Updating child table with parent table

Question

Can anyone help me with this update statement?
I have a table BETA with children of the family list and I have table GAMA with children and family list. The relation between family and children is 1 to many. Now we have decided to update table BETA which has children list with table GAMA’s family list. So I did as below.
UPDATE beta B
SET (b.childe_code 
   ,b.childe_name) =(SELECT DISTINCT g.family_code
                      ,g.family_name
       FROM gama g
       WHERE b.childe_code IN (SELECT g.childe_code
                                         FROM gama g)
       AND g.period = (SELECT MAX(period) FROM gama g))
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
       FROM gama g
       WHERE b.childe_code IN (SELECT g.childe_code
                                         FROM gama g)
       AND g.period = (SELECT MAX(period) FROM gama g));It is giving this error: ORA-01427: single-row subquery returns more than one row
Could someone please help me with this?
Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Hello tubby,
Here is the answers for all your questions.
How about you post your Oracle version
select * from v$version
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 - 64bi
PL/SQL Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production
CORE     10.2.0.4.0     Production
TNS for Solaris: Version 10.2.0.4.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 10.2.0.4.0 - ProductionThe DDL for BETA and GAMA tables (create table statements).
CREATE TABLE BETA
  CHILDE_CODE  NUMBER,
  CHILDE_NAME  VARCHAR2(50 BYTE),
  PERIOD       INTEGER
CREATE TABLE GAMA
  FAMILY_CODE  NUMBER,
  FAMILY_NAME  VARCHAR2(50 BYTE),
  CHILDE_CODE  NUMBER,
  CHILDE_NAME  VARCHAR2(50 BYTE),
  PERIOD       INTEGER
)Sample data for both tables (in the form of INSERT statements) which represent a small test case you've constructed.
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (10, 'google', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (11, 'amazon', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (12, 'ebay', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (13, 'yahoo', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (20, 'word', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (21, 'excel', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (22, 'access', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (23, 'cognos', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (30, 'cell phone', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (31, 'laptop', 201010);
Insert into BETA
   (CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (32, 'pager', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (1, 'website', 10, 'google', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (1, 'website', 11, 'amazon', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (1, 'website', 12, 'ebay', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (1, 'website', 13, 'yahoo', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (2, 'software', 20, 'word', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (2, 'software', 21, 'excel', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (2, 'software', 22, 'access', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (2, 'software', 23, 'cognos', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (3, 'wireless', 30, 'cell phone', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (3, 'wireless', 31, 'laptop', 201010);
Insert into GAMA
   (FAMILY_CODE, FAMILY_NAME, CHILDE_CODE, CHILDE_NAME, PERIOD)
Values
   (3, 'wireless', 32, 'pager', 201010);The desired output you want based on the input data, with an explanation as to how the data needs to be transformed.
I want to replace data of childe_code and childe_name with family_code and family_name in the beta table. The error message you are currently getting is quite descriptive, you are getting back more than a single row for a given row you are trying to update. If you can deterministically decide which rows to take and outline that in your example, we can help you.