Limiting a date range with exactness in MS SQL / SQL Server 2005 - sql

I want to limit a report to return records from Date A through Date B. This is what I have been doing:
declare #startDate varchar(20)
declare #endDate varchar(20)
set #startDate = '01/01/2008'
set #endDate = '04/01/2008'
-- test what are the start and end dates
select min(date),max(date) from view_Inspections
where date between #startDate and #endDate
... which I was told returned records from 12 am Jan 1st through 11:59 pm March 31st (that midnight is the default when no time is indicated). But I noticed a discrepancy, which is if a record has a time of 00:00:00 that it will be part of this set.
Is there a more exact way of doing this so it will return exactly the date range I want?*
I tried using time:
declare #startDate varchar(20)
declare #endDate varchar(20)
set #startDate = '01/01/2008 00:00:00'
set #endDate = '04/01/2008 11:59:59'
-- test what are the start and end dates
select min(date),max(date) from view_Inspections
where date between #startDate and #endDate
... but I noticed something wonky: SQL Server will ROUND the hundreth-second up by half. So I get that April 1st record (ha! April Fool's record! grr) if I use any time later than 11:59:29. Why is that?
(I feel sure there is. I'm new at this. Thanks for your help!)

There's always the easy option:
declare #startDate varchar(20)
declare #endDate varchar(20)
set #startDate = '01/01/2008'
set #endDate = '04/01/2008'
-- test what are the start and end dates
select min(date),max(date) from view_Inspections
where date >= #startDate
and date < #endDate

I suspect that the date column in view_Inspections is a SmallDateTime data type. This data type has 1 minute accuracy, which explains your unexpected results (rounding the seconds to the nearest minute).
The method Roland Shaw suggests is the best way to modify your query to accommodate your requirements.

The BETWEEN operator is inclusive, which is why you're seeing the results that you are in your first query. The rounding that you're seeing in your second query is going to be dependent on what exact datetime data type you are using in your table. (BTW, I think you're confusing seconds with hundredths of seconds). It looks like you're probably using a smalldatetime in your table, in which case the time is rounded to the nearest minute.
If your table is using datetime, try explicitly converting your #startDate and #endDate to DATETIME values (CAST(#endDate AS DATETIME)).
A quick note... even for DATETIME values, SQL Server is only accurate to the 3/100ths of a second, so 11:59:59.999 will get rounded up to 12:00:00.000.
You basically have three choices:
1) BETWEEN CAST('01/01/2008 00:00:00.000' AS DATETIME) AND CAST('03/31/2008 12:59:59.997' AS DATETIME)
2) YEAR(my_date) = 2008 AND MONTH(my_date) BETWEEN 1 AND 3
3) my_date >= CAST('01/01/2008 00:00:00.000' AS DATETIME) AND my_date < CAST('04/01/2008 00:00:00.000' AS DATETIME)
The first method isn't very intuitive and is error-prone in my opinion. The second method kills performance since indexes can't be used and it becomes much more complex if you can have searches that span years or begin/end in the middle of months. The third method, which Rowland suggested, is the best I think.

Simply try removing the time from the date field like so:
declare #startDate varchar(20)
declare #endDate varchar(20)
set #startDate = '01/01/2008'
set #endDate = '04/01/2008'
SELECT min(date),max(date) FROM view_Inspections
WHERE CAST(FLOOR(CAST(date AS FLOAT)) AS DATETIME) BETWEEN CAST(#startDate AS DATETIME) And CAST(#startDate AS DATETIME))
This will return everything from 01/01/2008 00:00:00 to 04/01/2008 11:59:59.999.
If you don't want 04/01 included, change your end date to 03/31/2008.

