Commonly used statements

SQL queries comprise a statement, keyword, function, expression, and parameters. To see how commonly used query statements work, you can have a look at the following query example that includes most of the statements and some of the functions. The query contents and meaning of these query results will be discussed in the next chapter:

SELECT TOP 5 T0.ShortName 'Customer',
Max(T2.CardName) 'Customer Name',
SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) as "Amount(LC)"
FROM dbo.JDT1 T0
INNER JOIN dbo.OJDT T1 ON T1.TransID = T0.TransID and T0.TransType IN (13,14)
INNER JOIN dbo.OCRD T2 ON T2.CardCode = T0.ShortName
WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]
GROUP BY T0.ShortName
HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0
ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

This query can be used to return the top five customers for sales in any period based on the date range you selected. It includes most of the statements that are going to be discussed in this chapter.

Let us go through those statements or functions in Bold from the sample query one by one:

SELECT—first statement to retrieve data

It is quite obvious from the meaning of the word that SELECT is used to display or retrieve data from certain data sources.

The SELECT statement is used to return data from a set of values or database tables.

The result is stored in a result table, called the result-set.

SELECT is one of the most commonly used Data Manipulation Language (DML) commands. It seems very simple. However, something important needs to be explained for this statement:

The scope of the value that can be retrieved
The numbers of columns to be included
Column name descriptions
Keywords followed to this statement

The scope of the value that can be retrieved

Here is a return value list that SELECT can be used for:

A single value
A group of values
Return a single database table column
Return a group of database table columns
Return complete database table columns
Used in a subquery

A single value

The simplest SELECT query would be just to get a constant or text without any additional statements. An example would be:

SELECT 'YES' AS 'Yes/No' or
SELECT 10 AS 'No.'

These queries will display Yes or 10 in one column when executed.

A group of values

You may also use this statement to get a group of values. For example:

SELECT 'YES' AS 'Yes/No', 10 AS 'No.', 'This is an example' AS 'Content'

This query will display Yes, 10, This is an example in three columns named Yes/No, No., and Content when you execute it.

Some special uses of this statement to display a single value or group of values will be discussed in other chapters when we introduce more specific topics.

Please note the comma used above. Following the SELECT statement, each comma will define a new column to be displayed.

Tip

Do not forget to delete the last comma in a SELECT statement. This simple mistake is one of the most frequent problems for a query. It is mainly due to the fact that we are often used to copying columns in our queries, which include the comma, and forget to remove the last one before testing the query.

Return a single database table column

Similar to the single value SELECT, we can use it for a database table column. Here is an example:

SELECT CompnyName
FROM OADM

This simple example will retrieve your company name from table OADM.

The formal query should be this:

SELECT T0.CompnyName
FROM dbo.OADM T0

It is an important step to include Alias (T0) and Database Owner (dbo) for the table in the query. It will ensure the query's consistency and efficiency. This topic will be discussed in the FROM clause in more detail.

Return a group of database table columns

There is no big difference with the previous example. We can use the same principle to select multiple database table columns. For instance:

SELECT CompnyName, CompnyAddr, Country, Phone1
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve not only your company name, but also your company's address, country, and phone number from table OADM.

The formal query should be as follows:

SELECT T0.CompnyName, T0.CompnyAddr, T0.Country, T0.Phone1 FROM dbo.OADM T0

Return complete database table columns

This is the simplest query to return all column values from table. That is:

SELECT *
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve every single column from table OADM. There is no need to assign alias to the query because this kind of query is usually a one-time only query. Here, * is a wildcard that represents everything in the table.

Note

Be careful when running SELECT * from a huge table such as JDT1. It may affect your system's performance! If you are not sure about the table size, it is safer for you to always include the WHERE clause with reasonable restrictions. Or you can run SELECT COUNT(*) FROM the table you want to query first. If the number is high, do not run it without a condition clause.

Used in a subquery

SELECT can be used in a subquery within SELECT column(s). The topic of using SELECT for subqueries will be discussed in the last chapter of the book, since it needs above average experience level to use it sufficiently.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

SELECT—first statement to retrieve data

It is quite obvious from the meaning of the word that SELECT is used to display or retrieve data from certain data sources.

The SELECT statement is used to return data from a set of values or database tables.

The result is stored in a result table, called the result-set.

SELECT is one of the most commonly used Data Manipulation Language (DML) commands. It seems very simple. However, something important needs to be explained for this statement:

The scope of the value that can be retrieved
The numbers of columns to be included
Column name descriptions
Keywords followed to this statement

The scope of the value that can be retrieved

Here is a return value list that SELECT can be used for:

A single value
A group of values
Return a single database table column
Return a group of database table columns
Return complete database table columns
Used in a subquery

A single value

The simplest SELECT query would be just to get a constant or text without any additional statements. An example would be:

SELECT 'YES' AS 'Yes/No' or
SELECT 10 AS 'No.'

These queries will display Yes or 10 in one column when executed.

A group of values

You may also use this statement to get a group of values. For example:

SELECT 'YES' AS 'Yes/No', 10 AS 'No.', 'This is an example' AS 'Content'

This query will display Yes, 10, This is an example in three columns named Yes/No, No., and Content when you execute it.

Some special uses of this statement to display a single value or group of values will be discussed in other chapters when we introduce more specific topics.

Please note the comma used above. Following the SELECT statement, each comma will define a new column to be displayed.

Tip

Do not forget to delete the last comma in a SELECT statement. This simple mistake is one of the most frequent problems for a query. It is mainly due to the fact that we are often used to copying columns in our queries, which include the comma, and forget to remove the last one before testing the query.

Return a single database table column

Similar to the single value SELECT, we can use it for a database table column. Here is an example:

SELECT CompnyName
FROM OADM

This simple example will retrieve your company name from table OADM.

The formal query should be this:

SELECT T0.CompnyName
FROM dbo.OADM T0

It is an important step to include Alias (T0) and Database Owner (dbo) for the table in the query. It will ensure the query's consistency and efficiency. This topic will be discussed in the FROM clause in more detail.

Return a group of database table columns

There is no big difference with the previous example. We can use the same principle to select multiple database table columns. For instance:

SELECT CompnyName, CompnyAddr, Country, Phone1
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve not only your company name, but also your company's address, country, and phone number from table OADM.

The formal query should be as follows:

SELECT T0.CompnyName, T0.CompnyAddr, T0.Country, T0.Phone1 FROM dbo.OADM T0

Return complete database table columns

This is the simplest query to return all column values from table. That is:

SELECT *
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve every single column from table OADM. There is no need to assign alias to the query because this kind of query is usually a one-time only query. Here, * is a wildcard that represents everything in the table.

Note

Be careful when running SELECT * from a huge table such as JDT1. It may affect your system's performance! If you are not sure about the table size, it is safer for you to always include the WHERE clause with reasonable restrictions. Or you can run SELECT COUNT(*) FROM the table you want to query first. If the number is high, do not run it without a condition clause.

Used in a subquery

SELECT can be used in a subquery within SELECT column(s). The topic of using SELECT for subqueries will be discussed in the last chapter of the book, since it needs above average experience level to use it sufficiently.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

The scope of the value that can be retrieved

Here is a return value list that SELECT can be used for:

A single value
A group of values
Return a single database table column
Return a group of database table columns
Return complete database table columns
Used in a subquery

A single value

The simplest SELECT query would be just to get a constant or text without any additional statements. An example would be:

SELECT 'YES' AS 'Yes/No' or
SELECT 10 AS 'No.'

These queries will display Yes or 10 in one column when executed.

A group of values

You may also use this statement to get a group of values. For example:

SELECT 'YES' AS 'Yes/No', 10 AS 'No.', 'This is an example' AS 'Content'

This query will display Yes, 10, This is an example in three columns named Yes/No, No., and Content when you execute it.

Some special uses of this statement to display a single value or group of values will be discussed in other chapters when we introduce more specific topics.

Please note the comma used above. Following the SELECT statement, each comma will define a new column to be displayed.

Tip

Do not forget to delete the last comma in a SELECT statement. This simple mistake is one of the most frequent problems for a query. It is mainly due to the fact that we are often used to copying columns in our queries, which include the comma, and forget to remove the last one before testing the query.

Return a single database table column

Similar to the single value SELECT, we can use it for a database table column. Here is an example:

SELECT CompnyName
FROM OADM

This simple example will retrieve your company name from table OADM.

The formal query should be this:

SELECT T0.CompnyName
FROM dbo.OADM T0

It is an important step to include Alias (T0) and Database Owner (dbo) for the table in the query. It will ensure the query's consistency and efficiency. This topic will be discussed in the FROM clause in more detail.

Return a group of database table columns

There is no big difference with the previous example. We can use the same principle to select multiple database table columns. For instance:

SELECT CompnyName, CompnyAddr, Country, Phone1
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve not only your company name, but also your company's address, country, and phone number from table OADM.

The formal query should be as follows:

SELECT T0.CompnyName, T0.CompnyAddr, T0.Country, T0.Phone1 FROM dbo.OADM T0

Return complete database table columns

This is the simplest query to return all column values from table. That is:

SELECT *
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve every single column from table OADM. There is no need to assign alias to the query because this kind of query is usually a one-time only query. Here, * is a wildcard that represents everything in the table.

Note

Be careful when running SELECT * from a huge table such as JDT1. It may affect your system's performance! If you are not sure about the table size, it is safer for you to always include the WHERE clause with reasonable restrictions. Or you can run SELECT COUNT(*) FROM the table you want to query first. If the number is high, do not run it without a condition clause.

Used in a subquery

SELECT can be used in a subquery within SELECT column(s). The topic of using SELECT for subqueries will be discussed in the last chapter of the book, since it needs above average experience level to use it sufficiently.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

A single value

The simplest SELECT query would be just to get a constant or text without any additional statements. An example would be:

SELECT 'YES' AS 'Yes/No' or
SELECT 10 AS 'No.'

These queries will display Yes or 10 in one column when executed.

A group of values

You may also use this statement to get a group of values. For example:

SELECT 'YES' AS 'Yes/No', 10 AS 'No.', 'This is an example' AS 'Content'

This query will display Yes, 10, This is an example in three columns named Yes/No, No., and Content when you execute it.

Some special uses of this statement to display a single value or group of values will be discussed in other chapters when we introduce more specific topics.

