Mysql - SELECT columns from 2 tables using INNER JOIN error - php

Question

This should be a basic question, but I haven't used Mysql for a very long time and forgot all the basic stuff. So SO programmers please bear with me.
I have 2 tables like this:
Table 1 (events): here
Table 2 (users): here
I would like to select all rows in the events table where event_invitees contains a username. I was able to do this using:
SELECT * FROM meetmeup_events WHERE event_invitees LIKE '%$username%'
Now I'd like to also select the event_invitees's photo from the users table (column called user_userphoto). My attempt to this was this:
$result = mysql_query("SELECT meetmeup_events.*, meetmeup_user.user_photo
FROM meetmeup_events
WHERE event_invitees LIKE '%$username%'
INNER JOIN meetmeup_user
ON meetmeup_user.user_username = meetmeup_events.event_inviter");
$rows = array();
while($r = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$rows['meetmeup_user'][] = $r;
}
echo json_encode($rows);
This gave me an error: mysql_fetch_assoc(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource
How can I do this? What am I missing? Can you give me some examples?
Thanks in advance! I'll be sure to accept the working answer!

Answer 1

You should change your mysql functions to either mysqli / PDO, although the problem seems to be the query itsef. Should be:
SELECT meetmeup_events.*, meetmeup_user.user_photo
FROM meetmeup_events
INNER JOIN meetmeup_user
ON meetmeup_user.user_username = meetmeup_events.event_inviter
WHERE event_invitees LIKE '%$username%'
(the WHERE clause at the end)
Sql fiddle demo: http://sqlfiddle.com/#!2/852a2/1

Answer 2

Its just a matter of getting the query coded in the correct order, and you might like to make it a little more managable by using alias's for the table names
Try this :-
SELECT me.*,
mu.user_photo
FROM meetmeup_events me
INNER JOIN meetmeup_user mu ON mu.user_username = me.event_inviter
WHERE me.event_invitees LIKE '%$username%'
This of course assumes that all the column names are correct and the mu.user_username = me.event_inviter does in fact make sence because those fields are in fact equal
Additional Suggestion
You are not actually issuing the query for execution by mysql.
You have to do this :-
$sql = "SELECT me.*,
mu.user_photo
FROM meetmeup_events me
INNER JOIN meetmeup_user mu ON mu.user_username = me.event_inviter
WHERE me.event_invitees LIKE '%$username%'";
$result = mysql_query($sql);
$rows = array('mysql_count' => mysql_num_rows($result) );
while($r = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
$rows['meetmeup_user'][] = $r;
}
echo json_encode($rows);
Now in your browser using the javascript debugger look at the data that is returned. There should at least be a mysql_count field in it even if there is no 'meetmeup_user' array, and if it is zero you know it found nothing using your criteria.