How to get the current row number in an SQL Server 2000 query?

Question

How do I get the row number in an SQL query using SQL Server 2000, where the ROW_NUMBER() function is not supported?

Answer 1

You can always try to use a temp table with an identity column

DECLARE @table TABLE(
        [id] INT IDENTITY(1,1),
        Val VARCHAR(10)
)

DECLARE @TableFrom TABLE(
        Val VARCHAR(10)
)
INSERT INTO @TableFrom (Val) SELECT 'A'
INSERT INTO @TableFrom (Val) SELECT 'B'
INSERT INTO @TableFrom (Val) SELECT 'C'
INSERT INTO @TableFrom (Val) SELECT 'D'

INSERT INTO @table (Val) SELECT * FROM @TableFrom ORDER BY Val DESC
SELECT * FROM @table

Some of the best paging i have seen in Sql Server 2000 uses this pattern

DECLARE @PageStart INT,
        @PageEnd INT

SELECT  @PageStart = 51,
        @PageEnd = 100

SELECT  <TABLE>.*
FROM    (
            SELECT  TOP (@PageStart - 1)
                    <ID>
            FROM    (
                        SELECT  TOP (@PageEnd)
                                <ID>
                        FROM    TABLE
                        ORDER BY <ID> ASC
                    ) SUB
            ORDER BY SUB.<ID> DESC
        ) SUB INNER JOIN
        <TABLE> ON SUB.<ID> = <TABLE>.<ID>
ORDER BY SUB.<ID>