Having trouble distilling something down to a single query

Ok, lets say I have 2 tables, A & B.

Lets say table a has the key A.record_id, and the field emp.

Say table b has the key B.record_id, a foreign key B.a_id that links it to table A, and the field B.date. Now, I want to join these tables as so:

SELECT
A."RECORD_ID", A."EMP",
B."RECORD_ID", B."DATE"
FROM
{ oj "DBA"."A" TABLE_A LEFT OUTER JOIN "DBA"."B" TABLE B ON
A."RECORD_ID" = B."A_ID"}

You see, I want a list of all A.record_id, whether or not I get a return from the B table.

The problem arises when I want to limit the dates via B.date. It's clear to me what the problem is here, I just don't know a way around it.

WHERE
(B."DATE" IS NULL OR
(B."DATE" >= {d '2004-01-01'} AND
B."DATE" <= {d '2004-01-31'}))

So basically, now I'm not getting any a.record_id's for a's that are linked to a b that fall outside of that date range.

Summing up I want...

All A + B where there is a B.date in that range
No A+B for results that are not within the entered date range.
All A's, regardless of if there is a linked B.
All A's, even if there are linked B's outside of the date range.
All in 1 statement (due to environment limitations).

Thanks for your help. I'm pretty much self taught here, so I apologize for not having the language knowledge to make this question more concise. Of course if I knew better how to explain what I'm trying to do then I'd probably know how to do it. ;-)

Mock Sample Data

table A
A001 bill
A002 bill
A003 bill
A004 frank
A005 frank
A006 bob

table B
B001 A001 1/1/2004
B002 A001 1/15/2004
B003 A001 4/1/2004
B004 A003 5/1/2004
B005 A004 1/1/2004
B006 A005 3/3/2004

Mock Results

A001 bill B001 1/1/2004
A001 bill B002 1/15/2004
A002 bill NULL NULL
A003 bill NULL NULL
A004 frank B004 1/1/2004
A005 frank NULL NULL
A006 bob NULL NULL


edit: added mock data/resultsI'd use:(B."DATE" IS NULL OR
(B."DATE" >= {d '2004-01-01'} AND
B."DATE" <= {d '2004-01-31'}))-PatP|||Sorry, that's how it's in there now, editing above to reflect.

Not the problem.|||What version of which database engine are you using?

-PatP|||Using Sybase 9.|||I just noticed some apparent inconsistancies in your query. Could you post the entire query as you are submitting it so that I can try it? I'm using version 8, but I'd expect that to be close enough.

-PatP|||SELECT
A."RECORD_ID", A."EMP",
B."RECORD_ID", B."DATE"
FROM
{ oj "DBA"."A" A LEFT OUTER JOIN "DBA"."B" B ON
A."RECORD_ID" = B."A_ID"}
WHERE
(B."DATE" IS NULL OR
(B."DATE" >= {d '2004-01-01'} AND
B."DATE" <= {d '2004-01-31'}))

Mock Current Results From Earlier Mock Data

A001 bill B001 1/1/2004
A001 bill B002 1/15/2004
A002 bill NULL NULL
A004 frank B004 1/1/2004
A005 frank NULL NULL

Thanks for looking at this.|||Give up? ;-)|||Try a LEFT OUTER JOIN to a Subquery that restricts your table B.

SELECT
A."RECORD_ID", A."EMP",
B."RECORD_ID", B."DATE"
FROM
{ oj "DBA"."A" TABLE_A LEFT OUTER JOIN
(Select *
FROM "DBA"."B" TABLE B where ((B.DAte <='1/31/2004' and B.Date >='1/01/2004') OR B.DAte is NULL)) as S1
on A."RECORD_ID" = S1."A_ID"}

I may have a typo with the brackets up there, but something like that should work.

The key is that you are creating a subquery with results restricted to your data range, and then naming that subquery S1. Then the results of S1 are joined to table A.|||1. All A + B where there is a B.date in that range
2. No A+B for results that are not within the entered date range.
3. All A's, regardless of if there is a linked B.
4. All A's, even if there are linked B's outside of the date range.
5. All in 1 statement (due to environment limitations).
Unless I am missing something, - there are contradicting conditions in your requirements:

If #1 is to be met Then #3 & #4 cannot be
If #2 is to be met Then #4 cannot be
If #3 is to be met Then B.date is NULL, thus #1 cannot be
If #4 is to be met...see above

Can you clarify?

