How To Get Current Date Using Getdate() Or Any Other Function

Hi!

I'm new to T-SQL and trying out my queries using the SQL Query Analyzer.

What I intend to do is to retrieve records based on current date. The field is Trans_R.Tr_Date, of type nvarchar(255) and the data inside the field is formatted as yyyymmdd.

My Q's are:

1. Where should I put the WHERE statement at?

2. Is there any other way to work around this problem without resorting to converting the Trans_R.Tr_Date field to Datetime datatype beforehand?

3. I tried using Getdate function as part of the WHERE statement but nothing comes out. Would this WHERE statement work (or make sense)?

WHERE Trans_R.Tr_date = getdate()

Please advise and thanks in advance.

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SELECT
Cards.card_number,Trans_R.Tr_Date,Trans_R.staff_nu mber,
MIN(Trans_R.Tr_In) AS Actual_Time_In,
MAX(Trans_R.Tr_Out) AS Actual_Time_Out,

'Status'= CASE
WHEN MIN(Trans_R.Tr_In) IS NULL THEN 'ABSENT'
WHEN MIN(Trans_R.Tr_In) < 171500 THEN 'ATTEND'
ELSE 'ABSENT' END,

'Late Time' = CASE
WHEN (MIN(Tr_In) - 080000> 0) THEN (MIN(Tr_In) - 080000)
ELSE '' END,

FROM Trans_R INNER JOIN Cards
ON Trans_R.Staff_Number = Cards.Staff_Number
GROUP BY Cards.card_number,trans_r.staff_Number,Trans_R.Tr_ Date

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