Concatenating strings in SQL Server

This SQL Server tip comes from the April 2012 edition of the GP Reports Viewer newsletter.

A request that we have seen many times when creating SOP invoices for Dynamics GP is to concatenate serial numbers.  So if there is an item with serial numbers, instead of showing a list with one serial number per line under the item, which would look a little unwieldy with long list of serial numbers:

we want to show all the serial numbers on one line, separated by a comma. Below is the SQL code that will do this in SQL 2005 and 2008:

SELECT
p.SOPNUMBE SOP_Number, p.SOPTYPE SOP_Type, p.ITEMNMBR Item, p.LNITMSEQ Line_Item_Sequence,
LEFT(p.serial_numbers, len(p.serial_numbers)-1) Serial_Numbers
FROM
 (SELECT p1.SOPNUMBE, p1.SOPTYPE, p1.ITEMNMBR, p1.LNITMSEQ,
  (SELECT coalesce(rtrim(SERLTNUM) + ', ','')
   FROM SOP10201 p2
   WHERE p1.SOPNUMBE = p2.SOPNUMBE and p1.SOPTYPE = p2.SOPTYPE
      and p1.ITEMNMBR = p2.ITEMNMBR and p1.LNITMSEQ = p2.LNITMSEQ
   ORDER BY SOPNUMBE
   FOR XML PATH('')) serial_numbers
  FROM SOP10201 p1
 GROUP BY SOPNUMBE, SOPTYPE, ITEMNMBR, LNITMSEQ) p

Using this code, the line item and serial numbers shown above can look like this:

This code can also be changed slightly for other uses, for example, to concatenate a list of invoices paid by a check in payables. Here is the code to do that using my Payables Apply Detail view:

SELECT
p.Vendor_ID, p.Payment_Voucher_Number, p.Payment_Date, p.Payment_Type,
p.Payment_Document_Number, LEFT(p.apply_docs, len(p.apply_docs)-1) Applied_To_Docs
FROM
 (SELECT p1.Vendor_ID, p1.Payment_Voucher_Number, p1.Payment_Date, p1.Payment_Type,
  p1.Payment_Document_Number,
  (SELECT coalesce(rtrim(Apply_To_Doc_Number) + ', ','')
   FROM view_Payables_Apply_detail p2
   WHERE p1.Vendor_ID = p2.Vendor_ID
     and p1.Payment_Voucher_Number = p2.Payment_Voucher_Number
   ORDER BY Payment_Voucher_Number
   FOR XML PATH('')) apply_docs
  FROM view_Payables_Apply_detail p1
  GROUP BY Vendor_ID, Payment_Voucher_Number, Payment_Date, Payment_Type,
   Payment_Document_Number) p

For more tips like this, take a look at my SQL Server Coding Tips page. To receive new tips as soon as they are published, sign up for the GP Reports Viewer newsletter.