How to use SQL PIVOT to Compare Two Tables in Your Database

This can happen ever so easily. You adapt a table by adding a new column: ALTER TABLE payments ADD code NUMBER(3); You go on, implementing your business logic - absolutely no problem. But then, later on (perhaps in production), some batch job fails because it makes some strong assumptions about data types. Namely, it assumes … Continue reading How to use SQL PIVOT to Compare Two Tables in Your Database →

How to Implement Sort Indirection in SQL

I've recently stumbled upon this interesting Stack Overflow question, where the user essentially wanted to ensure that resulting records are delivered in a well-defined order. They wrote SELECT name FROM product WHERE name IN ('CE367FAACDHCANPH-151556', 'CE367FAACEX9ANPH-153877', 'NI564FAACJSFANPH-162605', 'GE526OTACCD3ANPH-149839') They got CE367FAACDHCANPH-151556 CE367FAACEX9ANPH-153877 GE526OTACCD3ANPH-149839 NI564FAACJSFANPH-162605 They wanted CE367FAACDHCANPH-151556 CE367FAACEX9ANPH-153877 NI564FAACJSFANPH-162605 GE526OTACCD3ANPH-149839 Very often, according to your … Continue reading How to Implement Sort Indirection in SQL →