1. Developers Guide
  2. Develop
  3. Using NESTED TABLES to join parent-child tables

Using NESTED TABLES to join parent-child tables

A JOIN is used to combine rows from two or more tables, based on a related column between them. In a hierarchical table, the child table inherits the primary key columns of its parent table. This is done implicitly, without including the parent columns in the CREATE TABLE statement of the child. All tables in the hierarchy have the same shard key columns.

You can use NESTED TABLES clause to join tables in Oracle NoSQL Database.

Overview of NESTED TABLES

The NESTED TABLES clause specifies the participating tables and separates them into 3 groups. First, the target table from where the data is fetched is specified. Then the ANCESTORS clause, if present, specifies the number of tables that must be ancestors of the target table in the table hierarchy. Finally, the DESCENDANTS clause, if present, specifies the number of tables that must be descendants of the target table in the table hierarchy.

Note:

Semantically, a NESTED TABLES clause is equivalent to a number of left-outer-join operations "centered" around the target table.
Characteristics of NESTED tables:
  • Queries multiple tables in the same hierarchy
  • It is not an ANSI-SQL Standard
  • It supports sibling tables join

Table 4-1 Nested Tables Vs LOJ

Nested Tables LOJ
Queries multiple tables in the same hierarchy Queries multiple tables in the same hierarchy
Not an ANSI-SQL Standard ANSI-SQL Standard
Supports sibling tables join Does not support sibling table joins

If you want to follow along with the examples, download the script parentchildtbls_loaddata.sql and run it as shown below. This script creates the table used in the example and loads data into the table.

Start your KVSTORE or KVLite and open the SQL.shell.
 java -jar lib/kvstore.jar kvlite -secure-config disable
 java -jar lib/sql.jar -helper-hosts localhost:5000 -store kvstore
Using the load command, execute the script.
load -file parentchildtbls_loaddata.sql

Examples using NESTED TABLES

Various tables used in the examples :
  • ticket
    ticketNo LONG
confNo STRING
PRIMARY KEY(ticketNo)
  • ticket.bagInfo
    id LONG
tagNum LONG
routing STRING
lastActionCode STRING
lastActionDesc STRING
lastSeenStation STRING,
lastSeenTimeGmt TIMESTAMP(4)
bagArrivalDate TIMESTAMP(4)
PRIMARY KEY(id)
  • ticket.bagInfo.flightLegs
    flightNo STRING
flightDate TIMESTAMP(4)
fltRouteSrc STRING
fltRouteDest STRING
estimatedArrival TIMESTAMP(4),
actions JSON
PRIMARY KEY(flightNo)
  • ticket.passengerInfo
    contactPhone STRING
fullName STRING
gender STRING
PRIMARY KEY(contactPhone)
Example 1: Fetch the details of all passengers who have been issued a ticket.
SELECT fullname, contactPhone, gender 
FROM NESTED TABLES 
(ticket a descendants(ticket.passengerInfo b))

Explanation: This is an example of a join where the target table ticket is joined with its child table passengerInfo.

Output: 
{"fullname":"Elane Lemons","contactPhone":"600-918-8404","gender":"F"}
{"fullname":"Adelaide Willard","contactPhone":"421-272-8082","gender":"M"}
{"fullname":"Dierdre Amador","contactPhone":"165-742-5715","gender":"M"}
{"fullname":"Doris Martin","contactPhone":"289-564-3497","gender":"F"}
{"fullname":"Adam Phillips","contactPhone":"893-324-1064","gender":"M"}
Example 1a: Fetch the details of the passenger with ticket number 1762324912391 .
SELECT fullname, contactPhone, gender 
FROM NESTED TABLES 
(ticket a descendants(ticket.passengerInfo b))
WHERE a.ticketNo=1762324912391

Explanation: This is an example of a join where the target tableticket is joined with its child table passengerInfo. Additionally, you can limit the result set by applying a filter condition to the result of the join. You are limiting the result to a particular ticket number.

