SQL Sequence is skipping values when used in a case statement - sql

Using SQL Server 2016, I'm trying to use a sequence to insert values automatically into a column, when another value is not null. However, if the case value is null, the next non-null NEXT VALUE FOR has increased by however many null values precede it. I'm unsure how to prevent this from occurring. The code is below:
The relevant part of the stored proc to create the sequence:
DECLARE #IdMax INT;
SELECT #IdMax = (MAX(CAST(Id AS Int)) + 1) from [db].[dbo].[table] WHERE ISNUMERIC(Id) = 1;
EXEC('CREATE SEQUENCE Id_Sequence
START WITH ' + #IdMax + '
INCREMENT BY 1
CACHE 1000;')
And the rough testing implementation:
DECLARE #StartDate date
SET #StartDate = '20220816'
DECLARE #IDSequenceValue int
SET #IDSequenceValue = CAST(NEXT VALUE FOR Id_Sequence as nvarchar(7))
INSERT INTO dbo.table (
StartDate,
Id)
Values (
#StartDate,
CASE
WHEN #StartDate IS NULL THEN NULL
ELSE #IdSequenceValue
END);
The code has been abridged to remove identifiable information. I had to declare the NEXT VALUE FOR statement as a variable to get around not being able to use it within the Case statement directly. My abridged outputs are:
StartDate Id
2022-08-17 5078561
NULL NULL
NULL NULL
2022-08-17 5078558
2022-08-17 5078557
NULL NULL
2022-08-17 5078555
2022-08-17 5078554
2022-08-17 5078553
Can this issue be overcome? I'm at a loss here. Thanks!

The issue is, you are generating the next sequence number always by this statement :
SET #IDSequenceValue = CAST(NEXT VALUE FOR Id_Sequence as nvarchar(7))
In your CASE expression, you are using the value conditionally. To resolve the issue, I would suggest to generate the next sequence number only if it is required to use like this :
if #StartDate IS NOT NULL
begin
SET #IDSequenceValue = CAST(NEXT VALUE FOR Id_Sequence as nvarchar(7))
end

