Question

i need some assistance with a SQL query:
the data looks like this:

ID (int, PK)
REF (int, FK)
UserName (varchar)
TransDate (DateTime)
Status (int)

1, 1001, joebloggs, 2011-12-15 13:50:01, 1
2, 1001, johnsmith, 2011-12-15 14:35:01, 1

so i need to return the REF and Username for the following; MIN(TransDate) and where status = 1.

so i do the following:

    SELECT  REF, UserName, MIN(TransDate )
    FROM          dbo.MyTable
    WHERE      (Status = 1)
    and REF = 1001
    GROUP BY REF, UserName

obviously this is wrong because it returns me:

1001, joebloggs, 2011-12-15 13:50:01
1001, johnsmith, 2011-12-15 14:35:01

however, i just need to return the username of the min transDate. so:

1001, joebloggs, 2011-12-15 13:50:01

can anyone help me please..its driving me insane.

thanks (from my sanity)

Answer 1

SELECT REF, UserName, TransDate
FROM dbo.MyTable    
WHERE ID = (
    SELECT TOP 1 ID
    FROM dbo.MyTable
    WHERE Status = 1 AND REF = 1001
    ORDER BY TransDate ASC
)

EDIT:

Or, if you need the results for each REF, instead of a specific REF, you can try this:

SELECT mt.REF, mt.UserName, mt.TransDate
FROM 
    dbo.MyTable mt JOIN (
        SELECT
            REF,
            MIN(TransDate) AS MinTransDate
        FROM dbo.MyTable
        WHERE Status = 1
        GROUP BY REF
    ) MinResult mr ON mr.REF = mt.REF AND mr.MinTransDate = mt.TransDate