How do I do multiple selection based on a flowchart of criteria? - sql

Question

Table name: Copies
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| group_id | my_id | previous | in_this | higher_value | most_recent |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 900 | 1 | null | Y | 7 | May16 |
| 900 | 2 | null | Y | 3 | Oct 16 |
| 900 | 3 | null | N | 9 | Oct 16 |
| 901 | 4 | 378 | Y | 3 | Oct 16 |
| 901 | 5 | null | N | 2 | Oct 16 |
| 902 | 6 | null | N | 5 | May16 |
| 902 | 7 | null | N | 9 | Oct 16 |
| 903 | 8 | null | Y | 3 | Oct 16 |
| 903 | 9 | null | Y | 3 | May16 |
| 904 | 10 | null | N | 0 | May 16 |
| 904 | 11 | null | N | 0 | May16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Output table
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| group_id | my_id | previous | in_this | higher_value |most_recent|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 900 | 1 | null | Y | 7 | May16 |
| 902 | 7 | null | N | 9 | Oct 16 |
| 903 | 8 | null | Y | 3 | Oct 16 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi all, I need help with a query that returns one record within a group based on the importance of the field. The importance is ranked as follows:
previous- if one record within the group_id is not null, then neither record within a group_id is returned (because according to our rules, all records within a group should have the same previous value)
in_this- If one record is Y, and the other is N within a group_id, then we keep the Y; If all records are Y or all are N, then we move to the next attribute
Higher_value- If all records in the ‘in_this’ field are equal, then we need to select the record with the greater value from this field. If both records have an equal value, we move to the next attribute
Most_recent- If all records were of equal value in the ‘higher_value’ field, then we consider the newest record. If these are equal, then nothing is returned.
This is a simplified version of the table I am looking at, but I just would like to get the gist of how something like this would work. Basically, my table has multiple copies of records that have been grouped through some algorithm. I have been tasked with selecting which of these records within a group is the ‘good’ one, and we are basing this on these fields.
I’d like the output to actually show all fields, because I will likely attempt to refine the query to include other fields (there are over 40 to consider), but the most important is the group_id and my_id fields. It would be neat if we could also somehow flag why each record got picked, but that isn’t necessary.
It seems like something like this should be easy, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around how to pick from within a group_id. Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

You can use analytic functions for this. The trick is establishing the right variables for each condition:
select t.*
from (select t.*,
max(in_this) over (partition by group_id) as max_in_this,
min(higher_value) over (partition by group_id) as min_higher_value,
max(higher_value) over (partition by group_id) as max_higher_value,
row_number() over (partition by group_id, higher_value order by my_id) as seqnum_ghv,
min(most_recent) over (partition by group_id) as min_most_recent,
max(most_recent) over (partition by group_id) as max_most_recent,
row_number() over (partition by group_id order by most_recent) as seqnum_mr
from t
) t
where max_in_this is not null and
( (min_higher_value <> max_higher_value and seqnum_ghv = 1) or
(min_higher_value = max_higher_value and min_most_recent <> max_most_recent and seqnum_mr = 1
)
);
The third condition as stated makes no sense, but you should get the idea for how to implement this.