Question

To begin with I have 4 tables I am dealing with.

I have a classes table that is a 1->N relationship with a sections table which also has a 1->N relationship with a lessons table.

So to put it in perpective:

• Classes
  • Sections
    • Lessons

The last table is an activityLog, when the student accesses a lesson this is recorded using the following:

ActivityLog Row -> actorID (user ID), classID, sectionID, lessonID

I want to pull out the last 5 unique lessons the student has visited. I tried using both DISTINCT and GROUP BY without success.

The same records are being returned each time, not the latest classes that they have visited.

Using GROUP BY

SELECT activityLog.actorID, activityLog.activityDate,
        strClasses.classID, strClasses.className,
        strSections.sectionID, strSections.sectionName,
        strLessons.lessonID, strLessons.lessonName

FROM activityLog            
LEFT JOIN strClasses ON strClasses.classID = activityLog.classID
LEFT JOIN strSections ON strSections.sectionID = activityLog.sectionID
LEFT JOIN strLessons ON strLessons.lessonID = activityLog.lessonID
WHERE activityLog.activityTypeID = 6 AND activityLog.actorID = 3
GROUP BY activityLog.lessonID
ORDER BY activityLog.activityDate DESC
LIMIT 5

Using DISTINCT

SELECT DISTINCT activityLog.actorID,
        strClasses.classID, strClasses.className,
        strSections.sectionID, strSections.sectionName,
        strLessons.lessonID, strLessons.lessonName
FROM activityLog            
LEFT JOIN strClasses ON strClasses.classID = activityLog.classID
LEFT JOIN strSections ON strSections.sectionID = activityLog.sectionID
LEFT JOIN strLessons ON strLessons.lessonID = activityLog.lessonID
WHERE activityLog.activityTypeID = 6 AND activityLog.actorID = 3
ORDER BY activityLog.activityDate DESC
LIMIT 5

I cannot figure out why the latest records are not being displayed.

Answer 1

Based on your change, how does this suit you?

SELECT activityLog.actorID, activityLog.activityDate,
        strClasses.classID, strClasses.className,
        strSections.sectionID, strSections.sectionName,
        strLessons.lessonID, strLessons.lessonName
FROM activityLog            
LEFT JOIN strClasses ON strClasses.classID = activityLog.classID
LEFT JOIN strSections ON strSections.sectionID = activityLog.sectionID
LEFT JOIN strLessons ON strLessons.lessonID = activityLog.lessonID
WHERE activityLog.activityTypeID = 6 AND activityLog.actorID = 3
AND activityLog.activityDate = (SELECT MAX(activityDate) FROM activityLog AS lookup WHERE lessonID = activityLog.lessonID)
ORDER BY activityLog.activityDate DESC
LIMIT 5

Based on your description, I’m not sure why you’re using LEFT JOIN, but I’ve left it in just in case.