> Hi there,
>
> I have a table that contains several records per person per day, as:
> name,datetime,blabla
> joe,2003-10.31-08.00,test1
> joe,2003-10.31-09.00,test2
> joe,2003-10.31-10.00,test3
> joe,2003-10.31-11.00,test4
> joe,2003-10.31-12.00,test5
> etc
>
> I want to retrieve the last 4 things joe has done, ordered by

datetime (asc).

>
> So using FIRST 4 and use 'desc' order is not ok... :-(
>
> How can I do that (using FB1.03)?

Well, Yves, I suppose you could do

SELECT <something>
FROM <table> T
WHERE NOT EXISTS(
SELECT * FROM <table> t1
JOIN <table> t2 on t2.person = t1.person
JOIN <table> t3 on t3.person = t2.person
JOIN <table> t4 on t4.person = t3.person
where t.person = t1.person
and t1.timecolumn > t.timecolumn
and t2.timecolumn > t1.timecolumn
and t3.timecolumn > t2.timecolumn
and t4.timecolumn > t3.timecolumn)
ORDER BY <whatever>

I think this should work OK if you have an index on the person column
and preferably one on the timecolumn as well.

HTH,
Set