Duplicate Columns in Recordset

[Guest]

I created a recordset in Bindings with a SQL statement that LEFT JOINs three tables in DW CS4.  All three tables use id as a column name for the key.  With this query id appears twice in the Recordset list.  In the SQL query they're qualified (e.g., t1.id and t2.id)  I can figure out which is which by the order of appearance in the Recordset list and the php page works fine.  Is there some way to have a qualified name like in the SELECT?  Without a qualification it makes the code confusing:

<td><?php echo $row_VCH['id']; ?></td>
<td><?php echo $row_VCH['name']; ?></td>
<td><?php echo $row_VCH['id']; ?></td>

...

Is there a better way to handle these types of queries instead of manually entering them?

Thanks,

Curt

[David_Powers]

I prefer to name my columns so they're easy to distinguish in a database query and result. If you're early enough on in your project, it might be a good idea to rename the columns. However, there is a useful technique that you can use, even if you don't change the column names: aliases.

SELECT t1.id AS t1_id, t2.id AS t2_id
FROM t1, t2

This returns the values as t1_id and t2_id. You don't need to use this combination of table and column name, you could use "apples" and "bananas" or any other name that identifies the columns for you.

[Guest]

Thanks for the response David.  It occurred to me that aliases might be the answer.  As it turns out, the code wasn't working without them.  I wasn't looking closely enough at the results.  Using aliases fixed it.  I've only be using PHP and MySQL for a day so it's definately early in the project.  I agree giving a column a name that is unique across the DB would eliminate the problem.  It just bothers me to have add such qualifications when the table name should be sufficient.  I don't recall having this problem with other SQL interfaces, but it's been awhile.

Curt