SQL 2005 reporting services Previous function, scope parameter not working.

by: brandonvmoorePosted on 2009-04-13 at 15:59:01ID: 24133590

I'm not an expert on SQL reporting services, but let me see if I can lead you in the right direction. First, I would say that the documentation is 'probably' not wrong. Secondly, as you saw you can't access the previous item in the table when you are grouping.

You could consider either using a subquery that isn't grouped where you can add the field you need. Or you could just create a temporary table that adds the field you need.

However, what you are asking for doesn't sound like it makes sense. When you group something you are getting one row for the entire GROUP, so it wouldn't make sense to take data for the entire group and modify it by a single, previous record. If your calculations are recursive (I'm using this term liberally as I don't have a better word at the moment. But what I mean is that each calculation on a row is using the calculation from the last row), then you probably need an aggregate function.

Tell me the bigger picture of what you're trying to accomplish and I'll see if I can help further.

by: lyptusPosted on 2009-04-13 at 16:54:30ID: 24133928

Here is what the report renders.

Name(maxtime) DateTimeOfCheck PreviousRowDatetime.
C4 - Brett (30)
04/13/2009 13:36:36
04/13/2009 13:42:41 04/13/2009 13:36:36
04/13/2009 15:05:51 04/13/2009 13:42:41

CELL D-Brett (15)
04/13/2009 13:36:43 04/13/2009 15:05:51
04/13/2009 13:42:29 04/13/2009 13:36:43
04/13/2009 15:05:43 04/13/2009 13:42:29
04/13/2009 15:05:57 04/13/2009 15:05:43

CELL E-Ken (30)
04/13/2009 15:05:57

The grouping is on the cell name. The first row of dates is the date that cell was checked. the 2nd row of dates is the date from the previous row. C4 was checked 3 times so it has 3 dates. the 2nd column then shows the previous date. The 2nd column of dates is blank in the first row because there is no previous date. Cell E at the bottom has never been checked so it does not have a date in the first column. But you can see it is grabbing the previous date from the Cell D group. I was hoping I could use the scope parameter to limit the scope to each group of names. My ultimate goal is to subtract the date time from the previous date time and verify that it is within the time frame of the MaxTime field for that location.

by: brandonvmoorePosted on 2009-04-13 at 19:40:21ID: 24134605

You're looking at documentation for 2008, but you're using 2005. That's why it doesn't work. Can you upgrade to 2008 or do we need to find another solution?

by: lyptusPosted on 2009-04-14 at 05:29:17ID: 24137387

I can probably upgrade to 2008 if I have to, but I would rather not. I currently don't have a copy so I would have to buy one. The documentation I am referring to is the pop up that comes up when I type the parenthesis after Previous. So I type Previous( and a window pops up saying what can be passed. I have attached a screen shot. If there is a solution that will work for 2005, that would be great.

previous.png
- 7 KB
screen shot of documentation

by: brandonvmoorePosted on 2009-04-14 at 13:50:33ID: 24142435

Are you using SQL 2k5 express, developer, or standard/enterprise? If express, I would definitely recommend upgrading since it's free to download. If developer then it's only 45 bucks on amazon, and possibly you could find it cheaper on ebay. If standard/enterprise then yeah, definitely not worth upgrading over this.

I looked at the docs online and for 2005 it didn't have the overloaded function, while for 2008 it did. My first question whether you installed SQL 2005, management studio, and the docs from the same location. Possibly you downloaded them at different times and got the newer docs instead of 2005 docs? Other than that I don't know, but the online docs don't have it and you're obviously getting an error so I'd say that's a strong indication that you can't do it in 2005 :(

Ok, so do you have much or any experience writing TSQL? If you're not opposed to spending a few hours studying you could buy a book, (or read about it online for free). There are various ways you could solve this problem with TSQL. Namely, it gives you the ability to traverse the table one record at a time and do whatever processing you need to do as you go. You have a lot more control this way b/c you're not having to apply functions equally to everything (ie. instead of blindly checking the previous row 'every' time, you could perform a check to see whether the cell has changed first).

My gut feeling is that there probably is a simpler solution, but I don't know what it is unfortunately. The fact that sql 2008 has that scope parameter added also tells me that maybe there isn't a simpler solution though.

Two more places you should search and post this question:
SQLServerCentral.com
The appropriate microsoft newsgroup. Just google Microsoft SQL newsgroups and then find the one that fits.

Hope that helps.

by: lyptusPosted on 2009-04-14 at 15:49:09ID: 24143371

I am using Visual Studio 2005 Professional to build the report and SQL 2005 standard for sql server. would I have to upgrade VS or SQL or both to 2008? I am only somewhat familiar with TSQL. I will look into that as well.

by: brandonvmoorePosted on 2009-04-14 at 16:07:42ID: 24143506

You would only have to upgrade SQL Server. If you've got an action pack subscription or can otherwise obtain a licensed copy w/o having to pay full price for it that would be ideal, but at almost a thousand dollars I'd say it's not worth it just for this.

However, SQL 2008 Express (which is free) does include the reporting capabilities and will run side by side with SQL 2005. If you aren't using any features that are exclusive to the licensed versions of SQL Server then you could move your whole project to the free version of 2008. Alternatively, you could attach a copy of the database (or just the tables you need for reporting) to 2008 and use replication to keep it synched up with the main database. One cool thing about doing this is that you could have your SQL 2008 Express engine on a seperate computer so that when people run reports the report processing doesn't affect performance on the main SQL Server engine. I'm guessing this probably isn't a big deal for you, but I thought I would point out that it is a common solution that people who use reporting features use to increase performance.

by: lyptusPosted on 2009-04-14 at 17:37:49ID: 31569707

Thanks for your help. After looking at TSQL I think this is the route I will take. Thanks again.

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SQL 2005 reporting services Previous function, scope parameter not working.

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