Find next record where status field is different from current

Question

I have a table that is used to log events. Two types specifically : ON and OFF.

There are sometimes overlapping log entries as there can be 2 simultaneous devices logging. This is not crucial, as the end report should give a [mostly] correct overview of ON -> OFF periods.

Below is a sample, with the 3rd column just for illustration: It does not exist.

ActionTaken    ID   ID_of_next_OFF
Switched ON    1    3
Switched ON    2    6
Switched OFF   3    
Switched ON    4    7
Switched ON    5    8
Switched OFF   6    
Switched OFF   7    
Switched OFF   8    
Switched On    9    10
Switched OFF   10   
Switched On    11   12
Switched OFF   12   

Given the first two columns, how can I calculate the third?

This does not work:

SELECT actionTaken, Id, LEAD(Id) 
OVER (PARTITION BY ActionTaken ORDER BY ID) nextConn 
FROM dbo.Events

as it bases the ID_of_Next on the next matching actionTaken value, instead of the next alternate.

Answer 1

You are on the right way. All you need is the LEFT JOIN of the 'Switched ON' part with the 'Switched OFF' part on equal row numbers.

with Events as (
  select 'Switched ON' as ActionTaken, 1 as ID union all -- 3
  select 'Switched ON', 2 union all -- 6
  select 'Switched OFF', 3 union all
  select 'Switched ON', 4 union all -- 7
  select 'Switched ON', 5 union all -- 8
  select 'Switched OFF', 6 union all
  select 'Switched OFF', 7 union all
  select 'Switched OFF', 8 union all
  select 'Switched On', 9 union all -- 10
  select 'Switched OFF', 10 union all
  select 'Switched On', 11 union all -- 12
  select 'Switched OFF', 12
), E as (
  select
    *, row_number() over(partition by ActionTaken order by ID) as rn
  from Events
)
select
  a.ActionTaken, a.ID, b.ID
from E as a
left join E as b
  on a.ActionTaken = 'Switched ON' and
     b.ActionTaken = 'Switched OFF' and
     a.rn = b.rn
order by a.ID, a.ActionTaken;

Output:

+--------------+----+------+
| ActionTaken  | ID |  ID  |
+--------------+----+------+
| Switched ON  |  1 | 3    |
| Switched ON  |  2 | 6    |
| Switched OFF |  3 | NULL |
| Switched ON  |  4 | 7    |
| Switched ON  |  5 | 8    |
| Switched OFF |  6 | NULL |
| Switched OFF |  7 | NULL |
| Switched OFF |  8 | NULL |
| Switched On  |  9 | 10   |
| Switched OFF | 10 | NULL |
| Switched On  | 11 | 12   |
| Switched OFF | 12 | NULL |
+--------------+----+------+

Test it online with SQL Fiddle.