User-defined In-line Table-Valued Functions Called On Each Other In SQL Server 2008 - sql

Question

I am using SQL Server 2008, and I am struggling with learning how to correctly call a User-defined In-line Table-Valued Function on a User-defined In-line Table-Valued Function (that is, since each expects a scalar or scalars as input and outputs a table, I want to learn how to correctly call one by passing it another table, whereupon each row is treated as its scalar inputs).
I posted a couple questions related to this recently, but I think I was not clear enough, and did not sufficiently encapsulate the problem to cleanly demonstrate it. I have now prepared the proper statements to provide anyone interested in helping the necessary tables, views, functions, and SELECT outputs to see the problem occur in front of them by executing the query below.
There are several ways I can phrase the core question, and from here and other forums, I can tell I have difficulty clearly expressing it. I am going to phrase it several ways here, but these are all meant to be the same question, phrased differently so people from different backgrounds can more easily understand me.
How do I correctly write the "imageFileNameFromAddress" function below so it works as intended; to wit, the intent is that it takes the same input as "bookAndPageFromAddress" and, using bookAndPageFromAddress and imageFileNameFromBookPage, passing the input to the first, then its output to the second, and returns the second's output?
Why does the third SELECT statement at the bottom below provide different results from the second one, and how do I fix the underlying function(s) to provide identical results, without repeating code from the other functions?
What is the correct syntax for the OUTER APPLY call in imageFileNameFromAddress so that its output is not null?
WARNING: The code below constructs the necessary tables, views, and functions to demonstrate the problem by dropping them first if they exist, so please please please check first to make sure you don't drop anything of your own! The final three SELECTS demonstrate the problem; the final two SELECTS should have identical output, but do not - the first one (of the final two, so the middle of the three) is a three row table of strings, and the final one is a one row table containing only a NULL.
USE [TOM_GIS]
GO
IF OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[constant]', N'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE [dbo].[constant]
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[constant]
(
ID INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED,
BOOK varchar(5),
PAGE varchar(5),
DocID numeric(8, 0)
)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[constant]
VALUES(' 4043',' 125', 576030)
GO
IF OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[images]', N'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE [dbo].[images]
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[images]
(
ID INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED,
DocID numeric(8, 0),
ImageID numeric(12,0)
)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[images] VALUES(576030, 1589666);
INSERT INTO [dbo].[images] VALUES(576030, 1589667);
INSERT INTO [dbo].[images] VALUES(576030, 1589668);
GO
IF OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[addressBookPage]', N'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE [dbo].[addressBookPage]
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[addressBookPage]
(
ID INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED,
PARCEL_ADDRESS nvarchar(50),
BOOK nchar(10),
PAGE nchar(10),
)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[addressBookPage]
VALUES('155 CENTER STREET','4043', '125')
GO
IF OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[vw_quindraco]') IS NOT NULL
DROP VIEW [dbo].[vw_quindraco]
GO
CREATE VIEW [dbo].[vw_quindraco]
AS
WITH files AS (SELECT RIGHT('00000000' + LTRIM(STR(c.DocID)), 8) AS PathInfo
,RIGHT('0000000000' + LTRIM(STR(i.ImageID)), 12) AS FileName
,ltrim(c.Book) as Book
,ltrim(c.Page) as Page
FROM [dbo].[constant] AS c INNER JOIN
[dbo].[images] AS i ON c.DocID = i.DocID)
SELECT 'Images/' + SUBSTRING(PathInfo, 1, 2) + '/' + SUBSTRING(PathInfo, 3, 2) + '/' + SUBSTRING(PathInfo, 5, 2)
+ '/' + RIGHT(PathInfo, 8) + '/' + FileName + '.tif' AS FullFileName
,Book
,Page
FROM files AS files_1
GO
IF OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[bookAndPageFromAddress]') IS NOT NULL
DROP FUNCTION [dbo].[bookAndPageFromAddress];
GO
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[bookAndPageFromAddress] (#address NVARCHAR(max))
RETURNS TABLE AS RETURN(
SELECT PARCEL_ADDRESS AS Address, Book, Page
FROM [dbo].[addressBookPage]
WHERE PARCEL_ADDRESS like '%' + #address + '%'
);
GO
IF OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[imageFileNameFromBookPage]') IS NOT NULL
DROP FUNCTION [dbo].[imageFileNameFromBookPage];
GO
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[imageFileNameFromBookPage] (#book nvarchar(max), #page nvarchar(max))
RETURNS TABLE AS RETURN(
SELECT i.FullFileName
FROM [dbo].[vw_quindraco] i
WHERE i.Book like #book
AND i.Page like #page
);
GO
IF OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[imageFileNameFromAddress]') IS NOT NULL
DROP FUNCTION [dbo].[imageFileNameFromAddress];
GO
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[imageFileNameFromAddress] (#address NVARCHAR(max))
RETURNS TABLE AS RETURN(
SELECT *
FROM [dbo].[bookAndPageFromAddress](#address) addresses
OUTER APPLY [dbo].[imageFileNameFromBookPage](addresses.Book, addresses.Page) foo
);
GO
SELECT Book,Page FROM [dbo].[bookAndPageFromAddress]('155 Center Street');
SELECT FullFileName FROM [dbo].[imageFileNameFromBookPage]('4043','125');
SELECT FullFileName FROM [dbo].[imageFileNameFromAddress]('155 Center Street')

Answer 1

You have your table fields as nchars, and you are using Like.
Because it's nchar, the value is padded with spaces to the declared length (10).
Because it's Like, the spaces are considered essential part of a match, whereas the equality operator, =, would ignore trailing spaces.
Because data types in the table and in the function parameters do not match, implicit conversions happen in the background, ultimately causing comparison to fail because of spaces.
Use = instead of Like inside imageFileNameFromBookPage to quickly fix it.
Better yet, use correct data types in all functions and views to avoid any conversions.