Advanced Query Technique

by: Humasak T.A. Simanjuntak

Contents

 Subqueries
 Union Operators

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Subquery

 Why to Use Subqueries

 To break down a complex query into a series of

logical steps
 To answer a query that relies on the results of an
other query
 Alternative to JOIN method.

The ability to use “a Query within a Query”

or “Nested Query” is the original reason
for the word “Structured” in the name SQL
( Structured Query Language)

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Subquery: Example
USE Northwind
SELECT ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE UnitPrice=
(
SELECT UnitPrice
FROM Products
WHERE ProductName='Sir Rodney''s Scones'
)
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SubQuery: definition and types

 Subquery is defined as a SELECT statement that

returns a single value and is nested inside a
SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE
statements or inside another subquery.
 SubQuery types:
 Subquery with IN (operate on list)
 Subquery with EXISTS (check for the existence of data)
 Nested Subquery (contains one or more subquery)
 Correlated Subquery (depends on the outer query for its
evaluation)

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Subquery restrictions
 The column list of the SELECT statement of a
subquery introduced with comparison operator can
include ONLY one column
 The column used in the WHERE clause of the
outer query should be compatible with the column
used in the SELECT list of inner query.
 The DISTINCT keyword cannot be used with
subqueries that include the GROUP BY clause.
 The ORDER BY clause, the GROUP BY clause,
and the INTO clause cannot be used in a
subquery because a subquery cannot manipulate
its result internally
 A View created with a subquery cannot be updated.

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Subquery with IN
 Returns single-column multiple values results.
 Syntax:
WHERE expression [NOT] IN (subquery)

USE pubs
SELECT pub_name
FROM publishers
WHERE pub_id IN
(SELECT pub_id
FROM titles
WHERE type = 'business')
The Inner query evaluate first and then based on it’s result the outer query will
be executed. i.e., “ Bottom-to-Top ”
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Subquery with EXISTS
 Subquery that check for the existence of data
 This type of query checks for the existence of
records in a table that is used in the inner
query, and returns either a TRUE or FALSE
value based on the existence of data. It is
implemented using the EXISTS keyword.
 The syntax is a as follows:
WHERE [NOT] EXISTS (subquery)

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Subquery with EXISTS: example

 SELECT PubName
FROM Publishers
WHERE EXISTS (
SELECT *
FROM Titles
WHERE Type=‘business’
)

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 Nested subquery
 A subquery can contain one or more subqueries.
There is no restriction on the number of subqueries.
 E.g
use pubs
SELECT 'author name'=substring(Au_fname,1,1)+'. ‘ +
Au_Lname
FROM authors
WHERE au_id IN (
SELECT au_id FROM titleauthor
WHERE title_id= (SELECT title_id
FROM titles
WHERE title='Net Etiquette'
)
) DBS/HTS/1314 10
Correlated Subqueries
 A correlated subquery is defined as a query
that depends on the outer query for its
evaluation.
 In correlated subquery, the WHERE clause
reference a table in the FROM clause of the
outer query. The inner query is evaluated for
each row of the table specified in the outer
query.
 SQL server demands alias for the tables if
the correlated subquery is implemented using
the same table.
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Correlated subquery: example

 To find the name of author who earns 100%

royalty
 USE pubs
SELECT au_lname, au_fname
FROM authors
WHERE 100 IN
(SELECT royaltyper
FROM titleauthor
WHERE titleauthor.au_ID = authors.au_id)
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Correlated subquery: example

SELECT a.FirstName, a.LastName

FROM Person.Person AS a WHERE
a.LastName IN (
SELECT a.LastName FROM
HumanResources.Employee AS b
WHERE a.BusinessEntityID =
b.BusinessEntityID AND a.LastName =
'Johnson');

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 Queries with Modified Comparison Operator
Operator Description
>ALL Means greater than the maximum value in the list
..column_name>ALL(10,20,30) means ‘greater than 30’
>ANY Means greater than the minimum value in the list
..column_name>ANY(10,20,30) means ‘greater than 10’
=ANY Means any of the value in the list. Same as IN clause
..column_name=ANY(10,20,30) means equal to either 10 or
20 or 30
<>ANY Means not equal to any list
..column_name<>ANY(10,20,30) means not equal to either
10 or 20 or 30
<>ALL Same as <>ANY
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Query with modified comparison
operator: example
USE pubs
SELECT Title
FROM Titles
WHERE Advance > ANY
(
SELECT Advance
FROM Publishers INNER JOIN Titles
ON Publishers.Pub_Id=Titles.Pub_Id
AND Pub_name=‘Algodata Infosystem’
)

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UNION operator

 A unique operator that is used to combine the

result set of two or more queries

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Union operator: syntax
 SELECT colum_list [INTO new_table_name]
FROM clause
[WHERE clause]
[GROUP BY clause]
[HAVING clause]
UNION[ALL]
SELECT colum_list [INTO new_table_name]
FROM clause
[WHERE clause]
[GROUP BY clause]
[HAVING clause]
[ORDER BY clause]
[COMPUTE clause]

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Union operator: example

use pubs
SELECT Au_fname,City,State
FROM Authors
WHERE State=‘CA’
UNION
SELECT Pub_name,City,State
FROM Publishers

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