Select With Multiple Column And Distinct

Hi guys, I'm hoping there's someone out there with more sql knowledge and experience than me. I'll try to explain everything.

I'm trying to create a select statement but i'm not gettting the required results mainly because i think its a very complicated select.

Here is the scenario.

The table has 12 columns

ProductID Colour MD01 MD02 MD03 MD04 MD05 MD06 MD07 MD08 MD09 MD010


The ProductID is naturally the unique key.

There is always a colour value. But there is not always a value in the MD columns. For example one Product may have values in MD01 MD02 MD03 MD04 MD05 whilst another has values in all MD columns.

My problem is thatI am trying to create a results list based upon selecting distinct values from the colour and md columns

In otherwords i can't have more than only one instance of a word appearing in the recordset list

I'm really struggling with this because there are only 6 colours so if i set distinct purely on 6 colours i only get back 6 rows.

When I try to set disctinct across all the MD columns it seems to ignore it and lists results for example in the table

ProductID Colour MD01 MD02 MD03 MD04 MD05 MD06 MD07 MD08 MD09 MD010
1 red car bike
2 blue bike car train

my select lists results as
red
car
bike
blue
bike
car
train

and it is as if it only carries out the distinct command across the row not across all columns for all rows if you see what i mean?

I need to be able to list all data from all rows that have values in the MD columns and colour column but not list the values more than once and not list "empty" (NULL) columns. Does this make sense?

This is the select statement i wrote.

Select DISTINCT md00, md01, md02, md03, md04, md05, md06, md07, md08, md09, md10, colour FROM TEMPLATES WHERE md00 IS NOT NULL or md01 IS NOT NULL or md02 IS NOT NULL or md03 IS NOT NULL or md04 IS NOT NULL or md05 IS NOT NULL or md06 IS NOT NULL or md07 IS NOT NULL or md08 IS NOT NULL or md09 IS NOT NULL or md10 IS NOT NULL

But it returns empty columns and it returns every instance of the same word so in other words the distinct command doesn't seem to be working at all?

I don't know if this is because of my asp code I am trying to list results with the rescordset?

<%
While ((Repeat1__numRows <> 0) AND (NOT template_rs.EOF))
%>

<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md01").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md02").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md03").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md04").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md05").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md06").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md07").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md08").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md09").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("md10").Value)%>
<%=(template_rs.Fields.Item("colour").Value)%>

<%
Repeat1__index=Repeat1__index+1
Repeat1__numRows=Repeat1__numRows-1
template_rs.MoveNext()
Wend
%>


I have one more problem. How can I also in addition to being able to list all distinct results list only results for a specific letter

for example

Select DISTINCT md00, md01, md02, md03, md04, md05, md06, md07, md08, md09, md10, colour FROM TEMPLATES WHERE md00 IS NOT NULL or md01 IS NOT NULL or md02 IS NOT NULL or md03 IS NOT NULL or md04 IS NOT NULL or md05 IS NOT NULL or md06 IS NOT NULL or md07 IS NOT NULL or md08 IS NOT NULL or md09 IS NOT NULL or md10 IS NOT NULL WHERE FIRST LETTER ='A'?


I am so far out of my depth here guys I am hoping that someone who has real knowledge of SQL can help me with this statement. I've been pulling my hair out for days now and getting just more and more frustrated listing the same results :(

-BB