Question

I have a set of data and need to pull out one record for each CON / OWNER / METHOD / MATRIX set. If there is a non-null RESULT, I want that one. Otherwise, I want the one with the highest COUNT. How do I query this?

CON      OWNER      METHOD      MATRIX  RESULT  COUNT
*CON_1   OWNER_1    METHOD_A    SOLID   NULL    503
CON_1    OWNER_1    METHOD_A    SOLID   NULL    1

*CON_1   OWNER_1    METHOD_A    SOIL    NULL    1305
CON_1    OWNER_1    METHOD_A    SOIL    NULL    699

*CON_2   OWNER_2    METHOD_B    SOLID   290     687
CON_2    OWNER_2    METHOD_B    SOLID   NULL    NULL
CON_2    OWNER_2    METHOD_B    SOLID   450     600

CON_2    OWNER_2    METHOD_B    WATER   NULL    1
*CON_2   OWNER_2    METHOD_B    WATER   400     NULL

for a result, I would like just the starred records, and I’m showing how each set is grouped.

This is bad SQL:

select top (1) CON, OWNER, METHOD, MATRIX, RESULT, COUNT
from #TempTable
group by CON, OWNER, METHOD, MATRIX
order by CON, OWNER, METHOD, MATRIX, COUNT

…because my count isn’t part of the aggregate function. Nor does it deal with the RESULT being NULL or not, and top (1) won’t return 1 from each grouping. However, I’ve not got farther by using a more complex query (such as based on the question at How can I select multiple columns from a subquery (in SQL Server) that should have one record (select top 1) for each record in the main query?)

How do I select one from each grouping?

Answer 1

Try this, not 100% sure the syntax is right, but it is close.

select 
    * 
from
    (select
        CON,
        OWNER,
        METHOD,
        MATRIX,
        RESULT,
        COUNT,
        RANK() OVER(PARTITION BY CON, OWNER, METHOD,MATRIX ORDER BY RESULT,COUNT DESC) as rnk
    FROM #TempTable
) a
WHERE rnk = 1