Please note the comma used above. Following the SELECT statement, each comma will define a new column to be displayed.

Tip

Do not forget to delete the last comma in a SELECT statement. This simple mistake is one of the most frequent problems for a query. It is mainly due to the fact that we are often used to copying columns in our queries, which include the comma, and forget to remove the last one before testing the query.

Return a single database table column

Similar to the single value SELECT, we can use it for a database table column. Here is an example:

SELECT CompnyName
FROM OADM

This simple example will retrieve your company name from table OADM.

The formal query should be this:

SELECT T0.CompnyName
FROM dbo.OADM T0

It is an important step to include Alias (T0) and Database Owner (dbo) for the table in the query. It will ensure the query's consistency and efficiency. This topic will be discussed in the FROM clause in more detail.

Return a group of database table columns

There is no big difference with the previous example. We can use the same principle to select multiple database table columns. For instance:

SELECT CompnyName, CompnyAddr, Country, Phone1
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve not only your company name, but also your company's address, country, and phone number from table OADM.

The formal query should be as follows:

SELECT T0.CompnyName, T0.CompnyAddr, T0.Country, T0.Phone1 FROM dbo.OADM T0

Return complete database table columns

This is the simplest query to return all column values from table. That is:

SELECT *
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve every single column from table OADM. There is no need to assign alias to the query because this kind of query is usually a one-time only query. Here, * is a wildcard that represents everything in the table.

Note

Be careful when running SELECT * from a huge table such as JDT1. It may affect your system's performance! If you are not sure about the table size, it is safer for you to always include the WHERE clause with reasonable restrictions. Or you can run SELECT COUNT(*) FROM the table you want to query first. If the number is high, do not run it without a condition clause.

Used in a subquery

SELECT can be used in a subquery within SELECT column(s). The topic of using SELECT for subqueries will be discussed in the last chapter of the book, since it needs above average experience level to use it sufficiently.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

A group of values

You may also use this statement to get a group of values. For example:

SELECT 'YES' AS 'Yes/No', 10 AS 'No.', 'This is an example' AS 'Content'

This query will display Yes, 10, This is an example in three columns named Yes/No, No., and Content when you execute it.

Some special uses of this statement to display a single value or group of values will be discussed in other chapters when we introduce more specific topics.

Please note the comma used above. Following the SELECT statement, each comma will define a new column to be displayed.

Tip

Do not forget to delete the last comma in a SELECT statement. This simple mistake is one of the most frequent problems for a query. It is mainly due to the fact that we are often used to copying columns in our queries, which include the comma, and forget to remove the last one before testing the query.

Return a single database table column

Similar to the single value SELECT, we can use it for a database table column. Here is an example:

SELECT CompnyName
FROM OADM

This simple example will retrieve your company name from table OADM.

The formal query should be this:

SELECT T0.CompnyName
FROM dbo.OADM T0

It is an important step to include Alias (T0) and Database Owner (dbo) for the table in the query. It will ensure the query's consistency and efficiency. This topic will be discussed in the FROM clause in more detail.

Return a group of database table columns

There is no big difference with the previous example. We can use the same principle to select multiple database table columns. For instance:

SELECT CompnyName, CompnyAddr, Country, Phone1
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve not only your company name, but also your company's address, country, and phone number from table OADM.

The formal query should be as follows:

SELECT T0.CompnyName, T0.CompnyAddr, T0.Country, T0.Phone1 FROM dbo.OADM T0

Return complete database table columns

This is the simplest query to return all column values from table. That is:

SELECT *
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve every single column from table OADM. There is no need to assign alias to the query because this kind of query is usually a one-time only query. Here, * is a wildcard that represents everything in the table.

Note

Be careful when running SELECT * from a huge table such as JDT1. It may affect your system's performance! If you are not sure about the table size, it is safer for you to always include the WHERE clause with reasonable restrictions. Or you can run SELECT COUNT(*) FROM the table you want to query first. If the number is high, do not run it without a condition clause.

Used in a subquery

SELECT can be used in a subquery within SELECT column(s). The topic of using SELECT for subqueries will be discussed in the last chapter of the book, since it needs above average experience level to use it sufficiently.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Return a single database table column

Similar to the single value SELECT, we can use it for a database table column. Here is an example:

SELECT CompnyName
FROM OADM

This simple example will retrieve your company name from table OADM.

The formal query should be this:

SELECT T0.CompnyName
FROM dbo.OADM T0

It is an important step to include Alias (T0) and Database Owner (dbo) for the table in the query. It will ensure the query's consistency and efficiency. This topic will be discussed in the FROM clause in more detail.

Return a group of database table columns

There is no big difference with the previous example. We can use the same principle to select multiple database table columns. For instance:

SELECT CompnyName, CompnyAddr, Country, Phone1
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve not only your company name, but also your company's address, country, and phone number from table OADM.

The formal query should be as follows:

SELECT T0.CompnyName, T0.CompnyAddr, T0.Country, T0.Phone1 FROM dbo.OADM T0

Return complete database table columns

This is the simplest query to return all column values from table. That is:

SELECT *
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve every single column from table OADM. There is no need to assign alias to the query because this kind of query is usually a one-time only query. Here, * is a wildcard that represents everything in the table.

Note

Be careful when running SELECT * from a huge table such as JDT1. It may affect your system's performance! If you are not sure about the table size, it is safer for you to always include the WHERE clause with reasonable restrictions. Or you can run SELECT COUNT(*) FROM the table you want to query first. If the number is high, do not run it without a condition clause.

Used in a subquery

SELECT can be used in a subquery within SELECT column(s). The topic of using SELECT for subqueries will be discussed in the last chapter of the book, since it needs above average experience level to use it sufficiently.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Return a group of database table columns

There is no big difference with the previous example. We can use the same principle to select multiple database table columns. For instance:

SELECT CompnyName, CompnyAddr, Country, Phone1
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve not only your company name, but also your company's address, country, and phone number from table OADM.

The formal query should be as follows:

SELECT T0.CompnyName, T0.CompnyAddr, T0.Country, T0.Phone1 FROM dbo.OADM T0

Return complete database table columns

This is the simplest query to return all column values from table. That is:

SELECT *
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve every single column from table OADM. There is no need to assign alias to the query because this kind of query is usually a one-time only query. Here, * is a wildcard that represents everything in the table.

Note

Be careful when running SELECT * from a huge table such as JDT1. It may affect your system's performance! If you are not sure about the table size, it is safer for you to always include the WHERE clause with reasonable restrictions. Or you can run SELECT COUNT(*) FROM the table you want to query first. If the number is high, do not run it without a condition clause.

Used in a subquery

SELECT can be used in a subquery within SELECT column(s). The topic of using SELECT for subqueries will be discussed in the last chapter of the book, since it needs above average experience level to use it sufficiently.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Return complete database table columns

This is the simplest query to return all column values from table. That is:

SELECT *
FROM OADM

This example will retrieve every single column from table OADM. There is no need to assign alias to the query because this kind of query is usually a one-time only query. Here, * is a wildcard that represents everything in the table.

Note

Be careful when running SELECT * from a huge table such as JDT1. It may affect your system's performance! If you are not sure about the table size, it is safer for you to always include the WHERE clause with reasonable restrictions. Or you can run SELECT COUNT(*) FROM the table you want to query first. If the number is high, do not run it without a condition clause.

Used in a subquery

SELECT can be used in a subquery within SELECT column(s). The topic of using SELECT for subqueries will be discussed in the last chapter of the book, since it needs above average experience level to use it sufficiently.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Used in a subquery

SELECT can be used in a subquery within SELECT column(s). The topic of using SELECT for subqueries will be discussed in the last chapter of the book, since it needs above average experience level to use it sufficiently.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

The numbers of columns to be included

How many columns are suitable for a query? I don't think there are any standard answers. In my experience, I can only suggest to you: the shorter, the better.

Some people have the tendency to include all information in one report. This kind of request may even come from certain executives of the company's management.

One simple test would be a fair criterion. Can you fit the query result within the query result window? If you can, great; that would be a proper number of columns. If not, then I would strongly suggest you double check every column to see if you can cut one or more of them out.

If it is a query for alert, it needs even more special care. The column numbers in any alert queries have to be trimmed to the minimum. Otherwise, you may only get part of the result due to the query result size limitation. You will get more explanation for this issue in the chapter for alert queries.

If you are requested to create super long and wide queries, explain the consequences to the person in charge. Sometimes, they can change their mind depending on the way you communicate with them. In my experience, if a print out report cannot be handled within the width of a page, it might make the report difficult to read. Show the result to a non-technical person. It is easily understandable when you can bring the first hand output to the report readers.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Column name descriptions

Column names usually come directly from column descriptions, if you have not reassigned them in the query. You can, however, change them to make the query result more useful for special cases. Some people use this method to translate the description into their local language. Some people use it to make the column description more clear.

For some of the value-only columns or formula columns it is mandatory to assign descriptions, otherwise the column headings would be empty. This not only looks unprofessional, but you will also have no way to export the query results to Excel for those columns without the description.

You can use single or double quotation marks for the description. If the description has only one word, you can even omit the quotation mark. The syntax is shown next:

[ColumnName] AS 'Column Description Here'

You can omit AS, so that you just keep [ColumnName] 'Description Here'. However, whenever possible, you should keep the AS to make the query script more consistent.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Clauses can follow this statement

Not many clauses can directly follow a SELECT statement. The short list we discuss here is this:

Distinct
Top

These two clauses will be discussed one by one as follows.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

A DISTINCT clause is used for getting rid of duplicated records to return only distinct (different) values.

The syntax of this clause is:

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

column_name and table_name are self explanatory. They represent column name and table name respectively. There will be no additional denotation for these two clauses in this book. A DISTINCT clause is always the first one after the SELECT statement. It is optional. When you specify Distinct in the query, it will not allow any identical rows in the query result. All lines are unique from each other.

Some users claim this clause may still allow duplicate rows. This can never be true. The fact is: although most of the values are the same between two lines, the query results always include at least one column, which contains the different values. Those columns have to be taken out in order to benefit from this clause. You cannot get both the DISTINCT working and some columns which have different values within the scope you selected.

Tip

There are criticisms of this clause because it adds burden to the SQL Server. Be careful while using it if the result-set is huge. You can reduce the amount of the data returned by restricting the query scope within a specific date range.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

A TOP clause is used to specify the maximum number of records to return in a query result-set. It is usually used together with the Order By clause at the end of the query.

