I have a job that implies, from time to time, performing some analysis on customers, orders, products, etc.

I've found myself in the inconvenient position of not having anyone around me, able to query our MySQL databases for me.

For those instances, I would like to deal with MySQL beyond the most-most basic functions that I know.

I would like to take a course on introductory MySQL in English in the canton of Zürich, and then, maybe an advanced one.

Too difficult? impossible?

Thanks!

Many web courses available , a lot of them free, also a lot of reporting tools available that will write the SQL for you. Google is your friend.

I have always found it easier (and cheaper) to do computer training in the UK, or even recently I went to Dublin for an IT course.

For MySQL I used to use MyCCMyCC visual application. From memory (it has been a while since using MySQL), whatever clicks , ticks etc you did it on MyCC it shows you the SQL code it is using which can be quite handy when you are still learning.

Its more the experience that you need in order to understand it, rather than what you have to learn...
There are not many queries, the difficult lays in the combinations, and how to use them in order to get what you need...

I need to be able to do stuff like:

From csv files created every day (100's of thousands of rows), import data and create tables.

For the lines that contain fields wit X value greater than AND a have a field containing y flag, make a table and match the ids with another table, and from that other table, take fields A, B, C.

If certain conditions are met, within the table, create a field with another flag.

Automatically repeat the process every day.

Do this course "http://www.sqlcourse.com/index.html" or at least try it... It has an SQL Interpreter where you can try what you learn

Sounds pretty straightforward - although my experience is limited to SQL Server I cannot imagine MySQL would be much harder.

As martin959 said, it's hard to learn this stuff through a course. Mostly, once you know the basic principles, you can only learn further through experience.

Have you considered asking one of your more experienced colleagues to write this automation? Or hiring someone for a day to do it?

If what you mention above is all what you need to do, then it will be used via your day to day work - then you can let some freelance do it for you.

I mean a freelance to do the generic templates, and you can just simply re-use them after changing some parameters or doing some slight modifications, we do like this where I work since I deal with a lot of different systems with lof of different interfaces and programming langauages and databases, and I cannot know everything by myself and so is with my colleagues.

About Training Centers, I suggest to visit SUN Microsystems homepage and see from time to time if they post something - as they own already MYSQL now - and search for training in CH Zurich, here is the link

I run it for you and sadly did not find any scheduled instructor led training for MYSQL Administration this year, however they provide training on demand for a group, or a Self Study CDs as well.

Hope this helps, I got a course in Bern, but the quality was not really as expected,I know training can be a very good short cut however I believe practise by trial and error is the best way.

Hi Flavio,

Short answer: not too difficult, and certainly not impossible.

Long answer: you will need time, willingness to learn, and a "learn-it-yourself" attitude to do it.

For the record, I am not a professional programmer. I am a medical doctor in pharma industry. However, I have now quite some experience with large (clinical) datasets, datamining, programming (SAS, SQL), and databases in general (Oracle Clinical, MS SQL, MySQL), so at least I can give you my opinion.

In my opinion, learning a database "language" (it's more a script") involves not just the syntax of the specific database (aka the structure and commands of MySQL). It also involves learning how your specific database has been structured and what information you need from that database. Of course, that first involves learning how databases in general are structured, and how you can access that information using queries.

Now, most courses around databases will teach you the basics of relational databases and the basics of the syntax of SQL. MySQL is just a specific version of SQL, but is based on the same principles. However, even an advanced course in (My)SQL will NOT teach you how to get access to the specific information in YOUR database. It will teach you more complex ways of retrieving, inserting, or modifying information IN GENERAL in your database, or faster/more efficient ways.

Therefore, as you work with MySQL, it may actually much faster to just buy a good book and start yourself. Get an old computer, install WAMP (the combination of the webserver Apache, the database MySQL, and the programming language PHP, all for Windows), and use the book learn to setup and manage your own little MySQL database. This will give you a safe sandground to play in and to make mistakes. You would not want to change any of the orders in your customer systom by accident....

At the same time, you can explore the MySQL database at your office, to get to know where what information is stored in what way. For the query that you mentioned, you would not need an "advanced course".

I learned (a long time ago) using this: Learning PHP and MySQL. Together with the very comprehensive online MySQL manual, you should be able to work yourself up to a level where you want to do what you mentioned above within a couple of months, for only a fraction of the money (and time) that a course would cost you.

Oh, and it really should be fun to learn it. Once you have mastered MySQL, and once you know what kind of information is hidden in your database, you will be able to retrieve the most inconceivable analyses. And you may even go so far to have them automatically delivered to your email every morning, or trigger an alert in case of whatever you can think of. Have fun!



KR,
Henk

My development experience is about 60% SQL Server and 40% Oracle in a Windows environment. I have no experience of MySql but below is a rough sort of guide how I would go about it.

Looks like MySql has an import utility called mysqlimport:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/mysqlimport.html
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/load-data.html

If I understand you correctly, you only want to import lines from the csv file "that contain fields wit X value greater than AND a have a field containing y flag". If so then you can (probably) set the import utility to filter out the lines you don't want, or if not then import everything and ignore what you don't want by using a sql select statement. Say you're data gets imported to TableA and you want to match those new rows to existing rows in TableB. You'll need to join both tables on a field with matching data, let's say Field1:

SELECT TableB.FieldA, TableB.FieldB, TableB.FieldC
FROM TableB
INNER JOIN TableA ON TableB.Field1 = TableA.Field1
WHERE TableA.FieldX > 1234
AND TableA.FieldY = 1;

Not a good idea to create fields dynamically - you're better having the field already existing but allowing it to take a null value, then setting the value/flag if the "certain conditions" are met.

Not sure if you're on Windows or Unix:

Windows - possibly use task scheduler to run a batch (.cmd or .bat) file that will execute the mysqlimport commands:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Task_Scheduler

Unix - not sure but possibly a cron job of some sort

I would do a similar sort of thing. However, it still means that Flavio needs to master the basics of relational databases and MySQL syntax, before he can even understand what an INNER JOIN is. He also needs to understand what a Unique Identifier is, and why they exist in order to create the INNER JOIN on, before even being able to link whatever table with whatever other table.

Furthermore, it may very well be possible that the output table is already a "permanent dynamic table", as this is being generated every day. Flavio needs to find out what the best way is for his database. That means he has to understand what the difference is between a hard coded table, and a dynamic table and the pro's and cons of both.

And then we even have not touched on how the output should look like. XML? HTML? Excel?

As mentioned, it can all be done, but it assumes quite some knowledge.

Flavio, what do you think? What is your level of comfort with all the answers that you have gotten up to now?

I'd like to learn the stuff myself, even if others will normally do it. I prefer the flexibility of knowing since queries can and do change over time.

So I'll learn online as some of you suggested and maybe get a course in the UK afterwards.

Thanks for all the suggestions!