SQL-92 (Filemaker): How can I UPDATE a list of sequential numbers?

Question

I need to re-assign all SortID's, starting from 1 until MAX (SortID) from a subset of records of table Beleg, using SQL-92, after one of the SortID's has changed (for example from 444 to 444.1). I have tried several ways (for example SET @a:=0; UPDATE table SET field=@a:=@a+1 WHERE whatever='whatever' ORDER BY field2), but it didn't work, as these solutions all need a special kind of SQL, like SQLServer or Oracle, etc.

The SQL that I use is SQL-92, implemented in FileMaker (INSERT and UPDATE are available, though, but nothing fancy).

Thanks for any hint!

Gary

Answer 1

From what I know, SQL-92 is a standard and not a language. So you can say you are using T-SQL, which is mostly SQL-92 compliant, but you can't say I program SQL Server in SQL-92. The same applies to FileMaker.

I suppose you are trying to update your table through ODBC? The Update statement looks OK, but there are no variables if FileMaker SQL (and I am not sure using a variable inside query will give you result you expect, I think you will set SortId in every row to 1). You are thinking about doing something like Window functions with row() in TSQL, but I do not think this functionality is available.

The easiest solution is to use FileMaker, resetting the numbering for a column is really a trivial task which takes seconds. Do you need help with this?

Edit:

I was referring to TSQL functions rank() and row_number(), there is no row() function in TSQL

Answer 2

I finally got the answer from Ziggy Crueltyfree Zeitgeister on the Database Administrators copy of my question.

He suggested to break this down into multiple steps using a temporary table to store the results:

CREATE TABLE sorting (sid numeric(10,10), rn int);

INSERT INTO sorting (sid, rn)
SELECT SortID, RecordNumber FROM Beleg
WHERE Year ( Valuta ) = 2016
AND Ursprungskonto = 1210
ORDER BY SortID;

UPDATE Beleg SET SortID = (SELECT rn FROM sorting WHERE sid=Beleg.SortID)
WHERE Year ( Valuta ) = 2016
AND Ursprungskonto = 1210;

DROP TABLE sorting;

Of course! I just keep the table definition in Filemaker (let the type coercion be done by Filemaker this way), and filling and deleting from it with my function: RenumberSortID ().