Self Referencing Table SQL query

Question

I've table with four columns id, name, designation, manager_id.

Table schema:

CREATE TABLE "Employee_Information" 
(
    "id" INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL, 
    "name" varchar, 
    "designation" varchar, 
    "manager_id" integer references employee_information(id)
);

It is as follows

ID  Name    Designation   Manager_id
-------------------------------------
1   Raja    CEO 
2   Mani    CTO           1
3   Kavi    COO           1
4   Murugan Head          3
5   Alpha   Head(Fin)     4
7   Kannan  Head          4

Employee hierarchy is as follows:

Raja CEO
    Mani CTO
    Kavi COO
               Murugan Head
                       Alpha Head(Fin)
                           Kannan Head 
       Beta CFO
       Delta Head 

I want an SQL query to display all possible manager for particular employee. His Juniors or other sub level employees name are not supposed to be in the results set.

Display all others employees on same level or above.

I'm unable to figure out a solution for this.

Throne

Answer 1

Ref: SQLite WITH clause

You need a "Recursive CTE" (common table expression) to traverse the organization hierarchy. Like this:

Query

WITH RECURSIVE Emp_CTE (ID, Name, Designation, Manager_id, Manager_name)
AS (
    SELECT ID, Name, Designation, Manager_id, cast(NULL as varchar)
    FROM Employee_Information
    WHERE Manager_ID IS NULL
    UNION ALL
        SELECT e.ID, e.Name, e.Designation, e.Manager_id, Emp_CTE.Name
        FROM Employee_Information e
        INNER JOIN Emp_CTE ON Emp_CTE.ID = e.Manager_id
    )
SELECT *
FROM Emp_CTE

Result:

| ID |  Name   | Designation | Manager_id | Manager_name |
|----|---------|-------------|------------|--------------|
|  1 | Raja    | CEO         | null       | null         |
|  3 | Kavi    | COO         | 1          | Raja         |
|  2 | Mani    | CTO         | 1          | Raja         |
|  4 | Murugan | Head        | 3          | Kavi         |
|  5 | Alpha   | Head(Fin)   | 4          | Murugan      |
|  7 | Kannan  | Head        | 4          | Murugan      |

Setup:

CREATE TABLE "Employee_Information" ("id" INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT 
NOT NULL, "name" varchar, "designation" varchar, "manager_id" integer references employee_information(id));



INSERT INTO Employee_Information
    ("ID", "Name", "Designation", "Manager_id")
VALUES
    (1, 'Raja', 'CEO', NULL)
;

INSERT INTO Employee_Information
    ("ID", "Name", "Designation", "Manager_id")
VALUES
    (2, 'Mani', 'CTO', '1')
;

INSERT INTO Employee_Information
    ("ID", "Name", "Designation", "Manager_id")
VALUES
    (3, 'Kavi', 'COO', '1')
;

INSERT INTO Employee_Information
    ("ID", "Name", "Designation", "Manager_id")
VALUES
    (4, 'Murugan', 'Head', '3')
;

INSERT INTO Employee_Information
    ("ID", "Name", "Designation", "Manager_id")
VALUES
    (5, 'Alpha', 'Head(Fin)', '4')
;

INSERT INTO Employee_Information
    ("ID", "Name", "Designation", "Manager_id")
VALUES
    (7, 'Kannan', 'Head', '4')
;

Demo

Query 2

WITH RECURSIVE Emp_CTE (ID, Name, Designation, Manager_id, Manager_name, namepath)
AS (
    SELECT ID, Name, Designation, Manager_id, cast(NULL as varchar), name as namepath
    FROM Employee_Information
    WHERE Manager_ID IS NULL
    UNION ALL
        SELECT e.ID, e.Name, e.Designation, e.Manager_id, Emp_CTE.Name
  , Emp_CTE.namepath || '/' || e.Name 
        FROM Employee_Information e
        INNER JOIN Emp_CTE ON Emp_CTE.ID = e.Manager_id
    )
SELECT *
FROM Emp_CTE

Result:

| ID |  Name   | Designation | Manager_id | Manager_name |         namepath         |
|----|---------|-------------|------------|--------------|--------------------------|
|  1 | Raja    | CEO         | null       | null         | Raja                     |
|  3 | Kavi    | COO         | 1          | Raja         | Raja/Kavi                |
|  2 | Mani    | CTO         | 1          | Raja         | Raja/Mani                |
|  4 | Murugan | Head        | 3          | Kavi         | Raja/Kavi/Murugan        |
|  5 | Alpha   | Head(Fin)   | 4          | Murugan      | Raja/Kavi/Murugan/Alpha  |
|  7 | Kannan  | Head        | 4          | Murugan      | Raja/Kavi/Murugan/Kannan |

Gadget

If two records point to each other, it will create an infinite loop. But what will be the result? Overflow? – Branson

It could produce an infinite loop - but CTEs will report an error and stop (exactly how & when depends on the dbms) – Gadget

Answer 2

Below query will work:

SELECT Name+' '+Designation AS 'Manager' FROM table1 WHERE ID=(SELECT manager_id FROM table1 WHERE ID='<employee_id>')

If you are executing this query through any other language, you can just pass variable holding employee_id

Morningglory

I'm getting default value as 0. It's CEO's ID.Getting same answer for all values for employee_id. – Throne

It isn't possible, because the manager_id will be different from subquery when employee_id is 3 and 4, which then will fetch the details of that manager_id which is the result of subquery. – Morningglory

it requires "recursion" (available through the "with cause" ) – Gadget