JSON Array formatting, no column names - json

https://dbfiddle.uk/?rdbms=sqlserver_2017&fiddle=95c4db0d481492956af1a2f566359a38
I'm writing a new query for a project, and trying to format the JSON string so that it will give me an array instead of an object in MoreInfo.
I've been able to mess around with the formatting, but can't seem to shake off the Score column label. What's the best way to do this?
SELECT TOP (1)
contacts.PhoneNumber,
contacts.ContactName,
MoreInfo.Score
FROM (SELECT
PrimaryPhone as PhoneNumber,
FirstName + ' ' + LastName as ContactName,
callList.Call_Identity
FROM CallList callList
INNER JOIN dbo.Contacts a
ON callList.Call_IDENTITY = a.Call_IDENTITY
) contacts
INNER JOIN
(
SELECT CAST(Score as varchar) as Score, Call_Identity
FROM dbo.Contacts contact
) MoreInfo on MoreInfo.Call_Identity = contacts.Call_Identity
FOR JSON AUTO;
Current results:
[
{
"PhoneNumber":"3172222222",
"ContactName":"Peyton Manning",
"MoreInfo":[
{
"Score":"0.1",
}
]
}
]
I'm trying to get:
[
{
"PhoneNumber":"3172222222",
"ContactName":"Peyton Manning",
"MoreInfo":["0.1"]
}
]

It seems like you're hugely over complicating your query:
SELECT c.PrimaryPhone AS PhoneNumber,
c.FirstName + ' ' + c.LastName AS ContactName,
c.Score AS MoreInfo
FROM dbo.callList cL --Why is this even here, it's never referenced
JOIN Contacts C ON cL.Call_IDENTITY = C.Call_Identity
FOR JSON AUTO;
This returns the below:
[
{
"PhoneNumber":"3172222222",
"ContactName":"Peyton Manning",
"MoreInfo":0.10
}
]

This is quite a hack but I think it would technically work for you. Basically you just separate out the array that you're looking for using a string concatenation and then use JSON_Query to have the main query treat it as a JSON value so that it doesn't try to convert it to JSON again.
I did the best I could with the example, it's a little difficult to understand the structure of your data.
WITH contacts
AS (SELECT Call_Identity = 1, PhoneNumber = '3172222222', ContactName = 'Peyton Manning', Score = 0.1)
SELECT a.Call_Identity,
a.PhoneNumber,
a.ContactName,
MoreInfo = JSON_QUERY((
SELECT Score = '[' + STRING_AGG( '"' + CAST(Score AS VARCHAR) + '"',',') + ']'
FROM contacts x
WHERE x.Call_Identity = a.Call_Identity
GROUP BY Call_Identity
) )
FROM contacts a
FOR JSON AUTO

Related

SQL Server - How to create custom JSON from SELECT with "key": derived from GROUP BY clause

