SSRS Report from a PIVOT query with unknown number of columns - sql

I have a PIVOT query that is returning an unknown number of dynamic columns. So the query will return something like
ID | Col1 | Col2 | ..... | ColN
ID is the only static column and the rest are all dynamic. The number and the names of the columns are unknown.
How can I write a report in SSRS that can handle this? Any tips and direction will be appreciated.
Thanks.

SSRS will not be able to handle your pivot table because the columns are not known at design time. SSRS has feature called Matrix that will handle the pivot a run time based off run time data if your design time structure is static.
ID | ColumnName | Value
------------------------
1 | Colu1 | Value1
1 | Colu2 | Value2
2 | Colu2 | Value2
I would recommend that you return detail rows from TSQL and allow SSRS to handle the pivot. This will allow for one stored procedure to be used for multiple SSRS reports and aggregations instead of the single aggregation provide by PIVOT.
To save on duplicate processing, Matrix will also handle the sorting so no need to sort inside of TSQL.
Reference: Create a Matrix

Related

How do you 'join' multiple SQL data sets side by side (that don't link to each other)?

How would I go about joining results from multiple SQL queries so that they are side by side (but unrelated)?
The reason I am thinking of this is so that I can run 1 query in Google Big Query and it will return 1 single table which I can import into Excel and do some charts.
e.g. Query 1 looks at dataset TableA and returns:
**Metric:** Sales
**Value:** 3,402
And then Query 2 looks at dataset TableB and returns:
**Name:** John
**DOB:** 13 March
They would both use different tables and different filters, etc.
What would I do to make it look like:
---Sales----------John----
---3,402-------13 March----
Or alternatively:
-----Sales--------3,402-----
-----John-------13 March----
Or is there a totally different way to do this?
I can see the use case for the above, I've used something similar to create a single table from multiple tables with different metrics to query in Data Studio so that filters apply to all data in the dataset for example. However in that case, the data did share some dimensions that made it worthwhile doing.
If you are going to put those together with no relationship between the tables, I'd have 4 columns with TYPE describing the data in that row to make for easier filtering.
Type | Sales | Name | DOB
Use UNION ALL to put the rows together so you have something like
"Sales" | 3402 | null | null
"Customer Details" | null | John | 13 March
However, like the others said, make sure you have a good reason to do that otherwise you're just creating a bigger table to query for no reason.

ssrs report report filter with no duplicates used in query

I am having an issue and I'm not sure how to solve it.
I have an SSRS report that pulls from a table. I want a parameter filter to show de-duplicated values based on available options in one of the columns.
So my dataset with a query like:
SELECT * FROM table1 WITH (NOLOCK) WHERE col1 IN (#param)
Then I want a parameter called param that gets its available and default values from col1 in the above data set and I want them to be de-duplicated.
From reading online I learned I have to create a dummy param and use VBA code to de-duplicate that list.
So I have these params:
param_dummy that gets its available and default values from col1 in the above dataset
param that gets a de-duplicate list from param_dummy using Code.RemoveDuplicates
But I'm having an issue with circular logic. param gets its value from param_default which gets its value from the dataset/query which uses param.
How can I solve this?
One thought is to remove the WHERE col1 IN (#param) and instead use a filter on the Tablix table in the SSRS report. This works but I am wondering how efficient it is.
And/or if anyone has any other suggestions I am all ears.
Updated to add more details...
So let us say I have a table in my DB like so:
| id | col1 | col2 |
|----|------|--------|
| 1 | a | hello |
| 2 | b | how |
| 3 | a | are |
| 4 | c | you |
| 5 | d | on |
| 6 | a | this |
| 7 | b | lovely |
| 8 | c | day |
What I want is:
a Tablix to show all the fields from the table
a filter where the user can select between the available dropdowns in col1 (de-duplicated)
a text filter that allows nulls where a user can filter on col2
the parameters will have default values so the table will load on page load
So I have a dataset with a query like so:
SELECT
*
FROM dbo.table1
WHERE col1 IN (#col1options) AND (#col2value IS NULL OR col2 = #col2value)
Then for col1options I would make available and default options be Get values from a query and I would use the above dataset and col1.
But this won't work since the query/dataset depends on col1options which gets its default values from the query/dataset.
I can use a second dataset but that means making multiple calls to the SQL server and I want to avoid that.
I'm not sure I understand your issue so this is a guess...
If you mean you want to be able to filter your data by choosing one or more entries from a specific column in the table, but this column has duplicates and you want your parameter list to not show duplicates then this is what do to.
Create a new report
Add dataset dsMain as SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE myColumn IN (#myParam)
Add dataset dsParamValues as SELECT DISTINCT myColumn FROM myTable ORDER BY myColumn
Edit the #myParam parameter properties and set the available and default values to a query, then choose dsParamValues
Add you table/matrix control and set it's dataset property to dsMain
Found an easier solution.
Follow this link to build the "dummy" hidden parameter, the visible paramter and the de-dupe VBA code
Add a tablix properties filter where param is in the visible / non-hidden parameter from above VBA (FYI double click to add parameter)
Adding via double click will append a (0) at the end, remove the (0)
It should work as expected at that point! You should be able to select one, some or all parameters and your report should update accordingly.

