CTE Recursion to get tree hierarchy - sql-server

Question

I need to get an ordered hierarchy of a tree, in a specific way. The table in question looks a bit like this (all ID fields are uniqueidentifiers, I've simplified the data for sake of example):
EstimateItemID EstimateID ParentEstimateItemID ItemType
-------------- ---------- -------------------- --------
1 A NULL product
2 A 1 product
3 A 2 service
4 A NULL product
5 A 4 product
6 A 5 service
7 A 1 service
8 A 4 product
Graphical view of the tree structure (* denotes 'service'):
A
___/ \___
/ \
1 4
/ \ / \
2 7* 5 8
/ /
3* 6*
Using this query, I can get the hierarchy (just pretend 'A' is a uniqueidentifier, I know it isn't in real life):
DECLARE #EstimateID uniqueidentifier
SELECT #EstimateID = 'A'
;WITH temp as(
SELECT * FROM EstimateItem
WHERE EstimateID = #EstimateID
UNION ALL
SELECT ei.* FROM EstimateItem ei
INNER JOIN temp x ON ei.ParentEstimateItemID = x.EstimateItemID
)
SELECT * FROM temp
This gives me the children of EstimateID 'A', but in the order that it appears in the table. ie:
EstimateItemID
--------------
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Unfortunately, what I need is an ordered hierarchy with a result set that follows the following constraints:
1. each branch must be grouped
2. records with ItemType 'product' and parent are the top node
3. records with ItemType 'product' and non-NULL parent grouped after top node
4. records with ItemType 'service' are bottom node of a branch
So, the order that I need the results, in this example, is:
EstimateItemID
--------------
1
2
3
7
4
5
8
6
What do I need to add to my query to accomplish this?

Answer 1

Try this:
;WITH items AS (
SELECT EstimateItemID, ItemType
, 0 AS Level
, CAST(EstimateItemID AS VARCHAR(255)) AS Path
FROM EstimateItem
WHERE ParentEstimateItemID IS NULL AND EstimateID = #EstimateID
UNION ALL
SELECT i.EstimateItemID, i.ItemType
, Level + 1
, CAST(Path + '.' + CAST(i.EstimateItemID AS VARCHAR(255)) AS VARCHAR(255))
FROM EstimateItem i
INNER JOIN items itms ON itms.EstimateItemID = i.ParentEstimateItemID
)
SELECT * FROM items ORDER BY Path
With Path - rows a sorted by parents nodes
If you want sort childnodes by ItemType for each level, than you can play with Level and SUBSTRING of Pathcolumn....
Here SQLFiddle with sample of data

Answer 2

This is an add-on to Fabio's great idea from above. Like I said in my reply to his original post. I have re-posted his idea using more common data, table name, and fields to make it easier for others to follow.
Thank you Fabio! Great name by the way.
First some data to work with:
CREATE TABLE tblLocations (ID INT IDENTITY(1,1), Code VARCHAR(1), ParentID INT, Name VARCHAR(20));
INSERT INTO tblLocations (Code, ParentID, Name) VALUES
('A', NULL, 'West'),
('A', 1, 'WA'),
('A', 2, 'Seattle'),
('A', NULL, 'East'),
('A', 4, 'NY'),
('A', 5, 'New York'),
('A', 1, 'NV'),
('A', 7, 'Las Vegas'),
('A', 2, 'Vancouver'),
('A', 4, 'FL'),
('A', 5, 'Buffalo'),
('A', 1, 'CA'),
('A', 10, 'Miami'),
('A', 12, 'Los Angeles'),
('A', 7, 'Reno'),
('A', 12, 'San Francisco'),
('A', 10, 'Orlando'),
('A', 12, 'Sacramento');
Now the recursive query:
-- Note: The 'Code' field isn't used, but you could add it to display more info.
;WITH MyCTE AS (
SELECT ID, Name, 0 AS TreeLevel, CAST(ID AS VARCHAR(255)) AS TreePath
FROM tblLocations T1
WHERE ParentID IS NULL
UNION ALL
SELECT T2.ID, T2.Name, TreeLevel + 1, CAST(TreePath + '.' + CAST(T2.ID AS VARCHAR(255)) AS VARCHAR(255)) AS TreePath
FROM tblLocations T2
INNER JOIN MyCTE itms ON itms.ID = T2.ParentID
)
-- Note: The 'replicate' function is not needed. Added it to give a visual of the results.
SELECT ID, Replicate('.', TreeLevel * 4)+Name 'Name', TreeLevel, TreePath
FROM MyCTE
ORDER BY TreePath;

Answer 3

I believe that you need to add the following to the results of your CTE...
BranchID = some kind of identifier that uniquely identifies the branch. Forgive me for not being more specific, but I'm not sure what identifies a branch for your needs. Your example shows a binary tree in which all branches flow back to the root.
ItemTypeID where (for example) 0 = Product and 1 = service.
Parent = identifies the parent.
If those exist in the output, I think you should be able to use the output from your query as either another CTE or as the FROM clause in a query. Order by BranchID, ItemTypeID, Parent.