It was easier to post the full example here, it is a quick brief example but you get the idea.
The concept here is simple.
We store information in rows that we can then pull back out into different columns when needed.
The request was for a subscription of students and courses....
First I built out some tables and data...
CREATE TABLE `details` (
`details_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`details_label` varchar(100) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`details_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB;
INSERT INTO details VALUES (1,'First Name') , (2, 'Last Name') ;
CREATE TABLE `subjects` (
`subject_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`subject` enum('History','English','Geography','Mathematics','Science','Social Studies','Foreign Languages','Visual and Performing Arts') DEFAULT NULL,
`subject_detail` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`subject_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB;
INSERT INTO subjects VALUES (1,'Mathematics', 'Algebra') , (2,'History', '1826-1926') , (3,'Geography', ' Africa Studies') ;
CREATE TABLE `student` (
`student_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`email` varchar(150) DEFAULT NULL,
`student_key` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
`date_updated` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
PRIMARY KEY (`student_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB;
INSERT INTO student (`student_id` ,`email`,`student_key`) VALUES (1,'foobar@gmail.com','iasdjf');
CREATE TABLE `student_details` (
`student_details_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`student_id` int(11) DEFAULT 0,
`details_id` int(11) DEFAULT 0,
`details_value` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`date_updated` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
PRIMARY KEY (`student_details_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB;
INSERT INTO student_details VALUES (NULL,1,1,'John',NOW()) , (NULL,1,2,'Smith',NOW()) ;
CREATE TABLE `courselist` (
`courselist_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`student_id` int(11) DEFAULT 0,
`subject_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`status` enum('Waitlisted','Subscribed','Denied') DEFAULT NULL,
`date_updated` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
PRIMARY KEY (`courselist_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB;
INSERT INTO courselist VALUES ( NULL,1, 1 , 'Waitlisted' , NOW() ) , ( NULL,1, 2 , 'Subscribed' , NOW() ) , ( NULL,1, 3 , 'Denied' , NOW() ) ;
First just pull information about the student :
> SELECT s.student_id , d.details_label , sd.details_value
-> FROM student s
-> INNER JOIN student_details sd ON s.student_id = sd.student_id
-> INNER JOIN details d ON sd.details_id = d.details_id;
+------------+---------------+---------------+
| student_id | details_label | details_value |
+------------+---------------+---------------+
| 1 | First Name | John |
| 1 | Last Name | Smith |
+------------+---------------+---------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)
We can dig more and keep adding information...
> SELECT s.student_id , d.details_label , sd.details_value , c.status, j.subject, j.subject_detail
-> FROM student s
-> INNER JOIN student_details sd ON s.student_id = sd.student_id
-> INNER JOIN details d ON sd.details_id = d.details_id
-> INNER JOIN courselist c ON s.student_id = c.student_id
-> INNER JOIN subjects j ON j.subject_id = c.subject_id
-> ;
+------------+---------------+---------------+------------+-------------+-----------------+
| student_id | details_label | details_value | status | subject | subject_detail |
+------------+---------------+---------------+------------+-------------+-----------------+
| 1 | First Name | John | Waitlisted | Mathematics | Algebra |
| 1 | Last Name | Smith | Waitlisted | Mathematics | Algebra |
| 1 | First Name | John | Subscribed | History | 1826-1926 |
| 1 | Last Name | Smith | Subscribed | History | 1826-1926 |
| 1 | First Name | John | Denied | Geography | Africa Studies |
| 1 | Last Name | Smith | Denied | Geography | Africa Studies |
+------------+---------------+---------------+------------+-------------+-----------------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)
That is not very useful or clean though...
So redo this to pull exactly what we want...
> SELECT s.student_id ,sd1.details_value as FIRST_NAME, sd2.details_value as LAST_NAME, c.status, j.subject, j.subject_detail
-> FROM student s
-> INNER JOIN student_details sd1 ON s.student_id = sd1.student_id AND sd1.details_id = 1
-> INNER JOIN student_details sd2 ON s.student_id = sd2.student_id AND sd2.details_id = 2
-> INNER JOIN courselist c ON s.student_id = c.student_id
-> INNER JOIN subjects j ON j.subject_id = c.subject_id
-> ;
+------------+------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------------+
| student_id | FIRST_NAME | LAST_NAME | status | subject | subject_detail |
+------------+------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------------+
| 1 | John | Smith | Waitlisted | Mathematics | Algebra |
| 1 | John | Smith | Subscribed | History | 1826-1926 |
| 1 | John | Smith | Denied | Geography | Africa Studies |
+------------+------------+-----------+------------+-------------+-----------------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
