Schema of the tables that maintain hierarchical data:
Category table:
| ID | Label |
Mapping table:
| ID | ItemID | ParentID |
One of the requirements is to be able to map and construct a category tree similar to below:
Root
|
|---Wood (0)
| |---Foundations (2)
| |---Root Systems (4)
| |---Closed Systems (5)
|
|---ETC (1)
| |---Foundations (2)
| |---Technology
| |---Support
| |---Root Systems (4)
| |---Open Systems (6)
As you can see Foundations (2) can be a child of Wood (0) and ETC (1). I store this structure as below in the mapping table
| ID | ItemID | ParentID |
| 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | 2 | 1 |
I am in a conundrum. When constructing tree, how can I properly categorize Foundations as two different nodes one under Wood and one under ETC. Also, Foundations can have different or same children depending on the data. Note that Root Systems has Open Systems (6) as the child but Root Systems under Foundations has Closed Systems (5) as the child. Based on the current schema if I construct tree, it would look like this which is wrong:
Root
|
|---Wood (0)
| |---Foundations (2)
| |---Root Systems (4)
| |---Closed Systems (5)
| |---Open Systems (6)
|
|---ETC (1)
| |---Foundations (2)
| |---Technology
| |---Support
What changes should I make to the schema to accommodate my requirements? Is it really a hierarchical data?
=====================================
Rephrasing my question:
I need to be able to create schema for a tree which is represented as follows:
Root1
|--- Foundations
|--- --- Root Foundations
|--- --- --- Caps
|--- --- Primary Foundations
|--- --- --- Beams
|--- --- Retaining Walls
|--- Down Systems
|---
|---
Root2
|--- Foundations
|--- --- Root Foundations
|--- --- Retaining Walls
|--- --- --- Piles
I came up with below schema to store above hierarchical data:
CATEGORY Table
id label
1 Root1
2 Root2
3 Foundations
4 Down Systems
5 Root Foundations
6 Primary Foundations
7 Retaining Walls
8 Caps
9 Beams
10 Piles
MAPPING Table
id itemid parentid
1 1 null
2 2 1
3 4 1
4 3 2
5 4 2
6 5 3
7 6 3
8 7 3
9 5 3
10 7 3
11 8 5
12 9 6
13 10 7
But I don't know how to write a query using common table expression or any other constructs to return the data in such a way that I can construct the tree. How can I modify my schema to be able to generate a tree in the above format?
The following example demonstrates how to use a single table to represent multiple trees of categories. Note that while the hierarchies are accurately represented in the output that the order of categories in the second tree differs from the OP's example due to a rearrangement of the table rows of sample data. If the order is important then it will have to be specified explicitly, i.e. either based on the existing data (e.g. alphabetical by Label) or by the addition of another column to the Categories table to specify the order within a level of a tree.
To see the example in action: dbfiddle.
-- Sample data.
declare #Categories as Table
( CategoryId Int Identity, Label NVarChar(50), ParentCategoryId Int NULL );
insert into #Categories ( Label, ParentCategoryId ) values
-- First tree.
-- Rows in order of the categories within the tree.
( 'Root1', NULL ),
( 'Foundations', 1 ),
( 'Root Foundations', 2 ),
( 'Caps', 3 ),
( 'Primary Foundations', 2 ),
( 'Beams', 5 ),
( 'Retaining Walls', 2 ),
( 'Down Systems', 1 ),
-- Second tree.
-- Rows out-of-order to show that the hierarchy is not dependent on CategoryId order.
( 'Piles', 10 ),
( 'Retaining Walls', 13 ),
( 'Root Foundations', 13 ),
( 'Root2', NULL ),
( 'Foundations', 12 );
select * from #Categories;
And the good part:
-- Walk through the hierarchy.
with Trees as (
-- Start from the roots, i.e. categories with no parents.
select CategoryId, Label, ParentCategoryId,
-- Assemble the path of categories as we go so that we can order the results rationally.
