Filling Buckets

Question

Filling Buckets

David Betteridge

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Points: 3264
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September 12, 2008 at 7:42 am

#192746

A customer had reported an issue with one of our stored procedures so I took a look and found that the developer had used a cursor to implement his solution. Taking the “all cursors are evil” view I thought that I had better rewrite it, however it wasn’t as easy as I hoped.
The problem can be simplified to...
You have a set of buckets, with varying sizes, so of which are already full/partly full. You are then given some more water which you are to use to fill the buckets on a first-come-first-served basis.
This can be modelled with the following table
create table dbo.Buckets
( TotalSizeint not null,
Amountint not null,
BucketIDint not null,
constraint pk_Buckets primary key (BucketID),
constraint ck_Buckets_Amount check ( Amount between 0 and TotalSize)
)
go
Where
TotalSize = the total amount the bucket can hold
Amount = the amount currently in the bucket
BucketID = unique id for the bucket, and is used to determine the order of the buckets
Example
So if, we had the following 4 buckets
insert into dbo.Buckets (TotalSize,Amount,BucketID)
select 10, 1, 1
go
insert into dbo.Buckets (TotalSize,Amount,BucketID)
select 5, 4, 2
go
insert into dbo.Buckets (TotalSize,Amount,BucketID)
select 10, 0, 3
go
insert into dbo.Buckets (TotalSize,Amount,BucketID)
select 10, 0, 4
go
and we had to allocate 21 units of water we would end up with
Bucket 1=10
Bucket 2 =5
Bucket 3 =10
Bucket 4 =1
My Solution
The solution I came up was to use two update statements, the first one to handle the buckets which would be completely filled, and the second one to partially fill the final bucket.
This seemed to be working well, until I went to look at the issue reported by the customer - they also needed the ability to empty the buckets as well. My best solution so far (below), is to use another two update statements with an “if” statement to control which are to be used.
So my questions are
1.Is this a “standard” problem with a well known solution?
2.Is there a better solution, as I have to use an ‘if’ statement and double-subselects.
3. Is updating the @AmountToAllocate variable in an update statement a good idea?
thanks in advance
David
My sql is...
-- The amount of water was have to allocate
declare @AmountToAllocate int
set @AmountToAllocate = 21
-- 'Before'
select * from dbo.Buckets
-- If the amount is positive then we are filling the buckets
if @AmountToAllocate > 0
begin
-- Fill these buckets completely, decrease our "amount to allocate" as we go.
-- We update just the buckets then we can completely full. If we filled the following bucket then
-- we would have exceed the amount of water we have been given to allocate.
update dbo.Buckets
set Amount = TotalSize,
@AmountToAllocate = @AmountToAllocate - (TotalSize - Amount)
where Amount != TotalSize
and BucketID <= ( select max(B2.BucketID)
from dbo.Buckets B2
where @AmountToAllocate >= ( select sum(TotalSize - Amount)
from dbo.Buckets B3
where B3.BucketID <= B2.BucketID
)
)
-- Part fill the remaining bucket
update dbo.Buckets
set Amount = Amount + @AmountToAllocate
where BucketID = ( select min(B.BucketID)
from dbo.Buckets B
where B.Amount != B.TotalSize)
end
else
begin
--We have a negative amount so we are emptying the buckets
-- Complete empty buckets
update dbo.Buckets
set Amount = 0,
@AmountToAllocate = @AmountToAllocate + Amount
where Amount != 0
and BucketID >= ( select min(B2.BucketID)
from dbo.Buckets B2
where abs(@AmountToAllocate) >= ( select sum(Amount)
from dbo.Buckets B3
where B3.BucketID >= B2.BucketID
)
)
-- Part empty the remaining bucket
update dbo.Buckets
set Amount = Amount - abs(@AmountToAllocate)
where BucketID = ( select max(B.BucketID)
from dbo.Buckets B
where B.Amount != 0)
end
--'After'
select * from dbo.Buckets

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faiselj SSC Veteran Points: 229 More actions · Answer 1

Interesting. I have been working on a similar task. This is to take away sales figures (already sold items) from a set of monthly sales forecast figures.

eg.

