Convert rows in columns

  • Hi All,

    I am trying to generate a SQL Reporting service for one of the functionality. The data in my table looks something like this:

    ID Response

    ---------------------------------------------

    1 Ques1=1&Ques2=6&Ques3=4&Ques4=5

    2 Ques1=2&Ques2=2&Ques3=4&Ques5=5

    3 Ques1=4&Ques2=4&Ques3=4&Ques4=5

    4 Ques1=3&Ques2=5&Ques3=4&Ques6=5

    The string in the response column is not fixed and will change based upon some conditions in the application. Ideally I want to parse the string into individual columns and then display that in SQL Reporting services.

    Output:

    ID Ques1 Ques2 Ques3 Ques4 Ques5 Ques6

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    1 1 6 4 5 - -

    2 2 2 4 - 5 -

    3 4 4 4 5 - -

    4 3 5 4 - - 5

    I am wrtiting a Stored Procedure to do that.

    Any help is appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Naveen

  • Hi

    Firstly, I'd recommend splitting up the table if possible!

    If that's not possible, is each question's score always only one character? If so, I would use the SUBSTRING function like this:

    SELECT ID, SUBSTRING(Response, 7,1) as Ques1, SUBSTRING(Response, 15,1) as Ques2 etc.

    If the number of characters used in the score for each question could vary, I think you'd need to use the CHARINDEX function to find the position of "Ques1=", "&Ques2=" etc. then calculate the position of the scores from there.

    A

  • Check out this article, http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/TSQL/62867/ as it addresses this issue.

  • [font="Verdana"]PIVOT operator will help in this case. For more information refer BOL

    Mahesh[/font]

    MH-09-AM-8694

  • Hi

    This is your Table:

    ID Response

    ---------------------------------------------

    1 Ques1=1&Ques2=6&Ques3=4&Ques4=5

    2 Ques1=2&Ques2=2&Ques3=4&Ques5=5

    3 Ques1=4&Ques2=4&Ques3=4&Ques4=5

    4 Ques1=3&Ques2=5&Ques3=4&Ques6=5

    You need to convert this into i.e. 3 columns (ID, Question, Response). After this you can use PIVOT to convert this into Columns.

    ID Question Response

    1 Ques1 1

    1 Ques2 6

    1 Ques3 4

    ..........................

    2 Ques1 2

    2 Ques2 2

    2 Ques3 4

    .........................

    PIVOT is very easy. You can check out the BOL. but to convert above structure into below structure is quite challenging.

    Check out the link:http://decipherinfosys.wordpress.com/2007/05/24/simulating-a-pipeline-function-in-sql-server/

    Use logic and convert the string into Rows and Columns (i..e Above format ) and then apply PIVOT.

    Thanks -- Vj

    http://dotnetvj.blogspot.com

  • [font="Verdana"] simple example for PIVOT:

    CREATE TABLE #temp123

    (

    Country varchar(15),

    Variable varchar(20),

    VaribleValue int

    )

    Go

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('North America','Sales',2000000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('North America','Expenses',1250000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('North America','Taxes',250000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('North America','Profit',500000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('Europe','Sales',2500000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('Europe','Expenses',1250000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('Europe','Taxes',500000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('Europe','Profit',750000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('South America','Sales',500000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('South America','Expenses',250000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('Asia','Sales',800000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('Asia','Expenses',350000)

    INSERT INTO #temp123 VALUES ('Asia','Taxes',100000)

    Go

    /** Show original table **/

    SELECT * FROM #temp123

    Go

    /** Create crosstab using PIVOT **/

    SELECT *

    FROM #temp123

    PIVOT

    (

    SUM(VaribleValue)

    FOR [Variable]

    IN ([Sales],[Expenses],[Taxes],[Profit])

    )

    AS p

    Go

    DROP TABLE #temp123

    Go

    Mahesh

    [/font]

    MH-09-AM-8694

  • HI Mahesh,

    You have provided partial solution, i.e. converting rows into Columns. But his requirement is slightly different. i.e Convert a Column which contains concatenated string into multiple columns. In this case we can't directly use PIVOT.

    Thanks

    Vijaya Kadiyala

    http://dotnetvj.blogspot.com

  • [font="Verdana"]

    Vijaya Kadiyala (2/6/2009)


    HI Mahesh,

    You have provided partial solution, i.e. converting rows into Columns. But his requirement is slightly different. i.e Convert a Column which contains concatenated string into multiple columns. In this case we can't directly use PIVOT.

    Thanks

    Vijaya Kadiyala

    http://dotnetvj.blogspot.com

    Your are absolutely right Vijaya. I tried to give some hint to the poster so that poster can find out solution.

    Mahesh

    [/font]

    MH-09-AM-8694

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