SQL Join in CodeIgniter - sql

Question

I have one file, then for every file there are multiple comments about that file. I was able to successfully join the two tables, comments and files, however when I try to view the page where it displays the file and its comments, the page displays the name of file n times (n corresponds to the number of records of comments of that certain file).
How will I be able to display just once the file name as well as displaying the comments?
<table width="40%" align="center">
<?php foreach($rows as $file):?>
<tr>
<td width="70%" id="title"><?php echo $file->name; ?></td>
</tr>
<?php endforeach;?>
</table>
<table width="40%" align="center" frame="above" style="margin-top:10px; border-top-width:3px; border-top-color:#666666">
<?php foreach($rows as $file):?>
<tr>
<td width="15%"></td>
<td width="45%" id="name">FILESIZE:</td>
<td width="40%" id="txt3"><?php echo $file->size; ?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td id="name">DATE UPLOADED:</td>
<td id="txt3"><?php echo $file->dateUploaded;?></td>
</tr>
<?php endforeach;?>
</table>
<!--COMMENTS -->
<table align="center" frame="above" style="margin-top:10px; border-top-width:3px; border-top-color:#666666" width="40%">
<tr>
<td><h3>Comments</h3></td>
</tr>
<tr><?php foreach($rows as $comment):?>
<td><?php echo $comment->comm;?></td>
</tr><?php endforeach;?>
</table>

Answer 1

You can use
GROUP_CONCAT()
in your join.
SELECT person.id AS id, name, GROUP_CONCAT(role.role SEPARATOR ',') AS roles
FROM person
LEFT OUTER JOIN person_role ON person.id=person_role.person_id
LEFT OUTER JOIN role ON person_role.role_id=role.id
GROUP BY id
ORDER BY id;
is an example from a tutorial at
http://dev-loki.blogspot.com/2008/01/aggregate-join-results-with-mysql-using.html
can't give much better without seeing your schema.
EDIT: trying anyway.
SELECT files.*, GROUP_CONCAT(comments.comment SEPARATOR ',') as comments_list
FROM files
LEFT JOIN comments on files.id = comments.id
GROUP BY id
ORDER BY id

Answer 2

Adding onto orbit, in codeigniter if your using activerecord it would be:
(Sorry, I couldn't format code in a comment)
$this->db->select('person.id AS id, name, GROUP_CONCAT(role.role SEPARATOR ',') AS roles',false);
$this->db->from('person');
$this->db->join('person_role', 'person.id = person_role.person_id', 'left outer');
$this->db->join('role', 'person_role.role_id = role.id', 'left outer');
$this->db->group_by('id');
$this->db->order_by('id'):
$this->db->get();

Answer 3

well it looks like you're echoing the filename for each row that is returned
your rows are getting returned like
name | size | comment1
name | size | comment2
so just don't do foreach ($rows as $file) that will print out the filename each time, just change
<?php foreach($rows as $file):?>
<tr>
<td width="70%" id="title"><?php echo $file->name; ?></td>
</tr>
<?php endforeach;?>
to
<tr>
<td width="70%" id="title"><?php echo $rows[0]->name; ?></td>
</tr>