Sales Forecast for an item:

Month 1: 200, Sales 450 (already sold items in Month 1)

Month 2: 100 (no Sales beyond current month, only future orders)

Month 3: 100

Month 4: 120

I have to remove 450 from the month buckets, starting at M1.

So the update forecast would be:

M1: 0

M2: 0

M3: 0

M4: 70

There is an added constraint, which is to only only make adjustments up to a certain number of months in the future. eg.

If Months to Consider = 4 then the result would be as above.

But if Months to Consider = 3 then the result for Month 4 would remain at the original 120. The extra 70 from the Sales would become part of the original Sales forecast.

Orders (not shown) as opposed to Sales also affect the forecast.

Got no code to show, but it is similar to what you have shown.

But I ended up using a cursor around the procedure because I have 6,000 item forecasts to process. (I couldn't work out how to do the sub-selects without the cursor, and was running out of time).

I have not found anything much better than what you have shown. If I had some more time I would investigate, as I can't help feeling there may be some "Tally table" solution to this.

Mark Cowne One Orange Chip Points: 26952 More actions · Answer 2

I think this is a running totals problem, have a look here

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/68467/

If you are using SQL Server 2012, you can use the built-in windowing functions

DECLARE @ToAllocate INT = 21;

WITH CTE AS (

SELECT TotalSize,

Amount,

BucketID,

TotalSize - Amount AS Remaining,

SUM(TotalSize - Amount) OVER (ORDER BY BucketID ROWS UNBOUNDED PRECEDING) AS Remaining_RunningTotal

FROM dbo.Buckets)

SELECT TotalSize,

Amount,

BucketID,

CASE WHEN Remaining_RunningTotal <= @ToAllocate

THEN Remaining

ELSE @ToAllocate - Remaining_RunningTotal + Remaining

END AS AmountToAdd

FROM CTE

WHERE Remaining_RunningTotal - Remaining < @ToAllocate

ORDER BY BucketID;

____________________________________________________

Deja View - The strange feeling that somewhere, sometime you've optimised this query before

How to get the best help on a forum

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537

Dwain Camps SSC Guru Points: 86948 More actions · Answer 3

The first looks more like a bin packing problem to me:

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/hugo_kornelis/archive/2007/11/30/bin-packing-part-1-setting-a-baseline.aspx

There's a series of 5 articles by Hugo Kornelis at this link (to the first). Very complicated, but the fastest solutions typically involve a set-based loop of some sort.

You didn't mention if speed is an issue for you. The CURSOR will work OK as long as you don't have too many buckets to fill.

PM me if you would like more information.

My mantra: No loops! No CURSORs! No RBAR! Hoo-uh![/I]
My thought question: Have you ever been told that your query runs too fast?

My advice:
INDEXing a poor-performing query is like putting sugar on cat food. Yeah, it probably tastes better but are you sure you want to eat it?
The path of least resistance can be a slippery slope. Take care that fixing your fixes of fixes doesn't snowball and end up costing you more than fixing the root cause would have in the first place.

Need to UNPIVOT? Why not CROSS APPLY VALUES instead?[/url]
Since random numbers are too important to be left to chance, let's generate some![/url]
Learn to understand recursive CTEs by example.[/url]
[url url=http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/St

faiselj SSC Veteran Points: 229 More actions · Answer 4

Thanks for the links guys. Obviously wasn't looking hard enough.

🙂

ChrisM@Work SSC Guru Points: 186127 More actions · Answer 5

Using the sample data provided, a simple calculation rCTE works fine with both positive and negative numbers.

DECLARE @AmountToAllocate INT = 21

;WITH Calculator AS (

SELECT

BucketID, TotalSize, Amount,

AmountLeftToAllocate = CASE

WHEN @AmountToAllocate > (TotalSize - Amount) THEN @AmountToAllocate - (TotalSize - Amount)

WHEN @AmountToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(@AmountToAllocate) > Amount THEN Amount + @AmountToAllocate

ELSE 0 END,

NewAmount = CASE

WHEN @AmountToAllocate > (TotalSize - Amount) THEN TotalSize

WHEN @AmountToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(@AmountToAllocate) > Amount THEN 0

ELSE Amount + @AmountToAllocate END

FROM dbo.Buckets

WHERE BucketID = 1

UNION ALL

SELECT

tr.BucketID, tr.TotalSize, tr.Amount,

AmountLeftToAllocate = CASE

WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate > (tr.TotalSize - tr.Amount) THEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate - (tr.TotalSize - tr.Amount)

WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(lr.AmountLeftToAllocate) > tr.Amount THEN tr.Amount + lr.AmountLeftToAllocate

ELSE 0 END,

NewAmount = CASE

WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate > (tr.TotalSize - tr.Amount) THEN tr.TotalSize

WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(lr.AmountLeftToAllocate) > tr.Amount THEN 0

ELSE tr.Amount + lr.AmountLeftToAllocate END

FROM dbo.Buckets tr

INNER JOIN Calculator lr ON lr.BucketID + 1 = tr.BucketID

)

SELECT

BucketID,

TotalSize,

Amount = NewAmount,

OldAmount = Amount

FROM Calculator

^{“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail Shaw}

For fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden

Dwain Camps SSC Guru Points: 86948 More actions · Answer 6

ChrisM@Work (9/11/2012)
Using the sample data provided, a simple calculation rCTE works fine with both positive and negative numbers.
DECLARE @AmountToAllocate INT = 21
;WITH Calculator AS (
SELECT
BucketID, TotalSize, Amount,
AmountLeftToAllocate = CASE
WHEN @AmountToAllocate > (TotalSize - Amount) THEN @AmountToAllocate - (TotalSize - Amount)
WHEN @AmountToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(@AmountToAllocate) > Amount THEN Amount + @AmountToAllocate
ELSE 0 END,
NewAmount = CASE
WHEN @AmountToAllocate > (TotalSize - Amount) THEN TotalSize
WHEN @AmountToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(@AmountToAllocate) > Amount THEN 0
ELSE Amount + @AmountToAllocate END
FROM dbo.Buckets
WHERE BucketID = 1
UNION ALL
SELECT
tr.BucketID, tr.TotalSize, tr.Amount,
AmountLeftToAllocate = CASE
WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate > (tr.TotalSize - tr.Amount) THEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate - (tr.TotalSize - tr.Amount)
WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(lr.AmountLeftToAllocate) > tr.Amount THEN tr.Amount + lr.AmountLeftToAllocate
ELSE 0 END,
NewAmount = CASE
WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate > (tr.TotalSize - tr.Amount) THEN tr.TotalSize
WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(lr.AmountLeftToAllocate) > tr.Amount THEN 0
ELSE tr.Amount + lr.AmountLeftToAllocate END
FROM dbo.Buckets tr
INNER JOIN Calculator lr ON lr.BucketID + 1 = tr.BucketID
)
SELECT
BucketID,
TotalSize,
Amount = NewAmount,
OldAmount = Amount
FROM Calculator

Nice one Chris! For some reason I just couldn't wrap my head around solving it that way.

My mantra: No loops! No CURSORs! No RBAR! Hoo-uh![/I]
My thought question: Have you ever been told that your query runs too fast?

My advice:
INDEXing a poor-performing query is like putting sugar on cat food. Yeah, it probably tastes better but are you sure you want to eat it?
The path of least resistance can be a slippery slope. Take care that fixing your fixes of fixes doesn't snowball and end up costing you more than fixing the root cause would have in the first place.

