MS-SQL sort output in descending order

Question

I have this MS-SQL query with thousands of row records in database:

SELECT DISTINCT TOP 7 DATENAME(MM, mydatetime) + \' \' + CAST(DAY(mydatetime) AS VA         


        

Answer 1

You need to remove the DESC from your ORDER BY clause. Your result is in exact reverse order because of DESC!

Answer 2

For your actual requirement, you can use your current query as a derived table and order that result in the way you want:

SELECT *
FROM (  SELECT DISTINCT TOP 7 DATENAME(mm, mydatetime) + ' ' 
                              + CAST(DAY(mydatetime) AS VARCHAR(2)) AS thedate, 
                              MONTH(mydatetime)                     AS theMonth, 
                              DAY(mydatetime)                       AS theDay, 
                              COUNT(page)                           AS totalcount, 
                              COUNT(DISTINCT page)                  AS visitors 
        FROM   sometable 
        WHERE  page LIKE '%AEC%' 
        GROUP  BY DATENAME(mm, mydatetime) + ' ' 
                  + CAST(DAY(mydatetime) AS VARCHAR(2)), 
                  MONTH(mydatetime), 
                  DAY(mydatetime) 
        ORDER  BY MONTH(mydatetime) DESC, 
                  DAY(mydatetime) DESC) A
ORDER BY theMonth, theDay

Answer 3

To get the order you specify including only the dates you want in the return results you need to remove the desc and add a date filter to your where clause.

That may also allow you to get rid of the top statement if your do your filter right.

SELECT DISTINCT TOP 7 DATENAME(MM, mydatetime) 
    + ' ' + CAST(DAY(mydatetime) AS VARCHAR(2)) as thedate
    , MONTH(mydatetime)
    , DAY(mydatetime)
    , COUNT(Page) as totalcount
    , count(DISTINCT Page) as visitors
  FROM someTable
  WHERE Page LIKE '%AEC%' 
    AND /* filter date range i.e. MONTH(mydatetime) > 9 AND YEAR(mydatetime) > 2011 */
  GROUP BY DATENAME(MM, mydatetime) + ' ' + CAST(DAY(mydatetime) AS VARCHAR(2))
    , MONTH(mydatetime)
    , DAY(mydatetime)
  ORDER BY MONTH(mydatetime) 
    , DAY(mydatetime)