Find a value from all table columns - sql

Question

I am building a functionality that will filter a data on all column table.
Let's say I have this table:
-------------------------------------
| ID | NAME | Address | Remarks |
| 1 | Manny | Phil | Boxer-US |
| 2 | Timothy | US | Boxer |
| 3 | Floyd | US | Boxer |
| 4 | Maidana | US | Boxer |
| 5 | Marquez | MEX | Boxer |
-------------------------------------
I search for "US", it should give me IDs 1-4 since "US" exists in their columns.
I could have this to filter it:
SELECT ID FROM tbl_Boxers
WHERE ID LIKE '%US%' OR NAME LIKE '%US%' OR Address LIKE '%US%' OR Remarks LIKE '%US%'
But I'm trying to avoid a long WHERE clause here since in actual, I have around 15 columns to look at.
Is there any other way to minimize the where clause?
Please help.
Thanks

Answer 1

The way this is normally done is to make a 'Searchable Field' column where you concatinate all search columns into one field for searching.
So while that provides an easier overview and querying it adds some management of the data you need to be aware off on inserts and updates.
Also on its own - it's not an optimal way of searching, so if performance is important - then you should look to implement full text search.
So the question is where you want to have the 'overhead' and whether that functionality your building is going to be run often or just once in a while.
If it is the former, and performance is important - look to full text. If it is just a once-in-a-while query, then I'd properly just do the long WHERE clause myself to avoid adding more overhead on the maintenance of the data

Answer 2

Check the following solution. Here the query is generated dynamically based on the column names in your table.
This is applicable if the given table is a physical table. This solution wont work for temporary tables or table variables.
BEGIN TRAN
--Simulate your table structure
--Should be a physical table. Cannot be a temp table or a table variable
CREATE TABLE TableA
(
ID INT,
NAME VARCHAR(50),
ADDRESS VARCHAR(50),
REMARKS VARCHAR(50)
)
--Added values for testing
INSERT INTO TableA(ID, name , address ,remarks) VALUES(1,'Manny','Phil','Boxer-US')
INSERT INTO TableA(ID, name , address ,remarks) VALUES(2,'Timothy','US','Boxer')
INSERT INTO TableA(ID, name , address ,remarks) VALUES(3,'Floyd','US','Boxer')
INSERT INTO TableA(ID, name , address ,remarks) VALUES(4,'Maidana','US','Boxer')
INSERT INTO TableA(ID, name , address ,remarks) VALUES(5,'Marquez',' MEX','Boxer')
--Solution Starts from here
DECLARE #YourSearchValue VARCHAR(50)--Will be passed
SET #YourSearchValue = 'US' --Simulated passed value
CREATE TABLE #TableCols
(
ID INT IDENTITY(1,1),
COLUMN_NAME VARCHAR(1000)
)
INSERT INTO #TableCols
(COLUMN_NAME)
SELECT COLUMN_NAME
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_name = 'TableA';
DECLARE #STARTCOUNT INT, #MAXCOUNT INT, #COL_NAME VARCHAR(1000), #QUERY VARCHAR(8000), #SUBQUERY VARCHAR(8000)
SELECT #STARTCOUNT = 1, #MAXCOUNT = MAX(ID) FROM #TableCols;
SELECT #QUERY = '', #SUBQUERY = ''
WHILE(#STARTCOUNT <= #MAXCOUNT)
BEGIN
SELECT #COL_NAME = COLUMN_NAME FROM #TableCols WHERE ID = #STARTCOUNT;
SET #SUBQUERY = #SUBQUERY + ' CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), ' + #COL_NAME + ') LIKE ''%' + #YourSearchValue + '%''' + ' OR ';
SET #STARTCOUNT = #STARTCOUNT + 1
END
SET #SUBQUERY = LEFT(#SUBQUERY, LEN(#SUBQUERY) - 3);
SET #QUERY = 'SELECT * FROM TableA WHERE 1 = 1 AND (' + #SUBQUERY + ')'
--PRINT (#QUERY);
EXEC (#QUERY);
ROLLBACK
Hope this helps.