Cast( '/' + Cast( CategoryId as VarChar(10) ) + '/' as HierarchyId ) as Path
from #Categories
where ParentCategoryId is NULL
union all
-- Add each level of children.
select Child.CategoryId, Child.Label, Child.ParentCategoryId,
Cast( Parent.Path.ToString() + Cast( Child.Categoryid as VarChar(10) ) + '/' as HierarchyId )
from Trees as Parent inner join
#Categories as Child on Child.ParentCategoryId = Parent.CategoryId
)
-- Display the result.
select CategoryId, Replicate( '|---', Path.GetLevel() - 1 ) + Label as Label, ParentCategoryId,
Path.GetLevel() as Depth, Path
from Trees
order by Path;
Aside: Notice that well chosen column and table alias names make it much easier to understand code like ... from Trees as Parent inner join #Categories as Child on Child.ParentCategoryId = Parent.CategoryId.
Related
I am very new to postgreSQl and SQL and databases, I hope you guys can help me with this, i want to know which posts have the most amount of comments and which have the least amount of comments and the users need to be specified too.
CREATE SCHEMA perf_demo;
SET search_path TO perf_demo;
-- Tables
CREATE TABLE users(
id SERIAL -- PRIMARY KEY
, email VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL UNIQUE
);
CREATE TABLE posts(
id SERIAL -- PRIMARY KEY
, user_id INTEGER NOT NULL -- REFERENCES users(id)
, title VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL UNIQUE
);
CREATE TABLE comments(
id SERIAL -- PRIMARY KEY
, user_id INTEGER NOT NULL -- REFERENCES users(id)
, post_id INTEGER NOT NULL -- REFERENCES posts(id)
, body VARCHAR(500) NOT NULL
);
-- Generate approx. N users
-- Note: NULL values might lead to lesser rows than N value.
INSERT INTO users(email)
WITH query AS (
SELECT 'user_' || seq || '#'
|| ( CASE (random() * 5)::INT
WHEN 0 THEN 'my'
WHEN 1 THEN 'your'
WHEN 2 THEN 'his'
WHEN 3 THEN 'her'
WHEN 4 THEN 'our'
END )
|| '.mail' AS email
FROM generate_series(1, 5) seq -- Important: Replace N with a useful value
)
SELECT email
FROM query
WHERE email IS NOT NULL;
-- Generate N posts
INSERT INTO posts(user_id, title)
WITH expanded AS (
SELECT random(), seq, u.id AS user_id
FROM generate_series(1, 8) seq, users u -- Important: Replace N with a useful value
),
shuffled AS (
SELECT e.*
FROM expanded e
INNER JOIN (
SELECT ei.seq, min(ei.random) FROM expanded ei GROUP BY ei.seq
) em ON (e.seq = em.seq AND e.random = em.min)
ORDER BY e.seq
)
-- Top 20 programming languages: https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/
SELECT s.user_id,
'Let''s talk about (' || s.seq || ') '
|| ( CASE (random() * 19 + 1)::INT
WHEN 1 THEN 'C'
WHEN 2 THEN 'Python'
WHEN 3 THEN 'Java'
WHEN 4 THEN 'C++'
WHEN 5 THEN 'C#'
WHEN 6 THEN 'Visual Basic'
WHEN 7 THEN 'JavaScript'
WHEN 8 THEN 'Assembly language'
WHEN 9 THEN 'PHP'
WHEN 10 THEN 'SQL'
WHEN 11 THEN 'Ruby'
WHEN 12 THEN 'Classic Visual Basic'
WHEN 13 THEN 'R'
WHEN 14 THEN 'Groovy'
WHEN 15 THEN 'MATLAB'
WHEN 16 THEN 'Go'
WHEN 17 THEN 'Delphi/Object Pascal'
WHEN 18 THEN 'Swift'
WHEN 19 THEN 'Perl'
WHEN 20 THEN 'Fortran'
END ) AS title
FROM shuffled s;
-- Generate N comments
-- Note: The cross-join is a performance killer.
-- Try the SELECT without INSERT with small N values to get an estimation of the execution time.
-- With these values you can extrapolate the execution time for a bigger N value.
INSERT INTO comments(user_id, post_id, body)
WITH expanded AS (
SELECT random(), seq, u.id AS user_id, p.id AS post_id
FROM generate_series(1, 10) seq, users u, posts p -- Important: Replace N with a useful value
),
shuffled AS (
SELECT e.*
FROM expanded e
INNER JOIN ( SELECT ei.seq, min(ei.random) FROM expanded ei GROUP BY ei.seq ) em ON (e.seq = em.seq AND e.random = em.min)
ORDER BY e.seq
)
SELECT s.user_id, s.post_id, 'Here some comment: ' || md5(random()::text) AS body
FROM shuffled s;
Could someone show me how this could be done please, I am new to SQL/postgres any help would be much appreciated. an Example would be very helpful too.
