How to use values keyword as parameter of a function

  • I would like to have a function which accepts any number of parameters with the same type and returns true if they are all equal and false otherwise.

    This is what I came up with:

    create type GenericTable as table (D sql_variant)

    go

    create function AreEqual (@t as GenericTable readonly)

    returns bit

    as

    begin

    declare @distinctRows int

    select @distinctRows = count(distinct D)

    from @t

    if (@distinctRows = 1) return 1

    return 0

    end

    This works:

    declare @t GenericTable

    insert into @t (D)

    values ('a'),('a'),('b')

    select dbo.AreEqual(@t)-- 0

    go

    declare @t GenericTable

    insert into @t (D)

    values ('a'),('a'),('a')

    select dbo.AreEqual(@t)-- 1

    go

    declare @t GenericTable

    insert into @t (D)

    values (1), (1), (2)

    select dbo.AreEqual(@t) -- 0

    go

    declare @t GenericTable

    insert into @t (D)

    values (1), (1), (1)

    select dbo.AreEqual(@t) -- 1

    Is it possible to use 'values' statement directly as the parameter in the call of my AreEqual function? Something like this would be perfect:

    with temp as (

    select 1 I, 1 D1, 1 D2, 1 D3 union

    select 2 I, 1 D1, 1 D2, 2 D3 union

    select 3 I, 1 D1, 2 D2, 3 D3

    )

    select I, dbo.AreEqual(values (D1),(D2),(D3))

    from temp

  • Yes, with stored procedures this is easily achievable, but I cannot use it in scenarios like:

    declare @t table (Id int, I1 int, I2 int, I3 int, I4 int, I5 int)

    -- insert ...

    select Id, dbo.AreEqual(I1, I3, I5), dbo.AreEqual(I1, I2), dbo.AreEqual(I4, I5)

    from @t

    -- or

    select *

    from @t

    where dbo.AreEqual(I1, I2) and dbo.AreEqual(I4, I5)

  • _simon_ (11/28/2012)


    Yes, with stored procedures this is easily achievable, but I cannot use it in scenarios like:

    declare @t table (Id int, I1 int, I2 int, I3 int, I4 int, I5 int)

    -- insert ...

    select Id, dbo.AreEqual(I1, I3, I5), dbo.AreEqual(I1, I2), dbo.AreEqual(I4, I5)

    from @t

    -- or

    select *

    from @t

    where dbo.AreEqual(I1, I2) and dbo.AreEqual(I4, I5)

    Sure you can. Did you try turning Joe's code into a function?

    e.g.

    CREATE FUNCTION Equal (

    @p1 INT = NULL,

    @p2 INT = NULL,

    @p3 INT = NULL,

    @p4 INT = NULL,

    @p5 INT = NULL

    )

    RETURNS VARCHAR(5)

    AS

    BEGIN

    DECLARE @ReturnValue VARCHAR(5);

    SELECT @ReturnValue = CASE WHEN MIN(parm) = MAX(parm) THEN 'True' ELSE 'False' END

    FROM (SELECT parm

    FROM (VALUES (@p1),(@p2),(@p3),(@p4),(@p5)) AS X1(parm)

    WHERE parm IS NOT NULL

    ) AS X2(parm);

    RETURN @ReturnValue;

    END


    Forever trying to learn
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  • @cadavre: The function should be able to compare multiple values (for example up to 20), then I would need to write a lot of 'default's to compare just 3 values for example:

    ... dbo.Equal(1, 1, default, default, default, default, default, ...)

    Or am I missing something?

  • _simon_ (11/28/2012)


    @Cadavre: The function should be able to compare multiple values (for example up to 20), then I would need to write a lot of 'default's to compare just 3 values for example:

    ... dbo.Equal(1, 1, default, default, default, default, default, ...)

    Or am I missing something?

