Queries perform various functions in Slate, such as returning and displaying specific data, creating recipient mailing lists, and building reports in Report Builder. Configurable joins enhance the capabilities of data extraction. A join combines data from multiple tables based on relationships between them and enables you to specify how the related table should be joined to the query base. This increases the flexibility in query building and expands access to the database tables.

In Slate, data about various objects, such as person records, fields, and mailings, are organized and stored in tables, with multiple tables forming a relational database. Relationships between the tables in a Slate database are established through a one-to-many relationship.

Slate databases are collections of tables that are interrelated and store data. The objects often have relationships with each other, such as a one-to-one or one-to-many relationship. The Query Builder provides access to the underlying tables and enables data extraction and manipulation. Some of these query populations present the data in a predetermined manner, such as the Prospects query population, which excludes person records with an Opt-Out tag.

Objects in Slate most commonly relate to one another in one of two ways:

• One-to-one - This is a relationship where an object on one table can relate to only one object on another table. For instance, each application record can only be related to one person record.

• One-to-many - This is a relationship where an object on one table can relate to one or more objects on another table. For instance, one person record in the Person table can be related to multiple application records in the Application table

In the below example, we can see a one-to-one join called "Device by Type, Rank" and a one-to-many join called "Devices" (you'll also notice a muted one-to-many icon next to these types of joins):

Appreciating these relations is integral to building a successful query. To learn more about object relations in Slate or joins in Configurable Joins, consider exploring the Configurable Joins Base Explorer tool inside of Database.

Types of Joins

There are three types of joins using Configurable Joins:

Locations to Add a Join

There are two places to perform a join within a query:

Important

There is almost never a reason to make a one-to-many join at the main level of a query. For instance, if you wanted to exclude records by making a main join from "Person" to "Tags", Slate would randomly retrieve one tag set for that record - that tag may or may not be the "Test Record" tag. In that case, we would use a subquery filter that joins from "Person" to "Tags" so we can look at all tags associated with a person record, like so:

Types & Locations

Combining the above two sections, we can see the relationship between a join's location and its type:

Deciding what path to take ultimately depends on what you're looking to accomplish with your query.