>I have a Parent with up to 6 Child Records.
>
>I want to show all the child records in the Screen for the Parent Record using @SAYs.
>
>I want to make a Self Join of my child tables so that all Child records with the same pl_account will be one record in the Cursor.
>
>Unique key for this child table = pl_account + pl_letter
>
>Table Osdpl:
> pl_Account C 5
> pl_letter C 1
> pl_namelas C 20
>
> Total Records = 89 records
> pl_letter = 'A' = 56 records
> pl_letter = 'B' = 23 records
> pl_letter = 'C' = 9 records
>
> A OR B = 79 records
> A OR C = 65 records
> B OR C = 32 records
> A + B + C = 9 records
>
>My goals:
>
> 56 records with no duplications of Names
> These 56 will have
>
> 56 'A' names
> 23 'B' names
> 9 'C' names
>That is, most of the records will have NULLs in the 'B' and 'C' portions
>
>
>SELECT A.pl_account AS A_account, ;
> A.pl_letter AS A_letter, ;
> A.pl_namelas AS A_namelas, ;
> B.pl_letter AS B_letter, ;
> B.pl_namelas AS B_namelas, ;
> C.pl_letter AS C_letter, ;
> C.pl_namelas AS C_namelas ;
> FROM Osdpl A, ;
> Osdpl B, ;
> Osdpl C ;
> WHERE ;
> A.pl_letter = 'A' ;
> AND B.pl_letter = 'B' ;
> AND C.pl_letter = 'C' ;
> GROUP BY 1 ;
> ORDER BY 1 INTO CURSOR Pat_list
>
>There are 89 records.
>
>The above join yields 56 records. This is the corrent number of unique pl_account records.
>
>The 'A' columns are correct.
>
>'B' columns are 90% the same A_namefir and A_namelas'.
>
>'C' columns are also about 90% similar to each other -- C_namefir and C_namelas. But the names are completely different than those in the 'B' columns.

---

Charles,
FP2.x didn't support outer joins directly as in VFP. You could do what you want in many ways. Here are some :

****************
* Method 1
****************
Clear all
Use OSdpl order tag main alias crs_A && main key pl_account+pl_letter
Use OSdpl order tag main in 0 again alias crs_B && main key pl_account+pl_letter
Use OSdpl order tag main in 0 again alias crs_C && main key pl_account+pl_letter
Select distinct pl_account ;
  from OSdpl ;
  where .t. ;
  into cursor crsParent
Set relation ;
  to pl_account+"A" into crs_A, ;
  pl_account+"B" into crs_B, ;
  pl_account+"C" into crs_C

Browse fields ;
  pl_account :h = "A_account", ;
  A_letter = crs_A.pl_letter, ;
  A_Namelas = crs_A.pl_namelas, ;
  B_Letter = crs_B.pl_letter, ;
  B_Namelas = crs_B.pl_namelas, ;
  C_Letter = crs_C.pl_letter, ;
  C_Namelas = crs_C.pl_namelas ;
  nomodify

****************
* Method 2
****************
Use OSdpl order tag main && main key pl_account+pl_letter
Create cursor Pat_list ;
  (A_Account C(5), A_letter C(1), A_Namelas C(20), ;
  B_Letter C(1), B_Namelas C(20), ;
  C_Letter C(1), C_Namelas C(20))
Select distinct pl_account from OSdpl into array aAccounts
For ix = 1 to alen(aAccounts,1)
  m.A_Account = aAccounts[ix,1]
  =seek(aAccounts[ix,1]+"A","osdpl")
  m.A_letter = OSdpl.pl_letter
  m.A_Namelas = OSdpl.pl_namelas
  =seek(aAccounts[ix,1]+"B","osdpl")
  m.B_Letter = OSdpl.pl_letter
  m.B_Namelas = OSdpl.pl_namelas
  =seek(aAccounts[ix,1]+"C","osdpl")
  m.C_Letter = OSdpl.pl_letter
  m.C_Namelas = OSdpl.pl_namelas
  Insert into Pat_list from memvar
Endfor
Select Pat_list
Go top
Browse


****************
* Method 3
****************
=SubSel("A")
=SubSel("B")
=SubSel("C")
Select A.A_Account, A_letter, A_Namelas, ;
  B_Letter, B_Namelas, ;
  C_Letter, C_Namelas ;
  from crs_A A, crs_B B, crs_C C ;
  where ;
  A.A_Account = B.B_Account ;
  and B.B_Account = C.C_Account ;
  order by 1 ;
  into cursor Pat_list
Browse


Function SubSel
  Parameters tcLetter
  Select pl_account AS (tcLetter+"_account"), ;
    pl_letter AS (tcLetter+"_letter"), ;
    pl_namelas as (tcLetter+"_Namelas") ;
    from OSdpl ;
    where pl_letter = tcLetter ;
    union ;
    SELECT pl_account AS (tcLetter+"_account"), ;
    " " AS (tcLetter+"_letter"), ;
    " " as (tcLetter+"_Namelas") ;
    where pl_account not in ;
    (select distinct pl_account from OSdpl where pl_letter = tcLetter) ;
    and .t. ;
    FROM OSdpl  ;
    order by 1 ;
    INTO CURSOR ("crs_"+tcLetter)

Cetin