    Apologies, I assumed that defaults would work the same. I've set up a sample script and so can now see your issue: -

    USE tempdb;

    GO

    CREATE FUNCTION Equal (

    @p1 INT = NULL,

    @p2 INT = NULL,

    @p3 INT = NULL,

    @p4 INT = NULL,

    @p5 INT = NULL

    )

    RETURNS VARCHAR(5)

    AS

    BEGIN

    DECLARE @ReturnValue VARCHAR(5);

    SELECT @ReturnValue = CASE WHEN MIN(parm) = MAX(parm) THEN 'True' ELSE 'False' END

    FROM (SELECT parm

    FROM (VALUES (@p1),(@p2),(@p3),(@p4),(@p5)) AS X1(parm)

    WHERE parm IS NOT NULL

    ) AS X2(parm);

    RETURN @ReturnValue;

    END;

    GO

    IF object_id('tempdb..#testEnvironment') IS NOT NULL

    BEGIN

    DROP TABLE #testEnvironment;

    END;

    --5 Random rows of data

    SELECT TOP 5 IDENTITY(INT,1,1) AS ID,

    (ABS(CHECKSUM(NEWID())) % 5) + 1 AS randomSmallInt1,

    (ABS(CHECKSUM(NEWID())) % 5) + 1 AS randomSmallInt2

    INTO #testEnvironment

    FROM master.dbo.syscolumns sc1, master.dbo.syscolumns sc2, master.dbo.syscolumns sc3;

    GO

    SELECT ID, randomSmallInt1, randomSmallInt2, dbo.Equal(randomSmallInt1, randomSmallInt2)

    FROM #testEnvironment;

    Which results in: -

    Msg 313, Level 16, State 2, Line 1

    An insufficient number of arguments were supplied for the procedure or function dbo.Equal.


    Forever trying to learn
    My blog - http://www.cadavre.co.uk/
    For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/
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  • OK, this is a skeleton and would need editing to include however many params that you want to go in there.

    IF object_id('tempdb..Equal') IS NOT NULL

    BEGIN

    DROP FUNCTION Equal;

    END;

    GO

    CREATE FUNCTION Equal (

    @XML XML

    )

    RETURNS VARCHAR(5) AS

    BEGIN

    DECLARE @Return VARCHAR(5);

    SELECT @Return = CASE WHEN MIN(parm) = MAX(parm) THEN 'True' ELSE 'False' END

    FROM (SELECT [param]

    FROM (SELECT

    Tbl.Col.value('p1[1]', 'VARCHAR(MAX)'),

    Tbl.Col.value('p2[1]', 'VARCHAR(MAX)'),

    Tbl.Col.value('p3[1]', 'VARCHAR(MAX)'),

    Tbl.Col.value('p4[1]', 'VARCHAR(MAX)'),

    Tbl.Col.value('p5[1]', 'VARCHAR(MAX)'),

    Tbl.Col.value('p6[1]', 'VARCHAR(MAX)')

    FROM @XML.nodes('//row') Tbl(Col)

    )a(p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6)

    UNPIVOT ([param] FOR value IN (p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6))up

    ) AS X2(parm);

    RETURN @Return;

    END

    If we then take a quick look at the usage with some sample data: -

    IF object_id('tempdb..#testEnvironment') IS NOT NULL

    BEGIN

    DROP TABLE #testEnvironment;

    END;

    --100 Random rows of data

    SELECT TOP 100 IDENTITY(INT,1,1) AS ID,

    (ABS(CHECKSUM(NEWID())) % 5) + 1 AS randomSmallInt1,

    (ABS(CHECKSUM(NEWID())) % 5) + 1 AS randomSmallInt2

    INTO #testEnvironment

    FROM master.dbo.syscolumns sc1, master.dbo.syscolumns sc2, master.dbo.syscolumns sc3;

    GO

    SELECT ID, randomSmallInt1, randomSmallInt2, dbo.Equal(val)

    FROM #testEnvironment

    CROSS APPLY (SELECT (SELECT randomSmallInt1 AS [p1], randomSmallInt2 AS [p2] FOR XML PATH('row'),TYPE))a(val);


    Forever trying to learn
    My blog - http://www.cadavre.co.uk/
    For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/
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  • Seems legit, thanks 🙂 But the syntax, man... I'll probably just write my own set of methods...

    create function EqualI2(@i1 int, @i2 int)...

    create function EqualI3(@i1 int, @i2 int, @i3 int)...

