SQL to link MANY tables and subtables

Hmmm...I hadn't even USED 'INNER JOIN' to join the other 12 tables...just used

SELECT a.asset_number, e.employee_number, m.model_desc
FROM assets a, employees e, models m
WHERE a.employee_id=e.employee_id AND a.model_id=m.model_id

This worked fine for all the other tables...am I way off base???  Is there a performance loss / gain doing it the proper (I recall using 'INNER JOIN' keyword to do my joins before) vs. WHERE joins???  And I keep getting syntax errors trying to use the INNER JOIN method...says something about the SQL command not being properly ended?

SELECT A.ASSET_NUMBER, A.SERIAL_NUMBER, A.CLASSIFICATION, T.DESC_E AS ASTY_DESCE, S.DESC_E AS STATUS, V.DESC_E AS VENDOR, MAN.DESC_E AS MANUFACTURER, M.DESC_E AS MODEL, N.DESC_E AS N_DESCE, N.NTIM_CD AS N_CODE, L.DESC_E AS LOCATION, AC.DESC_E AS ASSET_CENTRE, E.FIRST_NAME, E.LAST_NAME, D.DESC_E AS DA_CENTRE, A.DIVISION, A.SECTION, P.DESC_E AS POSITION, A.EMPL_ID

FROM ASSETS A, ASSET_TYPES T, ASSET_STATUSES S, VENDORS V, MANUFACTURERS MAN, MODELS M, N_ITEMS N, LOCATIONS L, ASSET_CENTRES AC, EMPLOYEES E, DA_CENTRES D, POSITIONS P

WHERE A.ASSET_NUMBER='010846' AND A.ASTY_ID=T.ASTY_ID AND A.ASSS_ID=S.ASSS_ID AND A.VNDR_ID=V.VNDR_ID AND A.MNFC_ID=MAN.MNFC_ID AND A.MODL_ID=M.MODL_ID AND A.NTIM_ID=N.NTIM_ID AND A.LOCN_ID=L.LOCN_ID AND A.MANAGING_ASCR_ID=AC.ASCR_ID AND A.EMPL_ID=E.EMPL_ID AND A.DACT_ID=D.DACT_ID AND  A.POSN_ID=P.POSN_ID

This is the ACTUAL query I'm running...it works fine for any asset number I enter...I havn't implemented the 'rank' part in this...but what I was doing, was putting RANKS R in the FROM clause, and then doing an E.RANK_ID=R.RANK_ID in the WHERE clause, and putting R.DESC_E AS RANK in the SELECT clause... :(

ShaymusBane;

It looks like what you're proposing is rather straightforward, so perhaps I'm misunderstanding your problem. Are you getting results back when you add the RANKS table to the query (with the appropriate WHERE condition), or are you getting an error of some kind?

If you're getting results back, but they are not what you expect, my guess would be that you have multiple rows available in the RANKS table that match up to the RANK_ID stored in the EMPLOYEES table, and end up with multiple rows, one for each of the RANK_ID's.

If this is the problem, you will need to decide which of the multiple DESC_E values for the particular RANK_ID you want to display. If I'm on the right track here, go ahead and give me the RANKS table structure and let me know which column is unique (in combination with the RANK_ID), and what your business rule is for which one to choose.

HTH,
TroyK, MCSD

I'm not getting any results back from my performed query...I've checked the RANKS table, and rank_id is an auto-increment, with indexing (ie. no duplicates allowed) column.  

As for the error I'm getting....I'm accessing the database through an ASP front end, and it works fine without the ranks table (using SQL Plus it works too) but as soon as I put in the RANKS table, it gives me

"Either BOF or EOF is true, or the current record has been deleted.  Requested operation requires a current record."

In my test browser (IE), and it stops working in SQL Plus also...is it possible that there are null values somewhere they shouldn't be, and that is gumming things up???  I agree, that it SHOULD be rather straightforward, but after writing, and re-writing that query a half dozen times (in different orders too!) I decided to try the experts ;)

Darn!  I just got it working in SQL Plus, but I'm still receiving the above error...only on SOME assets though!!!  

Any suggestions??  Oh...and for your assistance, and information, the points (although few) were more than earned!!!  Thanks for the patience too TroyK!

Oh...and kinda silly question, but any possible explanation why I'm receiving a few thousand less records AFTER the join than I was before??  Does this have something to do with the type of join I've done?  I recall seeing cases where you can include or exclude null values or something like that...??