Question

I’ve created a complex search query in SQL 2008 that returns data sorted by groups, and the query itself has paging and sorting functions in it, but rather than returning a set number of records based on the paging options, it needs to return a set number of groups (so the number of records will vary).

I’m currently doing this through the use of Temp Tables (the first temp table creates a list of the Groups that will be selected as part of the search, and then numbers them… and the second query joins this table to the actual search… so, it ends up running the search query twice).

What I’m looking for is a more efficient way to do this using some of the new functions in SQL 2008 (which wouldn’t require the use of temp tables).

If I can get the data in a format like this, I’d be set…

Record  Group     GroupSequence
-------|---------|--------------
1       Chickens  1
2       Chickens  1
3       Cows      2
4       Horses    3
5       Horses    3
6       Horses    3

Any ideas on how to accomplish this with a single query in SQL 2008, without using temp tables?

Answer 1

Sample data

create table sometable([group] varchar(10), id int, somedata int)
insert sometable select 'Horses', 9, 11
insert sometable select 'chickens', 19, 121
insert sometable select 'Horses', 29, 123
insert sometable select 'chickens', 49, 124
insert sometable select 'Cows', 98, 1
insert sometable select 'Horses', 99, 2

Query

select
    Record = ROW_NUMBER() over (order by [Group], id),
    [Group],
    GroupSequence = DENSE_RANK() over (order by [Group])
from sometable

Output

Record               Group      GroupSequence
-------------------- ---------- --------------------
1                    chickens   1
2                    chickens   1
3                    Cows       2
4                    Horses     3
5                    Horses     3
6                    Horses     3