The syntax of the clause is as follows:

SELECT TOP (number)|percent[with ties] column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)

The query result can be the top 10 sales orders, for example. In this case, descending order must be used for the document amounts. Or you may get the top 20 percent purchase invoices, if you specify the TOP by percentage. When you use percentage, you need to write 20 percent instead of 20% after SELECT TOP.

The WITH TIES option specifies the additional rows that need to be returned from the base result set with the same value in the ORDER BY columns appearing at the end of the TOP n (PERCENT) rows. TOP...WITH TIES can be specified only if an ORDER BY clause is specified.

Tip

TOP can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records may have an impact on database performance. If you just need part of the result, give the top clause a try.

Microsoft suggests SELECT TOP (n) with parentheses. It is better to follow the suggestion to be safe for the query results.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

FROM—data resource can be assigned

It is very clear that FROM means where to find the data. A FROM clause is actually not a standalone statement since it must be used with SELECT. Most queries need this clause because to only assign a fixed value or a group of values would not be very useful. However, this is one of the most often misused parts of SQL queries. More discussion is needed on this clause.

A FROM clause can be followed by the data sources mentioned next:

A single table
A group of linked tables
Multiple tables separated by commas

Tip

If you have read through Chapter 1, SAP Business One Query Users and Query Basic, you should understand the concept of Table and Table Relationships. If you directly jumped here bypassing that previous chapter, you may need to go back to check.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

A single table

This is the simplest query including a FROM statement. A simple example:

SELECT Code, Name, Remarks FROM OUDP

This will only touch one table—OUDP. This table is for a department. You can get the Department Code, Department Name, and the Description from the query result.

The better format would be:

SELECT T0.Code, T0.Name, T0.Remarks FROM dbo.OUDP T0

Now, it is time to explain why those additional T0 and dbo are necessary here.

Actually, it may not make any difference if we only deal with this particular query and this query is only run by one user. However, that is not generally true. In most cases, we often have more than one table and more than one user to run the same query.

T0 here stands for an Alias of OUDP table. It is the standard convention and most frequently used alias. T means table. 0 is a sequence number. You can have T0, T1, T2, …until Tn. If you have 10 tables in the query, n would be equal to 9 for alias. This naming convention is convenient to use. You just need to name them in sequential numbers.

The syntax for table alias looks like this:

SELECT alias_table_name.column_name 
FROM table_name [AS] alias_table_name

An alias table name can be anything, but usually it is the shortest possible one.

If a query is not created by query tools, it is not mandatory for alias to take the Tn sequence. You may just use A, B, C, …… to have one letter shorter than the standard way, or make them easier to remember. However, it is advisable that you follow the norm. It can save you time for maintaining your query in the long run.

Tip

When you have more than 10 tables in the query, an A, B, C, …… sequence would be better than the normal T0, T1, T2, …… convention because T10 and above need more spaces.

The function for alias is mainly for saving resources. If no alias is defined, you have to enter the full table names for every single column in the query. Be careful when you are using alias; you should use alias exclusively throughout your query. You are not allowed to mix them with the actual table name. In other words, you may only use alias or the actual table name, but you are not allowed to use them both in the same query.

The other added word dbo means Database Owner. This is a special database user. This user has implied permissions to perform all activities in the database. All tables of SAP Business One have the owner of dbo. It is useful to add dbo in front of a table name when you have more than one user running the query, but this is beyond the scope of the book. I will try to use the simplest method to give you a rough idea.

Query running needs an execution plan. A query execution plan (or query plan) outlines how the SQL Server query optimizer (query optimizer is too complicated to explain here, you just need to know it is a tool built into SQL server) actually ran (or will run) a specific query. There are typically a large number of alternate ways to execute a given query, with widely varying performance. When a query is submitted to the database, the query optimizer evaluates some of the different, correct possible plans for executing the query and returns what it considers the best alternative. This information is very valuable when it comes to finding out why a specific query is running slowly.

The hard fact is: no one can control this plan manually at runtime. Once a plan is created, it is reusable for the same user to run the query. If you are not entering dbo in front of the table name, the query will check every user who runs the query. A new plan may be added for every new user because the owner is not included in the query body. That might cause too much unnecessary burden to the database.

Tip

To save time and increase your system performance, dbo is highly recommended in front of table names for every query unless they are only for temporary use. These three letters mean database performance gain. Do not ignore, but add them to your query!

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

A group of linked tables

This is the category that most queries will be included in. One example may not be enough to show this clearly. You have two query examples to show. The first one is as follows:

SELECT Distinct T0.[DocNum], T1.DocNum, T0.[DocType], T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[UserSign], T0.[UserSign2], T1.[UserSign], T1.[UserSign2]
FROM dbo.ADOC T0 
INNER JOIN dbo.ORIN T1 ON T0.DocNum = T1.DocNum
WHERE T0.[ObjType] = '14' AND T0.[UserSign2] != T1.[UserSign2]

This query links ADOC (Document History) and ORIN (Credit Memo Headers) tables to show the credit memo document number, document type, user information, and the change log user code for the credit memo. A detailed explanation can be found in the next chapter.

The second query example is as follows:

SELECT T1.CardCode as "CustCode", T1.CardName as "CustName", T2.SlpName, T1.DocNum "Incoming#", T1.DocDate, T1.DocTotal as "Payment Total", T4.DocNum as "Invoice#", T3.SumApplied as "Applied Total"
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
INNER JOIN dbo.ORCT T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
LEFT JOIN dbo.OSLP T2 ON T0.SlpCode = T2.SlpCode
INNER JOIN dbo.RCT2 T3 ON T3.DocNum = T1.DocNum
INNER JOIN dbo.OINV T4 ON T4.DocEntry = T3.DocENtry AND T3.InvType = '13'
WHERE T1.DocDate >= [%0] AND T1.DocDate <= [%1]
ORDER by T1.DocDate

This query links five tables OCRD (Business Partners), ORCT (Incoming Payment Headers), RCT2 (Incoming Payments—Invoices), OSLP (Sales Employees), and OINV (Invoice Headers) together. It shows customers' payment with invoice details. Again, the business case explanation is available in the next chapter.

Among the five links in the query, there are two different kinds of links. One is INNER JOIN. The other is LEFT JOIN; more explanation of these joins can be found later in the chapter.

Tip

Again, one special case needs to be pointed out here. If your table is a User Defined Table (UDT), do not forget that @ is the first letter of your table name.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Multiple tables separated by commas

When you link tables together, SQL Server just treats them as a view, or it acts as one big table. However, there is another way to add your tables into the query without linking them first. The syntax is similar to comma delimited columns. You simply need to enter a comma in between tables. In this case, table linking has to be done under the WHERE conditions.

Technically, the way of linking tables without joining is the most ideal method because you can get the minimum records out with the least database operations, if you are very good at database structure. However, like the difference between manual and automatic cameras, most people prefer automatic cameras because it is very convenient, especially if you do not have extensive training or extraordinary experience, and the ideal manual control may not help you get a better picture!

I always refuse to create queries without joining the tables first. Comma-separated table query is too dangerous. If you have the wrong conditions defined in the WHERE clause, you may end up with countless loops. In the worst case scenario, it may lock your system up. On the contrary, if you link all tables together, the worst case scenario would be no results because of a bad link or bad conditions.

In other words, if you want to add all tables' linking conditions under the WHERE clause, you are giving yourself an unnecessary burden in making sure they are correct. Those verifications have to be done manually.

Whenever possible, you are better to avoid using comma separated table queries. In most cases, it may use more resources and put you at a higher risk of system instability.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

You have learned the FROM statement. With this statement, you know that more than one table can be put into one query.

In most cases, those additional tables should be linked together. The reason we need to link tables before the WHERE clause has been discussed in the previous paragraph. To link those extra tables, JOIN is used to combine rows from multiple tables.

A join is performed whenever two or more tables are listed in the FROM clause of a SQL statement without using a comma to separate them. Joined tables must include at least one common column in both tables that contain comparable data. Column names across tables don't have to be the same. But if we have the same name columns to join with correct relation, use them first.

There are different types of JOIN statements to be discussed, listed as follows:

Inner join
Outer joins
Self-join

One of the special join types is omitted from the list. This is called the Cross Join. This type of join can list all possible combinations of your linked tables. You may end up with 90,000 lines of huge output even if you have only 300 records in each table. I have no idea who can benefit from this Cross Join. They must be very special.

First, let's look at the most commonly used one.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Inner Join

An INNER JOIN is also called a Simple Join. It is the simplest table join. INNER JOIN is the default link type to join tables. You may even omit INNER to leave only JOIN. When you see JOIN without any words in front, it means INNER JOIN. In order to distinguish other types of JOIN, omission is not encouraged unless your query length is an issue that requires you to reduce your query to the minimum size.

An INNER JOIN syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
INNER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In an INNER JOIN statement, the link is defined by the keyword ON with common columns from each table to retrieve the matching records from those tables. To link two or more tables correctly, the linking columns are very important. INNER JOIN will select all rows from linked tables as long as there is a match between the columns you are matching on. If you forget the keyword ON in the joined table list, you will get an error message right away when you try to run the query.

The best way to link tables is by using the Key Columns such as the primary key or the foreign key. That is because Key Columns are usually indexed. That makes links easier and faster. In case there is no such columns' pair to link, care must be taken to select the best efficient common columns between tables. When you have more than one way to link, you can consider the shorter columns first.

The previous example shows a real query about how an inner join works.

The query script is:

SELECT T0.CardCode as 'BP Code', T0.DocNum as 'Doc No.', T0.DocDate, T1.ItemCode, T1.Price as 'Price', T1.Quantity, T1.LineTotal
FROM dbo.OINV T0
INNER JOIN dbo.INV1 T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry

Two tables, OINV (A/R invoice headers) and INV1 (A/R invoice rows), are joined by DocEntry columns. This DocEntry column is actually not included in the query result. It is only for illustration purposes for easier understanding. From the previous example, you can see how INNER JOIN works. For DocEntry 1 and 2, two rows each are formed by the query. The query result shows four lines in total.

You should avoid linking by lengthy text only columns. To match those columns, not only system performance becomes an issue, but also no ideal query results might be shown. In general, if the column length is over 30 characters, the link efficiency will be reduced dramatically.

