SQL Question - Retrieve latest records per initial

Hi Experts,

I have a table named HistoryChanges with following fields

ID (PK) Int Auto num
Initial varchar (5)
DateEntered DateTime
Other columns are not relevant

Would like to get all records from a given initial which were entered latest.

Meaning if Initial A entered first 5 records then Initial B entered another 5, later Initial A entered 2 records,

If I'm looking for Initial A I would only want see the last two records, while if searching for Initial B I would want see 5 records.

This could be determined either by ID which is auto num or by DateEntered which captures date and time record was entered.

PS, I have SQL Express 2005.
LVL 6
bfuchsAsked:
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funwithdotnetCommented:
Something like:
SELECT * FROM [dbo].[MyTable]
WHERE DateEntered > (
-- The date of second most recent initial.
SELECT TOP 1 DateEntered 
FROM [dbo].[MyTable] a
where Initial NOT IN (
-- The most recent initial
SELECT TOP 1 Initial 
FROM [dbo].[MyTable] a
ORDER BY DateEntered DESC
)
ORDER BY DateEntered DESC
)

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should work okay.

Good luck!
SharathData EngineerCommented:
you can try like this.
;with cte as (
select ID - row_number() over (partition by initial order by ID) rn ,*
  from HistoryChanges),
       cte1 as (
select *,rank() over (partition by initial order by rn desc) rn1
  from cte)
select ID, initial, DateEntered
  from cte1
 where rn1 = 1
order by id

Open in new window


Tested with this sample data.
declare @HistoryChanges table (ID int identity, initial varchar(5), DateEntered datetime)
insert @HistoryChanges values ('A', '2016-08-30 10:00:00')
insert @HistoryChanges values ('A', '2016-08-30 10:01:00')
insert @HistoryChanges values ('A', '2016-08-30 10:02:00')
insert @HistoryChanges values ('B', '2016-08-30 10:03:00')
insert @HistoryChanges values ('B', '2016-08-30 10:04:00')
insert @HistoryChanges values ('A', '2016-08-30 10:05:00')
insert @HistoryChanges values ('A', '2016-08-30 10:06:00')

;with cte as (
select ID - row_number() over (partition by initial order by ID) rn ,*
  from @HistoryChanges),
       cte1 as (
select *,rank() over (partition by initial order by rn desc) rn1
  from cte)
select ID, initial, DateEntered
  from cte1
 where rn1 = 1
order by id
/*
ID	initial	DateEntered
4	B	2016-08-30 10:03:00.000
5	B	2016-08-30 10:04:00.000
6	A	2016-08-30 10:05:00.000
7	A	2016-08-30 10:06:00.000
*/

Open in new window

bfuchsAuthor Commented:
Hi Experts,

Just arrived at work, will test them and let you know.

Thanks,
Ben
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bfuchsAuthor Commented:
Hi,

I guess was not clear enough.

I need to get results from a particular Initial only, and see which were this initial latest entries,

Possible your example does that, however I'm not sure where do I specify which initial i'm looking for?

Thanks,
Ben
SharathData EngineerCommented:
try like this.
declare @initial varchar(5)
select @initial = 'A'
;with cte as (
select ID - row_number() over (partition by initial order by ID) rn ,*
  from HistoryChanges
 where initial = @initial),
       cte1 as (
select *,rank() over (partition by initial order by rn desc) rn1
  from cte)
select ID, initial, DateEntered
  from cte1
 where rn1 = 1
order by id

Open in new window

bfuchsAuthor Commented:
@Sarath,

This looks like working:)

Just one question, where do I enter additional criteria besides initial?

for example where tablename = 'somevalue' and initial is not null, meaning if initial is null then it should not count as different value and therefore consider as cut off point.

In other words if we have initial AA record 1,2,3 and null record 4 and AA record 5, I do want see 123 and 5.

Thanks,
Ben
SharathData EngineerCommented:
Well. In that case, you cannot rely on your auto increment ID. You can try like this.
declare @initial varchar(5)
select @initial = 'A'
;with cte as (
select row_number() over (order by ID) - row_number() over (partition by initial order by ID) rn ,*
  from HistoryChanges
 where initial is not null),
       cte1 as (
select *,rank() over (partition by initial order by rn desc) rn1
  from cte)
select ID, initial, DateEntered
  from cte1
 where rn1 = 1
   and initial = @initial
order by id

Open in new window

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bfuchsAuthor Commented:
Excelent!!

Thank You!
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