Your best solution is just create a BIGINT(10) field that called "julian", and store it in YYYYMMDD.
Then do the query
where julian >= '20120103' AND julian <= '20120203'

Related

SQLServer remove Date part of datetime [duplicate]

How would I be able to extract the time part of a DateTime field in SQL? For my project I have to return data that has a timestamp of 5pm of a DateTime field no matter what the date is
This will return the time-Only
For SQL Server:
SELECT convert(varchar(8), getdate(), 108)
Explanation:
getDate() is giving current date and time.
108 is formatting/giving us the required portion i.e time in this case.
varchar(8) gives us the number of characters from that portion.
Like:
If you wrote varchar(7) there, it will give you 00:00:0
If you wrote varchar(6) there, it will give you 00:00:
If you wrote varchar(15) there, it will still give you 00:00:00 because it is giving output of just time portion.
SQLFiddle Demo
For MySQL:
SELECT DATE_FORMAT(NOW(), '%H:%i:%s')
SQLFiddle Demo
In SQL Server if you need only the hh:mi, you can use:
DECLARE #datetime datetime
SELECT #datetime = GETDATE()
SELECT RIGHT('0'+CAST(DATEPART(hour, #datetime) as varchar(2)),2) + ':' +
RIGHT('0'+CAST(DATEPART(minute, #datetime)as varchar(2)),2)
If you want only the hour of your datetime, then you can use DATEPART() - SQL Server:
declare #dt datetime
set #dt = '2012-09-10 08:25:53'
select datepart(hour, #dt) -- returns 8
In SQL Server 2008+ you can CAST() as time:
declare #dt datetime
set #dt = '2012-09-10 08:25:53'
select CAST(#dt as time) -- returns 08:25:53
I know this is an old question, but since the other answers all
return strings (rather than datetimes),
rely on the internal representation of dates (conversion to float, int, and back) or
require SQL Server 2008 or beyond,
I thought I'd add a "pure" option which only requires datetime operations and works with SQL Server 2005+:
SELECT DATEADD(dd, -DATEDIFF(dd, 0, mydatetime), mydatetime)
This calculates the difference (in whole days) between date zero (1900-01-01) and the given date and then subtracts that number of days from the given date, thereby setting its date component to zero.
Try this in SQL Server 2008:
select *
from some_table t
where convert(time,t.some_datetime_column) = '5pm'
If you want take a random datetime value and adjust it so the time component is 5pm, then in SQL Server 2008 there are a number of ways. First you need start-of-day (e.g., 2011-09-30 00:00:00.000).
One technique that works for all versions of Microsoft SQL Server as well as all versions of Sybase is to use convert/3 to convert the datetime value to a varchar that lacks a time component and then back into a datetime value:
select convert(datetime,convert(varchar,current_timestamp,112),112)
The above gives you start-of-day for the current day.
In SQL Server 2008, though, you can say something like this:
select start_of_day = t.some_datetime_column
- convert(time, t.some_datetime_column ) ,
from some_table t
which is likely faster.
Once you have start-of-day, getting to 5pm is easy. Just add 17 hours to your start-of-day value:
select five_pm = dateadd(hour,17, t.some_datetime_column
- convert(time,t.some_datetime_column)
)
from some_table t
Note that from MS SQL 2012 onwards you can use FORMAT(value,'format')
e.g. WHERE FORMAT(YourDatetime,'HH:mm') = '17:00'
"For my project, I have to return data that has a timestamp of 5pm of a DateTime field, No matter what the date is."
So I think what you meant was that you needed the date, not the time. You can do something like this to get a date with 5:00 as the time:
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GetDate(), 110) + ' 05:00:00'
This should strip away the date part:
select convert(datetime,convert(float, getdate()) - convert(int,getdate())), getdate()
and return a datetime with a default date of 1900-01-01.
you can use CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE()) in this case:
INSERT INTO infoTbl
(itDate, itTime)
VALUES (GETDATE(),CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE()))
or if you want print it or return that time use like this:
DECLARE #dt TIME
SET #dt = CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE())
PRINT #dt
select cast(getdate() as time(0))
returns for example :- 15:19:43
replace getdate() with the date time you want to extract just time from!
SELECT DISTINCT
CONVERT(VARCHAR(17), A.SOURCE_DEPARTURE_TIME, 108)
FROM
CONSOLIDATED_LIST AS A
WHERE
CONVERT(VARCHAR(17), A.SOURCE_DEPARTURE_TIME, 108) BETWEEN '15:00:00' AND '15:45:00'
declare #datetime as datetime
set #datetime = getdate()
select cast(cast(#datetime as time) as varchar(8))
For year:
SELECT DATEPART(YEAR, '2021-03-21' );
For hour:
SELECT DATEPART(HOUR, '2021-03-21 08:50:30' );

