Question

I thought this was causing a Cartesian effect but the results always return exactly two identical products in the data that are returned.

How I can force a distinct on the select? I tried modifying the final select statement to include a “Select Distinct Top…” but it gave me an error regarding syntax. Sorry if this is a simple question, my SQL skills are lacking.

(
@ProductSKUs varchar(500),
@CategoryIDs varchar(40),
@RecordCount int
)
AS
BEGIN
declare @Products table (ProductSKU varchar(8), ProductID int not null, TrackInventoryBySizeAndColor int not null)
declare @TempCID table(CategoryID int not null default 0)
declare @CountCID int
set @CountCID=0
declare @productIDcount int
select @productIDcount = count(*) from dbo.Split(@ProductSKUs, ',')
declare @categoryIDcount int
select @categoryIDcount = @RecordCount - @productIDcount

-- product SKUs first
insert into @Products(ProductSKU, ProductID, TrackInventoryBySizeAndColor)
select p.SKU, p.ProductID, p.TrackInventoryBySizeAndColor
from dbo.Product p with (nolock)
join dbo.Split(@ProductSKUs, ',') pi on p.SKU = pi.items
-- now variant SKUs
insert into @Products(ProductSKU, ProductID, TrackInventoryBySizeAndColor)
select pv.SKUSuffix, pv.ProductID, ISNULL(pv.TrackInventoryBySizeAndColor, 0)
from dbo.ProductVariant pv with (nolock)
join dbo.Split(@ProductSKUs, ',') pi on pv.SKUSuffix = pi.items
--debug
--SELECT * FROM @Products
if   @categoryIDcount > 0 begin
 insert into @TempCID(CategoryID)
  select c.CategoryID  from Category c with(nolock) --get the subcats
  join dbo.Split(@CategoryIDs, ',') ci on c.ParentCategoryID = cast(ci.items as int)
    union
  select c2.CategoryID  from Category c2 with(nolock)  --get the category itself
  join dbo.Split(@CategoryIDs, ',') ci on c2.CategoryID = cast(ci.items as int)
insert into @TempCID(CategoryID)
  select c.CategoryID from Category c with(nolock) 
  join @TempCID tc on c.ParentCategoryID = tc.CategoryID --get level 2 subcats    
  set @CountCID = @@ROWCOUNT
    insert into @Products(ProductSKU, ProductID, TrackInventoryBySizeAndColor)
        select TOP (@categoryIDcount) p.SKU, p.ProductID, p.TrackInventoryBySizeAndColor
        from dbo.Product p with (nolock)
        left join dbo.ProductCategory pc with (nolock) on p.ProductID = pc.ProductID 
        where pc.CategoryID in (select tc.CategoryID from @TempCID tc)
        AND pc.ProductID Not in (SELECT ProductID FROM @Products)
    ORDER BY CHECKSUM(NEWID())
end
--debug
--SELECT * FROM @Products
select top(@RecordCount)
    p.ProductID,
    p.Name,
    pv.VariantID,
    pv.Name as VariantName,
    p.ProductGUID,
    p.Summary,
    p.Description,
    p.SEKeywords,
    p.SEDescription,
    p.SpecTitle,
    p.MiscText,
    p.SwatchImageMap,
    p.IsFeaturedTeaser,
    p.FroogleDescription,
    p.SETitle,
    p.SENoScript,
    p.SEAltText,
    p.SizeOptionPrompt,
    p.ColorOptionPrompt,
    p.TextOptionPrompt,
    p.ProductTypeID,
    p.TaxClassID,
    p.SKU,
    p.ManufacturerPartNumber,
    p.SalesPromptID,
    p.SpecCall,
    p.SpecsInline,
    p.IsFeatured,
    p.XmlPackage,
    p.ColWidth,
    p.Published,
    p.RequiresRegistration,
    p.Looks,
    p.Notes,
    p.QuantityDiscountID,
    p.RelatedProducts,
    p.UpsellProducts,
    p.UpsellProductDiscountPercentage,
    p.RelatedDocuments,
    p.TrackInventoryBySizeAndColor,
    p.TrackInventoryBySize,
    p.TrackInventoryByColor,
    p.IsAKit,
    p.ShowInProductBrowser,
    p.IsAPack,
    p.PackSize,
    p.ShowBuyButton,
    p.RequiresProducts,
    p.HidePriceUntilCart,
    p.IsCalltoOrder,
    p.ExcludeFromPriceFeeds,
    p.RequiresTextOption,
    p.TextOptionMaxLength,
    p.SEName,
    p.Deleted,
    p.CreatedOn,
    p.ImageFileNameOverride,
    pv.VariantGUID,
    pv.Description as VariantDescription,
    pv.SEKeywords as VariantSEKeywords,
    pv.SEDescription as VariantSEDescription,
    pv.Colors,
    pv.ColorSKUModifiers,
    pv.Sizes,
    pv.SizeSKUModifiers,
    pv.FroogleDescription as VariantFroogleDescription,
    pv.SKUSuffix,
    pv.ManufacturerPartNumber as VariantManufacturerPartNumber,
    pv.Price,
    pv.CustomerEntersPrice, 
    pv.CustomerEntersPricePrompt,
    isnull(pv.SalePrice, 0) SalePrice,
    cast(isnull(pv.Weight,0) as decimal(10,1)) Weight,
    pv.MSRP,
    pv.Cost,
    isnull(pv.Points,0) Points,
    pv.Dimensions,
    pv.DisplayOrder as VariantDisplayOrder,
    pv.Notes as VariantNotes,
    pv.IsTaxable,
    pv.IsShipSeparately,
    pv.FreeShipping,
    pv.IsDownload,
    pv.DownloadLocation,
    pv.Published as VariantPublished,
    pv.IsSecureAttachment,
    pv.IsRecurring,
    pv.RecurringInterval,
    pv.RecurringIntervalType,
    pv.SubscriptionInterval,
    pv.SEName as VariantSEName,
    pv.RestrictedQuantities,
    pv.MinimumQuantity,
    pv.Deleted as VariantDeleted,
    pv.CreatedOn as VariantCreatedOn,
    d.Name as DistributorName,
    d.DistributorID,
    d.SEName as DistributorSEName,
    m.ManufacturerID,
    m.Name as ManufacturerName,
    m.SEName as ManufacturerSEName,
    s.Name as SalesPromptName
from dbo.Product p with (nolock)
    left join dbo.ProductVariant pv with (nolock) on p.ProductID = pv.ProductID
    join @Products pid on p.SKU = pid.ProductSKU OR pv.SKUSuffix = pid.ProductSKU
    left join dbo.SalesPrompt s with (nolock) on p.SalesPromptID = s.SalesPromptID 
    left join dbo.ProductManufacturer pm with (nolock) on p.ProductID = pm.ProductID 
    left join dbo.Manufacturer m with (nolock) on pm.ManufacturerID = m.ManufacturerID 
    left join dbo.ProductDistributor pd with (nolock) on p.ProductID = pd.ProductID
    left join dbo.Distributor d with (nolock) on pd.DistributorID = d.DistributorID
    where p.Deleted = 0 
    and p.Published = 1
    ORDER BY p.ShowBuyButton desc

EDIT: The @RecordCount is the number of records to return in the final select statement:
select top(@RecordCount) –this is passed into the SPROC.

Answer 1

UPDATE 2 :
My bad..I didnt know you could use top like that see updated code for correct syntax –

If you need to do a top and distinct you need to it like –

select distinct
top (@RecordCount)
p.ProductID,
p.Name,
pv.VariantID..so on

I do suggest you look at using a group by and rewriting your query to your needs. You should not use distinct for that many columns.