Having problems UPDATING with a stored procedure with a variable

Hi,

I wrote this stored procedure that works, and returns what I want, but now I want to mark the "Active" field to 1 for each of the records returned by this. I have had no luck so far.

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[SelectCurrent_acmdtn]

@.extractNum char(10)

AS

BEGIN

SET NOCOUNT ON;

SELECT id, efctv_from_dt, efctv_to_dt, modify_ts, extractno, Active, acmtdn_RECID

FROM (SELECT dbo.acmdtn.*, row_number() OVER (partition BY id

ORDER BY extractno, efctv_to_dt DESC, efctv_from_dt DESC, modify_ts DESC, acmdtn_RECID DESC) rn

FROM dbo.acmdtn

WHERE extractno > @.extractNum) Rank

WHERE rn = 1

END

I have tried inserting Update between the 2 "WHERE" statements, but it returns an error

"Invalid column name 'rn'."

I have also tried opening the recordset in Access VB, but I am restricted to read-only.

I would prefer to have a stored procedure do this.

I can get it to work if I take out the parameter, but I need that part.

The purpose of this (if you care..) is I have a large amount of historical data (this is one of 42 tables) that I need to run reports on, but I need to have the data "as of a certain date (or extractno)". This is data exported from another application that I only get flat files for, that I have imported into SQL Server tables. So, by running this procedure, I get the latest "id" record as of the extractno (I get a new extract every day, with changes that were made the previous day). I want to mark these latest fields in the "Active" field so when I create reports, I can have them filter on this field.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

I wrote this stored procedure that works, and returns what I want, but now I want to mark the "Active" field to 1 for each of the records returned by this. I have had no luck so far.

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[SelectCurrent_acmdtn]

@.extractNum char(10)

AS

BEGIN

SET NOCOUNT ON;

SELECT id, efctv_from_dt, efctv_to_dt, modify_ts, extractno, Active, acmtdn_RECID

FROM (SELECT dbo.acmdtn.*, row_number() OVER (partition BY id

ORDER BY extractno, efctv_to_dt DESC, efctv_from_dt DESC, modify_ts DESC, acmdtn_RECID DESC) rn

FROM dbo.acmdtn

WHERE extractno > @.extractNum) Rank

WHERE rn = 1

END

I have tried inserting Update between the 2 "WHERE" statements, but it returns an error

"Invalid column name 'rn'."

I have also tried opening the recordset in Access VB , but I am restricted to read-only.

I would prefer to have a stored procedure do this.

I can get it to work if I take out the parameter, but I need that part.

The purpose of this (if you care..) is I have a large amount of historical data (this is one of 42 tables) that I need to run reports on, but I need to have the data "as of a certain date (or extractno)". This is data exported from another application that I only get flat files for, that I have imported into SQL Server tables. So, by running this procedure, I get the each latest "id" record as of the extractno (I get a new extract every day, with changes that were made the previous day). I want to mark these latest fields in the "Active" field so when I create reports, I can have them filter on this field.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.|||

Hi,

I wrote this stored procedure that works, and returns what I want, but now I want to mark the "Active" field to 1 for each of the records returned by this. I have had no luck so far. I am working in SQL server 2005.

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[SelectCurrent_acmdtn]

@.extractNum char(10)

AS

BEGIN

SET NOCOUNT ON;

SELECT id, efctv_from_dt, efctv_to_dt, modify_ts, extractno, Active, acmtdn_RECID

FROM (SELECT dbo.acmdtn.*, row_number() OVER (partition BY id

ORDER BY extractno, efctv_to_dt DESC, efctv_from_dt DESC, modify_ts DESC, acmdtn_RECID DESC) rn

FROM dbo.acmdtn

WHERE extractno > @.extractNum) Rank

WHERE rn = 1

END

I have tried inserting Update between the 2 "WHERE" statements, but it returns an error

"Invalid column name 'rn'."

I have also tried opening the recordset in Access VB , but I am restricted to read-only.

I would prefer to have a stored procedure do this.

I can get it to work if I take out the parameter, but I need that part.

The purpose of this (if you care..) is I have a large amount of historical data (this is one of 42 tables) that I need to run reports on, but I need to have the data "as of a certain date (or extractno)". This is data exported from another application that I only get flat files for, that I have imported into SQL Server tables. So, by running this procedure, I get the latest "id" record as of the extractno (I get a new extract every day, with changes that were made the previous day). I want to mark these latest fields in the "Active" field so when I create reports, I can have them filter on this field.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.|||

You are returning the results of a data manipulation - there may not be a 'match' between the resultset and the actual table.

