using a variable to send parameters to IN clause [duplicate] - sql

This question already has answers here:
Parameterize an SQL IN clause
(41 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
I have a stored procedure. In this procedure there's a piece of code that look like
...WHERE someParam IN (1,2)...
I should abstract this part, cause an undefined numer of parameters should be considered (not only 1 OR 2). I get this parameter list from vb.net code as a cvs string (i.e. "1,2" or "78, 109" and so on). Pratically my situation will be something like that:
DECLARE #IdParam varchar(100)
SET #IdParam = '1,2'
...
...WHERE someParam IN (#IdParm)...
but this code will clearly produce me an error:
Conversion failed when converting the varchar value '1,2' to data type
int.
What can I do to reach my goal and keep SQL engine quiet? If an optimal solution exist I could consider to modify prexisten VB code.
Edit 1: I wouldn't use that ugly solution of the linked post!

Use a table valued parameter to send in multiple values.
CREATE PROC foo
#IDList SomeType READONLY
AS
...
WHERE someParam IN (SELECT ID FROM #IDList )
...
GO

You can create a function to turn the string into a list...
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[fn_MVParamToInt](#RepParam nvarchar(max), #Delim char(1)= ',')
RETURNS #VALUES TABLE (Param int)AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #chrind INT
DECLARE #Piece nvarchar(max)
SELECT #chrind = 1
WHILE #chrind > 0
BEGIN
SELECT #chrind = CHARINDEX(#Delim,#RepParam)
IF #chrind > 0
SELECT #Piece = LEFT(#RepParam,#chrind - 1)
ELSE
SELECT #Piece = #RepParam
IF ISNUMERIC(#Piece) = 1
INSERT #VALUES(Param) VALUES(CAST(#Piece AS int))
SELECT #RepParam = RIGHT(#RepParam,LEN(#RepParam) - #chrind)
IF LEN(#RepParam) = 0 BREAK
END
RETURN
END
Then your query becomes something like...
...WHERE mycolumn IN (SELECT Param FROM dbo.fn_MVParamToInt(yourstring, '.'))

