rank query in sql server 2000

Question

I am trying to create a query that will bring the last STATUS of a JOB_ID, this would be simple in SQL Server 2008 using the rank over partition function, but on SQL Server 2000 this function is not available. I have managed to put the job history in order by Job_ID ascending and DATETIME descening in a temporary table ( #JOB_HISTORY -note that the pk_ID is generated in the temporary table using: IDENTITY(int, 1,1) ), but here is the part where I got stuck, I dont know how to rank the records in this table.

SELECT 
  h1.pk_ID,
  h1.Job_ID,
  h1.Status,
  h1.DATETIME
FROM #JOB_HISTORY h1
ORDER BY h1.pk_ID ASC;

#JOB_HISTORY RESULT:

pk_ID,  Job_ID, STATUS,         DATETIME

1       1234    Succeded.       2015-03-30 12:10
2       1234    Failed.         2015-03-30 01:00
3       1234    Failed.         2015-03-28 01:00
4       5678    Failed.         2015-04-02 04:00
5       5678    Succeded.       2015-04-01 04:00
6       5678    Succeded.       2015-03-31 04:00

DESIRED OUTPUT:

Job_ID    STATUS       DATETIME
1234      Succeded.    2015-03-30 12:10
5678      Failed.      2015-04-02 04:00

Answer 1

SQL Server has freedom to insert records in any order it wants, so I wouldn't trust IDENTITY(int, 1,1) to always give you the right sequence. It may work in some versions though.

You could inner join a sub query where you get the max datetime (or min pk_ID) to get the first/last rows. Here's a working example for getting the last outcome of each job in SQL Server 2000:

use msdb;

select
    sysjobhistory.job_id                            as  job_id
    --  https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174997.aspx
,   case    sysjobhistory.run_status
        when    0   then    'Failed'
        when    1   then    'Succeeded'
        when    2   then    'Retry'
        when    3   then    'Canceled'
        else                cast(sysjobhistory.run_status as varchar(10))
    end                                             as  run_status
,   jobLastHistory.lastDateTime                     as  execution_time
FROM    dbo.sysjobhistory   as  sysjobhistory
    inner join (
        --last datetime for each job_id
        SELECT
            history.job_id
        ,   max(                                        --newest
                CONVERT(DATETIME, STUFF(STUFF(STUFF(    --yyyymmddhhmiss --> datetime
                    cast(history.run_date as varchar(8))--yyyymmdd
                    +right('000000'+cast(history.run_time as varchar(8)),6) --hhmiss
                ,13,0,':'),11,0,':'),9,0,' '))  
            )                                           AS  lastDateTime
        FROM    dbo.sysjobhistory   as  history
        where   history.step_id =   0   --job outcome
        group by
            history.job_id
    )   as  jobLastHistory
        on  jobLastHistory.job_id   
            =   sysjobhistory.job_id    --same job
        and convert(varchar(8),jobLastHistory.lastDateTime,112)
            =   sysjobhistory.run_date  --latest date (yyyymmdd)
        and replace(convert(varchar(8),jobLastHistory.lastDateTime,108),':','') 
            =   sysjobhistory.run_time  --latest time (hhmiss)
where   sysjobhistory.step_id   =   0   --job outcome
;