Need to UNPIVOT? Why not CROSS APPLY VALUES instead?[/url]
Since random numbers are too important to be left to chance, let's generate some![/url]
Learn to understand recursive CTEs by example.[/url]
[url url=http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/St

ChrisM@Work SSC Guru Points: 186127 More actions · Answer 7

dwain.c (9/11/2012)
ChrisM@Work (9/11/2012)
Using the sample data provided, a simple calculation rCTE works fine with both positive and negative numbers.
DECLARE @AmountToAllocate INT = 21
;WITH Calculator AS (
SELECT
BucketID, TotalSize, Amount,
AmountLeftToAllocate = CASE
WHEN @AmountToAllocate > (TotalSize - Amount) THEN @AmountToAllocate - (TotalSize - Amount)
WHEN @AmountToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(@AmountToAllocate) > Amount THEN Amount + @AmountToAllocate
ELSE 0 END,
NewAmount = CASE
WHEN @AmountToAllocate > (TotalSize - Amount) THEN TotalSize
WHEN @AmountToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(@AmountToAllocate) > Amount THEN 0
ELSE Amount + @AmountToAllocate END
FROM dbo.Buckets
WHERE BucketID = 1
UNION ALL
SELECT
tr.BucketID, tr.TotalSize, tr.Amount,
AmountLeftToAllocate = CASE
WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate > (tr.TotalSize - tr.Amount) THEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate - (tr.TotalSize - tr.Amount)
WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(lr.AmountLeftToAllocate) > tr.Amount THEN tr.Amount + lr.AmountLeftToAllocate
ELSE 0 END,
NewAmount = CASE
WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate > (tr.TotalSize - tr.Amount) THEN tr.TotalSize
WHEN lr.AmountLeftToAllocate < 0 AND ABS(lr.AmountLeftToAllocate) > tr.Amount THEN 0
ELSE tr.Amount + lr.AmountLeftToAllocate END
FROM dbo.Buckets tr
INNER JOIN Calculator lr ON lr.BucketID + 1 = tr.BucketID
)
SELECT
BucketID,
TotalSize,
Amount = NewAmount,
OldAmount = Amount
FROM Calculator
Nice one Chris! For some reason I just couldn't wrap my head around solving it that way.

Cheers buddy. It took two goes, the first was rubbish 😀

^{“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail Shaw}

For fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden

ashishkumarrai SSC-Addicted Points: 489 More actions · Answer 8

Hi

Thanks for the post, really useful. I am working on similar stuff. My problem is the value the above query is using is static. What will be the solution if the value is also a table.

If the Variable above @AmountToAllocate is a table of values to be filled in this bucket. Any help is appreciated. I want to show all the records recursively till the bucket gets filled.

ChrisM@Work SSC Guru Points: 186127 More actions · Answer 9

ashishkumarrai (9/6/2016)
Hi
Thanks for the post, really useful. I am working on similar stuff. My problem is the value the above query is using is static. What will be the solution if the value is also a table.
If the Variable above @AmountToAllocate is a table of values to be filled in this bucket. Any help is appreciated. I want to show all the records recursively till the bucket gets filled.

You've come along at a good time, quite a few folks have recently worked on similar problems.

Before doing anything else, have a quick scan through this article[/url]. We'll need sample data scripts and a script to generate your expected result set from the sample data. The article shows you how to do this.

Also, start a new thread - your scenario is different to the one covered by this thread.

Cheers

^{“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail Shaw}

For fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden

ashishkumarrai SSC-Addicted Points: 489 More actions · Answer 10

Posted my problem with all the details and sample data over here. https://ask.sqlservercentral.com/questions/140089/sql-server-2008-cte-bucket-filling.html

ChrisM@Work SSC Guru Points: 186127 More actions · Answer 11

This should be a step in the right direction:

DROP TABLE #Buckets

CREATE TABLE #Buckets (bucketID INT, FullCapacity INT, CurrentAmount INT);

