SQL while loop with Temp Table - sql

Question

I need to create a temporary table and then update the original table. Creating the temporary table is not a problem.
create table #mod_contact
(
id INT IDENTITY NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
SiteID INT,
Contact1 varchar(25)
)
INSERT INTO #mod_contact (SiteID, Contact1)
select r.id, r.Contact from dbo.table1 r where CID = 142
GO
Now I need to loop through the table and update r.contact = SiteID + r.contact
I have never used a while loop before and can't seem to make any examples I have seen work.

Answer 1

You can do this in multiple ways, but I think you're looking for a way using a cursor.
A cursor is sort of a pointer in a table, which when incremented points to the next record. ( it's more or less analogeous to a for-next loop )
to use a cursor you can do the following:
-- DECLARE the cursor
DECLARE CUR CURSOR FAST_FORWARD READ_ONLY FOR SELECT id, siteId, contract FROM #mod_contract
-- DECLARE some variables to store the values in
DECLARE #varId int
DECLARE #varSiteId int
DECLARE #varContract varchar(25)
-- Use the cursor
OPEN CUR
FETCH NEXT FROM CUR INTO #varId, #varSiteId, #varContract
WHILE ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
UPDATE dbo.table1
SET contract = #varSiteId + #varContract -- It might not work due to the different types
WHERE id = #varId
FETCH NEXT FROM CUR INTO #varId, #varSiteId, #varContract
END
CLOSE CUR
DEALLOCATE CUR
It's not the most efficient way to get this done, but I think this is what you where looking for.
Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Use a set based approach - no need to loop (from the little details):
UPDATE
r
SET
r.Contact = m.SiteID + r.Contact
FROM
table1 r
INNER JOIN
#mod_contact m
ON m.id=r.id
Your brain wants to do this:
while records
update(i); //update record i
records = records + 1
end while
SQL is set based and allows you to take a whole bunch of records and update them in a single command. The beauty of this is you can use the WHERE clause to filter certain rows that are not needed.

Answer 3

As others have mentioned, learning how to do loops in SQL is generally a bad idea; however, since you're trying to understand how to do something, here's an example:
DECLARE #id int
SELECT #ID =1
WHILE #ID <= (SELECT MAX(ID) FROM table_1)
-- while some condition is true, then do the following
--actions between the BEGIN and END
BEGIN
UPDATE table_1
SET contact = CAST(siteID as varchar(100)) + contact
WHERE table_1.CID = #ID
--increment the step variable so that the condition will eventually be false
SET #ID = #ID + 1
END
--do something else once the condition is satisfied
PRINT 'DONE!! Don't try this in production code...'

Answer 4

Try this one:
-- DECLARE the cursor
DECLARE CUR CURSOR FAST_FORWARD READ_ONLY FOR SELECT column1,column2 FROM table
-- DECLARE some variables to store the values in
DECLARE #varId int
DECLARE #varSiteId int
--DECLARE #varContract varchar(25)
-- Use the cursor
OPEN CUR
FETCH NEXT FROM CUR INTO #varId, #varSiteId
WHILE ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
SELECT *
FROM Table2
WHERE column1 = #varId
AND column2 = #varSiteId
FETCH NEXT FROM CUR INTO #varId, #varSiteId
END
CLOSE CUR
DEALLOCATE CUR

Answer 5

need to create a temporary table and then up date the original table.
Why use a temporary table at all? Your CID column doesn't appear in the temporary table, so I don't see how you can successfully update the original table using SiteID, unless there is only one row where CID = 142 in which using a temp table is definitely overkill.
You can just do this:
UPDATE dbo.table1
SET contact = SiteID + contact
WHERE CID = 142;
Here's a related example which may help getting you to 'think in SQL':
UPDATE T
SET A = B, B = A;
Assuming A and B are of the same type, this would successfully swap their values.