SQL cursors and dynamic SQL

The idea is to have a heading for each date returned by the query. This could be any number of dates. I dynamically altered the #table which is ugly but there is no other way.

Ultimately I would like to reduce the amount of cursors but I'm not sure if it is possible. This is using the Northwind database on SQL Server 2000 (I know, its lifecycle has ended).

```
USE Northwind

DECLARE @startdate DATETIME, @enddate DATETIME, @sql VARCHAR(1000)
SELECT @startdate = '1998-01-01', @enddate = '1998-06-01'

DROP TABLE #OUTPUT
DROP TABLE #TEMP

CREATE TABLE #OUTPUT
(
product VARCHAR(50)
)

SELECT o.orderdate, p.ProductName
INTO #TEMP
FROM [Northwind].[dbo].[Orders] o
join [order details] od ON od.orderid = o.orderid
join Products p on p.ProductID = od.ProductID
WHERE o.OrderDate >= @startdate AND o.OrderDate < @enddate

--Cursor storage variables
DECLARE @prod VARCHAR(30), @orderdate VARCHAR(20), @cnt AS INT
--

--Add date column headings
DECLARE CUR1 CURSOR LOCAL FOR
SELECT DISTINCT(CONVERT(VARCHAR, orderdate, 101)) FROM #TEMP

OPEN CUR1
FETCH NEXT FROM CUR1 INTO @orderdate

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
EXEC('ALTER TABLE #OUTPUT ADD [' + @orderdate + '] VARCHAR(20) DEFAULT 0')
FETCH NEXT FROM CUR1 INTO @orderdate
END
--

--Add left column containing list of products
INSERT INTO #OUTPUT (product)
SELECT DISTINCT(productname) FROM #TEMP
--

--Update all rows setting the approriate date column to the count
DECLARE CUR2 CURSOR LOCAL FOR
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR, orderdate, 101), productname, COUNT(*) as cnt
FROM #TEMP
GROUP BY CONVERT(VARCHAR, orderdate, 101), productname

OPEN CUR2

FETCH NEXT FROM CUR2 INTO @orderdate, @prod, @cnt

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
SELECT @sql = 'UPDATE #OUTPUT set [' + @orderDate + '] = [' + @orderdate + '] + ' + CAST(@cnt AS VARCHAR) + ' WHERE LTRIM(RTRIM(product)) = ''' + LTRIM(RTRIM(REPLACE(@prod, '''', ''))) + ''' '

You stated you are stuck with SQL Server 2000, which sucks; but with that in mind, here are my thoughts. Bear in mind, I'm not a SQL Server specialist, and other answers may provide a more appropriate solution.

Good things

Your SQL syntax & indentation are great. There are a few keywords that are in different case, but overall I think you are good. Your logic is easy to follow. There are a lot of missing ; statement terminators but SQL Server is very permissive. I recommend you always use terminators. Also, your single letter aliases could be improved. I will include that in my code below the next section.

But now, I must address your...

Approach

What you are essentially doing is a pivot. SQL Server 2000 is an outdated product, and there are much more appropriate solutions available with newer versions, which require neither a CURSOR nor dynamic SQL. That said, I strongly question the usefulness of the result data set.

If you're querying only a few days, sure; but, imagine a query like that over a year or longer. You would be stuck with 365+ columns of data to look through rows for each product. It would be much more useful if the data was not pivoted, i.e., have a column for products and a column for dates. It is much easier to graph using Excel and such. And pivoting the data is a trivial task in Excel.

SQL really sucks at looping, and a cursor does exactly that which sucks. My opinion is that you would be better off just getting the data and not locking down your database server while this cursor is working to rearrange how the data is displayed to pivot it. Here is an example query using Northwind:

USE Northwind;

  DECLARE @startdate DATETIME;
  DECLARE @enddate DATETIME;
  SET @startdate = '1998-01-01';
  SET @enddate = '1998-06-01';

  SELECT 
      ord.orderdate, 
      prod.ProductName,
      COUNT(ordDetail.Quantity) AS [Qty Sold]
  FROM [Northwind].[dbo].[Orders] AS ord
    JOIN [order details] AS ordDetail 
       ON ordDetail.orderid = ord.orderid
    JOIN Products AS prod 
       ON prod.ProductID = ordDetail.ProductID
  WHERE ord.OrderDate >= @startdate 
    AND ord.OrderDate < @enddate
  GROUP BY [Qty Sold],
      ord.orderdate,
      prod.ProductName;

And just let the user pivot and manipulate it as they see fit. The purpose of a database system is to manage data, not manage how data is presented.

StackExchange Code Review Q#69877, answer score: 2