Mysql query with duplicate results

Question

I have a db that someone else set up that I am querying. It
should have been set up to use a couple of different tables... one
for clients and one for subclients with foreign keys to identify.
However, each row has both the client and subclient which means
there are duplicate clients since a single client may have several
subclients.
So...
My query returns multiple clients where I need only one. I am
guessing I can handle this in a loop with AS2.0 but I can't figure
out how to tell when a unique client is detected. Does this make
sense? Do I need to set my query up differently?

Answer 1

try {
ResultSet rs = DB.exQuery("SELECT max(transaction_date) as lastest_date, transaction_value,transaction_type"
                              + "FROM transaction_log WHERE user_id =" + user.getId() + " AND is_credit = '1'");
if ( rs.next () ) {can you explain
*     trans_date = rs.getString("lastest_date");* // trans_date is a string type or date type... and max(transaction_date) as lastest_date returns which type...
     credit = rs.getString("transaction_value");
     trans_method = rs.getString("transaction_type");
} catch(SQLException ex) {}