Question

Column alias

Asked by: aurion

Is it is possible to use data from one table as a column alias. Lets say I have a table Products with columns Id, Name Dim and DimText. I want to do something like this..

---
SELECT Name, Dim as [Products.DimText]
FROM Products
WHERE Id=2
---

This is not exactly what I want to do, but it illustrates the problem I have. I want to use the value stored in DimText as the column alias for the column Dim. Is this possible to do with SQL or do I have to do it using VBA?

/ aurion

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Asked On
2004-08-27 at 06:36:49ID21109678
Tags

alias

,

column

,

vba

Topic

Microsoft Access Database

Participating Experts
5
Points
200
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: NicholasSmithPosted on 2004-08-27 at 06:41:31ID: 11912952

what you could do is create a temporary table using vba code which takes the values froma field and inserts it as the column name. let me know if you need help with the coding to do this.

Nic

 

by: TheMekPosted on 2004-08-27 at 06:44:07ID: 11912982

Actually, this wouldn't make sense...you give an alias for a column. This alias is given only once for the query. So what would you expect to see there if you have more than one record in your table? A random pick from a Dimtext out of the records selected?
So the answer is no you can't do this, because it doesn't make sense. Maybe you should look into a so-called 'crosstable query' where the contents of a field are used as column headers. But it depends on your needs if this is suitable for you.

Cheers,
   Erwin

 

by: NestorioPosted on 2004-08-27 at 06:44:57ID: 11912990

Are you trying to update the Dim Text column from Dim column?

 

by: NestorioPosted on 2004-08-27 at 06:48:03ID: 11913041

If so you can do:

Update Products Set Dim = [Products.DimText]
WHERE Id=2

 

by: LSMConsultingPosted on 2004-08-27 at 06:48:39ID: 11913053

Erwin is correct, of course ... think about it ... you're trying to reference an object (your "naming" column) before it's actually created ...

 

by: cwood-wm-comPosted on 2004-08-27 at 07:12:35ID: 11913354

Hi aurion,

It seems to me, if I understand what you want to do, that you are trying to change the column name for each row of data, based on the data in another field. If you only want to do that for one row, it is feasible. But, if you want to do it for multiple rows, you can't do that in a SQL statement, vba code, a query, or a table.

If you want to do it for just one row, you must use two SQL SELECT statements.

Example:

Public Sub TestCode()
Dim rst As New ADODB.Recordset, strSQL As String, strValue As String, fFound As Boolean
    strSQL = "SELECT [Dim Test] FROM Products WHERE Id=2"
    With rst
        .Open strSQL, CurrentProject.Connection, adOpenKeyset, adLockReadOnly
        If Not .EOF Then
            strValue = .Fields(0)
            fFound = True
        End If
        .Close
    End With
    Set rst = Nothing
    If fFound Then
        strSQL = "SELECT Name, Dim AS " & strValue & " FROM Products WHERE Id=2"
        With rst
            .Open strSQL, CurrentProject.Connection, adOpenDynamic, adLockOptimistic
            If Not .EOF Then
                Debug.Print .Fields(0).Name & "-" & .Fields(0) & ", " & .Fields(1).Name & "-" & .Fields(1)
                '   OR
                MsgBox .Fields(0).Name & "-" & .Fields(0) & ", " & .Fields(1).Name & "-" & .Fields(1)
            End If
            .Close
        End With
        Set rst = Nothing
    End If
End Sub

 

by: aurionPosted on 2004-08-30 at 00:41:08ID: 11929110

Thanks cwood-wm-com!

You have confirmed my suspicions that I have to do it using two queries. Also, when I wrote the question I should have explained what I was trying to do a little better. The reason I didn't do this was to focus on the problem I had. Obviously this cauesd some confusion, so I'll explain now instead.

Actually I have two tables (Products and ProductTypes). They are joined together using column 'Type' in the Products table. The 'DimText' column is actually placed in the ProductType table. Modifying the sql in the original question I would have written

---
SELECT a.Name, a.Dim as [b.DimText]
FROM Products AS a JOIN ProductTypes AS b ON a.Type=b.Id
where a.Type=2
---

As you can see, this is a complete different question. Let's say you have a product type 'Pipes'. The DimText property for that type would be 'Diameter', whereas another type could have a different name for the Dim column. Now I want to list these products by type, each of the types having its own alias for the Dim column.

Doing like this, I can list all products of one type on a form, using type specific naming of the Dim column.

Hope this clears it out for you, Thanks again!

/ aurion

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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