SSRS casting a parameter to decimal multi select - reporting-services

Im trying to cast a parameter in SSRS to a decimal. I have a in clause since its multi select. I can select 1 and it runs fine however if i select more than 1 it will say
"Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'as'."
I am casting my parameter in my where clause in my query statement.
WHERE LOAD_NO IN (CAST(#Load as DECIMAL))
I am confused as to why it would bring back the syntax error if I select more than one from list.
Thanks

I am confused as to why it would bring back the syntax error if I
select more than one from list.
Short answer
Because WHERE LOAD_NO IN (CAST(1,2,N as DECIMAL)) is not a valid T-SQL statement.
Long answer
When you use a multi-value parameter in a query, reporting services will generate different queries if your parameter contains 1 value, or multiple values.
Let's simplify your example to the following query:
SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE LOAD_NO IN (#Load)
With only one value, the query will have the following format:
exec sp_executesql N'SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE LOAD_NO IN (#Load)', N'#Load int', #Load=<YourValue>
It's a query with a parameter: #Load.
Now, with multiple values, the query will become
exec sp_executesql N'SELECT * FROM TABLE WHERE LOAD_NO IN (<YourValue1>, <YourValue2>,<YourValueN>)'
The #Load parameter has been replaced by the list of values.
So now my advise will be to rethink the design of your query and treat #Load as a list of values.
We cannot provide you the best solution because it really depends on the data and only you have all the details but I could still throw some ideas.
On the top of my head I could think of:
Cast LOAD_NO instead, but the execution plan may loose the benefits of indexes if any.
In most cases, using a IF EXISTS when possible instead of IN.
Use a subquery.
Do not hesitate to run a SQL Server Profiler to see the generated query if you have other issues.

I'm not sure what your data looks like, so I'm not sure if these options would help, but here's a couple suggestions:
Try putting the CAST on LOAD_NO instead:
WHERE CAST(LOAD_NO AS VARCHAR) IN (#Load)
Create a splitString function like the accepted post here (T-SQL split string) and access it in your WHERE clause:
WHERE LOAD_NO IN (SELECT CAST(val AS DECIMAL) FROM dbo.splitString(#Load, ','))

Related

Is there an equivalent way to do MySQL's JSONOBJECTAGG() in MariaDB?

The server I was working on for a data project crashed and I am now recreating the database. I used to be working on a MySQL database, and now I'm using MariaDB. I have never used MariaDB before.
Previously, I used the following command to insert some data into one table from another:
CREATE TABLE collaborators_list
SELECT awards.id, awards.researcher_name, awards.organization_id,
JSON_OBJECTAGG(awards.fiscal_year, coapplicants.coapplicant_name,
coapplicants.organization_number)
AS 'coapplicants_list' FROM awards
INNER JOIN coapplicants
ON awards.id=coapplicants.id
GROUP BY awards.researcher_name, awards.organization_id;
Basically, I want to do the same thing in MariaDB. I tried looking here:
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/json-functions/
but unless I am misreading something, none of these is what I really want...
Help!
No, MariaDB still does not support JSON_ARRAYAGG and JSON_OBJECTAGG functions. A JIRA ticket has been raised for requesting this feature: https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MDEV-16620
Now, from the docs of JSON_OBJECTAGG():
It takes only two column names or expressions as arguments, the
first of these being used as a key and the second as a value.
An error occurs if any key name is NULL or the number of arguments is
not equal to 2.
However, you are specifying three arguments in JSON_OBJECTAGG(awards.fiscal_year, coapplicants.coapplicant_name, coapplicants.organization_number); so your attempted query will not work as well.
Now, in the absence of the required functions, we can utilize Group_Concat() with Concat(). I am assuming that you need only first two arguments (as explained in previous para).
GROUP_CONCAT( DISTINCT CONCAT('"', awards.fiscal_year, '": "',
coapplicants.coapplicant_name, '"')
SEPARATOR ', ')
Note that, in case of string getting very very long, Group_Concat() may truncate it. So, you can increase the allowed length, by executing the following query, before the above query:
SET SESSION group_concat_max_len = ##max_allowed_packet;

