get 5 rows from 2 unrelated tables (was "Complicated sql query.... need help bad

I am trying to write a query that queries 2 tables and gets back 5 rows. These two tables arent really related and the data I get back is different for either table.
The 5 rows that I want to get back are for the LATEST 5 DATES. The date field for one table (F_INSPECTIONS) is END_DATE and the date field for the other table (F_OCCURRENCES) is OCCURRRENCE_DATE.

I am writing a program to do this so if its absolutely impossible to implement this with sql code then a suggestion of how I might be able to go about doing it antoher way would help.

Table descriptions:

/****** Object: Table [dbo].[F_INSPECTIONS] Script Date: 2/8/2005 10:59:41 AM ******/
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[F_INSPECTIONS] (
[INSPECTION_ID] [varchar] (15) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_CI_AI NOT NULL ,
[INSPECTION_NAME] [varchar] (150) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_CI_AI NULL ,
[CAP_FACILITY_ID] [int] NOT NULL ,
[REG_SURR_ID] [smallint] NOT NULL ,
[START_DATE] [datetime] NULL ,
[END_DATE] [datetime] NULL ,
[INSP_UPDATED_ON] [datetime] NULL ,
[INSP_ORIGIN_ID] [tinyint] NULL ,
[INSP_TYPE_ID] [tinyint] NULL ,
[DAYS_SINCE_LAST] [smallint] NULL ,
[VIOLATION_COUNT] [smallint] NULL ,
[NON_COMPLIANCE_IND] [tinyint] NULL ,
[INSPECTION_COUNT] [smallint] NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[F_OCCURRENCES] (
[OCCURRENCE_ID] [varchar] (15) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_CI_AI NOT NULL ,
[CAP_FACILITY_ID] [int] NOT NULL ,
[OCCURRENCE_NM] [varchar] (150) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP850_CI_AI NULL ,
[OCCURRENCE_DATE] [datetime] NULL ,
[REG_SURR_ID] [smallint] NOT NULL ,
[REPORTED_DATE] [datetime] NULL ,
[ASSESSMENT_DATE] [datetime] NULL ,
[UPDATED_ON] [datetime] NULL ,
[ORIGIN_ID] [tinyint] NULL ,
[CATEGORY_ID] [tinyint] NULL ,
[OUTCOME_ID] [tinyint] NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]

I need to query from these 2 tables and get these columns back:Are you trying to get back only 5 rows(attempting to join 2 unrelated tables), or 5 rows from each table(candidate for a UNION)?|||If I understood well, you'll need something like this: first "join" similar results from both tables using the UNION, and then select first five of them.SELECT ID, dat
FROM (SELECT ins_id ID, end_date dat
FROM F_INS
UNION
SELECT occ_id ID, occ_date dat
FROM F_OCC
ORDER BY 2)
WHERE ROWNUM <= 5
ORDER BY 2;Selecting "top 5" rows can be done in different ways; this one (using the ROWNUM pseudocolumn) is used in Oracle. I *think* MySQL has "SELECT TOP 5 ..." statement; I don't know which database engine you use (is it Access?), but I hope my example will help you find the result.|||This is exacly the logic I was looking for (top 5 dates out of the entire set) Hopefully a union like this works in SQL SERVER.

Thanks so much.|||My translation of the Oracle syntax into SQL-92 (which should run on MS-SQL 2000) would be:SELECT TOP 5 ID, dat
FROM (
SELECT ins_id ID, end_date dat
FROM F_INS
UNION SELECT occ_id ID, occ_date dat
FROM F_OCC) AS A
ORDER BY 2-PatP|||Here is the statement I wrote using that same logic. It works great however. i cant get the top 5 to work.

