Create View - Declare a variable

I am creating a view that is using that STUFF function. I want to put the result of STUFF in a variable for my view. The problem I am having is declaring my variable. It gives me the message "Incorrect Syntax near 'DECLARE'. Expecting '(' or SELECT." I already have the '(' in there. I have tried putting a BEGIN before it. I have tried putting it after the SELECT word. But nothing seems to work and I cannot find a solution in my search. I am using SQL Server 2012

CREATE VIEW [AQB_OB].[GISREQUESTEDBURNS]
AS
(DECLARE @CONDITIONS AS varchar(20)
SET @CONDITIONS = (SELECT DISTINCT BD.[RequestedBurnsID]
,[ConditionsReasonsID] = STUFF((SELECT ', ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR (20),[ConditionsReasonsID]) FROM [AQB_OB].[BurnDecisions] WHERE [RequestedBurnsID]= BD.[RequestedBurnsID] ORDER BY [RequestedBurnsID] ASC
FOR XML PATH ('')) , 1 , 1, '') FROM
[AQB_OB].[BurnDecisions] BD)
SELECT RB.[RequestedBurnsID] AS REQUESTEDBURNID ,BUY.[BurnYear] AS BURNYEAR ,CY.[CurrentYear] AS CURRENTYEAR ,RB.[BurnSitesID] AS BURNSITESID ,[BurnerID] AS BURNERID ,[Contact] AS CONTACT ,[BurnDecision] AS BURNDECISION ,RB.[Comment] AS COMMENT ,@CONDITIONS AS CONDITIONS
FROM [AQB_MON].[AQB_OB].[RequestedBurns] RB
LEFT join AQB_MON.[AQB_OB].[PileDryness] PD on RB.[PileDrynessID] = PD.[PileDrynessID]
inner join AQB_MON.[AQB_OB].[BurnYear] BUY on BUY.BurnYearID = BP.BurnYearID
inner join AQB_MON.[AQB_OB].[CurrentYear] CY on CY.CurrentYearID = BUY.CurrentYearID
GO

4 Answers

You can't declare variables in a view. Could you make it into a function or stored procedure?

Edit - you might also be able to put something into a CTE (Common Table Expression) and keep it as a view.

e.g.

WITH conditions as
( ... do the STUFF here
)
SELECT blah
FROM blah
INNER JOIN conditions
(or CROSS JOIN conditions if its just one row, I can't quite decipher what your data is like)

Here is a sample query that uses a CTE (Common Table Expression) to nicely emulate internal variable construction, as described by James Casey. You can test-run it in your version of SQL Server.

CREATE VIEW vwImportant_Users AS
WITH params AS ( SELECT varType='%Admin%', varMinStatus=1)
SELECT status, name FROM sys.sysusers, params WHERE status > varMinStatus OR name LIKE varType
SELECT * FROM vwImportant_Users

yielding output:

status name
12 dbo
0 db_accessadmin
0 db_securityadmin
0 db_ddladmin

also via JOIN

WITH params AS ( SELECT varType='%Admin%', varMinStatus=1)
SELECT status, name FROM sys.sysusers INNER JOIN params ON 1=1 WHERE status > varMinStatus OR name LIKE varType

also via CROSS APPLY

WITH params AS ( SELECT varType='%Admin%', varMinStatus=1)
SELECT status, name FROM sys.sysusers CROSS APPLY params WHERE status > varMinStatus OR name LIKE varType

Try put the condition subquery directly inside the the view select statement. you may CAST the XML to VARCHAR(20).

CREATE VIEW [AQB_OB].[GISREQUESTEDBURNS]
AS
SELECT RB.[RequestedBurnsID] AS REQUESTEDBURNID ,BUY.[BurnYear] AS BURNYEAR ,CY.[CurrentYear] AS CURRENTYEAR ,RB.[BurnSitesID] AS BURNSITESID ,[BurnerID] AS BURNERID ,[Contact] AS CONTACT ,[BurnDecision] AS BURNDECISION ,RB.[Comment] AS COMMENT, ( SELECT DISTINCT BD.[RequestedBurnsID], [ConditionsReasonsID] = STUFF((SELECT ', ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR (20), [ConditionsReasonsID]) FROM [AQB_OB].[BurnDecisions] WHERE [RequestedBurnsID]= BD.[RequestedBurnsID] ORDER BY [RequestedBurnsID] ASC FOR XML PATH ('')) , 1 , 1, '') FROM [AQB_OB].[BurnDecisions] BD ) AS CONDITIONS
FROM [AQB_MON].[AQB_OB].[RequestedBurns] RB
LEFT join AQB_MON.[AQB_OB].[PileDryness] PD on RB.[PileDrynessID] = PD.[PileDrynessID]
inner join AQB_MON.[AQB_OB].[BurnYear] BUY on BUY.BurnYearID = BP.BurnYearID
inner join AQB_MON.[AQB_OB].[CurrentYear] CY on CY.CurrentYearID = BUY.CurrentYearID

Or use a CTE (common table expression) as subselect like:

WITH CTE_Time(Clock)
AS( SELECT 11 AS [Clock] -- set var
)
SELECT DATEPART(HOUR, GETDATE()) AS 'actual hour', CASE WHEN DATEPART(HOUR, GETDATE()) >= (SELECT [Clock] FROM CTE_Time) THEN 'after' ELSE 'before' END AS [Data]