Time part of a DateTime Field in SQL

How would I be able to extract the time part of a DateTime field in SQL? For my project I have to return data that has a timestamp of 5pm of a DateTime field no matter what the date is
This will return the time-Only
For SQL Server:
SELECT convert(varchar(8), getdate(), 108)
Explanation:
getDate() is giving current date and time.
108 is formatting/giving us the required portion i.e time in this case.
varchar(8) gives us the number of characters from that portion.
Like:
If you wrote varchar(7) there, it will give you 00:00:0
If you wrote varchar(6) there, it will give you 00:00:
If you wrote varchar(15) there, it will still give you 00:00:00 because it is giving output of just time portion.
SQLFiddle Demo
For MySQL:
SELECT DATE_FORMAT(NOW(), '%H:%i:%s')
SQLFiddle Demo
In SQL Server if you need only the hh:mi, you can use:
DECLARE #datetime datetime
SELECT #datetime = GETDATE()
SELECT RIGHT('0'+CAST(DATEPART(hour, #datetime) as varchar(2)),2) + ':' +
RIGHT('0'+CAST(DATEPART(minute, #datetime)as varchar(2)),2)
If you want only the hour of your datetime, then you can use DATEPART() - SQL Server:
declare #dt datetime
set #dt = '2012-09-10 08:25:53'
select datepart(hour, #dt) -- returns 8
In SQL Server 2008+ you can CAST() as time:
declare #dt datetime
set #dt = '2012-09-10 08:25:53'
select CAST(#dt as time) -- returns 08:25:53
I know this is an old question, but since the other answers all
return strings (rather than datetimes),
rely on the internal representation of dates (conversion to float, int, and back) or
require SQL Server 2008 or beyond,
I thought I'd add a "pure" option which only requires datetime operations and works with SQL Server 2005+:
SELECT DATEADD(dd, -DATEDIFF(dd, 0, mydatetime), mydatetime)
This calculates the difference (in whole days) between date zero (1900-01-01) and the given date and then subtracts that number of days from the given date, thereby setting its date component to zero.
Try this in SQL Server 2008:
select *
from some_table t
where convert(time,t.some_datetime_column) = '5pm'
If you want take a random datetime value and adjust it so the time component is 5pm, then in SQL Server 2008 there are a number of ways. First you need start-of-day (e.g., 2011-09-30 00:00:00.000).
One technique that works for all versions of Microsoft SQL Server as well as all versions of Sybase is to use convert/3 to convert the datetime value to a varchar that lacks a time component and then back into a datetime value:
select convert(datetime,convert(varchar,current_timestamp,112),112)
The above gives you start-of-day for the current day.
In SQL Server 2008, though, you can say something like this:
select start_of_day = t.some_datetime_column
- convert(time, t.some_datetime_column ) ,
from some_table t
which is likely faster.
Once you have start-of-day, getting to 5pm is easy. Just add 17 hours to your start-of-day value:
select five_pm = dateadd(hour,17, t.some_datetime_column
- convert(time,t.some_datetime_column)
)
from some_table t
Note that from MS SQL 2012 onwards you can use FORMAT(value,'format')
e.g. WHERE FORMAT(YourDatetime,'HH:mm') = '17:00'
"For my project, I have to return data that has a timestamp of 5pm of a DateTime field, No matter what the date is."
So I think what you meant was that you needed the date, not the time. You can do something like this to get a date with 5:00 as the time:
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GetDate(), 110) + ' 05:00:00'
This should strip away the date part:
select convert(datetime,convert(float, getdate()) - convert(int,getdate())), getdate()
and return a datetime with a default date of 1900-01-01.
you can use CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE()) in this case:
INSERT INTO infoTbl
(itDate, itTime)
VALUES (GETDATE(),CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE()))
or if you want print it or return that time use like this:
DECLARE #dt TIME
SET #dt = CONVERT(TIME,GETDATE())
PRINT #dt
select cast(getdate() as time(0))
returns for example :- 15:19:43
replace getdate() with the date time you want to extract just time from!
SELECT DISTINCT
CONVERT(VARCHAR(17), A.SOURCE_DEPARTURE_TIME, 108)
FROM
CONSOLIDATED_LIST AS A
WHERE
CONVERT(VARCHAR(17), A.SOURCE_DEPARTURE_TIME, 108) BETWEEN '15:00:00' AND '15:45:00'
declare #datetime as datetime
set #datetime = getdate()
select cast(cast(#datetime as time) as varchar(8))
For year:
SELECT DATEPART(YEAR, '2021-03-21' );
For hour:
SELECT DATEPART(HOUR, '2021-03-21 08:50:30' );

