Show results of joined tables even if some values don't match - sql

Question

Access Database
table contacts
--------------
id
surname
name
table relations
---------------
contact_id
relation_id
Both contact_id and relation_id are foreign keys referenced to table contacts' id
I want to execute a query to get both the contact's surname/name and the relation's surname/name if a relation for the current contact exist. If it doesn't exist I want to get the contact's surname/name and blank values for the relation's fields.
All this in one query
EDIT:
I used left join. I am running the query using VB.NET:
Dim myOleDbDataReader As OleDbDataReader = _
New OleDbCommand( _
"SELECT c.id AS contact_id " & _
" , c.surname AS contact_surname " & _
" , c.name AS contact_name " & _
" , c2.id AS related_id " & _
" , c2.surname AS related_surname " & _
" , c2.name AS related_name " & _
"FROM ((contacts c " & _
"LEFT JOIN relations r " & _
"ON c.id = r.contact_id) " & _
"INNER JOIN contacts c2 " & _
"ON c2.id = r.relation_id)" _
, connection).ExecuteReader()
I get OleDbException: Join expression not supported.
They say in another post that:
"Access won't let you use conventional joins in the where clause when you use LEFT/RIGHT/INNER JOINS in the FROM clause. It is probably intentional to get you to buy more expensive software." - ( Is the join expression not supported by MS Access? )
It is not exactly that. From some examples I tried I came to the conclusion that:
Access won't let you use outer joins (LEFT/RIGHT) together with one or more INNER JOINS.
What in John Carmack's name can I do?
I would like to avoid seperate select queries.
Please help...

Answer 1

SELECT c.id AS contact_id
, c.surname AS contact_surname
, c.name AS contact_name
, c2.id AS related_id
, c2.surname AS related_surname
, c2.name AS related_name
FROM contacts c
LEFT JOIN relations r
ON c.id = r.contact_id
JOIN contacts c2
ON r.relation_id = c2.id
The above does NOT work in MS-Access.
This is slightly different (two left joins) but it works:
SELECT c.id AS contact_id
, c.surname AS contact_surname
, c.name AS contact_name
, c2.id AS related_id
, c2.surname AS related_surname
, c2.name AS related_name
FROM contacts c
LEFT JOIN
( relations r
LEFT JOIN contacts AS c2
ON r.relation_id = c2.id
)
ON c.id = r.contact_id
Despite the second LEFT JOIN, it will give same result set, since the second LEFT JOIN involves a Foreign Key relationship (in the direction from many -> one).
To have a LEFT JOIN with an INNER JOIN you could use:
SELECT c.id AS contact_id
, c.surname AS contact_surname
, c.name AS contact_name
, g.id AS related_id
, g.surname AS related_surname
, g.name AS related_name
FROM contacts c
LEFT JOIN
( SELECT r.contact_id
, c2.id
, c2.surname
, c2.name
FROM relations r
INNER JOIN contacts AS c2
ON r.relation_id = c2.id
) AS g
ON c.id = g.contact_id