Good effort in pasting the whole dataset creation procedure, is what it needs to be included in order to make the example reproducible.
Let's start first with, how to join several tables: you have your posts table which contains the user_id and we can use it to join with users with the following.
SELECT email,
users.id user_id,
posts.id post_id,
title
from posts join users
on posts.user_id=users.id;
This will list the posts together with the authors. Check the joining condition (after the ON) stating the fields we're using. The result should be similar to the below
email | user_id | post_id | title
------------------+---------+---------+----------------------------------------
user_1#her.mail | 1 | 5 | Let's talk about (5) Visual Basic
user_1#her.mail | 1 | 2 | Let's talk about (2) Assembly language
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 8 | Let's talk about (8) R
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 7 | Let's talk about (7) Perl
user_4#her.mail | 4 | 6 | Let's talk about (6) Visual Basic
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 4 | Let's talk about (4) R
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 3 | Let's talk about (3) C
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 1 | Let's talk about (1) Ruby
(8 rows)
Now it's time to join this result, with the comments table. Since a post can have comments or not and you want to show all posts even if you don't have any comments you should use the LEFT OUTER JOIN (more info about join types here
So let's rewrite the above to include comments
SELECT email,
users.id user_id,
posts.id post_id,
title,
comments.body
from posts
join users
on posts.user_id=users.id
left outer join comments
on posts.id = comments.post_id
;
Check out the join between posts and comments based on post_id.
The result of the query is the list of posts, related author and comments, similar to the below
email | user_id | post_id | title | body
------------------+---------+---------+----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------
user_1#her.mail | 1 | 5 | Let's talk about (5) Visual Basic |
user_1#her.mail | 1 | 2 | Let's talk about (2) Assembly language |
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 8 | Let's talk about (8) R | Here some comment: 200bb07acfbac893aed60e018b47b92b
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 8 | Let's talk about (8) R | Here some comment: 66159adaed11404b1c88ca23b6a689ef
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 8 | Let's talk about (8) R | Here some comment: e5cc1f7c10bb6103053bf281d3cadb60
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 8 | Let's talk about (8) R | Here some comment: 5ae8674c2ef819af0b1a93398efd9418
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 7 | Let's talk about (7) Perl | Here some comment: 5b818da691c1570dcf732ed8f6b718b3
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 7 | Let's talk about (7) Perl | Here some comment: 88a990e9495841f8ed628cdce576a766
user_4#her.mail | 4 | 6 | Let's talk about (6) Visual Basic |
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 4 | Let's talk about (4) R | Here some comment: ed19bb476eb220d6618e224a0ac2910d
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 3 | Let's talk about (3) C | Here some comment: 23cd43836a44aeba47ad212985f210a7
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 1 | Let's talk about (1) Ruby | Here some comment: b83999120bd2bb09d71aa0c6c83a05dd
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 1 | Let's talk about (1) Ruby | Here some comment: b4895f4e0aa0e0106b5d3834af80275e
(13 rows)
Now you can start aggregating and counting comments for a certain post. You can use PG's aggregation functions, we'll use the COUNT here.
SELECT email,
users.id user_id,
posts.id post_id,
title,
count(comments.id) nr_comments
from posts
join users
on posts.user_id=users.id
left outer join comments
on posts.id = comments.post_id
group by email,
users.id,
posts.id,
title
;
Check out that we're counting the comments.id field but we could also perform a count(*) which just counts the rows. Also check that we are grouping our results by email, users.id, post.id and title, the columns we are showing alongside the count.
