Question

So I am writing a simple inbox private message system.

My table schema is as follows:

• messageID
• message
• sender id
• receiver id
• date sent
• read ( 0 = no , 1 = yes)

I am able to show the messages for the user by relating his userID to receiverID. However I also want to show the messages he has sent in the inbox to the user.

For example his inbox should show:

Darth Vader – 3 New messages
Luke – 0
new messages (0 because either I read
all of them OR i sent him the message
and he has not replied).

But what i can only come up with is

Darth Vader – 3 New messages.

Can I get any help with how I can accomplish this SQL call?

EDIT: To Clear the Confusion

I am neither Luke or Darth. I have received 3 New messages from darth, and I have sent a message to luke.

EDIT**
Basically I want to be able to make the inbox like how an SMS app would be, where you can see the sms you just sent in a list of sms’s by your friends.

Answer 1

SELECT users.username, count(messageID) AS unread
FROM users, messages
WHERE messages.senderID=<USER ID>
AND messages.receiverID=users.userID
AND messages.read=0

Just to make sure I got this right, this query will show all the users I have sent a message to and count the number of those messages which have not been read.