Related

Customized Primary Key on SQL Server 2008 R2

I have several days trying to solve this problem, but my lack of knowledge is stopping me, I don’t know if is possible what I am trying to accomplish.
I need to have a table like this:
The first field should be a custom primary key ID (auto incremented):
YYYYMMDD-99
Where YYYMMDD is the actual day and “99” is a counter that should be incremented automatically from 01 to 99 in every new row added and need to be automatically restarted to 01 the next day.
The second field is a regular NVARCHAR(40) text field called: Name
For example, I add three rows, just introducing the “Name” of the person, the ID is automatically added:
ID Name
---------------------------
20160629-01 John
20160629-02 Katie
20160629-03 Mark
Then, the next day I add two new rows:
ID Name
-------------------------
20160630-01 Bob
20160630-02 Dave
The last two digits should be restarted, after the day changes.
And, what is all this about ?
Answer: Customer requirement.
If is possible to do it in a stored procedure, it will works for me too.
Thanks in advance!!
This is pretty easy to achieve, but a bit complicated to do so it is safe with multiple clients.
What you need is a new table (for example named IndexHelper) that actually stores the parts of the index as it should be using two columns: One has the current date properly formatted as you want it in your index and one is the current index as integer. Example:
DateString CurrentIndex
-------------------------------
20160629 13
Now you need some code that helps you get the next index value atomically, i.e. in a way that also works when more than one client try to insert at the same time without getting the same index more than once.
T-SQL comes to the rescue with its UPDATE ... OUTPUT clause, which allows you to update a table, at the same time outputting the new values as an atomic operation, which can not be interrupted.
In your case, this statement could look like this:
DECLARE #curDay NVARCHAR(10)
DELCARE #curIndex INT
DECLARE #tempTable TABLE (theDay NVARCHAR(10), theIndex INT)
UPDATE IndexHelper SET CurrentIndex = CurrentIndex + 1 OUTPUT INSERTED.DateString, INSERTED.CurrentIndex INTO #temptable WHERE CurrentDate = <code that converts CURRENT_TIMESTAMP into the string format you want>
SELECT #curDay = theDay, #curIndex = theIndex FROM #tempTable
Unfortunately you have to go the temporary table way, as it is demanded by the OUTPUT clause.
This increments the CurrentIndex field in IndexHelper atomically for the current date. You can combine both into a value like this:
DECLARE #newIndexValue NVARCHAR(15)
SET #newIndexValue = #curDay + '-' + RIGHT('00' + CONVERT(NVARCHAR, #curIndex), 2)
Now the question is: How do you handle the "go back to 01 for the next day" requirement? Also easy: Add entries into IndexHelper for 2 days in advance with the respective date and index 0. You can do this safely everytime your code is called if you check that an entry for a day is actually missing. So for today your table might look like this:
DateString CurrentIndex
-------------------------------
20160629 13
20160630 0
20160701 0
The first call tomorrow would make this look like:
DateString CurrentIndex
-------------------------------
20160629 13
20160630 1
20160701 0
20160702 0
Wrap this up into a stored procedure that does the entire INSERT process into your original table, what you get is:
Add missing entries for the next two days to IndexHelper table.
Get the next ID atomically as described above
Combine date string and ID from the UPDATE command into a single string
Use this in the INSERT command for your actual data
This results in the following stored procedure you can use to insert your data:
-- This is our "work date"
DECLARE #now DATETIME = CURRENT_DATETIME
-- These are the date strings that we need
DECLARE #today NVARCHAR(10) = CONVERT(NVARCHAR, #now, 112)
DECLARE #tomorrow NVARCHAR(10) = CONVERT(NVARCHAR, DATEADD(dd, 1, #now), 112)
DECLARE #datomorrow NVARCHAR(10) = CONVERT(NVARCHAR, DATEADD(dd, 2, #now), 112)
-- We will need these later
DECLARE #curDay NVARCHAR(10)
DELCARE #curIndex INT
DECLARE #tempTable TABLE (theDay NVARCHAR(10), theIndex INT)
DECLARE #newIndexValue NVARCHAR(15)
-- Add entries for next two days into table
-- NOTE: THIS IS NOT ATOMIC! SUPPOSED YOU HAVE A PK ON DATESTRING, THIS
-- MAY EVEN FAIL! THAT'S WHY IS USE BEGIN TRY
BEGIN TRY
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM IndexHelper WHERE DateString = #tomorrow)
INSERT INTO IndexHelper (#tomorrow, 0)
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
PRINT 'hmpf'
END CATCH
BEGIN TRY
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM IndexHelper WHERE DateString = #datomorrow)
INSERT INTO IndexHelper (#datomorrow, 0)
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
PRINT 'hmpf again'
END CATCH
-- Now perform the atomic update
UPDATE IndexHelper
SET
CurrentIndex = CurrentIndex + 1
OUTPUT
INSERTED.DateString,
INSERTED.CurrentIndex
INTO #temptable
WHERE CurrentDate = #today
-- Get the values after the update
SELECT #curDay = theDay, #curIndex = theIndex FROM #tempTable
-- Combine these into the new index value
SET #newIndexValue = #curDay + '-' + RIGHT('00' + CONVERT(NVARCHAR, #curIndex), 2)
-- PERFORM THE INSERT HERE!!
...
One way to achieve customised auto increment is using INSTEAD OF trigger in SQL Server.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-IN/library/ms189799.aspx
I have tested this using below code.
This might be helpful.
It is written with the assumption that maximum 99 records will be inserted in a given day.
You will have to modify it to handle more than 99 records.
CREATE TABLE dbo.CustomerTb(
ID VARCHAR(50),
Name VARCHAR(50)
)
GO
CREATE TRIGGER dbo.InsertCustomerTrigger ON dbo.CustomerTb INSTEAD OF INSERT
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #MaxID SMALLINT=0;
SELECT #MaxID=ISNULL(MAX(RIGHT(ID,2)),0)
FROM dbo.CustomerTb
WHERE LEFT(ID,8)=FORMAT(GETDATE(),'yyyyMMdd');
INSERT INTO dbo.CustomerTb(
ID,
Name
)
SELECT FORMAT(GETDATE(),'yyyyMMdd')+'-'+RIGHT('00'+CONVERT(VARCHAR(5),ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY Name)+#MaxID),2),
Name
FROM inserted;
END
GO
TEST CASE 1
INSERT INTO dbo.CustomerTb(NAME) VALUES('A'),('B');
SELECT * FROM dbo.CustomerTb;
TEST CASE 2
INSERT INTO dbo.CustomerTb(NAME) VALUES('P'),('Q');
SELECT * FROM dbo.CustomerTb;

