CHOOSE

So in my blog post today I’m going to talk about the CHOOSE function inside of Microsoft SQL Server.  This function was introduced with the release of SQL 2012 and while I don’t use it all that often I thought it would be nice to bring it up. The image below is exactly what comes to my mind when I think of this function.

So what is this CHOOSE I speak of?  It’s simply allows you to specify a set of values in a query and then select the option you want back.  You can get the complete breakdown of this function from Microsoft by clicking here.

The Code:

So using the AdventureWorks2016 database I am going to write out a simple CHOOSE function against the Production.Product table.  To help further drive the concept I provided 3 examples of how it works.

The Point:

As you can see it’s a fairly simple way to provide some logic to a query.  I know in my day to day I’m often asked to display the same data different ways while management decides on how they want it.  With this I only code it once and then specify my results at the end.  The Microsoft link I shared at the intro has some great examples.

jcox@hexoma.com