Question

I’ve done more complex queries and I am stumped.

table:

STEPS (id, rank, description) 
ELEMENTS (element, element_id, year_code)

The tables relate by STEPS.id = ELEMENTS.element_id where ELEMENTS.year_code = 2010

I want to retrieve a step, by its rank, but it needs to check the element table to make sure I pull the appropriate step, because there could be two steps with the same rank, but that is where the year_code comes into play, there is no duplicate ranks for the same year.

So I want to view the step

 where steps.rank = 1.2.4 and elements.year_code = 2010

any help is appreciated

The steps table holds all the steps and the elements table keeps track of what year the step belongs to.

Answer 1

I don’t have a link field, so I’m just going to use elements.step_id to link the fields.
Adjust the query to your field names.

SELECT s.*
FROM steps s
INNER JOIN elements e ON (e.steps_id = s.id)
WHERE s.rank = '1.2.4' AND e.year_code = '2010'

Or perhaps you meant:

SELECT s.*
FROM steps s
INNER JOIN elements e ON (e.steps_id = s.id)
WHERE s.rank IN ('1','2','4') AND e.year_code = '2010'