Question

I have this SQL in Access, but it is giving me an error. I’ve tried moving the parenthesis around but it hasn’t resolved the issue.

SELECT
    a.title, a.id, a.name, l.user, l.time 
FROM
    Reports a
INNER JOIN (
    AuditLog AS l ON a.id = l.id
INNER JOIN (
(
    SELECT min(time) Mintime, id
    from AuditLog
    GROUP BY id
) AS t )
  ON l.id = t.id
  AND l.time = t.mintime )
WHERE
    a.NAME LIKE 'something*'
    AND a.ACTIVE='Y'

How can I resolve the syntax errors I’m getting?

Answer 1

This piece of your query should definitely create a problem:

SELECT min(time) Mintime, id

If you intend to alias the field expression min(time) as Mintime, you must use the AS keyword. You don’t need AS for a table alias but you do for a field alias:

SELECT min(time) AS Mintime, id

It seems time is a field in your AuditLog table. In that case enclose its name in square brackets to distinguish it from the Time() function:

SELECT min([time]) AS Mintime, id

As for the parentheses, you should use Access’ query designer to set up your joins if possible. It will guarantee your query includes the parentheses the db engine demands and will position them correctly.

If that’s not an option, give this untested version a try:

SELECT
    a.title, a.id, a.name, l.user, l.time 
FROM
    (Reports a
    INNER JOIN AuditLog AS l
    ON a.id = l.id)
    INNER JOIN
        (
            SELECT min([time]) AS Mintime, id
            from AuditLog
            GROUP BY id
        ) AS t
    ON
            l.id = t.id
        AND l.time = t.mintime
WHERE
        a.NAME LIKE 'something*'
    AND a.ACTIVE='Y'