    ...

    create function EqualS2(@s1 varchar(max), @s2 varchar(max)...

    create function EqualS3(@s1 varchar(max), @s2 varchar(max), @s3 varchar(max))...

    ...

    create function EqualB2(@b1 bit, @b2 bit)...

    create function EqualB3(@b1 bit, @b2 bit, @b3 bit,...)...

    ...

  • This would be so much easier in VB or C#...

    Well it's not pretty and not sure if the parameter you pass in is going to be pretty but here goes...

    I used Jeff Moden's Tally Splitter code so thanks to Jeff for his many contributions....

    no guarantees on performance... 🙂

    Not really an unlimited number of parameters... actually only 1 real parameter...

    basic idea is to concatenate all the "parameter" values into a single delimited string and then parse and compare inside the function...

    kinda works like a multi-parameter function.... =P

    The delimiter can be up to 5 characters but you can change that easy enough... maybe use ::::: as the delimiter

    GO

    if object_id('dbo.MyTestFunction') is not null

    drop function dbo.MyTestFunction

    GO

    Create function MyTestFunction(@pString as varchar(8000),@pDelimiter as varchar(5))

    returns bit

    as

    begin

    declare @Count as int;

    WITH E1(N) AS (

    SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL

    SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL

    SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1

    ), --10E+1 or 10 rows

    E2(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E1 a, E1 b), --10E+2 or 100 rows

    E4(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E2 a, E2 b), --10E+4 or 10,000 rows max

    cteTally(N) AS (--==== This provides the "base" CTE and limits the number of rows right up front

    -- for both a performance gain and prevention of accidental "overruns"

    SELECT TOP (ISNULL(DATALENGTH(@pString),0)) ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM E4

    ),

    cteStart(N1) AS (--==== This returns N+1 (starting position of each "element" just once for each delimiter)

    SELECT 1 UNION ALL

    SELECT t.N+1 FROM cteTally t WHERE SUBSTRING(@pString,t.N,len(@pDelimiter)) = @pDelimiter

    ),

    cteLen(N1,L1) AS(--==== Return start and length (for use in substring)

    SELECT s.N1,

    ISNULL(NULLIF(CHARINDEX(@pDelimiter,@pString,s.N1),0)-s.N1,8000)

    FROM cteStart s

    )

    --===== Do the actual split. The ISNULL/NULLIF combo handles the length for the final element when no delimiter is found.

    select @Count = count(*)

    from (

    SELECT SUBSTRING(@pString, l.N1, l.L1) Vals

    FROM cteLen l

    group by SUBSTRING(@pString, l.N1, l.L1)

    ) t

    if (@Count > 1) Return 1

    Return 0

    end

    GO

    --------------------Testing the Function---------------------------

    set nocount on;

    declare @Table as table (F1 varchar(10), F2 varchar(10), F3 varchar(255), F4 varchar(10))

    insert into @Table

    values ('a','a','b','b')

    ,('a','a','a','a')

    insert into @Table

    values(1, 1, 2,3)

    ,(1, 1, 1,1)

    insert into @Table

    values('c','c','c','c')

    ,('d','d','c','c')

    declare @pString as varchar(max)

    declare @pDelimiter as varchar(2) = '|'

    select F1, F2, F3, F4, dbo.MyTestFunction( F1 + '|' + F2 + '|' + F3 + '|' + F4, @pDelimiter)

    from @Table

    select F1, F2, F3, dbo.MyTestFunction(F1 + '|' + F2 + '|' + F3 , @pDelimiter)

    from @Table

    select F1, F2, dbo.MyTestFunction( F3 + '|' + F4, @pDelimiter)

    from @Table

    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Mike Hahn - MCSomething someday:-)
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    I post so I can see my avatar :hehe:
    I want a personal webpage 😎
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  • I have a slight rewrite that works. might not be better than any thing else but will eat as many sets with as many items in the set as you want to feed it(Of course you will need to modify the cross apply to include more columns).

    IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#Tmp') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #Tmp

    --The temp table makes things a little easier

    SELECT * INTO #Tmp

    FROM (select 1 I, '1' D1, '1' D2, '1' D3 union

    select 2 I, '1' D1, '1' D2, '2' D3 union

    select 3 I, '1' D1, '2' D2, '3' D3 union

    SELECT 4,'A','A','A' UNION

    SELECT 5,'B','A','A')X

    DECLARE @T AS GenericTable

    --Normalize the data so it plays nicely with our iTVF

    INSERT INTO @T

    SELECT I, Value

    FROM #Tmp

    CROSS APPLY (VALUES (D1),(D2),(D3))X(Value)

    SELECT *

    FROM AreEqual (@T) a

    INNER JOIN #Tmp b

    ON a.ID = b.I

    It is still a 2 step process but now we can load as many sets as we want into the table valued parameter and get our proper results.

    EDIT: This is also for me to play with a couple of things and get more experience with them. so it may not be fast or work in your situation but does use some things i have been studying.


    For faster help in answering any problems Please read How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help - Jeff Moden[/url] for the best way to ask your question.

    For performance Issues see how we like them posted here: How to Post Performance Problems - Gail Shaw[/url]

    Need to Split some strings? Jeff Moden's DelimitedSplit8K[/url]
    Jeff Moden's Cross tab and Pivots Part 1[/url]
    Jeff Moden's Cross tab and Pivots Part 2[/url]

  • FYI, I think you can touch-up the original function to get rid of the variable and the COUNT(DISTINCT):

    alter function AreEqual (@t as GenericTable readonly)

    returns bit

    as

    begin

    return (

    select case when min(D) = max(D) then 1 else 0 end

    from @t

    )

    end

    SQL DBA,SQL Server MVP(07, 08, 09) "It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear." "Norm", on "Cheers". Also from "Cheers", from "Carla": "You need to know 3 things about Tortelli men: Tortelli men draw women like flies; Tortelli men treat women like flies; Tortelli men's brains are in their flies".

  • Sorry.... forum had a long delay and I doubled up on a post. I removed the dupe here...

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • CELKO (11/28/2012)


    I would like to have a function which accepts any number of parameters with the same type and returns true if they are all equal and false otherwise.

    You have to have a fixed number of parameters, but it can be up to 2K of them. Here is a skeleton:

    CREATE PROCEDURE Equal

    (@p1 INTEGER = NULL,

    @p2 INTEGER = NULL,

    @p3 INTEGER = NULL,

    @p4 INTEGER = NULL,

    @p5 INTEGER = NULL)

    AS

    SELECT CASE WHEN MIN(parm) = MAX(parm) THEN 'True' ELSE 'False' END

    FROM (SELECT parm

    FROM (VALUES (@p1), (@p2), (@p3), (@p4), (@p5)) AS X1(parm)

    WHERE parm IS NOT NULL)

    AS X2(parm);

    EXEC Equal 12,12,12,12,12;

    EXEC Equal 12,12,13;

    EXEC Equal 12;

    The use of the VALUES() constructor is new to SQL Server programmers, but other products have had it for awhile now.

    I have a two articles on this topic at Simple Talk;

    http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/learn-sql-server/values()-and-long-parameter-lists/

    http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/learn-sql-server/values()-and-long-parameter-lists---part-ii/%5B/quote%5D

    That's ok but it's RBAR. Do it for the cte in the original post.