MariaDB - embed function to automatically sum columns and store result?

it is possible to store a function IN the table to automatically sum a group of columns and store the result in a final column?
ie:
+----+------------+-----------+-------------+------------+
| id | appleCount | pearCount | bananaCount | totalFruit |
+----+------------+-----------+-------------+------------+
| 1 | 300 | 60 | 120 | 480 |
+----+------------+-----------+-------------+------------+
where the column totalFruit is automatically calculated from the previous three columns and updated as the other columns update. in this specific application, there is ONLY going to be the one row. it would be spanky-handy to be able to just push the updated counts and then pull the calculated total out. i seem to recall reading about this ability somewhere, but for the life of me, i can't recall where... :poop:
if there is not way to do this, that's cool. but if there is... :smile:
TIA!
WR!
Yes, it is possible. But is it worth it? It is simple enough to do
SELECT ...
appleCount + pearCount + bananaCount AS totalFruit
...
See MariaDB Generated Columns for how to generate the extra column -- either as a real extra column or "virtual". What version of MariaDB?--There are a number of changes over time.
(MySQL users: 5.7.6 has a similar MySQL Generated Columns.)

Spitting long column values to managable size for presenting data neatly

Hi I was wondering if there is a way to split long column values in this case I am using SSRS to get the distinct values with the number of product ID against a category into a matrix/pivot table in SSRS. The problem lies with the amount of distinct category makes it a nightmare to make the report look pretty shall we say. Is there a dynamic way to split the columns in say groups of 10 to make the table look nicer and easy to read. I was thinking of using in operator then the list of values but that means managing the data every time a new category gets added. Is there a dynamic way to present the data in the best way possible? There are 135 distinct category values
Also I am open to suggestions to make the report to nicer if anyone has any thoughts. I am new to SSRS and trying to get to grips with its.
Here is an example of my problem
enter image description here
Are your column names coming back from the database under the SubCat field you note in the comments above? If so I imagine your dataset looks something like this
Subcat | Logno
---------+---------------
SubCatA | 34
SubCatB | 65
SubCatC | 120
SubCatD | 8
SubCatE | 19
You can edit this so that there is an index of each individual category being returned also, using the Row_Number() function. Add the field
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY SubCat ASC) AS ColID
To your query. This will result in the following.
Subcat | LogNo | ColID
-----------+--------------+----------
SubCatA | 34 | 1
SubCatB | 65 | 2
SubCatC | 120 | 3
SubCatD | 8 | 4
SubCatE | 19 | 5
Now there is a numeric identifier for each column you can perform some logic on it to arrange itself nicely on the page.
This solution involves a Tablix, nested inside a Matrix nested inside a Matrix as follows
First create a Matrix (Matrix1), and set it’s datasource to your dataset. Set the Row Group Properties to group on the following expression where ‘4’ is the number of columns you wish to display horizontally.
=CInt(Floor((Fields!ColID.Value - 1) / 4))
Then in the data section of the Matrix (bottom right corner) insert a rectangle and on this insert a new Matrix (Matrix 2). Remove the leftmost row. Set the column header to be the Column Name SubCat. This will automatically set the column grouping to be SubCat.
Finally, in the Data Section of Matrix 2 add a new Rectangle and Add a Tablix on it. Remove the Header Row, and set it to be one column wide only. Set the Data to be the information you wish to display, i.e. LogNo.
Finally, delete the Leftmost and Topmost rows/columns from Matrix 1 to make it look tidier (Note Delete Column Row only! Not associated groups!)
Then when the report is run it should look similar to the following. Note in my example SubCat = ColName, and LogNo = NumItems, and I have multiple values per SubCat.
Hopefully you find this helpful. If not, please ask for clarification.
Can you do something like this:
The following gives the steps (in two columns, down then across)