The result should be similar to
email | user_id | post_id | title | nr_comments
------------------+---------+---------+----------------------------------------+-------------
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 7 | Let's talk about (7) Perl | 2
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 3 | Let's talk about (3) C | 1
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 1 | Let's talk about (1) Ruby | 2
user_3#her.mail | 3 | 8 | Let's talk about (8) R | 4
user_1#her.mail | 1 | 5 | Let's talk about (5) Visual Basic | 0
user_5#your.mail | 5 | 4 | Let's talk about (4) R | 1
user_4#her.mail | 4 | 6 | Let's talk about (6) Visual Basic | 0
user_1#her.mail | 1 | 2 | Let's talk about (2) Assembly language | 0
(8 rows)
This should be the result you're looking for. Just bear in mind, that you're showing the user from users who wrote the post, not the one who commented. To view who commented you'll need to change the joining conditions.
I have the following table:
CREATE TABLE tree_node (
id serial primary key,
name character varying(255),
parent_id integer references tree (id)
);
The table contains many trees with up to about 1000 nodes.
(I'm able to query a tree and its descendants efficiently with a recursive query).
However, I need to be able to copy a single tree in one operation. Say I have a tree with 3 nodes, ids 1,2,3 (this is potentially a large tree). I would like to make a copy of it i.e. creating new nodes with new ids. (Here the copied tree is ids 4,5,6):
id | name | parent_id
----+-----------------+-----------
1 | NodeA |
2 | NodeA.1 | 1
3 | NodeA.1.1 | 2
4 | NodeA(copy) |
5 | NodeA.1(copy) | 4
6 | NodeA.1.1(copy) | 5
Is there a way to copy a tree and its descendants more efficiently than inserting each tree node separately (because the new parent_id is needed)?
There you go:
\i tmp.sql
CREATE TABLE tree_node (
id serial primary key
, name varchar
, parent_id integer references tree_node (id)
);
INSERT INTO tree_node(name, parent_id) VALUES
( 'Node-A', NULL)
, ( 'Node-A.1', 1)
, ( 'Node-A.1.1', 2)
;
SELECT * FROM tree_node;
-- Find the top value of the sequence
-- and use it as an increment on all the copies
WITH top(val) AS
(select currval('tree_node_id_seq')
)
INSERT INTO tree_node(id, name, parent_id)
SELECT id+top.val
, name|| '(copy)'
, parent_id + top.val
FROM tree_node
CROSS JOIN top
;
SELECT * FROM tree_node;
-- bump the sequence
WITH nxt AS (
select max(id) mx from tree_node
)
SELECT setval('tree_node_id_seq', (select mx FROM nxt) )
;
Output:
DROP SCHEMA
CREATE SCHEMA
SET
CREATE TABLE
INSERT 0 3
id | name | parent_id
----+------------+-----------
1 | Node-A |
2 | Node-A.1 | 1
3 | Node-A.1.1 | 2
(3 rows)
INSERT 0 3
id | name | parent_id
----+------------------+-----------
1 | Node-A |
2 | Node-A.1 | 1
3 | Node-A.1.1 | 2
4 | Node-A(copy) |
5 | Node-A.1(copy) | 4
6 | Node-A.1.1(copy) | 5
(6 rows)
setval
--------
6
(1 row)
I am trying to create a manual table based off of a currently built views table.
The structure of this current table is as follows:
ID | Column1 | Column2 | Buffer Days
1 | Asdf | Asdf1 | 91
2 | Qwert | Qwert1 | 11
3 | Zxcv | Zxcv1 | 28
The goal is to add a 4th column after Buffer Days that lists the sys date + the number in buffer days
So the outcome would look like:
ID | Column1 | Column2 | Buffer Days | Lookout Date
1 | Asdf | Asdf1 | 91 | 02-Jan-18
That requirement smells like a virtual column candidate. However, it won't work:
SQL> create table test
2 (id number,
3 column1 varchar2(10),
4 buffer_days number,
5 --
6 lookout_date as (SYSDATE + buffer_days) --> virtual column
7 );
lookout_date as (SYSDATE + buffer_days)
*
ERROR at line 6:
ORA-54002: only pure functions can be specified in a virtual column expression
Obviously, as SYSDATE is a non-deterministic function (doesn't return the same value when invoked).
Why not an "ordinary" column in existing table? Because you shouldn't store values that are calculated using other table columns anyway. For example, good old Scott's EMP table contains SAL and COMM columns. It doesn't (and shouldn't) contain TOTAL_SAL column (as SAL + COMM) because - when SAL and/or COMM changes, you have to remember to update TOTAL as well.