INSERT INTO #Buckets

VALUES ( '1', 85, 0 ) ,

( '2', 80, 0 ) ,

( '3', 75, 0 ) ,

( '4', 70, 0 ) ,

( '5', 50, 0 ) ,

( '6', 40, 0 );

DROP TABLE #Filler

CREATE TABLE #Filler (FillerID INT, Filler INT);

INSERT INTO #Filler

VALUES ( '1', 90 ) ,

( '2', 40 ) ,

( '3', 70 ) ,

( '4', 50 ) ,

( '5', 40 ) ,

( '6', 30 ) ,

( '7', 35 );

WITH ProcessedDebits AS (

SELECT bucketID, FullCapacity, [from] = ([to] - FullCapacity), [to]

FROM (SELECT *, [to] = SUM(FullCapacity) OVER (PARTITION BY 1 ORDER BY bucketID

ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) FROM #Buckets) d

),

ProcessedCredits AS (

SELECT FillerID, Filler, [from] = ([to] - Filler), [to]

FROM (SELECT *, [to] = SUM(Filler) OVER (PARTITION BY 1 ORDER BY FillerID

ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) FROM #Filler) d

)

SELECT

bucketID, FullCapacity,

DebitBalance = CASE

WHEN dr.[to] >= cr.[to] THEN (dr.[to] - cr.[to])

WHEN dr.[to] < cr.[to] THEN 0

ELSE dr.[to] - MAX(cr.[to]) OVER(PARTITION BY 1 ORDER BY dr.bucketID

ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW)

END,

FillerID, Filler,

CreditBalance = CASE

WHEN cr.[to] >= dr.[to] THEN (cr.[to] - dr.[to])

WHEN cr.[to] < dr.[to] THEN 0

ELSE cr.[to] - MAX(dr.[to]) OVER(PARTITION BY 1 ORDER BY cr.FillerID

ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW)

END

FROM ProcessedDebits dr

FULL OUTER JOIN ProcessedCredits cr

ON cr.[from] < dr.[to]

AND cr.[to] > dr.[from]

ORDER BY bucketID, FillerID

OPTION (MAXDOP 1);

^{“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail Shaw}

For fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden

J Livingston SQL SSC Guru Points: 51550 More actions · Answer 12

ashishkumarrai (9/9/2016)
Posted my problem with all the details and sample data over here. https://ask.sqlservercentral.com/questions/140089/sql-server-2008-cte-bucket-filling.html

can you please provide your expected results from the sample data?

edit >>>

is this the result you are looking for?

+---------------------------------------------+

¦ BucketId ¦ Fullcapacity ¦ RemainingCapacity ¦

¦----------+--------------+-------------------¦

¦ 1 ¦ 85 ¦ 0 ¦

¦----------+--------------+-------------------¦

¦ 2 ¦ 80 ¦ 0 ¦

¦----------+--------------+-------------------¦

¦ 3 ¦ 75 ¦ 0 ¦

¦----------+--------------+-------------------¦

¦ 4 ¦ 70 ¦ 0 ¦

¦----------+--------------+-------------------¦

¦ 5 ¦ 50 ¦ 5 ¦

¦----------+--------------+-------------------¦

¦ 6 ¦ 40 ¦ 40 ¦

+---------------------------------------------+

________________________________________________________________
you can lead a user to data....but you cannot make them think
and remember....every day is a school day

Joe Celko SSCertifiable Points: 5749 More actions · Answer 13

CREATE TABLE Buckets

(bucket_nbr INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,

bucket_size INTEGER NOT NULL

CHECK (bucket_size > 0,

bucket_contentINTEGER NOT NULL

CHECK (bucket_content BETWEEN 0 AND bucket_size)

);

INSERT INTO Buckets (bucket_size, bucket_content, bucket_nbr)

(1, 10, 0), (2, 5, 0), (3, 10, 0), (4, 10, 0);

There are actually several different ways of doing this. Using a "greedy algorithm", we fill the biggest buckets first. But you could just as easily start filling the smallest buckets.

