Question

including decimal point value

Asked by: -Dman100-

I have the following database table and stored procedure that reads the data from the table (see code below).  The real datatype does not allow the value of 8.0.  It will always revert to just 8.  I can use 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, etc. but, whenever I try to enter just 8.0, the .0 decimal will not be accepted.  What is the easiest way to get the .0 decimal point to be accepted.  I have other values that do not need to show a decimal point, so I only need to show the .0 decimal point for this one record.  There are other records that have 4.7, etc.  Then other records with just a whole number value such as 25 without a decimal point.

Thanks for any help.

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[customer_service_metric](
	[metric_id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
	[description] [varchar](255) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL,
	[metric] [real] NULL,
 CONSTRAINT [PK_service_report_card] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED 
(
	[metric_id] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]
 
 
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[spGetCustomerServiceMetrics]
 
AS
   SELECT metric_id,  description, metric =
	CASE metric_id
	WHEN 1 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(2)) + '%'
	WHEN 2 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + ' seconds'
	ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
	END
FROM dbo.customer_service_metric

                                  
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Asked On
2009-10-23 at 07:18:43ID24838004
Tags

sql server

Topic

SQL Server 2005

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
13

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Answers

 

by: federicomarinucciPosted on 2009-10-23 at 07:26:35ID: 25644744

That's the way SQL uses to store its real values, and it's correct.
You may want to have 8.0 just for display purposes, so, when you SELECT these values, you may add ".0" by code or by a CASE sql statement where the rest of VALUE / 1.0 equals 0.

 

by: -Dman100-Posted on 2009-10-23 at 07:47:44ID: 25644922

Hi federicomarinuci,

Thanks for replying to my post.

I could modify the stored procedure to the following:

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[spGetCustomerServiceMetrics]

AS
   SELECT metric_id,  description, metric =
      CASE metric_id
      WHEN 1 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(2)) + '%'
      WHEN 2 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + ' seconds'
                      WHEN 3 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(2)) + '.0'
      ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
      END
FROM dbo.customer_service_metric

But, the problem with that is the record will change in the next quarter to possibly 8.2 or someother decimal value, then it would display as  8.2.0 and then would not be good.

Is there a better way to correct this?

 

by: federicomarinucciPosted on 2009-10-23 at 08:05:32ID: 25645098

SELECT     metric_id,  description, CASE (metric%1.0)
WHEN 0.0 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + '.0'
ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
END AS metric

This way the numbers which are integer gets displayed with the ".0" suffix.

 

by: aneeshattingalPosted on 2009-10-23 at 08:28:34ID: 25645352

>WHEN 1 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(2)) + '%'
its the issue with the 'real' datatype , another option is to convert it to decimal

SELECT metric_id,  description, metric =
      CASE metric_id
      WHEN 1 THEN  cast( cast(Metric as decimal(10,1)) as varchar(10) )  + '%'
      WHEN 2 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + ' seconds'
                      WHEN 3 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(2)) + '.0'
      ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
      END
FROM dbo.customer_service_metric

 

by: -Dman100-Posted on 2009-10-23 at 08:29:18ID: 25645359

Hi federicomarinucci,

I received the following error:

The data types real and numeric are incompatible in the modulo operator.

From looking at the select and case statement above, I think I see another issue that will occur.

For record 2, I have to append the text ' seconds' because the value that is stored in the table is 25 and it needs to be displayed as '25 seconds'.
For record 1, I append the text '%' because the value that is stored in the table is 91 and it needs to be displayed as '91%'

Does that make sense?  Basically, I'm displaying customer service metrics...i.e.:

91%
25 seconds
8.0
4.7
4.6

so, the values in the table are just:
91
25
8
4.7
4.6

Thanks for your help with this.
Regards.

 

by: federicomarinucciPosted on 2009-10-23 at 08:51:18ID: 25645601

So, we encapsulate the current CASE statement in another one, assuming metric_id define if the metric value is a percentage, seconds or a real value.

SELECT metric_id,  description,
CASE (metric_id)
WHEN 1 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10) +'%'
WHEN 2 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10) +' seconds'
WHEN 3 THEN
CASE (metric%1.0)
WHEN 0.0 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + '.0'
ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
END
ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
END AS metric

 

by: -Dman100-Posted on 2009-10-23 at 09:13:40ID: 25645824

That does make perfect sense to me...I understand exactly what you are explaining....thank you!

The only problem I'm having is actually executing the code to alter the stored procedure.  I'm using SQL Server 2005.

I get the error: The data types real and numeric are incompatible in the modulo operator.

I did a search on google for this error and it did not bring up any hits on the error.

I think the error is caused on this line: CASE (metric%1.0)

Any idea on that error?

 

by: federicomarinucciPosted on 2009-10-23 at 09:54:51ID: 25646244

If the metric field is a real, you have to cast 1.0 to real:

CASE (metric%CAST(1.0 AS real))

This should work!

 

by: -Dman100-Posted on 2009-10-23 at 11:21:48ID: 25646948

Hmmm, well, I'm getting an incorrect syntax error near CAST

First, I tried this:

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[spGetCustomerServiceMetrics]

AS
   SELECT metric_id,  description, metric =
      CASE metric_id
      WHEN 1 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(2)) + '%'
      WHEN 2 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + ' seconds'
      WHEN 3 THEN
            CASE (metric CAST(1.0 AS REAL))
            WHEN 0.0 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + '.0'
            ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
            END
      ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
      END
FROM dbo.customer_service_metric


As a quick workaround, I modified to this:

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[spGetCustomerServiceMetrics]

AS
   SELECT metric_id,  description, metric =
      CASE metric_id
      WHEN 1 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(2)) + '%'
      WHEN 2 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + ' seconds'
      WHEN 3 THEN
            CASE (metric)
            WHEN 8.0 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + '.0'
            ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
            END
      ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
      END
FROM dbo.customer_service_metric

The second attempt worked, but of course, the case statement is looking for 8.0 and if it changes to anything else, it breaks.

It seems it doesn't like the cast in the case line.

 

by: federicomarinucciPosted on 2009-10-23 at 11:45:11ID: 25647168

You're right, it seem MSSql doesn't like the MOD operator with real nor float values. There is a workaround, if you have always a single decimal digit: multiply the metric value per 10 in the case statement.

SELECT metric_id,  description,
CASE (metric_id)
WHEN 1 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10) +'%'
WHEN 2 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10) +' seconds'
WHEN 3 THEN
CASE (CAST(metric*10 AS Int)%10)
WHEN 0 THEN CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10)) + '.0'
ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
END
ELSE CAST(metric AS VARCHAR(10))
END AS metric

 

by: -Dman100-Posted on 2009-10-23 at 14:51:06ID: 25649049

Thanks for all your help!  That solved the problem.  I appreciate your help.

Best Regards!

 

by: -Dman100-Posted on 2009-10-23 at 14:51:44ID: 31645020

Excellent solution!

Thank you!

 

by: federicomarinucciPosted on 2009-10-23 at 15:06:32ID: 25649152

You're welcome, it has been a pleasure and a chance to improve my SQL understanding!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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