Keep in mind, an inner join will effectively filter your query result by linking columns. If there are no common values between linked columns, those records are going to be dropped out. If you find that the query result does not meet your requirements, some other types of joins can be used instead.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Outer Join

Some may call OUTER JOIN a complex join. Actually, it may not be that complicated at all and is only a little bit more complicated than INNER JOIN. You do not need to worry about the complexity. When you find the true meaning of OUTER JOIN, it is similar and comparable with INNER JOIN.

There are three types of Outer Joins:

Left Outer Join
Right Outer Join
Full Outer Join

We will examine each type as follows.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Left Outer Join

A LEFT OUTER JOIN is one of the most used outer joins in queries. Outer here is optional. It can be omitted so that you just need LEFT JOIN. There is no added benefit to using the full name of LEFT OUTER JOIN. Unless a query is automatically created, you should keep using only LEFT JOIN.

A LEFT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
LEFT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the first table table_name0 T0 is the LEFT table, while table_name1 T1 is the right table. LEFT JOIN means all records in the left table will be returned, regardless of the right table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T1 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from T1 table.

A LEFT JOIN is very useful when you need to display all data records from one table but also want to know some secondary table data without restricting the query results. You will find more examples in the next chapter. If you are still not very clear about this LEFT JOIN clause, I hope the following example can help you:

The previous example shows a real query about how LEFT JOIN works.

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T0.[CardCode], T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal]
FROM dbo.OCRD T0
LEFT JOIN dbo.OINV T1 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

From the example, you can get a clear view. If you can only find one BP Code C100002 in the right table (OINV), you will get only one line with full information. All other lines will still show left table columns though.

One thing is important for a LEFT JOIN: do not use secondary Left Join if possible. Suppose you put more than one level of LEFT JOIN; the query result may become less clear.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Right Outer Join

A Right Outer Join is not used as often as a LEFT JOIN in a query. OUTER here is also optional. It can be omitted so that you just need RIGHT JOIN.

A RIGHT JOIN clause syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
RIGHT JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

In the previous syntax, the second table table_name1 T1 is the right table while table_name0 T0 is the left table. A RIGHT JOIN means all records in the right table will be returned, regardless of the left table linking condition. If the match cannot be found in T0 table, it simply returns Null value for any columns coming from the T0 table.

Most people would be more interested in the first table than the second table. That is why not so many people use this RIGHT JOIN. Here is an example for you:

The query script is as follows:

SELECT T1.[DocNum], T1.[DocDate], T1.[DocTotal],T0.[CardName], T0.[Balance], T0.[CardCode]
FROM dbo.OINV T1
RIGHT JOIN dbo.OCRD T0 ON T0.CardCode = T1.CardCode
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100005'

Unless you are used to reading from right to left, I bet no user prefers this result instead of the LEFT JOIN.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Full Outer Join

A Full Outer Join syntax looks like the following:

SELECT T[0]|[1].column_name(s)
FROM table_name0 T0
FULL OUTER JOIN table_name1 T1
ON T0.column_name=T1.column_name

A Full Outer Join will return all rows from both tables, regardless of matching conditions. It is one of the most dangerous clauses for SELECT queries too. Try to avoid this kind of join wherever you have other options.

There is no example query for this kind of join because it may only be useful in very special cases.

For people who like to use a Full Outer Join, you should always check what alternatives you have. If only Full Outer Join can solve your issue, some big problems might be hidden. Check them out!

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Self-Join

A Self-Join is a special join in which a table is joined to itself. Self-Joins are used to compare values in a column with other values in the same column in the same table. It can be used for certain special needs such as obtaining running counts or running totals in a SQL query. It is often used in subqueries.

To write a query that includes a Self-Join, select from the same table listed twice with different aliases, set up the comparison, or eliminate cases where a particular value would be equal to itself.

A Self-Join is mostly an INNER JOIN. However, it can also be an OUTER JOIN. It is all dependent on your needs.

To my knowledge, this join is only a particular type of INNER JOIN or OUTER JOIN. The classification makes it outstanding only because it is too special.

You will get some example queries of Self-Join in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

It is very clear that the WHERE clause is to define query conditions. By using the WHERE clause, you may extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

The WHERE clause is optional. However, it is a good idea to make it mandatory for your own sake to keep your query results safer. When you create your query without a WHERE clause, all records will be retrieved no matter how big the table is. It is highly recommended that you put the WHERE clause for all of your query scripts before you test to run them. This can save you much more time if you just enter these few letters.

If the WHERE clause exists in a query, it always follows the FROM clause. Its syntax is as follows:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name(s)
WHERE [(]expression operator expression [and/or] [expression operator expression ][)]

In the previous syntax, expression stands for a column name, a constant, a function, a variable, or a subquery. An operator can be set from the following list:

Operator	Description
=	Equal
<>/!=	Not equal
>	Greater than
<	Less than
!>	Not Greater than
!<	Not Less than
>=	Greater than or equal
<=	Less than or equal
BETWEEN	Between an inclusive range
LIKE	Search for a pattern, used only for string
IN/EXISTS	Test if a specified value matches any value in a subquery (or a list for IN operator only)

If a column used in the WHERE clause is one of the character data types, the value must be enclosed in single quotes. In contrast, if the column used in the WHERE clause is of a numeric data type, the value should not be enclosed. The numeric values enclosed in quotes will always return 0.

To make the WHERE clause more efficient, it is better to avoid using Not Equal (<> /!=) wherever possible. Some of the other conditions with NOT also need to be used with care.

Five operators include >, <, =, >=, and <= symbols are very common for comparisons. They are not needed for the purpose of this book. Therefore they are omitted from the examples. Only three special comparisons will be discussed next.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

A BETWEEN operator is to specify a range to test.

The syntax for a BETWEEN operator is:

Value1 [ NOT ] BETWEEN Value2 AND Value3

All arguments are discussed as follows:

Value1 is the value to be tested in the range defined by Value2 and Value3.
NOT specifies that the result of the predicate be negated. It is optional.
Value1 is any valid value with the same data type as Values.
Value3 is any valid value that is greater than Value2 with the same data type.
AND is mandatory and acts as a placeholder that indicates Value1 should be within the range indicated by Value2 and Value3.
This clause is equivalent to Value1 >= Value2 and Value1 <= Value3.
When you use BETWEEN, it means that the start value and end value are included. If you need to specify an exclusive range, you have to use the greater than (>) and less than (<) operators instead.

There is a condition in the first query example in this chapter before discussing the statement:

WHERE t1.RefDate >= [%0] and t1.RefDate <= [%1]

Actually, it is equivalent to the following:

WHERE t1.RefDate BETWEEN [%0] and [%1]

The query result is exactly the same. I have chosen to use the longer expression only because the system prompt for the first one is better and clear.

Tip

Be careful; if any input to the BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN predicate is null, the result is UNKNOWN. When you do not get the desired result, check if there is Null involved. If you are not sure about the data having NULL or not, you better not use BETWEEN at all.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

IN or NOT IN is an operator to compare a value with an existing value list that has more than one value. You are allowed to have only one value in the list. However, that should be by equal operator. It is not logical to define only one value in the list. An IN operator can be used to determine whether a specified value matches or does not match any values in a list. The list can be a result of a subquery. This subquery must have only one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

This operator is similar to the OR condition but is much shorter. With the OR condition, you not only have to repeat the similar conditions one by one, but you also need parentheses if there are other co-existing conditions.

In the list to be compared, duplicate values are allowed. You do not need to specify the DISTINCT keyword if the same values are the same. After all, you are comparing the left side value to the right side value list. The result will be the same no matter how many times the same values present in the list are compared with.

Any null values returned by a subquery or a list that are to be compared using IN or NOT IN will return UNKNOWN. It can produce unexpected results. Get rid of the Null value for the list wherever possible.

EXISTS or NOT EXISTS is also an operator to compare a value with a list. The list is only a result of a subquery. This subquery can have more than one column to return. In order for two sides to be comparable, both sides must have matched data types.

IN and EXISTS are almost the same, only that IN allows both fixed list and subquery. The only other exception is the way they treat Null values. If the subquery contains Null value, EXISTS will perform better than IN. This is because EXISTS only cares if the value exists in the query result. It doesn't care if there is Null value or not.

The bottom line is: whenever using these operators, predict if you may get Null values. Choose a proper one based on the prediction.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

LIKE—similar records can be found

A LIKE operator allows you to do a search based on a pattern rather than specifying exactly what is desired (as in IN) or spell out a range (as in BETWEEN). LIKE determines whether a value to be tested matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include wildcard characters. During this matching, wildcard characters play flexible roles to allow partly unmatched values to go through.

Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the = or != string comparison operators. In case any one of the values is not of the character string data type, the SQL Server Database Engine converts them to character string data type if possible.

A LIKE operator syntax is as follows:

Value [ NOT ] LIKE Pattern

Two arguments are as follows:

Value is any valid value of character string data type.
Pattern is the specific string of characters to search for in the Value, and can include the following valid wildcard characters. Pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

Wildcard character	Description
%	Any string with zero or more characters
_(underscore)	Any single character
[ ]	Any single character within the specified range ([a-d]) or set ([abcd])
[^]	Any single character not within the specified range ([^x-z]) or set ([^xyz])

Most of the LIKE operators include % and/or _ wildcard characters. % can be put in the front, in the middle, or at the end. If you can find a certain condition such as A LIKE 'xy%' instead of A LIKE '%xy', the query result would be faster.

Although NOT is an optional keyword for LIKE, you should try to avoid it in any way possible. It is not an effective way to compare a value with any patterns.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

A GROUP BY clause is very useful if you need to aggregate your data based on certain columns. It is optional and must follow the FROM and WHERE clauses.

If you remember the first query before discussing statements, you have:

GROUP BY T0.ShortName

GROUP BY specifies T0.ShortName i.e. Business Partner column would be the base for summarizing debit and credit amounts for each Business Partner.

Whenever you use the GROUP BY clause, it is mandatory to include all your columns under this clause unless they are aggregated columns.

