The SELECT would examine more than MAX_JOIN_SIZE rows

I have a (fairly) complicated lookup query which uses up to 5 additional recordset filters on my product detail page, which is used to add product options when the add to cart button is pressed.

The page is responsive and causes no problems, but when uploaded to my hosting provider, i get the following error when pressing the add to cart button

The SELECT would examine more than MAX_JOIN_SIZE rows; check your WHERE and use SET SQL_BIG_SELECTS=1 or SET SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE=# if the SELECT is okay

I have added the line mysql_query('SET SQL_BIG_SELECTS=1'); to my page, and this overcomes the issue, but wondered how I could check for MAX JOIN SIZE ?

the SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE is stored in the information_schema database on your MySQL server in the GLOBAL_VARIABLES tables.

if you have access to the information_schema database, you can use the following query to return the SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE value:

SELECT * FROM GLOBAL_VARIABLES WHERE VARIABLE_NAME = 'SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE'

thanks Jason, I found it