Question

I am managing an event database. Every event has a start and end timestamp (INT, unix timestamp).

Currently i’m able to do the following things with a single SQL query:

• build up a calendar, and mark days when an event occurring
• list occurring events on a given date (YYYY/MM/DD, YYYY/MM)

The problem is when an event spans several days i can’t list it on a date between it’s start and end timestamps.

For example:

Event starts on 2011/05/25 and ends on 2011/05/27 i can’t list it on the page 2011/05/26.

My actual SQL query is

SELECT * FROM `event` 
WHERE (`start` BETWEEN ? AND ?) OR (`end` BETWEEN ? AND ?) 
ORDER BY start ASC

The two bound parameters (unix timestamps) are automatically calculated depending on what kind of parameter given (a whole month, or a specific day)

Is it possible to get these events (that spans several days) on a day between it’s two endpoints extending my query above?

Please let me know if i can clarify my question.

Update

Example:

event start: 1309125660 (2011-06-27 00:01:00)
end end: 1314050340 (2011-08-22 23:59:59)

select start: 1312408860 (2011-08-04 00:01:00)
select end: 1312495199 (2011-08-04 23:59:59)

This event won’t appear when i trying to list events occurring 2011/08/4

Answer 1

If I get the question right, with [:start, :end] being your date range of interest, you’re looking for:

select *
 from event
where -- event started earlier, ends later
      start <= :start and :start <= end
   or -- event starts during [:start, :end]
      :start <= start and start <= :end
   or -- event ends during [:start, :end]  
      :start <= end and end <= :end;

If you’re looking for a particular :day, use :day as :start and :day + 1 day as :end.