You could try something like this to reduce the ORs. This was validated on SQL Server so you may need to tweak a bit:
SELECT * FROM users
WHERE active=1
AND first_name IN ('Bill Gates', 'Bill', 'Gates')
OR last_name IN ('Bill Gates', 'Bill', 'Gates')
OR workplace IN ('Bill Gates', 'Bill', 'Gates')
Seems like some data validation is called for overall though.
As first step I merge the two product tables. I need an full outer join on product1 and product2 tables. To obtain on outer join in mysql we can union a left join and a right join. Start with a left join. In the following query IFNULL(p1.key1, p2.key1) is useful to merge two key column coming from the two product tables and IFNULL(, 'NaN') is useful to obtain 'NaN' in the output.
select IFNULL(p1.key1, p2.key1) as key1,
IFNULL(p1.key2, p2.key2) as key2,
IFNULL(p1.serial, p2.serial) as serial,
IFNULL(p1.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data1,
IFNULL(p2.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data2
from product1 p1
left join product2 p2 on p1.key1 = p2.key1 and p1.key2 = p2.key2 and p1.serial = p2.serial;
To obtain a full outer join I need to repeat the previous query with 'right join' and union the result with the 'left join'
select IFNULL(p1.key1, p2.key1) as key1,
IFNULL(p1.key2, p2.key2) as key2,
IFNULL(p1.serial, p2.serial) as serial,
IFNULL(p1.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data1,
IFNULL(p2.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data2
from product1 p1
left join product2 p2 on p1.key1 = p2.key1 and p1.key2 = p2.key2 and p1.serial = p2.serial
union
select IFNULL(p1.key1, p2.key1) as key1,
IFNULL(p1.key2, p2.key2) as key2,
IFNULL(p1.serial, p2.serial) as serial,
IFNULL(p1.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data1,
IFNULL(p2.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data2
from product1 p1
right join product2 p2 on p1.key1 = p2.key1 and p1.key2 = p2.key2 and p1.serial = p2.serial;
For convenience, I create a view with the previous query:
create or replace view p12 as
select IFNULL(p1.key1, p2.key1) as key1,
IFNULL(p1.key2, p2.key2) as key2,
IFNULL(p1.serial, p2.serial) as serial,
IFNULL(p1.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data1,
IFNULL(p2.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data2
from product1 p1
left join product2 p2 on p1.key1 = p2.key1 and p1.key2 = p2.key2 and p1.serial = p2.serial
union
select IFNULL(p1.key1, p2.key1) as key1,
IFNULL(p1.key2, p2.key2) as key2,
IFNULL(p1.serial, p2.serial) as serial,
IFNULL(p1.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data1,
IFNULL(p2.product_data, 'NaN') as product_data2
from product1 p1
right join product2 p2 on p1.key1 = p2.key1 and p1.key2 = p2.key2 and p1.serial = p2.serial;
To check we can try with:
mysql> select * from p12 where key1 = 1 and key2 =1 ;
+------+------+--------+---------------+---------------+
| key1 | key2 | serial | product_data1 | product_data2 |
+------+------+--------+---------------+---------------+
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 15.556 | 5.556 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 14.996 | 4.996 |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 12.556 | NaN |
| 1 | 1 | 3 | 15.669 | NaN |
+------+------+--------+---------------+---------------+
So the he final query is:
select mi.key1, mi.key2, p12.serial, mi.info1, mi.info2, mi.date, p12.product_data1, p12.product_data2
from main_info mi
inner join p12 on mi.key1 = p12.key1 and mi.key2 = p12.key2
order by mi.key1, mi.key2, p12.serial;
+------+------+--------+-------+-------+----------+---------------+---------------+
| key1 | key2 | serial | info1 | info2 | date | product_data1 | product_data2 |
+------+------+--------+-------+-------+----------+---------------+---------------+
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 90 | 20120501 | 15.556 | 5.556 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 90 | 20120501 | 14.996 | 4.996 |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 90 | 20120501 | 12.556 | NaN |
| 1 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 90 | 20120501 | 15.669 | NaN |
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 92 | 20120601 | 12.556 | 2.556 |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 92 | 20120601 | 13.335 | 3.335 |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 92 | 20120601 | NaN | 2.56 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 92 | 20120601 | NaN | 3.556 |
| 1 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 82 | 20120801 | 12.225 | 2.225 |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 82 | 20120801 | 13.556 | 3.556 |
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 82 | 20120801 | 14.556 | NaN |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 90 | 20130302 | 12.556 | NaN |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 90 | 20130302 | 13.553 | NaN |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 90 | 20130302 | 12.335 | NaN |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 88 | 20130601 | NaN | 2.556 |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 88 | 20130601 | NaN | 3.553 |
+------+------+--------+-------+-------+----------+---------------+---------------+
Best Answer
If I understand what you're doing there (which I may not be 100% .. ) .. it appears you're trying to update REQUEST table, using the other VMI_DIMCUSTOMER table as "input" .. but only if records exist. If there are not records in VMI_DIMCUSTOMER table, for a given record in REQUEST, you want to flag the record in REQUEST with your "customer not found" message, and set first/last names to '--' and error code to 2 and is_checked to 0.
If you find the record, instead the names are populated, is_checked is set to 1, and error code is set to 0.
This can be done in a single sql .. I've used this method before. The basic idea is, forget the update, merge, etc .. and just write a SELECT statement that returns the END STATE that you really want.
If I understood you properly . you want something like this:
By doing an outer join, we'll include ALL rows in REQUEST, even if we don't find them in VMI_DIMCUSTOMER. we check if the CUST_FIRST_NAME in VMI_DIMCUSTOMER is null (you can instead check for a CUST_NO column if you have one .. but you showed the table structure for something different than what you're using .. so wasn't sure).
And use CASE to pull/set whatever value you want/need for each row, depending on if you find it in VMI_DIMCUSTOMER or not.
Once you have that "final result set" query ironed out (and it's easy to test run to verify .. ;) )
Plugging it into a merge is simple ... first, add rowid to the query to make it easier to pick out the row .. and then plug into a simple MERGE :
viola .. 1 sql, and it'll set the flags depending on if it found them in the other table or not.. ;)
If it doesn't quite work as you need, please clarify in more detail your requirements .. it shouldn't be hard to modify the merge to fit your needs.