Problem Statement:
One of the view creation scripts in our deployment failed continuously with the below exception:
Invalid parameter 1 specified for datediff.
Incorrect syntax near the keyword ‘AS’.
The root cause of this error is as below.
FLOOR((DATEDIFF("W",ml.column1,ML.column2)+1)/7) AS aliasname
Solution:
FLOOR((DATEDIFF(W,ml.column1,ML.column2)+1)/7) AS aliasname
The change is that the datepart has been modified to remove the double quote.
We are going to see the SQL Behaviour while assigning value to variable, we thought of writing this post since recently we came across issues in real time during data assignment and processing.
Case 1:- First let’s see the example of direct value assignment in SQL,
declare @valueAssign nvarchar(50)='', @valueIntAssign int
set @valueAssign='YYYY'
set @valueIntAssign=1111
select @valueAssign as Fullname_DirectAssign
select @valueIntAssign as Number_DirectAssign
Output:-
Case 2:- Now we will see the Random value assignment in SQL, there are 3 rows in the table but it randomly picked the data from 3rd row during the execution.
declare @valueAssign nvarchar(50)='', @valueIntAssign int
set @valueAssign='YYYY'
set @valueIntAssign=1111
select @valueAssign as Fullname_DirectAssign
select @valueIntAssign as Number_DirectAssign
drop table if exists DataValueAssign
create table DataValueAssign(
id int,
fullname nvarchar(50),
Age int
)
insert into DataValueAssign values (1,'AAAA',19),(2,'CCCC',54),(3,'BBBB',34)
---Data Value Assigned Randomly to the Variable--
select @valueAssign=fullname,@valueIntAssign=age from DataValueAssign
select @valueAssign as Fullname_Randomly, @valueIntAssign as Age_Randomly
Output:-
Case 3:- Now let’s see how we can handle this Random value assignment behaviour by using the “Order by” and “Top” functions and assign the appropriate values to the variable and use it for data processing.
declare @valueAssign nvarchar(50)='', @valueIntAssign int
set @valueAssign='YYYY'
set @valueIntAssign=1111
select @valueAssign as Fullname_DirectAssign
select @valueIntAssign as Number_DirectAssign
drop table if exists DataValueAssign
create table DataValueAssign(
id int,
fullname nvarchar(50),
Age int
)
insert into DataValueAssign values (1,'AAAA',19),(2,'CCCC',54),(3,'BBBB',34)
---First Data Value Assigned to the Variable using order by ID--
select @valueAssign=fullname,@valueIntAssign=age from DataValueAssign order by ID desc
select @valueAssign as Fullname_FirstValue_using_Orderby,@valueIntAssign as Age_FirstValue_using_Orderby
---Top 1 Data Value Assigned to the Variable using order by AGE desc--
select top 1 @valueAssign=fullname,@valueIntAssign=age from DataValueAssign order by age desc
select @valueAssign as Fullname_Top1_Orderby_desc, @valueIntAssign as Age_Top1_Orderby_desc
---Top 1 Data Value Assigned to the Variable using order by AGE--
select top 1 @valueAssign=fullname,@valueIntAssign=age from DataValueAssign order by age
select @valueAssign as Fullname_Top1_Orderby_asc, @valueIntAssign as Age_Top1_Orderby_asc
Output:-
Be aware while assigning value to SQL variable and make sure that the expected value was set to variable, enjoy exploring SQL, Happy Learning !!!
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Recently one of my colleague reached out to me with an error message as : “Server is not configured for RPC”
This a typical issue with Linked Server. When we configure a linked server, we need to set up the right values for RPC & RPC Out . We can see these values in SSMS -> Right click on Linked Server -> Properties -> Server Options as in the below screen shot.
| RPC / RPC Out | RPC stands for Remote Procedure Call and allows you to run stored procedures on the Linked Server. RPC enables Remote Procedure Calls from the specified server and RPC OUT enables Remote Procedure Calls to the specified server. |
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Computed columns are virtual columns that does not physically store the data in SQL Server unless it is marked as PERSISTED column. Computed columns can be defined by expression that can use other columns of the same table or static expressions.
How to add a computed column while creating a table?
Create Table SampleComputedTable
(
EmpName varchar(50),
DOB Date,
Age as Datediff(year,DOB,GETDATE())
)
--Today is -> '2021-07-25'; for simple explantion, the Age is calculated only year part.
Insert into SampleComputedTable Values ('Latheesh','2019-07-25')
Select * From SampleComputedTable
Drop table SampleComputedTable
How to add a computed column to an existing table?
Alter Table SampleComputedTable Add AgeInMonths as DateDiff(month,DOB,Getdate())
Select * From SampleComputedTable
What are the best practices while creating a computed column?
There is NO way to alter computed column. You will have to drop and recreate it.Â
How to find the definition of a computed column?
Select object_name(object_id) TableName, name as ColumnName, definition From sys.computed_columns
where name='Age' and object_name(object_id) = 'SampleComputedTable'
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Foreign Key Constraint is a type of constraint in SQL Server to enforce a relation between two tables with a column or a set of columns to ensure a data integrity.
Let us quickly look at how do we create a foreign key in SQL Server
Create Table ParentTable (ParentCol int Primary Key NOT NULL)
Create Table ChildTable (ChildCol int Primary Key NOT NULL, ParentCol int NULL references ParentTable(ParentCol))
The above will create foreign key from ChildTable to ParentTable on column ParentCol. If we carefully look at the definition of ParentCol in ChildTable, we can see its a NULL-able column. If there is a requirement that we should not have NULL value, then we can make the column as NOT NULL.
As we see in the above screenshot, delete_action/update_action are called as cascade actions. This can be used to define the actions on delete/update operations on Primary table. Let us examine with an example as below.
First off, let us try to insert some data in both tables and try to delete from Parent which has reference record in ChildTable.
Insert into ParentTable Select 100
Insert into ParentTable Select 200
Insert into ParentTable Select 300
Insert into ChildTable Select 1, NULL
Insert into ChildTable Select 2, NULL
Insert into ChildTable Select 3,300
Select * From ParentTable
Select * From ChildTable
--Now try to delete a record from ParentTable which has a corresponding record in ChildTable
Delete From ParentTable where ParentCol =300
The DELETE operation fails as there is a record in ChildTable which prevents the DELETE operation on ParentTable.
Now, let us have a CASCADE action on DELETE to define delete on ChildTable as well.
ALTER TABLE ChildTable DROP constraint[FK__ChildTabl__Paren__58D1301D]
ALTER TABLE [dbo].ChildTable WITH CHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [FK__ChildTabl__Paren__58D1301D] FOREIGN KEY(ParentCol)
REFERENCES [dbo].ParentTable (ParentCol)
ON DELETE CASCADE
GO
/*Now try to delete a record from ParentTable which has a corresponding record in ChildTable*/
Delete From ParentTable where ParentCol =300
Select * From ParentTable
Select * From ChildTable
Now, we can see the DELETE operation is successful and the Delete action on the table has been changed to Cascade as below.
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