Sql COALESCE entire rows?

Question

I just learned about COALESCE and I\'m wondering if it\'s possible to COALESCE an entire row of data between two tables? If not, what\'s the best approach to the following r

Answer 1

I don't think the COALESCE function can be used for what you're thinking. COALESCE is similar to ISNULL, except it allows you to pass in multiple columns, and will return the first non-null value:

SELECT Name, Class, Color, ProductNumber,
COALESCE(Class, Color, ProductNumber) AS FirstNotNull
FROM Production.Product

This article should explain it's application:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190349.aspx

It sounds like Larry Lustig's answer is more along the lines of what you need though.