I am still pretty new to MySQL and I just ran into a problem that I can't seem to figure out.
Say I have a table called "tracks" with the following columns and sample data
track_hash | track_order
abc | 1
abc | 2
abc | 3
abc | 4
def | 1
def | 2
ghi | 1
So the point is that when I display the tracks, the tracks should be ordered by the track order. So if i want to display all tracks from abc, it will display it based on the track order (1, 2, 3). Track hash "def" has two tracks...etc.
So currently in my DB I just have an empty track_order column. How would I go about to filling the track_order column with the correct data?
You can do this with update and a user defined variable. However, you have a fundamental problem. SQL tables represent unordered sets. So, there is no inherent ordering in the table, unless a column specifies the order.
Let me assume there is a column called id. Then the following does what you want:
update tracks t
set t.track_order = if(#th = t.track_hash, (#rn := coalesce(#rn, 0) + 1),
if(#th := t.track_hash, #rn := 1, #rn := 1)
)
order by t.track_hash, t.id;
You don't have to initialize the variables for this to work, but you can initialize them before the update.
I think you might be looking for user defined variables.
You could do something like this:
SET #t1=0;
insert into `tablename` (track_order) values(#t1 := #t1+1) where id = some_id
I'm not entirely sure how you would go about doing it for every record in your database. I think this should work, but this does it on a per id basis (you could make it track_hash if that would be better). Not sure if that suits you?
You'll have to do it manually for every track_hash this way, so if you have a lot of different track_hash records it might be worth figuring out how to do it for all of them in one go. But I'm unsure of how to do that.
Related
I have a small problem with a php mysql query, I am looking for help.
I have a family tree table, where I am storing for each person his/her ancestors id separated by a comma. like so
id ancestors
10 1,3,4,5
So the person of id 10 is fathered by id 5 who is fathered by id 4 who is fathered by 3 etc...
Now I wish to select all the people who have id x in their ancestors, so the query will be something like:
select * from people where ancestors like '%x%'
Now this would work fine except, if id x is lets say 2, and a record has an ancestor id 32, this like query will retrieve 32 because 32 contains 2. And if I use '%,x,%' (include commas) the query will ignore the records whose ancestor x is on either edge(left or right) of the column. It will also ignore the records whose x is the only ancestor since no commas are present.
So in short, I need a like query that looks up an expression that either is surrounded by commas or not surrounded by anything. Or a query that gets the regular expression provided that no numbers are around. And I need it as efficient as possible (I suck at writing regular expressions)
Thank you.
Edit: Okay guys, help me come up with a better schema.
You are not storing your data in a proper way. Anyway, if you still want to use this schema you should use FIND_IN_SET instead of LIKE to avoid undesired results.
SELECT *
FROM mytable
WHERE FIND_IN_SET(2, ancestors) <> 0
You should consider redesigning your database structure. Add new table "ancestors" to database with columns:
id id_person ancestor
1 10 1
2 10 3
3 10 4
After -- use JOIN query with "WHERE IN" to choose right rows.
You're having this issue because of wrong design of database.First DBMS based db's aren't meant for this kind of data,graph based db's are more likely to fit for this kind of solution.
if it contain small amount of data you could use mysql but still the design is still wrong,if you only care about their 'father' then just add a column to person (or what ever you call it) table. if its null - has no father/unknown otherwise - contains (int) of his parent.
In case you need more then just 'father' relationship you could use a pivot table to contain two persons relationship but thats not a simple task to do.
There are a few established ways of storing hierarchical data in RDBMS. I've found this slideshow to be very helpful in the past:
Models for Hierarchical Design
Since the data deals with ancestry - and therefore you wouldn't expect it to change that often - a closure table could fit the bill.
Whatever model you choose, be sure to look around and see if someone else has already implemented it.
You could store your values as a JSON Array
id | ancestors
10 | {"1","3","4","5"}
and then query as follows:
$query = 'select * from people where ancestors like \'%"x"%\'';
Better is of course using a mapping table for your many-to-many relation
You can do this with regexp:
SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE name REGEXP ',?(x),?'
where x is your searched value
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS my_table;
CREATE TABLE my_table
(id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY
,ancestors VARCHAR(250) NOT NULL
);
INSERT INTO my_table VALUES(10,',1,3,4,5');
SELECT *
FROM my_table
WHERE CONCAT(ancestors,',') LIKE '%,5,%';
+----+-----------+
| id | ancestors |
+----+-----------+
| 10 | ,1,3,4,5 |
+----+-----------+
SELECT *
FROM my_table
WHERE CONCAT(ancestors,',') LIKE '%,4,%';
+----+-----------+
| id | ancestors |
+----+-----------+
| 10 | ,1,3,4,5 |
+----+-----------+
I have a MySQL query that results in something like this:
person | some_info
==================
bob | pphsmbf24
bob | rz72nixdy
bob | rbqqarywk
john | kif9adxxn
john | 77tp431p4
john | hx4t0e76j
john | 4yiomqv4i
alex | n25pz8z83
alex | orq9w7c24
alex | beuz1p133
etc...
(This is just a simplified example. In reality there are about 5000 rows in my results).
