Prepare dynamic case statement using PostgreSQL 9.3 - postgresql

I have the following case statement to prepare as a dynamic as shown below:
Example:
I have the case statement:
case cola
when cola between '2001-01-01' and '2001-01-05' then 'G1'
when cola between '2001-01-10' and '2001-01-15' then 'G2'
when cola between '2001-01-20' and '2001-01-25' then 'G3'
when cola between '2001-02-01' and '2001-02-05' then 'G4'
when cola between '2001-02-10' and '2001-02-15' then 'G5'
else ''
end
Note: Now I want to create dynamic case statement because of the values dates and name passing as a parameter and it may change.
Declare
dates varchar = '2001-01-01to2001-01-05,2001-01-10to2001-01-15,
2001-01-20to2001-01-25,2001-02-01to2001-02-05,
2001-02-10to2001-02-15';
names varchar = 'G1,G2,G3,G4,G5';
The values in the variables may change as per the requirements, it will be dynamic. So the case statement should be dynamic without using loop.

You may not need any function for this, just join to a mapping data-set:
with cola_map(low, high, value) as (
values(date '2001-01-01', date '2001-01-05', 'G1'),
('2001-01-10', '2001-01-15', 'G2'),
('2001-01-20', '2001-01-25', 'G3'),
('2001-02-01', '2001-02-05', 'G4'),
('2001-02-10', '2001-02-15', 'G5')
-- you can include as many rows, as you want
)
select table_name.*,
coalesce(cola_map.value, '') -- else branch from case expression
from table_name
left join cola_map on table_name.cola between cola_map.low and cola_map.high
If your date ranges could collide, you can use DISTINCT ON or GROUP BY to avoid row duplication.
Note: you can use a simple sub-select too, I used a CTE, because it's more readable.
Edit: passing these data (as a single parameter) can be achieved by passing a multi-dimensional array (or an array of row-values, but that requires you to have a distinct, predefined composite type).
Passing arrays as parameters can depend on the actual client (& driver) you use, but in general, you can use the array's input representation:
-- sql
with cola_map(low, high, value) as (
select d[1]::date, d[2]::date, d[3]
from unnest(?::text[][]) d
)
select table_name.*,
coalesce(cola_map.value, '') -- else branch from case expression
from table_name
left join cola_map on table_name.cola between cola_map.low and cola_map.high
// client pseudo code
query = db.prepare(sql);
query.bind(1, "{{2001-01-10,2001-01-15,G2},{2001-01-20,2001-01-25,G3}}");
query.execute();
Passing each chunk of data separately is also possible with some clients (or with some abstractions), but this is highly depends on your driver/orm/etc. you use.

Related

How to reference a column in the select clause in the order clause in SQLAlchemy like you do in Postgres instead of repeating the expression twice

In Postgres if one of your columns is a big complicated expression you can just say ORDER BY 3 DESC where 3 is the order of the column where the complicated expression is. Is there anywhere to do this in SQLAlchemy?
As Gord Thompson observes in this comment, you can pass the column index as a text object to group_by or order_by:
q = sa.select(sa.func.count(), tbl.c.user_id).group_by(sa.text('2')).order_by(sa.text('2'))
serialises to
SELECT count(*) AS count_1, posts.user_id
FROM posts GROUP BY 2 ORDER BY 2
There are other techniques that don't require re-typing the expression.
You could use the selected_columns property:
q = sa.select(tbl.c.col1, tbl.c.col2, tbl.c.col3)
q = q.order_by(q.selected_columns[2]) # order by col3
You could also order by a label (but this will affect the names of result columns):
q = sa.select(tbl.c.col1, tbl.c.col2, tbl.c.col3.label('c').order_by('c')

What does a column assignment using an aggregate in the columns area of a select do?

