Dates

This collection of SQL artefacts can be used to randomly generate date values, either singularly or in batches of up to 10000 values.

Reference data.

Bulk procedures described below generate values based on the values in [Reference].[Number]. This table can be populated by executing the procedure [Reference].[usp_Populate_Number].

Procedures and functions

[SingleValue].[ufn_Get_Date]

This function will return a random date value. As a function; this method can be used to easily assign a value to an variable, or to update a field on a table.

This function has the following input parameters:

Parameter	Data Type	Default Value
@MinDate	date	None
@MaxDate	date	None

Example usages:

Declare	@Date date

Select @Date = [SingleValue].[ufn_Get_Date] ('2020-01-01','2020-12-31')

[SingleValue].[usp_Get_Date]

This procedure will return a random date value. The generated value is returned via the output parameter @Date, and so can be captured in a variable or passed back to a calling application.

Parameter	Data Type	Default Value	Direction
@MinDate	date	None	Input
@MaxDate	date	None	Input
@Date	date	None	Ouptut

Example usages:

Declare @MinDate date, @MaxDate date, @NewDate date
Select	@MinDate = '1980-01-01',
	@MaxDate = getdate()

exec [SingleValue].usp_Get_Date @MinDate, @MaxDate, @NewDate out

[BulkValue].[usp_Get_Date]

This procedure will return up to 10000 random date values. This procedure has the following input parameter:

Parameter	Data Type	Default Value
@MinDate	date	None
@MaxDate	date	None
@QuantityRequired	smallint	None

A recordset with the following structure is returned:

Field Name	Data Type
DateValue	date

This method is useful for inserting bulk data directly in to a table, or as an ETL source.

Example Usage:

Declare @MinDate date, @MaxDate date, @QuantityRequired smallint
Select	@MinDate = '1980-01-01',
	@MaxDate = getdate(),
	@QuantityRequired = 1000

exec BulkValue.usp_Get_Date @MinDate, @MaxDate, @QuantityRequired