How's this?

--Preparation

declare @t1 table (start_date_time datetime, ani varchar(20), dialed_digits varchar(20), actual_dur int, rounded_dur int, cost money)

insert @t1

select '03/01/2008 00:05:57', '629172162448',...

Any of these will do the sorting...

SELECT PERSON, SUM(T_VOTES) AS TOTAL

FROM VOTING

GROUP BY PERSON

ORDER BY SUM(T_VOTES)

SELECT PERSON, SUM(T_VOTES) AS TOTAL

FROM VOTING

GROUP BY PERSON

ORDER BY 2

SELECT PERSON, SUM(T_VOTES) AS TOTAL

FROM VOTING

GROUP...

That's useful - thanks Andras.

I don't know exactly, but you can probably do something along the lines of...

select * from information_schema.tables

where table_type = 'base table' and table_name in (

select distinct...

That's not strictly true. This works...

DECLARE @lcPostArea VARCHAR(4)

EXEC @lcPostArea = dbo.PostArea @lcPostcode = 'HX1'

SELECT @lcPostArea

Although the "SELECT dbo.PostArea('HX1')" is of course shorter.

Your while loop needs a begin..end around the set statements...

Hi all,

I've just caught up with the thread.

This would be my latest try based on the discussions...

; with x as (select ChildNo, ChildRev from #Children where ParentNo = @ParentNo and...

Like this?

--Create temporary table that holds Parent and Children records.

IF OBJECT_ID (N'tempdb..#Children', N'U') IS NOT NULL

DROP TABLE #Children;

CREATE TABLE #Children (ParentNo VarChar(50), ParentRev Int, ChildNo VarChar(50), ChildRev Int)

--Insert test data...

I think my timing may be a little off, but anyway...

declare @t table (x xml)

insert @t

select '<a link="x" />'

union all...

I think my timing may be a little off here, but anyway.

This is pretty inelegant, but it is one way...

create table Table1 (ID int)

insert Table1

...

Or this?

IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM dbo.table1 WHERE school = 'xxxxxxxxxxxxx')

SELECT COUNT(*) AS thecount

FROM ...

A CASE statement will allow you to do more complicated stuff. Your exact request can be done without...

update Employees set FullName = FirstName + ' ' + LastName

Easy...

SET @x.modify('delete //xdata/project/store_number/@xsi:nil')

This is XML DML, and you can read about it in BOL or online...

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms177454.aspx

Like this?

declare @x xml

set @x = '<xdata>

<project xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

<name>bob</name>

<store_number xsi:nil="true" />

</project>

</xdata>'

SET @x.modify('insert text{"1"} as first into (//xdata/project/store_number)[1]')

select @x

--result

/*

<xdata>

...

Maybe you could write a book on it jomobono 😀

The kitchen analogy is a good one to illustrate another point. Often what the customers wants will be established (using...