Output: 
{"fullname":"Elane Lemons","contactPhone":"600-918-8404","gender":"F"}
Example 2: Fetch all the bag details for all passengers who have been issued a ticket.
SELECT * FROM NESTED TABLES 
(ticket a descendants(ticket.bagInfo b))

Explanation: This is an example of a join where the target table ticket is joined with its child table bagInfo.

Output:
{"a":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"confNo":"LE6J4Z"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"id":79039899165297,"tagNum":17657806255240,"routing":"MIA/LAX/MEL",
"lastActionCode":"OFFLOAD","lastActionDesc":"OFFLOAD","lastSeenStation":"MEL",
"lastSeenTimeGmt":"2019-02-01T16:13:00.0000Z","bagArrivalDate":"2019-02-01T16:13:00.0000Z"}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"confNo":"LN0C8R"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"id":79039899168383,"tagNum":1765780623244,"routing":"MXP/CDG/SLC/BZN",
"lastActionCode":"OFFLOAD","lastActionDesc":"OFFLOAD","lastSeenStation":"BZN",
"lastSeenTimeGmt":"2019-03-15T10:13:00.0000Z","bagArrivalDate":"2019-03-15T10:13:00.0000Z"}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762392135540,"confNo":"DN3I4Q"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762392135540,"id":79039899156435,"tagNum":17657806224224,"routing":"GRU/ORD/SEA",
"lastActionCode":"OFFLOAD","lastActionDesc":"OFFLOAD","lastSeenStation":"SEA",
"lastSeenTimeGmt":"2019-02-15T21:21:00.0000Z","bagArrivalDate":"2019-02-15T21:21:00.0000Z"}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762376407826,"confNo":"ZG8Z5N"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762376407826,"id":7903989918469,"tagNum":17657806240229,"routing":"JFK/MAD",
"lastActionCode":"OFFLOAD","lastActionDesc":"OFFLOAD","lastSeenStation":"MAD",
"lastSeenTimeGmt":"2019-03-07T13:51:00.0000Z","bagArrivalDate":"2019-03-07T13:51:00.0000Z"}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762355527825,"confNo":"HJ4J4P"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762355527825,"id":79039899197492,"tagNum":17657806232501,"routing":"BZN/SEA/CDG/MXP",
"lastActionCode":"OFFLOAD","lastActionDesc":"OFFLOAD","lastSeenStation":"MXP",
"lastSeenTimeGmt":"2019-03-22T10:17:00.0000Z","bagArrivalDate":"2019-03-22T10:17:00.0000Z"}}
Example 2a: Fetch all the bag details for a particular ticket number.
SELECT * FROM 
NESTED TABLES (ticket a descendants(ticket.bagInfo b))
WHERE a.ticketNo=1762324912391

Explanation: This is an example of a join where the target tableticket is joined with its child table bagInfo. Additionally, you can limit the result set by applying a filter condition to the result of the join. You are limiting the result to a particular ticket number.

Output: 
{"a":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"confNo":"LN0C8R"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"id":79039899168383,"tagNum":1765780623244,"routing":"MXP/CDG/SLC/BZN",
"lastActionCode":"OFFLOAD","lastActionDesc":"OFFLOAD","lastSeenStation":"BZN",
"lastSeenTimeGmt":"2019-03-15T10:13:00.0000Z","bagArrivalDate":"2019-03-15T10:13:00.0000Z"}}

Note:

