Question

I am using SQL Server 2008.
I have the following query.
What I like to do is if when there is a record that EXIST, I like to assign Actual Date to ‘N/A’
else I like to have it be the CreatedBy date that is in Hand.

   select ActualDate = (CASE
                         WHEN EXISTS
                         (select NeedHand from Truck 
                           where Truck.NeedHand = 0 and Truck.ID = '34343')
                         THEN
                          'N/A'
                         ELSE
                          SELECT  CreatedByDate from Hand  where ID = '34343'
                         END )

I get the following message:
Incorrect syntax near the keyword ‘select’.

Answer 1

There are a number of problems with your query. The version below should take care of all of them:

select  ActualDate = 
CASE 
     WHEN EXISTS(
            select NeedHand from Truck 
            where Truck.NeedHand = 0 and Truck.ID = '34343'
            )
     THEN
               'N/A'
     ELSE
               (SELECT  CreatedByDate from Hand  where ID = '34343')
END

I had to :

1. change EXIST to EXISTS
2. change END CASE to END
3. add parens around your last query.