Question

Reverse Pivot table query?

Asked by: adamdrayer

I need help transforming a weird data structure into another weird data structure.  If anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciate them.

THANKS!

Starting Table
Name            Address            Phone            Wife
Doe,John            123 Easy St
Doe,John                        555-555
Doe,John                        666-666
Smith, Justin                  444-444
Smith, Justin                              Margaret
Smith, Justin                              Jessica
Smith, Justin                  333-333



NAME            TYPE            DATA
Doe, John            Address            123 Easy St
Doe, John            Phone            555-555
Doe, John            Phone            666-666
Doe, John            Wife            ""
Smith, Justin      Phone            444-444
Smith, Justin      Phone            333-333
Smith, Justin      Wife            Margaret
Smith, Justin      Wife            Jessica
Smith, Justin      Address            ""

Notice that it creates a blank entry when there is no data present.  Every name needs at least 1 of every type of data

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Asked On
2008-01-18 at 12:30:28ID23094527
Tags

SQL, Access

Topics

SQL Query Syntax

,

Microsoft Access Database

,

MS SQL Server

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
17

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Answers

 

by: capricorn1Posted on 2008-01-18 at 12:42:04ID: 20693957

you will need vba to do this using recordset

 

by: ScottPletcherPosted on 2008-01-18 at 12:46:04ID: 20693993

The blank entries will require more work.  The split rows is fairly straightforward:

--INSERT INTO newTable (name, type, data)
SELECT name,
    CASE
        WHEN Address <> '' THEN 'Address'
        WHEN Phone <> '' THEN 'Phone'
        WHEN Wife <> '' THEN 'Wife'
    END AS type,
    CASE
        WHEN Address <> '' THEN Address
        WHEN Phone <> '' THEN Phone
        WHEN Wife <> '' THEN Wife
    END AS data    
FROM startingTable

 

by: adamdrayerPosted on 2008-01-18 at 12:51:21ID: 20694037

Has to be VBA, huh?  I was able to accomplish this where data exists.  was just looking for a way to automatically generate the records that had blank data as well..

 

by: capricorn1Posted on 2008-01-18 at 12:53:19ID: 20694057

ok.. if you can do it using query fine..

 

by: adamdrayerPosted on 2008-01-18 at 12:57:19ID: 20694094

Currently I have:

SELECT Name, "Address" as Type, Address as Data FROM table WHERE Address <> Null
UNION SELECT Name, "Phone" as Type, Phone as Data FROM table WHERE Phone <> Null
UNION SELECT Name, "Wife" as Type, Wife as Data FROM table WHERE Wife <> Null

This works except for the blank records.  What I am hearing is that this can't be done with tables and queries.  I'll give it a day, and then accept that if need be.
 

 

by: ScottPletcherPosted on 2008-01-18 at 12:59:38ID: 20694120

OK, please try this, which generates the missing-rows data right after extracting the existing data.


--INSERT INTO newTable (name, type, data)
SELECT name,
    CASE
        WHEN Address <> '' THEN 'Address'
        WHEN Phone <> '' THEN 'Phone'
        WHEN Wife <> '' THEN 'Wife'
    END AS type,
    CASE
        WHEN Address <> '' THEN Address
        WHEN Phone <> '' THEN Phone
        WHEN Wife <> '' THEN Wife
    END AS data    
FROM startingTable
UNION ALL
SELECT name, CASE missingType
    WHEN 'address' THEN 'Address'
    WHEN 'phone' THEN 'Phone'
    WHEN 'wife' THEN 'Wife'
    END, ''
FROM (
    SELECT name,
        MAX(CASE WHEN address = '' THEN 0 ELSE 1 END) AS addressFound,
        MAX(CASE WHEN phone = '' THEN 0 ELSE 1 END) AS phoneFound,
        MAX(CASE WHEN wife = '' THEN 0 ELSE 1 END) AS wifeFound
    FROM startingTable
    GROUP BY name
    HAVING MAX(CASE WHEN address = '' THEN 0 ELSE 1 END) = 0
        OR MAX(CASE WHEN phone = '' THEN 0 ELSE 1 END) = 0
        OR MAX(CASE WHEN wife = '' THEN 0 ELSE 1 END) = 0
) AS nameMissingTypes
INNER JOIN (
    SELECT 'address' AS missingType UNION ALL
    SELECT 'phone' UNION ALL
    SELECT 'wife'
) AS missingTypes ON (missingType = 'address' AND addressFound = 0) OR
    (missingType = 'phone' AND phoneFound = 0) OR (missingType = 'wife' AND wifeFound = 0)
 

 

by: ScottPletcherPosted on 2008-01-18 at 13:00:33ID: 20694130

Oops, didn't see your last post about NULLs before I posted, pls change references of = / <> NULL to IS NULL / IS NOT NULL.