If you move the non-join predicate restriction to the ON clause, the result set includes all the rows that meet the ON clause condition. Rows from the right outer table that do not meet the ON condition are populated with NULL values as shown below.
SELECT * FROM 
NESTED TABLES(ticket a descendants(ticket.bagInfo b 
ON a.ticketNo=b.ticketNo
AND a.ticketNo=1762324912391))
Output: 
{"a":{"ticketNo":1762355527825,"confNo":"HJ4J4P"},"b":null}
{"a":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"confNo":"LE6J4Z"},"b":null}
{"a":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"confNo":"LN0C8R"}, "b":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"id":79039899168383,"tagNum":1765780623244,"routing":"MXP/CDG/SLC/BZN",
"lastActionCode":"OFFLOAD","lastActionDesc":"OFFLOAD","lastSeenStation":"BZN", 
"lastSeenTimeGmt":"2019-03-15T10:13:00.0000Z","bagArrivalDate":"2019-03-15T10:13:00.0000Z"}}
{"a":{"ticketNo":1762392135540,"confNo":"DN3I4Q"},"b":null}
{"a":{"ticketNo":1762376407826,"confNo":"ZG8Z5N"},"b":null}
Example 3: Fetch all flight leg details for all passengers.
SELECT * FROM 
NESTED TABLES (ticket a descendants(ticket.bagInfo.flightLegs b))

Explanation: This is an example of a join where the target table ticket is joined with its descendant bagInfo. A descendant table can be any level hierarchically below a table ( For example fightLegs is the child of bagInfo which is the child of ticket, so flightLegs is a descendant of ticket). All the rows from the ticket table will be fetched. If any row from the ticket table does not have a matching row in the flightLegs table, then NULL values will be displayed for those rows of the flightLegs table.

