Question

Euqivalent for Oracle of If function

Asked by: looper8

Trying to write a query in Discoverer and can't find any sort of If function.  I just want to do what in Excel would be:

If([Cost] < 500, 0, [Cost] - 500)

I.e. if the Cost field is less than 500 replace the value with 0, otherwise deduct 500 from the value.

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2006-10-19 at 07:45:46ID22030511
Tags

oracle

,

discoverer

,

function

Topic

Oracle Database

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
9

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Excel coded costs
    In excel is it possible to have a coded cost column? We have one column with the costs, but we would like to add a coded cost column in which the numbers in the cost column are represented by letters(based on our code) in the coded cost column. If so, how would you go about...
  2. Oracle and Excel
    I am looking for examples to be able to use excel to dynamicly to pick up information from queries from Oracle 8 or using queries. If the information is typed ub excel cell it will choose the appropriate information.
  3. Deduct Days from Date
    Quick question, Is there a quick function to deduct 5 days from the current date to give the date well... 5 days ago - or do I need to do a deduct on the days then ammend the month/year accordingly?
  4. deduction
    This is the script i use in getting the total no. of hours from the given dates, <script language=javascript> <!-- function getHours(theButton, rFieldName){ theForm = theButton.form; var dt1 = new Date(theForm.T1.value+" "+theForm.timein.value); //al...
  5. cost calculation
    Oracle 9i I have table as below GL_BALANCE SET_OF_BOOKS CODE_ID DEBIT CREDIT SEGMENT1 SEGMENT2 AL_FLAG PERIOD 2 1051 200 500000 111000 A SEP-04 2 1052 ...
  6. Oracle Query Cost
    Assume the Following Scenario CREATE TABLE MARKS ( ID NUMBER , SUB1 NUMBER DEFAULT 0, SUB2 NUMBER DEFAULT 0 ) CREATE TABLE STUDENT ( REGID NUMBER, NAME VARCHAR2 (35)) Query 1: Select a.ID, b.Name, a.Sub1, a.Sub2 From Marks a, ...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: nav_kum_vPosted on 2006-10-19 at 07:48:50ID: 17766351

select case when cost < 500 then 0 else cost - 500 end from dual;

Thanks

 

by: ploubierPosted on 2006-10-19 at 07:49:11ID: 17766355

 

by: nav_kum_vPosted on 2006-10-19 at 07:50:00ID: 17766359

Say, if your table name is table1 and you are trying it for col1 then,

select case when col1 < 500 then 0 else col1 - 500 end col1_actual_value
from table1;

Thanks

 

by: looper8Posted on 2006-10-19 at 08:10:43ID: 17766533

Thanks.  Don't quite understand.  Perhaps I haven't explained what I'm doing properly.  

I'm using Oracle Discoverer to create a report and I'm trying to put in a Calculation field.  Can I put a SELECT statement in there?

 

by: Ritesh_GargPosted on 2006-10-19 at 08:12:03ID: 17766541

Case would be the best.  However if you have prior to 9i, you may use decode like:

Select Decode( sign(cost - 500), 1, cost - 500, 0)
from dual;

The sign fn will return 1 if cost > 500 and thus cost - 500 will be returned.
The sign fn will will give 0 or -1 if cost <= 500 and so the default value of 0 will be returned.

Thanks,
Ritesh

 

by: looper8Posted on 2006-10-19 at 08:17:20ID: 17766579

Yes, we're on Oracle 8 ... so I've tried this

Select Decode( sign("cost SUM" - 500), 1, "cost SUM" - 500, 0)
from dual;

(The field is actually called "cost SUM")

And I get:

Error in formula, unexpected end of formula
Error: Function SELECT DECODE has not been registered with the EUL
Error: Syntax error: token from dual at position 73

 

by: looper8Posted on 2006-10-19 at 08:21:21ID: 17766612

Ah ... this works:

DECODE(SIGN(Cost SUM-500),1,Cost SUM-500,0)

Thanks

 

by: ploubierPosted on 2006-10-19 at 14:19:27ID: 17769838

Ritesh_Garg, as far as I know, CASE was introduced with 8i. See http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/A87860_01/doc/server.817/a85397/expressi.htm#1029291

 

by: nav_kum_vPosted on 2006-10-20 at 01:20:19ID: 17772104

looper8,

case is there in oracle 8i itself. you can check it out.

Thanks

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...