I am trying to get nice overview of dependencies of tables.
My query looks like this: (if there is something better than STRING_AGG, please let me know)
SELECT
[schema] = referencing_schema_name,
[objects] = JSON_QUERY('["'
+ STRING_AGG(STRING_ESCAPE(referencing_entity_name, 'json'), '","')
+ '"]')
FROM sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities (
'dbo.C_Table',
'OBJECT' ) re
GROUP BY referencing_schema_name
FOR JSON PATH;
And it produces output like:
[
{
"schema": "dbo",
"objects": [
"C_Table"
]
},
{
"schema": "bcd",
"objects": [
"get_AmazingDataById",
"get_EvenMoreAmazingDataById"
]
}
]
So grouping works, but I'd like to have it "nicer" :D and more readable like this:
[
"dbo": [
"C_Table"
],
"bcd": [
"get_AmazingDataById",
"get_EvenMoreAmazingDataById"
]
]
Do you have some suggestions for creating an array and using the value of group by as a key for that array?
Unfortunately, SQL Server doesn't support either JSON_AGG or JSON_OBJ_AGG, both of which would have made this query significantly simpler.
You can just hack the whole thing with STRING_AGG a second time.
SELECT
'[' +
STRING_AGG(
'{"' +
STRING_ESCAPE(referencing_schema_name, 'json') +
'":' +
re.jsonArray
, ',') +
']'
FROM (
SELECT
re.referencing_schema_name,
jsonArray = '["'
+ STRING_AGG(STRING_ESCAPE(re.referencing_entity_name, 'json'), '","')
+ '"]'
FROM sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities ('dbo.C_Table', 'OBJECT' ) re
GROUP BY
re.referencing_schema_name
) re;
db<>fiddle
You can try using json_Query and JSON_Modify combination as given example.
DECLARE #jsonInfo NVARCHAR(MAX)
SET #jsonInfo=N'
{"68c4":["yes"], "c8ew":["0","1"], "p6i4":["London","Frankfurt","Tokyo"]}'
SELECT JSON_MODIFY(
JSON_MODIFY(#jsonInfo, '$.City', JSON_QUERY(#jsonInfo, '$.p6i4')),
'$.p6i4', NULL)
I've come up with combination of JSON_MODIFY and STRING_AGG
DECLARE #out NVARCHAR(MAX) = '{}';
SELECT
#out = JSON_MODIFY(
#out,
'$.' + aa.[schema],
aa.[entities]
)
FROM
(
SELECT
[schema] = referencing_schema_name,
[entities] = JSON_QUERY(
'["'
+ STRING_AGG(
STRING_ESCAPE(referencing_entity_name, 'json'),
'","' )
+ '"]')
FROM sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities (
'dbo.C_Table',
'OBJECT'
) re
GROUP BY referencing_schema_name
) aa
select #out
I don't know what approach is better but working with JSON output is kinda pain in SQL Server.

How can I use FOR JSON to build JSON in this format?

I'd like to use FOR JSON to build a data payload for an HTTP Post call. My Source table can be recreated with this snippet:
drop table if exists #jsonData;
drop table if exists #jsonColumns;
select
'carat' [column]
into #jsonColumns
union
select 'cut' union
select 'color' union
select 'clarity' union
select 'depth' union
select 'table' union
select 'x' union
select 'y' union
select 'z'
select
0.23 carat
,'Ideal' cut
,'E' color
,'SI2' clarity
,61.5 depth
,55.0 [table]
,3.95 x
,3.98 y
,2.43 z
into #jsonData
union
select 0.21,'Premium','E','SI1',59.8,61.0,3.89,3.84,2.31 union
select 0.29,'Premium','I','VS2',62.4,58.0,4.2,4.23,2.63 union
select 0.31,'Good','J','SI2',63.3,58.0,4.34,4.35,2.75
;
The data needs to be formatted as follows:
{
"columns":["carat","cut","color","clarity","depth","table","x","y","z"],
"data":[
[0.23,"Ideal","E","SI2",61.5,55.0,3.95,3.98,2.43],
[0.21,"Premium","E","SI1",59.8,61.0,3.89,3.84,2.31],
[0.23,"Good","E","VS1",56.9,65.0,4.05,4.07,2.31],
[0.29,"Premium","I","VS2",62.4,58.0,4.2,4.23,2.63],
[0.31,"Good","J","SI2",63.3,58.0,4.34,4.35,2.75]
]
}
My attempts thus far is as follows:
select
(select * from #jsonColumns for json path) as [columns],
(select * from #jsonData for json path) as [data]
for json path, without_array_wrapper
However this returns arrays of objects rather than values, like so:
{
"columns":[
{"column":"carat"},
{"column":"clarity"},
{"column":"color"},
{"column":"cut"},
{"column":"depth"},
{"column":"table"},
{"column":"x"},
{"column":"y"},
{"column":"z"}
]...
}
How can I limit the arrays to only showing the values?
Honestly, this seems like it's going to be easier with string aggregation rather than using the JSON functionality.
Because you're using using SQL Server 2016, you don't have access to STRING_AGG or CONCAT_WS, so the code is a lot longer. You have to make use of FOR XML PATH and STUFF instead and insert all the separators manually (why there's so many ',' in the CONCAT expression). This results in the below:
DECLARE #CRLF nchar(2) = NCHAR(13) + NCHAR(10);
SELECT N'{' + #CRLF +
N' "columns":[' + STUFF((SELECT ',' + QUOTENAME(c.[name],'"')
FROM tempdb.sys.columns c
JOIN tempdb.sys.tables t ON c.object_id = t.object_id
WHERE t.[name] LIKE N'#jsonData%' --Like isn't needed if not a temporary table. Use the literal name.
ORDER BY c.column_id ASC
FOR XML PATH(N''),TYPE).value('.','nvarchar(MAX)'),1,1,N'') + N'],' + #CRLF +
N' "data":[' + #CRLF +
STUFF((SELECT N',' + #CRLF +
N' ' + CONCAT('[',JD.carat,',',QUOTENAME(JD.cut,'"'),',',QUOTENAME(JD.color,'"'),',',QUOTENAME(JD.clarity,'"'),',',JD.depth,',',JD.[table],',',JD.x,',',JD.y,',',JD.z,']')
FROM #jsonData JD
ORDER BY JD.carat ASC
FOR XML PATH(N''),TYPE).value('.','nvarchar(MAX)'),1,3,N'') + #CRLF +
N' ]' + #CRLF +
N'}';
DB<>Fiddle

