Question

select id,status
from request

The status column of the above query returns some integer values. I need to put a condition to return some strings values instead of the integer values.

eg: if the status 1 then it should return “New” or if the status is 2 then it should return “Approved”.

Answer 1

I despise mysterious integer values stored in a table with no clue as to their meaning.

My solution will take a bit more work up front, but it is well worth it in the long run.

Start by creating a new table of StatusValues:

StatusValues
------------
Status INT PRIMARY KEY
StatusValue VARCHAR(20)

Populate that table:

Status    StatusValue
------    -----------
1         New
2         Approved

Create a foreign key relationship from the Request table to this one:

ALTER TABLE request
    ADD CONSTRAINT FK_Request_StatusValues FOREIGN KEY (status)
    REFERENCES StatusValues (status);

And finally, write the query:

SELECT r.id, sv.StatusValue
    FROM request r
        INNER JOIN StatusValues sv
            ON r.status = sv.status;

The previously mysterious request.status column is now well documented and managed within the database.