Question

Creating a SQL query to return a sum by month (and display every month even if total is zero)

Asked by: jetstar51

I am creating a form that will allow users to view a summary of trading activity by month.  I created a query which takes the user input (year, sector, min trade size) and returns the sums grouped by months.  One problem that I encountered is having the query return a value for every month, even if there were no trades in the month.

For example, my query as is would return the below:
Month / Year    Volume
6 / 2007           1,000,000
7 / 2007           2,000,000
9 / 2007           3,000,000

But I would like it to return the below:
Month / Year    Volume
6 / 2007           1,000,000
7 / 2007           2,000,000
8 / 2007           0
9 / 2007           3,000,000

I would be willing to have the query group by an actual date (like the first day of the month).  I just want it to show all months in the years selected.  Maybe have it make a temp table?  I am just learning Access and SQL so help with the code (shown) would be amazing.  Please ask questions if I am not clear.

SELECT year(Trades.ReportDate) AS TradeYear, Month(Trades.ReportDate) AS TradeMonth, Sum(Trades.Size) AS TotalVolume
FROM (SectorList INNER JOIN CompanyList ON SectorList.SectorID=CompanyList.SectorID) INNER JOIN Trades ON CompanyList.Ticker=Trades.Ticker
WHERE (((Year(Trades.ReportDate))>=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput) And ((Year(Trades.ReportDate))<=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput2) And ((Trades.Size)>=Forms!MonthForm!TradeSizeInput) And ((SectorList.SectorName)=Forms!MonthForm!SectorInput))
GROUP BY year(Trades.ReportDate), Month(Trades.ReportDate);

                                  
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Asked On
2007-12-20 at 10:27:13ID23036541
Tags

sql

,

query

,

display

,

sum

,

month

Topics

Microsoft Access Database

,

MS SQL Server

,

Databases Miscellaneous

Participating Experts
3
Points
400
Comments
13

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Answers

 

by: cmangusPosted on 2007-12-20 at 10:31:34ID: 20508808

Try this code...

SELECT year(Trades.ReportDate) AS TradeYear, Month(Trades.ReportDate) AS TradeMonth, Sum(IsNull(Trades.Size,0)) AS TotalVolume
FROM (SectorList INNER JOIN CompanyList ON SectorList.SectorID=CompanyList.SectorID) INNER JOIN Trades ON CompanyList.Ticker=Trades.Ticker
WHERE (((Year(Trades.ReportDate))>=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput) And ((Year(Trades.ReportDate))<=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput2) And ((Trades.Size)>=Forms!MonthForm!TradeSizeInput) And ((SectorList.SectorName)=Forms!MonthForm!SectorInput))
GROUP BY year(Trades.ReportDate), Month(Trades.ReportDate);
                                              
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by: matthewspatrickPosted on 2007-12-20 at 10:32:25ID: 20508813

The typical way to handle this would be to have a "dates" table with all of the possible time
periods listed, and then use that table in a RIGHT JOIN or LEFT JOIN to force the time
periods with no volume to still show up.

 

by: dbbishopPosted on 2007-12-20 at 12:02:51ID: 20509473

see http://sqlserver2000.databases.aspfaq.com/why-should-i-consider-using-an-auxiliary-calendar-table.html for information on creating and using a calendar table as matthewspatrick suggests. This may go beyond what you are looking for, and you may only need one with nothing more than dates.

As he indicated, you would do a
SELECT ...
FROM myTable
RIGHT JOIN CalendarTable Cal ON Trades.ReportDate = Cal.CalendarDate
WHERE YEAR(Cal.CalendarDate) ...

You can build a very simple calendar table as such
CREATE TABLE CalendarTable (CalendarDate DATETIME NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY)
DECLARE @StartDate DATETIME
SET @StartDate = '2000-01-01'
WHILE (@StartDate < '2010-12-31')
  BEGIN
    INSERT INTO CalendarTable SELECT @StartDate
    SET @StartDate = DATEADD(dd, 1, @StartDate)
  END

If you will need dates prior to 2000-01-01, just set your begining date in the code above.

 

by: jetstar51Posted on 2007-12-21 at 06:35:33ID: 20513696

Sorry for taking so long to respond, but my account was messed up and I could not post. So..

Comment 1) The code above would not run.  Maybe the SQL that works in Access is different?

Comment 2) It seems like a good idea that was explained in comment 3

Comment 3) I made a CalendarTable with date, year, month, week, and monthname to allow flexibility in the future.  Then I tried to join the calendar table with the original query, but could not get it to return the right results.  I even tried adjusting the criteria to look for NULL as the sector because months with 0 trades will not have a sector.  I attached the code below.

SELECT CalendarTable.Y, CalendarTable.M, Sum(Trades.Size) AS TotalVolume
FROM CalendarTable RIGHT JOIN ((SectorList RIGHT JOIN CompanyList ON SectorList.SectorID = CompanyList.SectorID) RIGHT JOIN Trades ON CompanyList.Ticker = Trades.Ticker) ON CalendarTable.CalendarDate = Trades.ReportDate
WHERE (((CalendarTable.Y)>=[Forms]![MonthForm]![YearInput] And (CalendarTable.Y)<=[Forms]![MonthForm]![YearInput2]) AND ((Trades.Size)>=[Forms]![MonthForm]![TradeSizeInput]) AND ((SectorList.SectorName) Like "*" & [Forms]![MonthForm]![SectorInput] & "*")) OR (((CalendarTable.Y)>=[Forms]![MonthForm]![YearInput] And (CalendarTable.Y)<=[Forms]![MonthForm]![YearInput2]) AND ((Trades.Size)>=[Forms]![MonthForm]![TradeSizeInput]) AND ((SectorList.SectorName) Is Null))
GROUP BY CalendarTable.Y, CalendarTable.M;

                                              
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by: dbbishopPosted on 2007-12-21 at 12:15:56ID: 20516089

Sorry, missed the Access tag. If your calendar table is the left table, you want to do a LEFT JOIN (you want ALL dates from the calendar table and matching dates from your other table).