What is bet way to Join two tables with many to many relationship [duplicate]

I'm trying to migrate a MySQL-based app over to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (not by choice, but that's life).
In the original app, we used almost entirely ANSI-SQL compliant statements, with one significant exception -- we used MySQL's group_concat function fairly frequently.
group_concat, by the way, does this: given a table of, say, employee names and projects...
SELECT empName, projID FROM project_members;
returns:
ANDY | A100
ANDY | B391
ANDY | X010
TOM | A100
TOM | A510
... and here's what you get with group_concat:
SELECT
empName, group_concat(projID SEPARATOR ' / ')
FROM
project_members
GROUP BY
empName;
returns:
ANDY | A100 / B391 / X010
TOM | A100 / A510
So what I'd like to know is: Is it possible to write, say, a user-defined function in SQL Server which emulates the functionality of group_concat?
I have almost no experience using UDFs, stored procedures, or anything like that, just straight-up SQL, so please err on the side of too much explanation :)
No REAL easy way to do this. Lots of ideas out there, though.
Best one I've found:
SELECT table_name, LEFT(column_names , LEN(column_names )-1) AS column_names
FROM information_schema.columns AS extern
CROSS APPLY
(
SELECT column_name + ','
FROM information_schema.columns AS intern
WHERE extern.table_name = intern.table_name
FOR XML PATH('')
) pre_trimmed (column_names)
GROUP BY table_name, column_names;
Or a version that works correctly if the data might contain characters such as <
WITH extern
AS (SELECT DISTINCT table_name
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS)
SELECT table_name,
LEFT(y.column_names, LEN(y.column_names) - 1) AS column_names
FROM extern
CROSS APPLY (SELECT column_name + ','
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS AS intern
WHERE extern.table_name = intern.table_name
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE) x (column_names)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT x.column_names.value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)')) y(column_names)
I may be a bit late to the party but this method works for me and is easier than the COALESCE method.
SELECT STUFF(
(SELECT ',' + Column_Name
FROM Table_Name
FOR XML PATH (''))
, 1, 1, '')
SQL Server 2017 does introduce a new aggregate function
STRING_AGG ( expression, separator).
Concatenates the values of string expressions and places separator
values between them. The separator is not added at the end of string.
The concatenated elements can be ordered by appending WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY some_expression)
For versions 2005-2016 I typically use the XML method in the accepted answer.
This can fail in some circumstances however. e.g. if the data to be concatenated contains CHAR(29) you see
FOR XML could not serialize the data ... because it
contains a character (0x001D) which is not allowed in XML.
A more robust method that can deal with all characters would be to use a CLR aggregate. However applying an ordering to the concatenated elements is more difficult with this approach.
The method of assigning to a variable is not guaranteed and should be avoided in production code.
Possibly too late to be of benefit now, but is this not the easiest way to do things?
SELECT empName, projIDs = replace
((SELECT Surname AS [data()]
FROM project_members
WHERE empName = a.empName
ORDER BY empName FOR xml path('')), ' ', REQUIRED SEPERATOR)
FROM project_members a
WHERE empName IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY empName
Have a look at the GROUP_CONCAT project on Github, I think I does exactly what you are searching for:
This project contains a set of SQLCLR User-defined Aggregate functions (SQLCLR UDAs) that collectively offer similar functionality to the MySQL GROUP_CONCAT function. There are multiple functions to ensure the best performance based on the functionality required...
To concatenate all the project manager names from projects that have multiple project managers write:
SELECT a.project_id,a.project_name,Stuff((SELECT N'/ ' + first_name + ', '+last_name FROM projects_v
where a.project_id=project_id
FOR
XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('text()[1]','nvarchar(max)'),1,2,N''
) mgr_names
from projects_v a
group by a.project_id,a.project_name
With the below code you have to set PermissionLevel=External on your project properties before you deploy, and change the database to trust external code (be sure to read elsewhere about security risks and alternatives [like certificates]) by running ALTER DATABASE database_name SET TRUSTWORTHY ON.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
[Serializable]
[SqlUserDefinedAggregate(Format.UserDefined,
MaxByteSize=8000,
IsInvariantToDuplicates=true,
IsInvariantToNulls=true,
IsInvariantToOrder=true,
IsNullIfEmpty=true)]
public struct CommaDelimit : IBinarySerialize
{
[Serializable]
private class StringList : List<string>
{ }
private StringList List;
public void Init()
{
this.List = new StringList();
}
public void Accumulate(SqlString value)
{
if (!value.IsNull)
this.Add(value.Value);
}
private void Add(string value)
{
if (!this.List.Contains(value))
this.List.Add(value);
}
public void Merge(CommaDelimit group)
{
foreach (string s in group.List)
{
this.Add(s);
}
}
void IBinarySerialize.Read(BinaryReader reader)
{
IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
this.List = (StringList)formatter.Deserialize(reader.BaseStream);
}
public SqlString Terminate()
{
if (this.List.Count == 0)
return SqlString.Null;
const string Separator = ", ";
this.List.Sort();
return new SqlString(String.Join(Separator, this.List.ToArray()));
}
void IBinarySerialize.Write(BinaryWriter writer)
{
IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
formatter.Serialize(writer.BaseStream, this.List);
}
}
I've tested this using a query that looks like:
SELECT
dbo.CommaDelimit(X.value) [delimited]
FROM
(
SELECT 'D' [value]
UNION ALL SELECT 'B' [value]
UNION ALL SELECT 'B' [value] -- intentional duplicate
UNION ALL SELECT 'A' [value]
UNION ALL SELECT 'C' [value]
) X
And yields: A, B, C, D
Tried these but for my purposes in MS SQL Server 2005 the following was most useful, which I found at xaprb
declare #result varchar(8000);
set #result = '';
select #result = #result + name + ' '
from master.dbo.systypes;
select rtrim(#result);
#Mark as you mentioned it was the space character that caused issues for me.
About J Hardiman's answer, how about:
SELECT empName, projIDs=
REPLACE(
REPLACE(
(SELECT REPLACE(projID, ' ', '-somebody-puts-microsoft-out-of-his-misery-please-') AS [data()] FROM project_members WHERE empName=a.empName FOR XML PATH('')),
' ',
' / '),
'-somebody-puts-microsoft-out-of-his-misery-please-',
' ')
FROM project_members a WHERE empName IS NOT NULL GROUP BY empName
By the way, is the use of "Surname" a typo or am i not understanding a concept here?
Anyway, thanks a lot guys cuz it saved me quite some time :)
2021
#AbdusSalamAzad's answer is the correct one.
SELECT STRING_AGG(my_col, ',') AS my_result FROM my_tbl;
If the result is too big, you may get error "STRING_AGG aggregation result exceeded the limit of 8000 bytes. Use LOB types to avoid result truncation." , which can be fixed by changing the query to this:
SELECT STRING_AGG(convert(varchar(max), my_col), ',') AS my_result FROM my_tbl;
For my fellow Googlers out there, here's a very simple plug-and-play solution that worked for me after struggling with the more complex solutions for a while:
SELECT
distinct empName,
NewColumnName=STUFF((SELECT ','+ CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), projID )
FROM returns
WHERE empName=t.empName FOR XML PATH('')) , 1 , 1 , '' )
FROM
returns t
Notice that I had to convert the ID into a VARCHAR in order to concatenate it as a string. If you don't have to do that, here's an even simpler version:
SELECT
distinct empName,
NewColumnName=STUFF((SELECT ','+ projID
FROM returns
WHERE empName=t.empName FOR XML PATH('')) , 1 , 1 , '' )
FROM
returns t
All credit for this goes to here:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/9508abc2-46e7-4186-b57f-7f368374e084/replicating-groupconcat-function-of-mysql-in-sql-server?forum=transactsql
For SQL Server 2017+, use STRING_AGG() function
SELECT STRING_AGG(Genre, ',') AS Result
FROM Genres;
Sample result:
Result
Rock,Jazz,Country,Pop,Blues,Hip Hop,Rap,Punk

