Programmatically building SQL Query R/Shiny/RODBC - r

Question

I'm building a SQL Query statement using inputDateRange() in R/Shiny. My issue is in handling various strings to include the dates into the WHERE condition of the SQL:
Here is my code:
t.query <- paste0("Select [sensor_name], [temperature] from [dbo].
[temperature_sensor] where network_id = '24162' and date > "
, sQuote(format(input$my.dateRange[1], format="%d-%m-%Y"))
, " and date < "
, sQuote(format(input$my.dateRange[2], format="%d-%m-%Y"))
)
Now the statement closes with a single quote and I receive the error below:
42000 102 [Microsoft][ODBC Driver 13 for SQL Server][SQL
Server]Incorrect syntax near '‘'. [RODBC] ERROR: Could not
SQLExecDirect 'Select [sensor_name], [temperature] from
[dbo].[temperature_sensor] where network_id = '24162' and date >
‘18-09-2017’ and date < ‘22-09-2017’'
I need to close the string with " as I started it in "select ...., I tried to explicitly add """ or dQuote("") to concatenate " but I'm still encountering an error.
Any advice is highly appreciated?

Answer 1

I'd recommend using RODBCext, which will allow you to parameterize your query as
library(RODBCext)
channel <- odbcConnect(...) # make your connection object here
Data <-
sqlExecute(channel = channel,
query = "Select [sensor_name], [temperature]
from [dbo].[temperature_sensor]
where network_id = ? and date between ? and ?",
data = list('24162',
format(input$my.dateRange[1],
format = "%Y-%m-%d"),
format(input$my.dateRange[2],
format = "%Y-%m-%d")),
fetch = TRUE,
stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
This approach has a lot of advantages, including removing the frustration of matching quotes (which you shouldn't do because of the next reason), and protecting your data against SQL injection.