Pivot Column of varchar - sql

Question

I´m trying to PIVOT some data in a table, but I cannot do it because I do not find the way to do it using varchar columns. I have this table:
declare #table table(name VARCHAR(50) not null, occupation VARCHAR(MAX))
insert into #table values ('A','Doctor')
insert into #table values ('B','Doctor')
insert into #table values ('A','Professor')
insert into #table values ('A','Singer')
insert into #table values ('A','Actor')
SELECT
CASE WHEN occupation = 'Doctor' THEN NAME END AS Doctor,
CASE WHEN occupation = 'Professor' THEN NAME END AS Professor,
CASE WHEN occupation = 'Singer' THEN NAME END AS Singer,
CASE WHEN occupation = 'Actor' THEN NAME END AS Actor
FROM #table
Output:
Doctor Professor Singer Actor
A NULL NULL NULL
B NULL NULL NULL
NULL A NULL NULL
NULL NULL A NULL
NULL NULL NULL A
And for Pivot i get this output:
select * from
(
select name, occupation from #table ) src
pivot (
min(name)
for occupation in ([Doctor],[Professor],[Singer],[Actor])) as pvt
Doctor Professor Singer Actor
A A A A
And for min / max / function the pivot function gives me only partial output, for the count function I get number of records for doctor, singer etc.. But I need actual rows, not the row count.
What I need is this:
Doctor Professor Singer Actor
A A A A
B NULL NULL NULL
i.e suppose if we have 5 name for doctors we need to show 5 entries for doctor column.

Answer 1

I find this easier to express as conditional aggregation using a sequential number generated using `row_number():
select max(case when occupation = 'Doctor' then name end) as Doctor,
max(case when occupation = 'Professor' then name end) as Professor,
max(case when occupation = 'Singer' then name end) as Singer,
max(case when occupation = 'Actor' then name end) as Actor
from (select t.*,
row_number() over (partition by occupation order by name) as seqnum
from #table t
) t
group by seqnum
order by seqnum;

Answer 2

You can use PIVOT as you proposed, just add column with ROW_NUMBER:
SELECT [Doctor],[Professor],[Singer],[Actor]
FROM (SELECT name, occupation,
rn = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY occupation ORDER BY occupation)
FROM #table ) AS src
PIVOT (
MIN(name)
FOR occupation IN ([Doctor],[Professor],[Singer],[Actor])
) AS pvt
LiveDemo
Output:
╔════════╦═══════════╦════════╦═══════╗
║ Doctor ║ Professor ║ Singer ║ Actor ║
╠════════╬═══════════╬════════╬═══════╣
║ A ║ A ║ A ║ A ║
║ B ║ ║ ║ ║
╚════════╩═══════════╩════════╩═══════╝
EDIT:
You did not write how to handle more rows so consider this case.
Above solution will return:
╔════════╦═══════════╦════════╦═══════╗
║ Doctor ║ Professor ║ Singer ║ Actor ║
╠════════╬═══════════╬════════╬═══════╣
║ A ║ A ║ A ║ A ║
║ B ║ ║ C ║ ║
╚════════╩═══════════╩════════╩═══════╝
vs:
╔════════╦═══════════╦════════╦═══════╗
║ Doctor ║ Professor ║ Singer ║ Actor ║
╠════════╬═══════════╬════════╬═══════╣
║ A ║ A ║ A ║ A ║
║ B ║ ║ ║ ║
║ ║ ║ C ║ ║
╚════════╩═══════════╩════════╩═══════╝
If you want second case use:
SELECT [Doctor],[Professor],[Singer],[Actor]
FROM (SELECT name, occupation,
rn = DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY Name)
FROM #table ) AS src
PIVOT (
MIN(name)
FOR occupation IN ([Doctor],[Professor],[Singer],[Actor])
) AS pvt
LiveDemo2