While working on a system I'm creating, I attempted to use the following query in my project:
SELECT
topics.id,
topics.name,
topics.post_count,
topics.view_count,
COUNT( posts.solved_post ) AS solved_post,
(SELECT users.username AS posted_by,
users.id AS posted_by_id
FROM users
WHERE users.id = posts.posted_by)
FROM topics
LEFT OUTER JOIN posts ON posts.topic_id = topics.id
WHERE topics.cat_id = :cat
GROUP BY topics.id
":cat" is bound by my PHP code as I'm using PDO. 2 is a valid value for ":cat".
That query though gives me an error: "#1241 - Operand should contain 1 column(s)"
What stumps me is that I would think that this query would work no problem. Selecting columns, then selecting two more from another table, and continuing on from there. I just can't figure out what the problem is.
Is there a simple fix to this, or another way to write my query?
Your subquery is selecting two columns, while you are using it to project one column (as part of the outer SELECT clause). You can only select one column from such a query in this context.
Consider joining to the users table instead; this will give you more flexibility when selecting what columns you want from users.
SELECT
topics.id,
topics.name,
topics.post_count,
topics.view_count,
COUNT( posts.solved_post ) AS solved_post,
users.username AS posted_by,
users.id AS posted_by_id
FROM topics
LEFT OUTER JOIN posts ON posts.topic_id = topics.id
LEFT OUTER JOIN users ON users.id = posts.posted_by
WHERE topics.cat_id = :cat
GROUP BY topics.id