SQL For Dummies®, 7th Edition

Chapter 8. Using Advanced SQL Value Expressions

SQL is described in Chapter 2 as a data sublanguage. In fact, the sole function of SQL is to operate on data in a database. SQL lacks many of the features of a conventional procedural language. As a result, developers who use SQL must switch back and forth between SQL and its host language to control the flow of execution. This repeated switching complicates matters at development time and negatively affects performance at run time.

The performance penalty exacted by SQL's limitations prompts the addition of new features to SQL every time a new version of the international specification is released. One of those added features, the CASE expression, provides a long-sought conditional structure. A second feature, the CAST expression, facilitates data conversion in a table from one type of data to another. A third feature, the row value expression, enables you to operate on a list of values where previously you could only operate on a single value. For example, if your list of values is a list of columns in a table, you can now perform an operation on all those columns by using a very simple syntax.

CASE Conditional Expressions

Every complete computer language has some kind of conditional statement or command. In fact, most have several kinds. Probably the most common conditional statement or command is the IF...THEN...ELSE...ENDIF structure. If the condition following the IF keyword evaluates to True, the block of commands following the ...