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Home » Article Discussions » Article Discussions by Author » Discuss content posted by Prakriti Agrawal » Cast vs. Convert
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sknox
Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 8:22 AM
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I've done a lot of SQLXML programming with simple queries in XML files and XSLT files to transform those query results to HTML pages. I used CONVERT a lot to convert money and datetime values to varchar in the format I needed before it even gets to the XSLT, saving a lot of messy XSL formatting on the front end.

I'm quite surprised that, at the time I answered the question, approximately 3/4 of people got this question wrong. Just under 1/3 of respondents thought there was no real difference! This question, to me, is T-SQL 101. Even if you don't know that CONVERT() is T-SQL-specific, you should know the differences in inputs and potential outputs.

This is not criticism of those who got the question wrong: we all have holes in our knowledge. But it does highlight the value of this QoTD. Before this question, I would have assumed this to be a universally-known topic in MSSQL circles. Now I know I can't make that assumption. And now those who didn't know of the difference have learned something.

Great question!
Post #878650
sknox
Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 8:30 AM
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Rune Bivrin (3/8/2010)
Good question, but which alternative is correct depends on how you define platform. If you define "platform" as "versions of SQL Server", then CONVERT works in every version whereas CAST was introduced in 7.0 (IIRC - could've been 2000).


Well, if you define "black" as "white", you can prove anything. The standard definition of platform is independent of versions of specific platforms. I think it's quite ironic that you're criticizing a question that compares an ANSI standard function to a vendor-specific function by relying on a non-standard definition.
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Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 9:17 AM


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Good question.


Jason AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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Post #878699
SQLRNNR
Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 9:20 AM


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Paul White (3/8/2010)
I am shocked and appalled that Jeff hasn't posted anything about code portability being a myth yet.
Very disappointing

I love CONVERT.



He'll be in later to handle that.


Jason AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 9:39 AM


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Paul White (3/8/2010)
I am shocked and appalled that Jeff hasn't posted anything about code portability being a myth yet.
Very disappointing

I love CONVERT.

I'm sure he will soon.
Worrying about portability is crazy until we get a relational dbms with a relational language - then we can just worry about porting to that.

Tom
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Post #878726
Tom Garth
Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 9:42 AM


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I thought I knew the answer, but BZZZZZZT!

Nice question.

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Post #878729
erwin.oosterhoorn
Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 9:44 AM


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bouarroudj Mohamed (3/8/2010)
CONVERT works across all platforms & has more capabilities in SQL Server is also true


That is what I am looking at as well, does this not mean the same as the given right answer?
If one has less the other must have more?
Post #878732
KevinC.
Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 10:21 AM
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erwin.oosterhoorn (3/8/2010)
bouarroudj Mohamed (3/8/2010)
CONVERT works across all platforms & has more capabilities in SQL Server is also true


That is what I am looking at as well, does this not mean the same as the given right answer?
If one has less the other must have more?


If I understand correctly, CONVERT is MS SQL specific whereas CAST is ANSI-SQL and will work on multiple platforms (i.e. Oracle, DB2, etc.).

Therefore, the above statement is incorrect because CONVERT does NOT work across all platforms (though it does have more capabilities in SQL Server).

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

--
Kevin C.
Post #878757
erwin.oosterhoorn
Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 10:26 AM


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KevinC. (3/8/2010)
erwin.oosterhoorn (3/8/2010)
bouarroudj Mohamed (3/8/2010)
CONVERT works across all platforms & has more capabilities in SQL Server is also true


That is what I am looking at as well, does this not mean the same as the given right answer?
If one has less the other must have more?


If I understand correctly, CONVERT is MS SQL specific whereas CAST is ANSI-SQL and will work on multiple platforms (i.e. Oracle, DB2, etc.).

Therefore, the above statement is incorrect because CONVERT does NOT work across all platforms (though it does have more capabilities in SQL Server).

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

--
Kevin C.


Thanks Kevin, if you are correct than that makes sense now.
Post #878761
Rune Bivrin
Posted Monday, March 08, 2010 11:57 AM


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sknox (3/8/2010)
Rune Bivrin (3/8/2010)
Good question, but which alternative is correct depends on how you define platform. If you define "platform" as "versions of SQL Server", then CONVERT works in every version whereas CAST was introduced in 7.0 (IIRC - could've been 2000).


Well, if you define "black" as "white", you can prove anything. The standard definition of platform is independent of versions of specific platforms. I think it's quite ironic that you're criticizing a question that compares an ANSI standard function to a vendor-specific function by relying on a non-standard definition.

Who says I'm criticizing the question?

I'm merely pointing out that since this is SQL Server Central, and not DBMS central, such an interpretation isn't completely out of order. And from that point of view CONVERT is somewhat more universal, even if I sincerely hope noone still wrestles with SQL Server 6.5...

Just because you're right doesn't mean everybody else is wrong.
Post #878829
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