Inline IIF equivalent for MS-SQL Server 2005 Express, 2005 Full, and forward

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I'm trying to write some code that will grab all my information in one SQL query but sort it so that there are two groups, and then each group is alphabetical.

My current query (which is close) is:

SELECT *, PATINDEX('%heartbeat%', lower(TimerName)) As IsHeartBeat FROM tblTimer ORDER BY IsHeartBeat, TimerName, TimerInterval, TimerPriority

The PATINDEX correctly puts all my heartbeat timers to the end of the result set ... but because it doesn't return just a 0 or 1, true or false, it orders the heartbeats according to where the word heartbeat is found in the name, rather than alphabetically.

I want an inline IF (IIF) but when I try that in management studio it says it's an invalid function.

I want to call this from VB.Net (VS2010) and the databases are dynamically created so I would prefer not to use a Stored Proc. unless I can easily create it dynamically (never done that previously but I suspect it's possible).

Suggestions/Comments/Recommendations ... all welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Posted 5-Oct-11 5:15am

BHort

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Bala Selvanayagam 5-Oct-11 11:30am

Look at the SQL server CASE STATEMENT and that can help you

BHort 5-Oct-11 11:48am

Totally what I needed. I didn't think it would be but it's exactly the solution. For other peoples benefit, I'm going to post it as a solution ... although you should really get the credit.

Bala Selvanayagam 5-Oct-11 12:04pm

You are welcome BHort

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BHort · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-05T05:50:00

The solution (or one solution) is:

SQL

SELECT TimerName, TimerInterval, TimerPriority, IsHeartBeat =
CASE
 WHEN PATINDEX('%heartbeat%', lower([TimerName])) > 0 THEN 1
 ELSE 0
 END
 FROM [SEMCDatalogger].[dbo].[tblTimer] ORDER BY IsHeartBeat, TimerName, TimerInterval, TimerPriority

By using IsHeartBeat = CASE and then supplying the conditions ... the results are exactly the 0 or 1 that I need.