Order By madness

I have a simple case statement which changes the "ORDER BY" clause based on
a parameter passed to a stored proc. 4 out of 5 cases work, but one fails
with the following:
Server: Msg 295, Level 16, State 3, Procedure pr_reportPartnersDBTest, Line
12
Syntax error converting character string to smalldatetime data type.
If I comment out the case block and put each ORDER BY as an independent
statement (uncommenting one at a time), they all work without error.
When the case block is used and the int 4 is passed (my zip field), I
receive the error message above. If I comment out the case statement and
just use "ORDER BY zip" it works fine.
I must be missing something obvious, but I'm too close and suspect I'm
missing something that someone else will immediately see.
All comments, ideas or thoughts welcomed.
-- CODE snippet --
select ...
from ...
where...
order by
case @.orderBy
when 1 then dateRegistered
when 2 then gender
when 3 then bodyType
when 4 then zip
when 5 then ageRange
else dateRegistered
end
-- The next lines are for debugging purposes...
-- I commented out the case block above, then tested each of the lines below
one at a time. They all work as expected. But the case statement above fails
when I pass it a 4 (zip). All other values work as expected.
-- order by dateRegistered
-- order by gender
-- order by bodyType
-- order by zip
-- order by ageRangeCASE in SQL Server is an expression that returns a scalar value of a
specific datatype. That means that if the separate expressions for each WHEN
have a different datatype, they will explicitly be converted to the datatype
with the highest datatype precedence, in your case smalldatetime. And you
can't convert all zipcodes into a smalldatetime value.
So the simplest way to do it is to have a separate CASE for each column:
order by
case @.orderBy when 2 then gender end,
case @.orderBy when 3 then bodyType end,
case @.orderBy when 4 then zip end,
case @.orderBy when 5 then ageRange end,
case when @.OrderBy NOT IN (2,3,4,5) then dateRegistered end
Jacco Schalkwijk
SQL Server MVP
"Don B" <DonBaarns@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OlsEGQOUFHA.1432@.TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>I have a simple case statement which changes the "ORDER BY" clause based on
> a parameter passed to a stored proc. 4 out of 5 cases work, but one fails
> with the following:
> Server: Msg 295, Level 16, State 3, Procedure pr_reportPartnersDBTest,
> Line
> 12
> Syntax error converting character string to smalldatetime data type.
> If I comment out the case block and put each ORDER BY as an independent
> statement (uncommenting one at a time), they all work without error.
> When the case block is used and the int 4 is passed (my zip field), I
> receive the error message above. If I comment out the case statement and
> just use "ORDER BY zip" it works fine.
> I must be missing something obvious, but I'm too close and suspect I'm
> missing something that someone else will immediately see.
> All comments, ideas or thoughts welcomed.
> -- CODE snippet --
> select ...
> from ...
> where...
> order by
> case @.orderBy
> when 1 then dateRegistered
> when 2 then gender
> when 3 then bodyType
> when 4 then zip
> when 5 then ageRange
> else dateRegistered
> end
> -- The next lines are for debugging purposes...
> -- I commented out the case block above, then tested each of the lines
> below
> one at a time. They all work as expected. But the case statement above
> fails
> when I pass it a 4 (zip). All other values work as expected.
>
> -- order by dateRegistered
> -- order by gender
> -- order by bodyType
> -- order by zip
> -- order by ageRange
>|||It is also worth mention that a CASE is not allowed in the ORDER BY in
Standard SQL-92. You can put it in a column in the select list, name
it and use that name in the ORDER BY. This way your code will port, be
readable to people who do not speak T-SQL dialect and your user will be
able to tell what the sort was done on, instead of trying to guess.
In the olde days, we would print the sort key at both the left and
right sides of a print out, so you could lay a ruler acorss the 132
column page. The printout were pretty fuzzy at times and this really
helped. Today, I assume that the sort column would be on the right and
locked so you can scroll horizonally.|||Jacco,
EXCELLENT... I clearly don't know enough fundamentals about T-SQL. That
works great for my example.
I would really like a secondary sort on zip code (a varchar in my case)
which would be something like this:
order by zip, dateRegistered
and/or
order by bodyType, zip
The two statements above work as expected.
I can't just put the two columns with a comma inside the Then/End
combination as the case statement uses the comma as a delimiter. I don't
know how to escape it (or the equivalent) so the case statement can return a
set of columns for the order by clause. I may also want to change the
ASC/DESC order on specific columns but I assume if I figure out the syntax
for the multiple columns it will be similar if I add specific sort orders
for some columns.
All ideas welcomed!
"Jacco Schalkwijk" <jacco.please.reply@.to.newsgroups.mvps.org.invalid> wrote
in message news:O0KSlYOUFHA.2892@.TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> CASE in SQL Server is an expression that returns a scalar value of a
> specific datatype. That means that if the separate expressions for each
WHEN
> have a different datatype, they will explicitly be converted to the
datatype
> with the highest datatype precedence, in your case smalldatetime. And you
> can't convert all zipcodes into a smalldatetime value.
> So the simplest way to do it is to have a separate CASE for each column:
> order by
> case @.orderBy when 2 then gender end,
> case @.orderBy when 3 then bodyType end,
> case @.orderBy when 4 then zip end,
> case @.orderBy when 5 then ageRange end,
> case when @.OrderBy NOT IN (2,3,4,5) then dateRegistered end
> --
> Jacco Schalkwijk
> SQL Server MVP
>
> "Don B" <DonBaarns@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:OlsEGQOUFHA.1432@.TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
on
fails
>|||Use the same approach:
order by
case @.orderBy when 1 then zip end,
case @.orderBy when 1 then dateRegistered end,
case @.orderBy when 2 then bodyType end,
case @.orderBy when 2 then zip end ASC,
case @.orderBy when 3 then bodyType end,
case @.orderBy when 3 then zip end DESC
Terri Morton
MVP - ASP/ASP.NET
"Don B" <DonBaarns@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OrWlLtOUFHA.3716@.TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Jacco,
> EXCELLENT... I clearly don't know enough fundamentals about T-SQL. That
> works great for my example.
> I would really like a secondary sort on zip code (a varchar in my case)
> which would be something like this:
> order by zip, dateRegistered
> and/or
> order by bodyType, zip
> The two statements above work as expected.
> I can't just put the two columns with a comma inside the Then/End
> combination as the case statement uses the comma as a delimiter. I don't
> know how to escape it (or the equivalent) so the case statement can return
> a
> set of columns for the order by clause. I may also want to change the
> ASC/DESC order on specific columns but I assume if I figure out the syntax
> for the multiple columns it will be similar if I add specific sort orders
> for some columns.
> All ideas welcomed!
>
>
> "Jacco Schalkwijk" <jacco.please.reply@.to.newsgroups.mvps.org.invalid>
> wrote
> in message news:O0KSlYOUFHA.2892@.TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> WHEN
> datatype