Chapter 3: Selecting 79

WHERE b <= 5000

AND t3.non_key_1 = 333
GROUP BY ROLLUP ( t1.key_1, t3.key_1 )
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1
ORDER BY 1, 2;
The START AT 2 clause eliminates the grand total row to produce the final
result set in this example:
a b c d
=== ==== = ====
100 NULL 2 666
200 NULL 6 1998
200 3000 3 999
200 4000 3 999
Step 13: Each NUMBER(*) call in the select list is computed for each row and
appended to the row. Note that NUMBER(*) cant be evaluated until all the
other clauses have had their turn; the rows cant be numbered until all the rows
have been sorted and all unwanted rows have been eliminated. And thats why
there are so many restrictions on where you can call NUMBER(*); for example,
you cant use it in a WHERE clause because thats much too early to calculate
NUMBER(*).
Here is what the example SELECT looks like with a NUMBER(*) call
added; the DISTINCT clause has been commented out because it conflicts with
NUMBER(*):
SELECT --DISTINCT
TOP 4 START AT 2
t1.key_1 * 100 AS a,
t3.key_1 * 1000 AS b,
COUNT(*) AS c,
SUM ( t3.non_key_1 ) AS d,
NUMBER(*) AS e
FROM ( t1 LEFT OUTER JOIN t2 ON t1.key_1 = t2.key_1 )
CROSS JOIN t3
WHERE b <= 5000
AND t3.non_key_1 = 333
GROUP BY ROLLUP ( t1.key_1, t3.key_1 )
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1
ORDER BY 1, 2;
The resulting output shows the row number as column e:
a b c d e
=== ==== = ==== =
100 NULL 2 666 1
200 NULL 6 1998 2
200 3000 3 999 3
200 4000 3 999 4
Step 14: The FOR XML clause is applied to transform the result set into a sin-
gle row consisting of a single XML document column.
Step 15: The INTO clause is executed to fill host variables or a temporary table.
A temporary table can accept multiple rows, while host variables can only be
used if the result set is a single row.
Heres what the example SELECT looks like with INTO and FOR XML
clauses added; the NUMBER(*) call has been removed because it conflicts with
FOR XML: