How do I create a stored procedure that will optionally search columns?

Solution 1:

While the COALESCE trick is neat, my preferred method is:

CREATE PROCEDURE ps_Customers_SELECT_NameCityCountry
    @Cus_Name varchar(30) = NULL
    ,@Cus_City varchar(30) = NULL
    ,@Cus_Country varchar(30) = NULL
    ,@Dept_ID int = NULL
    ,@Dept_ID_partial varchar(10) = NULL
AS
SELECT Cus_Name
       ,Cus_City
       ,Cus_Country
       ,Dept_ID
FROM Customers
WHERE (@Cus_Name IS NULL OR Cus_Name LIKE '%' + @Cus_Name + '%')
      AND (@Cus_City IS NULL OR Cus_City LIKE '%' + @Cus_City + '%')
      AND (@Cus_Country IS NULL OR Cus_Country LIKE '%' + @Cus_Country + '%')
      AND (@Dept_ID IS NULL OR Dept_ID = @DeptID)
      AND (@Dept_ID_partial IS NULL OR CONVERT(varchar, Dept_ID) LIKE '%' + @Dept_ID_partial + '%')

These kind of SPs can easily be code generated (and re-generated for table-changes).

You have a few options for handling numbers - depending if you want exact semantics or search semantics.

Solution 2:

The most efficient way to implement this type of search is with a stored procedure. The statement shown here creates a procedure that accepts the required parameters. When a parameter value is not supplied it is set to NULL.

CREATE PROCEDURE ps_Customers_SELECT_NameCityCountry
@Cus_Name varchar(30) = NULL,
@Cus_City varchar(30) = NULL,
@Cus_Country varchar(30) =NULL
AS
SELECT Cus_Name,
       Cus_City,
       Cus_Country
FROM Customers
WHERE Cus_Name = COALESCE(@Cus_Name,Cus_Name) AND
      Cus_City = COALESCE(@Cus_City,Cus_City) AND
      Cus_Country = COALESCE(@Cus_Country,Cus_Country)

Taken from this page: http://www.sqlteam.com/article/implementing-a-dynamic-where-clause

I've done it before. It works well.

Solution 3:

Erland Sommarskog's article Dynamic Search Conditions in T-SQL is a good reference on how to do this. Erland presents a number of strategies on how to do this without using dynamic SQL (just plain IF blocks, OR, COALESCE, etc) and even lists out the performance characteristics of each technique.

In case you have to bite the bullet and go through the Dynamic SQL path, you should also read Erland's Curse and Blessings of Dynamic SQL where he gives out some tips on how to properly write dynamic SQLs

Solution 4:

It can be done, but usually these kitchen-sink procedures result in some poor query plans.

Having said all that, here is the tactic most commonly used for "optional" parameters. The normal approach is to treat NULL as "ommitted".

SELECT
  E.EmployeeID,
  E.LastName,
  E.FirstName
WHERE
  E.FirstName = COALESCE(@FirstName, E.FirstName) AND
  E.LastName = COALESCE(@LastName, E.LastName) AND
  E.DepartmentID = COALESCE(@DepartmentID, E.DepartmentID)

EDIT: A far better approach would be parameterized queries. Here is a blog post from one of the world's foremost authorities in this domain, Frans Bouma from LLBLGen Pro fame:

Stored Procedures vs. Dynamic Queries

Solution 5:

Using the COALESCE method has a problem in that if your column has a NULL value, passing in a NULL search condition (meaning ignore the search condition) will not return the row in many databases.

For example, try the following code on SQL Server 2000:

CREATE TABLE dbo.Test_Coalesce (
    my_id   INT NOT NULL IDENTITY,
    my_string   VARCHAR(20) NULL )
GO
INSERT INTO dbo.Test_Coalesce (my_string) VALUES (NULL)
INSERT INTO dbo.Test_Coalesce (my_string) VALUES ('t')
INSERT INTO dbo.Test_Coalesce (my_string) VALUES ('x')
INSERT INTO dbo.Test_Coalesce (my_string) VALUES (NULL)
GO
DECLARE @my_string  VARCHAR(20)
SET @my_string = NULL
SELECT * FROM dbo.Test_Coalesce WHERE my_string = COALESCE(@my_string, my_string)
GO

You will only get back two rows because in the rows where the column my_string is NULL you are effective getting:

my_string = COALESCE(@my_string, my_string) =>
my_string = COALESCE(NULL, my_string) =>
my_string = my_string =>
NULL = NULL

But of course, NULL does not equal NULL.

I try to stick with:

SELECT
     my_id,
     my_string
FROM
     dbo.Test_Coalesce
WHERE
     (@my_string IS NULL OR my_string = @my_string)

Of course, you can adjust that to use wild cards or whatever else you want to do.