What I need to do is go through each person in the list (bob, john, alex, etc...) and pull out a row from their set of results. The row I pull out is sort of random but sort of also based on a loose set of conditions. It's not really important to specify the conditions here so I'll just say it's a random row for the example.
Anyways, using PHP, this solution is pretty simple. I make my query and get 5000 rows back and iterate through them pulling out my random row for each person. Easy.
However, I'm wondering if it's possible to get what I would from only a MySQL query so that I don't have to use PHP to iterate through the results and pull out my random rows.
I have a feeling it might involve a BUNCH of subselects, like one for each person, in which case that solution would be more time, resource and bandwidth intensive than my current solution.
Is there a clever query that can accomplish this all in one command?
Here is an SQLFiddle that you can play with.
To get a random value for a distinct name use
SELECT r.name,
(SELECT r1.some_info FROM test AS r1 WHERE r.name=r1.name ORDER BY rand() LIMIT 1) AS 'some_info'
FROM test AS r
GROUP BY r.name ;
Put this query as it stands in your sqlfiddle and it will work
Im using r and r1 as table alias names. This will also use a subquery to select a random some_info for the name
SQL Fiddle is here
My first response would be to use php to generate a random number:
$randId = rand($min, $max);
Then run a SQL query that only gets the record where your index equals $randID.
Here is the solution:
select person, acting from personel where id in (
select lim from
(select count(person) c, min(id) i, cast(rand()*(count(person)-1) +min(id)
as unsigned) lim from personel group by person order by i) t1
)
The table used in the example is below:
create table personel (
id int(11) not null auto_increment,
person char(16),
acting char(19),
primary key(id)
);
insert into personel (person,acting) values
('john','abd'),('john','aabd'),('john','adbd'),('john','abfd'),
('alex','ab2d'),('alex','abd3'),('alex','ab4d'),('alex','a6bd'),
('max','ab2d'),('max','abd3'),('max','ab4d'),('max','a6bd'),
('jimmy','ab2d'),('jimmy','abd3'),('jimmy','ab4d'),('jimmy','a6bd');
You can limit the number of queries, and order by "rand()" to get your desired result.
Perhaps if you tried something like this:
SELECT name, some_info
FROM test
WHERE name = 'tara'
ORDER BY rand()
LIMIT 1
How can I number my results where the lowest ID is #1 and the highest ID is the #numberOfResults
Example: If I have a table with only 3 rows in it. whose ID's are 24, 87, 112 it would pull like this:
ID 24 87 112
Num 1 2 3
The reason why I want this, is my manager wants items to be numbered like item1, item2, etc. I initially made it so it used the ID but he saw them like item24, item87, item112. He didn't like that at all and wants them to be like item1, item2, item3. I personally think this is going to lead to problems because if you are deleting and adding items, then item2 will not always refer to the same thing and may cause confusion for the users. So if anyone has a better idea I would like to hear it.
Thanks.
I agree with the comments about not using a numbering scheme like this if the numbers are going to be used for anything other than a simple ordered display of items with numbers. If the numbers are actually going to be tied to something, then this is a really bad idea!
Use a variable, and increment it in the SELECT statement:
SELECT
id,
(#row:=#row+1) AS row
FROM table,
(SELECT #row:=0) AS row_count;
Example:
CREATE TABLE `table1` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB
INSERT INTO table1 VALUES (24), (87), (112);
SELECT
id,
(#row:=#row+1) AS row
FROM table1,
(SELECT #row:=0) AS row_count;
+-----+------+
| id | row |
+-----+------+
| 24 | 1 |
| 87 | 2 |
| 112 | 3 |
+-----+------+
How it works
#row is a user defined variable. It is necessary to set it to zero before the main SELECT statement runs. This can be done like this:
SELECT #row:=0;
or like this:
SET #row:=0
But it is handy to tie the two statements together. This can be done by creating a derived table, which is what happens here:
FROM table,
(SELECT #row:=0) AS row_count;
The the second SELECT actually gets run first. Once that's done, it's just a case of incrementing the value of #row for every row retrieved:
#row:=#row+1
The #row value is incremented every time a row is retrieved. It will always generate a sequential list of numbers, no matter what order the rows are accessed. So it's handy for some things, and dangerous for other things...
Sounds like it would be better just making that number in your code instead of trying to come up with some sort of convoluted way of doing it using SQL. When looping through your elements, just maintain the sequentiality there.
What is the ID being used for?
If it's only for quick and easy reference then that's fine, but if it's to be used for deleting or managing in any way as you mentioned then your only option would be to assign a new ID column that is unique for each row in the table. Doing this is pointless though because that duplicates the purpose of your initial ID column.
My company had a similar challenge on a CMS system that used an order field to sort the articles on the front page of the site. The users wanted a "promote, demote" icon that they could click that would move an article up or down.
Again, not ideal, but the strategy we used was to build a promote function and accompanying demote function that identified the current sort value via query, added or subtracted one from the previous or next value, respectively, then set the value of the initially promoted/demoted item. It was also vital to engineer the record insert to accurately set the initial value of newly added records so inserts wouldn't cause a duplicate value to be added. This was also enforced at the DB level for safety's sake. The user was never allowed to directly key in the value of the sort, only promote or demote via icons. To be honest, it worked quite well for the user.
