SQL: Grabbing two when theres already one match? - sql

Question

For the recipient field in my message system, if you enter Megan Fo, it will ask you "Did you mean Megan Fox?". Then I also have a "Who did you mean? Megan Fox, Megan Foxxy, Megan Foxxie" if there's more than one found.
And then ofcourse there is if you made it correct. (if this SQL statement is returning 1 only out and the full is 1).
SELECT users.id, users.firstname, users.lastname,
(users.firstname = 'Meg' AND users.lastname = 'Meg') AS full FROM users
INNER JOIN users_friends ON users.id=users_friends.uID
WHERE users_friends.bID='1' AND users_friends.type = 'friend' AND users_friends.accepted = '1' AND (
(users.firstname = 'Meg' AND users.lastname='Meg') OR
(users.firstname LIKE 'Meg%' AND users.lastname LIKE 'Meg%') OR
users.firstname LIKE 'Meg%' OR
users.lastname LIKE 'Meg%')
This is working fine, although now I am having an issue when Im trying to send to a user
"Meg Meg"
Then it returns 2, "Meg Meg" and "Megan Fox". I want it to return one only if it matchs the full. So now I am keep getting "Who did you mean?" as i build it up so if thers more than 1 rowcount, then "who did you mean.."
if($sql_findUser->rowCount() == 1){
$get = $sql_findUser->fetch();
if($get["full"] == 1){
echo "SUCCESS, ONE FOUND FULL MATCH"
}else{
echo "Did you mean ...?"
}
}elseif($sql_findUser->rowCount()>1){
Who did you mean?
}
How can i fix this?

Answer 1

At the end of your SQL statement, it looks like you're including everyone with a first name starting with "Meg", which is why Meg Meg and Megan Fox both match. Try shortening your WHERE clause to:
WHERE users_friends.bID='1' AND users_friends.type = 'friend' AND users_friends.accepted = '1' AND (
(users.firstname = 'Meg' AND users.lastname='Meg') OR
(users.firstname LIKE 'Meg%' AND users.lastname LIKE 'Meg%'))

Answer 2

It will be a tad slower, but you could split the logic in two queries, one that uses exact matching (= instead of like), and if that one does not yield anything, then run the current query.
However, that will make problems, when the user enters Megan Fox, and really meant Megan Foxxy.

Answer 3

As I understand it, this is your problem when using "Meg Meg"...
- Your code identifies an exact match with "Meg Meg"
- Your code also identifies a partial match with "Megan Fox"
- You don't want the partial matches to be included if you get an exact match
The issue here is that no single record in the return set 'knows' about the other records.
To know that you do Not want to include the partial match, you must have already completed a full check for the exact match.
There appear to be two ways of doing that to me...
1) Sequential but seperate queries...
Have your client run a query for exact matches.
If no records are returned, run a query for partial matches on first AND last name.
If no records are returned, run a query for partial matches on first OR last name.
etc, etc.
2. Run one query where you specify the type of match
Add a field to your query that is something like this...
CASE WHEN (users.firstname = 'Meg' AND users.lastname='Meg') THEN 1
WHEN (users.firstname LIKE 'Meg%' AND users.lastname LIKE 'Meg%') THEN 2
WHEN (users.firstname LIKE 'Meg%' OR users.lastname LIKE 'Meg%') THEN 3
END AS 'match_type'
Then also add it to the ORDER BY clause, to make full matches at the top, etc, etc.
Your client can then see how many of each match type were generated and choose to discard/ignore the matches that are not relevant.