Question

I have a select query that selects files with a thumbnail file attached and I also need to get those with no thumbnail attached.

My current sql query is

SELECT   node.title, node.nid, files.fid, files.filepath, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_date_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_shorts_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_director_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_length_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_type_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_year_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_event_type_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_location_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_desc_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_id_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_thumb_fid, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_trailer_url 
FROM     node, content_type_mobile_event, files 
WHERE    node.nid=content_type_mobile_event.nid AND 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_thumb_fid=files.fid 
ORDER BY content_type_mobile_event.field_date_value ASC

I need to also get

SELECT   node.title, node.nid, content_type_mobile_event.field_date_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_shorts_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_director_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_length_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_type_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_year_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_event_type_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_location_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_desc_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_id_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_thumb_fid, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_trailer_url 
FROM     node, content_type_mobile_event 
WHERE    node.nid=content_type_mobile_event.nid AND
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_thumb_fid!=1 
ORDER BY content_type_mobile_event.field_date_value ASC

I would normally just do a

(
SELECT   node.title, node.nid, files.fid, files.filepath, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_date_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_shorts_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_director_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_length_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_type_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_year_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_event_type_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_location_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_desc_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_id_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_thumb_fid, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_trailer_url 
FROM     node, content_type_mobile_event, files 
WHERE    node.nid=content_type_mobile_event.nid AND 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_thumb_fid=files.fid 
ORDER BY content_type_mobile_event.field_date_value ASC
)
UNION
(
SELECT   node.title, node.nid, content_type_mobile_event.field_date_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_shorts_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_director_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_length_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_type_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_year_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_event_type_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_location_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_desc_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_id_value, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_thumb_fid, 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_trailer_url 
FROM     node, content_type_mobile_event 
WHERE    node.nid=content_type_mobile_event.nid AND 
         content_type_mobile_event.field_movie_thumb_fid!=1 
ORDER BY content_type_mobile_event.field_date_value ASC
)

But the problem is the second one has a different set of columns (minus the files.* part)

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do this.

Answer 1

If you have different fields that have different meaning too, you can’t and shouldn’t return them in the same position. You can however ‘fill in the blanks’ by adding null to your fields, like this:

select id, name, date, null as userid, 'A' as recordtype from table1
union all
select id, name, null /*as date*/, userid, 'B' as recordtype from table2 

You can provide an alias for the null in the first select. You can add aliases in the second select for clarity, but it won’t be used. You can even use constant values which you can use to distinguish the record type later.