Creating VB code to increment the number of fields in an MSSQL create table statement

hello everyone,

i have an SQL statement which i need to code in vb:

create table r2 (salesno bigint, prodno1 bigint ,prodno2 bigint )

insert into r2

select p.salesNo, p.prodNo, q.prodNo

from salesLog as p, salesLog as q

where q.salesNo = p.salesNo and q.prodNo>p.prodNo

notice the fields prodno1 and prodno2 in the table structure..

this is part of a number of sql statements i need to run and put inside a loop. my problem is i want to automatically use this same code such that on the next loop, this sql statement is going to be:

create table r3 (salesno bigint, prodno1 bigint ,prodno2 bigint, prodno3 bigint)

insert into r3
select p.salesNo, p.prodNo1, p.prodNo2, q.prodNo
from l2 as p, salesLog as q
where q.salesNo = p.salesNo and q.prodNo>p.prodNo2

Note that in this "2nd loop"

- the table name is now r3 from r2 in the first SQL statement
- there are now prodno1, prodno2 and prodno3 instead of just prodno1 and prodno2
- in the WHERE clause, the p.prodNo becomes p.prodNo2

and so on and so forth.. so for the 3rd loop

- there's going to be r4
- there's going to be prodno4
- in the WHERE clause i will use p.prodNo3

what should i do? is there an array or something that i can use here?

thank you in advance.

You should review your table structure. In my opinion it's always a bad idea to alter table structure from code, particularly in a loop.

You are probably looking for the traditional master/detail table structure, google for some table join tutorials at sites like www.w3schools.com

thank you for your reply, i really appreciate it. let me just clarify a few things about my problem. i don't actually intend to alter the table structure.

i would like to first create a table named r2, then on the third loop, automate the creation of another table named r3 with a little difference. so there are two tables created, the second with an additional field.

on the third loop, it will create a third table r4, then with similar structure (just a difference of one more field).. and so on...

here is the algorithm of my SQL:

k = 1
C1 = generate counts from R1
repeat
k = k + 1
INSERT INTO R!k
SELECT p.Id, p.Item1, …, p.Itemk-1, q.Item
FROM Rk-1 AS p, TransactionTable as q
WHERE q.Id = p.Id AND
q.Item > p.Itemk-1
.
.
until Rk = {}