Handling dynamic parameters in SQL's IN clause

Data and Databases
1

Hey everyone, I’m stuck on something. I need to write a query that uses an IN clause, but the number of items in the clause can change. It could be just one item or up to five. Here’s what I’m trying to do:

SELECT * FROM Categories
WHERE Type IN ('food', 'drink', 'dessert')
ORDER BY PopularityScore DESC

But sometimes it might be just one item, or it could be five. I don’t want to use a stored procedure if I can avoid it. I’m using SQL Server 2008, so if there’s a cool trick for that version, I’d love to know. Any ideas on how to make this work with a changing number of items? Thanks for any help!

2

hey there, i was wondering if dynamic sql might be of use – that way the query could adjust to however many parameters you need.

how’s your implementation faring? any specific challenges you’ve run into with dynamic sql?

3

One approach you might consider is using a string-splitting function in combination with a subquery. This method allows you to pass a delimited string of values and split it into individual rows, which can then be used in your IN clause. Here’s an example:

DECLARE @Types NVARCHAR(MAX) = 'food,drink,dessert'

SELECT * FROM Categories
WHERE Type IN (
    SELECT value FROM STRING_SPLIT(@Types, ',')
)
ORDER BY PopularityScore DESC

This technique is versatile and can handle any number of items without modifying the query structure. You’ll need to ensure your application concatenates the types into a comma-separated string before passing it to the query. It’s efficient and doesn’t require stored procedures or dynamic SQL.

4

yo GrowingTree, have u thought about using a table-valued parameter? u can pass a table with ur items to the query. it’s pretty flexible and works well with varying numbers of items. lemme kno if u want more details on how to set it up!