How do I use case statement to aid altering another field? - sql

I have a hopefully pretty simple question here. I'm converting some Access SQL script into Server Management Studio 2008.
Currently the Access script shows the following line of code:
IIf([rsosourceID]) IN (254,360,446),"MoneySavingExpert" as SourceName
Basically it's creating a temporary table with four columns, if the fields match say those 3 numbers on the left then it will populate a fourth column with their new name. (To be used for grouping in a later report)
How can I do something simillar in SQL? I've tried using a Case statement but to my knowledge that will only alter the field you're looking against.
In this case I need to look at one field then using it's results alter another, any ideas?

A case statement can return a new column using the value of any other column(s):
SELECT rsoSourceID,
rsoDescription,
rsoCategory,
case when rsoSourceID in (254,360,446)
then 'MoneySavingExpert'
else null end as SourceName
FROM TableName

Related

T-SQL: Exclude Columns from a SELECT statement based on string

My overall goal is to create new tables by selecting columns in existing tables with certain patterns/tags in their column names. This is in SQL Server.
For example, I have a common need to get all contact information out of a company table, and into its own contact table.
I haven't been able to find a programmatic approach in SQL to express excluding columns from a SELECT statement based on string.
When looking to options like the COL_NAME function, those require an ID arg, which kills that option for me.
Wishing there was something built in that could work like the following:
SELECT *
FROM TABLE
WHERE COL_NAME() LIKE 'FLAG%'
Any ideas? Open to anything! Thanks!!
One trick could be to firstly using the following code to get the column names you desire:
select * from information_schema.columns
where table_name='tbl' and column_name like 'FLAG%'
Then concatenate them into a comma-delimited string and finally create a dynamic sql query using the created string as the column names.

SQL - adding new column withouth effecting existing scripts

We have a table on the SQL Server 2008 which gets populated by various stored procedures. The problem is that the authors of these stored procedures used some poor choice in code and populated this table using the following syntax:
INSERT INTO persistant_table
SELECT *
FROM #temp_table_with_data
Basically they would create a #temp_table_with_data in the script and the columns would be in the same order and with the same name as they are in the persistant_table.
Now I need to add another column to this persistant_table, but if I do that, I will break all the stored procedures.
Is there a way for me to add a column to this table without breaking all the stored procedures? (In the long run, we will change the stored procedures).
Thank you
No I think.select * will pick all columns and column number should match.
I don't think it's big effort to change the line to have particular columns only or select statement to have default value for column or null and then * to store into columns sequentially. But at least 1 line to be changed
The "ALTER TABLE" is a SQL statement that allows you to make datatype changes to a database table (i.e. change datatype as well as Size columns from an existing table).
ALTER TABLE TableName ALTER COLUMN ColumnName NVARCHAR(200)
You cannot do it without affecting old scripts. This is why 'SELECT *' is not good practice. You'd better create new scripts with explicit column names like
SELECT column1, column2 ....

change the formula in a string format into a real formula in a stored procedure

I have a table validationmaster with a column called vrformula. It contains a formula like:
pf > 1
In that pf is one of the column names in the datasource table. I have to check whether pf of all the entries in the datasourse table is > 1 or not, but I don't know how to make it work.
I can fetch that formula correctly but Sql Server considers that formula as a string, I don't know how to change that whole expression into a formula.
For example: select * from datasource where meterid=4716 and pf>=1 is the statement I want to execute, with that formula at the end of the where clause being generated from the vrformula column.
You'll have to use Dynamic SQL.
This is probably obvious, nevertheless, a quick and dirty solution is to execute a SELECT for retrieving the column value, then executing a second SELECT containing the condition.
Here I assume that you are executing the SQL statements from a code written in a programming language (not SQL).

