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SQL Server function to return minimum date (January 1, 1753)

Answer 1

A:

You could write a User Defined Function that returns the min date value like this:

select cast(-53690 as datetime)

Then use that function in your scripts, and if you ever need to change it, there is only one place to do that.

RedFilter 2010-09-29 21:15:07

I was hoping to avoid writing my own, but it looks like that is my only option.

Jeremy 2010-09-29 21:24:12

If you're going to have an arbitrary constant, `'1753-1-1'` is much better than `-53690`

Gabe 2010-09-30 05:39:13

@Gabe: Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Coming back to the script, I would have no idea what -53690 means.

Jeremy 2010-09-30 12:56:03

The function name would make obvious the meaning of the value.

RedFilter 2010-09-30 12:59:29

Answer 2

A:

Have you seen the SqlDateTime object? use SqlDateTime.MinValue to get your minimum date (Jan 1 1973).

Naeem Sarfraz 2010-09-29 21:18:20

This needs to be a SQL function, not a .NET function.

Jeremy 2010-09-29 21:21:35

Answer 3

+1 A:

The range for datetime will not change, as that would break backward compatibility. So you can hard code it.

Andomar 2010-09-29 21:31:46

That is true, but it would still be nice to call GetMinDate() or something like that instead of CONVERT(datetime, '1753-1-1') wherever I needed to use it.

Jeremy 2010-09-30 12:59:27

@Jeremy: I know what `convert` does, but for `GetMinDate()` I'd have to dive into the function definition. So if I had to maintain your code, I'd prefer the `convert` variant.

Andomar 2010-09-30 13:16:55

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SQL Server function to return minimum date (January 1, 1753)

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