Output: 
{"a":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"confNo":"LE6J4Z"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"id":79039899165297,"flightNo":"BM604","flightDate":"2019-02-01T06:00:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"MIA","fltRouteDest":"LAX","estimatedArrival":"2019-02-01T11:00:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"MIA","actionCode":"ONLOAD to LAX","actionTime":"2019-02-01T06:13:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"MIA","actionCode":"BagTag Scan at MIA","actionTime":"2019-02-01T05:47:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"MIA","actionCode":"Checkin at MIA","actionTime":"2019-02-01T04:38:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"confNo":"LE6J4Z"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"id":79039899165297,"flightNo":"BM667","flightDate":"2019-02-01T06:13:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"LAX","fltRouteDest":"MEL","estimatedArrival":"2019-02-01T16:15:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"MEL","actionCode":"Offload to Carousel at MEL","actionTime":"2019-02-01T16:15:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"LAX","actionCode":"ONLOAD to MEL","actionTime":"2019-02-01T15:35:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"LAX","actionCode":"OFFLOAD from LAX","actionTime":"2019-02-01T15:18:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"confNo":"LN0C8R"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"id":79039899168383,"flightNo":"BM170","flightDate":"2019-03-15T08:13:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"SLC","fltRouteDest":"BZN","estimatedArrival":"2019-03-15T10:14:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"BZN","actionCode":"Offload to Carousel at BZN","actionTime":"2019-03-15T10:13:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"SLC","actionCode":"ONLOAD to BZN","actionTime":"2019-03-15T10:06:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"SLC","actionCode":"OFFLOAD from SLC","actionTime":"2019-03-15T09:59:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"confNo":"LN0C8R"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"id":79039899168383,"flightNo":"BM490","flightDate":"2019-03-15T08:13:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"CDG","fltRouteDest":"SLC","estimatedArrival":"2019-03-15T10:14:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"CDG","actionCode":"ONLOAD to SLC","actionTime":"2019-03-15T09:42:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"CDG","actionCode":"BagTag Scan at CDG","actionTime":"2019-03-15T09:17:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"CDG","actionCode":"OFFLOAD from CDG","actionTime":"2019-03-15T09:19:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"confNo":"LN0C8R"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762324912391,"id":79039899168383,"flightNo":"BM936","flightDate":"2019-03-15T08:00:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"MXP","fltRouteDest":"CDG","estimatedArrival":"2019-03-15T09:00:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"MXP","actionCode":"ONLOAD to CDG","actionTime":"2019-03-15T08:13:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"MXP","actionCode":"BagTag Scan at MXP","actionTime":"2019-03-15T07:48:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"MXP","actionCode":"Checkin at MXP","actionTime":"2019-03-15T07:38:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762392135540,"confNo":"DN3I4Q"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762392135540,"id":79039899156435,"flightNo":"BM79","flightDate":"2019-02-15T01:00:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"GRU","fltRouteDest":"ORD","estimatedArrival":"2019-02-15T11:00:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"GRU","actionCode":"ONLOAD to ORD","actionTime":"2019-02-15T01:21:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"GRU","actionCode":"BagTag Scan at GRU","actionTime":"2019-02-15T00:55:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"GRU","actionCode":"Checkin at GRU","actionTime":"2019-02-14T23:49:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762392135540,"confNo":"DN3I4Q"}
,"b":{"ticketNo":1762392135540,"id":79039899156435,"flightNo":"BM907","flightDate":"2019-02-15T01:21:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"ORD","fltRouteDest":"SEA","estimatedArrival":"2019-02-15T21:22:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"SEA","actionCode":"Offload to Carousel at SEA","actionTime":"2019-02-15T21:16:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"ORD","actionCode":"ONLOAD to SEA","actionTime":"2019-02-15T20:52:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"ORD","actionCode":"OFFLOAD from ORD","actionTime":"2019-02-15T20:44:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762376407826,"confNo":"ZG8Z5N"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762376407826,"id":7903989918469,"flightNo":"BM495","flightDate":"2019-03-07T07:00:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"JFK","fltRouteDest":"MAD","estimatedArrival":"2019-03-07T14:00:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"MAD","actionCode":"Offload to Carousel at MAD","actionTime":"2019-03-07T13:54:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"JFK","actionCode":"ONLOAD to MAD","actionTime":"2019-03-07T07:00:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"JFK","actionCode":"BagTag Scan at JFK","actionTime":"2019-03-07T06:53:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"JFK","actionCode":"Checkin at JFK","actionTime":"2019-03-07T05:03:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762355527825,"confNo":"HJ4J4P"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762355527825,"id":79039899197492,"flightNo":"BM386","flightDate":"2019-03-22T07:23:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"CDG","fltRouteDest":"MXP","estimatedArrival":"2019-03-22T10:24:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"MXP","actionCode":"Offload to Carousel at MXP","actionTime":"2019-03-22T10:15:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"CDG","actionCode":"ONLOAD to MXP","actionTime":"2019-03-22T10:09:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"CDG","actionCode":"OFFLOAD from CDG","actionTime":"2019-03-22T10:01:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762355527825,"confNo":"HJ4J4P"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762355527825,"id":79039899197492,"flightNo":"BM578","flightDate":"2019-03-22T07:23:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"SEA","fltRouteDest":"CDG","estimatedArrival":"2019-03-21T23:24:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"SEA","actionCode":"ONLOAD to CDG","actionTime":"2019-03-22T11:26:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"SEA","actionCode":"BagTag Scan at SEA","actionTime":"2019-03-22T10:57:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"SEA","actionCode":"OFFLOAD from SEA","actionTime":"2019-03-22T11:07:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762355527825,"confNo":"HJ4J4P"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762355527825,"id":79039899197492,"flightNo":"BM704","flightDate":"2019-03-22T07:00:00.0000Z",
"fltRouteSrc":"BZN","fltRouteDest":"SEA","estimatedArrival":"2019-03-22T09:00:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"BZN","actionCode":"ONLOAD to SEA","actionTime":"2019-03-22T07:23:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"BZN","actionCode":"BagTag Scan at BZN","actionTime":"2019-03-22T06:58:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"BZN","actionCode":"Checkin at BZN","actionTime":"2019-03-22T05:20:00Z"}]}}
Example 3a: Fetch all the flight leg details for a particular ticket number.
SELECT * FROM 
NESTED TABLES (ticket.bagInfo.flightLegs b ancestors(ticket a))
WHERE a.ticketNo=1762344493810

Explanation: This is an example of a join where the target tableticket is joined with its descendant bagInfo. Additionally, you can limit the result set by applying a filter condition to the result of the join. You are limiting the result to a particular ticket number.