My 'simple' recommendation is to:

capture the resultset in a @.Table variable, then use the [ID] value from that table variable to UPDATE the data, finally, returning the contents of the table variable with a SELECT.|||

Thanks for the reply. I posted this question a few too many times (was told it was deleted by administrator!).

Anyway, [ID] is not the primary key, [acmdtn_RECID] is. Any changes made to the master database simply add another record, and retain the old record, so historical queries can be run. So there can be dozens of records for each [ID]. What I want is the most recent record, for each [ID], as of a certain date.

I guess I just don't get why I can display the information, but I can't write back to the database based on that displayed information. It's a complex query, but there's no joins, or other tables involved, there can only be a 1:1 relationship between records in the table, and records in the resultset.

Handling UNC path names

What is the best handling of a UNC Pathname?

What is the max length of a path name?
Which is the best type of field in SQL Server to use for a path name?

Thanks

I would store this in a VARCHAR field with the appropiate value.

HTH, Jens Suessmeyer,

|||

What is the max length of the path & filename? It used to be 255 chars but I believe it has grown since then.

|||

Maximum name of a UNC path is 260 unicode characters (MAX_PATH defined in windows.h I believe). Search google for MAX_PATH to see lots of people talking about this issue.

So a NVARCHAR(260) should be sufficient unless you allow the \\?\ prefix that bypasses normal MAX_PATH length. If you only have one locale you use for paths, then you can potentially use VARCHAR(260).

Handling NULLS - help!

I would like to display some text in a textbox conditional on the null/not
null value of a database field (called "ID").
I have tried various versions of the following:
=iif(len(trim(Fields!ID.Value))<1 OR (Fields!ID.Value IS
system.dbnull.value),"ID is null","ID is not null")
but I still get this error:
"The query returned no rows for the data set. The expression therefore
evaluates to null."
any suggestions?Try =IIF(IsNothing(Fields!ID.Value), ...|||Thanks Rose - that worked perfectly :)

Handling Images from database

I want to get an image field and display that image on the report for corresponding records.did you store it in a database?
If so place that field in the Report and see if it is printing

Handling columns with Nvarchar value

Hai All,
can any one out there help me in the following scenario.
I have a Remarks column in a table which is NVARCHAR field and length set
4000. This column value is set by a SP. Case is that when the remarks grows
beyond 4000 , how will i handle it. The requirement is, that I should not
ignore any remarks value.
Such Larger values how will i handle.
Thanks,
V.Boomessh
Hi
Look at NTEXT datatype in BOL. After NVARCHAR(4000), with SQL Server 2000,
your only option in NTEXT.
--
Mike Epprecht, Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Zurich, Switzerland
IM: mike@.epprecht.net
MVP Program: http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/epprecht/
"Boomessh" <Boomessh@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:61F38371-3BEF-436B-9421-FF37E6C30CF0@.microsoft.com...
> Hai All,
> can any one out there help me in the following scenario.
> I have a Remarks column in a table which is NVARCHAR field and length set
> 4000. This column value is set by a SP. Case is that when the remarks
> grows
> beyond 4000 , how will i handle it. The requirement is, that I should not
> ignore any remarks value.
> Such Larger values how will i handle.
> Thanks,
> V.Boomessh
>
>

Handling a Null datetime column

can anybody tell me how to do a select query on a datetime field where if i have a null value in that column, i need to display a some character.

ISNULL is a lovely function useful for doing just that.

ISNULL(MyDateColumn, 'ITS NULL!')

returns ITS NULL if column MyDateColumn's value is NULL

|||

select donor_id,isnull(check_date,'No Value') from donors where check_date is null

If the column check_date consists the null value U will get the value No Value.

