How I prevent the bottom Order By from effecting everything in #Result? - sql

Question

I need to prevent the Order By SettingID at the bottom of this SQL from re-ordering everything. I want to Order my first select by UserID and my second select by OrderID. How do put a bound on the bottom Order By? I tried parentheses but I'm a T-SQL beginner so couldn't get that figured out. I tried using #ResultA and #ResultB and then Select them into #Result but the end result is the same the bottom Order By applies to the entire #Result. Would temp tables be the way to go and if so how?
DECLARE #Result TABLE (SettingID INT, GroupID INT, UserID INT)
INSERT INTO #Result
SELECT
SettingID,
GroupID,
UserID
FROM Table1
WHERE (GroupID = #GroupID AND UserID = #UserID)
ORDER BY UserID
INSERT INTO #Result
SELECT
SettingID,
GroupID,
UserID
FROM Tabel1
WHERE (GroupID IS NULL)
ORDER BY SettingID DESC -- This Order By is reordering everything in #Result.
SELECT * FROM #Result

Answer 1

You should not depend on the ordering of rows in a table, even table variables. In SQL, tables represent unordered sets. You can do what with a single query:
SELECT SettingID, GroupID, UserID
FROM Table1
ORDER BY (CASE WHEN (GroupID = #GroupID AND UserID = #UserID) THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) DESC,
GroupID
You can put this into a table variable:
INSERT INTO #Result
SELECT SettingID, GroupID, UserID
FROM Table1
ORDER BY (CASE WHEN (GroupID = #GroupID AND UserID = #UserID) THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) DESC,
GroupID;
However, you cannot assume that:
SELECT *
FROM #Result
will be in any particular order, such as insert order.
There is a trick if you want to do that. Create an identity column in the temporary table and order by that:
DECLARE #Result TABLE (
ResultId INT IDENTITY(1, 1) PRIMARY KEY,
SettingID INT,
GroupID INT,
UserID INT
);
INSERT INTO #Result(SettingID, GroupID, UserID)
SELECT SettingID, GroupID, UserID
FROM Table1
ORDER BY (CASE WHEN (GroupID = #GroupID AND UserID = #UserID) THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) DESC,
GroupID;
SELECT *
FROM #Result
ORDER BY ResultId;

Answer 2

Use commas to add ORDER BY layers:
SELECT * FROM #Result ORDER BY UserID, OrderID
You can and should remove the order by in the queries that populate your table variable.

Answer 3

Tables don't have a concept of record order as you perceive it. It just doesn't exist.
If you need to guarantee that results are returned in a specific order, you must use an ORDER BY on the select query that produces those results. With that in mind, you should probably just omit the ORDER BY clause on your INSERT statements, and only include it on the final select.
More than that, if controlling the order is the whole reason for the temp table, you should really just do this:
SELECT
SettingID,
GroupID,
UserID
FROM Table1
WHERE (GroupID = #GroupID AND UserID = #UserID) OR #GroupID IS NULL
ORDER BY CASE WHEN GroupID IS NOT NULL THEN 0 ELSE 1 END
, CASE WHEN GroupID IS NOT NULL THEN UserID ELSE SettingID END

Answer 4

ORDER BY
CASE WHEN (SettingID between x and y)
THEN UserID
else OrderID END