 

by: ScottPletcherPosted on 2008-01-18 at 13:01:27ID: 20694142

That is, be careful that you code:

WHERE Address IS NOT NULL

and *not*:

WHERE Address <> Null

= / <> don't work properly with NULL, you must use IS / IS NOT

 

by: GRayLPosted on 2008-01-18 at 13:58:10ID: 20694595


SELECT * from (
SELECT Name, "Address" as Type, Address as Data FROM table WHERE Address <> Null
UNION SELECT Name, "Phone" as Type, Phone as Data FROM table WHERE Phone <> Null
UNION SELECT Name, "Wife" as Type, Wife as Data FROM table WHERE Wife <> Null)
WHERE Data<>"";

 

by: adamdrayerPosted on 2008-01-19 at 12:05:52ID: 20698736

Thanks to all of you.  Scott Pletcher put me on the right track, but his code didn't work in Access.  I ended up taking a different approach.  I create a table like this:

Field1
------
Address
Phone
Wife


Then I did a SELECT StartingTable.Name, NewTable.Field1 FROM StartingTable, NewTable;

This gave me a results table with every combination of Name and Field1.  I then did another query where I did a LEFT JOINed that table on both fields to the results table I had already, and it created the blank rows where there was no info.

Does that make sense?

 

by: GRayLPosted on 2008-01-19 at 12:25:49ID: 20698803

It sounded like you wanted to get rid of the records where Data = "".  Didn't my query do that?

 

by: adamdrayerPosted on 2008-01-19 at 14:22:27ID: 20699304

no, the opposite.  I needed records with blanks where no data existed for that type.  I needed at least 1 of every type in the resultant table.

 

by: GRayLPosted on 2008-01-19 at 17:02:53ID: 20699677

Go back and read your question.

 

by: adamdrayerPosted on 2008-01-19 at 23:01:24ID: 20700381

>>Doe, John            Wife            ""
>>Smith, Justin      Address            ""

>>Notice that it creates a blank entry when there is no data present.  Every name
>>needs at least 1 of every type of data

Makes sense to me.  And everyone else seems to have understood it.

 

by: GRayLPosted on 2008-01-20 at 11:06:21ID: 20702049

>>Notice that it creates a blank entry when there is no data present.

'It' doen't create a blank entry - you need a blank entry.  Now we're on the same page.

 

by: GRayLPosted on 2008-01-20 at 11:37:47ID: 20702122

Try this:  Original table named TestUnion.  Small table Types with three records containing the field Type.  Your original query modified as below to reflect my table name:

SELECT [Name], "Address" as Type, Address as Data FROM testunion WHERE Address <> Null
UNION SELECT [Name], "Phone" as Type, Phone as Data FROM testunion WHERE Phone <> Null
UNION SELECT [Name], "Wife" as Type, Wife as Data FROM testunion WHERE Wife <> Null;

Running this query:

Select a.Name, a.Type, b.Data FROM (SELECT DISTINCT Name, Type From testunion, Types) as a   LEFT JOIN qryTestUnion AS b ON a.Name=b.Name and a.Type=b.type

Produced the table in the code snippet.  This eliminates a few of the 'steps' you took by using a sub-query with DISTINCT.

Name	        Type	Data
Doe,John	Address	123 Easy St
Doe,John	Phone	666-666
Doe,John	Phone	555-555
Doe,John	Wife	
Smith, Justin	Address	
Smith, Justin	Phone	444-444
Smith, Justin	Phone	333-333
Smith, Justin	Wife	Margaret
Smith, Justin	Wife	Jessica

                                              
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by: GRayLPosted on 2008-01-22 at 10:41:39ID: 20716904

Thanks, glad to help.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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