SQL Server WHILE

I am trying to generating unique card number from following function. I put my query inside a while loop to prevent duplicate card number but still I am getting duplicate numbers.
Anyone can help me?
Create FUNCTION GetCardNumber ()
RETURNS varchar(20)
AS
BEGIN
Declare #NewID varchar(20);
Declare #NewID1 varchar(36) ;
Declare #Counter int = 0;
While(1=1)
Begin
Set #NewID1 = (SELECT [MyNewId] FROM Get_NewID);
Set #NewID = '2662464' + '823' + '001' +right(YEAR(GETUTCDATE()),2) +(left(convert(varchar,ABS(CAST(CAST(#NewID1 AS VARBINARY(5)) AS bigint))),5));
Set #Counter = (Select count(*) from ContactTBL where ContactMembershipID = #NewID);
If #Counter = 0
BEGIN
BREAK;
END
End
return #newID
END
Go
Update : I am getting MyNewID from View:
CREATE VIEW Get_NewID
AS
SELECT NEWID() AS MyNewID
GO
Many thanks in advance.
Won't this just return the same value every time you run it? I can't see anywhere where you're incrementing anything, or getting any kind of value that would give you unique values each time. You need to do something that changes the value each time, for example using the current exact date and time.
You're returning varchar(20) in line 2. To get your 'unique' NewId, you're doing this:
Set #NewId = (13 digit constant value) + (last 2 digits of current year) +
left(
convert(varchar,
ABS(CAST
(CAST(#NewID1 AS VARBINARY(5)) AS bigint)
)
)
,5)
which leaves you only 5 characters of uniqueness! This is almost certainly the issue. An easy fix may be increase the characters you return on line 2 e.g. RETURNS varchar(30)
What you're doing is unnecessarily complicated, and I think there is an element of overprotecting against potential duplicate values. This line is very suspect:
Set #NewID = '2662464' + '823' + '001' +right(YEAR(GETUTCDATE()),2) +(left(convert(varchar,ABS(CAST(CAST(#NewID1 AS VARBINARY(5)) AS bigint))),5));
The maximum for bigint is 2^63-1, so casting your 5-byte VARBINARY to a bigint could result in an overflow, which may also cause an issue.
I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to achieve, but you need to simplify things and make sure you have more scope for unique values!
Set #NewID1 = (SELECT [MyNewId] FROM Get_NewID);
always return the same result (if no other changes)
Set #NewID = '2662464' + '823' + '001' +right(YEAR(GETUTCDATE()),2) +(left(convert(varchar,ABS(CAST(CAST(#NewID1 AS VARBINARY(5)) AS bigint))),5));
as result #New_ID will be the same also

