Connect by Prior in Oracle 8i question

Question

Need help with building tree-structured query in Oracle 8i (Forms 6i front end if it matters).
Sample structure and data:
CREATE TABLE table_list
my_code NUMBER,
my_level NUMBER,
my_description VARCHAR2(60)
CREATE TABLE table_content
my_code NUMBER,
term_code NUMBER,
term_category VARCHAR2(5)
INSERT into table_list values (101, 1, 'building');
INSERT into table_list values (102, 2, 'flat');
INSERT into table_list values (103, 3, 'living room');
INSERT into table_list values (104, 3, 'bedroom');
INSERT into table_list values (105, 3, 'bathroom');
commit;
INSERT into table_content values (101, 102, 'Sub');
INSERT into table_content values (102, 103, 'Sub');
INSERT into table_content values (102, 104, 'Sub');
INSERT into table_content values (102, 105, 'Sub');
commit;
Need to display data in the following order:
101 'building' --level one
     102 'flat' --level two
          105 'bathroom' --level three
          104 'bedroom' --level three
          103 'living room' --level three
*(note alphabetical order in level three)*
Looks like Oracle 8i does not support table joins for CONNECT BY PRIOR. Please advise!

Answer 1

And you are correct, it does not display level 1. Do
you think this is this a database structure problem
or it could be corrected via query modification?No and yes. It's not a "structure" problem, its a data problem (as I explained above). You always fix data problems by making queries overly complex (hint, hint, I don't suggest doing it this way).
select tl.my_level, tl.my_description , LPAD(' ',3*(my_level-1)) || substr(tl.my_description, 1, 30) description
from table_list tl,
(select term_Code from table_content
start with my_code in (select my_code from table_list where my_level=1)
connect by prior term_code = my_code
) x
where x.term_code = tl.my_code
union all
select my_level, my_description
from table_list
where my_level = 1
order by 1, 2
better to add a row to table_content with my_code=null, term_code=101.
otherwise you'll be pulling stupid nonsense like above with every query from here on out.