Max [date] from DIFFERENT columns?

Hi,
I have a table in which there are several date columns recording different
event points occuring to a record (e.g., date opened, date action-1, etc).
I need to find the most recent date (MAX(date-n)) from across all these
columns to compare with a final closure date.
Is there a (simple/sensible) mechanism that makes this possible?
I have considered using IF/ELSE to try and determine if one is later than
the other, but this seems like a no-go (too complex to implement sensibly).
CASE statement instead maybe?
Any pointers gratefully received...Thx
Al
Alec,
If you do not have a lot of columns, you can use the following approach:
Please let me kow if it helps...
-- BEGIN SCRIPT
declare @.table table
(RecordID int
, Created datetime
, Opened datetime
, Updated datetime
)
insert into @.table
values (1, getdate(), getdate()+ .10, getdate()+.15)
insert into @.table
values (2, getdate()+.3, getdate()+ .40, getdate()+.45)
-- Preview of the table
select * from @.table
-- Actual query
select RecordID
, MAX(ActionDate) LatestActionDate
from(
select RecordId
, Created ActionDate
, 'Created' Action
from @.table
union
select RecordId
, Opened ActionDate
, 'Opened' Action
from @.table
union
select RecordId
, Updated ActionDate
, 'Updated' Action
from @.table
) t1
group by RecordID
-- END SCRIPT
"Alec MacLean" wrote:

> Hi,
> I have a table in which there are several date columns recording different
> event points occuring to a record (e.g., date opened, date action-1, etc).
> I need to find the most recent date (MAX(date-n)) from across all these
> columns to compare with a final closure date.
> Is there a (simple/sensible) mechanism that makes this possible?
> I have considered using IF/ELSE to try and determine if one is later than
> the other, but this seems like a no-go (too complex to implement sensibly).
> CASE statement instead maybe?
> Any pointers gratefully received...Thx
> Al
>
>