How DATEDIFF_BIG a new feature of SQL SERVER 2016 Can Keep You Out of Trouble

In the series of SQL SERVER 2016, this is a new post. in this post, we will discuss DATEDIFF_BIG and how it is helpful.
So, before jumping into directly in technical details, we all know that time is very important and every second valuable and countable but sometimes every microsecond & nanosecond is also countable . For such operations in which every microsecond & nanosecond is countable, we can use DATEDIFF_BIG function.
As you aware the BIGINT range is from -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807.  Here if any difference (Micro & Nano) second is out of the the mentioned range then DATEDIFF returns that value else return error(Obviously).
Below is the basic syntax if DATEDIFF_BIG although it is similar to DATEDIFF. We can say it is a extended version of DATEDIFF.
DATEDIFF_BIG( datePart, start Date, End date)
The value of datePart is same like DATEDIFF function.
For example if you want to collect millisecond difference then use ms, microsecond then mcs and for nanosecond ns.
As per the MSDN   for the Millisecond, the maximum difference between start date & end date is 24 days, 20 hours, 21 minutes and 23,647 seconds. For Second, the maximum difference is  68 years.  
Now, let see why this DATEDIFF_BIG introduced so, I am running a DATEDIFF  function in SQL SERVER 2012 and see what we get after running that query.

You can see in above query we got an error of overflow.
Now, we are calculating the same difference from DATEDIFF_BIG in SQL SERVER 2016. See, below snap for same.

Isn’t it great ? Although, I am scarred with those applications who calculate milliseconds .
Anyways, it is good to know feature.
Do provide your feedback for the post it is very valuable for us.
RJ !!!

Find all the dates in a date range ? TIP #100

 

It’s almost one month that I didn’t write anything on the blog due to some personal reason. I am really sorry for that.

Now , Lets talk about the scenario sometimes we need to generate a report of total sales in particular date range but the condition is you need to show all the dates whether there was any sales or not.

So first and most important thing for us is to determine all the dates between that particular date range and then determine total sales date wise.

To determine the all the dates which reside between from date & to date  we have 2 approches

First the classic approach with while loop  as shown below

DECLARE @StartDate AS DATE = '2005-07-01'
DECLARE @EndDate   AS DATE = '2005-07-29'
DECLARE @tblDateRange AS TABLE (salesDate DATE)
DECLARE @SeedDate AS DATE
SET @SeedDate = '2005-07-01'
WHILE @SeedDate <= @EndDate
BEGIN
  INSERT INTO @tblDateRange(salesDate) Values (@SeedDate)
  SET @SeedDate  = DATEADD(d,1,@seedDate)
END
SELECT * FROM @tblDateRange

Now second and interesting approach

DECLARE @StartDate AS DATE = '2005-07-01'
DECLARE @EndDate   AS DATE = '2005-07-29'
DECLARE @tblDateRange AS TABLE (salesDate DATE)

;WITH DatesCTE
AS (
SELECT @StartDate AS SalesDate
UNION ALL
SELECT DATEADD(d,1, SalesDate) As salesDate
FROM DatesCTE
WHERE DATEADD(d,1,SalesDate) <= @EndDate)

INSERT INTO @tblDateRange(salesDate)
SELECT * FROM DatesCTE

SELECT * FROM @tblDateRange

These are the 2 simple approaches which I like. I appreciate if you share other approaches which are simple & interesting.

Thanks

RJ

Enjoy !!!