SQL . The SP or function should calculate the next date for friday

I need to write a store procedure that will return a next friday date on a given date? for example - if the date is 05/12/2011, then it should return next friday date as 05/13/2011. If you pass, 05/16/2011, then it should return the date is 5/20/2011 (Friday). If you pass friday as the date, then it should return the same date.
I'd make this a scalar UDF as it is easier to consume the output.
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.GetNextFriday(
#D DATETIME
)
RETURNS DATETIME
WITH SCHEMABINDING, RETURNS NULL ON NULL INPUT
AS
BEGIN
RETURN DATEADD(DAY,(13 - (##DATEFIRST + DATEPART(WEEKDAY,#D)))%7,#D)
END
This is for SQL Server 2008. To use in 2005, just change the date fields to your preference for datetime to date conversions. It also assumes you are not changing the default week begin value.
DECLARE #PassedDate date = '5/21/2011';
SELECT DATEADD(DAY,(CASE DATEPART(DW,#PassedDate) WHEN 7 THEN 6 ELSE 6 - DATEPART(DW,#PassedDate) END),#PassedDate);
Similar to the top answer, but without using ##DATEFIRST in the solution:
DECLARE #Today DATETIME = GETDATE(); -- any date
DECLARE #WeekdayIndex SMALLINT = DATEPART(WEEKDAY, #Today);
DECLARE #DaysUntilFriday SMALLINT = (13 - #WeekdayIndex) % 7;
DECLARE #UpcomingFridayDate DATETIME = DATEADD(DAY, #DaysUntilFriday, #Today);
SELECT #UpcomingFridayDate ;
Great solutions here, but I also recommend looking at time tables: you can generate them easily in Analysis server, and they can be indexed to be very fast, giving you lots of easy ways to get next week days (among other things).
You can find out more about them here
In our case, the same solution would be
Select MIN(PK_Date) from Time Where PK_Date > #SomeDate AND Day_Of_Week= 6
And of course when you're doing this for a large recordset, you can also do joins for maximum speed & efficiency.

How can I compare time in SQL Server?