**Occasional** Arithmetic overflow error converting expression to data type int

I'm running an update script to obfuscate data and am occasionally experiencing the arithmetic overflow error message, as in the title. The table being updated has 260k records and yet the update script will need to be run several times to produce the error. Although it's so rare I can't rely on the code until it's fixed as it's a pain to debug.
Looking at other similar questions, this is often resolved by changing the data type e.g from INT to BIGINT either in the table or in a calculation. However, I can't see where this could be required. I've reduced the script to the below as I've managed to pin point it to the update of one column.
A function is being called by the update and I've included this below. I suspect that, due to the randomness of the error, the use of the NEW_ID function could be causing it but I haven't been able to re-create the error when just running this part of the function multiple times. The NEW_ID function can't be used in functions so it's being called from a view, also included below.
Update script:
UPDATE dbo.Addresses
SET HouseNumber = CASE WHEN LEN(HouseNumber) > 0
THEN dbo.fn_GenerateRandomString (LEN(HouseNumber), 1, 1, 1)
ELSE HouseNumber
END
NEW_ID view and random string function
CREATE VIEW dbo.vw_GetNewID
AS
SELECT NEWID() AS New_ID
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.fn_GenerateRandomString (
#stringLength int,
#upperCaseBit bit,
#lowerCaseBit bit,
#numberBit bit
)
RETURNS nvarchar(100)
AS
BEGIN
-- Sanitise string length values.
IF ISNULL(#stringLength, -1) < 0
SET #stringLength = 0
-- Generate a random string from the specified character sets.
DECLARE #string nvarchar(100) = ''
SELECT
#string += c2
FROM
(
SELECT TOP (#stringLength) c2 FROM (
SELECT c1 FROM
(
VALUES ('A'),('B'),('C')
) AS T1(c1)
WHERE #upperCaseBit = 1
UNION ALL
SELECT c1 FROM
(
VALUES ('a'),('b'),('c')
) AS T1(c1)
WHERE #lowerCaseBit = 1
SELECT c1 FROM
(
VALUES ('0'),('1'),('2'),('3'),('4'),('5'),('6'),('7'),('8'),('9')
) AS T1(c1)
WHERE #numberBit = 1
)
AS T2(c2)
ORDER BY (SELECT ABS(CHECKSUM(New_ID)) from vw_GetNewID)
) AS T2
RETURN #string
END
Addresses table (for testing):
CREATE TABLE dbo.Addresses(HouseNumber nchar(32) NULL)
INSERT Addresses(HouseNumber)
VALUES ('DSjkmf jkghjsh35hjk h2jkhj3h jhf'),
('SDjfksj3548 ksjk'),
(NULL),
(''),
('2a'),
('1234567890'),
('An2b')
Note: only 7k of the rows in the addresses table have a value entered i.e. LEN(HouseNumber) > 0.
An arithmetic overflow in what is otherwise string-based code is confounding. But there is one thing that could be causing the arithmetic overflow. That is your ORDER BY clause:
ORDER BY (SELECT ABS(CHECKSUM(New_ID)) from vw_GetNewID)
CHECKSUM() returns an integer, whose range is -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647. Note the absolute value of the smallest number is 2,147,483,648, and that is just outside the range. You can verify that SELECT ABS(CAST('-2147483648' as int)) generates the arithmetic overflow error.
You don't need the checksum(). Alas, you do need the view because this logic is in a function and NEWID() is side-effecting. But, you can use:
ORDER BY (SELECT New_ID from vw_GetNewID)
I suspect that the reason you are seeing this every million or so rows rather than every 4 billion rows or so is because the ORDER BY value is being evaluated multiple times for each row as part of the sorting process. Eventually, it is going to hit the lower limit.
EDIT:
If you care about efficiency, it is probably faster to do this using string operations rather than tables. I might suggest this version of the function:
CREATE VIEW vw_rand AS SELECT rand() as rand;
GO
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.fn_GenerateRandomString (
#stringLength int,
#upperCaseBit bit,
#lowerCaseBit bit,
#numberBit bit
)
RETURNS nvarchar(100)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #string NVARCHAR(255) = '';
-- Sanitise string length values.
IF ISNULL(#stringLength, -1) < 0
SET #stringLength = 0;
DECLARE #lets VARCHAR(255) = '';
IF (#upperCaseBit = 1) SET #lets = #lets + 'ABC';
IF (#lowerCaseBit = 1) SET #lets = #lets + 'abc';
IF (#numberBit = 1) SET #lets = #lets + '0123456789';
DECLARE #len int = len(#lets);
WHILE #stringLength > 0 BEGIN
SELECT #string += SUBSTRING(#lets, 1 + CAST(rand * #len as INT), 1)
FROM vw_rand;
SET #stringLength = #stringLength - 1;
END;
RETURN #string
END;
As a note: rand() is documented as being exclusive of the end of its range, so you don't have to worry about it returning exactly 1.
Also, this version is subtly different from your version because it can pull the same letter more than once (and as a consequence can also handle longer strings). I think this is actually a benefit.

SQL Merge Statement - Output into a scalar variable (SQL Server)

I'm getting my head around the MERGE statement in SQL server. I generally use it to insert/update a single row, which I realise isn't the only use, but it's something I seem to do quite often.
But what happens if you want to insert a value of 1, or update to increment the value and output the incremented value eg:
CREATE TABLE [Counter] (
[Key] VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
[Value] INT NOT NULL
);
DECLARE #paramKey VARCHAR(255);
SET #paramKey = 'String';
MERGE [Counter] AS targt
USING (Values(#paramKey)) AS source ([Key])
ON (targt.[Key] = source.[Key])
WHEN MATCHED THEN
UPDATE SET Value = Value +1
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
INSERT ([Key], Value)
VALUES (source.[Key], 1);
-- but now I want the new value!
Is there a way of doing this? I notice the output clause in https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/bb510625.aspx but it doesn't seem to work with scalars (I could output to a single row-ed table variable but that seems wrong):
-- using table variables but seems
DECLARE #paramKey VARCHAR(255), #value int;
SET #paramKey = 'String'
DECLARE #Tab table (
[Value] INT
)
MERGE Counter AS targt
USING (Values(#paramKey)) AS source ([Key])
ON (targt.[Key] = source.[Key])
WHEN MATCHED THEN
UPDATE SET Value = Value +1
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
INSERT ([Key], Value)
VALUES (source.[Key], 1)
OUTPUT inserted.[Value] INTO #Tab;
-- can now use #Tab as a single rowed table variable
Is there a better option?

