Question

I know a bit of sql but not enough for this task, thats why the title question might seem a bit weird. =P

I have some tables like the following (a lot of data stripped for space)

**Consoles**
id          INT
console     VARCHAR 

**Games**
id          INT
console_id  INT
game        VARCHAR

**Categories**
id          INT
category    VARCHAR

**Categories_Games**
id          INT
category_id INT
game_id     INT

Categories_Games being the join table.

Now, I manually added to the system categories to all registered games of a console.
Before I start the tedious job of repeating the task for another console, what I need to know is: Is there a way to copy the registered categories from one console to another where the game is the same?

Most likely it is possible but I’m failing to figure.

Edit. clarifying.

I have all games registered already. (For instance, I have ‘street fighter 4’ for ps3, and ‘street fighter 4’ for xbox.

I have categories for all games associated to one console (ps3).

I want all xbox games to have the same categories ps3 games already have if the game’s name is the same.

Answer 1

In your model, categories are related to games, not to consoles. Games are related to consoles. Do you want to copy the game from one console to the other? Assuming that id are AUTO_INCREMENT, and you want to copy the xbox games to wii games, try this:

insert into consoles(console) values('wii');

insert into games(console_id,game)
select wii.id,g.game
from games g
join consoles x
on x.console_id = g.console_id
join consoles wii
on wii.console = 'wii'
where x.console = 'xbox';

Based on your clarification, do this:

insert into categories_games(category_id,game_id)
select cg.category_id,other_game.game_id
from games ps3_game
join console ps3
  on ps3.console = 'ps3'
  and ps3.console_id = ps3_game.console_id 
join categories_games cg
  on cg.game_id = ps3_game.game_id
join games other_game 
  on  other_game.game = ps3_game.game
  and other_game.console_id <> ps3_game.console_id;