The following example shows a simple query:

The query script is simple:

SELECT T0.CardCode AS 'BP Code', T0.CardName AS 'BP Named', SUM(T0.DocTotal) AS 'Total'
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode < 'C100003'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode, T0.CardName

In the previous example, neither the DocNum nor the DocTotal columns can be included in the query. Otherwise, the group will not work for each customer.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

A HAVING clause is normally used with a GROUP BY clause. This clause is optional. It is equivalent to a WHERE clause under the main query body. It specifies that a SELECT statement should only return rows where aggregate values meet the specified conditions. This clause was added to the SQL language after the main clause had already been defined because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.

If you remember the first query before discussing, you have:

HAVING SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) > 0

It can be found under the GROUP BY clause in the query. This means the query result will only include those records if the aggregate summary function's result of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit is greater than zero. In case there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero from all occurrences before summary operation.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

An ORDER BY clause is very simple when you need to sort your query result based on certain columns. This clause is always the last clause to be used in the query. If you have UNION or UNION ALL to combine more than one query, this clause may only be added to the end of the entire query.

There are two types of orders: One is ascending and the other is descending. Descending can be abbreviated to DESC in the end. Ascending can be abbreviated to ASC. If DESC is not included, the default ORDER BY will be ascending. Since ascending is the default order, it is usually omitted from the query.

An ORDER BY clause can have more than one column. The rule for query result is: the order first applies to the first column in the left. Then will be the second column, the third column, and so on.

Remember, not all types of columns are orderable. Some image columns, memo columns, etc. cannot be ordered.

If you remember the first query before the discussion statement, the last statement is as follows:

ORDER BY SUM(ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) - ISNULL(T0.Credit,0)) DESC

It means the query result will be ordered by descending order according to the summary of T0.Debit minus T0.Credit. If there are Null values, they will be replaced with zero for all occurrences.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

The UNION clause combines the results of two or more SQL queries into one query result set. To use this clause, the number and order of columns from those queries must be the same with compatible data types. Any duplicate records are automatically removed by the UNION clause. It works like DISTINCT.

One thing you need to be aware of: UNION results do not care about the order of the rows. Rows from the first query may appear before, after, or mixed with rows from the following one. If you need a specific order, the ORDER BY clause must be used.

The UNION ALL clause is almost the same as the UNION clause, except it allows duplicated records.

UNION ALL may be much faster than plain UNION due to fewer checks in the query process. Whenever duplication is not a concern, or duplication is needed, UNION ALL should be used first.

A UNION or UNION ALL query is usually longer than a normal query because it is at least double the lines of query scripts. The example query that includes this clause will be shown in later chapters.

Some important functions to return values

Some important functions to return values are discussed as follows:

ISNULL() predicate

An ISNULL() function is used for replacing Null with the specified replacement value.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

ISNULL (Value1,Value2)

Value1 is normally a column value or a variable to be checked. Value2 is a fixed value to be replaced to.

In the first example query you read before the discussion of statement, there is an instance of ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) or ISNULL(T0.Credit,0). Here, a column T0.Debit or T0.Credit is checked. If it is Null, then it will be replaced with 0. Otherwise, the query will not be able to return the correct results. That is because: only 0 can be added but not Null. Even if you have one Null in the formula, the final result will be Unknown or an error.

Misunderstanding of how Null works is not a rare case. These mistakes are usually the result of confusion between Null and either 0 (zero) or an empty string (''). Null is actually different from both values. Null indicates the absence of any value. Null means nothing. ISNULL() function is very effective for getting rid of Null. Use it whenever you need it.

SUM() function

A SUM() function is used for returning the summed total of all the values, or only the DISTINCT values, from the numeric columns.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

SUM ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the sum of distinct values. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or a function, and any combination of arithmetic operators.

MAX() function

A MAX() function is used for returning the maximum value from all checked values.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

MAX ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add a DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the maximum of the distinct values. The result will be exactly the same as the one without this keyword. ALL is default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of arithmetic, bitwise, and string operators. MAX function can be used with numeric, character, and datetime columns.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT T0.CardCode, MAX(T0.DocTotal) 'Total' 
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode LIKE '[%0]%'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode
ORDER BY MAX(T0.DocTotal) DESC

With this query, the maximum A/R invoice total will be returned in a range of customers or all customers if you input nothing when you run the query.

MIN() function

A MIN() function is used for returning minimum value from all checked values.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

MIN ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the minimum of the distinct values. The result will be exactly the same as the one without this keyword. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of arithmetic, bitwise, and string operators. MIN can be used with numeric, character, and datetime columns.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT T0.CardCode, MIN(T0.DocTotal) 'Total' 
FROM dbo.OPCH T0
WHERE T0.CardCode LIKE '[%0]%'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode
ORDER BY MIN (T0.DocTotal)

With this query, the minimum A/P invoice total will be returned in a range of vendors or all vendors, if you input nothing when you run the query.

COUNT() function

A COUNT() function returns the number of items in a group.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

COUNT { [ [ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value ] | * })

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the count of the distinct values. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be of any type except text or image. Aggregate functions and subqueries are not permitted.

COUNT(*) cannot be used with DISTINCT. * specifies that all rows should be counted to return the total number of rows in a table. COUNT(*) does not require any values because it does not use information about any particular columns. COUNT(*) returns the number of physical rows in a specified table including duplicate rows and the rows that contain null values. On the contrary, if it is not COUNT(*),only non-null rows will be counted.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM OUSR

You will immediately know how many users you have set up in your system from day one of your system. Remember all users, including deleted users, will be counted. If you have a long history, this number could be well above your current number of users.

Another useful query example is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM JDT1

You will get the number of records for one of your largest tables.

DATEDIFF() function

A DATEDIFF() function returns an integer number of intervals of a specified type between two dates.

The syntax is simple:

DATEDIFF ( Datepart , Date1 , Date2 )

Three arguments are:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies on which type of the date or time to calculate the difference. The Datepart and abbreviations can be found from the following table. These Datepart and abbreviations are an exclusive list that cannot be supplied as a user-declared variable.

Datepart

Abbreviations

Year

yy, yyyy

Quarter

qq, q

Month

mm, m

Dayofyear

dy, y

Day

dd, d

Week

wk, ww

Weekday

dw

Hour

hh

Minute

mi, n

Second

ss, s

Millisecond

ms
Date1 is the starting date for the interval. It is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.
Date2 is the ending date for the interval. It is also an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.

Date and time values included in the function must be within a valid range. Years must be less than or equal to 9999. Months must be between 1 and 12. Days must be between 1 and 31. Hours: 0 through 23. Minutes: 0 through 59. Seconds: 0 through 59.

For year format, it is recommended to always use four-digit years. If you specify only the last two digits of the year, it may cause uncertainty. It will be affected by the two-digit year cutoff configuration option in your system. For example, if the two-digit year cutoff is 2049 (default), 49 is interpreted as 2049 and 50 is interpreted as 1950. The difference calculated across the boundary will be surprising.

DATEDIFF() function is one of the most useful date functions for getting proper results. This is always the first function to be used if you need a date compare operation. For using abbreviations, two-letter abbreviations are recommended because this is one of the most easily remembered options with the consistent format.

Here is an example:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '10-10-2010', '01-01-2011')

It will return 83 since the difference between these two dates is 83 days. You could change the date order to the following:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '01-01-2011', '10-10-2010')

This will return -83 because the first date is greater than the second one.

DATEADD() function

A DATEADD() function returns a new datetime value based on adding or subtracting an interval to a specified date.

The syntax is as follows:

DATEADD (Datepart , Number, Date )

Three arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Number is the value used to increment Datepart. If you specify a value that is not an integer, the decimal part of the value is truncated. For example, if you specify day for Datepart and 3.68 for number, date is incremented only by 3.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT DateAdd(mm, 5, '05-05-2011')

It will return 10-05-2011, if your date format is mm-dd-yyyy, or it returns 05-10-2011, if your date format is dd-mm-yyyy.

DATEPART() function

A DATEPART() function returns an integer that represents the specified Datepart of the specified date or time.

The syntax is very simple:

DATEPART ( Datepart , Date )

Two arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT DatePart(WW, '05-05-2011')

This would return 19 since the date May 5th, 2011, belongs to the nineteenth week of 2011.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

ISNULL() predicate

An ISNULL() function is used for replacing Null with the specified replacement value.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

ISNULL (Value1,Value2)

Value1 is normally a column value or a variable to be checked. Value2 is a fixed value to be replaced to.

In the first example query you read before the discussion of statement, there is an instance of ISNULL(T0.Debit,0) or ISNULL(T0.Credit,0). Here, a column T0.Debit or T0.Credit is checked. If it is Null, then it will be replaced with 0. Otherwise, the query will not be able to return the correct results. That is because: only 0 can be added but not Null. Even if you have one Null in the formula, the final result will be Unknown or an error.

Misunderstanding of how Null works is not a rare case. These mistakes are usually the result of confusion between Null and either 0 (zero) or an empty string (''). Null is actually different from both values. Null indicates the absence of any value. Null means nothing. ISNULL() function is very effective for getting rid of Null. Use it whenever you need it.

SUM() function

A SUM() function is used for returning the summed total of all the values, or only the DISTINCT values, from the numeric columns.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

SUM ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the sum of distinct values. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or a function, and any combination of arithmetic operators.

MAX() function

A MAX() function is used for returning the maximum value from all checked values.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

MAX ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add a DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the maximum of the distinct values. The result will be exactly the same as the one without this keyword. ALL is default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of arithmetic, bitwise, and string operators. MAX function can be used with numeric, character, and datetime columns.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT T0.CardCode, MAX(T0.DocTotal) 'Total' 
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode LIKE '[%0]%'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode
ORDER BY MAX(T0.DocTotal) DESC

With this query, the maximum A/R invoice total will be returned in a range of customers or all customers if you input nothing when you run the query.

MIN() function

A MIN() function is used for returning minimum value from all checked values.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

MIN ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the minimum of the distinct values. The result will be exactly the same as the one without this keyword. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of arithmetic, bitwise, and string operators. MIN can be used with numeric, character, and datetime columns.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT T0.CardCode, MIN(T0.DocTotal) 'Total' 
FROM dbo.OPCH T0
WHERE T0.CardCode LIKE '[%0]%'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode
ORDER BY MIN (T0.DocTotal)

With this query, the minimum A/P invoice total will be returned in a range of vendors or all vendors, if you input nothing when you run the query.

COUNT() function

A COUNT() function returns the number of items in a group.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

COUNT { [ [ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value ] | * })

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the count of the distinct values. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be of any type except text or image. Aggregate functions and subqueries are not permitted.

