Category: DBMS

Database Management Systems

Fix “Procedure or function GENERATE_SERIES has too many arguments specified” in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

If you’re getting error 8144 with a message that reads “Procedure or function GENERATE_SERIES has too many arguments specified” in SQL Server, it’s because you’re passing too many arguments to the GENERATE_SERIES() function.

The GENERATE_SERIES() function/relational operator accepts a minimum of two arguments, and a maximum of three (at least, this is the case at the time of writing).

So to fix this error, be sure to provide either two arguments or three when using the GENERATE_SERIES() function.

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Creating Named Windows in SQL Server with the WINDOW Clause

Posted on by Ian

Many RDBMSs support the concept of named windows – windows that we can reference from within an OVER clause when defining a window function.

For those of us using SQL Server, we had to wait until the release of SQL Server 2022 before we could create named windows for our window functions. But with the release of SQL Server 2022, we now have the option of using named windows in our window functions.

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Fix “The date value is less than the minimum date value allowed for the data type” When using SQL Server’s DATETRUNC() Function

Posted on by Ian

If you’re getting SQL Server error msg 9837 that tells you “The date value is less than the minimum date value allowed for the data type…”, it sounds like you’re using the DATETRUNC() function with the week date part on a date that would cause the result to backtrack to a date that’s earlier than the date type supports.

This is a rare error that only occurs when using the week date part with the DATETRUNC() function on a very small number of early dates.

One way to deal with this error would be to use iso_week instead of week, if that’s suitable for your particular situation.

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Fix Error 402: “The data types numeric and numeric are incompatible in the approx_percentile_disc operator” in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

If you’re getting SQL Server error 402 that reads something like “The data types numeric and numeric are incompatible in the approx_percentile_disc operator“, it’s probably because you’re trying to use the APPROX_PERCENTILE_DISC() function on a column of the wrong data type.

It could be that you’ve simply passed the wrong column, or it could be that the column is the correct one, but it’s of the wrong type.

To fix, be sure that the column/expression is of a supported type.

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Understanding the Difference Between MAX() and GREATEST() in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

SQL Server 2022 introduced the GREATEST() function that returns the maximum value from a list of values. You may be thinking, “but there’s already a MAX() function that returns the maximum value, so why the need for another function that does the same thing?”.

Well here’s the thing – they don’t do the same thing. They’re actually quite different functions, used in different scenarios.

If you’re wondering what the difference is between the MAX() and GREATEST() functions, read on to find out.

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Fix Error “The function ‘FIRST_VALUE’ must have an OVER clause” in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

If you’re getting an error that reads “The function ‘FIRST_VALUE’ must have an OVER clause” in SQL Server, it’s probably because you’re calling the FIRST_VALUE() function without an OVER clause.

The FIRST_VALUE() function requires an OVER clause (and that clause must have an ORDER BY clause).

To fix this issue, be sure to include an OVER clause when calling the FIRST_VALUE() function.

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