I have the following code which generates data similar to mine. The posting here (PivotWithoutAggregateFunction) suggested that using a CASE statement rather than PIVOT was better for non-numeric values. Which if this is not true then I guess now is the time to fix it !
DECLARE @QA1 TABLE (SID varchar(7), FormID varchar(max), DateExam date, Present varchar(3))
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(1, 'Form1', '20110101', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(2, 'Form1', '20110201', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(3, 'Form1', '20110301', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(4, 'Form1', '20110401', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(5, 'Form1', '20110122', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(1, 'Form2', '20110222', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(2, 'Form2', '20110322', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(3, 'Form2', '20110422', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(1, 'Form3', '20110128', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(1, 'Form4', '20110228', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(5, 'Form5', '20110328', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(5, 'Form6', '20111228', 'Yes')
INSERT INTO @QA1 VALUES(4, 'Form2', '20111228', 'Yes')
SELECT SID,
MIN(CASE FormID WHEN 'Form1' THEN Present END) AS 'First',
MIN(CASE FormID WHEN 'Form2' THEN Present END) AS 'Second',
MIN(CASE FormID WHEN 'Form3' THEN Present END) AS 'Third',
MIN(CASE FormID WHEN 'Form4' THEN Present END) AS 'Fourth',
MIN(CASE FormID WHEN 'Form5' THEN Present END) AS 'Fifth',
MIN(CASE FormID WHEN 'Form6' THEN Present END) AS 'Sixth'
FROM @QA1
GROUP BY SID
ORDER BY SID
However, the output has NULL in Row/Columns which do not have any forms which while correct is much harder for me to read.
SID First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth
1 Yes Yes Yes Yes NULL NULL
2 Yes Yes NULL NULL NULL NULL
3 Yes Yes NULL NULL NULL NULL
4 Yes Yes NULL NULL NULL NULL
5 Yes NULL NULL NULL Yes Yes
How can I alter my CASE so I either get nothing (ie '') or at least 'No' ?