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Home -> Community -> Usenet -> c.d.o.misc -> Re: Columns in outer joins
But Ken,
he was talking about a QUI query build tool. It's not a SQL question, it's a GUI tool question. Bascially he is saying the tool forces him to go from the graphical view to the SQl (text) view of the query in order to get it right. I haven't used a variety of QUI query builders, but it looks to me like he has a point.
It shouldn't be hard to add this option, except it could be fooled by the order that you build the conditions. (imagine making the join, adding the 'Main' condition, than changing the join to an outer join. Should it then change the other conditions to match??) Why it's not there (at least as an option) is beyond my range of knowledge.
In article <37CA7275.42D14740_at_Unforgettable.com>,
BluesSax_at_Unforgettable.com wrote:
> But that's the point. IT IS how SQL works. Why should there be any
> problem with using the syntax of a language as it is documented. It
may
> seem strange, but it is consistant and those of us who have been
writing
> sql for years are used to writing outer joins that way. It has nothing
> to do with vendor-specific implementation.
>
> Ken
>
> stuart_kohler_at_my-deja.com wrote:
>
> > In evaluating gui SQL reporting tools, it seems
> > common to assist in the outer joining of tables
> > but ignore outer joining column references in the
> > outer joined table.
> >
> > For example, when joining an address table and
> > phone table, the table join is built correctly,
> > as:
> > address_studentid = phone_studentid (+)
> >
> > This will correctly pull students with or without
> > phones.
> >
> > However, when there is a phone, we usually
> > only want to pull the main phone number and so add
> > a statement like:
> > phone_type = 'Main'
> >
> > Unless this line is manually edited to
> > phone_type (+) = 'Main'
> > the table outer join is useless and only pulls
> > students with phones, specifically of the type
> > 'Main' - and therefore negates having outer joined
> > the tables in the first place.
> >
> > When I've queried the software vendors, they seem
> > to shrug and say "That's the way SQL works."
> >
> > Fundamentally, this makes no sense, since I cannot
> > imagine an instance where after having outer
> > joined tables that I would NOT want
> > phone_type (+) = 'Main'
> > so I don't understand why any vendor would choose
> > to implement the behavior of
> > phone_type = 'Main'
> > and claim it's the user's problem to outer join
> > the phone_type column.
>
>
--
Ed Prochak
Magic Interface, Ltd.
ORACLE services
440-498-3700 <<<NOTE new number
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
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Received on Mon Aug 30 1999 - 12:39:32 CDT
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