SQL Switch/Case in 'where' clause

Question

I tried searching around, but I couldn't find anything that would help me out.

I'm trying to do this in SQL:

declare @locationType varchar(50);
declare @locationID int;

SELECT column1, column2
FROM viewWhatever
WHERE
CASE @locationType
    WHEN 'location' THEN account_location = @locationID
    WHEN 'area' THEN xxx_location_area = @locationID
    WHEN 'division' THEN xxx_location_division = @locationID

I know that I shouldn't have to put '= @locationID' at the end of each one, but I can't get the syntax even close to being correct. SQL keeps complaining about my '=' on the first WHEN line...

How can I do this?

Answer 1

declare @locationType varchar(50);
declare @locationID int;

SELECT column1, column2
FROM viewWhatever
WHERE
@locationID = 
  CASE @locationType
      WHEN 'location' THEN account_location
      WHEN 'area' THEN xxx_location_area 
      WHEN 'division' THEN xxx_location_division 
  END

Answer 2

without a case statement...

SELECT column1, column2
FROM viewWhatever
WHERE
    (@locationType = 'location' AND account_location = @locationID)
    OR
    (@locationType = 'area' AND xxx_location_area = @locationID)
    OR
    (@locationType = 'division' AND xxx_location_division = @locationID)

Answer 3

Here you go.

SELECT
   column1, 
   column2
FROM
   viewWhatever
WHERE
CASE 
    WHEN @locationType = 'location' AND account_location = @locationID THEN 1
    WHEN @locationType = 'area' AND xxx_location_area = @locationID THEN 1
    WHEN @locationType = 'division' AND xxx_location_division = @locationID THEN 1
    ELSE 0
END = 1

Answer 4

I'd say this is an indicator of a flawed table structure. Perhaps the different location types should be separated in different tables, enabling you to do much richer querying and also avoid having superfluous columns around.

If you're unable to change the structure, something like the below might work:

SELECT
    *
FROM
    Test
WHERE
    Account_Location = (
        CASE LocationType
          WHEN 'location' THEN @locationID
          ELSE Account_Location
        END
    )
    AND
    Account_Location_Area = (
        CASE LocationType
          WHEN 'area' THEN @locationID
          ELSE Account_Location_Area
        END
    )

And so forth... We can't change the structure of the query on the fly, but we can override it by making the predicates equal themselves out.

EDIT: The above suggestions are of course much better, just ignore mine.

Answer 5

The problem with this is that when the SQL engine goes to evaluate the expression, it checks the FROM portion to pull the proper tables, and then the WHERE portion to provide some base criteria, so it cannot properly evaluate a dynamic condition on which column to check against.

You can use a WHERE clause when you're checking the WHERE criteria in the predicate, such as

WHERE account_location = CASE @locationType
                              WHEN 'business' THEN 45
                              WHEN 'area' THEN 52
                         END

so in your particular case, you're going to need put the query into a stored procedure or create three separate queries.

Answer 6

OR operator can be alternative of case when in where condition

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[RPT_340bClinicDrugInventorySummary]
    -- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here
     @ClinicId BIGINT = 0,
     @selecttype int,
     @selectedValue varchar (50)
AS
BEGIN
-- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
-- interfering with SELECT statements.
SET NOCOUNT ON;
SELECT
    drugstock_drugname.n_cur_bal,drugname.cdrugname,clinic.cclinicname

FROM drugstock_drugname
INNER JOIN drugname ON drugstock_drugname.drugnameid_FK = drugname.drugnameid_PK
INNER JOIN drugstock_drugndc ON drugname.drugnameid_PK = drugstock_drugndc.drugnameid_FK
INNER JOIN drugndc ON drugstock_drugndc.drugndcid_FK = drugndc.drugid_PK
LEFT JOIN clinic ON drugstock_drugname.clinicid_FK = clinic.clinicid_PK

WHERE   (@ClinicId = 0 AND 1 = 1)
    OR  (@ClinicId != 0 AND drugstock_drugname.clinicid_FK = @ClinicId)

    -- Alternative Case When You can use OR
    AND ((@selecttype = 1 AND 1 = 1)
    OR  (@selecttype = 2 AND drugname.drugnameid_PK = @selectedValue)
    OR  (@selecttype = 3 AND drugndc.drugid_PK = @selectedValue)
    OR  (@selecttype = 4 AND drugname.cdrugclass = 'C2')
    OR  (@selecttype = 5 AND LEFT(drugname.cdrugclass, 1) = 'C'))

ORDER BY clinic.cclinicname, drugname.cdrugname
END

Answer 7

Please try this query. Answer To above post:

select @msgID, account_id
    from viewMailAccountsHeirachy
    where 
    CASE @smartLocationType
        WHEN 'store' THEN account_location
        WHEN 'area' THEN xxx_location_area 
        WHEN 'division' THEN xxx_location_division 
        WHEN 'company' THEN xxx_location_company 
    END  = @smartLocation

Answer 8

Try this:

WHERE (
    @smartLocationType IS NULL 
    OR account_location = (
         CASE
            WHEN @smartLocationType IS NOT NULL 
                 THEN @smartLocationType
            ELSE account_location 
         END
    )
)

Answer 9

Case Statement in SQL Server Example

Syntax

CASE [ expression ]

   WHEN condition_1 THEN result_1
   WHEN condition_2 THEN result_2
   ...
   WHEN condition_n THEN result_n

   ELSE result

END

Example

SELECT contact_id,
CASE website_id
  WHEN 1 THEN 'TechOnTheNet.com'
  WHEN 2 THEN 'CheckYourMath.com'
  ELSE 'BigActivities.com'
END
FROM contacts;

OR

SELECT contact_id,
CASE
  WHEN website_id = 1 THEN 'TechOnTheNet.com'
  WHEN website_id = 2 THEN 'CheckYourMath.com'
  ELSE 'BigActivities.com'
END
FROM contacts;

Answer 10

Try this query. Its very easy to understand:

CREATE TABLE PersonsDetail(FirstName nvarchar(20), LastName nvarchar(20), GenderID int);
GO

INSERT INTO PersonsDetail VALUES(N'Gourav', N'Bhatia', 2),
              (N'Ramesh', N'Kumar', 1),
              (N'Ram', N'Lal', 2),
              (N'Sunil', N'Kumar', 3),
              (N'Sunny', N'Sehgal', 1),
              (N'Malkeet', N'Shaoul', 3),
              (N'Jassy', N'Sohal', 2);
GO

SELECT FirstName, LastName, Gender =
    CASE GenderID
    WHEN 1 THEN 'Male'
    WHEN 2 THEN 'Female'
    ELSE 'Unknown'
    END
FROM PersonsDetail