I'm trying to decipher another programmer's code who is long-gone, and I came across a select statement in a stored procedure that looks like this (simplified) example:
SELECT #Table2.Col1, Table2.Col2, Table2.Col3, MysteryColumn = CASE WHEN y.Col3 IS NOT NULL THEN #Table2.MysteryColumn - y.Col3 ELSE #Table2.MysteryColumn END
INTO #Table1
FROM #Table2
LEFT OUTER JOIN (
SELECT Table3.Col1, Table3.Col2, Col3 = SUM(#Table3.Col3)
FROM Table3
INNER JOIN #Table4 ON Table4.Col1 = Table3.Col1 AND Table4.Col2 = Table3.Col2
GROUP BY Table3.Col1, Table3.Col2
) AS y ON #Table2.Col1 = y.Col1 AND #Table2.Col2 = y.Col2
WHERE #Table2.Col2 < #EnteredValue
My question, what does the fourth column of the primary selection do? does it produce a boolean value checking to see if the values are equal? or does it set the #Table2.MysteryColumn equal to some value and then inserts it into #Table1? Or does it just update the #Table2.MysteryColumn and not output a value into #Table1?
This same thing seems to happen inside of the sub-query on the third column, and I am equally at a loss as to what that does as well.
MysteryColumn = gives the expression a name also called a column alias. The fact that a column in the table#2 also has the same name is besides the point.
Since it uses INTO syntax it also gives the column its name in the resulting temporary table. See the SELECT CLAUSE and note | column_alias = expression and the INTO CLAUSE

postgres `order by` argument type

What is the argument type for the order by clause in Postgresql?
I came across a very strange behaviour (using Postgresql 9.5). Namely, the query
select * from unnest(array[1,4,3,2]) as x order by 1;
produces 1,2,3,4 as expected. However the query
select * from unnest(array[1,4,3,2]) as x order by 1::int;
produces 1,4,3,2, which seems strange. Similarly, whenever I replace 1::int with whatever function (e.g. greatest(0,1)) or even case operator, the results are unordered (on the contrary to what I would expect).
So which type should an argument of order by have, and how do I get the expected behaviour?
This is expected (and documented) behaviour:
A sort_expression can also be the column label or number of an output column
So the expression:
order by 1
sorts by the first column of the result set (as defined by the SQL standard)
However the expression:
order by 1::int
sorts by the constant value 1, it's essentially the same as:
order by 'foo'
By using a constant value for the order by all rows have the same sort value and thus aren't really sorted.
To sort by an expression, just use that:
order by
case
when some_column = 'foo' then 1
when some_column = 'bar' then 2
else 3
end
The above sorts the result based on the result of the case expression.
Actually I have a function with an integer argument which indicates the column to be used in the order by clause.
In a case when all columns are of the same type, this can work: :
SELECT ....
ORDER BY
CASE function_to_get_a_column_number()
WHEN 1 THEN column1
WHEN 2 THEN column2
.....
WHEN 1235 THEN column1235
END
If columns are of different types, you can try:
SELECT ....
ORDER BY
CASE function_to_get_a_column_number()
WHEN 1 THEN column1::varchar
WHEN 2 THEN column2::varchar
.....
WHEN 1235 THEN column1235::varchar
END
But these "workarounds" are horrible. You need some other approach than the function returning a column number.
Maybe a dynamic SQL ?
I would say that dynamic SQL (thanks #kordirko and the others for the hints) is the best solution to the problem I originally had in mind:
create temp table my_data (
id serial,
val text
);
insert into my_data(id, val)
values (default, 'a'), (default, 'c'), (default, 'd'), (default, 'b');
create function fetch_my_data(col text)
returns setof my_data as
$f$
begin
return query execute $$
select * from my_data
order by $$|| quote_ident(col);
end
$f$ language plpgsql;
select * from fetch_my_data('val'); -- order by val
select * from fetch_my_data('id'); -- order by id
In the beginning I thought this could be achieved using case expression in the argument of the order by clause - the sort_expression. And here comes the tricky part which confused me: when sort_expression is a kind of identifier (name of a column or a number of a column), the corresponding column is used when ordering the results. But when sort_expression is some value, we actually order the results using that value itself (computed for each row). This is #a_horse_with_no_name's answer rephrased.
So when I queried ... order by 1::int, in a way I have assigned value 1 to each row and then tried to sort an array of ones, which clearly is useless.
There are some workarounds without dynamic queries, but they require writing more code and do not seem to have any significant advantages.

