Combine SUM and CAST - not working? - postgresql

Question

PostgreSQL Unicode 9.01 doesn't like:
SELECT table1.fielda,
SUM (CAST (table2.fielda AS INT)) AS header.specific
FROM *etc*
What is wrong with SUM-CAST?
Error Message:
Incorrect column expression: 'SUM (CAST
(specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order_item.delivery_quantity AS INT))
Query:
SELECT specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order.work_order_number,
specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order.goods_issue_date,
specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order.order_status_id,
SUM (CAST (specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order_item.delivery_quantity AS INT)) AS units
FROM public.specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order,
public.specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order_item specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order_item,
public.specifics_nfl_order_status specifics_nfl_order_status
WHERE specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order.order_status_id In (3,17,14)
AND specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order_item.specifics_nfl_work_order_id=
specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order.id
AND ((specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order.sold_to_id<>'0000000000')
AND (specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order.goods_issue_date>={d '2013-08-01'}))
It would be really great if you can help.

Answer 1

If I were you, then I would do these steps:
give your table short aliases
format the query
use proper ANSI joins:
remove spaces between function name and (
select
o.work_order_number,
o.goods_issue_date,
o.order_status_id,
sum(cast(oi.delivery_quantity as int)) as units
from public.specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order as o
inner join public.specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order_item as oi on
oi.specifics_nfl_work_order_id = o.id
-- inner join public.specifics_nfl_order_status os -- seems redundant
where
o.order_status_id In (3,17,14) and
o.sold_to_id <> '0000000000' and
o.goods_issue_date >= {d '2013-08-01'}
Actually I really think you need group by clause here:
select
o.work_order_number,
o.goods_issue_date,
o.order_status_id,
sum(cast(oi.delivery_quantity as int)) as units
from public.specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order as o
inner join public.specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order_item as oi on
oi.specifics_nfl_work_order_id = o.id
where
o.order_status_id In (3,17,14) and
o.sold_to_id <> '0000000000' and
o.goods_issue_date >= {d '2013-08-01'}
group by
o.work_order_number,
o.goods_issue_date,
o.order_status_id
if it still doesn't work - try to comment sum and see is it working?

Answer 2

But you have a table2 or only table1?
Try:
SELECT table1.fielda,
SUM (CAST (table1.fielda AS INT)) AS "header.specific"
FROM etc

Answer 3

In addition to what #Roman already cleared up, there are more problems here:
SELECT o.work_order_number
,o.goods_issue_date
,o.order_status_id
,SUM(CAST(oi.delivery_quantity AS INT)) AS units -- suspicious
FROM public.specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order o,
JOIN public.specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order_item oi
ON oi.specifics_nfl_work_order_id = o.id
CROSS JOIN public.specifics_nfl_order_status os -- probably wrong
WHERE o.order_status_id IN (3,17,14)
AND o.sold_to_id <> '0000000000' -- suspicious
AND o.goods_issue_date> = {d '2013-08-01'} -- nonsense
GROUP BY 1, 2, 3
o.goods_issue_date> = {d '2013-08-01'} is syntactical nonsense. Maybe you mean:
o.goods_issue_date> = '2013-08-01'
You have the table specifics_nfl_order_status in your FROM list, but without any expression connecting it to the rest. This effectively results in a CROSS JOIN, which results in a Cartesian product and is almost certainly wrong in a very expensive way: every row is combined with every row of the rest:
CROSS JOIN public.specifics_nfl_order_status os
Either remove the table (since you don't use it) or add a WHERE or ON clause to connect it to the rest. Note, that it is not just redundant, it has a dramatic effect on the result as it is.
This WHERE clause is suspicious:
AND o.sold_to_id <> '0000000000'
Seems like you are storing numbers as strings or otherwise confusing the two.
Also, CAST (oi.delivery_quantity AS INT) should not be needed to begin with. The column should be of data type integer or some other appropriate numeric type to begin with. Be sure to use proper data types.
The default setting of search_path includes public, and you may not need to schema-qualify tables. Instead of public.specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order, it may suffice to use:
specifics_nfl_3pl_work_order
GROUP BY 1, 2, 3 is using positional parameters, just a notational shortcut for:
GROUP BY o.work_order_number, o.goods_issue_date, o.order_status_id
Details in the manual.
According to comments you are using MS Query to create the query. This is not the best of ideas. Produces the kind of inferior code you presented us with. You may want to get rid of that while you are working with PostgreSQL.