SQL Server: ORDER BY in subquery with UNION

Question

i have two queries being combined with a UNION ALL¹:

--Query 1
SELECT Flavor, Color
FROM Friends

 

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Answer 1

Actually, looking at the workaround from that link I commented, you might want to try this:

SELECT Flavor, Color
FROM Friends

UNION ALL

SELECT Flavor,
(SELECT TOP 1 Color FROM 
    (SELECT Color, Wavelength
    FROM Rainbows
    WHERE Rainbows.StrangerID = Strangers.StrangerID
) X ORDER BY Wavelength DESC) AS Color
FROM Strangers

...or some similar type of thing to try to fool the engine into not complaining.

But I can't test it, I'm afraid; I don't think we've got a 2000 box left in the building, virtual or otherwise.

EDIT: Ah! Looks like Joe and I overlapped on our sneakiness :)