Problem with unique SQL query - sql-server

Question

I want to select all records, but have the query only return a single record per Product Name. My table looks similar to:
SellId ProductName Comment
1 Cake dasd
2 Cake dasdasd
3 Bread dasdasdd
where the Product Name is not unique. I want the query to return a single record per ProductName with results like:
SellId ProductName Comment
1 Cake dasd
3 Bread dasdasdd
I have tried this query,
Select distict ProductName,Comment ,SellId from TBL#Sells
but it is returning multiple records with the same ProductName. My table is not realy as simple as this, this is just a sample. What is the solution? Is it clear?

Answer 1

Select ProductName,
min(Comment) , min(SellId) from TBL#Sells
group by ProductName
If y ou only want one record per productname, you ofcourse have to choose what value you want for the other fields.
If you aggregate (using group by) you can choose an aggregate function,
htat's a function that takes a list of values and return only one : here I have chosen MIN : that is the smallest walue for each field.
NOTE : comment and sellid can come from different records, since MIN is taken...
Othter aggregates you might find useful :
FIRST : first record encountered
LAST : last record encoutered
AVG : average
COUNT : number of records
first/last have the advantage that all fields are from the same record.

Answer 2

SELECT S.ProductName, S.Comment, S.SellId
FROM
Sells S
JOIN (SELECT MAX(SellId)
FROM Sells
GROUP BY ProductName) AS TopSell ON TopSell.SellId = S.SellId
This will get the latest comment as your selected comment assuming that SellId is an auto-incremented identity that goes up.

Answer 3

I know, you've got an answer already, I'd like to offer a way that was fastest in terms of performance for me, in a similar situation. I'm assuming that SellId is Primary Key and identity. You'd want an index on ProductName for best performance.
select
Sells.*
from
(
select
distinct ProductName
from
Sells
) x
join
Sells
on
Sells.ProductName = x.ProductName
and Sells.SellId =
(
select
top 1 s2.SellId
from
Sells s2
where
x.ProductName = s2.ProductName
Order By SellId
)
A slower method, (but still better than Group By and MIN on a long char column) is this:
select
*
from
(
select
*,ROW_NUMBER() over (PARTITION BY ProductName order by SellId) OccurenceId
from sells
) x
where
OccurenceId = 1
An advantage of this one is that it's much easier to read.

Answer 4

create table Sale
(
SaleId int not null
constraint PK_Sale primary key,
ProductName varchar(100) not null,
Comment varchar(100) not null
)
insert Sale
values
(1, 'Cake', 'dasd'),
(2, 'Cake', 'dasdasd'),
(3, 'Bread', 'dasdasdd')
-- Option #1 with over()
select *
from Sale
where SaleId in
(
select SaleId
from
(
select SaleId, row_number() over(partition by ProductName order by SaleId) RowNumber
from Sale
) tt
where RowNumber = 1
)
order by SaleId
-- Option #2
select *
from Sale
where SaleId in
(
select min(SaleId)
from Sale
group by ProductName
)
order by SaleId
drop table Sale