Question

I have the following tables in a SQL server Database:

[ANIMALS]            [COLORS]
ID | NAME            ID | NAME
 1   Cow              1   Blue
 2   Chicken          2   Red
 3   Pig              3   Green
 4   T-Rex            4   Pink
                      5   Orange

  [RELATIONSHIPS]         
ANIMAL ID | COLOR ID  
    1          3
    1          2
    1          5
    2          1
    3          1
    3          4
    4          1
    4          2
    4          5

I am trying to write a SQL query that will return the the list of animals along with each of their respective colors. The goal I am attempting to achieve will look like the following:

  ANIMAL NAME     COLORS
     Cow            Green/ Red / Orange
     Chicken        Blue
     Pig            Blue/ Pink
     T-Rex          Blue/ Red/ Orange              

I already have a user defined function that will create the delimited string (“color/ color/ etc.”) called udf_Delimit_Colors(@animalID) — @animalID is the only parameter within that UDF.

I can return only one row by passing in an animalID and am now stumped as to how I would go about achieving my goal without passing in any ID.

The delimited SQL Query can be found at the following link:
https://sites.google.com/site/sqlblindman/creatingcomma-delimitedstrings

+rep to the person that wrote it.

I am still working on it too so if i figure it out I will post the answer.
Thanks in advance for your input.

Answer 1

Based on your syntax above, I am assuming SQL Server as the database. You can concatenate the string the following ways:

SELECT a.name,
  LEFT(colors , LEN(colors)-1) colors 
FROM animals a
CROSS APPLY
(
    SELECT c.name + ' / '
    FROM colors c
    left join relationships r
      on c.id = r.[COLOR ID]
    where a.id = r.[ANIMAL ID]
    FOR XML PATH('')
) m (colors)

See SQL Fiddle with Demo

Or:

select a.name,
  STUFF((SELECT distinct ' / ' + c.name
         from colors c
         left join relationships r
           on c.id = r.[COLOR ID]
         where a.id = r.[ANIMAL ID]
            FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
            ).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)') 
        ,1,2,'') colors
from animals a;

See SQL Fiddle with Demo

The result is:

|    NAME |                COLORS |
-----------------------------------
|     Cow | Red / Green / Orange  |
| Chicken |                 Blue  |
|     Pig |          Blue / Pink  |
|   T-Rex |  Blue / Red / Orange  |