Getting dynamically values separated by commas

Hi there,

In a query, imagine you need to get the values separated by commas in a dynamic column where you have sometimes four, five or six values.

Let me show you:

--declare @core_value varchar(200) = 'microwave,oven,dish_washer,refrigerated,pressure_cooker,steamer';
declare @core_value varchar(200) = 'microwave,oven,dish_washer,refrigerated';


--getting the number of commas plus 1 in order to know in advance how many values need to split out
SELECT (LEN(@core_value) - LEN(REPLACE(@core_value, ',', ''))) + 1  as Number_of_Times

SELECT dbo.GetColumnValue(@core_value, ',', 1) as Product_Support_Devices1
,dbo.GetColumnValue(@core_value, ',', 2) as Product_Support_Devices2
,dbo.GetColumnValue(@core_value, ',', 3) as Product_Support_Devices3
,dbo.GetColumnValue(@core_value, ',', 4) as Product_Support_Devices4
,dbo.GetColumnValue(@core_value, ',', 5) as Product_Support_Devices5
,dbo.GetColumnValue(@core_value, ',', 6) as Product_Support_Devices6

If you run the above query you will get "Product_Support_Devices5" and "Product_Support_Devices6" with fake values, in fact they don't exist, however the UDF (below) extract a value not a NULL

UDF am I using:

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.GetColumnValue(
    @String VARCHAR(MAX),
    @Delimiter CHAR(1),
    @Column INT = 1
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
AS    
BEGIN
DECLARE @idx INT
DECLARE @slice VARChar(MAX)     
SELECT @idx = 1     
    IF LEN(@String)<1 OR @String IS NULL
        RETURN NULL
DECLARE @ColCnt INT
    SET @ColCnt = 1
WHILE (@idx != 0)
BEGIN    
    SET @idx = CHARINDEX(@Delimiter,@String)     
    IF @idx!=0 
    BEGIN
        IF (@ColCnt = @Column) 
            RETURN LEFT(@String,@idx - 1)        
        SET @ColCnt = @ColCnt + 1
    END
    SET @String = RIGHT(@String,LEN(@String) - @idx)     
    IF LEN(@String) = 0 BREAK
END
RETURN @String  
END

So the idea is getting real values not repeated ones

Thanks for your inputs/hints

Enric