SQL - "incrementing" a char value causes collation error

I'm dealing with a table in which a bunch of arbitrary settings are stored as VARCHAR(255) values. The particular one I'm tasked with dealing with is a sequence number that needs to be incremented and returned to the caller. (Again, note that the sequence "number" is stored as VARCHAR, which is something I don't have any control over).
Because it's a sequence number, I don't really want to select and update in separate steps. When I've dealt with this sort of thing in the past with actual numeric fields, my method has been something like
UPDATE TABLE SET #SEQ_NUM = VALUE = VALUE + 1
which increments the value and gives me the updated value in one swell foop. I thought in this situation, I'd try the same basic thing with casts:
DECLARE #SEQ_NUM VARCHAR(255)
UPDATE SOME_TABLE
SET #SEQ_NUM = VALUE = CAST((CAST(VALUE AS INT) + 1) AS VARCHAR)
WHERE NAME = 'SOME_NAME'
The actual update works fine so long as I don't try to assign the result to the variable; as soon as I do, I receive the following error:
Msg 549, Level 16, State 1, Line 4 The collation
'SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS' of receiving variable is not equal to
the collation 'Latin1_General_BIN' of column 'VALUE'.
I understand what that means, but I don't understand why it's happening, or by extension, how to remedy the issue.
As an aside to fixing the specific error, I'd welcome suggestions for alternative approaches to incrementing a char sequence "number".
From one of the comments, sounds like you may have already hit on this, but here's what I would recommend:
UPDATE TABLE
SET VALUE = CAST((CAST(VALUE AS INT) + 1) AS VARCHAR)
OUTPUT inserted.VALUE
WHERE NAME = 'SOME_NAME'
This will output the new value like a SELECT statement does. You can also cast inserted.VALUE to an int if you wanted to do that in the SQL.
If you wanted to put the value into #SEQ_NUM instead of outputing the value from the statement/stored procedure, you can't use a scalar variable, but you can pump it into a table variable, like so:
DECLARE #SEQ_NUM AS TABLE ( VALUE VARCHAR(255) );
UPDATE TABLE
SET VALUE = CAST((CAST(VALUE AS INT) + 1) AS VARCHAR)
OUTPUT inserted.VALUE INTO #SEQ_NUM ( VALUE )
WHERE NAME = 'SOME_NAME'
SELECT VALUE FROM #SEQ_NUM
Maintaining a sequential number manually is by no means a solution I'd like to work with, but I can understand there might be constraints around this.
If you break it down in to 2 steps, then you can work around the issue. Note I've replaced your WHERE clause for this example code to work:
CREATE TABLE #SOME_TABLE ( [VALUE] VARCHAR(255) )
INSERT INTO #SOME_TABLE
( VALUE )
VALUES ( '12345' )
DECLARE #SEQ_NUM VARCHAR(255)
UPDATE #SOME_TABLE
SET [VALUE] = CAST(( CAST([VALUE] AS INT) + 1 ) AS VARCHAR(255))
WHERE 1 = 1
SELECT *
FROM #SOME_TABLE
SELECT #SEQ_NUM = [VALUE]
FROM #SOME_TABLE
WHERE 1 = 1
SELECT #SEQ_NUM
DROP TABLE #SOME_TABLE
You can continue using the quirky update in OP but you have to split the triple assignment #Variable = Column = Expression in the UPDATE statement to two simple assignments of #Variable = Expression and Column = #Variable like this
CREATE TABLE #SOME_TABLE (
NAME VARCHAR(255)
, VALUE VARCHAR(255) COLLATE Latin1_General_BIN
)
INSERT #SOME_TABLE SELECT 'SOME_NAME', '42'
DECLARE #SEQ_NUM VARCHAR(255)
/*
-- this quirky update fails on COLLATION mismatch or data-type mismatch
UPDATE #SOME_TABLE
SET #SEQ_NUM = VALUE = CAST((CAST(VALUE AS INT) + 1) AS VARCHAR)
WHERE NAME = 'SOME_NAME'
*/
-- this quirky update works in all cases
UPDATE #SOME_TABLE
SET #SEQ_NUM = CAST((CAST(VALUE AS INT) + 1) AS VARCHAR)
, VALUE = #SEQ_NUM
WHERE NAME = 'SOME_NAME'
SELECT *, #SEQ_NUM FROM #SOME_TABLE
This simple rewrite prevents db-engine complaining on difference in data-type between #Variable and Column too (e.g. VARCHAR vs NVARCHAR) and seems like a more "portable" way of doing quirky updates (if there is such thing)