Replace NULL with values - sql

Question

Here is my challenge:
I have a log table which every time a record is changed adds a new record but puts a NULL value for each non-changed value in each record. In other words only the changed value is set, the rest unchanged fields in each row simply has a NULL value.
Now I would like to replace each NULL value with the value above it that is NOT a NULL value like below:
Source table: Task_log
ID Owner Status Flag
1 Bob Registrar T
2 Sue NULL NULL
3 NULL NULL F
4 Frank Admission T
5 NULL NULL F
6 NULL NULL T
Desired output table: Task_log
ID Owner Status Flag
1 Bob Registrar T
2 Sue Registrar T
3 Sue Registrar F
4 Frank Admission T
5 Frank Admission F
6 Frank Admission T
How do I write a query which will generate the desired output table?

Answer 1

One the new windowed function of SQLServer 2012 is FIRST_VALUE, wich have quite a direct name, it can be partitioned through the OVER clause, before using it is necessary to divide every column in data block, a block for a column begin when a value is found.
With Block As (
Select ID
, Owner
, OBlockID = SUM(Case When Owner Is Null Then 0 Else 1 End)
OVER (ORDER BY ID)
, Status
, SBlockID = SUM(Case When Status Is Null Then 0 Else 1 End)
OVER (ORDER BY ID)
, Flag
, FBlockID = SUM(Case When Flag Is Null Then 0 Else 1 End)
OVER (ORDER BY ID)
From Task_log
)
Select ID
, Owner = FIRST_VALUE(Owner) OVER (PARTITION BY OBlockID ORDER BY ID)
, Status = FIRST_VALUE(Status) OVER (PARTITION BY SBlockID ORDER BY ID)
, Flag = FIRST_VALUE(Flag) OVER (PARTITION BY FBlockID ORDER BY ID)
FROM Block
SQLFiddle demo
The UPDATE query is easily derived

Answer 2

As I mentioned in my comment, I would try to fix the process that is creating the records rather than fixing the junk data. If that is not an option, the code below should get you pointed in the right direction.
UPDATE t1
set t1.owner = COALESCE(t1.owner, t2.owner),
t1.Status = COALESCE(t1.status, t2.status),
t1.Flag = COALESCE(t1.flag, t2.flag)
FROM Task_log as t1
INNER JOIN Task_log as t2
ON t1.id = (t1.id + 1)
where t1.owner is null
OR t1.status is null
OR t1.flag is null

Answer 3

I can think of several approaches.
You could use a combination of COALESCE with an array aggregate function. Unfortunately it doesn't look like SQL Server supports array_agg natively (although some nice people have developed some workarounds).
You could also use a subselect for each column.
SELECT id,
(SELECT TOP 1 FROM (SELECT owner FROM ... WHERE id = outer_id AND owner IS NOT NULL order by ID desc )) AS owner,
-- other columns
You could probably do something with window functions, too.

Answer 4

A vanilla solution would be:
select id
, owner
, coalesce(owner, ( select owner from t t2
where id = (select max(id) from t t3
where id < t1.id and owner is not null))
) as new_owner
, flag
, coalesce(flag, ( select flag from t t2
where id = (select max(id) from t t3
where id < t1.id and flag is not null))
) as new_flag
from t t1
Rather inefficient, but should work on most DBMS