sql query to show results vertically - sql

Question

How to transform this:
ID Name Description
1 Test1a TestDesc1a
1 Test1b TestDesc1b
2 Test2a TestDesc2a
2 Test2b TestDesc2b
into this:
ID Column 1 2
1 Name test1a test1b
1 Description testDesc1a testDesc1b

Answer 1

You ask for complex pivoting table. Read about this here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms177410.aspx

Answer 2

You need to use a PIVOT query.
A basic discussion of PIVOT queries can be found at [MSDN][1].

Answer 3

This is a tricky question to solve, however the output specified is not proper/ conflicting. Below is similar solution which you can try
Sample Table creation:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[TestTable](
[Id] [int] NULL,
[Name] [nvarchar](50) NULL,
[Description] [nvarchar](50) NULL)
Inserting sample values:
INSERT INTO TestTable VALUES (1,'Test1a','TestDesc1a')
INSERT INTO TestTable VALUES (2,'Test1b','TestDesc1b')
INSERT INTO TestTable VALUES (3,'Test2a','TestDesc2a')
INSERT INTO TestTable VALUES (4,'Test2b','TestDesc2b')
Query to get the desired output using Pivot:
SELECT 'Name' AS [Column], [1], [2],[3],[4]
FROM
(SELECT Name, id from TestTable) AS ST
PIVOT
(Max(Name) FOR ID IN ([1], [2],[3],[4])) AS PT
UNION
SELECT 'Description' AS [Column], [1], [2],[3],[4]
FROM
(SELECT id,[Description] from TestTable) AS ST
PIVOT
(Max([Description]) FOR ID IN ([1], [2],[3],[4])) AS PT
ORDER BY [Column] DESC
OutPut:
Column 1 2 3 4
Name Test1a Test1b Test2a Test2b
Description TestDesc1a TestDesc1b TestDesc2a TestDesc2b
Hope this helps to solve your question.

Answer 4

You can use a static PIVOT if you only are going to have a few columns but I am guessing that you will have more than 2 IDs so you will probably want to use a Dynamic PIVOT for this query. Using a dynamic pivot will allow you to have more than the two ids you provided, it will grab all of the Ids from the table and then PIVOT:
create table temp
(
id int,
name varchar(10),
description varchar(20)
)
insert into temp values (1, 'Test1a', 'TestDesc1a')
insert into temp values (1, 'Test1b', 'TestDesc1b')
insert into temp values (2, 'Test2a', 'TestDesc2a')
insert into temp values (2, 'Test2b', 'TestDesc2b')
DECLARE #cols AS NVARCHAR(MAX),
#query AS NVARCHAR(MAX);
SET #cols = STUFF((SELECT distinct ',' + QUOTENAME(c.id)
FROM temp c
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)')
,1,1,'')
set #query = 'SELECT ''Name'' as [Column], ' + #cols + ' from
(
select id
, name
from temp
) x
pivot
(
max(name)
for id in (' + #cols + ')
) p
UNION
SELECT ''Description'' as [Column], ' + #cols + ' from
(
select id
, description
from temp
) x
pivot
(
max(description)
for id in (' + #cols + ')
) p '
execute(#query)
drop table temp
Results:
Column 1 2
Description TestDesc1b TestDesc2b
Name Test1b Test2b