Why does this not return 0 - sql

Question

I have a query like:
select nvl(nvl(sum(a.quantity),0)-nvl(cc.quantityCor,0),0)
from RCV_TRANSACTIONS a
LEFT JOIN (select c.shipment_line_id,c.oe_order_line_id,nvl(sum(c.quantity),0) quantityCor
from RCV_TRANSACTIONS c
where c.TRANSACTION_TYPE='CORRECT'
group by c.shipment_line_id,c.oe_order_line_id) cc on (a.shipment_line_id=cc.shipment_line_id and a.shipment_line_id=7085740)
where a.transaction_type='DELIVER'
and a.shipment_line_id=7085740
group by nvl(cc.quantityCor,0);
The query runs OK, but returns no value. I want it to return 0 if there is no quantity found. Where have I gone wrong?

Answer 1

An aggregation query with a GROUP BY returns no rows if all rows are filtered out.
An aggregation query with no GROUP BY always returns one row, even if all rows are filtered out.
So, just remove the GROUP BY. And change the SELECT to:
select coalesce(sum(a.quantity), 0) - coalesce(max(cc.quantityCor), 0)

Answer 2

I may be wrong, but it seems you merely want to subtract CORRECT quantity from DELIVER quantity for shipment 7085740. You don't need a complicated query for that. Especially your GROUP BY clauses make no sense if that is what you are after.
One way to write this query would be:
select
sum(case when transaction_type = 'DELIVER' then quantity else 0 end) -
sum(case when transaction_type = 'CORRECT' then quantity else 0 end) as diff
from rcv_transactions
where shipment_line_id = 7085740;

Answer 3

I had a query like this and was trying to return 'X' when the item is not valid.
SELECT case when segment1 is not null then segment1 else 'X' end
--INTO v_orgValidItem
FROM mtl_system_items_b
WHERE segment1='1676001000'--'Jul-00'--l_item
and organization_id=168;
..but it was returning NULL.
Changed to use aggregation with no group by and now it returns 'X' when the item is not valid.
SELECT case when max(segment1) is not null then max(segment1) else 'X' end valid
--INTO v_orgValidItem
FROM mtl_system_items_b
WHERE segment1='1676001000'--'Jul-00'--l_item
and organization_id=168;--l_ship_to_organization_id_pb;

Answer 4

Here is another example, proving the order of operations really matters.
When there is no match for this quote number, this query returns NULL:
SELECT MAX(NVL(QUOTE_VENDOR_QUOTE_NUMBER,0))
FROM PO_HEADERS_ALL
WHERE QUOTE_VENDOR_QUOTE_NUMBER='foo.bar';
..reversing the order of MAX and NVL makes all the difference. This query returns the NULL value condition:
SELECT NVL(MAX(QUOTE_VENDOR_QUOTE_NUMBER),0)
FROM PO_HEADERS_ALL
WHERE QUOTE_VENDOR_QUOTE_NUMBER='foo.bar';