Issue getting JOIN to work - php

Question

I had the following query
$stmt2 = $con->prepare("SELECT `id`, `category_id`, `topic_id`, `post_creator`, `post_content`, `post_date` FROM forum_posts WHERE `category_id`=? AND `topic_id`=?");
I now am trying to join my users table, so that I can match the forum_posts.post_creator to users.id and get the username from that.
I am trying this, but the query keeps failing..
$stmt2 = $con->prepare("SELECT forum_posts.id, forum_posts.category_id, forum_posts.topic_id, forum_posts.post_creator, forum_posts.post_content, forum_postspost_date FROM forum_posts
WHERE forum_posts.category_id=? AND forum_posts.topic_id=?
INNER JOIN users
ON forum_posts.post_creator = users.id");
if ( !$stmt2 || $con->error ) {
// Check Errors for prepare
die('Stmt2 SELECT prepare() failed: ' . htmlspecialchars($con->error));
}
$stmt2->bind_param("ii", $cid, $tid);
if(!$stmt2->execute()) {
die('Stmt2 SELECT execute() failed: ' . htmlspecialchars($stmt2->error));
}
$stmt2->store_result();
$stmt2->bind_result($post_id, $post_category_id, $post_topic_id, $post_creator, $post_content, $post_date, $posts_username);
I get this error, but cannot figure out what is wrong with that section.
Stmt2 SELECT prepare() failed: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'INNER JOIN users ON forum_posts.post_creator = users.id' at line 3
What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

The inner join is part of the from clause, not part of the where clause:
SELECT forum_posts.id, forum_posts.category_id, forum_posts.topic_id, forum_posts.post_creator, forum_posts.post_content, forum_postspost_date
FROM forum_posts
INNER JOIN users
ON forum_posts.post_creator = users.id
WHERE forum_posts.category_id=? AND forum_posts.topic_id=?

Answer 2

Your prepared statement should be like this. JOIN should come before Where
("SELECT forum_posts.id, forum_posts.category_id, forum_posts.topic_id,
forum_posts.post_creator, forum_posts.post_content, forum_postspost_date
FROM forum_posts INNER JOIN users
ON forum_posts.post_creator = users.id
WHERE forum_posts.category_id=? AND
forum_posts.topic_id=?"
);