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RE: Sequential Numbering

Jeff Moden — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 09:30:00 GMT

Heh... better late than never...

RE: Sequential Numbering

A Narro — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 07:51:00 GMT

Jamie --

I like the approach because of its simplicity; however, if the records are numbered in the order that they appear in the table. This may be good approach if coupled with a temporary table built on some select statement (in a SP for example) so that the records are ordered before the sequential number is applied for some display purpose.

Art

DOH! I just noticed that your comment was two years old.

RE: Sequential Numbering

Jamie Thomson — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 02:39:00 GMT

I've just realised that this thread is over a year old. I hope someone reads it!!!

There was a link to it in the 2004-12-06 newsletter which is why I happen to be replying to it now!

RE: Sequential Numbering

Jamie Thomson — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 02:35:00 GMT

There is another technique. Gert Drapers did a straw poll of the audience at one of his PASS presentations this year to see who knew about this technique and very few did...hence its probably worth passing on here.

Stick the following into QA and run:

--I have a table:USE tempdbGO

CREATE TABLE MyTable ( MyTableID int NULL, [Name] varchar(35) NOT NULL)

--I populate some dataINSERT MyTable ([Name]) VALUES ('Jamie')INSERT MyTable ([Name]) VALUES ('David')INSERT MyTable ([Name]) VALUES ('Harold')GO

--I then run the following to populate MyTableIDDECLARE @vKeyCounter intSET @vKeyCounter = (SELECT ISNULL(MAX(MyTableID), 0) FROM MyTable)UPDATE MyTableSET @vKeyCounter = MyTableID= @vKeyCounter + 1WHERE MyTableID IS NULLOPTION (MAXDOP 1)

--View the resultsSELECT *FROM MyTable

The clever bit is the SET part of the UPDATE statement which also changes the variable @vKeyCounter.

Have a go with this and let me know what you think. I'd appreciate feedback.

RE: Sequential Numbering

Jeff Moden — Mon, 03 May 2004 05:44:00 GMT

Just a note... The IDENTITY function can only be used when the INTO clause (as Figaro did) is also present or you will get the following error...

Server: Msg 177, Level 15, State 1, Line 1The IDENTITY function can only be used when the SELECT statement has an INTO clause.

RE: Sequential Numbering

figaro — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 15:46:00 GMT

Another way to do this is using Indentity, not using it as a property of a column, but as function in a TSQL statement. Using your example:select Identity(int,1,1) as rank, Hiredate, LastName, Firstnameinto #hireDatefrom northwind.dbo.employeeswhere Title = 'Sales Representative'order by HireDateSelect cast(rank as char(4)) as Rank, cast(hiredate as varchar(23)) as HireDate,LastName, FirstName from #HireDate order by 1Drop table #HireDateI think this could be a good function to have in mind, specially when you want a quickly solution.Roberto FigueroafigaroATgcmexDOTcom

RE: Sequential Numbering

Greg Larsen — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 08:01:00 GMT

I whole heartly agree with the client side solution when ever possible.Gregory A. Larsen, DBAContributor to 'The Best of SQLServerCentral.com 2002' book. Get a copy here: http:www.sqlservercentral.com/bestof/purchase.aspNeed SQL Server Examples check out my website at http://www.geocities.com/sqlserverexamples

RE: Sequential Numbering

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Sat, 06 Dec 2003 15:25:00 GMT

Some good techniques if you really need to do this in SQL, but my argument often for this process is to have the client do it. VB, Crystal, ASP, etc. all process the rows sequentially and it is very easy and much less resource intensive to have the client calculate the sequential numbers.Steve Jonessjones@sqlservercentral.comhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/sjonesThe Best of SQL Server Central.com 2002 - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/bestof/www.dkranch.net

Sequential Numbering

Greg Larsen — Fri, 28 Nov 2003 00:00:00 GMT

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