Related

Split/explode comma delimited string with Sybase SQL Anywhere

UPDATE:
Someone marked this question as duplicate of
How do I split a string so I can access item x.
But it's different, my question is about Sybase SQL Anywhere, the other is about MS SQL Server. These are two different SQL engines, even if they have the same origin, they have different syntax. So it's not duplicate. I wrote in the first place in description and tags that it's all about Sybase SQL Anywhere.
I have field id_list='1234,23,56,576,1231,567,122,87876,57553,1216'
and I want to use it to search IN this field:
SELECT *
FROM table1
WHERE id IN (id_list)
id is integer
id_list is varchar/text
But in this way this doesn't work, so I need in some way to split id_list into select query.
What solution should I use here? I'm using the T-SQL Sybase ASA 9 database (SQL Anywhere).
Way I see this, is to create own function with while loop through,
and each element extract based on split by delimiter position search,
then insert elements into temp table which function will return as result.
This can be done without using dynamic SQL but you will need to create a couple of supporting objects. The fist object is a table valued function that will parse your string and return a table of integers. The second object is a stored procedure that will have a parameter where you can pass the string (id_list), parse it to a table, and then finally join it to your query.
First, create the function to parse the string:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[String_To_Int_Table]
(
#list NVARCHAR(1024)
, #delimiter NCHAR(1) = ',' --Defaults to CSV
)
RETURNS
#tableList TABLE(
value INT
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #value NVARCHAR(11)
DECLARE #position INT
SET #list = LTRIM(RTRIM(#list))+ ','
SET #position = CHARINDEX(#delimiter, #list, 1)
IF REPLACE(#list, #delimiter, '') <> ''
BEGIN
WHILE #position > 0
BEGIN
SET #value = LTRIM(RTRIM(LEFT(#list, #position - 1)));
INSERT INTO #tableList (value)
VALUES (cast(#value as int));
SET #list = RIGHT(#list, LEN(#list) - #position);
SET #position = CHARINDEX(#delimiter, #list, 1);
END
END
RETURN
END
Now create your stored procedure:
CREATE PROCEDURE ParseListExample
#id_list as nvarchar(1024)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;
--create a temp table to hold the list of ids
CREATE TABLE #idTable (ID INT);
-- use the table valued function to parse the ids into a table.
INSERT INTO #idTable(ID)
SELECT Value FROM dbo.String_to_int_table(#id_list, ',');
-- join the temp table of ids to the table you want to query...
SELECT T1.*
FROM table1 T1
JOIN #idTable T2
on T1.ID = T2.ID
Execution Example:
exec ParseListExample #id_list='1234,23,56,576,1231,567,122,87876,57553,1216'
I hope this helps...
Like Mikael Eriksson said, there is answer at dba.stackexchange.com with two very good solutions, first with use of sa_split_list system procedure, and second slower with CAST statement.
For the Sybase SQL Anywhere 9 sa_split_list system procedure not exist, so I have made sa_split_list system procedure replacement (I used parts of the code from bsivel answer):
CREATE PROCEDURE str_split_list
(in str long varchar, in delim char(10) default ',')
RESULT(
line_num integer,
row_value long varchar)
BEGIN
DECLARE str2 long varchar;
DECLARE position integer;
CREATE TABLE #str_split_list (
line_num integer DEFAULT AUTOINCREMENT,
row_value long varchar null,
primary key(line_num));
SET str = TRIM(str) || delim;
SET position = CHARINDEX(delim, str);
separaterows:
WHILE position > 0 loop
SET str2 = TRIM(LEFT(str, position - 1));
INSERT INTO #str_split_list (row_value)
VALUES (str2);
SET str = RIGHT(str, LENGTH(str) - position);
SET position = CHARINDEX(delim, str);
end loop separaterows;
select * from #str_split_list order by line_num asc;
END
Execute the same way as sa_split_list with default delimiter ,:
select * from str_split_list('1234,23,56,576,1231,567,122,87876,57553,1216')
or with specified delimiter which can be changed:
select * from str_split_list('1234,23,56,576,1231,567,122,87876,57553,1216', ',')
You use text in your query and this is not going to work.
Use dynamic query.
Good contribution from bsivel answer, but to generalise it (for other separators than a comma), then the line
SET #list = LTRIM(RTRIM(#list))+ ','
must become
SET #list = LTRIM(RTRIM(#list))+ #delimiter
The first version will only work for comma-separated lists.
The dynamic query approach would look like this:
create procedure ShowData #IdList VarChar(255)
as
exec ('use yourDatabase; select * from MyTable where Id in ('+#IdList+')')