In general there is no perfect way of doing it. Google "martello toth bin packing" and look at all the free PDF files which you can download on the topic. Try playing with this query:

SELECT bucket_nbr, bucket_size, bucket_content,

SUM(bucket_content)

OVER (ORDER BY bucket_size DESC

ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURENT ROW)

AS greedy_running_total,

SUM(bucket_size)

ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURENT ROW)

AS capacity_running_total

FROM Buckets;

(1, 10, 10, NULL)

(3, 10, 20, NULL)

(4, 10, 30, NULL)

(2, 5, 35, NULL)

Without going into the code, you can see that your 21 liters will overflow bucket #1, then bucket #2, but not bucket #4. We never get to bucket #2, because we ran out of water. This means we need some logic (hint: it can be done with case expressions in the UPDATE statement) to classify each of the buckets as {'full', 'empty', 'partial'}

(1, 10, 10, 10) -- full

(3, 10, 20, 10) -- full

(4, 10, 30, 1) -- partial, and needs math

(2, 5, 35, 0) -- empty = 0

In the body the procedure, it is probably a good idea to have a test for (SUM(bucket_size) >= @input_amount) so that you know your task is impossible due to lack of capacity.

Books in Celko Series for Morgan-Kaufmann Publishing
Analytics and OLAP in SQL
Data and Databases: Concepts in Practice
Data, Measurements and Standards in SQL
SQL for Smarties
SQL Programming Style
SQL Puzzles and Answers
Thinking in Sets
Trees and Hierarchies in SQL

J Livingston SQL SSC Guru Points: 51550 More actions · Answer 14

CELKO (9/10/2016)
CREATE TABLE Buckets
(bucket_nbr INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
bucket_size INTEGER NOT NULL
CHECK (bucket_size > 0,
bucket_contentINTEGER NOT NULL
CHECK (bucket_content BETWEEN 0 AND bucket_size)
);
INSERT INTO Buckets (bucket_size, bucket_content, bucket_nbr)
(1, 10, 0), (2, 5, 0), (3, 10, 0), (4, 10, 0);
There are actually several different ways of doing this. Using a "greedy algorithm", we fill the biggest buckets first. But you could just as easily start filling the smallest buckets.
In general there is no perfect way of doing it. Google "martello toth bin packing" and look at all the free PDF files which you can download on the topic. Try playing with this query:
SELECT bucket_nbr, bucket_size, bucket_content,
SUM(bucket_content)
OVER (ORDER BY bucket_size DESC
ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURENT ROW)
AS greedy_running_total,
SUM(bucket_size)
ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURENT ROW)
AS capacity_running_total
FROM Buckets;
(1, 10, 10, NULL)
(3, 10, 20, NULL)
(4, 10, 30, NULL)
(2, 5, 35, NULL)
Without going into the code, you can see that your 21 liters will overflow bucket #1, then bucket #2, but not bucket #4. We never get to bucket #2, because we ran out of water. This means we need some logic (hint: it can be done with case expressions in the UPDATE statement) to classify each of the buckets as {'full', 'empty', 'partial'}
(1, 10, 10, 10) -- full
(3, 10, 20, 10) -- full
(4, 10, 30, 1) -- partial, and needs math
(2, 5, 35, 0) -- empty = 0
In the body the procedure, it is probably a good idea to have a test for (SUM(bucket_size) >= @input_amount) so that you know your task is impossible due to lack of capacity.

bit confused on this....

there are two tables....(Buckets/Filler)...which you only include "Buckets"

your code that you provide doesnt parse and throws errors...?

can you please review and advise....will be appreciated

edit>>>

for clarification I refer to the latest question on this post....probably better if it was a new thread

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1816384.aspx

Posted my problem with all the details and sample data over here. https://ask.sqlservercentral.com/questions/140089/sql-server-2008-cte-bucket-filling.html

________________________________________________________________
you can lead a user to data....but you cannot make them think
and remember....every day is a school day