The result has two rows, implying there are two flight legs for this ticket number.

Output:
"a":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"confNo":"LE6J4Z"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"id":79039899165297,"flightNo":"BM604",
"flightDate":"2019-02-01T06:00:00.0000Z","fltRouteSrc":"MIA","fltRouteDest":"LAX",
"estimatedArrival":"2019-02-01T11:00:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"MIA","actionCode":"ONLOAD to LAX","actionTime":"2019-02-01T06:13:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"MIA","actionCode":"BagTag Scan at MIA","actionTime":"2019-02-01T05:47:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"MIA","actionCode":"Checkin at MIA","actionTime":"2019-02-01T04:38:00Z"}]}}

{"a":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"confNo":"LE6J4Z"},
"b":{"ticketNo":1762344493810,"id":79039899165297,"flightNo":"BM667",
"flightDate":"2019-02-01T06:13:00.0000Z","fltRouteSrc":"LAX","fltRouteDest":"MEL",
"estimatedArrival":"2019-02-01T16:15:00.0000Z",
"actions":[{"actionAt":"MEL","actionCode":"Offload to Carousel at MEL","actionTime":"2019-02-01T16:15:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"LAX","actionCode":"ONLOAD to MEL","actionTime":"2019-02-01T15:35:00Z"},
{"actionAt":"LAX","actionCode":"OFFLOAD from LAX","actionTime":"2019-02-01T15:18:00Z"}]}}
Example 4: Fetch the bag id and number of hops for all bags of all passengers.
SELECT b.id,count(*) AS NUMBER_HOPS 
FROM NESTED TABLES (ticket a descendants(ticket.bagInfo.flightLegs b))
GROUP BY b.id

Explanation: You group the data based on the bag id (using GROUP BY) and get the count of flight legs ( using count() ) for every bag.

Output: 
{"id":79039899168383,"NUMBER_HOPS":3}
{"id":79039899156435,"NUMBER_HOPS":2}
{"id":7903989918469,"NUMBER_HOPS":1}
{"id":79039899165297,"NUMBER_HOPS":2}
{"id":79039899197492,"NUMBER_HOPS":3}
Example 4a: Find the number of hops for all bags of a particular passenger.
SELECT b.id,count(*) AS NUMBER_HOPS FROM 
NESTED TABLES (ticket a descendants(ticket.bagInfo.flightLegs b))
WHERE a.ticketNo=1762355527825 
GROUP BY b.id

Explanation: You group the data based on the bag id (using GROUP BY) and get the count of flight legs ( Using count()) for every bag. Additionally, you filter the results for a particular ticket number.

Output: 
{"id":79039899197492,"NUMBER_HOPS":3}
Example 5: Fetch bag id and routing details of all bags that arrived after 2019.
SELECT b.id, routing FROM 
NESTED TABLES(ticket a descendants(ticket.bagInfo b))
WHERE CAST (b.bagArrivalDate AS Timestamp(0))>= 
CAST ("2019-01-01T00:00:00" AS Timestamp(0))

Explanation: This is an example of a join where the target tableticket is joined with its child table bagInfo. The filter condition is applied on the bagArrivalDate. The CAST function is used to convert the string into Timestamp and then the values are compared.

Output:
{"id":79039899197492,"routing":"BZN/SEA/CDG/MXP"}
{"id":79039899165297,"routing":"MIA/LAX/MEL"}
{"id":79039899168383,"routing":"MXP/CDG/SLC/BZN"}
{"id":79039899156435,"routing":"GRU/ORD/SEA"}
{"id":7903989918469,"routing":"JFK/MAD"}