UDTF returning a Table on DB2 V5R4 with Dynamic SQL

I must to write a UDF returning a Table. I’ve done it with Static SQL.
I’ve created Procedures preparing a Dynamic and Complex SQL sentence and returning a cursor.
But now I must to create a UDF with Dynamic SQL and return a table to be used with an IN clause inside other select.
It is possible on DB2 v5R4? Do you have an example?
Thanks in advance...
I don't have V5R4, but I have i 6.1 and V5R3. I have a 6.1 example, and I poked around in V5R3 to find how to make the same example work there. I can't guarantee V5R4, but this ought to be extremely close. Generating the working V5R3 code into 'Run SQL Scripts' gives this:
DROP SPECIFIC FUNCTION SQLEXAMPLE.DYNTABLE ;
SET PATH "QSYS","QSYS2","SYSPROC","SYSIBMADM","SQLEXAMPLE" ;
CREATE FUNCTION SQLEXAMPLE.DYNTABLE (
SELECTBY VARCHAR( 64 ) )
RETURNS TABLE (
CUSTNBR DECIMAL( 6, 0 ) ,
CUSTFULLNAME VARCHAR( 12 ) ,
CUSTBALDUE DECIMAL( 6, 0 ) )
LANGUAGE SQL
NO EXTERNAL ACTION
MODIFIES SQL DATA
NOT FENCED
DISALLOW PARALLEL
CARDINALITY 100
BEGIN
DECLARE DYNSTMT VARCHAR ( 512 ) ;
DECLARE GLOBAL TEMPORARY TABLE SESSION.TCUSTCDT
( CUSTNBR DECIMAL ( 6 , 0 ) NOT NULL ,
CUSTNAME VARCHAR ( 12 ) ,
CUSTBALDUE DECIMAL ( 6 , 2 ) )
WITH REPLACE ;
SET DYNSTMT = 'INSERT INTO Session.TCustCDt SELECT t2.CUSNUM , (t2.INIT CONCAT '' '' CONCAT t2.LSTNAM) as FullName , t2.BALDUE FROM QIWS.QCUSTCDT t2 ' CONCAT CASE WHEN SELECTBY = '' THEN '' ELSE SELECTBY END ;
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE DYNSTMT ;
RETURN SELECT * FROM SESSION . TCUSTCDT ;
END ;
COMMENT ON SPECIFIC FUNCTION SQLEXAMPLE.DYNTABLE
IS 'UDTF returning dynamic table' ;
And in 'Run SQL Scripts', the function can be called like this:
SELECT t1.* FROM TABLE(sqlexample.dyntable('WHERE STATE = ''TX''')) t1
The example is intended to work over IBM's sample QCUSCDT table in library QIWS. Most systems will have that table available. The table function returns values from two QCUSCDT columns, CUSNUM and BALDUE, directly through two of the table function's columns, CUSTNBR and CUSTBALDUE. The third table function column, CUSTFULLNAME, gets its value by a concatenation of INIT and LSTNAM from QCUSTCDT.
However, the part that apparently relates to the question is the SELECTBY parameter of the function. The usage example shows that a WHERE clause is passed in and used to help built a dynamic 'INSERT INTO... SELECT...statement. The example shows that rows containingSTATE='TX'` will be returned. A more complex clause could be passed in or the needed condition(s) could be retrieved from somewhere else, e.g., from another table.
The dynamic statement inserts rows into a GLOBAL TEMPORARY TABLE named SESSION.TCUSTCDT. The temporary table is defined in the function. The temporary column definitions are guaranteed (by the developer) to match the 'RETURNS TABLE` columns of the table function because no dynamic changes can be made to any of those elements. This allows SQL to handle reliably columns returned from the function, and that lets it compile the function.
The RETURN statement simply returns whatever rows are in the temporary table after the dynamic statement completes.
The various field definitions take into account the somewhat unusual definitions in the QCUSTCDT file. Those don't make great sense, but they're useful enough.

