Question

I’d need a MySQL query that moves a node and all its children within a nested set. I found this site, but that function just seems so illogical – there’s no universeid or treeid in a nested set model, and the code itself is just longer than what feels required. The only extra column I’ve got in the table is parent.

I couldn’t just remove and add the node again since it will loose its ID.

Answer 1

I see, that this topic is quite old, but anyway it’s still unanswered. I got here from Google, and found no direct answer to this question.

So, after a little research I found quite easy solution.

Everything, what we gonna need to move our node is: node left and right positions, new parent node right position. The node to the new position then can be moved in four easy steps:

1. Change positions of node and all it’s sub nodes into negative values,
   which are equal to current ones by module.
2. Move all positions “up”, which are more, that pos_right of current node.
3. Move all positions “down”, which are more, that pos_right of new parent node.
4. Change positions of current node and all it’s subnodes, so that it’s now will be exactly “after” (or “down”) of new parent node.

That’s theory, now – this algorithm realization in MySQL (example using PHP):

-- step 0: Initialize parameters.
SELECT
    @node_id := 1, --put there id of moving node 
    @node_pos_left := 0, --put there left position of moving node
    @node_pos_right := 1, --put there right position of moving node
    @parent_id := 2, --put there id of new parent node (there moving node should be moved)

    @parent_pos_right := 4; --put there right position of new parent node (there moving node should be moved)
SELECT
    @node_size := @node_pos_right - @node_pos_left + 1; -- 'size' of moving node (including all it's sub nodes)

-- step 1: temporary "remove" moving node

UPDATE `list_items`
SET `pos_left` = 0-(`pos_left`), `pos_right` = 0-(`pos_right`)
WHERE `pos_left` >= @node_pos_left AND `pos_right` <= @node_pos_right;

-- step 2: decrease left and/or right position values of currently 'lower' items (and parents)

UPDATE `list_items`
SET `pos_left` = `pos_left` - @node_size
WHERE `pos_left` > @node_pos_right;
UPDATE `list_items`
SET `pos_right` = `pos_right` - @node_size
WHERE `pos_right` > @node_pos_right;

-- step 3: increase left and/or right position values of future 'lower' items (and parents)

UPDATE `list_items`
SET `pos_left` = `pos_left` + @node_size
WHERE `pos_left` >= IF(@parent_pos_right > @node_pos_right, @parent_pos_right - @node_size, @parent_pos_right);
UPDATE `list_items`
SET `pos_right` = `pos_right` + @node_size
WHERE `pos_right` >= IF(@parent_pos_right > @node_pos_right, @parent_pos_right - @node_size, @parent_pos_right);

-- step 4: move node (ant it's subnodes) and update it's parent item id

UPDATE `list_items`
SET
    `pos_left` = 0-(`pos_left`)+IF(@parent_pos_right > @node_pos_right, @parent_pos_right - @node_pos_right - 1, @parent_pos_right - @node_pos_right - 1 + @node_size),
    `pos_right` = 0-(`pos_right`)+IF(@parent_pos_right > @node_pos_right, @parent_pos_right - @node_pos_right - 1, @parent_pos_right - @node_pos_right - 1 + @node_size)
WHERE `pos_left` <= 0-@node_pos_left AND `pos_right` >= 0-@node_pos_right;
UPDATE `list_items`
SET `parent_item_id` = @parent_id
WHERE `item_id` = @node_id;

Please beware – there still may be some syntax errors in SQL code, because I actually use this algorithm in PHP like this:

$iItemId = 1;
$iItemPosLeft = 0;
$iItemPosRight = 1;
$iParentId = 2;
$iParentPosRight = 4;
$iSize = $iPosRight - $iPosLeft + 1;
$sql = array(

    // step 1: temporary "remove" moving node

    'UPDATE `list_items`
    SET `pos_left` = 0-(`pos_left`), `pos_right` = 0-(`pos_right`)
    WHERE `pos_left` >= "'.$iItemPosLeft.'" AND `pos_right` <= "'.$iItemPosRight.'"',

    // step 2: decrease left and/or right position values of currently 'lower' items (and parents)

    'UPDATE `list_items`
    SET `pos_left` = `pos_left` - '.$iSize.'
    WHERE `pos_left` > "'.$iItemPosRight.'"',
    'UPDATE `list_items`
    SET `pos_right` = `pos_right` - '.$iSize.'
    WHERE `pos_right` > "'.$iItemPosRight.'"',

    // step 3: increase left and/or right position values of future 'lower' items (and parents)

    'UPDATE `list_items`
    SET `pos_left` = `pos_left` + '.$iSize.'
    WHERE `pos_left` >= "'.($iParentPosRight > $iItemPosRight ? $iParentPosRight - $iSize : $iParentPosRight).'"',
    'UPDATE `list_items`
    SET `pos_right` = `pos_right` + '.$iSize.'
    WHERE `pos_right` >= "'.($iParentPosRight > $iItemPosRight ? $iParentPosRight - $iSize : $iParentPosRight).'"',

    // step 4: move node (ant it's subnodes) and update it's parent item id

    'UPDATE `list_items`
    SET
        `pos_left` = 0-(`pos_left`)+'.($iParentPosRight > $iItemPosRight ? $iParentPosRight - $iItemPosRight - 1 : $iParentPosRight - $iItemPosRight - 1 + $iSize).',
        `pos_right` = 0-(`pos_right`)+'.($iParentPosRight > $iItemPosRight ? $iParentPosRight - $iItemPosRight - 1 : $iParentPosRight - $iItemPosRight - 1 + $iSize).'
    WHERE `pos_left` <= "'.(0-$iItemPosLeft).'" AND i.`pos_right` >= "'.(0-$iItemPosRight).'"',
    'UPDATE `list_items`
    SET `parent_item_id` = "'.$iParentItemId.'"
    WHERE `item_id`="'.$iItemId.'"'
);

foreach($sql as $sqlQuery){
    mysql_query($sqlQuery);
}

Please note also, that code may be optimized, but I going to leave it like that for better readability. Also consider table locking if you are using nested sets in multi-user systems.

Hope that my message will help to anyone, who will search for a solution after me. Any comments and corrections are also welcome.