 

by: jetstar51Posted on 2007-12-21 at 12:49:54ID: 20516266

I changed the first join to LEFT and it still doesnt work.  It wouldn't let me make them both LEFT.  Any other ideas?

SELECT CalendarTable.Y, CalendarTable.M, Sum(Trades.Size) AS TotalVolume
FROM CalendarTable LEFT JOIN ((SectorList RIGHT JOIN CompanyList ON SectorList.SectorID=CompanyList.SectorID) RIGHT JOIN Trades ON CompanyList.Ticker=Trades.Ticker) ON CalendarTable.CalendarDate=Trades.ReportDate
WHERE (((CalendarTable.Y)>=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput And (CalendarTable.Y)<=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput2) And ((Trades.Size)>=Forms!MonthForm!TradeSizeInput) And ((SectorList.SectorName) Like "*" & Forms!MonthForm!SectorInput & "*")) Or (((CalendarTable.Y)>=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput And (CalendarTable.Y)<=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput2) And ((Trades.Size)>=Forms!MonthForm!TradeSizeInput) And ((SectorList.SectorName) Is Null))
GROUP BY CalendarTable.Y, CalendarTable.M;

                                              
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by: jetstar51Posted on 2008-01-03 at 13:04:58ID: 20576826

I want to close this question, but none of the above have worked thus far.  Please see the attached code for what I currently have.  It returns the query that I want, however, the empty months have NULL instead of zero.  Can I fix that?

SELECT CalendarTable.Y, CalendarTable.M, Sum(Trades.Size) AS TotalVolume
FROM CalendarTable LEFT JOIN ((SectorList RIGHT JOIN CompanyList ON SectorList.SectorID=CompanyList.SectorID) RIGHT JOIN Trades ON CompanyList.Ticker=Trades.Ticker) ON CalendarTable.CalendarDate=Trades.ReportDate
WHERE (((CalendarTable.Y)>=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput And (CalendarTable.Y)<=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput2) And ((Trades.Size)>=Forms!MonthForm!TradeSizeInput) And ((SectorList.SectorName) Like "*" & Forms!MonthForm!SectorInput & "*")) Or (((CalendarTable.Y)>=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput And (CalendarTable.Y)<=Forms!MonthForm!YearInput2) And ((Trades.Size) Is Null) And ((SectorList.SectorName) Is Null))
GROUP BY CalendarTable.Y, CalendarTable.M;

                                              
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by: dbbishopPosted on 2008-01-03 at 15:41:36ID: 20578272

SUM(ISNULL(Trades.Size, 0)) AS TotalVolume

 

by: jetstar51Posted on 2008-01-03 at 15:59:12ID: 20578400

I tried it...."SELECT CalendarTable.Y, CalendarTable.M, Sum(ISNULL(Trades.Size,0)) AS TotalVolume"

It came back with the error "Wrong number of arguments used with function in query expression..."

Are you sure that the ISNULL function works this way with Access??  I was under the impression that ISNULL was used like the below:
--->ISNULL(expression) returns true or false

 

by: jetstar51Posted on 2008-01-03 at 16:04:56ID: 20578451

i tried this....

SELECT CalendarTable.Y, CalendarTable.M, Sum(iif(isnull(Trades.Size), 0, Trades.Size)) AS TotalVolume

I will let you know if it works

 

by: dbbishopPosted on 2008-01-03 at 16:10:26ID: 20578493

Sorry, I got SQL Server and Access mixed up. ISNULL in SQL Server works as I coded (returns an alternate value if the value being evaluated is null). I believe your code should work.

 

by: jetstar51Posted on 2008-01-03 at 17:31:26ID: 20579039

That works.  I have one more question.  The query works, but it won't work in the form.  I get the error "The expression is typed incorrectly, or it is too complex to be evaluated....Try simplifying the expression by assigning parts of the expression to variables".  Do I have too many variables?  I will assign points tonight, but hopefully you guys can help.  Thanks.

 

by: jetstar51Posted on 2008-01-04 at 13:58:37ID: 20586454

Thanks for your help.  Now that I have a query I am having trouble making this into a graph.  For some reason the variables (such as Forms!MonthForm!SectorInput) do not seem to work in the crosstab query used to make the graph.  To fix I tried to make it dynamic in VBA and it returns nothing.  Is something wrong with the below?

testSQL = "TRANSFORM Sum(IIf(isnull(Trades.Size),0,Trades.Size)) AS TotalVolume " & _
"SELECT CalendarTable.M " & _
"FROM CalendarTable LEFT JOIN ((SectorList RIGHT JOIN CompanyList ON SectorList.SectorID=CompanyList.SectorID) RIGHT JOIN Trades ON CompanyList.Ticker=Trades.Ticker) ON CalendarTable.CalendarDate=Trades.ReportDate " & _
"WHERE(((CalendarTable.Y) >= " & YearInput_s & " And (CalendarTable.Y) <= " & YearInput2_s & ") And ((Trades.Size) >= " & TradeSizeInput_s & ") And ((SectorList.SectorName) Like "" * "" & '" & SectorInput_s & "' & "" * "")) Or (((CalendarTable.Y) >= " & YearInput_s & " And (CalendarTable.Y) <= " & YearInput2_s & ") And ((Trades.Size) Is Null) And ((SectorList.SectorName) Is Null)) " & _
"GROUP BY CalendarTable.M " & _
"PIVOT CalendarTable.Y;"

Me.MonthChart.RowSource = testSQL

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