Thank u

Baba

Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on this post if it helped you.

|||I would say it depends what is the type of your field. If your filed is data time you shoudl convert it to string for output to not have problems with data type.Looks that ISNULL is trying to convert default for null value to the same type like tested value so you you would like to use syntax like this:ISNULL(DateField, 'Null date')It can not work because SQL will try to convert you "NUll Date" to be datetime and will fail. So you have to use different syntax:ISNULL(convert(varchar(20),DateField), 'Null date')and this should work but returned column will be varchar(20) not datetime.In case you need datetime column just left nulls inside or use first valid date :ISNULL(DateField, '00:00')it will replace all nulls by date '01/01/1900 00:00' Bu I think that keeping null is better.|||

ISNULL wont work with datetime a column if we r replacing with some characters. so in this case whatjpazgiermentioned is right.but in that too there is a flaw. what i got here is we need to check for each part of the datetime value for NULL.like dd/mm/yyyy, then hh:mm:ss,then am/pm.

so the query will be like

SELECT column1,Isnull(
(convert(varchar(20),columnDate,101) + ' ' + convert(varchar(20),columnDate,108) + ' ' + right(convert(varchar(20),columnDate),2)),'-') column2 from table1

im not sure if the above mentioned is the best solution possible.if anyone have any easy method other than this please reply.

Handling a double or float value for inserting into DataTime field.

Hi,

I was trying to enter the non-normalised exponential format of double or float value into the DataTime field in my data base. It is allowing to store any kind of data passed to this field. If the same non-normalised exponential value for eg: 4.235E-329 is passed to float or double field we are getting a TDS error but when same thing is used to store in DateTime field it is simply inserting the value.

Now my concern is that SQL Server 2005 should give me such kind of exception when I am trying to insert in-valid double or float value to DateTime field. Is this a bug in SQL Server 2005? Please kindly help me how to implement this one.

Thanks,

I get the same results on SQL 2000 and SQL 2005 when I run the script below.

I get
Server: Msg 168, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
The floating point value '4.235E-329' is out of the range of computer representation (8 bytes).

and the value 1900-01-01 00:00:00.000 is inserted into the datetime field and the value 0.0 gets inserted into the float field.

Can you please clarify your question or provide a repro?

Thanks!
use tempdb
go

create table t1(d datetime)
go

create table t2(f float)
go

insert into t1 (d) values (4.235E-329)
go

insert into t2 (f) values (4.235E-329)
go

select * from t1
go

select * from t2
go

drop table t1
go

drop table t2
go

|||

Unfortunately, SQL Server is a bit inconsistent in its compliance with the IEEE floating point standards. The value 4.235E-329 is less than 2^(-1023), and it can only be represented as a reduced-precision "denormalized" value. In some situations, these values will be understood and used correctly, and in others they will generate errors. The best advice I can offer is to be cautious with them, unfortunately. In SQL Server 2000, for example (and I expect in 2005 as well), the first code snippet here will succeed, but the second will fail:

declare @.f float
set @.f = 1e-307
set @.f = @.f/100000000000000
select @.f
go

declare @.f float
set @.f = 1e-322
select @.f
go

Steve Kass
Drew University

|||Problem Repro steps:

Create table tblTest1(id int, fld1 float, dtfld datatime)
Go

insert into tblTest1 values(10, 4.235E-329, '10/29/2005')
Go

This insert will give an error
Server: Msg 168, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
The floating point value '4.235E-329' is out of the range of computer representation (8 bytes).

If we selected the data then we will see there will be no record inserted.

now change the insert statment as

insert into tblTest1 values(10, 4.23, 4.235E-329)
Go

Then this will say that 1 record inserted and when we select the table to display the rows we will see that the record inserted. My Question is that if we insert a wrong non-normalised (Exponential) double or float value into float or double column it is raising an error and the trasaction is rolled back, but if we have given the same value to a datatime field, it is not raising any error and the record is inserted. We want to know is that a Bug in SQL Server 2000 / 2005.

Our main concern is that we want to get a such a kind of exception when we try to insert a wrong non-normalised (Exponential) value into datatime field and the transaction should be rolled back. Is there any work around to get rid of this issue, please mention me

Thanks|||When I ran your scripts on SQL 2005, both insert statements would throw a warning (msg 168), and then the insert would continue and insert one row into the table. The warning indicates that there is an UNDERFLOW for the floating point value, and the value is turned into 0. Is this not the result you are seeing?

Because floating point is imprecise itself, we chose to map denormalized values to zero. Note that the values inserted into the table are actually 0, not the denormalized value. I understand that you might want to see an error, but such behavior would potentially break other existing applications.

Regards,
Jun
|||Hi Jun Fang,

According to your message you said that a warning(msg 168) is thrown when the transaction is happening, please kindly help us how to trap this warning message from the ADO.Net 2.0 (front end application) so that we can show the message and roll back the entire transaction for this kind of scenario.

Thanks