Re: Job interview test - I give up...

No offence taken! I've never had to use JOIN before... and the test was supposed to take an hour.. I didn;t wanna cheat... and it took me ages to even realise what I was supposed to be doing... (Plus I@m hungover :-( ) Anyhoo, I'll try what you've suggested... Cheers.. we live, we learn... Brent Baisley <brent@landover.com> 01/12/2004 13:44 To Tristan.Pretty@risk.sungard.com cc <php-db@lists.php.net> Subject Re: [PHP-DB] Job interview test - I give up... OK. No offense, but that seems fairly easy. Here's one possible answer: select categories.*,count(dv_id) from categories left join dvds on dv_caid=ca_id group by ca_name having ca_name not like 'T%'; On Dec 1, 2004, at 8:13 AM, Tristan.Pretty@risk.sungard.com wrote: > I recently saw a job that I thought I'd be good for, so they sent me a > test... > All good.. but I realised that I couldn't do it.. > I got sooo damned close, but could not finish... :-( > > Anyhoo, here's the test: > http://www.beertastic.co.uk/test_problem.zip > > And the test parameters are below > If anyone can tell me the answer, I'd appreciate it, then I can > de-engineer it, and hopefully learn something. > I've already mailed them and said thanks, but I give up ;-) > > I my prob was in gettin ga distict list of all DVD categories, from > within > the final results page... > > Hmmm, any takers? > > TASK:- > > Modify the test.php file (attached) so a list of categories and the > number of DVDs in each category are displayed when the script is called > in a browser. (See resultspage.html for the EXACT output required) > > You must complete the getNumDvdsInCategories() function to query the > database and return a multidimensional array in the required format. > > You may use the PHP and MySQL manuals available online. > > > RESTRICTIONS:- > > You may only make ONE select query to the database. > Do not edit code outside the getNumDvdsInCategories() function. The > results in the table must be in alphabetical order (category name). The > Drama category MUST appear even though there are no DVDs in the > category. Categories beginning with the letter "T" must not be > displayed. Values in the database cannot be hardcoded anywhere in the > script. > > -- > PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > -- Brent Baisley Systems Architect Landover Associates, Inc. Search & Advisory Services for Advanced Technology Environments p: 212.759.6400/800.759.0577 -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php