Hi Jerry
Thanks for your input on this!
>> I'm using an excel library that accepts a SELECT as input and generates
>> an XLS file with the records as output. I'd like to use this where
>> possible. However I don't know if it's possible to write a SELECT that
>> compresses a 1:n relationship into a single row. Is this possible, and
>> if yes, could someone show me how? Or could you suggest another way in
>> which I could achieve the above required output?
>>
> Does whatever tool you are using have any place where you can manipulate the
> data between the SELECT and the creation of the XLS? If not,I think you need
> a user-defined function for this, or perhaps you can do it with a
> user-defined procedure.
Unfortunately the tool doesn't let me manipulate the data. It simply
reads the result set and pops each field into a separate column in the
XLS. So any formatting I do has to be part of the SELECT.
I did consider a procedure but the problem is that the client is still
using MySQL 4.x, which afaik doesn't support stored procedures. An
upgrade is not something they can do at this point, as they're using s
shared host so the server isn't really under their control.
Vikram
