How to create a table using "With" clause in SQL

Question

I'm attempting to create a persistent table using the WITH clause however, I'm getting an error.

For context the answer that I currently find is

CREATE TABLE my_table
AS 
WITH my_tables_data AS ( 
   SELECT another_table.data1 AS some_value 
   FROM another_table
) 
SELECT * 
FROM some_data; 

However, I am getting an error

Msg 319, Level 15, State 1, Line 5 Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'with'. If this statement is a common table expression, an xmlnamespaces clause or a change tracking context clause, the previous statement must be terminated with a semicolon.

My code is

CREATE TABLE SalesOrdersPerYear  
WITH t1 AS (
    -- Define the CTE expression name and column list.  
    WITH Sales_CTE (SalesPersonID, BaseSalary)  
    AS  
    -- Define the CTE query.  
    (  
        SELECT SALES_PERSON.SALES_PERSON_ID, SALES_PERSON.BASE_SALARY  
        FROM SALES_PERSON  
        WHERE SALES_PERSON_ID IS NOT NULL  
    )  
    -- Define the outer query referencing the CTE name.  
    SELECT SalesPersonID, BaseSalary AS TotalSales  
    FROM Sales_CTE   
    ORDER BY SalesPersonID, BaseSalary;  
)

Would anyone be able to provide some guidance on this?

Many thanks in advance!

Answer 1

This is not valid syntax for sql server. you can either create a table using CREATE TABLE and specifying the column names and types, or you can do a SELECT INTO statement including data.

Approach 1 : Create the table and then populate:

CREATE TABLE SalesOrdersPerYear 
( SalesPersonID int, BaseSalary float)
;

WITH Sales_CTE (SalesPersonID, BaseSalary)  
AS  
(  
    SELECT SALES_PERSON.SALES_PERSON_ID, SALES_PERSON.BASE_SALARY  
    FROM SALES_PERSON  
    WHERE SALES_PERSON_ID IS NOT NULL 
)  
insert into SalesOrdersPerYear  
SELECT SalesPersonID, BaseSalary AS TotalSales  
FROM Sales_CTE   
ORDER BY SalesPersonID, BaseSalary;  

Approach 2 - all in one step

WITH Sales_CTE (SalesPersonID, BaseSalary)  
AS  
(  
    SELECT SALES_PERSON.SALES_PERSON_ID, SALES_PERSON.BASE_SALARY  
    FROM SALES_PERSON  
    WHERE SALES_PERSON_ID IS NOT NULL 
)  
select  SalesPersonID, BaseSalary AS TotalSales  
into SalesOrdersPerYear
FROM Sales_CTE   
ORDER BY SalesPersonID, BaseSalary;  

Use approach 1 when you need to specify more about the table (primary keys, indexes, foregin keys etc.

Use approach 2 for things that are more temporary. (you would normally use a temporary table such as #SalesOrdersPerYear here).

Either way, the data is now stored in your table, and you can use it again.

Using temporary tables:

-- Check for existence and drop first to avoid errors if it already exists.
if OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#SalesOrdersPerYear') is not null
    drop table #SalesOrdersPerYear

WITH Sales_CTE (SalesPersonID, BaseSalary)  
AS  
(  
    SELECT SALES_PERSON.SALES_PERSON_ID, SALES_PERSON.BASE_SALARY  
    FROM SALES_PERSON  
    WHERE SALES_PERSON_ID IS NOT NULL 
)  
select  SalesPersonID, BaseSalary AS TotalSales  
into #SalesOrdersPerYear
FROM Sales_CTE   
ORDER BY SalesPersonID, BaseSalary;  

You could also define it as a table variable, which is a bit of a cross between the approaches:

declare @SalesOrdersPerYear table
( SalesPersonID int, BaseSalary float)
;

WITH Sales_CTE (SalesPersonID, BaseSalary)  
AS  
(  
    SELECT SALES_PERSON.SALES_PERSON_ID, SALES_PERSON.BASE_SALARY  
    FROM SALES_PERSON  
    WHERE SALES_PERSON_ID IS NOT NULL 
)  
insert into @SalesOrdersPerYear  
SELECT SalesPersonID, BaseSalary AS TotalSales  
FROM Sales_CTE   
ORDER BY SalesPersonID, BaseSalary;  

This option will only persist with this batch, and does not need dropping - just like any other variable.