Question

I need to get some user information from several tables, but if something is missing like c.comp_title for example the query returns false. How can I make it return any data it finds?

    function one_edu($end_user, $one_id)
    {
    $query_str = "SELECT *
                FROM edu a
                JOIN user_profiles b ON a.user_id=b.user_id
                JOIN (SELECT c.user_id, GROUP_CONCAT(c.comp_title) as comp_title, GROUP_CONCAT(c.comp) as comp
                   FROM comp c
                   GROUP BY c.user_id) c ON a.user_id = c.user_id
                JOIN (SELECT s.user_id, GROUP_CONCAT(s.skill_title) as skill_title, GROUP_CONCAT(s.skill) as skill
                   FROM skills s
                   GROUP BY s.user_id) d ON a.user_id = d.user_id
                JOIN (SELECT t.user_id, GROUP_CONCAT(t.exp_title) as exp_title, GROUP_CONCAT(t.experience) as experience
                   FROM exp t
                   GROUP BY t.user_id) e ON a.user_id = e.user_id
                JOIN (SELECT e.user_id, GROUP_CONCAT(e.edu_title) as edu_title, GROUP_CONCAT(e.education) as education
                   FROM edu e
                   GROUP BY e.user_id) f ON a.user_id = f.user_id
                 WHERE a.user_id = ?";

            $query = $this->db->query($query_str, $end_user);

            if($query->num_rows() > 0)
                    {
                    foreach($query->result_array() as $stuff) {
                            $data[] = $stuff;
                    }
                            return $data;
                    }else{
                            return false;
                    }

    }//end one_edu

Answer 1

Learn about SQL joins. You need to use outer joins – replace JOIN with LEFT JOIN wherever you want results even if the table to be joined has no matching records (or RIGHT JOIN if you want results even if the previously mentioned tables have no matching records).