How to get a row_number to have the behavior of dense_rank

Question

I have a stored procedure will be used to page through data. One of the requirements of the procedure is to have a parameter that will be used to sort two columns of data, the sorting should be used when applying the row_number().

Some sample data:

CREATE TABLE grp 
(
  [grp_id] uniqueidentifier primary key, 
  [grp_nm] varchar(5) not null, 
  [grp_owner] varchar(200) not null
);

INSERT INTO grp ([grp_id], [grp_nm], [grp_owner])
VALUES
    ('7F5F0F16-4EBE-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 'test1', 'me'),
    ('1F52A713-EFAC-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 'test2', 'me'),
    ('D123B48A-63AB-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 'test3', 'me'),
    ('48361F86-2BC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 'test4', 'me'),
    ('27429A57-93C1-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 'test5', 'me'),
    ('D5DF9F8E-EDC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 'test6', 'me'),
    ('9A07EA21-1AAD-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 'test7', 'me');


CREATE TABLE mbr
(
  [grp_id] uniqueidentifier, 
  [mbr_id] int not null primary key, 
  [acct_id] varchar(7) not null, 
  [cst] varchar(4) null
);

INSERT INTO mbr ([grp_id], [mbr_id], [acct_id], [cst])
VALUES
    ('7F5F0F16-4EBE-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 10, '1', 'AA'),
    ('7F5F0F16-4EBE-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 11, '2', 'BB'),
    ('1F52A713-EFAC-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 12, '1234578', 'blah'),
    ('D123B48A-63AB-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 13, '78', 'test'),
    ('48361F86-2BC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 14, 'x', 'mbr1'),
    ('48361F86-2BC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 15, 'a', 'mbr2'),
    ('27429A57-93C1-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 16, 'b', 'mbr1'),
    ('27429A57-93C1-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 17, 'c', 'mbr2'),
    ('D5DF9F8E-EDC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 18, 'a', 'mbr1'),
    ('9A07EA21-1AAD-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84', 19, 'a', 'mbr1');

The procedure and the sorting is currently working as written.

But an issue has cropped up with the way that we are applying the row_number(). The row_number() should almost simulate the ranking that occurs with dense_rank but it does not work as expected due to the sorting with the parameter.

For example, if I run the following query:

declare @sort_desc bit = 0

select g.grp_id, g.grp_nm,
    m.mbr_id, m.acct_id, m.cst,
    row_number() over(order by case when @sort_desc = 0 then g.grp_nm end
                              , case when @sort_desc = 0 then m.acct_id end
                              , case when @sort_desc = 1 then g.grp_nm end desc
                              , case when @sort_desc = 1 then m.acct_id end desc) rn,
    dense_rank()  over(order by case when @sort_desc = 0 then g.grp_nm end
                              , case when @sort_desc = 0 then m.acct_id end
                              , case when @sort_desc = 1 then g.grp_nm end desc
                              , case when @sort_desc = 1 then m.acct_id end desc) dr
from grp g
inner join mbr m
  on g.grp_id = m.grp_id;

See SQL Fiddle with Demo (a trimmed down stored proc is also present)

I get a result of:

|                               GRP_ID | GRP_NM | MBR_ID | ACCT_ID |  CST | RN | DR |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 7F5F0F16-4EBE-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test1 |     10 |       1 |   AA |  1 |  1 |
| 7F5F0F16-4EBE-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test1 |     11 |       2 |   BB |  2 |  2 |
| 1F52A713-EFAC-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test2 |     12 | 1234578 | blah |  3 |  3 |
| D123B48A-63AB-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test3 |     13 |      78 | test |  4 |  4 |
| 48361F86-2BC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test4 |     15 |       a | mbr2 |  5 |  5 |
| 48361F86-2BC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test4 |     14 |       x | mbr1 |  6 |  6 |
| 27429A57-93C1-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test5 |     16 |       b | mbr1 |  7 |  7 |
| 27429A57-93C1-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test5 |     17 |       c | mbr2 |  8 |  8 |
| D5DF9F8E-EDC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test6 |     18 |       a | mbr1 |  9 |  9 |
| 9A07EA21-1AAD-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test7 |     19 |       a | mbr1 | 10 | 10 |

But the desired result is:

|                               GRP_ID | GRP_NM | MBR_ID | ACCT_ID |  CST | RN | expR|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 7F5F0F16-4EBE-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test1 |     10 |       1 |   AA |  1 |  1  |
| 7F5F0F16-4EBE-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test1 |     11 |       2 |   BB |  2 |  1  |
| 1F52A713-EFAC-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test2 |     12 | 1234578 | blah |  3 |  2  |
| D123B48A-63AB-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test3 |     13 |      78 | test |  4 |  3  |
| 48361F86-2BC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test4 |     15 |       a | mbr2 |  5 |  4  |
| 48361F86-2BC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test4 |     14 |       x | mbr1 |  6 |  4  |
| 27429A57-93C1-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test5 |     16 |       b | mbr1 |  7 |  5  |
| 27429A57-93C1-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test5 |     17 |       c | mbr2 |  8 |  5  |
| D5DF9F8E-EDC2-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test6 |     18 |       a | mbr1 |  9 |  6  |
| 9A07EA21-1AAD-E211-9C26-78E7D18E1E84 |  test7 |     19 |       a | mbr1 | 10 |  7  |

As you can see the expR column values are incrementing based on the grp_id but the rows are still in the correct sort order. I am at a loss of how to get this result and any suggestions would be great.

Answer 1

This is about as concise as I could get it without squeezing my brain to disastrous effects. SQLFiddle.

DECLARE @sort_desc BIT = 0;

;WITH x AS
(
  SELECT g.grp_id, g.grp_nm, m.mbr_id, m.acct_id, m.cst,
    o1 = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY 
         CASE @sort_desc WHEN 0 THEN g.grp_nm END,
         CASE @sort_desc WHEN 0 THEN m.acct_id END,
         g.grp_nm DESC, m.acct_id DESC)
  FROM dbo.grp AS g
  INNER JOIN dbo.mbr AS m
  ON g.grp_id = m.grp_id
), 
y AS
(
  SELECT *, o2 = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY grp_id ORDER BY o1)
  FROM x
)
SELECT *, expected = DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY o1-o2)
FROM y
ORDER BY o1;

You'll of course want to extrapolate out all the * references to the actual columns you need to carry forward and ultimately output. I'm lazy but do as I say, not as I do. :-)