There are many examples of user defined table functions generating the series of dates(times) between two specified values. Usually, in OLAP you can see a table filled by the date/time series, too. Such table avoid to generate the values "on the fly".

However, in some cases you may be unable to use an UDF or a table. Fortunately, "pure SQL" method still works.

Suppose, the start and finish dates are specified as entry parameters. The transact SQL code below generates the series "moth by month".

It's pretty easy on SQL Server but pay attention to the database/server rights of used connection. Usually, the preparing like sp_configure requires a system administrator privileges.

Let's see one simple example showing how the methods and the languages of graphical user interface (GUI) description are progressing (or regressing, it depends) during the last 15-20 years.

The primitive form description requires:

The one of the most frequent asked question in database development is "How to filter the data returned by a query according to some user selected criteria?". To complete the solution with dynamic ordering see my other blog post.

For every method template I will add icons indicating corresponding advantages and drawbacks.

The rand() Transact SQL function produces a sequence of same numbers in the query. For example: