SQL Server 2008 Hierarchies and HierarchyID

Here are some notes on "SQL Server 2008 Hierarchies and HierarchyID" I took while attending an advanced class on SQL Server taught by Paul Nielsen (from https://www.sqlserverbible.com).

Please note that, although these notes were taken during the class, I might have added some of my own (mis)interpretation :-). Always check your facts on Books Online (I try to provide links when applicable). As with anything else you get from a blog, never use any of this in production before you thoroughly validate it a test environment. Please keep in mind that some of those will be hard to follow without some pre-requisite knowledge and the right context. Reading the post from top to bottom will help.

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Hierarchies

• Use cases: Hierarchy, graphs (many to many), XML indexing
• Adjacency Lists: Species trees, directory folders, simple org charts
• Dual parent adjacency list: Genealogies
• Multiple Cardinality: Bill of materials, complex org charts
• See https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb677290.aspx

Adjacency pairs

• Case: ManagerID in person table (AdventureWorks, 2005 or earlier)
• Usually implemented as column pointing to PK on same table
• Easy to find one level up or down, easy to reparent (replace manager)
• Can leverage Recursive CTEs, user-defined functions

Bill of Materials

• Case: Keeping track of all parts, subparts required to build a device
• Case: Classes are pre-requisites to multiple other classes
• m:m adjacency pairs
• Typically implemented as an associative table
• Can leverage user-defined functions

Materialized Path

• Absolute path for row stored in database
• Usually implemented as a text column in the table, using some sort of delimiter.
• Example: 1 - 1.1 - 1.1.1 - 1.1.2 - 1.2 - 1.3 - 1.3.1
• Example: /A - /B - /B/C - /B/D - /B/D/E - /B/D/F - /G
• Easy to store as primary key, search all levels, difficult to reparent, fast queries
• User-defined function to calculate materialized path (could be used in index)
• You could also have the parent ID in parallel (use both at once)

HierarchyID

• Like a materialized path: easy to search all levels, difficult to reparent
• Easier to use as compound key
• Example: /1/ - /1/1/ - /1/1/1/ - /1/2/
• Compact design: CLR Data Type (SQLTypes library – SQLHierarchyID)
• Used by SQL Server 2008 in the “hid” field in XML Indexing
• See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc794278.aspx

HierarchyID - Methods

• GetRoot, GetAncestor, GetDescendant
• GetLevel, IsDescendantOf, GetReparentedValue
• ToString, Parse, Read, Write
• See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb677193.aspx

HierarchyID – Indexing

• Index by Node – Index on (HierarchyID)
• Index by Level – Index on (Level[persisted], HierarchyID)

Hierarchy – Demo – Adjacency Pairs

• Putting ManagerID back in AdventureWorks2008
• OrganizationNode is HierarchyID in HumanResources.Employee table
• Self-join on M.OrganizationNode = E.OrganizationNode.GetAncestor(1)
• See https://sqlblog.com/blogs/paul_nielsen/archive/2008/10/03/recursive-ctes-in-adventureworks-2008.aspx
• Watching out for runaway loops (similar to deadlock detection).

Hierarchy – Demo – Materialized Path

• Creating a column, storing the hierarchy
• Querying in multiple ways, using functions
• Storing the Level in an index, querying by level

Hierarchy – Demo – HierachyID

• Using AdventureWorks2008, which uses OrganizationalNode, which is a HierarchyID
• Looking at it as binary, .ToString.
• Querying based on a string (no need to convert to binary)
• Query a node to @Manager, querying all nodes under @Manager using .IsDescendentOf
• How to insert – Use HierarchyID::GetRoot() or manager.GetDescendant(...)

Read more at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721270.aspx
(includes other topics, search for HierarchyID)