Non-Standard Time format

Question

SS2008 R2
I have to store and manipulate data from a new phone system.  Some of the columns are "Time" interval.  So while they behave like a SS "Time" data type they can hold a value greater than 24 hours (ex. 25:10:33) . 
This causes SS to blow, of course. 
So I was wondering how I should handle this.  I thought about storing the value as a string, and using a group of functions or stored procs or views to interpret the string in a way that the users can still report the numbers.  dd:hh:mm:ss 
. Or perhaps interpret the string as the row is stored and store it elsewhere.
But I am not sure.
Any suggestions?
Michael

Answer 1

That's not a time by SQL Server definitions. It's only ever going to be a string. You can fix it with this:
DECLARE @dodgyTimeStrings TABLE (timestring VARCHAR(10))
INSERT INTO @dodgyTimeStrings (timestring)
VALUES ('25:58:23'),('23:58:23'),('99:58:23'),('24:58:23')
SELECT *,
CASE WHEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) > 23 THEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) / 24 ELSE 0 END AS timeDays,
CASE WHEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) > 23 THEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) % 24 ELSE LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) END AS timeHours,
SUBSTRING(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)+1,2) AS timeMinutes,
RIGHT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',REVERSE(timestring))-1) AS timeSeconds
FROM @dodgyTimeStrings
Just fix it on import, and do with it as you must. For example, adding the value to a startDateTime type column:
DECLARE @dodgyTimeStrings TABLE (timestring VARCHAR(10), startDateTime datetime)
INSERT INTO @dodgyTimeStrings (timestring, startDateTime)
VALUES ('25:58:23','2014-07-01 18:00:00.00'),('23:58:23','2014-07-01 18:00:00.00'),('99:58:23','2014-07-01 18:00:00.00'),('24:58:23','2014-07-01 18:00:00.00')
SELECT *, DATEADD(SECOND,timeDurationSeconds,startDateTime)
FROM (
SELECT *,
CASE WHEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) > 23 THEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) / 24 ELSE 0 END AS timeDays,
CASE WHEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) > 23 THEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) % 24 ELSE LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) END AS timeHours,
SUBSTRING(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)+1,2) AS timeMinutes,
RIGHT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',REVERSE(timestring))-1) AS timeSeconds,
((CASE WHEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) > 23 THEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) / 24 ELSE 0 END * 24) * 3600) +
(CASE WHEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) > 23 THEN LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) % 24 ELSE LEFT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)-1) END * 3600) +
(SUBSTRING(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',timestring)+1,2) * 60) +
RIGHT(timestring,CHARINDEX(':',REVERSE(timestring))-1) AS timeDurationSeconds
FROM @dodgyTimeStrings) a