I'm trying to compare time in a datetime field in a SQL query, but I don't know if it's right. I don't want to compare the date part, just the time part.
I'm doing this:
SELECT timeEvent
FROM tbEvents
WHERE convert(datetime, startHour, 8) >= convert(datetime, #startHour, 8)
Is it correct?
I'm asking this because I need to know if 08:00:00 is less or greater than 07:30:00 and I don't want to compare the date, just the time part.
Thanks!
Your compare will work, but it will be slow because the dates are converted to a string for each row. To efficiently compare two time parts, try:
declare #first datetime
set #first = '2009-04-30 19:47:16.123'
declare #second datetime
set #second = '2009-04-10 19:47:16.123'
select (cast(#first as float) - floor(cast(#first as float))) -
(cast(#second as float) - floor(cast(#second as float)))
as Difference
Long explanation: a date in SQL server is stored as a floating point number. The digits before the decimal point represent the date. The digits after the decimal point represent the time.
So here's an example date:
declare #mydate datetime
set #mydate = '2009-04-30 19:47:16.123'
Let's convert it to a float:
declare #myfloat float
set #myfloat = cast(#mydate as float)
select #myfloat
-- Shows 39931,8244921682
Now take the part after the comma character, i.e. the time:
set #myfloat = #myfloat - floor(#myfloat)
select #myfloat
-- Shows 0,824492168212601
Convert it back to a datetime:
declare #mytime datetime
set #mytime = convert(datetime,#myfloat)
select #mytime
-- Shows 1900-01-01 19:47:16.123
The 1900-01-01 is just the "zero" date; you can display the time part with convert, specifying for example format 108, which is just the time:
select convert(varchar(32),#mytime,108)
-- Shows 19:47:16
Conversions between datetime and float are pretty fast, because they're basically stored in the same way.
convert(varchar(5), thedate, 108) between #leftTime and #rightTime
Explanation:
if you have varchar(5) you will obtain HH:mm
if you have varchar(8) you obtain HH:mm ss
108 obtains only the time from the SQL date
#leftTime and #rightTime are two variables to compare
If you're using SQL Server 2008, you can do this:
WHERE CONVERT(time(0), startHour) >= CONVERT(time(0), #startTime)
Here's a full test:
DECLARE #tbEvents TABLE (
timeEvent int IDENTITY,
startHour datetime
)
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 0, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 1, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 2, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 3, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 4, GETDATE())
INSERT INTO #tbEvents (startHour) SELECT DATEADD(hh, 5, GETDATE())
--SELECT * FROM #tbEvents
DECLARE #startTime datetime
SET #startTime = DATEADD(mi, 65, GETDATE())
SELECT
timeEvent,
CONVERT(time(0), startHour) AS 'startHour',
CONVERT(time(0), #startTime) AS '#startTime'
FROM #tbEvents
WHERE CONVERT(time(0), startHour) >= CONVERT(time(0), #startTime)
Just change convert datetime to time that should do the trick:
SELECT timeEvent
FROM tbEvents
WHERE convert(time, startHour) >= convert(time, #startHour)
if (cast('2012-06-20 23:49:14.363' as time) between
cast('2012-06-20 23:49:14.363' as time) and
cast('2012-06-20 23:49:14.363' as time))
One (possibly small) issue I have noted with the solutions so far is that they all seem to require a function call to process the comparison. This means that the query engine will need to do a full table scan to seek the rows you are after - and be unable to use an index. If the table is not going to get particularly large, this probably won't have any adverse affects (and you can happily ignore this answer).
If, on the other hand, the table could get quite large, the performance of the query could suffer.
I know you stated that you do not wish to compare the date part - but is there an actual date being stored in the datetime column, or are you using it to store only the time? If the latter, you can use a simple comparison operator, and this will reduce both CPU usage, and allow the query engine to use statistics and indexes (if present) to optimise the query.
If, however, the datetime column is being used to store both the date and time of the event, this obviously won't work. In this case if you can modify the app and the table structure, separate the date and time into two separate datetime columns, or create a indexed view that selects all the (relevant) columns of the source table, and a further column that contains the time element you wish to search for (use any of the previous answers to compute this) - and alter the app to query the view instead.
Using float does not work.
DECLARE #t1 datetime, #t2 datetime
SELECT #t1 = '19000101 23:55:00', #t2 = '20001102 23:55:00'
SELECT CAST(#t1 as float) - floor(CAST(#t1 as float)), CAST(#t2 as float) - floor(CAST(#t2 as float))
You'll see that the values are not the same (SQL Server 2005). I wanted to use this method to check for times around midnight (the full method has more detail) in which I was comparing the current time for being between 23:55:00 and 00:05:00.
Adding to the other answers:
you can create a function for trimming the date from a datetime
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.f_trimdate (#dat datetime) RETURNS DATETIME AS BEGIN
RETURN CONVERT(DATETIME, CONVERT(FLOAT, #dat) - CONVERT(INT, #dat))
END
So this:
DECLARE #dat DATETIME
SELECT #dat = '20080201 02:25:46.000'
SELECT dbo.f_trimdate(#dat)
Will return
1900-01-01 02:25:46.000
Use Datepart function: DATEPART(datepart, date)
E.g#
SELECT DatePart(#YourVar, hh)*60) +
DatePart(#YourVar, mi)*60)
This will give you total time of day in minutes allowing you to compare more easily.
You can use DateDiff if your dates are going to be the same, otherwise you'll need to strip out the date as above
You can create a two variables of datetime, and set only hour of date that your need to compare.
declare #date1 datetime;
declare #date2 datetime;
select #date1 = CONVERT(varchar(20),CONVERT(datetime, '2011-02-11 08:00:00'), 114)
select #date2 = CONVERT(varchar(20),GETDATE(), 114)
The date will be "1900-01-01" you can compare it
if #date1 <= #date2
print '#date1 less then #date2'
else
print '#date1 more then #date2'
SELECT timeEvent
FROM tbEvents
WHERE CONVERT(VARCHAR,startHour,108) >= '01:01:01'
This tells SQL Server to convert the current date/time into a varchar using style 108, which is "hh:mm:ss". You can also replace '01:01:01' which another convert if necessary.
I believe you want to use DATEPART('hour', datetime).
Reference is here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174420.aspx
I don't love relying on storage internals (that datetime is a float with whole number = day and fractional = time), but I do the same thing as the answer Jhonny D. Cano. This is the way all of the db devs I know do it. Definitely do not convert to string. If you must avoid processing as float/int, then the best option is to pull out hour/minute/second/milliseconds with DatePart()
I am assuming your startHour column and #startHour variable are both DATETIME; In that case, you should be converting to a string:
SELECT timeEvent
FROM tbEvents
WHERE convert(VARCHAR(8), startHour, 8) >= convert(VARCHAR(8), #startHour, 8)
below query gives you time of the date
select DateAdd(day,-DateDiff(day,0,YourDateTime),YourDateTime) As NewTime from Table
#ronmurp raises a valid concern - the cast/floor approach returns different values for the same time. Along the lines of the answer by #littlechris and for a more general solution that solves for times that have a minute, seconds, milliseconds component, you could use this function to count the number of milliseconds from the start of the day.
Create Function [dbo].[MsFromStartOfDay] ( #DateTime datetime )
Returns int
As
Begin
Return (
( Datepart( ms , #DateTime ) ) +
( Datepart( ss , #DateTime ) * 1000 ) +
( Datepart( mi , #DateTime ) * 1000 * 60 ) +
( Datepart( hh , #DateTime ) * 1000 * 60 * 60 )
)
End
I've verified that it returns the same int for two different dates with the same time
declare #first datetime
set #first = '1900-01-01 23:59:39.090'
declare #second datetime
set #second = '2000-11-02 23:56:39.090'
Select dbo.MsFromStartOfDay( #first )
Select dbo.MsFromStartOfDay( #second )
This solution doesn't always return the int you would expect. For example, try the below in SQL 2005, it returns an int ending in '557' instead of '556'.
set #first = '1900-01-01 23:59:39.556'
set #second = '2000-11-02 23:56:39.556'
I think this has to do with the nature of DateTime stored as float. You can still compare the two number, though. And when I used this approach on a "real" dataset of DateTime captured in .NET using DateTime.Now() and stored in SQL, I found that the calculations were accurate.
TL;DR
Separate the time value from the date value if you want to use indexes in your search (you probably should, for performance). You can: (1) use function-based indexes or (2) create a new column for time only, index this column and use it in you SELECT clause.
Keep in mind you will lose any index performance boost if you use functions in a SQL's WHERE clause, the engine has to do a scan search. Just run your query with EXPLAIN SELECT... to confirm this. This happens because the engine has to process EVERY value in the field for EACH comparison, and the converted value is not indexed.
Most answers say to use float(), convert(), cast(), addtime(), etc.. Again, your database won't use indexes if you do this. For small tables that may be OK.
It is OK to use functions in WHERE params though (where field = func(value)), because you won't be changing EACH field's value in the table.
In case you want to keep use of indexes, you can create a function-based index for the time value. The proper way to do this (and support for it) may depend on your database engine. Another option is adding a column to store only the time value and index this column, but try the former approach first.
Edit 06-02
Do some performance tests before updating your database to have a new time column or whatever to make use of indexes. In my tests, I found out the performance boost was minimal (when I could see some improvement) and wouldn't be worth the trouble and overhead of adding a new index.

