Search Error - Column 'ss_LineParentID' in where clause is ambiguous

On my clothing results page, I have a search form with 3 dropdown select menus and 1 plain input field.

Search by: Line
Search by: Category
Search by: Sub-Category
Search by: Name

I get errors when searching from any of the top 2 dropdown select menus:

Column 'ss_LineParentID' in where clause is ambiguous
Column 'ss_CatParentID' in where clause is ambiguous

When searching only by "sub-category" dropdown select menu, this works fine, as well as the name search.

I have attached the results page and screenshot of relavent clothing db tables.

Thanks in advance.

this error happens when you use the same column name in 2 (or more) tables.

I prefer to use a naming convention that prevents the posibility of duplicates when naming the columns.

the convention i like is to use the table name as a prefix to the column name, for example:

products:
productID - primary key
productName
productCategoryID - relates to categories.categoryID
etc...

categories:
categoryID - primary key
categoryName


in this example the column names categoryID and productCategoryID are used to create relationships, but will never cause the ambiguous name error since they are not the same.


to fix the error in your current page, edit line 17 and 18:

$WADbSearch1->addComparisonFromEdit("ss_LineParentID","ss_LineParentID","AND","=",1);

  $WADbSearch1->addComparisonFromEdit("ss_CatParentID","ss_CatParentID","AND","=",1);

to:

$WADbSearch1->addComparisonFromEdit("ssProductClothing.ss_LineParentID","ss_LineParentID","AND","=",1);

  $WADbSearch1->addComparisonFromEdit("ssProductClothing.ss_CatParentID","ss_CatParentID","AND","=",1);

Thanks Jason,

Appreciate your help, examples and fix.

I have attached a screenshot of my tables indicating my errors.

Following your advice and example, I should therefore change my field names as follows:

lines:
ss_LineID pk
ss_LineName
ss_LineImage
...

categories:
ss_CatID pk
ss_CatLineID fk
ss_CatName
...

sub-categories:
ss_SubCatID pk
ss_SubCatLineID fk
ss_SubCatCatID fk
ss_SubCatName
...

productClothing:

ss_ClothingID pk
ss_ClothingLineID fk
ss_ClothingCatID fk
ss_ClothingSubCatID fk
ss_ClothingName
...

Is this correct?

Some time ago, you help me with dynamic search drop-down select lists. Very much based on a similar results page setup.

My question is: if my table names remain unchanged, would it affect the functionality if I implemented your dynamic search drop-down select list instructions?

Much appreciated Jason

it should not effect the select list search as long as the code is modified to use the correct column names.

Thanks Jason