eseosaoregie (4/13/2013)
Hi guys,thanks for the responses. I will try that alternative approach and let you know what my results are. CLR came up when I was discussing this with a colleague of mine. I will also check this out and let you know what my findings are.
I think Adam Machanic has done some blogging on the CLR side of things that could be useful.
You could also see here for some (mostly bad) options for string concat: https://www.simple-talk.com/sql/t-sql-programming/concatenating-row-values-in-transact-sql/
And this post shows you why the COALESCE/ISNULL method isn't viable (another ordering issue just like the FOR XML problem): http://msmvps.com/blogs/robfarley/archive/2007/04/08/coalesce-is-not-the-answer-to-string-concatentation-in-t-sql.aspx
Best,
Kevin G. Boles
SQL Server Consultant
SQL MVP 2007-2012
TheSQLGuru on googles mail service