Why does this MySQL Query hang?

Question

SELECT *
FROM tbl_order_head AS o
INNER JOIN tbl_orders_log AS c
ON o.PAYMENT_TRANSACTION_LOG_ID=c.TRANSACTION_ID
WHERE o.VISUAL_ID = '77783';

tbl_order_head 67,000 (30 fields) records, tbl_orders_log 17000 (5 fields) records. I don't know if it would eventually return as I am running it on a live server and fear overloading.

I am doing similar queries and much more complex queries successfully.

tbl_orders_log

Field Type Comment
ID bigint(20) NOT NULL
TRANSACTION_ID varchar(1000) NULL
CREATED datetime NULL
AMENDED datetime NULL
PAYMENT_CARD_NUMBER varchar(255) NULL
PAYMENT_CARD_TYPE varchar(255) NULL
SESSION_ID varchar(255) NULL
TRANSACTION_TYPE varchar(255) NULL
TRANSACTION_VALUE varchar(255) NULL
LOG_DATA text NULL

Index Information

Indexes Columns Index_Type
PRIMARY ID Unique

tbl_order_head

CREATE TABLE `tbl_order_head` (
  `ID` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `VISUAL_ID` decimal(20,0) DEFAULT NULL,
  `CREATED` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  `AMENDED` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
  `CUSTOMER_ID` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `BILLING_ID` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ORDER_LINES_ITEM_VALUE` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `DELIVERY_VALUE` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `ORDER_LINES_ITEM_TAX` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `DELIVERY_TAX` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `DELIVERY_ALLOCATED_ITEMS_VALUE` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `DELIVERY_ALLOCATED_ITEMS_TAX` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `DELIVERY_ALLOCATED_ITEMS_TAX_DEDUCTION` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `DELIVERY_TAX_DEDUCTION` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `LOYALTY_CARD_POINTS_EARNED` varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,
  `LOYALTY_CARD_POINTS_REDEEMED` varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,
  `LOYALTY_CARD_POINTS_REDEEMED_VALUE` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `VOUCHER_CODE` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
  `AFFILIATE_CODE` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
  `LOYALTY_CARD_NUMBER` varchar(209) DEFAULT NULL,
  `REDEEM_LOYALTY_CARD_POINTS` varchar(1) DEFAULT NULL,
  `SOURCE` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
  `SKU_DATA` text,
  `SKU_TAX_DATA` text,
  `DISCOUNT_DATA` text,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_TYPE` varchar(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_NUMBER` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_START_MONTH` varchar(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_EXPIRY_MONTH` varchar(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_START_YEAR` varchar(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_EXPIRY_YEAR` varchar(6) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_ISSUE_NUMBER` varchar(3) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_SECURITY_NUMBER` varchar(4) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_NAME` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_SAVE` varchar(1) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_CHARGE_AMOUNT` varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,
  `SAVED_PAYMENT_CARD_ID` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `SAVED_PAYMENT_CARD_SECURITY_NUMBER` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `GIFT_VOUCHER_DATA` text,
  `GIFT_VOUCHER_APPLIED_VALUE` varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,
  `LOYALTY_EARNED_SKU_DATA` text,
  `LOYALTY_REDEMPTION_SKU_DATA` text,
  `LOYALTY_REDEMPTION_DEDUCTED_SKU_DATA` text,
  `PAYMENT_CARD_AUTH_CODE` varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PAYMENT_TRANSACTION_LOG_ID` text,
  `CREATED_BY` varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,
  `BASKET_ID` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `SKU_DESCRIPTION_XREF` text,
  `IP_TRANSACTION_NUMBER` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `MEMS_BESPOKE_DISCOUNT_DATA` text,
  `IP_EXPORTED` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`ID`),
  KEY `CUSTOMER_ID` (`CUSTOMER_ID`,`CREATED`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8

Hi I have (with help) rewritten the query

SELECT * FROM tbl_orders_log WHERE TRANSACTION_ID=(SELECT o.PAYMENT_TRANSACTION_LOG_ID FROM tbl_order_head AS o WHERE  o.VISUAL_ID = '77783');

which executes instantly

Answer 1

Because someone has locked one of the tables or a single row. This can happen, for example, if you have disabled auto commit (so you can rollback your modifications) in a session and forgot to commit there.

This document might help.

[EDIT] After you posted the tables definitions, you can see that the types of the two join columns are different. Now the question is: Which type will be up-/down-casted when you run the query? In your case, it might be better to cast the type of PAYMENT_TRANSACTION_LOG_ID to varchar, especially if you have an index on TRANSACTION_ID (which you should create for this query).

That way, a few rows (or even a single one) from the table tbl_order_head will be selected and then, a quick lookup happens in the table tbl_orders_log. Without this, the database will load all records from the log table and check each record for a match in the found order headers (plus casting every ID to the type in the header, etc).

Answer 2

Have you run EXPLAIN on your query to see the query plan?

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM tbl_order_head AS o INNER JOIN tbl_orders_log AS 
c ON o.PAYMENT_TRANSACTION_LOG_ID=c.TRANSACTION_ID WHERE o.VISUAL_ID = '77783'

Your join might result in millions/billions of rows being examined. Are your tables correctly indexed for this join?