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<?php

// See https://joomla.stackexchange.com/questions/1/method-for-creating-a-subquery-using-jdatabase

/*******
** v1
*******/
$subQuery = $db->getQuery(true);
$query    = $db->getQuery(true);

// Create the base subQuery select statement.
$subQuery->select('*')
    ->from($db->quoteName('#__sub_table'))
    ->where($db->quoteName('subTest') . ' = ' . $db->quote('1'));

// Create the base select statement.
$query->select('*')
    ->from($db->quoteName('#__table'))
    ->where($db->quoteName('state') . ' = ' . $db->quote('1'))
    ->where($db->quoteName('subCheckIn') . ' IN (' . $subQuery->__toString() . ')')
    ->order($db->quoteName('ordering') . ' ASC');

// Set the query and load the result.
$db->setQuery($query);


/*******
** v2
*******/
$query = $this->db->getQuery(true)
  ->select('a.*')
  ->subQuery()
    ->select('b.*')
    ->from('#__table_b AS b')
    ->as('subQueryResult')
  ->endSubQuery()
  ->from('#__table_a AS a');