Question

I have a column called DayShift in a table which is of Yes/No data type (Boolean). The result Output I want is: if the value is true, display “Day” else display night.

I have tried the following:

SELECT iif(DayShift=Yes,"Day","Night") as Shift FROM table1;

SELECT iif(DayShift,"Day","Night") as Shift FROM table1;

SELECT iif(DayShift=True,"Day","Night") as Shift FROM table1;

SELECT iif(DayShift=1,"Day","Night") as Shift FROM table1;

But none of the above work. It just gives me a list of blank check boxes in the output datasheet window. I am using Ms Access 2003. Any help appreciated.

Update:

After a bit of research that the yes/no data type in Ms Access 2003 cannot handle null values appropriately. Hence, the error. Check this link for details.

Update 2

Real Query with the joins. Didnt mention it since i though the information provided above would work.

SELECT tblovertime.contfirstname                        AS [First Name], 
       tblovertime.contlastname                         AS [Last Name], 
       tblovertime.employeenumber                       AS [Employee Number], 
       tblsignup.thedate                                AS [Sign Up Date], 
       Iif([tblOvertime.DayShift] =- 1, "Day", "Night") AS shift, 
       (SELECT Mid(MIN(Iif(sector = 1, "," & sector, NULL)) & MIN( 
                               Iif(sector = 2, "," & sector, NULL)) & MIN( 
                               Iif(sector = 3, "," & sector, NULL)) & MIN( 
                           Iif(sector = 4, "," & sector, NULL)), 2) AS concat 
        FROM   tblempsectorlist 
        WHERE  tblempsectorlist.empnum = tblsignup.employeenumber 
        GROUP  BY empnum)                               AS sectors, 
       tblovertime.timedatecontact                      AS [Date Contacted], 
       tblovertimestatus.name                           AS status 
FROM   (tblsignup 
        INNER JOIN tblovertime 
          ON ( tblsignup.thedate = tblovertime.otdate ) 
             AND ( tblsignup.employeenumber = tblovertime.employeenumber )) 
       INNER JOIN tblovertimestatus 
         ON Clng(tblovertime.statusid) = tblovertimestatus.statusid 
WHERE  (( ( tblsignup.thedate ) ># 1 / 1 / 2011 # )) 
ORDER  BY tblsignup.thedate; 

Answer 1

Your second one has it right

SELECT iif(DayShift,"Day","Night") as Shift FROM table1;

I suggest trying the following to see what’s actually being evaluated

SELECT iif(DayShift,"Day","Night") as Shift, DayShift FROM table1;

You could equally do

SELECT iif(DayShift = -1,"Day","Night") as Shift FROM table1;

Since MS Access is storing true as -1 and false as 0 (it’s not as intuitive as true = 1, but it’s probably faster to evaluate in twos-compliment)

— edit —
Since you appear to be using a join, which can result in Nul’s for Yes/No’s, use the nz() function.

select iff(nz(DayShift, 0), "Day","Night") as Shift FROM table1;

When DayShift comes out null, this will return 0 (false/no) as a result instead.