SQL Server: how to update a column with a value that is in that column when another number in another column is >1 - sql

Question

I have a table with the following data:
Part Comp level item_nbr
-------------------------------
abc ab 1 1
null cd 2 2
null ef 3 3
cde gh 1 4
null ij 2 5
null kl 3 6
null mn 4 7
I would like to update the nulls to the value in each level 1, so every level that is >1 is updated with the level one value.
Part Comp level
---------------------
abc ab 1
abc cd 2
abc ef 3
cde gh 1
cde ij 2
cde kl 3
cde mn 4
I am at a loss as to how to achieve this on a very large dataset. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
To explain another way,
part level
abc 1
2
3
Then the next row is populated with another part
efg 1
2
2
etc.
Further clarification:
I need the string"abc" to be filled down with the string "abc" while the column fields below are null. The next row has a string of efg and the following column fields below are null, again, those fields should be filled down with the value "efg" and so on.
The level field = 1 will always have a part number, but all the other levels report up to the level 1 part, so should be populated identically. And repeat.
Hope this makes sense.

Answer 1

Use an updatable CTE with window functions:
with toupdate as (
select t.*,
max(part) over (partition by itm_nbr_not_null) as new_part
from (select t.*,
max(case when part is not null then item_nbr end) over (order by item_nbr) as itm_nbr_not_null
from t
) t
)
update toupdate
set part = new_part
where part is null;
You can run the CTE to see what is happening.

Answer 2

well, from your question what I understand is, you need to update the null column's value until you get a not null value. and you want to continue it up to the last row of the table.
for that scenario, I created a stored procedure, where I read the value of every n-th cell if it is null I changing it with the prev. cell's value, when the cell was not null.
Approach:
create a temporary table/ table variable.
add an extra column, which is basically identity, which will help to rank the column.
iterate a loop until the maximum row is reached.
in each iteration, read the cell value for the i-th row
4.1 if it is not null put it in a temporary variable.
4.2 else, replace/update the i-th cell's value with the temporary variable
continue it, until you reached up to the last row of the table/table variable.
look at my following snippets:
create proc DemoPost
as
begin
declare #table table(serial_no int identity(1,1), name varchar(30), text varchar(30), level int)
insert #table
select Name, Text, Level from Demo
declare #max as int = (select max(serial_no) from #table)
--select #max
declare #i as int =0
declare #temp as varchar(30)
declare #text as varchar(30)
while #i < #max
begin
set #i = #i +1
set #temp = (select name from #table where serial_no = #i)
-- if #temp is not null, fetch its value, otherwise, update/replace it with
-- previously gotten not-null cell's value.
if #temp is not null
begin
set #text = (select name from #table where serial_no = #i)
end
else
begin
update #table
set name = #text where serial_no = #i
end
end
select name, text, level from #table
end

Answer 3

You can update it using temporary table according to the given scenario i thought item_nbr is unique in row Hope this will help
SELECT *
INTO #TEMP
FROM URTablehere
DECLARE #PRev VARCHAR(MAX)
WHILE ( SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM URTablehere
) > 0
BEGIN
DECLARE #ID INT
DECLARE #Part VARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE #Num INT
SELECT TOP ( 1 )
#ID = level ,
#Part = Part ,
#Num = item_nbr
FROM #TEMP
IF ( #ID = 1 )
BEGIN
SELECT #PRev = #Part
END
IF ( #ID > 1
AND #Part IS NULL
)
BEGIN
UPDATE URTablehere
SET Part = #PRev
WHERE item_nbr = #Num
END
DELETE
FROM #TEMP WHERE item_nbr=#Num
END