Question

Here’s my scenario: I have two tables A, B which (for the sake of this question are identical):

Table X (PK)

ID 
1
2

Table A:

ID FKID Value Sort
1  1    a     1
2  1    aa    2
3  1    aaa   3
4  2    aaaa  1
5  2    aaaaa 2

Table B:

ID FKID Value Sort
1  1    b     1
2  1    bb    2
3  2    bbb   1
4  2    bbbb  2
5  2    bbbbb 3

Desired Output:

FKID ValueA ValueB Sort
1    a      b      1
1    aa     bb     2
1    aaa    (null) 3
2    aaaa   bbb    1
2    aaaaa  bbbb   2
2    (null) bbbbb  3

So record 1 has 3-As and 2-Bs and record 2 has 2-As and 3-Bs all nicely paired up by the Sort integer column.

My current solution involves cross joining with a Numbers table. It works but since the number of items in these tables is unbounded my numbers table is largish (the application is theorhetically unbounded but practically, I can limit it to 1000).

I could also generate the numbers table with a function and a subquery but that feels even worse for performance (I know, I need to test it!).

So I was thinking: perhaps there’s a better way to approach this problem? I’m hoping for a happy medium between where I am now and merging the tables together.

One more thing: I’m stuck on SQL Server 2000 :P.

Update: Added PK table above to clarify what I was looking for. I also fixed the desired output. Sorry about that.

Update: Complete solution:

DECLARE @X AS TABLE (ID INT)
DECLARE @A AS TABLE (ID INT, FKID INT, Value VARCHAR(10), Sort INT)
DECLARE @B AS TABLE (ID INT, FKID INT, Value VARCHAR(10), Sort INT)

INSERT INTO @X (ID) VALUES (1)
INSERT INTO @X (ID) VALUES (2)

INSERT INTO @A (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (1, 1, 'a',     1)
INSERT INTO @A (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (2, 1, 'aa',    2)
INSERT INTO @A (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (3, 1, 'aaa',   3)
INSERT INTO @A (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (4, 2, 'aaaa',  1)
INSERT INTO @A (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (5, 2, 'aaaaa', 2)

INSERT INTO @B (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (1, 1, 'b',     1)
INSERT INTO @B (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (2, 1, 'bb',    2)
INSERT INTO @B (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (3, 2, 'bbb',   1)
INSERT INTO @B (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (4, 2, 'bbbb',  2)
INSERT INTO @B (ID, FKID, Value, Sort) VALUES (5, 2, 'bbbbb', 3)

SELECT * FROM @X
SELECT * FROM @A
SELECT * FROM @B

SELECT COALESCE(A.FKID, B.FKID) ID
  ,A.Value
  ,B.Value
  ,COALESCE(A.Sort, B.Sort) Sort
FROM @X X
LEFT JOIN @A A ON A.FKID = X.ID
FULL OUTER JOIN @B B ON B.FKID = A.FKID AND B.Sort = A.Sort

Answer 1

select 
    coalesce(a.fkid, b.fkid) fkid, 
    A.Value as ValueA, 
    B.Value as ValueB, 
    coalesce(a.sort, b.sort) Sort
from a full outer join b
        on a.fkid = b.fkid
        and a.sort = b.sort
order by fkid, sort