Sql table with 3 columns of a second table ids - php

Question

i'm new to sql, and am bulding a mysql and php application.
i might be planning the tables themselves wrong, and if so, would thank any ideas.
i have blocks contaning some columns, including title, text, slogan.
both title and text are more complex then seem, because i need font, size, and also approval on each of the texts. so i created a texts table with these columns.
these are the tables:
blocks
id(increment),text(texts.id),title(texts.id),slogan(texts.id),
type(enum),time(datetime),difficulty(int)
texts
id(increment),Text(text),font(varchar),size(int),approval(approval.id)
aprrovals
id(increment), User(varchar), time(datetime)
so here are the questions:
is this a good way to hold this information? should i just have textxs hold the block id they belong to?
how do i show a table contaning all columns of blocks, but showing the actual text from texts.Text instead of the ids?
how do i select the approval.User of a specific text of a specifi block?

Answer 1

Your first question is one where the only person who can truly answer it is you, however from what you describe this seems to be sensible. Naming a column "Text" is not the greatest idea since it's a reserved word in mysql. You'll have to always remember to escape the column name. I'd suggest something like "body" instead. (I believe time and type are as well.)
Your next two questions require an understanding of JOINs. JOINs allow you to join two tables together based on criteria you define. I'm going to answer the questions in reverse order as your second one will be a more complex join.
So 3) Texts and the user who approved them:
SELECT
t.`id`, t.`Text`, a.`User`
FROM
texts t
INNER JOIN
approvals a
ON
t.approval=a.id;
This will return the Texts ID, text and the user name for any rows that have been approved. If you want to also see ones without approvals then change INNER JOIN to LEFT JOIN. This will always return rows from the table on the Left Hand Side of the ON statement.
Now the problem with returning all the blocks is you will need to JOIN the texts table several times. That makes it a bit more complex but it's easy to do:
SELECT
t1.`Text` as 'Title',
t2.`Text` as 'Slogan',
t3.`Text` as 'Body',
b.`type` as 'Type',
b.`time` as 'Time'
b.`difficulty` as 'Difficulty'
FROM
blocks b
INNER JOIN
texts t1
ON
b.`title` = t1.`id`
INNER JOIN
texts t2
ON
b.`slogan` = t2.`id`
INNER JOIN
texts t3
ON
b.`text` = t3.`id`;

Answer 2

If I understand your question correctly, I don't think it's necessary to have the Approvals table. If a Text can have one and only one user approve it, and it can be approved on one and only one date, it's unnecessary to separate Approvals.
should i just have textxs hold the block id they belong to?
I think that depends on your modeling needs. Is it always one text, one title and one slogan, and do all three have to be filled out? If so, it won't matter if you do it like you've done now. However, if you'll often see a block with just a text and no title and slogan, it might make more sense to make Texts reference Blocks.
how do i show a table contaning all columns of blocks, but showing the actual text from texts.Text instead of the ids?
Something like this should get you started:
SELECT b.id, text.text, title.text, slogan.text, b.type, b.time, b.difficulty
FROM blocks AS b
JOIN texts AS text ON b.text = texts.id
JOIN texts AS title ON b.title = texts.id
JOIN texts AS slogan ON b.slogan = texts.id
how do i select the approval.User of a specific text of a specifi block?
SELECT a.user
FROM approvals AS a
JOIN texts AS t ON a.id = t.approval
JOIN blocks AS b ON b.text = t.id
WHERE b.id = idToLookFor