Question

I would like to know how to run a SQL query that returns events that have a time that is in a valid segment.

For example, I have the two tables,

Event

event_id event_time
0        134
1        434
2        4300

Segment

segment_type segment_start_time segment_end_time
data1         100                130
data1         200                500
data1         700                8000
veto1         400                440
data2         150                450
data2         4000               5000
veto2         175                200

I want a query that would return

event_id event_time
1        434
2        4300

I was thinking something like

SELECT * 
FROM event
WHERE 
    event.event_time > (SELECT segment.segment_start_time FROM segment)
    AND 
    event.event_time < (SELECT segment.segment_end_time FROM segment)

But this just returns nothing. What am I doing wrong?

The next step I want to do is to find events times that are;

between a ‘data’ segment start time and end time AND
NOT between a ‘veto’ segment start time and end time

And finally, I actually have two type of data segments and veto segments. I want to return events that have times;

between a ‘data1’ segment start time and end time AND

between a ‘data2’ segment start time and end time AND

NOT between a ‘veto1’ segment start time and end time AND

NOT between a ‘veto2’ segment start time and end time

So from my example table above, the output I want would be

event_id event_time
2        4300

Answer 1

I’m going to assume that you will normally have more entries in the event table than in the segment table.

This allow the pseduo-code to be “for every segment, check which events are valid”. This allows range-seeks on the event table.

SELECT
  event.event_id, event.event_time
FROM
  segment
INNER JOIN
  event
    ON  event.event_time >= segment.segment_start_time
    AND event.event_time <  segment.segment_end_time
GROUP BY
  event.event_id, event.event_time

The GROUP BY is only needed if different entries in segment can overlap.

The alternative approach is with the pseudo-code “for each event, check if any segments overlap it”.

Doing so, however, will not allow a range seek (see my comment on @MarkByers answer).

EDIT Following edit to question…

As far as I understand the changes, an event should only be returned if…

• The event time is within at least (one data1 segment AND also one data2 segment)
• The event time is not within (any veto1 segments OR any veto2 segments)

SELECT
  event.event_id, event.event_time
FROM
  segment
INNER JOIN
  event
    ON  event.event_time >= segment.segment_start_time
    AND event.event_time <  segment.segment_end_time
GROUP BY
  event.event_id, event.event_time
HAVING
      0 = SUM(CASE WHEN segment_type = 'veto1' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)
  AND 0 = SUM(CASE WHEN segment_type = 'veto2' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)
  AND 1 = SUM(CASE WHEN segment_type = 'data1' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)
  AND 1 = SUM(CASE WHEN segment_type = 'data2' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)