Common Table Expressions -- Using a Variable in the Predicate

I've written a common table expression to return hierarchical information and it seems to work without issue if I hard code a value into the WHERE statement. If I use a variable (even if the variable contains the same information as the hard coded value), I get the error The maximum recursion 100 has been exhausted before statement completion.
This is easier shown with a simple example (note, I haven't included the actual code for the CTE just to keep things clearer. If you think it's useful, I can certainly add it).
This Works
WITH Blder
AS
(-- CODE IS HERE )
SELECT
*
FROM Blder as b
WHERE b.PartNo = 'ABCDE';
This throws the Max Recursion Error
DECLARE #part CHAR(25);
SET #part = 'ABCDE'
WITH Blder
AS
(-- CODE IS HERE )
SELECT
*
FROM Blder as b
WHERE b.PartNo = #part;
Am I missing something silly? Or does the SQL engine handle hardcoded values and parameter values differently in this type of scenario?
Kindly put semicolon at the end of your variable assignment statement
SET #part ='ABCDE';
Your SELECT statement is written incorrectly: the SQL Server Query Optimizer is able to optimize away the potential cycle if fed the literal string, but not when it's fed a variable, which uses the plan that developed from the statistics.
SQL Server 2016 improved on the Query Optimizer, so if you could migrate your DB to SQL Server 2016 or newer, either with the DB compatibility level set to 130 or higher (for SQL Server 2016 and up), or have it kept at 100 (for SQL Server 2008) but with OPTION (USE HINT ('ENABLE_QUERY_OPTIMIZER_HOTFIXES')) added to the bottom of your SELECT statement, you should get the desired result without the max recursion error.
If you are stuck on SQL Server 2008, you could also add OPTION (RECOMPILE) to the bottom of your SELECT statement to create an ad hoc query plan that would be similar to the one that worked correctly.

Table valued parameters for SSRS 2008

We have a requirement of generating SSRS reports from where we need to convert multi-valued string and integer parameters to datatable and pass it to stored procedure. The stored procedure contains multiple table type parameters. Earlier we used varchar(8000) but it was also crossing the datatype limit. Then we thought to introducing datatable concept. But we were not aware of how to pass values from SSRS.
We found a solution from GruffCode on Using Table-Valued Parameters With SQL Server Reporting Services.
The solution solved my problem, and we're able to generate reports. However, sometimes SSRS returns the two following errors:
An error has occurred during report processing.
Query execution failed for dataset 'DSOutput'.
String or binary data would be truncated. The statement has been terminated.
And
An unexpected error occurred in Report Processing.
Exception of type 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown.
I'm not sure when and where it's causing the issue.
The approach outlined in that blog post relies on building an enormous string in memory in order to load all of the selected parameter values into the table-valued parameter instance. If you are selecting a very large number of values to pass into the query I could see it potentially causing the 'System.OutOfMemoryException' while trying to build the string containing the insert statements that will load the parameter.
As for the 'string or binary data would be truncated' error that sounds like it's originating within the query or stored procedure that the report is using to gather its data. Without seeing what that t-sql looks like I couldn't say why that's happening, but I'd guess that it's also somehow related to selecting a very large number of parameter values.
Unfortunately I'm not sure that there's a workaround for this, other than trying to see if you could figure out a way to select fewer parameter values. Here's a couple of rough ideas:
If you have a situation where users might select a handful of parameter values or all parameter values then you could have the query simply take a very simple boolean value indicating that all values were selected rather than making the report send all of the values in through a parameter.
You could also consider "zooming out" of your parameter values a bit and grouping them together somehow if they lend themselves to that. That way users would be selecting from a smaller number of parameter values that represent a group of the individual values all rolled up.
I'm not a fan of using a Text parameter and EXEC in the SQL statement like the article you referenced describes as doing so is subject to SQL injection. The default SSRS behavior with a Multi-value parameter substitutes a comma-separated list of the values directly in place of the parameter when the query is sent to the SQL server. That works great for simple IN queries, but can be undesirable elsewhere. This behavior can be bypassed by setting the Parameter Value on the DataSet to an expression of =Join(Parameters!CustomerIDs.Value, ", "). Once you have done that you can get a table variable loaded by using the following SQL:
DECLARE #CustomerIDsTable TABLE (CustomerID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY)
INSERT INTO #CustomerIDsTable (CustomerID)
SELECT DISTINCT TextNodes.Node.value(N'.', N'int') AS CustomerID
FROM (
SELECT CONVERT(XML, N'<A>' + COALESCE(N'<e>' + REPLACE(#CustomerIDs, N',', N'</e><e>') + N'</e>', '') + N'</A>') AS pNode
) AS xmlDocs
CROSS APPLY pNode.nodes(N'/A/e') AS TextNodes(Node)
-- Do whatever with the resulting table variable, i.e.,
EXEC rpt_CustomerTransactionSummary #StartDate, #EndDate, #CustomerIDsTable
If using text instead of integers then a couple of lines get changed like so:
DECLARE #CustomerIDsTable TABLE (CustomerID nvarchar(MAX) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY)
INSERT INTO #CustomerIDsTable (CustomerID)
SELECT DISTINCT TextNodes.Node.value(N'.', N'nvarchar(MAX)') AS CustomerID
FROM (
SELECT CONVERT(XML, N'<A>' + COALESCE(N'<e>' + REPLACE(#CustomerIDs, N',', N'</e><e>') + N'</e>', '') + N'</A>') AS pNode
) AS xmlDocs
CROSS APPLY pNode.nodes(N'/A/e') AS TextNodes(Node)
-- Do whatever with the resulting table variable, i.e.,
EXEC rpt_CustomerTransactionSummary #StartDate, #EndDate, #CustomerIDsTable
This approach also works well for handling user-entered strings of comma-separated items.