COUNT(*) cannot be used with DISTINCT. * specifies that all rows should be counted to return the total number of rows in a table. COUNT(*) does not require any values because it does not use information about any particular columns. COUNT(*) returns the number of physical rows in a specified table including duplicate rows and the rows that contain null values. On the contrary, if it is not COUNT(*),only non-null rows will be counted.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM OUSR

You will immediately know how many users you have set up in your system from day one of your system. Remember all users, including deleted users, will be counted. If you have a long history, this number could be well above your current number of users.

Another useful query example is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM JDT1

You will get the number of records for one of your largest tables.

DATEDIFF() function

A DATEDIFF() function returns an integer number of intervals of a specified type between two dates.

The syntax is simple:

DATEDIFF ( Datepart , Date1 , Date2 )

Three arguments are:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies on which type of the date or time to calculate the difference. The Datepart and abbreviations can be found from the following table. These Datepart and abbreviations are an exclusive list that cannot be supplied as a user-declared variable.

Datepart

Abbreviations

Year

yy, yyyy

Quarter

qq, q

Month

mm, m

Dayofyear

dy, y

Day

dd, d

Week

wk, ww

Weekday

dw

Hour

hh

Minute

mi, n

Second

ss, s

Millisecond

ms
Date1 is the starting date for the interval. It is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.
Date2 is the ending date for the interval. It is also an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.

Date and time values included in the function must be within a valid range. Years must be less than or equal to 9999. Months must be between 1 and 12. Days must be between 1 and 31. Hours: 0 through 23. Minutes: 0 through 59. Seconds: 0 through 59.

For year format, it is recommended to always use four-digit years. If you specify only the last two digits of the year, it may cause uncertainty. It will be affected by the two-digit year cutoff configuration option in your system. For example, if the two-digit year cutoff is 2049 (default), 49 is interpreted as 2049 and 50 is interpreted as 1950. The difference calculated across the boundary will be surprising.

DATEDIFF() function is one of the most useful date functions for getting proper results. This is always the first function to be used if you need a date compare operation. For using abbreviations, two-letter abbreviations are recommended because this is one of the most easily remembered options with the consistent format.

Here is an example:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '10-10-2010', '01-01-2011')

It will return 83 since the difference between these two dates is 83 days. You could change the date order to the following:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '01-01-2011', '10-10-2010')

This will return -83 because the first date is greater than the second one.

DATEADD() function

A DATEADD() function returns a new datetime value based on adding or subtracting an interval to a specified date.

The syntax is as follows:

DATEADD (Datepart , Number, Date )

Three arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Number is the value used to increment Datepart. If you specify a value that is not an integer, the decimal part of the value is truncated. For example, if you specify day for Datepart and 3.68 for number, date is incremented only by 3.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT DateAdd(mm, 5, '05-05-2011')

It will return 10-05-2011, if your date format is mm-dd-yyyy, or it returns 05-10-2011, if your date format is dd-mm-yyyy.

DATEPART() function

A DATEPART() function returns an integer that represents the specified Datepart of the specified date or time.

The syntax is very simple:

DATEPART ( Datepart , Date )

Two arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT DatePart(WW, '05-05-2011')

This would return 19 since the date May 5th, 2011, belongs to the nineteenth week of 2011.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

SUM() function

A SUM() function is used for returning the summed total of all the values, or only the DISTINCT values, from the numeric columns.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

SUM ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the sum of distinct values. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or a function, and any combination of arithmetic operators.

MAX() function

A MAX() function is used for returning the maximum value from all checked values.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

MAX ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add a DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the maximum of the distinct values. The result will be exactly the same as the one without this keyword. ALL is default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of arithmetic, bitwise, and string operators. MAX function can be used with numeric, character, and datetime columns.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT T0.CardCode, MAX(T0.DocTotal) 'Total' 
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode LIKE '[%0]%'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode
ORDER BY MAX(T0.DocTotal) DESC

With this query, the maximum A/R invoice total will be returned in a range of customers or all customers if you input nothing when you run the query.

MIN() function

A MIN() function is used for returning minimum value from all checked values.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

MIN ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the minimum of the distinct values. The result will be exactly the same as the one without this keyword. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of arithmetic, bitwise, and string operators. MIN can be used with numeric, character, and datetime columns.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT T0.CardCode, MIN(T0.DocTotal) 'Total' 
FROM dbo.OPCH T0
WHERE T0.CardCode LIKE '[%0]%'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode
ORDER BY MIN (T0.DocTotal)

With this query, the minimum A/P invoice total will be returned in a range of vendors or all vendors, if you input nothing when you run the query.

COUNT() function

A COUNT() function returns the number of items in a group.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

COUNT { [ [ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value ] | * })

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the count of the distinct values. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be of any type except text or image. Aggregate functions and subqueries are not permitted.

COUNT(*) cannot be used with DISTINCT. * specifies that all rows should be counted to return the total number of rows in a table. COUNT(*) does not require any values because it does not use information about any particular columns. COUNT(*) returns the number of physical rows in a specified table including duplicate rows and the rows that contain null values. On the contrary, if it is not COUNT(*),only non-null rows will be counted.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM OUSR

You will immediately know how many users you have set up in your system from day one of your system. Remember all users, including deleted users, will be counted. If you have a long history, this number could be well above your current number of users.

Another useful query example is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM JDT1

You will get the number of records for one of your largest tables.

DATEDIFF() function

A DATEDIFF() function returns an integer number of intervals of a specified type between two dates.

The syntax is simple:

DATEDIFF ( Datepart , Date1 , Date2 )

Three arguments are:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies on which type of the date or time to calculate the difference. The Datepart and abbreviations can be found from the following table. These Datepart and abbreviations are an exclusive list that cannot be supplied as a user-declared variable.

Datepart

Abbreviations

Year

yy, yyyy

Quarter

qq, q

Month

mm, m

Dayofyear

dy, y

Day

dd, d

Week

wk, ww

Weekday

dw

Hour

hh

Minute

mi, n

Second

ss, s

Millisecond

ms
Date1 is the starting date for the interval. It is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.
Date2 is the ending date for the interval. It is also an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.

Date and time values included in the function must be within a valid range. Years must be less than or equal to 9999. Months must be between 1 and 12. Days must be between 1 and 31. Hours: 0 through 23. Minutes: 0 through 59. Seconds: 0 through 59.

For year format, it is recommended to always use four-digit years. If you specify only the last two digits of the year, it may cause uncertainty. It will be affected by the two-digit year cutoff configuration option in your system. For example, if the two-digit year cutoff is 2049 (default), 49 is interpreted as 2049 and 50 is interpreted as 1950. The difference calculated across the boundary will be surprising.

DATEDIFF() function is one of the most useful date functions for getting proper results. This is always the first function to be used if you need a date compare operation. For using abbreviations, two-letter abbreviations are recommended because this is one of the most easily remembered options with the consistent format.

Here is an example:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '10-10-2010', '01-01-2011')

It will return 83 since the difference between these two dates is 83 days. You could change the date order to the following:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '01-01-2011', '10-10-2010')

This will return -83 because the first date is greater than the second one.

DATEADD() function

A DATEADD() function returns a new datetime value based on adding or subtracting an interval to a specified date.

The syntax is as follows:

DATEADD (Datepart , Number, Date )

Three arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Number is the value used to increment Datepart. If you specify a value that is not an integer, the decimal part of the value is truncated. For example, if you specify day for Datepart and 3.68 for number, date is incremented only by 3.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT DateAdd(mm, 5, '05-05-2011')

It will return 10-05-2011, if your date format is mm-dd-yyyy, or it returns 05-10-2011, if your date format is dd-mm-yyyy.

DATEPART() function

A DATEPART() function returns an integer that represents the specified Datepart of the specified date or time.

The syntax is very simple:

DATEPART ( Datepart , Date )

Two arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT DatePart(WW, '05-05-2011')

This would return 19 since the date May 5th, 2011, belongs to the nineteenth week of 2011.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

MAX() function

A MAX() function is used for returning the maximum value from all checked values.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

MAX ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add a DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the maximum of the distinct values. The result will be exactly the same as the one without this keyword. ALL is default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of arithmetic, bitwise, and string operators. MAX function can be used with numeric, character, and datetime columns.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT T0.CardCode, MAX(T0.DocTotal) 'Total' 
FROM dbo.OINV T0
WHERE T0.CardCode LIKE '[%0]%'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode
ORDER BY MAX(T0.DocTotal) DESC

With this query, the maximum A/R invoice total will be returned in a range of customers or all customers if you input nothing when you run the query.

MIN() function

A MIN() function is used for returning minimum value from all checked values.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

MIN ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the minimum of the distinct values. The result will be exactly the same as the one without this keyword. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of arithmetic, bitwise, and string operators. MIN can be used with numeric, character, and datetime columns.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT T0.CardCode, MIN(T0.DocTotal) 'Total' 
FROM dbo.OPCH T0
WHERE T0.CardCode LIKE '[%0]%'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode
ORDER BY MIN (T0.DocTotal)

With this query, the minimum A/P invoice total will be returned in a range of vendors or all vendors, if you input nothing when you run the query.

COUNT() function

A COUNT() function returns the number of items in a group.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

COUNT { [ [ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value ] | * })

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the count of the distinct values. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be of any type except text or image. Aggregate functions and subqueries are not permitted.

COUNT(*) cannot be used with DISTINCT. * specifies that all rows should be counted to return the total number of rows in a table. COUNT(*) does not require any values because it does not use information about any particular columns. COUNT(*) returns the number of physical rows in a specified table including duplicate rows and the rows that contain null values. On the contrary, if it is not COUNT(*),only non-null rows will be counted.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM OUSR

You will immediately know how many users you have set up in your system from day one of your system. Remember all users, including deleted users, will be counted. If you have a long history, this number could be well above your current number of users.

Another useful query example is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM JDT1

You will get the number of records for one of your largest tables.

DATEDIFF() function

A DATEDIFF() function returns an integer number of intervals of a specified type between two dates.

The syntax is simple:

DATEDIFF ( Datepart , Date1 , Date2 )

Three arguments are:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies on which type of the date or time to calculate the difference. The Datepart and abbreviations can be found from the following table. These Datepart and abbreviations are an exclusive list that cannot be supplied as a user-declared variable.