sql server - check to see if cast is possible

I have the following code to cast nvarchar to integer:
cast(#value as int)
However I have no control of the parameter #value, hence the code might fail. Is there anyway to check if a cast is possible before doing a cast?
Well, in SQL Server 2012 you could use the new TRY_CAST(), but with SQL Server 2008, you should be able to use ISNUMERIC(), and then include handling for values that do not pass that test.
I've recently answered a question about this and using ISNUMERIC to CAST to an INT won't work by itself. Reason being, ISNUMERIC returns true for non integer numbers (1.5) for example.
Here was a recent answer on the subject:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/14692165/1073631
Consider adding an additional check using CHARINDEX with ISNUMERIC, or what I prefer, use a Regular Expression to validate the data.
And here is a Fiddle demonstrating the problem with using ISNUMERIC on it's own. And the Fiddle using a regular expression instead that works.
DECLARE #Test nvarchar(10)
SET #Test = '1.5'
--Works
SELECT CASE WHEN #Test NOT LIKE '%[^0-9]%' THEN CAST(#Test as int) ELSE 0 END
-- Produces Error
SELECT CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(#Test) = 1 THEN CAST(#Test as int) ELSE 0 END
Good luck.
I generally use the following, it seems to cover all the situations.
SELECT CASE WHEN 1 = ISNUMERIC(#value + '.0') THEN CAST(#value as int) ELSE 0 END
It takes advantage of the fact that "ISNUMERIC" will not allow two periods. The "TRY_CAST" in SQL Server 2012+ is a much better solution though.
The proper test is:
select (case when isnumeric(val) = 1 and val not like '%e%' and val not like '%.%'
then cast(val as int)
end)
The function isnumeric() returns 1 for anything that looks like a float, so you have to be careful.
You can also use what I consider to be a peculiarity of SQL Server. You can cast the floating value 1.23 to an int, but you cannot cast the string value. So, the following also works:
select (case when isnumeric(val) = 1
then cast(cast(val as float) as int)
end)
Maybe we can do something like this:
declare #value as nvarchar(10) = 'A';
begin try
select cast(#value as int);
end try
begin catch
-- do something
end catch
Use a procedure with a TRY CATCH block to suppress errors
i.e.
CREATE PROCEDURE p_try_cast
#type nvarchar(MAX),
#value nvarchar(MAX)
AS
BEGIN
BEGIN TRY
DECLARE #sql varchar(MAX)
DECLARE #out_table TABLE(value varchar(MAX))
SET #sql = 'SELECT CONVERT(varchar(max), CAST(''' + #value + ''' AS ' + #type + '))'
INSERT #out_table
EXECUTE (#sql)
IF EXISTS ( SELECT 1 FROM #out_table WHERE value = #value)
RETURN 1
RETURN 0
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
RETURN 0
END CATCH
END
GO
Now you can call that with the passed string and desired type and the proc returns 1 for success and 0 for failure
DECLARE #ret int
-- This returns 0 - Fail
EXEC #ret = p_try_cast 'integer', '1.5'
-- This returns 1 - Success
EXEC #ret = p_try_cast 'integer', '1.5'
-- This returns 0 - Fail
EXEC #ret = p_try_cast 'char(4)', 'HELLO'
-- This returns 1 - Success
EXEC #ret = p_try_cast 'char(4)', 'HELL'

Variable "IN" expression in SQL [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Closed 12 years ago.
Possible Duplicates:
SQL Multiple Parameter Values
SQL Server (2008) Pass ArrayList or String to SP for IN()
I would like to SELECT some rows from a table that have certain values which are not known at the time a stored procedure is written. For example, searching for books of a particular type or types in a library database:
SELECT * FROM Books WHERE Type IN (_expr_);
Where I want _expr_ to be ('Humor', 'Thriller') one run, and maybe ('Education') the next, depending on the user's choices. How can I vary the expression at run-time?
Unfortunately, I still have a lot to learn about SQL in general and am not sure if I'm even asking a question that makes sense. I would appreciate any guidance!
This is trickier than you might think in SQL Server 2005 (2008 has table valued parameters which makes it easier)
See http://www.sommarskog.se/arrays-in-sql-2005.html for a review of the methods.
I feel like I've answered this question before...
anyway, I've long used the following user defined split function:
Usage: dbo.Split("#ParamName", ",") where the 2nd parameter is the separator.
You can then join this onto a table, as it returns a table value function with the elementID and Element.
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[Split]
(
#vcDelimitedString varchar(max),
#vcDelimiter varchar(100)
)
RETURNS #tblArray TABLE
(
ElementID smallint IDENTITY(1,1), --Array index
Element varchar(1000) --Array element contents
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #siIndex smallint, #siStart smallint, #siDelSize smallint
SET #siDelSize = LEN(#vcDelimiter)
--loop through source string and add elements to destination table array
WHILE LEN(#vcDelimitedString) > 0
BEGIN
SET #siIndex = CHARINDEX(#vcDelimiter, #vcDelimitedString)
IF #siIndex = 0
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #tblArray VALUES(#vcDelimitedString)
BREAK
END
ELSE
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #tblArray VALUES(SUBSTRING(#vcDelimitedString, 1,#siIndex - 1))
SET #siStart = #siIndex + #siDelSize
SET #vcDelimitedString = SUBSTRING(#vcDelimitedString, #siStart , LEN(#vcDelimitedString) - #siStart + 1)
END
END
RETURN
END
another approach, is to build a sql string and use execute to execute it. The string is of "INSERT...SELECT form" and inserts the results into a temporary table. Then you select from the temp.
declare #sql varchar(1000)
set #sql = 'INSERT INTO sometemptable SELECT * FROM Books WHERE Type IN ('
set #sql = #sql + {code that builds a syntactically correct list}
set #sql = #sql + ')'
execute #s_sql
select * from sometemptable
What you do here for sql server 2005 and prior is put the user parameters in a table, and then select from the table:
select columns
from books
where type in
(
select choices
from userchoices
where sessionkey= #sessionkey and userid= #userid
)

