Sql-server – Check constraint only one of three columns is non-null

constraintsql server

I have a (SQL Server) table that contains 3 types of results: FLOAT, NVARCHAR(30), or DATETIME (3 separate columns). I want to ensure that for any given row, only one column has a result and the other columns are NULL. What is the simplest check constraint to achieve this?

The context for this is trying to retrofit the ability to capture non-numeric results into an existing system. Adding two new columns to the table with a constraint to prevent more than one result per row was the most economical approach, not necessarily the correct one.

Update: Sorry, data type snafu. Sadly I wasn't intending the result types indicated to be interpreted as SQL Server datatypes, just generic terms, fixed now.

Best Answer

The following should do the trick:

CREATE TABLE MyTable (col1 FLOAT NULL, col2 NVARCHAR(30) NULL, col3 DATETIME NULL);
GO

ALTER TABLE MyTable
ADD CONSTRAINT CheckOnlyOneColumnIsNull
CHECK 
(
    ( CASE WHEN col1 IS NULL THEN 0 ELSE 1 END
    + CASE WHEN col2 IS NULL THEN 0 ELSE 1 END
    + CASE WHEN col3 IS NULL THEN 0 ELSE 1 END
    ) = 1
)
GO
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