Concatenting first and last name while Joining to another table with an ID

I am trying to solve an issue with joining last and first names that are identified using id's in another table. My code is producing the correct fields, but the Guide_Name and Guest_Name columns show all/only 0 (zero). Here is my code:
use www;
SELECT
d.destination_name,
tt.trip_type_name,
t.trip_number,
t.trip_date,
CONCAT(e.last_name + ', ' + e.first_name) AS guide_name,
CONCAT(g.last_name + ', ' + g.first_name) AS guest_name,
ex.exp_name AS guest_experience,
g.age AS guest_age,
g.weight AS guest_weight,
g.swimmer AS guest_is_swimmer,
g.mobile_phone AS guest_mobile_phone
FROM
trip_type tt
JOIN
trips t ON tt.trip_type_code = t.trip_type_code
JOIN
destination d ON t.destination_code = d.destination_code
JOIN
reservation r ON t.trip_number = r.trip_number
JOIN
guests g ON r.guest_id = g.guest_id
JOIN
experience ex ON ex.exp_code = g.exp_code
JOIN
employees e ON t.guide_employee_id = e.employee_id
ORDER BY d.destination_name , tt.trip_type_name , t.trip_date , g.last_name , e.employee_id
And here is the EER diagram:
CONCAT should just be a comma separated list of strings, so I would first change
CONCAT(e.last_name + ', ' + e.first_name)
to
CONCAT(e.last_name, ', ', e.first_name)
and see if that helps.
With + in the concat, mysql thinks you want them treated as numbers. Perhaps you're confusing it with javascript?
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/string-functions.html#function_concat
dave has the heart of this problem, but I expect you also will want to deal with nulls. I think the final code you want will look like this:
COALESCE(CONCAT(e.last_name,', ',e.first_name),e.last_name,e.first_name,'') AS guide_name,
COALESCE(CONCAT(g.last_name,', ',g.first_name),g.last_name,g.first_name,'') AS guest_name,

Simulate MySql group_concat in MSSQL [duplicate]

