CFchimp » SQL

CF quickie: cfqueryparam with SQL’s LIKE operator

Chris Simmons — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:55:03 +0000

If you are using cfqueryparam to build a SQL statement from a search form and need to use the SQL’s LIKE operator here is how it’s done in the most basic way:
SELECT DISTINCT last_name FROM person WHERE last_name LIKE ORDER BY last_name
The magic is all in the % sign at the end of the cfqueryparam value attribute.

ColdFusion Dying… Again

Chris Simmons — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:55:06 +0000

So I took some database training with Global Knowledge last week.¬† My office paid for the training.¬† Apparently that “back end” training may be all for naught though since my front end programming language is on life support.

Today’s Global Knowledge newsletter letter informed me (in very cheeky fashion) that ColdFusion is # 5 on their “Dying Technology” list:

“If any of these skills are your main expertise, perhaps it’s time to retrain.”

Here’s the whole article: http://www.globalknowledge.com/training/generic.asp?pageid=2347&country=United+States

The notion of ColdFusion being dead has been debated into the ground so I’m not going to belabor it.

IMHO, ColdFusion is the best thing that ever happened to me from an IT standpoint.¬† If you want to get things done quickly, easily and reliably use it.¬† If you are thinking of ColdFusion along with COBOL, Netware, Flannel Shirts and “Grunge” Bands From Seattle, and¬† you might want step outside your house more.¬† It’s not the mid 90′s anymore.

A few SQL queries

Chris Simmons — Sat, 03 May 2008 01:48:48 +0000

I had to do some basic analysis of email addresses at my company the other day.¬† Here are a few useful SQL queries.

Show 10 records with the most data in field ‘email’ (10 longest email addresses)
SELECT TOP 10 email, LEN(email) AS fieldLength FROM person ORDER BY fieldLength DESC
Count all records with field ‘email’ over 20 chars
SELECT COUNT(*) AS emailOver20 FROM person WHERE LEN(email) > 20
Display the average length of data (in characters) of field ‘email’
SELECT AVG(LEN(email)) AS emailAvgLength FROM person

CFGRID DateFormat

Chris Simmons — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:28:22 +0000

For some reason when you have a datetime field in a cfgrid column it displays in a long format like this: Nov 17 2006 01:00:00

Fig 1 (Below) A date displayed in cfgrid

If we work a little SQL magic (using “CONVERT”) in the cfquery though we can do the formatting we want, which is: 11/17/2006. Refer to the “styles” listed in Figure 3 to see what formatting is available.

Coldfusion Query:
SELECT note_id,note_text, CONVERT(varchar,note_date,101) as note_date FROM tbl_notes ORDER BY note_date

Fig 2 (Below) A date displayed in cfgrid after using CONVERT in cfquery

Fig 3 (Below) A helpful list of “styles” to use with the SQL CONVERT function

Style ID	Style Type
0 or 100	mon dd yyyy hh:miAM (or PM)
101	mm/dd/yy
102	yy.mm.dd
103	dd/mm/yy
104	dd.mm.yy
105	dd-mm-yy
106	dd mon yy
107	Mon dd, yy
108	hh:mm:ss
9 or 109	mon dd yyyy hh:mi:ss:mmmAM (or PM)
110	mm-dd-yy
111	yy/mm/dd
112	yymmdd
13 or 113	dd mon yyyy hh:mm:ss:mmm(24h)
114	hh:mi:ss:mmm(24h)
20 or 120	yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss(24h)
21 or 121	yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss.mmm(24h)
126	yyyy-mm-dd Thh:mm:ss.mmm(no spaces)
130	dd mon yyyy hh:mi:ss:mmmAM
131	dd/mm/yy hh:mi:ss:mmmAM

Prepend existing data in SQL

Chris Simmons — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:31:38 +0000

Disclaimer: This tip will probably be really basic for most SQL folks.

The task: The company I work for has a web application that does some basic tracking of grants. The system feeding information to this application just had an across the board change to the numbering scheme of the grants. All grants must have a prefix of “999-”. Therefore, any grant not beginning with “999-” must be updated. Example: a grant with the current number 8789966 needs to be 999-8789966.

The solution: The SQL below does two things. It updates all the grants to prepend the 999- prefix while also skipping any grants that are already correctly prefixed.

UPDATE tbl_grants SET grant_no = '999-' + grant_no WHERE grant_no NOT LIKE '999-%'