TSQL Statement IN

I am having a small problem with the IN SQL statement. I was just wondering if anyone could help me?
#Ids = "1,2,3,4,5"
SELECT * FROM Nav WHERE CONVERT(VARCHAR,NavigationID) IN (CONVERT(VARCHAR,#Ids))
This is coming back with the error below, I am sure this is pretty simple!
Conversion failed when converting the varchar value '1,' to data type int.
The SQL IN clause does not accept a single variable to represent a list of values -- no database does, without using dynamic SQL. Otherwise, you could use a Table Valued Function (SQL Server 2000+) to pull the values out of the list & return them as a table that you can join against.
Dynamic SQL example:
EXEC('SELECT *
FROM Nav
WHERE NavigationID IN ('+ #Ids +')')
I recommend reading The curse and blessings of dynamic SQL before using dynamic SQL on SQL Server.
Jason:
First create a function like this
Create FUNCTION [dbo].[ftDelimitedAsTable](#dlm char, #string varchar(8000))
RETURNS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
/*------------------------------------------------------------------------
declare #dlm char, #string varchar(1000)
set #dlm=','; set #string='t1,t2,t3';
-- tHIS FUNCION RETUNRS IN THE ASCENDING ORDER
-- 19TH Apr 06
------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
--declare
#table_var TABLE
(id int identity(1,1),
r varchar(1000)
)
AS
BEGIN
declare #n int,#i int
set #n=dbo.fnCountChars(#dlm,#string)+1
SET #I =1
while #I <= #N
begin
insert #table_var
select dbo.fsDelimitedString(#dlm,#string,#i)
set #I= #I+1
end
if #n =1 insert #TABLE_VAR VALUES(#STRING)
delete from #table_var where r=''
return
END
And then
set quoted_identifier off
declare #ids varchar(max)
select #Ids = "1,2,3,4,5"
declare #nav table ( navigationid int identity(1,1),theother bigint)
insert #nav(theother) select 10 union select 11 union select 15
SELECT * FROM #Nav WHERE CONVERT(VARCHAR,NavigationID) IN (select id from dbo.ftDelimitedAsTable(',',#Ids))
select * from dbo.ftDelimitedAsTable(',',#Ids)
What you're doing is not possible with the SQL IN statement. You cannot pass a string to it and expect that string to be parsed. IN is for specific, hard-coded values.
There are two ways to do what you want to do here.
One is to create a 'dynamic sql' query and execute it, after substituting in your IN list.
DECLARE #query varchar(max);
SET #query = 'SELECT * FROM Nav WHERE CONVERT(VARCHAR,NavigationID) IN (' + #Ids + ')'
exec (#query)
This can have performance impacts and other complications. Generally I'd try to avoid it.
The other method is to use a User Defined Function (UDF) to split the string into its component parts and then query against that.
There's a post detailing how to create that function here
Once the function exists, it's trivial to join onto it
SELECT * FROM Nav
CROSS APPLY dbo.StringSplit(#Ids) a
WHERE a.s = CONVERT(varchar, Nav.NavigationId)
NB- the 'a.s' field reference is based on the linked function, which stores the split value in a column named 's'. This may differ based on the implementation of your string split function
This is nice because it uses a set based approach to the query rather than an IN subquery, but a CROSS JOIN may be a little complex for the moment, so if you want to maintain the IN syntax then the following should work:
SELECT * FROM Nav
WHERE Nav.NavigationId IN
(SELECT CONVERT(int, a.s) AS Value
FROM dbo.StringSplit(#Ids) a

