Query Results in a String

Function DConcat(ConcatColumns As String, Tbl As String, Optional Criteria As String = "", _
    Optional Delimiter1 As String = ", ", Optional Delimiter2 As String = ", ", _
    Optional Distinct As Boolean = True, Optional Sort As String = "Asc", _
    Optional Limit As Long = 0)
    
    ' Function by Patrick G. Matthews, basically embellishing an approach seen in many
    ' incarnations over the years
    
    ' Requires reference to Microsoft DAO library
    
    ' This function is intended as a "domain aggregate" that concatenates (and delimits) the
    ' various values rather than the more usual Count, Sum, Min, Max, etc.  For example:
    '
    '    Select Field1, DConcat("Field2", "SomeTable", "[Field1] = '" & Field1 & "'") AS List
    '    FROM SomeTable
    '    GROUP BY Field1
    '
    ' will return the distinct values of Field1, along with a concatenated list of all the
    ' distinct Field2 values associated with each Field1 value.
    
    ' ConcatColumns is a comma-delimited list of columns to be concatenated (typically just
    '   one column, but the function accommodates multiple).  Place field names in square
    '   brackets if they do not meet the customary rules for naming DB objects
    ' Tbl is the table/query the data are pulled from.  Place table name in square brackets
    '   if they do not meet the customary rules for naming DB objects
    ' Criteria (optional) are the criteria to be applied in the grouping.  Be sure to use And
    '   or Or as needed to build the right logic, and to encase text values in single quotes
    '   and dates in #
    ' Delimiter1 (optional) is the delimiter used in the concatenation (default is ", ").
    '   Delimiter1 is applied to each row in the code query's result set
    ' Delimiter2 (optional) is the delimiter used in concatenating each column in the result
    '   set if ConcatColumns specifies more than one column (default is ", ")
    ' Distinct (optional) determines whether the distinct values are concatenated (True,
    '   default), or whether all values are concatenated (and thus may get repeated)
    ' Sort (optional) indicates whether the concatenated string is sorted, and if so, if it is
    '   Asc or Desc.  Note that if ConcatColumns has >1 column and you use Desc, only the last
    '   column gets sorted
    ' Limit (optional) places a limit on how many items are placed into the concatenated string.
    '   The Limit argument works as a TOP N qualifier in the SELECT clause
    
    Dim rs As DAO.Recordset
    Dim SQL As String
    Dim ThisItem As String
    Dim FieldCounter As Long
    
    On Error GoTo ErrHandler
    
    ' Initialize to Null
    
    DConcat = Null
    
    ' Build up a query to grab the information needed for the concatenation
    
    SQL = "SELECT " & IIf(Distinct, "DISTINCT ", "") & _
            IIf(Limit > 0, "TOP " & Limit & " ", "") & _
            ConcatColumns & " " & _
        "FROM " & Tbl & " " & _
        IIf(Criteria <> "", "WHERE " & Criteria & " ", "") & _
        Switch(Sort = "Asc", "ORDER BY " & ConcatColumns & " Asc", _
            Sort = "Desc", "ORDER BY " & ConcatColumns & " Desc", True, "")
        
    ' Open the recordset and loop through it:
    ' 1) Concatenate each column in each row of the recordset
    ' 2) Concatenate the resulting concatenated rows in the function's return value
    
    Set rs = CurrentDb.OpenRecordset(SQL)
    With rs
        Do Until .EOF
            
            ' Initialize variable for this row
            
            ThisItem = ""
            
            ' Concatenate columns on this row
            
            For FieldCounter = 0 To rs.Fields.Count - 1
                ThisItem = ThisItem & Delimiter2 & Nz(rs.Fields(FieldCounter).Value, "")
            Next
            
            ' Trim leading delimiter
            
            ThisItem = Mid(ThisItem, Len(Delimiter2) + 1)
            
            ' Concatenate row result to function return value
            
            DConcat = Nz(DConcat, "") & Delimiter1 & ThisItem
            .MoveNext
        Loop
        .Close
    End With
    
    ' Trim leading delimiter
    
    If Not IsNull(DConcat) Then DConcat = Mid(DConcat, Len(Delimiter1) + 1)
    
    GoTo Cleanup

ErrHandler:
    
    ' Error is most likely an invalid database object name, or bad syntax in the Criteria
    
    DConcat = CVErr(Err.Number)
    
Cleanup:
    Set rs = Nothing
    
End Function

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