Update A multi-valued field in Access

I have created a lookup table in Access to provide the possible values for a column. Now I need to update this column with the data it had before I converted the column. I am unable to figure out a SQL Query that will work. I keep getting the error "An UPDATE or DELETE query cannot contain a multi-valued field." My research has suggested that I just need to set the value of the column but this always updates 0 records:
UPDATE [table_name] SET [column_name].Value = 55 WHERE [table_name].ID = 16;
I know this query will work if I change it to update a text column, so it is definitely a problem with just this column.
If you're adding a value to your multi-valued field, use an append query.
INSERT INTO table_name( [column_name].Value )
VALUES (55)
WHERE ID = 16;
If you want to change one particular value which exists in your multi-valued field, use an UPDATE statement. For example, to change the 55 to 56 ...
UPDATE [table_name]
SET [column_name].Value = 56
WHERE [column_name].Value = 55 And ID = 16;
See Using multivalued fields in queries for more information.
I have figured this out! It certainly was counter-intuitive! You have to use an INSERT statement to do the update.
-- Update a record with a multi-valued field that has no value
INSERT INTO [table_name] ( [[column_name].[Value] )
VALUES(55)
WHERE [table_name].ID = 16;
This confused me because I was expecting an UPDATE statement. I think it actually inserts a record into a hidden table that is used to associate multiple values with this column.
I am working with Sharepoint, I created the tables as multi-value fields, ran into the error with my INSERT INTO statement, went back to Sharepoint to change to non-multi-value fields, but that didn't fix it.
Recreated the table without using multi-value fields, and the INSERT INTO worked just fine.
do not use the .value part
UPDATE [table_name] SET [column_name] = 55 WHERE [table_name].ID = 16;
INSERT INTO Quals (cTypes.[value])
SELECT Quals_ContractTypes.ContractType
FROM Quals_ContractTypes
WHERE (Quals.ID = Quals_ContractTypes.ID_Quals);
I gotta say I didn't understand very well your problem but I saw something strange in your query. Try this:
UPDATE [table_name] SET [column_name]= 55 WHERE [table_name].ID = 16;
UPDATE:
Look at this link: it has an example
UPDATE Issues
SET Issues.AssignedTo.Value = 10
WHERE (((Issues.AssignedTo.Value)=6)
AND ((Issues.ID)=8));
NOTES
You should always include a WHERE
clause that identifies only the
records that you want to update.
Otherwise, you will update records
that you did not intend to change. An
Update query that does not contain a
WHERE clause changes every row in the
table. You can specify one value to
change.
The Multi-Valued field refers to Access databases that have tables with columns, that allow you to select multiple values, like a Combo Checkbox list.
THOSE are the only Access types that SQL cannot work with. I've tested all Access lookup possibilities, including hard-coded values, and lookup tables. They work fine, but if you have a column that has the Allow Multiple select options, you're out of luck. Even using the INSERT INTO as mentioned below, will not work as you'll get a similar but different error, about INSERTing into multi-valued fields.
As mentioned it's best to avoid using such tables outside of Access, and refer to a table specifically for your external needs. Then write a macro/vba script to update the real tables with the data from the "auxiliary" table.

How can I turn a column name into a result value in SQL Server?

I have a table which has essentially boolean values in a legacy database. The column names are stored as string values in another table so I need to match the column names of one table to a string value in another table. I know there has to be a way to do this directly with SQL in SQL Server but it is beyond me.
My initial thought was to use PIVOT but it is not enabled by default and enabling it would likely be a difficult process with pushing that change to the Production database. I would prefer to use what is enabled by default.
I am considering using COALESCE to translate the boolean value to the string that value that I need. This will be a manual process.
I think I will also use a table variable to insert the results of the first query into that variable and use those results to do the second query. I still have the problem that the columns are on a single row so I wish I could easily pivot the values to put the column names in the result set as strings. But if I could easily do that I could easily write the query with a sub-select.
Any tips are welcome.
Checkout Sysobjects and SysColumns in SQL Server. They are 2 SQL tables that gives you the names of the tables in your DB and the names of the columns that go with that table.
The system view INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS will also give you what you want.
You can build a SQL string and then execute that string as a query. Not the prettiest by any means but I think it would work the way you want it to. You would just use a cursor or while loop to build the string.
If you're comfortable with .Net you could just write your own stored proc in your language of choice and manipulate the data in code instead.
Heres a link to get started
CLR Stored Procedures
I'm not quite sure I understand how your design is currently put together (could you post an example?), but the information_schema.columns view will give you a table containing all the column names as string values. If you join your second table against that I think you'll probably get what you need.
For Example, i have a table STATEtbl having 3 columns and i want to get all the column names of this table as ROW values... i use the below query
Select SC.name as Columns from Syscolumns SC
Join Sysobjects SO On SC.id = SO.Id
where Object_name(SO.Id) = 'STATEtbl'
Result of the query:
Columns
--------
State
StateCode
StateFullName