Question

I have two SQL queries:

A.

SELECT (upper(rtrim(ltrim(lastname))) + upper(rtrim(ltrim(firstname))) + 
     upper(rtrim(ltrim(middlename))) + rtrim(ltrim(v)) ) AS userCompareStr 
FROM atable ;

and

B.

SELECT (upper(rtrim(ltrim(lastname))) + upper(rtrim(ltrim(firstname))) + 
      upper(rtrim(ltrim(middlename))) + rtrim(ltrim(v)) ) AS userCompareStr 
 FROM atable  WHERE userCompareStr='GAPYLE1111' ;

I have the following code:

    Dim sql As String
    Dim conn As OleDbConnection
    Dim cmd As OleDbDataAdapter
    Dim ds As DataSet
    Dim tbl As DataTable

    conn = " something here "
    cmd = New OleDbDataAdapter(sql, conn)
    ds = New DataSet
    cmd.Fill(ds)
    tbl = New DataTable
    tbl = ds.Tables(0)

Near as I can tell it seems to work when sql is set to string A, but not when it’s set to string B.

This leads me to suspect that there is something wrong with the clause
WHERE userCompareStr=’GAPYLE1111′

Can I not use the alias userCompareStr in this way? I can’t find any examples of this kind of use, but I do find analogous use when alias is used for table name — and I don’t see anything against that kind of us.

Answer 1

You have three options.

1) repeat what you did in the select in the where

SELECT (upper(rtrim(ltrim(lastname))) + upper(rtrim(ltrim(firstname))) + 
      upper(rtrim(ltrim(middlename))) + rtrim(ltrim(v)) ) AS userCompareStr 
FROM atable  

WHERE  (upper(rtrim(ltrim(lastname))) + upper(rtrim(ltrim(firstname))) + 
      upper(rtrim(ltrim(middlename))) + rtrim(ltrim(v)) ) ='GAPYLE1111' ;

2) Use a common table expression

with CTE AS 
(SELECT (upper(rtrim(ltrim(lastname))) + upper(rtrim(ltrim(firstname))) + 
      upper(rtrim(ltrim(middlename))) + rtrim(ltrim(v)) ) AS userCompareStr 
FROM atable  )
SELECT userCompareStr FROM CTE where userCompareStr = 'GAPYLE1111';

3) Inline query see Maziar Taheri’s answer

As an aside I hope ‘GAPYLE1111’ doesn’t come from user input, otherwise you’re exposing yourself to SQL Injection attacks. Use parameterized queries instead