Therefore, a view is what could help here. For example:
SQL> create table test
2 (id number,
3 column1 varchar2(10),
4 buffer_days number
5 );
Table created.
SQL> create or replace view v_test as
2 select id,
3 column1,
4 buffer_days,
5 sysdate + buffer_days lookout_date
6 from test;
View created.
SQL> insert into test (id, column1, buffer_days) values (1, 'asdf', 5);
1 row created.
SQL> select sysdate, v.* from v_test v;
SYSDATE ID COLUMN1 BUFFER_DAYS LOOKOUT_DA
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------- ----------
23.12.2017 1 asdf 5 28.12.2017
SQL>
I want to create web app which will use tree data structures. Users will be able to create, update and delete trees. I have the following table in PostgreSQL called nodes in database:
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
parent_id INTEGER NULL REFERENCE nodes(id)
Getting data
I want to get data in the following form:
id | name | children
---|------|--------------
1 | a | [2,3]
2 | b | []
3 | c | [4]
4 | d | []
I created query which returns data in form
id | name | parent_id
---|------|--------------
1 | a |
2 | b | 1
3 | c | 1
4 | d | 3
And here is code:
WITH RECURSIVE nodes_cte(id, name, parent_id, level) AS (
SELECT nodes.id, nodes.name, nodes.parent_id, 0 AS level
FROM nodes
WHERE name = 'a'
UNION ALL
SELECT nodes.id, nodes.name, nodes.parent_id, level+1
FROM nodes
JOIN nodes_cte
ON nodes_cte.id = nodes.parent_id
)
SELECT * FROM nodes_cte;
Can I change SQL code to get what I want or should I do that in app??
Inserting data
I want to know what are the ways to insert data into the table. I think that following approach will work for me:
create sequence in database
increase sequence for number of elements in tree
manually compute ids in app and insert elements in the table
Are there better ways?
CREATE TABLE nodes
( id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY
, name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL UNIQUE
, parent_id INTEGER NULL REFERENCES nodes(id)
);
-- I created query which returns data in form
INSERT INTO nodes(id,name,parent_id)VALUES
( 1 , 'a' , NULL)
,( 2 , 'b' , 1)
,( 3 , 'c' , 1)
,( 4 , 'd' , 3)
;
SELECT p.id, p.name
, array_agg(c.id) AS children
FROM nodes p
LEFT JOIN nodes c ON c.parent_id = p.id
GROUP BY p.id, p.name
;
Result:
id | name | children
----+------+----------
1 | a | {2,3}
2 | b | {NULL}
3 | c | {4}
4 | d | {NULL}
(4 rows)
Extra: using generate_series() to insert a bunch of records. Each record having id/3 as parent, (except when zero).
INSERT INTO nodes(id,name,parent_id)
SELECT gs, 'zzz_'|| gs::text, NULLIF(gs/3 , 0)
FROM generate_series ( 5,25) gs
;
INSERTING/UPDATING DATA
Normally, your front-end should not mess with sequences, but leave that to the DBMS. You already have a UNIQUE constraint on name, because it is a natural key . So, your front-end should use that key to address rows in the nodes table, like in:
CREATE TABLE nodes2
( id SERIAL NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY
, name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL UNIQUE
, parent_id INTEGER NULL REFERENCES nodes(id)
);
INSERT INTO nodes2(name,parent_id)
SELECT 'Omg_'|| gs::text, NULLIF(gs/3 , 0)
FROM generate_series ( 1,15) gs
;
PREPARE upd (text, text) AS
-- child, parent
UPDATE nodes2 c
SET parent_id = p.id
FROM nodes2 p
WHERE p.name = $2 -- parent
AND c.name = $1 -- child
;
EXECUTE upd( 'Omg_12', 'Omg_11');
EXECUTE upd( 'Omg_15', 'Omg_11');
Result:
CREATE TABLE
INSERT 0 15
PREPARE
UPDATE 1
UPDATE 1
id | name | children
----+--------+-----------
1 | Omg_1 | {3,4,5}
2 | Omg_2 | {6,7,8}
3 | Omg_3 | {9,10,11}
4 | Omg_4 | {13,14}
5 | Omg_5 | {NULL}
6 | Omg_6 | {NULL}
7 | Omg_7 | {NULL}
8 | Omg_8 | {NULL}
9 | Omg_9 | {NULL}
10 | Omg_10 | {NULL}
11 | Omg_11 | {15,12}
12 | Omg_12 | {NULL}
13 | Omg_13 | {NULL}
14 | Omg_14 | {NULL}
15 | Omg_15 | {NULL}
(15 rows)
I have a problem with a t-sql query.