If you have to go this route.....it's not impossible. But there is brain damage involved....
Let's say that I've got a table, like that (id is auto-increment):
id | col1 | col2
1 | 'msg'| 'msg'
2 | 'lol'| 'lol2'
3 | 'xxx'| 'x'
Now, I want to delete row number 2 and I get something like this
id | col1 | col2
1 | 'msg'| 'msg'
3 | 'xxx'| 'x'
The thing is, what I want to get is that:
id | col1 | col2
1 | 'msg'| 'msg'
2 | 'xxx'| 'x'
How can I do that in the EASIEST way (my knowledge about MySQL is very poor)?
You shouldn't do that.
Do not take an auto-incremented unique identifier as an ordinal number.
The word "unique" means that the identifier should be stuck to its row forever.
There is no connection between these numbers and enumerating.
Imagine you want to select records in alphabetical order. Where would your precious numbers go?
A database is not like an ordered list, as you probably think. It is not a flat file with rows stored in a predefined order. It has totally different ideology. Rows in the database do not have any order. And will be ordered only at select time, if it was explicitly set by ORDER BY clause.
Also, a database is supposed to do a search for you. So you can tell that with filtered rows or different ordering this auto-increment number will have absolutely nothing to do with the real rows positions.
If you want to enumerate the output - it's a presentation layer's job. Just add a counter on the PHP side.
And again: these numbers supposed to identify a certain record. If you change this number, you'd never find your record again.
Take this very site for example. Stack Overflow identifies its questions with such a number:
stackoverflow.com/questions/3132439/mysql-auto-decrementing-value
So, imagine you saved this page address to a bookmark. Now Jeff comes along and renumbers the whole database. You press your bookmark and land on the different question. Whole site would become a terrible mess.
Remember: Renumbering unique identifiers is evil!
I think there is no way to this directly. Maybe you can do "update" operation. But you must do it for all record after your deleted record. It is very bad solution for this.
Why using an auto-increment if you want to change it manually?
It is not good practice to change the value of an auto_increment column. However, if you are sure you want to, the following should help.
If you are only deleting a single record at a time, you could use a transaction:
START TRANSACTION;
DELETE FROM table1 WHERE id = 2;
UPDATE table1 SET id = id - 1 WHERE id > 2;
COMMIT;
However if you delete multiple records, you will have to drop the column and re-add it. It is probably not guaranteed to put the rows in the same order as previously.
ALTER TABLE table1 DROP id;
ALTER TABLE table1 ADD id INTEGER NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT;
Also, if you have data that relies on these IDs, you will need to make sure it is updated.
You can renumber the whole table like this:
SET #r := 0;
UPDATE mytable
SET id = (#r := #r + 1)
ORDER BY
id;
I have a table which gets entries from a website, and as those entries go into the database, they need to be assigned the next category on a list of categories that may be changed at any time.
Because of this reason I can't do something simple like for mapping the first category of 5 to IDs 1, 6, 11, 16.
I've considered reading in the list of currently possibly categories, and checking the value of the last one inserted, and then giving the new record the next category, but I imagine if two requests come in at the same moment, I could potentially assign them both the same category rather then in sequence.
So, my current round of thinking is the following:
lock the tables ( categories and records )
insert the newest row into records
get the newest row's ID
select the row previous to the insertl ( by using order by auto_inc_name desc 0, 1 )
take the previous row's category, and grab the next one from the cat list
update the new inserted row
unlock the table
I'm not 100% sure this will work right, and there's possibly a much easier way to do it, so I'm asking:
A. Will this work as I described in the original problem?
B. Do you have a better/easier way to do this?
Thanks ~
I would do it way simpler... just make a table with one entry, "last_category" (unsigned tinyint not_null). Every time you do an insert just increment that value, and reset as necessary.
I'm not sure I understand your problem, but as I understand it you would like to have something like
category | data
-----------------
0 | lorem
1 | ipsum
.... | ...
4 | dolor
0 | sit
... | ...
How about having a unique auto_increment column, and let category be the MOD 5 of this column?
If you need 100% correct behaviour it sounds like you will need to lock something somewhere so that all your inserts line up properly. You might be able to avoid locking the category table if you use a single SQL statement to insert your data. I'm not sure how MySQL differs but in Oracle I can do this:
insert into my_table (id, col1, col2, category_id)
select :1, :2, :3, :4, c.id -- :1, :2, etc are bind variables. :1 corresponds to the ID.
from
(select
id, -- category id
count(*) over (partition by 1) cnt, -- count of how many categories there are
row_number() over (partition by 1 order by category.id) rn -- row number for current row in result set
from category) c
where c.rn = mod(:1, cnt)
This way in one statement I insert the next record based on the categories that existed at that moment. The insert automatically locks the my_table table until you commit. It grabs the category based on the modulus of the ID. This link shows you how to do a row-number in mysql. I'm not sure if count(*) requires group by in mysql; in oracle it does so I used a partition instead to count the whole result set.