Creating a stored procedure in SQL Server 2008 that will do a "facebook search"

I'm trying to implement a facebook search in my system (auto suggest while typing).
I've managed to code all the ajax stuff, but I'm not sure how to query the database.
I've created a table called People which contains the fields: ID, FirstName, LastName, MiddleName, Email.
I've also created a FTS-index on all those fields.
I want to create a stored procedure that will get as a parameter the text inserted in the query box and returns the suggestions.
For example, When I will write in the textbox the query "Joh Do"
It will translate to the query:
select * from People where contains(*, '"Joh*"') and contains(*, '"Do*"')
Is there a way to do that in stored procedure?
P.S
I've tried to use the syntax
select * from People where contains(*,'"Joh*" and "Do*"')
but it didn't returned the expected results, probably because it needs to search the words on different fields. Is there a way to fix that?
Thanks.
Try
select *
from People
where (FirstName Like '%'+ #FirstName + '%') and
(MiddleName Like '%'+ #MiddleName + '%') and
(LastName Like '%'+ #LastName + '%')
Also you may want to restrict the results to only return a maximum of say 10 by using:
select top 10
EDIT 1:
OK I now understand the problem better. I would use dynamic sql thus:
First create a split function e.g. Example Split function using XML trick
Then use dynamic sql:
declare #tstr varchar (500)
set #tstr = ''
select #tstr =#tstr + ' Contains(*, ''"'+ val + '*")' + ' and '
from dbo.split(#SearchStr, ' ')
set #tstr = left(#tstr,len(#tstr)-4)
select #tstr
Declare #dsql as varchar(500)
set #dsql = 'select * from People where '+ #tstr
exec (#dsql)
Also please note as per Remus, be aware of SQL Injections, the use of sp_executesql (instead of EXEC) would be better.
The problem is the open list nature of the argument. I can be Joh, it can be Joh Do, it can be Joh Do Na and so on and so forth. You have two main alternatives:
parse the input in the web app (in ASP I assume) and then call an appropriate procedure for the number of entries (ie. exec usp_findSuggestions1 'Joh', exec usp_findSuggestions2 'Joh', 'Do', exec usp_findSuggestions1 'Joh', 'Do', 'Na'). The first procedure uses 1 contains, the second has 2 contains .. and contains ... and the last has 3. This may look totally ugly from a DRY, code design and specially code maintenance pov, but is actually the best solution as far as T-SQL is concerned, due primarily to the plan stability of these queries.
pass the input straight into a single stored procedure, where you can split it into components and build a dynamic T-SQL query with as many contains as necessary.
Both solutions are imperfect. Ultimately, you have two problems, and both have been investigated before to quite some depth:
the problem of passing a list to a T-SQL procedure. See Arrays and Lists in SQL Server 2005 and Beyond
the problem of an undetermined number of conditions in the WHERE clause, see The Curse and Blessings of Dynamic SQL
The AJAX Toolkit has the "AutoComplete" control that provides this functionality out of the box. It is very simple to use.
Look at a sample here