(select
F_OCCURRENCES.CAP_FACILITY_ID,
F_OCCURRENCES.REG_SURR_ID as reg_surr_id,
'N/A' as INPECTOR,
'N/A' as COMPLIANCE_STATUS,
'OCCURRENCE' as ACTIVITY,
D_OCCURRENCE_OUTCOME.OUTCOME_ENG_DESC as OUTCOME,
D_REGULATION.REG_ENGLISH_DESC AS REGULATION,
F_OCCURRENCES.OCCURRENCE_DATE as theDATE
from F_OCCURRENCES INNER JOIN D_OCCURRENCE_OUTCOME ON F_OCCURRENCES.OUTCOME_ID = D_OCCURRENCE_OUTCOME.OUTCOME_ID INNER JOIN D_REGULATION ON D_REGULATION.REG_SURR_ID = F_OCCURRENCES.REG_SURR_ID where cap_facility_id = '11518' and F_OCCURRENCES.REG_SURR_ID = '101'
UNION
SELECT
F_INSPECTIONS.CAP_FACILITY_ID,
F_INSPECTIONS.REG_SURR_ID as reg_surr_id,
'NO DATA' as INSPECTOR,
CASE Non_COMPLIANCE_IND WHEN 1 THEN 'Non-Compliant' WHEN 0 THEN 'Compliant' END as COMPLIANCE_STATUS,
'INSPECTION' as ACTIVITY,
DISP_ENGLISH_DESC as OUTCOME,
D_REGULATION.REG_ENGLISH_DESC AS REGULATION,
F_INSPECTIONS.START_DATE as theDATE
FROM F_INSPECTIONS LEFT JOIN F_VIOLATIONS ON F_INSPECTIONS.INSPECTION_ID = F_VIOLATIONS.INSPECTION_ID Left Join D_DISPOSITION on D_DISPOSITION.VIOLATION_DISP_ID = F_VIOLATIONS.VIOLATION_DISP_ID LEFT JOIN D_REGULATION ON F_INSPECTIONS.REG_SURR_ID = D_REGULATION.REG_SURR_ID where F_INSPECTIONS.REG_SURR_ID = '101' and F_INSPECTIONS.CAP_FACILITY_ID = '11518'
)
order by theDate desc|||This is just a "shot in the dark" since I'm not willing to take the time to analyze this SQL at the moment, but if that SQL works then I'd suggest:SELECT TOP 5 *
FROM (
SELECT
F_OCCURRENCES.CAP_FACILITY_ID
, F_OCCURRENCES.REG_SURR_ID as reg_surr_id
, 'N/A' as INPECTOR
, 'N/A' as COMPLIANCE_STATUS
, 'OCCURRENCE' as ACTIVITY
, D_OCCURRENCE_OUTCOME.OUTCOME_ENG_DESC as OUTCOME
, D_REGULATION.REG_ENGLISH_DESC AS REGULATION
, F_OCCURRENCES.OCCURRENCE_DATE as theDATE
FROM F_OCCURRENCES
INNER JOIN D_OCCURRENCE_OUTCOME
ON F_OCCURRENCES.OUTCOME_ID = D_OCCURRENCE_OUTCOME.OUTCOME_ID
INNER JOIN D_REGULATION
ON D_REGULATION.REG_SURR_ID = F_OCCURRENCES.REG_SURR_ID
WHERE cap_facility_id = '11518'
and F_OCCURRENCES.REG_SURR_ID = '101'
UNION SELECT
F_INSPECTIONS.CAP_FACILITY_ID
, F_INSPECTIONS.REG_SURR_ID as reg_surr_id
, 'NO DATA' as INSPECTOR
, CASE Non_COMPLIANCE_IND
WHEN 1 THEN 'Non-Compliant'
WHEN 0 THEN 'Compliant'
END as COMPLIANCE_STATUS
, 'INSPECTION' as ACTIVITY
, DISP_ENGLISH_DESC as OUTCOME
, D_REGULATION.REG_ENGLISH_DESC AS REGULATION
, F_INSPECTIONS.START_DATE as theDATE
FROM F_INSPECTIONS
LEFT JOIN F_VIOLATIONS
ON F_INSPECTIONS.INSPECTION_ID = F_VIOLATIONS.INSPECTION_ID
LEFT JOIN D_DISPOSITION
on D_DISPOSITION.VIOLATION_DISP_ID = F_VIOLATIONS.VIOLATION_DISP_ID
LEFT JOIN D_REGULATION
ON F_INSPECTIONS.REG_SURR_ID = D_REGULATION.REG_SURR_ID
where F_INSPECTIONS.REG_SURR_ID = '101'
and F_INSPECTIONS.CAP_FACILITY_ID = '11518'
) AS z
ORDER BY theDate desc-PatP|||Brilliant!
the "as z" is what made this work.

thanks very much|||That need for an alias bytes a lot of people... Standard SQL-92 isn't always as forgiving as Oracle (or any other vendor) can be, but that's the price you pay for portability.

-PatPsql