MySQL to fill in missing dates when using GROUP BY DATE(table.timestamp) without joining on temporary table

Question

Hello, after reading through a couple similar Qs/As I haven't quite found the solution I'm looking for. The table data I have is GROUP BY DATE(timestamp) and returning a count, example result:

[timestamp] => 2010-05-12 20:18:36
[count] => 10

[timestamp] => 2010-05-14 10:10:10
[count] => 8

Without using a temporary table, or calendar table is there a way to fill in those missing dates? so that with the same table data would return (adding the bold row):

[timestamp] => 2010-05-12 20:18:36
[count] => 10

[timestamp] => 2010-05-13 00:00:00
[count] => 0

[timestamp] => 2010-05-14 10:10:10
[count] => 8

Thanks!

Answer 1

The best way to solve this is to find the missing results on the client side and add them when you present the results.

Answer 2

I didn't find the exact solution i was looking for, but I think found a method that works enough for my needs. I created a traffic table where the first visitor of the day will trigger a row insert for the day and now I can join on this table to get a daily record of whatever. The only problem however, is if there is no traffic for a day that date won't exist in the table. This can be solved by running a daily cron to insert a new row.