Access SQL Update Case using RIGHT() function - ms-access

Question

I'm trying to modify the last character of a column depending on what this character is. So far, the best method I've come to is to use the Update Case with the Right() function, but it doesn't work, when I execute it I've got an error telling me I'm missing an operator and I can't figure out how to fix it. Here's my code :
UPDATE Import
SET MONTANT =
(
CASE WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='é' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '0'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='{' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '0'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='A' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '1'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='B' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '2'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='C' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '3'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='D' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '4'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='E' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '5'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='F' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '6'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='G' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '7'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='H' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '8'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='I' THEN Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '9'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='è' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '0'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='}' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '0'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='J' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '1'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='K' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '2'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='L' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '3'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='M' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '4'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='N' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '5'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='O' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '6'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='P' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '7'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='Q' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '8'
WHEN Right([MONTANT], 1)='R' THEN '-' & Left([MONTANT],LEN([MONTANT])-1) & '9'
ELSE MONTANT
END
)
I already tried a few fixes : Using LENGTH instead of LEN doesn't do a thing, using the syntax :
CASE Right([MONTANT], 1) WHEN 'é' THEN
Following your pieces of advice, i tried the 2 other forms : Using IIF and Using Switch as follows :
UPDATE Import
SET MONTANT = SWITCH(
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='é', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '0',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='{', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '0',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='A', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '1',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='B', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '2',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='C', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '3',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='D', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '4',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='E', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '5',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='F', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '6',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='G', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '7',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='H', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '8',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='I', LEFT(MONTANT, LENGTH(MONTANT) - 1) & '9',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='è', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '0',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='}', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '0',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='J', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '1',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='K', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '2',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='L', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '3',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='M', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '4',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='N', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '5',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='O', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '6',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='P', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '7',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='Q', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '8',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='R', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LENGTH(MONTANT)-1) & '9'
)
The issue being that Access also tells me that it's too complicated, maybe i should try doing it in two separate requests... I'm still opened to new ideas that might work

Answer 1

You can use Switch instead of CASE .. WHEN
A problem that occurs is that Access SQL can't handle functions with a large number of arguments. This is easily resolved by splitting it into pieces:
UPDATE Import
SET MONTANT =
SWITCH(
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='é', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '0',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='{', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '0',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='A', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '1',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='B', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '2',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='C', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '3',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='D', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '4',
True, SWITCH(
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='E', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '5',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='F', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '6',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='G', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '7',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='H', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '8',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='I', LEFT(MONTANT, LEN(MONTANT) - 1) & '9',
True, SWITCH(
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='è', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '0',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='}', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '0',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='J', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '1',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='K', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '2',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='L', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '3',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='M', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '4',
True, SWITCH(
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='N', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '5',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='O', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '6',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='P', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '7',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='Q', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '8',
RIGHT(MONTANT, 1)='R', '-' & LEFT(MONTANT,LEN(MONTANT)-1) & '9',
True, MONTANT
))))
I'm also using the Switch statements to split this into chunks, if you go for the maximum number of arguments per switch you can get away with less Switch functions.

Answer 2

In Access there is no CASE support, but you can use IIF.
I tried to put all your conditions in nested IIFs but Access found the whole statement too complicated.
I tried to follow your logic and zipped the code like this:
UPDATE Import
SET MONTANT =
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('é', 'è', '{', '}'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('è', '}'), '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '0',
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('A', 'J'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) = 'J', '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '1',
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('B', 'K'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) = 'K', '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '2',
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('C', 'L'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) = 'L', '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '3',
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('D', 'M'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) = 'M', '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '4',
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('E', 'N'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) = 'N', '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '5',
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('F', 'O'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) = 'O', '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '6',
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('G', 'P'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) = 'P', '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '7',
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('H', 'Q'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) = 'Q', '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '8',
IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) IN ('I', 'R'), IIF(Right([MONTANT], 1) = 'R', '-', '') & Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1) & '9', MONTANT
))))))))))
Since I could not try it with actual data, I only tested its validity.
So try with caution.

Answer 3

If your data set is large and you're interseted in creating a maintainable solution, I would suggest the following:
Add two fields to your Import table:
UpdateChar as Short Text
RemainderString as Short Text
Update the field UpdateChar to the Right([MONTANT], 1)
Update the field RemainderString to Left([MONTANT], LEN([MONTANT]) - 1)
Create a new table which contains the update pairs, with two fields:
FromChar as Short Text (this will contain the chars: é, {, }, etc.)
ToChar as Short Text (this will match with the chars: 0, 1, 2, ...9)
Then in a separate Update query, link the UpdateChar field from the Import table to the FromChar field in the update pairs table. Then update the Montant field with the string concatenation of RemainderString(Import table) and ToChar(Update pairs table)
Although this involves multiple steps, I find it a much cleaner solution. Especially if you need to add additional characters in the future.