Question

I have 2 tables:

mysql> describe solution_sections;
+---------------------+---------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field               | Type          | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+---------------------+---------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| solution_section_id | int(10)       | NO   | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| display_order       | int(10)       | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| section_name        | varchar(1000) | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+---------------------+---------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> describe suggested_solution_comments;

+-----------------------+----------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field                 | Type           | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+-----------------------+----------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| comment_id            | int(10)        | NO   | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| problem_id            | int(10)        | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| suggested_solution_id | int(10)        | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| commenter_id          | int(10)        | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| comment               | varchar(10000) | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| solution_part         | int(3)         | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| date                  | date           | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
+-----------------------+----------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+

What I am trying to do is to display the list of section_name from the solution_sections table, and n matched items from the suggested_solution_comments table for every section_name. So for every section name, the query should get the list of suggested_solution_comments associated with it.

The tables are linked by suggested_solution_comments.solution_part and solution_sections.solution_section_id

Here is what I am trying so far:

select section_name , comment , solution_part , display_order from solution_sections 
    left join suggested_solution_comments on 
    solution_sections.solution_section_id = suggested_solution_comments.solution_part   
    where suggested_solution_id = 188 OR suggested_solution_id IS NULL
    group by display_order;

The problem is that the query gets the list of section_name, and one matched comment per section_name, but not more than one comment. Any idea why it doesn’t get all the associated comments?

Thanks!!

Answer 1

the GROUP BY might account for what you are seeing try without it (UPDATE as per comments)

select section_name , comment , solution_part , display_order 
from solution_sections 
left join suggested_solution_comments on 
solution_sections.solution_section_id = suggested_solution_comments.solution_part   
where suggested_solution_id = 188 OR suggested_solution_id IS NULL
order by display_order;

Some remarks:

You datamodel seems a bit strange… for example the solution_part is int(3) and is linked to solution_section_id which is turn is an autoincrement int(10) ?