SSRS/TSQL date formatting - tsql

Question

Using the following sample query below in SSRS would return month as single number(1-12). What I want to is to display the date as is something like Jan 2000. How would I go about changing my code to be able to format from single number month to a MMM YYYY format? I tried the formatting in visual studio itself but it is currently returning as MMM YYYY.
select distinct count(*) as Count,
con.STATE,
month(con.sub_Date) as Month,
year(con.sub_Date) as Year
from contract con
group by con.STATE,month(con.sub_date),year(con.sub_date)

Answer 1

I strongly recommend that you perform the formatting of the date at the report level.
Return the date from your query as the first date of the desired period, but then set the format string for the placeholder/text box.
The reason to do this is so that sorting and data manipulation works as expected when the report is exported to Excel.
So I would use a query as:
SELECT DISTINCT
COUNT(*) AS Count ,
con.STATE ,
DATEADD(MONTH, DATEDIFF(MONTH, 0, con.sub_Date), 0) AS FirstOfMonth
FROM
contract con
GROUP BY
con.STATE ,
DATEADD(MONTH, DATEDIFF(MONTH, 0, con.sub_Date), 0)
and then use formatting codes in the report such as MMM, YYYY for display and break the date apart with =Month(fields!FirstOfMonth.Value) if you need the components for grouping. This will allow the users to pivot the data appropriately if needed.
Formatting of the dates is presentation logic, and should be kept out of SQL if possible.

Answer 2

You could add the following into the query to return the pre-formatted month/year as part of the report dataset - maybe easier than trying to reconstruct it at the report level:
select distinct count(*) as Count,
con.STATE,
month(con.sub_Date) as Month,
year(con.sub_Date) as Year,
left(datename(mm, sub_Date), 3) + ' ' + cast(year(sub_Date) as char(4)) as MonthYear
from contract con
group by con.STATE,
month(con.sub_date),
year(con.sub_date),
left(datename(mm, sub_Date), 3) + ' ' + cast(year(sub_Date) as char(4))

Answer 3

I usually prefer to use CONVERT to get partial dates, though I don't see any CONVERT date formats that would leave you cleanly with a MON YYYY output. However, format 106 will get you most of the way there. So combining that with RIGHT() will get you the date in the format you're looking for.
SELECT DISTINCT
COUNT(*) AS Count ,
[con].[STATE] ,
MONTH([con].[sub_Date]) AS Month ,
YEAR([con].[sub_Date]) AS Year ,
RIGHT(CONVERT(CHAR(11), [con].[sub_Date], 106), 8) AS MonthYear
FROM [dbo].[contract] AS con
GROUP BY [con].[STATE] ,
MONTH([con].[sub_Date]) ,
YEAR([con].[sub_Date]) ,
RIGHT(CONVERT(CHAR(11), [con].[sub_Date], 106), 8)