Question

Lets say I have the following (2) tables:

[People Table]

ID  Name
1    John
2    Suzy
3    Dave

[Request Table]

ID 1stChoicePersonRequested 2ndChoicePersonRequested 3rdChoicePersonRequested
1         1                                                  2                                               3
2         2                                                NULL                                        NULL

3         1                                                  2                                             NULL

4         3                                                  1                                               1

The results I am looking for in a query are the following:

NameID Name NumTimeRequested
1          John           4

2          Suzy           3
3          Dave          2

I need the results to tally the total number of times each person was requested regardless of which of the (3) columns they are included in. What is the best way to do this in SQL 2008? Thanks!

Answer 1

;with R as
(
  select PersonID
  from [Request Table]
    cross apply (values ([1stChoicePersonRequested]),
                        ([2ndChoicePersonRequested]),
                        ([3rdChoicePersonRequested])) as T(PersonID)
)
select R.PersonID as NameID, 
       P.Name, 
       count(*) as NumTimeRequested 
from R
  inner join [People Table] as P
    on R.PersonID = P.ID
group by R.PersonID, P.Name
order by R.PersonID

https://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/q/122030/