In this tutorial, I will explain about inline queries. Most of the developers are very familiar with inline queries. Inline queries are basically known as sub queries or Inner Select statements which are always used inside a SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement, or inside another inline query.  They can be used anywhere in SQL scripts to encounter the conditional expressions. The SQL statement containing an Inline query is also known an outer query or outer select.

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How can Inline Queries helpful?

Most of the T-SQL statements which include inline queries can be alternatively formulated as join to encounter the conditional expressions. Other questions can be posed only with inline queries. In T-SQL, there is usually no performance difference between a statement that includes an inline query and a semantically equivalent version that does not. However, in some cases where existence must be checked, a join yields better performance.

Components of an Inline Query

An inline query has the same features as a normal SQL query. They only persist in the SQL statements and could have the following components –

  • A regular SELECT query including regular select list components from the main table.
  • A regular FROM clause including one or more table, function or view names.
  • An optional WHERE clause to encounter the conditional expressions.
  • An optional GROUP BY clause if your query contains aggregation functions.
  • An optional HAVING clause if your query contains aggregation functions.

Points to be remember

The SELECT query of an Inline query is always enclosed in parentheses. It cannot include a COMPUTE or FOR BROWSE clause, and may only include an ORDER BY clause when a TOP clause is also specified. There are three basic types of inline queries-
Operate on lists introduced with IN, or those that a comparison operator modified by ANY or ALL.
Are introduced with an unmodified comparison operator and must return a single value.
Are existence tests introduced with EXISTS.

To understand their functionality, we will create a table variable to work as the base table for the inline statements as given below-

---- declare OrderMaster table variable body
DECLARE @OrderMaster TABLE
(
OrdId INT IDENTITY(100,1),
OrdDate VARCHAR(30),
CustName VARCHAR(20)
)
---- declare OrderDetails table variable body
DECLARE @OrderDetails TABLE
(
OrdId INT,
ItemId VARCHAR(30),
ItemName VARCHAR(20),
SellingPrice Decimal(12,4)
)
---- Insert Values
INSERT INTO @OrderMaster (OrdDate,CustName)
Values (Getdate(),'Ryan Arjun'),(Getdate(),'Bill Trade'),
(Getdate(),'Rosy White')

---- Pull Order Data
SELECT * FROM @OrderMaster

----Fill Order Details
Insert Into @OrderDetails (OrdId, ItemId, ItemName, SellingPrice)
Values (100, 201,'Apple',135.78),(100, 202,'Mango',235.78)
,(101, 203,'Banana',124.50),(101, 204,'Orange',321.15)
,(102, 205,'Banana',124.50),(102, 204,'Orange',321.15),(102, 201,'Apple',135.78)

--- Pull Order Details
select * from @OrderDetails

Now, we have the tables and want to pull the order and customer wise total sales.

Pull Single Value

There are many ways to do this but we are using inline query to accomplish this task. To pull the single value, we are using inline query within the main SQL statement as given below-

---- Use inline query in the select statement
select OrdId, CustName,
---- Inline query for single value
[Price] =(Select 
[Price]=sum(SellingPrice)
from @OrderDetails
where OrdId=  Om.OrdId
)
from @OrderMaster OM

Pull Multiple Values with Group By
If we want to pull more than one column then inline query should work as join with the main query as given below:

---- Inline Query as Join
SELECT Om.OrdId, Om.CustName,
OD.[Item-Qty], OD.Price
FROM @OrderMaster OM
JOIN
(
SELECT  OrdId,
[Item-Qty]=COUNT(ItemId),
[Price]=SUM(SellingPrice)
FROM @OrderDetails
GROUP BY ORDID
)OD
ON OM.ORDID=OD.ORDID

Pull Value with Where Clause and Group By
If we want to pull more than one column based on some conditional expression then inline query should work as join with the main query as given below:

---- Inline Query as Join
SELECT Om.OrdId, Om.CustName,
OD.[Item-Qty], OD.Price
FROM @OrderMaster OM
JOIN
(SELECT  OrdId,
[Item-Qty]=COUNT(ItemId),
[Price]=SUM(SellingPrice)
FROM @OrderDetails
---- Conditional Expression
WHERE ItemName='Apple'
GROUP BY ORDID
)OD
ON OM.ORDID=OD.ORDID

Conclusion

It’s very beneficial concept in SQL and we can use them inside a SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement, or inside another inline query.  They are easily applicable in the function and stored procedure. These features are important in some Transact-SQL statements; the inline-query can be evaluated as if it were an independent query. Conceptually, the inline-query results are substituted into the outer query.

 

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