Question

I have a problem with retrieve column values like depending on other column
I tried to do it with outer join and nested select but I think I can’t find the solution in my head

Categories Table:
ID  Name                ParentID
--------------------------------
1   Software            NULL
2   Domains             NULL
3   Games               NULL
4   Accounts            NULL
5   Others              NULL
6   Security Software   1
7   Operating Systems   1
8   Browsers            1
9   Developer Tools     1
10  .com Domains        2
11  .net Domains        2
12  .org Domains        2
13  Online Games        3
14  PC Games            3
15  PS Games            3
16  RapidShare Accounts 4
17  4shared Account     4
18  Web Templates       5
19  Flash Intros        5
20  Firewall            6
21  Antivirus           6

What I want do to display parent category name
instead of parentID

Like that

ID  Name                ParentID
--------------------------------
1   Software            NULL
2   Domains             NULL
3   Games               NULL
4   Accounts            NULL
5   Others              NULL
6   Security Software   Software
7   Operating Systems   Software
8   Browsers            Software
9   Developer Tools     Software
10  .com Domains        Domains
11  .net Domains        Domains
12  .org Domains        Domains
13  Online Games        Games               
14  PC Games            Games               
15  PS Games            Games               
16  RapidShare Accounts Accounts            
17  4shared Account     Accounts            
18  Web Templates       Others              
19  Flash Intros        Others              
20  Firewall            Security Software
21  Antivirus           Security Software

Answer 1

you need to join on the table two times

SELECT c1.Id, c1.Name as parentname , c2.name
FROM categories c1
JOIN categories c2
    ON c1.id = c2.parentid

the results will be:

ID      ParentName            Name
1       software              security software
1       software              operating software
2       domains               .com domains
2       domains               .net domains
2       domains               .org domains
3       games                 pc games

which will give you the parentID, parentName and Name of the subcategory or child.

You can also change it to include the subcategory id, if needed.

Based on your Edit you can use the following:

create table categories
(
    id int,
    name varchar(50),
    parentid int
)

insert into categories values(1, 'software', null)
insert into categories values(2, 'domains', null)
insert into categories values(3, 'games', null)
insert into categories values(6, 'security software', 1)
insert into categories values(7, 'operating systems', 1)
insert into categories values(8, 'browsers', 1)
insert into categories values(10, '.com domains', 2)
insert into categories values(11, '.net domains', 2)
insert into categories values(12, '.org domains', 2)
insert into categories values(13, 'online games', 3)
insert into categories values(14, 'pc games', 3)
insert into categories values(15, 'ps games', 3)

select c1.id
    , c1.name
    , (select name from categories where c1.parentid = categories.id) as ParentId
from categories c1

which will result in: