A select query selecting a select statement

I don't even know if I am doing this query the right way. There is a Sandwiches table that has some 7 fields and 2 of them are comboboxes (Type and Bread).

So I made a query that combines all of the comboboxes values into one query, like this:

SELECT TypesAndBreads.TBName, TypesAndBreads.Type
FROM (SELECT [Sandwiches Types].[Sandwich Type] As TBName, "Sandwich Type" As Type FROM [Sandwiches Types]
UNION ALL SELECT Breads.Bread As TBName, "Bread" As Type FROM Breads) AS TypesAndBreads;

I get the flat values of the tables now I want to count all the sandwiches under each TypesAndBreads.TBName. I have this, just to make sure it works with all the Sandwiches:

SELECT TypesAndBread.Type, TypesAndBread.TBName, (SELECT Count(Sandwiches.[SandwichID]) As SandwichCount FROM Sandwiches) As SandwichCount
FROM TypesAndBread;

But I want to reference the current Type and TBName inside the subquery. Something like this:

SELECT TypesAndBread.Type, TypesAndBread.TBName, (SELECT Count(Sandwiches.[SandwichID]) As SandwichCount FROM Sandwiches WHERE Sandwiches.[TypesAndBread.Type] = Sandwiches.[TypesAndBread.TBName]) As SandwichCount
FROM TypesAndBread;

But of course this doesn't work. I didn't think it will, just thought of giving it a try. I was thinking of maybe constructing the query with VBA when they open the Report that this query is going to be based of.

So I guess my question is: Is there a way to reference the current selected fields in a subquery? Or is there a different way to approach this?

Thanks for the help

EDIT:My table structure is like this:

Sandwiches's fields

| SandwichID | Name | Date Added | Chef | Sandwich Type | Bread | Reviewed By |

where Sandwich Type and Bread are Lookup fields for these tables:

Sandwiches Types's fields

| Sandwich Type |

Breads's fields

| Bread |

The TypesAndBreads query combined the Sandwiches Types and Breads tables, but the reason for that is so that I can get the count of all the sandwiches that have that Type or bread. A result like this:

+=============================================+
| Type | TBName | SandwichCount |
+=============================================+
| Sandwich Type | Turkey Club | 10 |
| Bread | Italian | 5 |
| Bread | Garlic | 8 |
+---------------------------------------------+

the example result's first row basicly says there are 10 sandwiches in record with the Sandwich Type field equal to Turkey Club.

I hope that explains it better.

2 Answers

Not sure if Access supports it, but in most engines (including SQL Server) this is called a correlated subquery and works fine:

SELECT TypesAndBread.Type, TypesAndBread.TBName, ( SELECT Count(Sandwiches.[SandwichID]) As SandwichCount FROM Sandwiches WHERE (Type = 'Sandwich Type' AND Sandwiches.Type = TypesAndBread.TBName) OR (Type = 'Bread' AND Sandwiches.Bread = TypesAndBread.TBName) ) As SandwichCount
FROM TypesAndBread

This can be made more efficient by indexing Type and Bread and distributing the subqueries over the UNION:

SELECT [Sandwiches Types].[Sandwich Type] As TBName, "Sandwich Type" As Type, ( SELECT COUNT(*) As SandwichCount FROM Sandwiches WHERE Sandwiches.Type = [Sandwiches Types].[Sandwich Type] )
FROM [Sandwiches Types]
UNION ALL
SELECT [Breads].[Bread] As TBName, "Bread" As Type, ( SELECT COUNT(*) As SandwichCount FROM Sandwiches WHERE Sandwiches.Bread = [Breads].[Bread] )
FROM [Breads]

I was over-complicating myself. After taking a long break and coming back, the desired output could be accomplished by this simple query:

SELECT Sandwiches.[Sandwich Type], Sandwich.Bread, Count(Sandwiches.[SandwichID]) AS [Total Sandwiches]
FROM Sandwiches
GROUP BY Sandwiches.[Sandwiches Type], Sandwiches.Bread;

Thanks for answering, it helped my train of thought.