T-SQL: Paging WITH TIES - sql

Question

I am trying to implement a paging routine that's a little different.
For the sake of a simple example, let's assume that I have a table defined and populated as follows:
DECLARE #Temp TABLE
(
ParentId INT,
[TimeStamp] DATETIME,
Value INT
);
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES (1, '1/1/2013 00:00', 6);
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES (1, '1/1/2013 01:00', 7);
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES (1, '1/1/2013 02:00', 8);
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES (2, '1/1/2013 00:00', 6);
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES (2, '1/1/2013 01:00', 7);
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES (2, '1/1/2013 02:00', 8);
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES (3, '1/1/2013 00:00', 6);
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES (3, '1/1/2013 01:00', 7);
INSERT INTO #Temp VALUES (3, '1/1/2013 02:00', 8);
TimeStamp will always be the same interval, e.g. daily data, 1 hour data, 1 minute data, etc. It will not be mixed.
For reporting and presentation purposes, I want to implement paging that:
Orders by TimeStamp
Starts out using a suggested pageSize (say 4), but will automatically adjust to include additional records matching on TimeStamp. In other words, if 1/1/2013 01:00 is included for one ParentId, the suggested pageSize will be overridden and all records for hour 01:00 will be included for all ParentId's. It's almost like the TOP WITH TIES option.
So running this query with pageSize of 4 would return 6 records. There are 3 hour 00:00 and 1 hour 01:00 by default, but because there are more hour 01:00's, the pageSize would be overridden to return all hour 00:00 and 01:00.
Here's what I have so far, and I think I'm close as it works for the first iteration, but sequent queries for the next pageSize+ rows doesn't work.
WITH CTE AS
(
SELECT ParentId, [TimeStamp], Value,
RANK() OVER(ORDER BY [TimeStamp]) AS rnk,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY [TimeStamp]) AS rownum
FROM #Temp
)
SELECT *
FROM CTE
WHERE (rownum BETWEEN 1 AND 4) OR (rnk BETWEEN 1 AND 4)
ORDER BY TimeStamp, ParentId
The ROW_NUMBER ensures the minimum pageSize is met, but the RANK will include additional ties.

Answer 1

declare #Temp as Table ( ParentId Int, [TimeStamp] DateTime, [Value] Int );
insert into #Temp ( ParentId, [TimeStamp], [Value] ) values
(1, '1/1/2013 00:00', 6),
(1, '1/1/2013 01:00', 7),
(1, '1/1/2013 02:00', 8),
(2, '1/1/2013 00:00', 6),
(2, '1/1/2013 01:00', 7),
(2, '1/1/2013 02:00', 8),
(3, '1/1/2013 00:00', 6),
(3, '1/1/2013 01:00', 7),
(3, '1/1/2013 02:00', 8);
declare #PageSize as Int = 4;
declare #Page as Int = 1;
with Alpha as (
select ParentId, [TimeStamp], Value,
Rank() over ( order by [TimeStamp] ) as Rnk,
Row_Number() over ( order by [TimeStamp] ) as RowNum
from #Temp ),
Beta as (
select Min( Rnk ) as MinRnk, Max( Rnk ) as MaxRnk
from Alpha
where ( #Page - 1 ) * #PageSize < RowNum and RowNum <= #Page * #PageSize )
select A.*
from Alpha as A inner join
Beta as B on B.MinRnk <= A.Rnk and A.Rnk <= B.MaxRnk
order by [TimeStamp], ParentId;
EDIT:
An alternative query that assigns page numbers as it goes, so that next/previous page can be implemented without overlapping rows:
with Alpha as (
select ParentId, [TimeStamp], Value,
Rank() over ( order by [TimeStamp] ) as Rnk,
Row_Number() over ( order by [TimeStamp] ) as RowNum
from #Temp ),
Beta as (
select ParentId, [TimeStamp], Value, Rnk, RowNum, 1 as Page, 1 as PageRow
from Alpha
where RowNum = 1
union all
select A.ParentId, A.[TimeStamp], A.Value, A.Rnk, A.RowNum,
case when B.PageRow >= #PageSize and A.TimeStamp <> B.TimeStamp then B.Page + 1 else B.Page end,
case when B.PageRow >= #PageSize and A.TimeStamp <> B.TimeStamp then 1 else B.PageRow + 1 end
from Alpha as A inner join
Beta as B on B.RowNum + 1 = A.RowNum
)
select * from Beta
option ( MaxRecursion 0 )
Note that recursive CTEs often scale poorly.

Answer 2

I think your strategy of using row_number() and rank() is overcomplicating things.
Just pick the top 4 timestamps from the data. Then choose any timestamps that match those:
select *
from #temp
where [timestamp] in (select top 4 [timestamp] from #temp order by [TimeStamp])