Select Data From Top N Columns

Suppose you have table with many columns and often you need data from first 15 or 20 columns. In that case you have to specify all the columns in your select statement. This procedure will select top N columns you want. All you have to do is to supply table name and number of columns you want

Here is the procedure



Create procedure TopNcolumns (@tableName varchar(100),@n int)
as
Declare @s varchar(2000)
set @s=''
If exists(Select * from information_Schema.tables where table_name=@tablename and table_type='Base Table')
Begin
If @n>=0
Begin
set rowcount @n
Select @s=@s+','+ column_name from information_schema.columns
where table_name=@tablename order by ordinal_position
Set rowcount 0
Set @s=substring(@s,2,len(@s)-1)
Exec('Select '+@s+' from '+@tablename)
End
else
Select 'Negative values are not allowed' as Error
End
else
Select 'Table '+@tableName+' does not exist' as Error



Madhivanan

Failing to plan is Planning to fail