SQL invalid conversion return null instead of throwing error

I have a table with a varchar column, and I want to find values that match a certain number. So lets say that column contains the following entries (except with millions of rows in real life):
123456789012
2345678
3456
23 45
713?2
00123456789012
So I decide I want all the rows which are numerically 123456789012 write a statement that looks something like this:
SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE CAST(MyColumn as bigint) = 123456789012
It should return the first and last row, but instead the whole query blows up because it can't convert the "23 45" and "713?2" to bigint.
Is there another way to do the conversion that will return NULL for values that can't convert?
SQL Server does NOT guarantee boolean operator short-circuit, see On SQL Server boolean operator short-circuit. So all solution using ISNUMERIC(...) AND CAST(...) are fundamentally flawed (they may work, but hey can arbitrarily fail later dependiong on the generated plan). A better solution is using CASE, as Thomas suggests: CASE ISNUMERIC(...) WHEN 1 THEN CAST(...) ELSE NULL END. But, as gbn pointed out, ISNUMERIC is notoriously finicky in identifying what 'numeric' means and many cases where one would expect it to return 0 it returns 1. So mixing the CASE with the LIKE:
CASE WHEN MyRow NOT LIKE '%[^0-9]%' THEN CAST(MyRow as bigint) ELSE NULL END
But the real problem is that if you have millions of rows and you have to search them like this, you'll always end up scanning end-to-end since the expression is not SARG-able (no matter how we rewrite it). The real issue here is data purity, and should be addressed at the appropriate level, where the data is populated. Another thing to consider is if is possible to create a persisted computed column with this expression and create a filtered index on it which eliminates NULL (ie. non-numeric). That would speed up things a little.
If you are using SQL Server 2012 you can use the 2 new methods:
TRY_CAST()
TRY_CONVERT()
Both methods are equivalent. They return a value cast to the specified data type if the cast succeeds; otherwise, returns null. The only difference is that CONVERT is SQL Server specific, CAST is ANSI. using CAST will make your code more portable (although not sure if any other database provider implements TRY_CAST)
ISNUMERIC will accept empty string and values like 1.23 or 5E-04 so could be unreliable.
And you don't know what order things will be evaluated in so it could still fail (SQL is declarative, not procedural, so the WHERE clause probably won't be evaluated left to right)
So:
you want to accept value that consist only of the characters 0-9
you need to materialise the "number" filter so it's applied before CAST
Something like:
SELECT
*
FROM
(
SELECT TOP 2000000000 *
FROM MyTable
WHERE MyColumn NOT LIKE '%[^0-9]%' --double negative rejects anything except 0-9
ORDER BY MyColumn
) foo
WHERE
CAST(MyColumn as bigint) = 123456789012 --applied after number check
Edit: quick example that fails.
CREATE TABLE #foo (bigintstring varchar(100))
INSERT #foo (bigintstring )VALUES ('1.23')
INSERT #foo (bigintstring )VALUES ('1 23')
INSERT #foo (bigintstring )VALUES ('123')
SELECT * FROM #foo
WHERE
ISNUMERIC(bigintstring) = 1
AND
CAST(bigintstring AS bigint) = 123
SELECT *
FROM MyTable
WHERE ISNUMERIC(MyRow) = 1
AND CAST(MyRow as float) = 123456789012
The ISNUMERIC() function should give you what you need.
SELECT * FROM MyTable
WHERE ISNUMERIC(MyRow) = 1
AND CAST(MyRow as bigint) = 123456789012
And to add a case statement like Thomas suggested:
SELECT * FROM MyTable
WHERE CASE(ISNUMERIC(MyRow)
WHEN 1 THEN CAST(MyRow as bigint)
ELSE NULL
END = 123456789012
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186272.aspx
SELECT *
FROM MyTable
WHERE (ISNUMERIC(MyColumn) = 1) AND (CAST(MyColumn as bigint) = 123456789012)
Additionally you can use a CASE statement in order to get null values.
SELECT
CASE
WHEN (ISNUMERIC(MyColumn) = 1) THEN CAST(MyColumn as bigint)
ELSE NULL
END AS 'MyColumnAsBigInt'
FROM tableName
If you require additional filtering, for numerics which are not valid to be cast to bigint, you can use the following instead of ISNUMERIC:
PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%',MyColumn)) = 0
If you need decimal values instead of integers, cast to float instead and change the regex to '%[^0-9.]%'