Re: simple join problem

On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, Matthew Nuzum wrote:

> Sorry for the simple question, but I'm struggling with a join.
>
> I'm creating a view that will show data from 4 tables. The problem is, I
> want the view to show a record for every entry in the "users" table, even if
> there is no matching entry all or some of the other tables.
>
> Right now my view only shows records that have data in all 4 tables. I know
> I've had this problem before and I know there's simple syntax, but I've only
> done it with two tables in the join and I (apparently) can't remember the
> correct syntax.
>
> Can anyone demonstrate the correct syntax for joining several tables in this
> way?
>
> Here's my view definition:
> SELECT
> users.uid, users.loginid, users."password", users.title,
> users.firstname, users.middlename, users.lastname, users.suffix,
> users.organization, users.job_title, users_address.address1,
> users_address.address2, users_address.address3, users_address.city,
> users_address.state, users_address.zip, users_address.country,
> users_email.email, users_phone.phone
> FROM (((users
> LEFT JOIN users_address ON ((users.uid = users_address.uid)))
> LEFT JOIN users_email ON ((users.uid = users_email.uid)))
> LEFT JOIN users_phone ON ((users.uid = users_phone.uid)))
> WHERE (((users_address."primary" = 't'::bool)
> AND (users_email."primary" = 't'::bool))
> AND (users_phone."primary" = 't'::bool));

The where clause undoes the LEFT JOIN.

Maybe something like:
SELECT ...
FROM users LEFT JOIN (select * from users_address where primary='t') AS
users_address ON (users.uid=users_address.uid) ...

I'd thought about just changing the WHERE clause elements to something
like:
(users_address.uaid IS NULL OR users_address."primary" = 't'::bool)

but that'll do the wrong thing if there are matching address but none are
primary (it shouldn't happen presumably, but I don't see anything that
stops it in the table descriptions -- I also don't know if there's an
intention of having multiple primary addresses which I guess could happen
unless primary is part of the pkey for those tables - which would prevent
multiple secondaries, so I assume it isn't)