How to sort a Union All - tsql

Question

I can't get this to sort. I want the entire result set ordered by DateId then productName and can't get it to work.
SELECT d.DateId,
s.product_name1 as productName
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
UNION ALL
SELECT d.DateId,
s.product_name2 as productName
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
UNION ALL
SELECT d.DateId,
s.product_name3 as productName
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
order by d.DateId, productName
Not sure where and how to add this order by basically. I don't want to add an order by to each select because then I'd have subsets of orderings. I want to order the -entire- ending result set...

Answer 1

You could try this:
SELECT * FROM
(
SELECT d.DateId as DateId,
s.product_name1 as productName
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
UNION ALL
SELECT d.DateId as DateId,
s.product_name2 as productName
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
UNION ALL
SELECT d.DateId as DateId,
s.product_name3 as productName
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
) AS A
order by DateId, ProductName

Answer 2

refer to the column alias (in your case DateId, Productname)
select 1 a
union all
select 2 a
order by a desc
or refer to the column number
select 1 a
union all
select 2 a
order by 1

Answer 3

Select Col1, Col2 from tblA where <some condition>
Union All
Select Col1,Col2 from tblB where <some condition>
Union All
Select Col1,Col2 from tblC where <some condition>
Order By 1,2 -- means by first column,second column
-- or Order By Col1, Col2
But yours should work fine Order by DateId,productName
Also instead of hitting the tables Sales and SalesDate 3 times, you can improve the performance of your query by catching the common result set in some temporary table and then performing the union on the desired columns e.g.
SELECT d.DateId,s.product_name1,s.product_name2,s.product_name3
INTO #temp
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
Select t.DateId,t.product_name1 As productName From #temp t Union All
Select t.DateId,t.product_name2 From #temp t Union All
Select t.DateId,t.product_name3 From #temp t
Order By DateId,productName
Drop Table #temp
Hope this helps

Answer 4

You could use a CTE for this. Or just do:
Select res.DateID, res.productName from
(
SELECT d.DateId,
s.product_name1 as productName
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
UNION ALL
SELECT d.DateId,
s.product_name2 as productName
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
UNION ALL
SELECT d.DateId,
s.product_name3 as productName
FROM dbo.SaleDates d
INNER JOIN dbo.Sale s ON s.saleId = d.saleId
)
order by res.DateId, res.productName