Question

I have a query that produces the following output in a nested set structure:

databaseName    |   xType       |   displayLabel        |   child_xType     |   child_displayLabel  |   lft1    |   lft2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob                 label           Search Model name       NULL                NULL                    252         NULL
Bob                 textbox         productName             button              X                       254         255
Bob                 label           Company                 NULL                NULL                    258         NULL
Bob                 combobox        Company                 comboboxItem        CCCC                    260         261
Bob                 combobox        Company                 comboboxItem        DDDD                    260         263
Bob                 combobox        Company                 comboboxItem        HHHH                    260         265
Larry               label           Search Model Name       NULL                NULL                    408         NULL
Larry               textbox         productName             button              X                       410         411
Larry               label           Company                 NULL                NULL                    414         NULL
Larry               combobox        Company                 comboboxItem        DDDD                    416         417
Larry               combobox        Company                 comboboxItem        HHHH                    416         419

The only difference between the “databases” Bob and Larry is that Bob has an extra comboboxItem called “CCCC”. What I’d like returned is a result set that combines the distinct elements of the “databases” Bob and Larry while maintaining the correct order as in the below.

databaseName    |   xType       |   displayLabel        |   child_xType     |   child_displayLabel  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Junior              label           Search Model name       NULL                NULL                    
Junior              textbox         productName             button              X                   
Junior              label           Company                 NULL                NULL                
Junior              combobox        Company                 comboboxItem        CCCC                
Junior              combobox        Company                 comboboxItem        DDDD                    
Junior              combobox        Company                 comboboxItem        HHHH    

Some notes: the result would need to appear in the exact order as in above, which is ultimately derived from the ordering of the lft1 and lft2 values in the first result set. Also, the new database “Junior” is more or less an arbitrary name for the new combined “database”.

I can imagine ways to solve this problem at the client level (rendering each item row by row), and also by pointing Larry to use the same lookups that Bob uses, but is there a way to achieve this result set using set-based SQL?

Thanks

Answer 1

I’m still a little unclear on what you are asking, but it appears you can get your desired result set with the following query:

SELECT distinct 'Junior' as Database, 
       xType, 
       displayLabel, 
       child_xType, 
       child_displayLabel
FROM MyTable
ORDER BY displayLabel DESC, child_displayLabel ASC

UPDATE:

I’m still confused after your last comment but give this a try

SELECT 'Junior' as Database, 
       xType, 
       displayLabel, 
       child_xType, 
       child_displayLabel
FROM MyTable
GROUP BY xType, displayLabel, child_xType, child_displayLabel
ORDER BY min(lft1),  min(lft2)