How to query SQL Server table based on a specific date

I have a table in SQL Server 2005 which has three columns:
id (int),
message (text),
timestamp (datetime)
There is an index on timestamp and id.
I am interested in doing a query which retrieves all messages for a given date, say '12/20/2008'. However I know that simply doing where timestamp='12/20/2008' won't give me the correct result because the field is a datetime field.
Somebody had recommended using the DATEPART function and pulling the year, month, and day out of timestamp and verifying that these are equal to 2008, 12, and 20, respectively. It looks like this would not use the index I have on timestamp and would end up doing a full table scan.
So what is the best way to construct my query so that I am taking advantage of the index that I have created?
The use of two datetime variables has always worked infallibly in my experience. The issue of the resolution seems highly unlikely. The important fact to remember, however, is that a range (of any type) includes both end points. So you can't test using BETWEEN on two dates, because it will include both. Rather use something like
datefield >= #startdate AND datefield < #enddate
The Manual.
C'mon folks - the documentation for this isn't that hard to find. :D
-- avoid re-calculating #MyDate +1 for every row
DECLARE #NextDay DateTime
Set #NextDay = #MyDate + 1
SELECT
-- ...
WHERE [timestamp] >= #MyDate AND [timestamp] < #NextDay
The BETWEEN statement can help you.
SELECT *
FROM MyTable
WHERE TimeStamp BETWEEN #Start AND #End;
Start would need to be something like 12:01 am for the day you want messages for, and end would be like 11:59pm for the end of the same day.
BETWEEN does NOT do >=, <. It does >=, <=, as this code proves:
declare #low datetime
declare #high datetime
set #low = getdate()
set #high = #low+1
select case when #low between #low and #high then 1 else 0 end,
case when #high between #low and #high then 1 else 0 end
The result will be 1,1, showing that the = is applied to both bounds.
Assuming #Date is a datetime value for any datetime on the day you want all the messages for, use this
Where [timestamp] >= DateAdd(day, DateDiff(day, 0, #Date), 0)
And [timestamp] < DateAdd(day, DateDiff(day, 0, #Date), 1)
This is much faster than using a CAST, not to mention that when using CAST on datetimes, if you Cast a datetime value which is after noon to an integer,
Declare #MyDate as Datetime
Set #MyDate = '12/25/2008 12:01:00'
Declare #IntVal Integer
Set #IntVal = Cast(#MyDate as Integer)
Select Cast(#IntVal as DateTime)
it will round UP to the integer representing tne NEXT day's date. The above script will output 12/26/2008