Query Works in SQL 2000 but not in SQL 2005

The following query works in SQL Server 2000 but gives follwoing error in SQL Server 2005

Msg 8114, Level 16, State 5, Line 1

Error converting data type varchar to float.

=======================

SELECT DISTINCT VWCONTACT.[ID] ID
FROM VWCONTACT
WHERE VWCONTACT.ACCOUNTID = 2615
AND VWCONTACT.VIRTUALDELETIONDATE IS NULL
AND VWCONTACT.EMAIL LIKE '%@.%'
AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT VWCONTACT.ID
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT VWCONTACT.[ID] ID
FROM VWCONTACT
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) >= 77002) TMP0
ON VWCONTACT.ID = TMP0.CONTACTID
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) <= 77099) TMP1
ON VWCONTACT.ID = TMP1.CONTACTID
WHERE VWCONTACT.ACCOUNTID = 2615
AND VWCONTACT.VIRTUALDELETIONDATE IS NULL ) NESTEDQUERY1
WHERE VWCONTACT.ID = NESTEDQUERY1.ID)
AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT VWCONTACT.ID
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT VWCONTACT.[ID] ID
FROM VWCONTACT
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77336)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77338)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77345)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77365)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77396)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77489)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77504)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77598)) ATTR
ON ATTR.CONTACTID = VWCONTACT.ID
WHERE VWCONTACT.ACCOUNTID = 2615
AND VWCONTACT.VIRTUALDELETIONDATE IS NULL ) NESTEDQUERY1
WHERE VWCONTACT.ID = NESTEDQUERY1.ID)
AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT VWCONTACT.ID
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT VWCONTACT.[ID] ID
FROM VWCONTACT
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 23102
AND ATTRIBUTEVALUE = 'Houston') TMP0
ON VWCONTACT.ID = TMP0.CONTACTID
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22944
AND ATTRIBUTEVALUE = 'TX') TMP1
ON VWCONTACT.ID = TMP1.CONTACTID
WHERE VWCONTACT.ACCOUNTID = 2615
AND VWCONTACT.VIRTUALDELETIONDATE IS NULL ) NESTEDQUERY1
WHERE VWCONTACT.ID = NESTEDQUERY1.ID)

when I modify the query like the following in SQL Server 2005 it works. Now the problem is since it is adynamically generated query from our application based on users selection of criteria, it means a lot to us to change the code.

PLEASE HELP....

=====================================================

SELECT DISTINCT VWCONTACT.[ID] ID
FROM VWCONTACT
WHERE VWCONTACT.ACCOUNTID = 2615
AND VWCONTACT.VIRTUALDELETIONDATE IS NULL
AND VWCONTACT.EMAIL LIKE '%@.%'

EXCEPT

((SELECT DISTINCT VWCONTACT.[ID] ID
FROM VWCONTACT
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) >= 77002) TMP0
ON VWCONTACT.ID = TMP0.CONTACTID
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) <= 77099) TMP1
ON VWCONTACT.ID = TMP1.CONTACTID
WHERE VWCONTACT.ACCOUNTID = 2615
AND VWCONTACT.VIRTUALDELETIONDATE IS NULL )
UNION
(SELECT DISTINCT VWCONTACT.[ID] ID
FROM VWCONTACT
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77336)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77338)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77345)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77365)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77396)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77489)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77504)
OR (CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22943
AND ISNUMERIC(ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 1
AND CONVERT(float,ATTRIBUTEVALUE) = 77598)) ATTR
ON ATTR.CONTACTID = VWCONTACT.ID
WHERE VWCONTACT.ACCOUNTID = 2615
AND VWCONTACT.VIRTUALDELETIONDATE IS NULL )
UNION
(SELECT DISTINCT VWCONTACT.[ID] ID
FROM VWCONTACT
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 23102
AND ATTRIBUTEVALUE = 'Houston') TMP0
ON VWCONTACT.ID = TMP0.CONTACTID
JOIN (SELECT CONTACTID
FROM VWCONTACTATTRIBUTEVALUE
WHERE CONTACTATTRIBUTEID = 22944
AND ATTRIBUTEVALUE = 'TX') TMP1
ON VWCONTACT.ID = TMP1.CONTACTID
WHERE VWCONTACT.ACCOUNTID = 2615
AND VWCONTACT.VIRTUALDELETIONDATE IS NULL ))

This is not a bug. This is due to the order in which certain expressions are evaluated. The query optimizer is free to move expressions around to determine the optimum plan. You could get this error in SQL Server 2000 also but it is more easy to hit in SQL Server 2005 due to newer optimizations to match computed column indexes/indexed views. This is documented in the behavior changes topic in BOL. See the link below and search for "Expressions in queries":

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143359(SQL.90).aspx

Basically, you need to use CASE expression in all the places where you are doing the CONVERT(float) with ISNUMERIC check in the WHEN clause. You will of course get slightly bad performance due to the complexity of the expressions. The correct approach however is to normalize the table and not mix different data domains in the same column.

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One of my biggest concerns is that in SQL Server 2000 compatibility mode the behaviour is different to SQL Server 2005.

Also, it would be really useful if there were a simple keyword which would switch off some of the query optimisation.