Passing SQL stored procedure entirety of WHERE clause

I have a SQL stored procedure of the form
SELECT [fields] FROM [table] WHERE #whereSql
I want to pass the procedure an argument (#whereSql) which specifies the entire WHERE clause, but the following error is returned:
An expression of non-boolean type specified in a context where a condition is expected
Can this be done?
The short answer is that you can't do it like this -- SQL Server looks at the contents of a variable as a VALUE. It doesn't dynamically build up the string to execute (which is why this is the correct way to avoid SQL injection attacks).
You should make every effort to avoid a dynamic WHERE as you're trying to do, largely for this reason, but also for the sake of efficiency. Instead, try to build up the WHERE clause so that it short-circuits pieces with lots of ORs, depending on the situation.
If there's no way around it, you can still build a string of your own assembled from the pieces of the command, and then EXEC it.
So you could do this:
DECLARE #mywhere VARCHAR(500)
DECLARE #mystmt VARCHAR(1000)
SET #mywhere = ' WHERE MfgPartNumber LIKE ''a%'' '
SELECT #mystmt = 'SELECT TOP 100 * FROM Products.Product AS p ' + #mywhere + ';'
EXEC( #mystmt )
But I recommend instead that you do this:
SELECT TOP 100 *
FROM Products.Product AS p
WHERE
( MfgPartNumber LIKE 'a%' AND ModeMfrPartNumStartsWith=1)
OR ( CategoryID = 123 AND ModeCategory=1 )
I believe this can be done using Dynamic SQL. See below:
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[myProc]
#whereSql nvarchar(256)
AS
EXEC('SELECT [fields] FROM [table] WHERE ' + #whereSql)
GO
That said, you should do some serious research on dynamic SQL before you actually use it.
Here are a few links that I came across after a quick search:
http://www.sommarskog.se/dynamic_sql.html
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa224806%28SQL.80%29.aspx
http://www.itjungle.com/fhg/fhg100505-story02.html
Make sure you read this fully
www.sommarskog.se/dynamic_sql.html
Dynamic SQL listed in some of the Answers is definitely a solution. However, if Dynamic SQL needs to be avoided, one of the solutions that I prefer is to make use of table variables (or temp tables) to store the parameter value that is used for comparison in WHERE clause.
Here is an example Stored Procedure implementation.
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[myStoredProc]
#parameter1 varchar(50)
AS
declare #myTempTableVar Table(param1 varchar(50))
insert into #myTempTableVar values(#parameter1)
select * from MyTable where MyColumn in (select param1 from #myTempTableVar)
GO
In case you want to pass in multiple values, then the comma separated values can be stored as rows in the table variable and used in the same way for comparison.
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[myStoredProc]
#parameter1 varchar(50)
AS
--Code Block to Convert Comma Seperated Parameter into Values of a Temporary Table Variable
declare #myTempTableVar Table(param1 varchar(50))
declare #index int =0, #tempString varchar(10)
if charindex(',',#parameter1) > 0
begin
set #index = charindex(',',#parameter1)
while #index > 0
begin
set #tempString = SubString(#parameter1,1,#index-1)
insert into #myTempTableVar values (#tempString)
set #parameter1 = SubString(#parameter1,#index+1,len(#parameter1)-#index)
set #index = charindex(',',#parameter1)
end
set #tempString = #parameter1
insert into #myTempTableVar values (#tempString)
end
else
insert into #myTempTableVar values (#parameter1)
select * from MyTable where MyColumn in (select param1 from #myTempTableVar)
GO
http://sqlmag.com/t-sql/passing-multivalued-variables-stored-procedure
try this it works!!
CHARINDEX (',' + ColumnName + ',', ',' +
REPLACE(#Parameter, ' ', '') + ',') > 0
execute syntax set #Parameter= 'nc1,nc2'