Let's say I have a categories tree (categories ID)
cat_table
1
|
2-\
| 3-\
6 | 5
| 4 |
... ...
ads_table
ad_ID
category_ID
of course the category_ID column references to the ID column in the cat_table
the problem is, how to get (recursive ?) all advertisements from all categories which the top-most parent is the 1st category?
try using a recursive Common Table Expressions, aka "CTE" (available in SQL Server 2005 and up) like this:
--go through a nested table supervisor - user table and display the chain
DECLARE #Contacts table (id varchar(6), first_name varchar(10), reports_to_id varchar(6))
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('1','Jerome', NULL ) -- tree is as follows:
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('2','Joe' ,'1') -- 1-Jerome
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('3','Paul' ,'2') -- / \
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('4','Jack' ,'3') -- 2-Joe 9-Bill
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('5','Daniel','3') -- / \ \
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('6','David' ,'2') -- 3-Paul 6-David 10-Sam
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('7','Ian' ,'6') -- / \ / \
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('8','Helen' ,'6') -- 4-Jack 5-Daniel 7-Ian 8-Helen
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('9','Bill ' ,'1') --
INSERT #Contacts VALUES ('10','Sam' ,'9') --
DECLARE #Root_id char(4)
--get 2 and below
SET #Root_id=2
PRINT '#Root_id='+COALESCE(''''+#Root_id+'''','null')
;WITH StaffTree AS
(
SELECT
c.id, c.first_name, c.reports_to_id, c.reports_to_id as Manager_id, cc.first_name AS Manager_first_name, 1 AS LevelOf
FROM #Contacts c
LEFT OUTER JOIN #Contacts cc ON c.reports_to_id=cc.id
WHERE c.id=#Root_id OR (#Root_id IS NULL AND c.reports_to_id IS NULL)
UNION ALL
SELECT
s.id, s.first_name, s.reports_to_id, t.id, t.first_name, t.LevelOf+1
FROM StaffTree t
INNER JOIN #Contacts s ON t.id=s.reports_to_id
WHERE s.reports_to_id=#Root_id OR #Root_id IS NULL OR t.LevelOf>1
)
SELECT * FROM StaffTree
output:
#Root_id='2 '
id first_name reports_to_id Manager_id Manager_first_name LevelOf
------ ---------- ------------- ---------- ------------------ -----------
2 Joe 1 1 Jerome 1
3 Paul 2 2 Joe 2
6 David 2 2 Joe 2
7 Ian 6 6 David 3
8 Helen 6 6 David 3
4 Jack 3 3 Paul 3
5 Daniel 3 3 Paul 3
(7 row(s) affected)
change #Root_id to get different output:
#Root_id=null
id first_name reports_to_id Manager_id Manager_first_name LevelOf
------ ---------- ------------- ---------- ------------------ -----------
1 Jerome NULL NULL NULL 1
2 Joe 1 1 Jerome 2
9 Bill 1 1 Jerome 2
10 Sam 9 9 Bill 3
3 Paul 2 2 Joe 3
6 David 2 2 Joe 3
7 Ian 6 6 David 4
8 Helen 6 6 David 4
4 Jack 3 3 Paul 4
5 Daniel 3 3 Paul 4
(10 row(s) affected)
There is an option to avoid recurrency in tree browsing queries. You can add 'Path' column to your categories tree. It should contain each element ancestors IDs delimited with some non-numeric character (like slash).
For example your "ID=4" category's path would look like that: "/1/2/3/"
Now when you join your ads table to categories you need to do following:
select * from ads_table
inner join cat_table on cat_table.ID = ads_table.category_ID
where cat_table.Path like '/1/%'
And that's your query.
You can read more on this topic on my blog post
Are you familiar with Common Table Expressions in SQL Server? One of the many uses a CTE has is to do recursive queries.
The following is one of the best articles I've found on the subject:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210927200924/http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/071906-1.shtml