ORACLE/SQL: wm_concat & order by

Question

I'm using oracle 11 (not sure about the exact version, but since LISTAGG doesn't work, I suppose it's not release 2) through ODBC and crystal reports 2008.

Here is the problem I have:

Here's a table:

TABLE ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL  
------------------------------------------  
task_card     control_category     code  
------------------------------------------  
1                  zone             17  
1                  zone             33  
1                  zone             21  
2                  zone             18  
2                  zone             05  
3                  zone             55  
3                  zone             32  
3                  zone             72 

I'm using the WM_CONCAT function to obtain something like this:

task_card      zones
1              17,33,21
2              18,05
3              55,32,72

Here is the SQL for that:

SELECT TASK_CARD, WM_CONCAT(code) as ZONES
FROM ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL
WHERE ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL.CONTROL_CATEGORY = 'ZONE'
GROUP BY TASK_CARD

but I'd like the zones to be sorted, so I tried this:

SELECT TASK_CARD, WM_CONCAT(code) as ZONES
FROM (SELECT TASK_CARD, CODE, CONTROL_CATEGORY FROM ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL 
ORDER BY CODE)
WHERE ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL.CONTROL_CATEGORY = 'ZONE'
GROUP BY TASK_CARD

but for some reason, it returns the following error:

Failed to retrieve data from the database.
Details: 42S22:[Oracle][ODBC][Ora]ORA-00904: 
"ODB"."TASK_CARD_CONTROL"."CONTROL_CATEGORY" : invalid identifier

I really don't understand what I'm doing wrong here... Can anybody give me a hint ?

Answer 1

If you give the sub query in the from clause a name you can then refer to columns in the sub query itself

SELECT t1.TASK_CARD
, WM_CONCAT(t1.code) as ZONES
FROM 
(SELECT TASK_CARD, CODE, CONTROL_CATEGORY FROM ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL ORDER BY CODE) t1
WHERE t1.CONTROL_CATEGORY = 'ZONE'
GROUP BY t1.TASK_CARD

Answer 2

LISTAGG was introduced in 11g Release 2.

Therefore, in Oracle version prior to 11g where LISTAGG is not supported, you could use ROW_NUMBER() and SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH functions.

See Oracle String Aggregation Techniques

SELECT task_card,
  LTRIM(MAX(SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH(code,','))
  KEEP (DENSE_RANK LAST ORDER BY curr),',') AS zones
  FROM   (SELECT task_card,
                code,
                ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY fruit ORDER BY code) AS curr,
                ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY fruit ORDER BY code) -1 AS prev
         FROM   table_name)
  GROUP BY task_card
  CONNECT BY prev = PRIOR curr AND task_card= PRIOR task_card
 START WITH curr = 1;

NOTE

Never use WM_CONCAT since it is an undocumented feature and it has been removed from 12c version.

Any application which has had been relying on wm_concat function will not work once upgraded to 12c. Since, it has been removed. See Why not use WM_CONCAT function in Oracle?

SQL> select banner from v$version where rownum = 1;

BANNER
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.1.0 - 64bit Production

SQL> SELECT object_name
  2  FROM dba_objects
  3  WHERE owner='WMSYS'
  4  AND object_name LIKE 'WM\_%' ESCAPE '\';

OBJECT_NAME
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WM_REPLICATION_INFO
WM_RDIFF
WM_PERIOD
WM_PERIOD
WM_OVERLAPS
WM_MEETS
WM_LESSTHAN
WM_LDIFF
WM_INTERSECTION
WM_INSTALLATION
WM_GREATERTHAN
WM_EVENTS_INFO
WM_ERROR
WM_ERROR
WM_EQUALS
WM_DDL_UTIL
WM_DDL_UTIL
WM_CONTAINS
WM_COMPRESS_BATCH_SIZES
WM_COMPRESSIBLE_TABLES

20 rows selected.

SQL>

You will receive an “invalid identifier” error:

SQL> SELECT banner FROM v$version;

BANNER
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
PL/SQL Release 12.1.0.1.0 - Production
CORE    12.1.0.1.0      Production
TNS for 64-bit Windows: Version 12.1.0.1.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 12.1.0.1.0 - Production

SQL> SELECT deptno, wm_concat(ename) FROM emp;
SELECT deptno, wm_concat(ename) FROM emp
               *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00904: "WM_CONCAT": invalid identifier

Therefore, there is no point relying on an undocumented feature which is no more made available in latest versions.

Answer 3

You can't reference ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL.CONTROL_CATEGORY from outside the inner query. Try:

SELECT TASK_CARD, WM_CONCAT(code) as ZONES
FROM (SELECT TASK_CARD, CODE, CONTROL_CATEGORY FROM ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL 
      WHERE ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL.CONTROL_CATEGORY = 'ZONE'
      ORDER BY CODE)
GROUP BY TASK_CARD

Answer 4

Use ListAgg instead of wm_concat

SELECT TASK_CARD, ListAgg(code) within (order by code asc) as ZONES

http://nimishgarg.blogspot.com/2010/07/oracle-differece-between-wmconcat-and.html

Answer 5

For anyone that is still using wm_CONCAT (a.k.a. older db versions): The solution is to add distinct condition, it will then also apply ascending order to the concatenated values.

Don't ask why it's not documented, but it will work.

Also, using a order by in a subquery, previous to wm_concat will just randomize the order, so it shouldn't have been recommended.

Example for the requested SQL:

SELECT TASK_CARD, WM_CONCAT(distinct code) as ZONES
FROM ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL
WHERE ODB.TASK_CARD_CONTROL.CONTROL_CATEGORY = 'ZONE'
GROUP BY TASK_CARD;

Just be warned that the distinct option does not work when used in procedures/packages .

Answer 6

1. Order by the desired column, then
2. Order in external query order by row number.
3. Use the function.

This function has logic for the last rownum order:

Select wmsys.wm_concat(t) CONCAT from 
(
    Select t from (
        Select t from (
            Select 'aa' t from dual
            union
            Select 'zz' t from dual
            union
            Select 'pp' t from dual
            union
            Select 'll' t from dual
            union
            Select 'mm' t from dual
            union
            Select 'xx' t from dual
            union
            Select 'cc' t from dual
        ) a 
        order by t
    ) order by rownum
) t