Custom aggregate function (concat) in SQL Server

Question

Question: I want to write a custom aggregate function that concatenates string on group by.

So that I can do a

SELECT SUM(FIELD1) as f1, MYCONCAT(FIELD2)  as f2
FROM TABLE_XY
GROUP BY FIELD1, FIELD2

All I find is SQL CRL aggregate functions, but I need SQL, without CLR.

Edit:1
The query should look like this:

   SELECT SUM(FIELD1) as f1, MYCONCAT(FIELD2)  as f2
    FROM TABLE_XY
    GROUP BY FIELD0

Edit 2:
It is true that it isn't possible without CLR.
However, the subselect answer by astander can be modified so it doesn't XML-encode special characters.

The subtle change for this is to add this after "FOR XML PATH": ,

 TYPE 
                  ).value('.[1]', 'nvarchar(MAX)') 

Here a few examples

DECLARE @tT table([A] varchar(200), [B] varchar(200));

INSERT INTO @tT VALUES ('T_A', 'C_A');
INSERT INTO @tT VALUES ('T_A', 'C_B');
INSERT INTO @tT VALUES ('T_B', 'C_A');
INSERT INTO @tT VALUES ('T_C', 'C_A');
INSERT INTO @tT VALUES ('T_C', 'C_B');
INSERT INTO @tT VALUES ('T_C', 'C_C');

SELECT 
      A AS [A]
      ,
      ( 
            STUFF 
            ( 
                    ( 
                             SELECT DISTINCT 
                                   ', ' + tempT.B AS wtf 
                             FROM @tT AS tempT 
                             WHERE (1=1) 
                             --AND tempT.TT_Status = 1 
                             AND tempT.A = myT.A 
                             ORDER BY wtf 
                             FOR XML PATH, TYPE 
                    ).value('.[1]', 'nvarchar(MAX)') 
                    , 1, 2, '' 
            ) 
      ) AS [B] 
FROM @tT AS myT
GROUP BY A 





SELECT 
      ( 
            SELECT 
                  ',äöü<>' + RM_NR AS [text()] 
            FROM T_Room 
            WHERE RM_Status = 1 
            ORDER BY RM_NR 
            FOR XML PATH('') 

      ) AS XmlEncodedNoNothing  


      ,
      SUBSTRING
      (
            (
                  SELECT 
                        ',äöü<>' + RM_NR  AS [data()] 
                  FROM T_Room 
                  WHERE RM_Status = 1 
                  ORDER BY RM_NR 
                  FOR XML PATH('')
            )
            ,2
            ,10000
      ) AS XmlEncodedSubstring  


      ,
      ( 
            STUFF 
            ( 
                  ( 
                        SELECT ',äöü<>' + RM_NR + CHAR(10) 
                        FROM T_Room 
                        WHERE RM_Status = 1 
                        ORDER BY RM_NR 
                        FOR XML PATH, TYPE 
                  ).value('.[1]', 'nvarchar(MAX)') 
                  , 1, 1, '' 
            ) 
      ) AS XmlDecodedStuffInsteadSubstring   

Answer 1

Have a look at something like. This is not an aggregate function. If you wish to implement your own aggregate function, it will have to be CLR...

DECLARE @Table TABLE(
        ID INT,
        Val VARCHAR(50)
)
INSERT INTO @Table (ID,Val) SELECT 1, 'A'
INSERT INTO @Table (ID,Val) SELECT 1, 'B'
INSERT INTO @Table (ID,Val) SELECT 1, 'C'
INSERT INTO @Table (ID,Val) SELECT 2, 'B'
INSERT INTO @Table (ID,Val) SELECT 2, 'C'

--Concat
SELECT  t.ID,
        SUM(t.ID),
        stuff(
                (
                    select  ',' + t1.Val
                    from    @Table t1
                    where   t1.ID = t.ID
                    order by t1.Val
                    for xml path('')
                ),1,1,'') Concats
FROM    @Table t
GROUP BY t.ID

Answer 2

Found this link around concatenation which covers methods like

Concatenating values when the number of items are not known

• Recursive CTE method
• The blackbox XML methods
• Using Common Language Runtime
• Scalar UDF with recursion
• Table valued UDF with a WHILE loop
• Dynamic SQL
• The Cursor approach

Non-reliable approaches

• Scalar UDF with t-SQL update extension
• Scalar UDF with variable concatenation in SELECT

Though it doesn't cover aggerate functions there may be some use around concatenation in there to help you with your problem.

Answer 3

You could do something like what I have done below to create a custom aggregate concatenation function in pure T-SQL. Obviously I have gone with a hard coded table name and group by column but it should illustrate the approach. There is probably some way to make this a truly generic function using dynamic TSQL constructed from input parameters.

/*
User defined function to help perform concatenations as an aggregate function
Based on AdventureWorks2008R2 SalesOrderDetail table
*/

--select * from sales.SalesOrderDetail 

IF EXISTS (SELECT * 
        FROM   sysobjects 
        WHERE  name = N'fnConcatenate')
    DROP FUNCTION fnConcatenate
GO

CREATE FUNCTION fnConcatenate
 (
      @GroupByValue int
        )                       
returnS varchar(8000)
as

BEGIN


    DECLARE @SqlString varchar(8000)
    Declare @TempStore varchar(25)
    select @SqlString =''

    Declare @MyCursor as Cursor
          SET @MyCursor = CURSOR FAST_FORWARD 
          FOR 
          Select ProductID 
          From sales.SalesOrderDetail  where SalesOrderID  = @GroupByValue
          order by SalesOrderDetailID asc


      OPEN @MyCursor 

         FETCH NEXT FROM @MyCursor
         INTO @TempStore

        WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0 
        BEGIN 


          select @SqlString = ltrim(rtrim(@TempStore )) +',' + ltrim(rtrim(@SqlString))
          FETCH NEXT FROM @MyCursor INTO @TempStore

        END 

CLOSE @MyCursor
DEALLOCATE @MyCursor

RETURN @SqlString

END
GO


select  SalesOrderID, Sum(OrderQty),  COUNT(*) as DetailCount , dbo.fnConcatenate(salesOrderID) as ConCatenatedProductList
from sales.SalesOrderDetail 
where salesOrderID= 56805 
group by SalesOrderID 

Answer 4

This solution works with no need of deploy from Visual studio or dll file in server.

Copy-Paste and it Work!

http://groupconcat.codeplex.com/

dbo.GROUP_CONCAT(VALUE )
dbo.GROUP_CONCAT_D(VALUE ), DELIMITER )  
dbo.GROUP_CONCAT_DS(VALUE , DELIMITER , SORT_ORDER )
dbo.GROUP_CONCAT_S(VALUE , SORT_ORDER )

Answer 5

You cannot write custom aggregates outside of the CLR.

The only type of functions you can write in pure T-SQL are scalar and table valued functions.

Compare the pages for CREATE AGGREGATE, which only lists CLR style options, with CREATE FUNCTION, which shows T-SQL and CLR options.

Answer 6

Starting from 2017 there is built-in concatenate aggregate function STRING_AGG :)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/functions/string-agg-transact-sql?view=sql-server-2017