Tag: how to

How to Fix “The function ‘CUME_DIST’ must have an OVER clause with ORDER BY” Error in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

If you’re getting error message 4112 that reads “The function ‘CUME_DIST’ must have an OVER clause with ORDER BY” when using the CUME_DIST() function, it’s probably because you’re omitting the ORDER BY clause from the OVER clause.

When using the CUME_DIST() function in SQL Server, we must include an OVER clause that contains an ORDER BY clause. This error happens when we provide the OVER clause but not the ORDER BY clause.

To fix this error, add an ORDER BY clause to the OVER clause.

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Check if Table Exists in SQL

Posted on by Ian

With SQL we can use various methods to check whether or not a table (or other object) exists in the database. The method we use will often depend on the RDBMS we’re using, as well as the task we’re trying to undertake.

There’s usually a reason we’re trying to check for the existence of a table, and often the syntax we use will be tied to that reason. For example the ...IF EXISTS clause is a handy addition to the DROP TABLE statement, and the ...IF NOT EXISTS clause can often be used with the CREATE TABLE statement.

Other times we may simply want to see if the table exists without performing any immediate actions against that table. In such cases, we would need to run code specifically to see if the table exists.

Below are examples of code we can use in each of the above scenarios.

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Using VALUES as a Stand Alone Statement in MySQL

Posted on by Ian

MySQL 8.0.19 introduced the VALUES DML statement, which is a table constructor that can be used as a stand alone SQL statement.

This is not to be confused with the VALUES keyword that’s used with the INSERT or REPLACE statements when inserting data (although it can be used for that purpose too). It also shouldn’t be confused with the VALUES() function that’s used with INSERT … ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE statements.

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Fix “Window element in OVER clause can not also be specified in WINDOW clause” in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

If you’re getting error number 4123 that reads “Window element in OVER clause can not also be specified in WINDOW clause” in SQL Server, it’s probably because you’re referring to a named window with the same clause that’s in the named window.

When we use the OVER clause to refer to a named window in SQL Server, we can’t include a clause that’s also present in the named window.

To fix the issue, remove one of the clauses – either the one in the OVER clause or the one in the named window.

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Using Fractions when Generating a Series in SQL Server

Posted on by Ian

When we use SQL Server’s GENERATE_SERIES() function to create a series, we provide the start and stop points as numbers. And if we provide the optional step argument, then it’s provided as a number too.

The numbers we provide can be decimal fractions if required. This means that we can create a series made up of decimal fractions. But we still need to ensure that all our arguments are of the same type.

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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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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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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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