How do I format numbers in and Access crosstab query to show two decimal places?

I have an Access crosstab query that displays the following results:
| SHORE_TYPE | Total Miles | Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 4 |
| ONSHORE | 31.37 | 0.337121212121212 | 12.4617424242424 | 0 |
I'd like it to display the following results instead. Note the 'Class' columns here show two decimal places:
| SHORE_TYPE | Total Miles | Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 4 |
| ONSHORE | 31.37 | 0.34 | 12.46 | 0.00 |
I've been able to configure the 'Total Miles' column by changing the Format and Decimal Places properties (in the Design View) to "Fixed" and "2," respectively. However, the query column (in Design View) that determines the value in the Class column has only a Format property, which I set to "Fixed"; there is not a Decimal Places property for me to adjust.
I have some similar crosstab queries that are showing the results in the way I desire, but I can't determine any differences between this one and those. Also, I've sometimes seen some of my queries display it the wrong way one time, then the desired way the next time.
This makes me wonder if the problem is a bug in Access, or if there is a something implicitly defined in my code that I should explicitly define.
Here is my SQL:
TRANSFORM IIf(IsNull(Sum([qryPartL].[MILES_OF_PHYS_LENGTH])),0,
Sum([qryPartL].[MILES_OF_PHYS_LENGTH])) AS SumOfMILES_OF_PHYS_LENGTH
SELECT qryPartL.SHORE_TYPE, Sum(qryPartL.MILES_OF_PHYS_LENGTH) AS [Total Miles]
FROM qryPartL
GROUP BY qryPartL.SHORE_TYPE
PIVOT qryPartL.CLASS_LOC_text In ("Class 1","Class 2","Class 4");
EDIT:
After closing and re-opening this query, the Total Miles column is now displaying 31.3714015..., and the properties I had previously set for this column in the Design View are now blank. So, it looks like Access does not consistently save these property settings. At least not in the context in which I was using them.
The trick is to use a series of nested functions.
CDbl: Converts the data to a Double number data type
FormatNumber: Returns an expression formatted as a number with a specified precision (2)
Nz: Returns the specified value (0) when a field is null
The CDbl function won't work if a value is Null.
I also removed the IIf function from the TRANSFORM clause since Nz works better in this case.
Here is the new SQL that returns the desired results. (I've added new lines and indents to make it easier to read. This is a not necessary step, and may in fact not be remembered by Access.)
TRANSFORM
CDbl(
FormatNumber(
Nz(
Sum([qryPartL].[MILES_OF_PHYS_LENGTH])
,0)
,2)
) AS SumOfMILES_OF_PHYS_LENGTH
SELECT qryPartL.SHORE_TYPE,
CDbl(
FormatNumber(
Nz(
Sum(qryPartL.MILES_OF_PHYS_LENGTH)
,0)
,2)
) AS [Total Miles]
FROM qryPartL
GROUP BY qryPartL.SHORE_TYPE
PIVOT qryPartL.CLASS_LOC_text In ("Class 1","Class 2","Class 4");
Thanks to Allen Browne and a tip on his awesome Access website for leading me to this answer.