Question

I am working on a price comparison website using 3 API (Linkshare, commission junction and amazon). In the database, Table fields are not relevant with each other. But product names are similar to other tables.

Step 1: I want to merge all three tables and shown in single table. Is this possible?

Step 2: compare the three tables and list out the product in frontend.

note: my primary keys in three tables are:
commission junction: SKU
Amazon: aid
LinkShare:SKUNUMBER

This is my database structure.

My table DDL structure for 3API. Amazon table structure

CREATE TABLE `amazon` ( `aid` bigint(20) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, `network` varchar(230) NOT NULL, `merchant_id` varchar(250) NOT NULL, `merchant_name` varchar(250) NOT NULL, `merchant_logo` mediumtext NOT NULL, `name` varchar(250) NOT NULL, `brand` varchar(250) NOT NULL, `asin` varchar(250) NOT NULL, `upc` varchar(150) NOT NULL, `ean` varchar(300) NOT NULL,
 `image` mediumtext NOT NULL, `description` text NOT NULL, `url` mediumtext NOT NULL, `price` decimal(10,0) NOT NULL, `listprice` decimal(10,0) NOT NULL, `lowest_usedprice` decimal(10,0) NOT NULL, `shipping` varchar(130) NOT NULL, `currency` varchar(5) NOT NULL, `search_keyword` text NOT NULL, `search_maxprice` varchar(230) NOT NULL, `search_minprice` varchar(230) NOT NULL, `date` datetime NOT NULL, `catagory` varchar(255) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`aid`)) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=68 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1

Table structure for Commission junction.

CREATE TABLE `cjfeeds` ( `PROGRAMNAME` varchar(100) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `PROGRAMURL` varchar(300) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `CATALOGNAME` varchar(130) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `LASTUPDATED` varchar(100) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `NAME` varchar(160) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `KEYWORDS` varchar(300) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `DESCRIPTION` varchar(3000) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `SKU` varchar(100) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '', `MANUFACTURER` varchar(160) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `MANUFACTURERID` varchar(64) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `UPC` varchar(100) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `ISBN` varchar(64) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
 `CURRENCY` varchar(3) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `SALEPRICE` decimal(10,2) DEFAULT NULL, `PRICE` decimal(10,2) DEFAULT NULL, `RETAILPRICE` decimal(10,2) DEFAULT NULL,
 `FROMPRICE` varchar(3) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `BUYURL` varchar(500) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `IMPRESSIONURL` varchar(300) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `IMAGEURL` varchar(300) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `ADVERTISERCATEGORY` varchar(300) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `THIRDPARTYID` varchar(64) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `THIRDPARTYCATEGORY` varchar(300) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `AUTHOR` varchar(130) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `ARTIST` varchar(130) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `TITLE` varchar(130) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `PUBLISHER` varchar(130) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `LABEL` varchar(130) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `FORMAT` varchar(64) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `SPECIAL` varchar(3) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `GIFT` varchar(3) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `PROMOTIONALTEXT` varchar(300) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `STARTDATE` varchar(100) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `ENDDATE` varchar(100) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
 `OFFLINE` varchar(3) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `ONLINE` varchar(3) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `INSTOCK` varchar(3) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
 `CONDITION` varchar(11) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `WARRANTY` varchar(300) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL, `STANDARDSHIPPINGCOST` decimal(10,2) DEFAULT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`SKU`)) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci

Table structure for linkshare:

CREATE TABLE `linkshare` ( `PRODUCTID` int(100) unsigned NOT NULL, `PRODUCTNAME` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `SKUNUMBER` varchar(200) NOT NULL, `PRIMARYCATAGRY` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `SECONDARYCATAGRY` varchar(2000) NOT NULL, `PRODUCTURL` varchar(2000) NOT NULL, `PRODUCTIMAGEURL` varchar(2000) NOT NULL, `BUYURL` varchar(2000) NOT NULL, `SHORTPRODUCTDESCRIPTION` varchar(2000) NOT NULL, `LONGPRODUCTDESCRIPTION` varchar(2000) NOT NULL, `DISCOUNT` float(8,2) unsigned NOT NULL,
 `DISCOUNTTYPE` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `SALEPRICE` float(8,2) unsigned NOT NULL, `RETAILPRICE` float(8,2) unsigned NOT NULL,
 `BEGINDATE` datetime NOT NULL, `ENDDATE` datetime NOT NULL, `BRAND` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `SHIPPING` int(255) unsigned NOT NULL, `KEYWORDS` varchar(500) NOT NULL, `MANUFACTURERPART` varchar(100) NOT NULL, `MANUFACTURERNAME` varchar(250) NOT NULL,
 `SHIPPINGINFORMATION` varchar(50) NOT NULL, `AVAILABLITY` varchar(50) NOT NULL, `UNIVERSALPRODUCTCODE` varchar(15) NOT NULL,
 `CLASSID` float(8,2) unsigned NOT NULL, `CURRENCY` varchar(3) NOT NULL, `M1` varchar(2000) NOT NULL, `PIXEL` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `MISCELLANEOUSATTRIBUTE` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ATTRIBUTE1` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ATTRIBUTE2` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ATTRIBUTE3` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ATTRIBUTE4` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ATTRIBUTE5` varchar(255) NOT NULL, ATTRIBUTE6` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ATTRIBUTE7` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ATTRIBUTE8` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ATTRIBUTE9` varchar(255) NOT NULL, `ATTRIBUTE10` varchar(255) NOT NULL, UNIQUE KEY `PRODUCTID` (`PRODUCTID`)) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8

How do I solve this and please provide me a helpful advice.

Answer 1

The best way for you is one stored procedure which:

1. Creates temporary table for comparison:

   DROP TABLE IF EXISTS comparison_table;
   
   CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE `comparison_table` (
       `id` BIGINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT COMMENT 'Primary key',
       `name` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL COMMENT 'Product name',
       `origin` VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL COMMENT 'Original website id, i.e. AZ, LS, CJ',
       `sku` VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL COMMENT 'SKU on the original website',
       `price` FLOAT NOT NULL COMMENT 'Price on the original website',
       PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
   );
   

2. Fills this table with data from your original 3 tables:

   INSERT INTO `comparison_table` (`name`, `origin`, `sku`, `price`)
   SELECT `az`.`name`, 'AZ', `az`.`aid`, `az`.`price`
   FROM `amazon` `az`
   WHERE `az`.`name` IS NOT NULL AND `az`.`aid` IS NOT NULL AND `az`.`price` IS NOT NULL;
   
   INSERT INTO `comparison_table` (`name`, `origin`, `sku`, `price`)
   SELECT `cj`.`name`, 'CJ', `cj`.`sku`, `cj`.`price`
   FROM `cjfeeds` `cj`
   WHERE `cj`.`name` IS NOT NULL AND `cj`.`sku` IS NOT NULL AND `cj`.`price` IS NOT NULL;
   
   INSERT INTO `comparison_table` (`name`, `origin`, `sku`, `price`)
   SELECT `ls`.`productname`, 'LS', `ls`.`skunumber`, `ls`.`retailprice`
   FROM `linkshare` `ls`
   WHERE `ls`.`productname` IS NOT NULL AND `ls`.`skunumber` IS NOT NULL AND `ls`.`retailprice` IS NOT NULL;
   

As a result you will get the temporary table with all interesting data. This table is like a cache and should be updated every time you touch any original table.

Then you just select anything you want from comparison_table and join necessary original tables by origin and sku. For example:

SELECT `ct`.`id`, `ct`.`name`, `ct`.`price`, 
    CASE `ct`.`origin` 
        WHEN 'AZ' THEN `az`.`impressionurl`
        WHEN 'CJ' THEN `cj`.`url`
        WHEN 'LS' THEN `ls`.`producturl`
    END `url`
FROM `comparison_table` `ct`
LEFT JOIN `amazon` `az` ON (`ct`.`origin` = 'AZ' AND `ct`.`sku` = `az`.`aid`)
LEFT JOIN `cjfeeds` `cj` ON (`ct`.`origin` = 'CJ' AND `ct`.`sku` = `cj`.`sku`)
LEFT JOIN `linkshare` `ls` ON (`ct`.`origin` = 'LS' AND `ct`.`sku` = `ls`.`skunumber`)
WHERE `ct`.`name` = 'YOUR PRODUCT NAME'
ORDER BY `ct`.`price`