Sort by minimum value of two columns

Question

I use SQL Server 2008 R2.

I need to sort a table by the minimal value of two columns.

The table looks like this:

ID: integer; 
Date         


        

Answer 1

Code for max

I'm using CROSS APPLY, I am not sure about the performance, But CROSS APPLY often has a better performance in my experience.

CREATE TABLE #Test (ID INT, Date1 DATETIME, Date2 DATETIME)
INSERT INTO #Test SELECT 1, NULL, '1/1/1';INSERT INTO #Test SELECT 2, NULL, NULL;INSERT INTO #Test SELECT 3, '2/2/2', '3/3/1';INSERT INTO #Test SELECT 4, '3/3/3', '11/1/1'

SELECT t.ID, Date1, Date2, MinDate
FROM #TEST t
    CROSS APPLY (SELECT MIN(d) MinDate FROM (VALUES (Date1), (Date2)) AS a(d)) md
ORDER BY MinDate

DROP TABLE #Test