Combine 'like' and 'in' in a SqlServer Reporting Services query?

The following doesn't work, but something like this is what I'm looking for.
select *
from Products
where Description like (#SearchedDescription + %)
SSRS uses the # operator in-front of a parameter to simulate an 'in', and I'm not finding a way to match up a string to a list of strings.
There are a few options on how to use a LIKE operator with a parameter.
OPTION 1
If you add the % to the parameter value, then you can customize how the LIKE filter will be processed. For instance, your query could be:
SELECT name
FROM master.dbo.sysobjects
WHERE name LIKE #ReportParameter1
For the data set to use the LIKE statement properly, then you could use a parameter value like sysa%. When I tested a sample report in SSRS 2008 using this code, I returned the following four tables:
sysallocunits
sysaudacts
sysasymkeys
sysaltfiles
OPTION 2
Another way to do this that doesn't require the user to add any '%' symbol is to generate a variable that has the code and exceute the variable.
DECLARE #DynamicSQL NVARCHAR(MAX)
SET #DynamicSQL =
'SELECT name, id, xtype
FROM dbo.sysobjects
WHERE name LIKE ''' + #ReportParameter1 + '%''
'
EXEC (#DynamicSQL)
This will give you finer controller over how the LIKE statement will be used. If you don't want users to inject any additional operators, then you can always add code to strip out non alpha-numeric characters before merging it into the final query.
OPTION 3
You can create a stored procedure that controls this functionality. I generally prefer to use stored procedures as data sources for SSRS and never allow dynamically generated SQL, but that's just a preference of mine. This helps with discoverability when performing dependency analysis checks and also allows you to ensure optimal query performance.
OPTION 4
Create a .NET code assembly that helps dynamically generate the SQL code. I think this is overkill and a poor choice at best, but it could work conceivably.
Have you tried to do:
select * from Products where Description like (#SearchedDescription + '%')
(Putting single quotes around the % sign?)
Dano, which version of SSRS are you using? If it's RS2000, the multi-parameter list is
not officially supported, but there is a workaround....
put like this:
select *
from tsStudent
where studentName like #SName+'%'
I know this is super old, but this came up in my search to solve the same problem, and I wound up using a solution not described here. I'm adding a new potential solution to help whomever else might follow.
As written, this solution only works in SQL Server 2016 and later, but can be adapted for older versions by writing a custom string_split UDF, and by using a subquery instead of a CTE.
First, map your #SearchedDescription into your Dataset as a single string using JOIN:
=JOIN(#SearchedDedscription, ",")
Then use STRING_SPLIT to map your "A,B,C,D" kind of string into a tabular structure.
;with
SearchTerms as (
select distinct
Value
from
string_split(#SearchedDescription, ',')
)
select distinct
*
from
Products
inner join SearchTerms on
Products.Description like SearchTerms.Value + '%'
If someone adds the same search term multiple times, this would duplicate rows in the result set. Similarly, a single product could match multiple search terms. I've added distinct to both the SearchTerms CTE and the main query to try to suppress this inappropriate row duplication.
If your query is more complex (including results from other joins) then this could become an increasingly big problem. Just be aware of it, it's the main drawback of this method.