Datepart

Abbreviations

Year

yy, yyyy

Quarter

qq, q

Month

mm, m

Dayofyear

dy, y

Day

dd, d

Week

wk, ww

Weekday

dw

Hour

hh

Minute

mi, n

Second

ss, s

Millisecond

ms
Date1 is the starting date for the interval. It is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.
Date2 is the ending date for the interval. It is also an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.

Date and time values included in the function must be within a valid range. Years must be less than or equal to 9999. Months must be between 1 and 12. Days must be between 1 and 31. Hours: 0 through 23. Minutes: 0 through 59. Seconds: 0 through 59.

For year format, it is recommended to always use four-digit years. If you specify only the last two digits of the year, it may cause uncertainty. It will be affected by the two-digit year cutoff configuration option in your system. For example, if the two-digit year cutoff is 2049 (default), 49 is interpreted as 2049 and 50 is interpreted as 1950. The difference calculated across the boundary will be surprising.

DATEDIFF() function is one of the most useful date functions for getting proper results. This is always the first function to be used if you need a date compare operation. For using abbreviations, two-letter abbreviations are recommended because this is one of the most easily remembered options with the consistent format.

Here is an example:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '10-10-2010', '01-01-2011')

It will return 83 since the difference between these two dates is 83 days. You could change the date order to the following:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '01-01-2011', '10-10-2010')

This will return -83 because the first date is greater than the second one.

DATEADD() function

A DATEADD() function returns a new datetime value based on adding or subtracting an interval to a specified date.

The syntax is as follows:

DATEADD (Datepart , Number, Date )

Three arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Number is the value used to increment Datepart. If you specify a value that is not an integer, the decimal part of the value is truncated. For example, if you specify day for Datepart and 3.68 for number, date is incremented only by 3.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT DateAdd(mm, 5, '05-05-2011')

It will return 10-05-2011, if your date format is mm-dd-yyyy, or it returns 05-10-2011, if your date format is dd-mm-yyyy.

DATEPART() function

A DATEPART() function returns an integer that represents the specified Datepart of the specified date or time.

The syntax is very simple:

DATEPART ( Datepart , Date )

Two arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT DatePart(WW, '05-05-2011')

This would return 19 since the date May 5th, 2011, belongs to the nineteenth week of 2011.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

MIN() function

A MIN() function is used for returning minimum value from all checked values.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

MIN ([ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value)

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the minimum of the distinct values. The result will be exactly the same as the one without this keyword. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be a constant, column, or function, and any combination of arithmetic, bitwise, and string operators. MIN can be used with numeric, character, and datetime columns.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT T0.CardCode, MIN(T0.DocTotal) 'Total' 
FROM dbo.OPCH T0
WHERE T0.CardCode LIKE '[%0]%'
GROUP BY T0.CardCode
ORDER BY MIN (T0.DocTotal)

With this query, the minimum A/P invoice total will be returned in a range of vendors or all vendors, if you input nothing when you run the query.

COUNT() function

A COUNT() function returns the number of items in a group.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

COUNT { [ [ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value ] | * })

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the count of the distinct values. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be of any type except text or image. Aggregate functions and subqueries are not permitted.

COUNT(*) cannot be used with DISTINCT. * specifies that all rows should be counted to return the total number of rows in a table. COUNT(*) does not require any values because it does not use information about any particular columns. COUNT(*) returns the number of physical rows in a specified table including duplicate rows and the rows that contain null values. On the contrary, if it is not COUNT(*),only non-null rows will be counted.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM OUSR

You will immediately know how many users you have set up in your system from day one of your system. Remember all users, including deleted users, will be counted. If you have a long history, this number could be well above your current number of users.

Another useful query example is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM JDT1

You will get the number of records for one of your largest tables.

DATEDIFF() function

A DATEDIFF() function returns an integer number of intervals of a specified type between two dates.

The syntax is simple:

DATEDIFF ( Datepart , Date1 , Date2 )

Three arguments are:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies on which type of the date or time to calculate the difference. The Datepart and abbreviations can be found from the following table. These Datepart and abbreviations are an exclusive list that cannot be supplied as a user-declared variable.

Datepart

Abbreviations

Year

yy, yyyy

Quarter

qq, q

Month

mm, m

Dayofyear

dy, y

Day

dd, d

Week

wk, ww

Weekday

dw

Hour

hh

Minute

mi, n

Second

ss, s

Millisecond

ms
Date1 is the starting date for the interval. It is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.
Date2 is the ending date for the interval. It is also an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.

Date and time values included in the function must be within a valid range. Years must be less than or equal to 9999. Months must be between 1 and 12. Days must be between 1 and 31. Hours: 0 through 23. Minutes: 0 through 59. Seconds: 0 through 59.

For year format, it is recommended to always use four-digit years. If you specify only the last two digits of the year, it may cause uncertainty. It will be affected by the two-digit year cutoff configuration option in your system. For example, if the two-digit year cutoff is 2049 (default), 49 is interpreted as 2049 and 50 is interpreted as 1950. The difference calculated across the boundary will be surprising.

DATEDIFF() function is one of the most useful date functions for getting proper results. This is always the first function to be used if you need a date compare operation. For using abbreviations, two-letter abbreviations are recommended because this is one of the most easily remembered options with the consistent format.

Here is an example:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '10-10-2010', '01-01-2011')

It will return 83 since the difference between these two dates is 83 days. You could change the date order to the following:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '01-01-2011', '10-10-2010')

This will return -83 because the first date is greater than the second one.

DATEADD() function

A DATEADD() function returns a new datetime value based on adding or subtracting an interval to a specified date.

The syntax is as follows:

DATEADD (Datepart , Number, Date )

Three arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Number is the value used to increment Datepart. If you specify a value that is not an integer, the decimal part of the value is truncated. For example, if you specify day for Datepart and 3.68 for number, date is incremented only by 3.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT DateAdd(mm, 5, '05-05-2011')

It will return 10-05-2011, if your date format is mm-dd-yyyy, or it returns 05-10-2011, if your date format is dd-mm-yyyy.

DATEPART() function

A DATEPART() function returns an integer that represents the specified Datepart of the specified date or time.

The syntax is very simple:

DATEPART ( Datepart , Date )

Two arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT DatePart(WW, '05-05-2011')

This would return 19 since the date May 5th, 2011, belongs to the nineteenth week of 2011.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

COUNT() function

A COUNT() function returns the number of items in a group.

The syntax for the function is as follows:

COUNT { [ [ ALL | DISTINCT ] Value ] | * })

Both ALL and DISTINCT keywords are optional. If you add DISTINCT keyword to the function, it will only return the count of the distinct values. ALL is the default selection. There is usually no need to add to the function at all.

The value here can be of any type except text or image. Aggregate functions and subqueries are not permitted.

COUNT(*) cannot be used with DISTINCT. * specifies that all rows should be counted to return the total number of rows in a table. COUNT(*) does not require any values because it does not use information about any particular columns. COUNT(*) returns the number of physical rows in a specified table including duplicate rows and the rows that contain null values. On the contrary, if it is not COUNT(*),only non-null rows will be counted.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM OUSR

You will immediately know how many users you have set up in your system from day one of your system. Remember all users, including deleted users, will be counted. If you have a long history, this number could be well above your current number of users.

Another useful query example is as follows:

SELECT Count(*) FROM JDT1

You will get the number of records for one of your largest tables.

DATEDIFF() function

A DATEDIFF() function returns an integer number of intervals of a specified type between two dates.

The syntax is simple:

DATEDIFF ( Datepart , Date1 , Date2 )

Three arguments are:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies on which type of the date or time to calculate the difference. The Datepart and abbreviations can be found from the following table. These Datepart and abbreviations are an exclusive list that cannot be supplied as a user-declared variable.

Datepart

Abbreviations

Year

yy, yyyy

Quarter

qq, q

Month

mm, m

Dayofyear

dy, y

Day

dd, d

Week

wk, ww

Weekday

dw

Hour

hh

Minute

mi, n

Second

ss, s

Millisecond

ms
Date1 is the starting date for the interval. It is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.
Date2 is the ending date for the interval. It is also an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.

Date and time values included in the function must be within a valid range. Years must be less than or equal to 9999. Months must be between 1 and 12. Days must be between 1 and 31. Hours: 0 through 23. Minutes: 0 through 59. Seconds: 0 through 59.

For year format, it is recommended to always use four-digit years. If you specify only the last two digits of the year, it may cause uncertainty. It will be affected by the two-digit year cutoff configuration option in your system. For example, if the two-digit year cutoff is 2049 (default), 49 is interpreted as 2049 and 50 is interpreted as 1950. The difference calculated across the boundary will be surprising.

DATEDIFF() function is one of the most useful date functions for getting proper results. This is always the first function to be used if you need a date compare operation. For using abbreviations, two-letter abbreviations are recommended because this is one of the most easily remembered options with the consistent format.

Here is an example:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '10-10-2010', '01-01-2011')

It will return 83 since the difference between these two dates is 83 days. You could change the date order to the following:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '01-01-2011', '10-10-2010')

This will return -83 because the first date is greater than the second one.

DATEADD() function

A DATEADD() function returns a new datetime value based on adding or subtracting an interval to a specified date.

The syntax is as follows:

DATEADD (Datepart , Number, Date )

Three arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Number is the value used to increment Datepart. If you specify a value that is not an integer, the decimal part of the value is truncated. For example, if you specify day for Datepart and 3.68 for number, date is incremented only by 3.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT DateAdd(mm, 5, '05-05-2011')

It will return 10-05-2011, if your date format is mm-dd-yyyy, or it returns 05-10-2011, if your date format is dd-mm-yyyy.

DATEPART() function

A DATEPART() function returns an integer that represents the specified Datepart of the specified date or time.

The syntax is very simple:

DATEPART ( Datepart , Date )

Two arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT DatePart(WW, '05-05-2011')

This would return 19 since the date May 5th, 2011, belongs to the nineteenth week of 2011.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

DATEDIFF() function

A DATEDIFF() function returns an integer number of intervals of a specified type between two dates.

The syntax is simple:

DATEDIFF ( Datepart , Date1 , Date2 )

Three arguments are:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies on which type of the date or time to calculate the difference. The Datepart and abbreviations can be found from the following table. These Datepart and abbreviations are an exclusive list that cannot be supplied as a user-declared variable.

