sql select query with column 'AS' assignment

DzZero wrote:

Not sure if this is the right newsgroup to use. I did not see a general
one or sql statement one for postgres. Please point me to the correct
location if this is wrong and I apologize for the off topic if it is.

I am attempting to do a select in which I force an existing
column(field) to a specific value. I need to do so in order to group
data properly.

ie:
agi_timesheets=# select distinct
employee_id,first_name,last_name,date,sum(hours),"R" as job_code from
timesheet group by employee_id,first_name,last_name,date having job_code
<> 'H' and job_code <> 'V' and date >= '01-01-2002' and date <=
'01-15-2002';
ERROR: Attribute 'R' not found

agi_timesheets=# select distinct
employee_id,first_name,last_name,date,sum(hours),job_code AS "R" from
timesheet group by employee_id,first_name,last_name,date having job_code
<> 'H' and job_code <> 'V' and date >= '01-01-2002' and date <=
'01-15-2002';
ERROR: Attribute timesheet.job_code must be GROUPed or used in an
aggregate function

agi_timesheets=# select distinct
employee_id,first_name,last_name,date,sum(hours),job_code AS 'R' from
timesheet group by employee_id,first_name,last_name,date having job_code
<> 'H' and job_code <> 'V' and date >= '01-01-2002' and date <=
'01-15-2002';
ERROR: parser: parse error at or near "'"

agi_timesheets=# select distinct
employee_id,first_name,last_name,date,sum(hours),job_code = 'R' from
timesheet group by employee_id,first_name,last_name,date having job_code
<> 'H' and job_code <> 'V' and date >= '01-01-2002' and date <=
'01-15-2002';
ERROR: Attribute timesheet.job_code must be GROUPed or used in an
aggregate function

etc. etc. etc. I have tried all possible combinations (or I think so)
of "R", 'R', R using = or AS on either side of job_code. Nothing seems
to work.

Several of these combinations work in MySQL, Access, and Oracle. Or at
least according to those online I have spoke to they do.

Can any explain to me what I am doing wrong? If this is possible in
PostgreSQL? Or the proper way of doing this? Or even a source of
information that explains it. The closest source I found was obviously
the psql documentation but I have yet to find a specific example of what
I am doing.

Thanks.

BTW.If I group by job_code on the last statement I posted it does so but
it groups them as if job_code has the orginal values in it. Also I end
up with something like:

employee_id | first_name | last_name | date | sum | ?column?
-------------+------------+------------+------------+-----+----------
7 | Larry | James | 2002-01-02 | 8 | f

I'm lost. heh

On Fri, 1 Feb 2002, DzZero wrote:

DzZero wrote:

Several of these combinations work in MySQL, Access, and Oracle. Or at
least according to those online I have spoke to they do.

Can any explain to me what I am doing wrong? If this is possible in
PostgreSQL? Or the proper way of doing this? Or even a source of
information that explains it. The closest source I found was obviously
the psql documentation but I have yet to find a specific example of what
I am doing.

Thanks.

BTW.If I group by job_code on the last statement I posted it does so but
it groups them as if job_code has the orginal values in it. Also I end
up with something like:

employee_id | first_name | last_name | date | sum | ?column?
-------------+------------+------------+------------+-----+----------
7 | Larry | James | 2002-01-02 | 8 | f

I'm lost. heh

IIRC the grouping happens on the stuff from the from,
not from the select list. If you want to do this, you'd probably need
a subselect in the from.

As for the above, the job_code='R' is a boolean expression (is job_code
equal to R?)

agi_timesheets=# select distinct
employee_id,first_name,last_name,date,sum(hours),job_code = 'R' from
timesheet group by employee_id,first_name,last_name,date having job_code
<> 'H' and job_code <> 'V' and date >= '01-01-2002' and date <=
'01-15-2002';
ERROR: Attribute timesheet.job_code must be GROUPed or used in an
aggregate function

I'm not 100% sure what you're trying to get out, but maybe:
select employee_id, first_name, last_name, date, sum(hours), job_code
from
(select employee_id, first_name, last_name, date, hours, 'R' AS job_code
from timesheet where job_code<>'H' and job_code<>'V' and
date>='01-01-2002' and date<='01-15-2002'
) group by employee_id, first_name, last_name, date, job_code;

DzZero <spinzero@aero-graphics.com> writes:

agi_timesheets=# select distinct
employee_id,first_name,last_name,date,sum(hours),"R" as job_code from
timesheet group by employee_id,first_name,last_name,date having job_code
<> 'H' and job_code <> 'V' and date >= '01-01-2002' and date <=
'01-15-2002';
ERROR: Attribute 'R' not found

"R" and 'R' are two quite different things: "R" is a name, 'R' is a
literal constant. Not sure how many of your problems stem from lack
of understanding of this basic point, but quite a few of them do.

agi_timesheets=# select distinct
employee_id,first_name,last_name,date,sum(hours),job_code AS "R" from
timesheet group by employee_id,first_name,last_name,date having job_code
<> 'H' and job_code <> 'V' and date >= '01-01-2002' and date <=
'01-15-2002';
ERROR: Attribute timesheet.job_code must be GROUPed or used in an
aggregate function

Isn't the error message clear enough? You need to add job_code to
the GROUP BY list.

regards, tom lane