Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of stephi01
stephi01

asked on

Have SQL Loop a column then pass those values with commas to a variable for use as a clause.

What I need:

I need SQL to loop through a column in my database (sortfield)
I need SQL to pass the values that are returned to a variable and add commas behind each value
I need SQL to place the values into a where clause

Example:

Invoice Table:
IDNum      Sortfield
11             1
12             2
14             3

@sortfield will become '1', '2', '3'
my where clause will look like: where sortfield in ('1', '2', '3')

declare @sortfield
set @sortfield ='All'
 
If (@sortfield)='All'
begin
set @sortfield='Number1'+, +'Number2'+, +'Number3'+, +'etc...
end
 
Select * from invoice where sortfield in (@sortfield)

Open in new window

Avatar of chapmandew
chapmandew
Flag of United States of America image

why not use this:

select * from tablename where sortfield in(select sortfield from someothertable)
Avatar of stephi01
stephi01

ASKER

i need the query to loop through the invoice table and pull data based off of the sortfield numbers in that same table. The sortfields aren't refrenced in the same way in another table.

I am not sure I understand.  The invoice table has a field named sortfield that you want to filter on.  You want to filter these values based on the sortfield values in another table, right?  What is the name of the table and the name of the field?
So where do the sortfields come from? In your example they appear to be hard-coded, which doesn't make much sense to me.

Maybe this helps: http://www.sommarskog.se/arrays-in-sql-2005.html
I am only using one table. The table is called invoice. Everytime a new invoice is created for a file it is assigned an id number and a sortfield. (the sortfield notates in which order the sees the invoice in the GUI of our software). I have a document that loops through the invoice table for that file and prints a page for each invoice. I am trying to allow the user to isolate a specific invoice to print and have gotten that far. I now need to include logic that allows the user to print all invoices if nessicary. I figure that if i can have the user input the word all i can force the procedure perform the above and pull a page for each row.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of chapmandew
chapmandew
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
The sortfield column is set as int.
I get this message when I run the above.


Msg 245, Level 16, State 1, Line 15
Conversion failed when converting the varchar value 'A' to data type int.
what values are in the variable @sortfield?
it can vary... it will be either a number or the word "All".
one single valued number or a string of numbers?
I got this to work by using

declare  @uidnum varchar (3), @Sort int


set @uidnum='3'

if @uidnum='All'
begin
set @sort=0
end
else
if @uidnum <>'All'
begin
set @sort=@uidnum
end

select * from invoice
where sortfield= case when @sort=0 then sortfield else @uidnum end
Good deal.