# Understanding Query Results

Query results are returned as nested objects. The primary or “driving” object of the main `SELECT` statement in a SOQL query contains query results of subqueries.

For example, you can construct a query using either parent-to-child or child-to-parent syntax:

- Child-to-parent:

  ```codesegment
  SELECT Id, FirstName, LastName, AccountId, Account.Name
  FROM Contact
  WHERE Account.Name LIKE 'Acme%'
  ```

  This query returns one query result (assuming there were not too many returned records), with a row for every contact that met the `WHERE` clause criteria.

  ```json

    "records": [
      {
        "attributes": {
          "type": "Contact",
          "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A1BCDFXX"
        },
        "Id": "003R000000A1BCDFXX",
        "FirstName": "Jane",
        "LastName": "Doe",
        "AccountId": "001R000000Z1Y0xYAA",
        "Account": {
          "attributes": {
            "type": "Account",
            "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Account/001R000000Z1Y0xYAA"
          },
          "Name": "Acme Corp (West)"
        }
      },
      {
        "attributes": {
          "type": "Contact",
          "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A2CDEBZZ"
        },
        "Id": "003R000000A2CDEBZZ",
        "FirstName": "John",
        "LastName": "Smith",
        "AccountId": "001R000000Z1Y0zYBB",
        "Account": {
          "attributes": {
            "type": "Account",
            "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Account/001R000000Z1Y0zYBB"
          },
          "Name": "Acme Global Solutions"
        }
      }
    ]

  ```

- Parent-to-child:

  ```codesegment
  SELECT Id, Name,
    (
      SELECT Id, FirstName, LastName
      FROM Contacts
    )
  FROM Account
    WHERE Name like 'Acme%'
  ```

  This query returns a set of accounts, and within each account, a query result set of Contact fields containing the contact information from the subquery.

  ```json

           "records": [
      {
        "attributes": {
          "type": "Account",
          "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Account/001R000000Z1Y0xYAA"
        },
        "Id": "001R000000Z1Y0xYAA",
        "Name": "Acme Corp (West)",
        "Contacts": {
          "totalSize": 2,
          "done": true,
          "records": [
            {
              "attributes": { "type": "Contact", "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A1BCDFXX" },
              "Id": "003R000000A1BCDFXX",
              "FirstName": "Jane",
              "LastName": "Doe"
            },
            {
              "attributes": { "type": "Contact", "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A3EFGHYY" },
              "Id": "003R000000A3EFGHYY",
              "FirstName": "David",
              "LastName": "Jones"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "attributes": {
          "type": "Account",
          "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Account/001R000000Z1Y0zYBB"
        },
        "Id": "001R000000Z1Y0zYBB",
        "Name": "Acme Global Solutions",
        "Contacts": {
          "totalSize": 1,
          "done": true,
          "records": [
            {
              "attributes": { "type": "Contact", "url": "/services/data/v65.0/sobjects/Contact/003R000000A2CDEBZZ" },
              "Id": "003R000000A2CDEBZZ",
              "FirstName": "John",
              "LastName": "Smith"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]

  ```

The following sample illustrates how to process subquery results:

```codesegment
private void querySample() {
  QueryResult qr = null;
  try {
    qr = connection.query("SELECT a.Id, a.Name, " +
      "(SELECT c.Id, c.FirstName, " +
      "c.LastName FROM a.Contacts c) FROM Account a");
    boolean done = false;
    if (qr.getSize() > 0) {
      while (!done) {
        for (int i = 0; i < qr.getRecords().length; i++) {
        Account acct = (Account) qr.getRecords()[i];
        String name = acct.getName();
        System.out.println("Account " + (i + 1) + ": " + name);
        printContacts(acct.getContacts());
        }
        if (qr.isDone()) {
          done = true;
        } else {
          qr = connection.queryMore(qr.getQueryLocator());
        }
      }
    } else {
      System.out.println("No records found.");
    }
    System.out.println("\nQuery succesfully executed.");
  } catch (ConnectionException ce) {
    System.out.println("\nFailed to execute query successfully, error message " +
    "was: \n" + ce.getMessage());
  }
}

private void printContacts(QueryResult qr) throws ConnectionException {
  boolean done = false;
  if (qr.getSize() > 0) {
    while (!done) {
    for (int i = 0; i < qr.getRecords().length; i++) {
      Contact contact = (Contact) qr.getRecords()[i];
      String fName = contact.getFirstName();
      String lName = contact.getLastName();
      System.out.println("Child contact " + (i + 1) + ": " + lName
      + ", " + fName);
    }
    if (qr.isDone()) {
      done = true;
    } else {
      qr = connection.queryMore(qr.getQueryLocator());
    }
    }
  } else {
    System.out.println("No child contacts found.");
  }
}

```