Description: If you want to supply a parameter value once and use it multiple times within a query, put it in the FROM clause with an appropriate CAST.
Keywords: VALUES clause, power of, Using a supplied parameter multiple times in a query

# Supplying a parameter only once

If you want to supply a parameter value once and use it multiple times within a query, put it in the FROM clause with an appropriate CAST.

    SELECT  phonebook.*
    	FROM phonebook, (VALUES (CAST(? AS INT), CAST(? AS VARCHAR(255))))
    						AS Choice(choice, search_string)
    	WHERE search_string = (case when choice = 1 then firstnme
                     when choice=2 then lastname
    						when choice=3 then phonenumber end);

This query selects what the second parameter will be compared to based on the value in the first parameter. Putting the parameters in the FROM clause means that they need to be applied only once to the query, and you can give them names so that you can refer to them elsewhere in the query. In the example above, the first parameter is given the name choice, and the second parameter is given the name search_string.

Parent topic: SQL tips
Related concepts
Retrieving the database connection URL
Defining an identity column
Using third-party tools
Tricks of the VALUES clause