I'm trying to migrate a MySQL-based app over to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (not by choice, but that's life).
In the original app, we used almost entirely ANSI-SQL compliant statements, with one significant exception -- we used MySQL's group_concat function fairly frequently.
group_concat, by the way, does this: given a table of, say, employee names and projects...
SELECT empName, projID FROM project_members;
returns:
ANDY | A100
ANDY | B391
ANDY | X010
TOM | A100
TOM | A510
... and here's what you get with group_concat:
SELECT
empName, group_concat(projID SEPARATOR ' / ')
FROM
project_members
GROUP BY
empName;
returns:
ANDY | A100 / B391 / X010
TOM | A100 / A510
So what I'd like to know is: Is it possible to write, say, a user-defined function in SQL Server which emulates the functionality of group_concat?
I have almost no experience using UDFs, stored procedures, or anything like that, just straight-up SQL, so please err on the side of too much explanation :)
No REAL easy way to do this. Lots of ideas out there, though.
Best one I've found:
SELECT table_name, LEFT(column_names , LEN(column_names )-1) AS column_names
FROM information_schema.columns AS extern
CROSS APPLY
(
SELECT column_name + ','
FROM information_schema.columns AS intern
WHERE extern.table_name = intern.table_name
FOR XML PATH('')
) pre_trimmed (column_names)
GROUP BY table_name, column_names;
Or a version that works correctly if the data might contain characters such as <
WITH extern
AS (SELECT DISTINCT table_name
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS)
SELECT table_name,
LEFT(y.column_names, LEN(y.column_names) - 1) AS column_names
FROM extern
CROSS APPLY (SELECT column_name + ','
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS AS intern
WHERE extern.table_name = intern.table_name
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE) x (column_names)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT x.column_names.value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)')) y(column_names)
I may be a bit late to the party but this method works for me and is easier than the COALESCE method.
SELECT STUFF(
(SELECT ',' + Column_Name
FROM Table_Name
FOR XML PATH (''))
, 1, 1, '')
SQL Server 2017 does introduce a new aggregate function
STRING_AGG ( expression, separator).
Concatenates the values of string expressions and places separator
values between them. The separator is not added at the end of string.
The concatenated elements can be ordered by appending WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY some_expression)
For versions 2005-2016 I typically use the XML method in the accepted answer.
This can fail in some circumstances however. e.g. if the data to be concatenated contains CHAR(29) you see
FOR XML could not serialize the data ... because it
contains a character (0x001D) which is not allowed in XML.
A more robust method that can deal with all characters would be to use a CLR aggregate. However applying an ordering to the concatenated elements is more difficult with this approach.
The method of assigning to a variable is not guaranteed and should be avoided in production code.
Possibly too late to be of benefit now, but is this not the easiest way to do things?
SELECT empName, projIDs = replace
((SELECT Surname AS [data()]
FROM project_members
WHERE empName = a.empName
ORDER BY empName FOR xml path('')), ' ', REQUIRED SEPERATOR)
FROM project_members a
WHERE empName IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY empName
Have a look at the GROUP_CONCAT project on Github, I think I does exactly what you are searching for:
This project contains a set of SQLCLR User-defined Aggregate functions (SQLCLR UDAs) that collectively offer similar functionality to the MySQL GROUP_CONCAT function. There are multiple functions to ensure the best performance based on the functionality required...
To concatenate all the project manager names from projects that have multiple project managers write:
SELECT a.project_id,a.project_name,Stuff((SELECT N'/ ' + first_name + ', '+last_name FROM projects_v
where a.project_id=project_id
FOR
XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('text()[1]','nvarchar(max)'),1,2,N''
