Pretty simple to do with SQL XQuery. Are you familiar with that?

What's it meant to do?

Is it possible there's a null value being passed to the @recipients parameter? Check the cursor's query, see if any rows will be null on that column.

It just means there's an application that uses cursors, and probably uses some internal numbering scheme for the handles on them.

It's probably not that big a deal.

You're going to need to recursively cross-join the table with itself, essentially.

This question is almost always school work. Is it this time, too?

SELECT

COALESCE(PlateNos.counter, PlateStates.counter) AS ID, -- Pulls the "counter" value from the derived tables to create an ID number for the row

PlateNo,

...

Jeffrey Williams-493691 (12/7/2010)

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GSquared (12/7/2010)

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I prefer a bigger job with some custom logging over splitting it up. It makes it more obvious that it's all part of the same sequence....

I use:

select...

Is it possible the state column is changing? Do you have any databases where AutoClose is turned on, or anything like that?

That wouldn't be "out"-sourcing, now would it?

Craig Farrell (12/7/2010)

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Nono, it was an attempt to be accurate. C'mon, get...

First, switch from ntext to nvarchar(max), if you even need that.

If it's US license plate and VIN data, I guarantee you can fit that into something much more efficient, like...

First, I'm assuming that the text bit in there is a column name.

Assuming that's correct, it would be helpful to see the actual query, and to know what data type...

Speed's nice, but I prefer to think of all the oomf in modern computers as power, not speed. A V8 engine is only "fast" if it's pulling a light...

Mike McIver (12/7/2010)

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Really . . . I don't know where to start. I suppose the thing to say is having command of data types is an essential for any...