How to multiply the value in a field by -1.

  • Hello, I have a quick question. I'm currently using MS SQL 2005.

    I have a main table which has many fields. I created a view#1 which imports all the rows from the main table but I only select the "City" field, "PurchaseDescription" field and a "Cost" field. Only the city name is unique. There are a total of 50 different city names, and each name can have more than one "PurchaseDescription" each with an associated "Cost". I would like to create a second view#2 with an added field called "Cost2". I want "Cost2" to contain the same value as the "Cost" value. However if the "PurchaseDescription" equals to "USB" then "Cost2" should be assigned the value of "Cost" multiplied by -1. If the "PurchaseDescription" content isn't equal to "USB" then "Cost2" will have the save value as "Cost".

    For example,

    The view#1 will have the following rows & fields (I had to pad the field with dots just to make the output look viewable on this thread)

    City..............PurchaseDescription............Cost

    --------------------------------------------

    LA.................desk....................................4.5

    LA.................USB....................................5.0

    LA.................USB....................................6.0

    SD................chair....................................4.0

    SD................door....................................10.0

    The view#2 should have the following rows and fields

    City..............PurchaseDescription............Cost.......Cost2

    ---------------------------------------------------------

    LA.................desk................................4.5.......... 4.5

    LA.................USB.................................5.0.......... -5.0

    LA.................USB.................................6.0.......... -6.0

    SD................chair.................................4.0.......... 4.0

    SD................door.................................10.0.......... 10.0

    I don't mind if I have to use functions or more than 2 views to solve my problem. I jus need a final view that would look like view#2.

    Could you please help if you can?

    Thank you very much for your time and have a safe Halloween!

  • Just use case statement in #view1 as

    SELECT .....,

    ( CASE WHEN PurchaseDescription = 'USB' THEN -Cost ELSE Cost END ) AS Cost2

    FROM .....

    --Ramesh


  • Thanks Ramesh for your tip. It worked. Thanks again!

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