How can I dynamically alias columns?

Question

I have a table (not designed by me) which has 20 variably named columns. That is, depending on what type of record you are looking at, the applicable name of the column can change.

The possible column names are stored in another table, that I can query very easily.

Therefore, the query I'm really looking for goes something like this:

SELECT Col1 AS (SELECT ColName FROM Names WHERE ColNum = 1 and Type = @Type),
       Col2 AS (SELECT ColName FROM Names WHERE ColNum = 2 and Type = @Type)
FROM   Tbl1 
WHERE  Type = @Type

Obviously that doesn't work, so how can I get a similar result?

' I've tried building a query string and EXECUTEing it, but that just returns "Command(s) Completed Successfully" and doesn't seem to return a rowset. It turns out I was using an incorrect query to build the dynamic SQL and as such built an empty string. SQL Server definitely executed the empty string correctly.

Note that the reason I need this to occur, rather than simply hard coding the column names, is that the column names are user configurable.

Answer 1

Try the following code:

CREATE TABLE #Names
(
    [Type] VARCHAR(50),
    ColNum SMALLINT,
    ColName VARCHAR(50),
    ColDataType VARCHAR(20)
)

INSERT  INTO #Names VALUES
('Customer', 1, 'CustomerID', 'INT'),
('Customer', 2, 'CustomerName', 'VARCHAR(50)'),
('Customer', 3, 'CustomerJoinDate', 'DATE'),
('Customer', 4, 'CustomerBirthDate', 'DATE'),
('Account', 1, 'AccountID', 'INT'),
('Account', 2, 'AccountName', 'VARCHAR(50)'),
('Account', 3, 'AccountOpenDate', 'DATE'),
('CustomerAccount', 1, 'CustomerID', 'INT'),
('CustomerAccount', 2, 'AccountID', 'INT'),
('CustomerAccount', 3, 'RelationshipSequence', 'TINYINT')


CREATE TABLE #Data
(
    [Type] VARCHAR(50),
    Col1 VARCHAR(50),
    Col2 VARCHAR(50),
    Col3 VARCHAR(50),
    Col4 VARCHAR(50),
    Col5 VARCHAR(50),
    Col6 VARCHAR(50),
    Col7 VARCHAR(50)
)

INSERT  INTO #Data VALUES
('Customer', '1', 'Mr John Smith', '2005-05-20', '1980-11-15', NULL, NULL, NULL),
('Customer', '2', 'Mrs Hayley Jones', '2009-10-10', '1973-04-03', NULL, NULL, NULL),
('Customer', '3', 'ACME Manufacturing Ltd', '2012-12-01', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('Customer', '4', 'Mr Michael Crocker', '2014-01-13', '1957-01-23', NULL, NULL, NULL),
('Account', '1', 'Smith-Jones Cheque Acct', '2005-05-25', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('Account', '2', 'ACME Business Acct', '2012-12-01', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('Account', '3', 'ACME Social Club', '2013-02-10', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('Account', '4', 'Crocker Tipping Fund', '2014-01-14', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('CustomerAccount', '1', '1', '1', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('CustomerAccount', '2', '1', '2', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('CustomerAccount', '2', '3', '2', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('CustomerAccount', '3', '2', '1', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('CustomerAccount', '3', '3', '1', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('CustomerAccount', '4', '2', '2', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL),
('CustomerAccount', '4', '4', '1', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL)


DECLARE @Type VARCHAR(50) = 'Account' -- Or Customer, or CustomerAccount

DECLARE @SQLText NVARCHAR(MAX) = ''

SELECT  @SQLText += 'SELECT '

SELECT  @SQLText += ( -- Add in column list, with dynamic column names.
                SELECT  'CONVERT(' + ColDataType + ', Col' + CONVERT(VARCHAR, ColNum) + ') AS [' + ColName + '],'
                FROM    #Names
                WHERE   [Type] = @Type FOR XML PATH('')
            )

SELECT  @SQLText = LEFT(@SQLText, LEN(@SQLText) - 1) + ' ' -- Remove trailing comma

SELECT  @SQLText += 'FROM #Data WHERE [Type] = ''' + @Type + ''''

PRINT   @SQLText
EXEC    sp_executesql @SQLText

This returns the SELECT statement: SELECT CONVERT(INT, Col1) AS [AccountID],CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), Col2) AS [AccountName],CONVERT(DATE, Col3) AS [AccountOpenDate] FROM #Data WHERE [Type] = 'Account'

Answer 2

This sounds prime for a front end display solution. Query 1 would pull back your data, Query 2 would pull back the column names and in code when you build what ever structure you use to display you set the headers from the second query.

While a Pure SQL Method may be possible it will be dynamic SQL and code maintnence would be a nightmare.

Also your probably looking for sp_executesql and not just EXECUTE N'Query String' as that may fix your issue of command completed successfully.