthesis.
Select ... -- never use Select *
From (Table1 As T1
Join Table2 As T2
On T2.ID = T1.ID)
Join Table3 As T3
On T3.ID = T1.ID
However, with equi-joins (inner joins) it really makes no difference and it is easier to read if you do not use parenthesis. However, this format is very useful with outer joins. Take the following two examples:
Example 1
Select ...
From Table1 As T1
Left Join Table2 As T2
On T2.T1_ID = T1.ID
Join Table3 As T3
On T3.T2_ID = T2.ID
Example 2
Select ...
From Table1 As T1
Left Join (Table2 As T2
Join Table3 As T3
On T3.T2_ID = T2.ID)
On T2.T1_ID = T1.ID
Suppose in this situation, that T3.T2_ID is a non-nullable foreign key to Table2. In Example1, the Inner Join to Table3 will effectively filter out rows that would have been null because the given T2.T2_ID does not exist in Table1. However, in the second example, the join between Table2 and Table3 is done before the Left Join to Table1 is processed. Thus, we'll get the same rows from Table1 and Table2 as:
Example 3
Select ...
From Table1 As T1
Left Join Table2 As T2
On T2.T1_ID = T1.ID
Assuming you meant t1 rather than t, then your query:
select
*
from
Table1 t1
inner join Table2 t2
inner join Table3 t3 on t2.ID = t3.ID
on t3.ID = t1.ID
...can be made rather more clear by the addition of the brackets it doesn't really need:
select
*
from
Table1 t1
inner join
(Table2 t2 inner join Table3 t3 on t2.ID = t3.ID) on t3.ID = t1.ID
Effectively, you're explicitly saying "join t2 to t3, then join t1 to that."
Does that help?
First off--you don't define what t is
Table1 is aliased t1
Table2 is aliased t2
Table3 is aliased t3
But there is no plain t.
Second, you are not doing a join of t1 to t2, but of t1 to t3 and then t3 to t2. That will work. If there is a relation between t1 and t2 (t1.ID=t2.ID) then that "on" statement should directly follow the inner join statement for t2:
select
*
from
Table1 t1
inner join Table3 t3 on t1.ID = t3.ID
inner join Table2 t2 on t3.ID = t2.ID
UPDATE (based on your update)
are t1.ID, t2.ID, and t3.ID all the same data type?