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • capnhector (11/29/2012)


    EDIT: This is also for me to play with a couple of things and get more experience with them. so it may not be fast or work in your situation but does use some things i have been studying.

    No.... you're absolutely on the correct path. The MIN=MAX method the others used is twice as slow as the original function. You can make it a bit faster still by turning it into an iTVF instead of a scalar function. And lose the join. If you rework the GenericTable TYPE just a bit, you won't need it. Give it a shot. You've got this, Cap'n!

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • Jeff Moden (11/29/2012)


    capnhector (11/29/2012)


    EDIT: This is also for me to play with a couple of things and get more experience with them. so it may not be fast or work in your situation but does use some things i have been studying.

    No.... you're absolutely on the correct path. The MIN=MAX method the others used is twice as slow as the original function. You can make it a bit faster still by turning it into an iTVF instead of a scalar function. And lose the join. If you rework the GenericTable TYPE just a bit, you won't need it. Give it a shot. You've got this, Cap'n!

    I cant believe i forgot to post the iTVF and new GenericTable rework as well. the things i was playing with was the cross apply values to unpivot the data.

    The join was just to show that it came out with the right results. having the Generic Table type with just ID and Item allows any number of items to be passed in by just changing the cross apply unpivot.

    CREATE TYPE GenericTable AS TABLE (ID INT, D sql_variant)

    GO

    CREATE FUNCTION AreEqual (@t as dbo.GenericTable readonly)

    RETURNS TABLE WITH SCHEMABINDING

    AS

    RETURN SELECT ID, CASE WHEN COUNT(DISTINCT D) = 1 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END AS 'TF'

    FROM @t

    GROUP BY ID

    GO

    It is slow as hell for any thing larger than about 50,000 records on my system but chuggs them out just fine.

    Here is the test bed i used

    IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#Tmp') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #Tmp

    --The temp table makes things a little easier

    SELECT TOP (10000) --10 thousand is still nice and fast can change it later

    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) I,

    ABS(CHECKSUM(NEWID())) % 2 D1, --Gives us a small sub set so we will get more positive returns than a random seed of higher values

    ABS(CHECKSUM(NEWID())) % 2 D2,

    ABS(CHECKSUM(NEWID())) % 2 D3

    INTO #Tmp

    FROM sys.all_columns a, sys.all_columns b

    DECLARE @T AS GenericTable

    --Normalize the data so it plays nicely with our iTVF

    INSERT INTO @T

    SELECT I, Value

    FROM #Tmp

    CROSS APPLY (VALUES (D1),(D2),(D3))X(Value)

    SELECT *

    FROM AreEqual (@T) a

    INNER JOIN #Tmp b

    ON a.ID = b.I


    For faster help in answering any problems Please read How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help - Jeff Moden[/url] for the best way to ask your question.

    For performance Issues see how we like them posted here: How to Post Performance Problems - Gail Shaw[/url]

    Need to Split some strings? Jeff Moden's DelimitedSplit8K[/url]
    Jeff Moden's Cross tab and Pivots Part 1[/url]
    Jeff Moden's Cross tab and Pivots Part 2[/url]

  • Jeff Moden (11/29/2012)


    capnhector (11/29/2012)


    EDIT: This is also for me to play with a couple of things and get more experience with them. so it may not be fast or work in your situation but does use some things i have been studying.

    No.... you're absolutely on the correct path. The MIN=MAX method the others used is twice as slow as the original function. You can make it a bit faster still by turning it into an iTVF instead of a scalar function. And lose the join. If you rework the GenericTable TYPE just a bit, you won't need it. Give it a shot. You've got this, Cap'n!

    Really??

    Doesn't the DISTINCT require an (expensive) sort but min/max don't?

    SQL DBA,SQL Server MVP(07, 08, 09) "It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear." "Norm", on "Cheers". Also from "Cheers", from "Carla": "You need to know 3 things about Tortelli men: Tortelli men draw women like flies; Tortelli men treat women like flies; Tortelli men's brains are in their flies".

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