Question

I’m trying to generate a security matrix as a report for my application.

Looking at this question, it is almost exactly what I want.

SQL Server: Examples of PIVOTing String data

I’ve changed the solution

SELECT Action,
   MAX( CASE data WHEN 'View' THEN data ELSE '' END ) ViewCol, 
   MAX( CASE data WHEN 'Edit' THEN data ELSE '' END ) EditCol
FROM t
GROUP BY Action

to adapt to my solution.

SELECT RefRoleId ,
       MAX( CASE Permission WHEN 'AdministerErrors' THEN 'X' ELSE '' END ) 'Administer Errors'
 FROM RolePermission
 GROUP BY RefRoleId

The problem I can see though is that I would need to know exactly which permissions I have and hard code them as columns into the query. I would need a new

MAX( CASE Permission WHEN ‘AdministerErrors’ THEN ‘X’ ELSE ” END ) ‘Administer Errors’

for every single permission.

Is there a way for me to add the columns I want displayed to an SQL query via a query?

Answer 1

Yes, you can build your pivot dynamically, automatically adding as many columns as you need, based on the data in the table. Step-by-step instructions: http://www.simple-talk.com/community/blogs/andras/archive/2007/09/14/37265.aspx

The article doesn’t mention SQL Server 2008, but it works with that version as well.