T-SQL query, multiple values in a field - tsql

Question

I have two tables in a database. The first table tblTracker contains many columns, but the column of particular interest is called siteAdmin and each row in that column can contain multiple loginIDs of 5 digits like 21457, 21456 or just one like 21444. The next table users contains columns like LoginID, fname, and lname.
What I would like to be able to do is take the loginIDs contained in tblTracker.siteAdmin and return fname + lname from users. I can successfully do this when there is only one loginID in the row such as 21444 but I cannot figure out how to do this when there is more than one like 21457, 21456.
Here is the SQL statement I use for when there is one loginID in that column
SELECT b.FName + '' '' + b.LName AS siteAdminName,
FROM tblTracker a
LEFT OUTER JOIN users b ON a.siteAdmin= b.Login_Id
However this doesn't work when it tries to join a siteAdmin with more than one LoginID in it
Thanks!

Answer 1

I prefer the number table approach to split a string in TSQL
For this method to work, you need to do this one time table setup:
SELECT TOP 10000 IDENTITY(int,1,1) AS Number
INTO Numbers
FROM sys.objects s1
CROSS JOIN sys.objects s2
ALTER TABLE Numbers ADD CONSTRAINT PK_Numbers PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED (Number)
Once the Numbers table is set up, create this split function:
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[FN_ListToTable]
(
#SplitOn char(1) --REQUIRED, the character to split the #List string on
,#List varchar(8000)--REQUIRED, the list to split apart
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
(
----------------
--SINGLE QUERY-- --this will not return empty rows
----------------
SELECT
ListValue
FROM (SELECT
LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(List2, number+1, CHARINDEX(#SplitOn, List2, number+1)-number - 1))) AS ListValue
FROM (
SELECT #SplitOn + #List + #SplitOn AS List2
) AS dt
INNER JOIN Numbers n ON n.Number < LEN(dt.List2)
WHERE SUBSTRING(List2, number, 1) = #SplitOn
) dt2
WHERE ListValue IS NOT NULL AND ListValue!=''
);
GO
You can now easily split a CSV string into a table and join on it:
select * from dbo.FN_ListToTable(',','1,2,3,,,4,5,6777,,,')
OUTPUT:
ListValue
-----------------------
1
2
3
4
5
6777
(6 row(s) affected)
Your can now use a CROSS APPLY to split every row in your table like:
DECLARE #users table (LoginID int, fname varchar(5), lname varchar(5))
INSERT INTO #users VALUES (1, 'Sam', 'Jones')
INSERT INTO #users VALUES (2, 'Don', 'Smith')
INSERT INTO #users VALUES (3, 'Joe', 'Doe')
INSERT INTO #users VALUES (4, 'Tim', 'White')
INSERT INTO #users VALUES (5, 'Matt', 'Davis')
INSERT INTO #users VALUES (15,'Sue', 'Me')
DECLARE #tblTracker table (RowID int, siteAdmin varchar(50))
INSERT INTO #tblTracker VALUES (1,'1,2,3')
INSERT INTO #tblTracker VALUES (2,'2,3,4')
INSERT INTO #tblTracker VALUES (3,'1,5')
INSERT INTO #tblTracker VALUES (4,'1')
INSERT INTO #tblTracker VALUES (5,'5')
INSERT INTO #tblTracker VALUES (6,'')
INSERT INTO #tblTracker VALUES (7,'8,9,10')
INSERT INTO #tblTracker VALUES (8,'1,15,3,4,5')
SELECT
t.RowID, u.LoginID, u.fname+' '+u.lname AS YourAdmin
FROM #tblTracker t
CROSS APPLY dbo.FN_ListToTable(',',t.siteAdmin) st
LEFT OUTER JOIN #users u ON st.ListValue=u.LoginID --to get all rows even if missing siteAdmin
--INNER JOIN #users u ON st.ListValue=u.LoginID --to remove rows without any siteAdmin
ORDER BY t.RowID,u.fname,u.lname
OUTPUT:
RowID LoginID YourAdmin
----------- ----------- -----------
1 2 Don Smith
1 3 Joe Doe
1 1 Sam Jones
2 2 Don Smith
2 3 Joe Doe
2 4 Tim White
3 5 Matt Davis
3 1 Sam Jones
4 1 Sam Jones
5 5 Matt Davis
7 NULL NULL
7 NULL NULL
7 NULL NULL
8 3 Joe Doe
8 5 Matt Davis
8 1 Sam Jones
8 15 Sue Me
8 4 Tim White
(18 row(s) affected)