Datepart

Abbreviations

Year

yy, yyyy

Quarter

qq, q

Month

mm, m

Dayofyear

dy, y

Day

dd, d

Week

wk, ww

Weekday

dw

Hour

hh

Minute

mi, n

Second

ss, s

Millisecond

ms
Date1 is the starting date for the interval. It is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.
Date2 is the ending date for the interval. It is also an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format.

Date and time values included in the function must be within a valid range. Years must be less than or equal to 9999. Months must be between 1 and 12. Days must be between 1 and 31. Hours: 0 through 23. Minutes: 0 through 59. Seconds: 0 through 59.

For year format, it is recommended to always use four-digit years. If you specify only the last two digits of the year, it may cause uncertainty. It will be affected by the two-digit year cutoff configuration option in your system. For example, if the two-digit year cutoff is 2049 (default), 49 is interpreted as 2049 and 50 is interpreted as 1950. The difference calculated across the boundary will be surprising.

DATEDIFF() function is one of the most useful date functions for getting proper results. This is always the first function to be used if you need a date compare operation. For using abbreviations, two-letter abbreviations are recommended because this is one of the most easily remembered options with the consistent format.

Here is an example:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '10-10-2010', '01-01-2011')

It will return 83 since the difference between these two dates is 83 days. You could change the date order to the following:

SELECT DATEDIFF(DD, '01-01-2011', '10-10-2010')

This will return -83 because the first date is greater than the second one.

DATEADD() function

A DATEADD() function returns a new datetime value based on adding or subtracting an interval to a specified date.

The syntax is as follows:

DATEADD (Datepart , Number, Date )

Three arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Number is the value used to increment Datepart. If you specify a value that is not an integer, the decimal part of the value is truncated. For example, if you specify day for Datepart and 3.68 for number, date is incremented only by 3.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT DateAdd(mm, 5, '05-05-2011')

It will return 10-05-2011, if your date format is mm-dd-yyyy, or it returns 05-10-2011, if your date format is dd-mm-yyyy.

DATEPART() function

A DATEPART() function returns an integer that represents the specified Datepart of the specified date or time.

The syntax is very simple:

DATEPART ( Datepart , Date )

Two arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT DatePart(WW, '05-05-2011')

This would return 19 since the date May 5th, 2011, belongs to the nineteenth week of 2011.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

DATEADD() function

A DATEADD() function returns a new datetime value based on adding or subtracting an interval to a specified date.

The syntax is as follows:

DATEADD (Datepart , Number, Date )

Three arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Number is the value used to increment Datepart. If you specify a value that is not an integer, the decimal part of the value is truncated. For example, if you specify day for Datepart and 3.68 for number, date is incremented only by 3.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query is as follows:

SELECT DateAdd(mm, 5, '05-05-2011')

It will return 10-05-2011, if your date format is mm-dd-yyyy, or it returns 05-10-2011, if your date format is dd-mm-yyyy.

DATEPART() function

A DATEPART() function returns an integer that represents the specified Datepart of the specified date or time.

The syntax is very simple:

DATEPART ( Datepart , Date )

Two arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT DatePart(WW, '05-05-2011')

This would return 19 since the date May 5th, 2011, belongs to the nineteenth week of 2011.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

DATEPART() function

A DATEPART() function returns an integer that represents the specified Datepart of the specified date or time.

The syntax is very simple:

DATEPART ( Datepart , Date )

Two arguments are as follows:

Datepart is the parameter that specifies the part of the date or time to return. The lists of the Dateparts and abbreviations can be found above, under the DATEDIFF() function.
Date is an expression that returns a datetime value, or a character string in a date format. When you enter datetime values, always enclose them in quotation marks.

An example query would be as follows:

SELECT DatePart(WW, '05-05-2011')

This would return 19 since the date May 5th, 2011, belongs to the nineteenth week of 2011.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

CAST()/CONVERT() function

To convert an expression of one data type to another explicitly, CAST and CONVERT can be used. They provide similar functionality with different syntaxes.

Syntax for CAST:

CAST ( Value AS Data_type [ (Length ) ])

Syntax for CONVERT:

CONVERT ( Data_type [ ( Length ) ] , Value [ , Style ] )

Here, Value is any valid expression.

Data_type is the target system-supplied data type such as integer data, character data, monetary data, date and time data, binary strings, and so on. Alias data types cannot be used with this function.

Length is an optional parameter of string data types. For CONVERT, if length is not specified, the default length is 30 characters.

Style is the style of the value to be returned. When style is Null, the result returned is also Null. In other words, you have to define style in the CONVERT function, otherwise, you may get nothing.

Tip

Do not use any unsupported styles or an unsupported combination of style and target data type. Otherwise, it might return an error or unreliable results. To find the supported style by SQL Server, check SQL Server references.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

CASE expressions

A CASE expression is a unique conditional statement providing if/then/else logic for any ordinary SQL statement. It returns a single value from one of the multiple possible result expressions by evaluating a list of conditions.

The CASE expression has two formats:

The simple CASE expression
The searched CASE expression

Both formats support an optional ELSE expression that gives an alternative action, if no THEN expression is executed.

The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result. The searched CASE expression, on the other hand, evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.

CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. You can use CASE in statements such as SELECT, SET, or in clauses, such as WHERE, IN, ORDER BY, and HAVING.

CASE expressions can be extremely useful when you have very complex requirements. Through CASE expression, some complex queries can be changed into simpler, more efficient SQL statements.

CASE is a very powerful tool to get query results that cannot be done through other functions or expressions. It is mainly the topic of a later chapter.

The syntax for CASE expression is better shown by a query example:

SELECT CASE WHEN (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90
THEN CASE
WHEN T0.SYSCRED= 0 THEN T0.SYSDEB
WHEN T0.SYSDEB= 0 THEN –T0.SYSCRED
END
END "90 + DAYS"
FROM DBO.JDT1 T0
WHERE T0.SHORTNAME LIKE '[%0]%'

This simple query can be used to show a selected business partner's aging balance that is greater than or equal to 90 days. In the query, the ELSE is not used. Only when the conditions meet the requirement the results can be returned. With the condition (DATEDIFF(dd,T0.refdate,getdate())) >= 90, only those records in the JDT1 table will be returned.

There are two levels of CASE clauses that have been applied. After the first CASE check, the second level CASE will check whether T0.SYSCRED equals zero or T0.SYSDEB equals zero. When one of them is zero, the opposite column will be returned.

Notice there is only END without BEGIN. END is to be used to end the CASE expression. A CASE expression will always imply BEGIN of the SQL block. END is needed for every CASE expression. WHEN and THEN is the branch to make the CASE expression work. If you need to cover all conditions, ELSE is required to get all other records without meeting any of the WHEN conditions.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

IF expressions

An IF expression introduces a condition that determines whether the next statement is executed. The optional ELSE expression can give an alternate action to be executed when the IF condition is not satisfied.

The IF statement is logically equivalent to a searched CASE expression. In other words, an IF expression will cover less than a CASE expression.

In SAP Business One, IF can be used in many places such as Formatted Search.

Similar to CASE expression, the syntax for IF expression is better shown with a query example:

If Exists
(SELECT T1.DocEntry
FROM OIGE T0 INNER JOIN IGE1 T1
ON T0.DocEntry=T1.DocEntry
WHERE T0.DocEntry = @list_of_cols_val_tab_del
Group By T1.DocEntry
Having Sum(T1.Quantity) <=T0.U_nQty)
Begin
SELECT @error = 111,
@error_message = 'error quantity entered'
End

In the query example, the IF expression is used to check whether the query after EXISTS returns anything. If it is positive, this query could be used for effectively blocking the Goods Receipt being created. Notice that the parentheses are needed when there is a SELECT statement included in the query body.

Summary

In this chapter, you learned about the most important tool for creating or using SQL queries in SAP Business One, Query Manager. This included Query Manager user interface and query display, creation, and save. We also discussed query categories.

You learned the most commonly used query statements such as SELECT, DISTINCT, TOP, and more. You also learned some functions or expressions such as ISNULL(), SUM(), and CASE.

From those statements, functions, and expressions, you have built a good foundation to build your own SQL queries. When you are in doubt about your query building knowledge, it is always advisable to come back here to have a good overview of the statement you need.

In the next chapter, you will have more real world query examples to deal with.

Datepart	Abbreviations
Year	yy, yyyy
Quarter	qq, q
Month	mm, m
Dayofyear	dy, y
Day	dd, d
Week	wk, ww
Weekday	dw
Hour	hh
Minute	mi, n
Second	ss, s
Millisecond	ms

Mastering SQL Queries for SAP Business One

By : Gordon Du

Mastering SQL Queries for SAP Business One

By: Gordon Du

Overview of this book

Chapter 3. Query Manager and Query Statements

Query manager user interface

Display all existing queries

Tip

Creating and saving user queries

Note

Deleting user queries

Note

Managing query categories

Tip

Note

Commonly used statements

SELECT—first statement to retrieve data

The scope of the value that can be retrieved

A single value

A group of values

Tip

Return a single database table column

Return a group of database table columns

Return complete database table columns

Note

Used in a subquery

The numbers of columns to be included

Column name descriptions

Clauses can follow this statement

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

Tip

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

Tip

FROM—data resource can be assigned

Tip

A single table

Tip

Tip

A group of linked tables

Tip

Multiple tables separated by commas

JOIN—addition table or tables can be linked

Inner Join

Outer Join

Left Outer Join

Right Outer Join

Full Outer Join

Self-Join

WHERE—query conditions to be defined

BETWEEN—ranges to be defined from lower to higher end

Tip

IN/EXISTS—the value list that may satisfy the condition

LIKE—similar records can be found

GROUP BY—summarizing the data according to the list

HAVING—conditions to be defined in summary report

ORDER BY—report result can be by your preferred order

UNION/UNION ALL—to put two or more queries together

SELECT—first statement to retrieve data

The scope of the value that can be retrieved

A single value

A group of values

Tip

Return a single database table column

Return a group of database table columns

Return complete database table columns

Note

Used in a subquery

The numbers of columns to be included

Column name descriptions

Clauses can follow this statement

DISTINCT—duplicated records can be removed

Tip

TOP—number of lines returned by ranking

Tip

FROM—data resource can be assigned

Tip

A single table

Tip

Tip