) mgr_names
from projects_v a
group by a.project_id,a.project_name
With the below code you have to set PermissionLevel=External on your project properties before you deploy, and change the database to trust external code (be sure to read elsewhere about security risks and alternatives [like certificates]) by running ALTER DATABASE database_name SET TRUSTWORTHY ON.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
[Serializable]
[SqlUserDefinedAggregate(Format.UserDefined,
MaxByteSize=8000,
IsInvariantToDuplicates=true,
IsInvariantToNulls=true,
IsInvariantToOrder=true,
IsNullIfEmpty=true)]
public struct CommaDelimit : IBinarySerialize
{
[Serializable]
private class StringList : List<string>
{ }
private StringList List;
public void Init()
{
this.List = new StringList();
}
public void Accumulate(SqlString value)
{
if (!value.IsNull)
this.Add(value.Value);
}
private void Add(string value)
{
if (!this.List.Contains(value))
this.List.Add(value);
}
public void Merge(CommaDelimit group)
{
foreach (string s in group.List)
{
this.Add(s);
}
}
void IBinarySerialize.Read(BinaryReader reader)
{
IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
this.List = (StringList)formatter.Deserialize(reader.BaseStream);
}
public SqlString Terminate()
{
if (this.List.Count == 0)
return SqlString.Null;
const string Separator = ", ";
this.List.Sort();
return new SqlString(String.Join(Separator, this.List.ToArray()));
}
void IBinarySerialize.Write(BinaryWriter writer)
{
IFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
formatter.Serialize(writer.BaseStream, this.List);
}
}
I've tested this using a query that looks like:
SELECT
dbo.CommaDelimit(X.value) [delimited]
FROM
(
SELECT 'D' [value]
UNION ALL SELECT 'B' [value]
UNION ALL SELECT 'B' [value] -- intentional duplicate
UNION ALL SELECT 'A' [value]
UNION ALL SELECT 'C' [value]
) X
And yields: A, B, C, D
Tried these but for my purposes in MS SQL Server 2005 the following was most useful, which I found at xaprb
declare #result varchar(8000);
set #result = '';
select #result = #result + name + ' '
from master.dbo.systypes;
select rtrim(#result);
#Mark as you mentioned it was the space character that caused issues for me.
About J Hardiman's answer, how about:
SELECT empName, projIDs=
REPLACE(
REPLACE(
(SELECT REPLACE(projID, ' ', '-somebody-puts-microsoft-out-of-his-misery-please-') AS [data()] FROM project_members WHERE empName=a.empName FOR XML PATH('')),
' ',
' / '),
'-somebody-puts-microsoft-out-of-his-misery-please-',
' ')
FROM project_members a WHERE empName IS NOT NULL GROUP BY empName
By the way, is the use of "Surname" a typo or am i not understanding a concept here?
Anyway, thanks a lot guys cuz it saved me quite some time :)
2021
#AbdusSalamAzad's answer is the correct one.
SELECT STRING_AGG(my_col, ',') AS my_result FROM my_tbl;
If the result is too big, you may get error "STRING_AGG aggregation result exceeded the limit of 8000 bytes. Use LOB types to avoid result truncation." , which can be fixed by changing the query to this:
SELECT STRING_AGG(convert(varchar(max), my_col), ',') AS my_result FROM my_tbl;
For my fellow Googlers out there, here's a very simple plug-and-play solution that worked for me after struggling with the more complex solutions for a while:
SELECT
distinct empName,
NewColumnName=STUFF((SELECT ','+ CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), projID )
FROM returns
WHERE empName=t.empName FOR XML PATH('')) , 1 , 1 , '' )
FROM
returns t
Notice that I had to convert the ID into a VARCHAR in order to concatenate it as a string. If you don't have to do that, here's an even simpler version:
SELECT
distinct empName,
NewColumnName=STUFF((SELECT ','+ projID
FROM returns
WHERE empName=t.empName FOR XML PATH('')) , 1 , 1 , '' )
FROM
returns t
All credit for this goes to here:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sqlserver/en-US/9508abc2-46e7-4186-b57f-7f368374e084/replicating-groupconcat-function-of-mysql-in-sql-server?forum=transactsql
For SQL Server 2017+, use STRING_AGG() function
SELECT STRING_AGG(Genre, ',') AS Result
FROM Genres;
Sample result:
Result
Rock,Jazz,Country,Pop,Blues,Hip Hop,Rap,Punk