Add Date Range Filter - SQL Query - sql

Question

I am a beginner in SQL and having a problem to get my query to work. All I need to do is to add a date range filter to the query below. I am filtering by the field f.date_value. Parm 2 and Parm 3 will be the date that staff will choose when they run the report. This SQL report run into a built-in SQL tool inside one of our softwares so it is a little different than SQL Developer that we use to access the database. Anyone has any idea on what I need to change on the query below? Thank you very much!
SELECT st.dcid,
st.student_number,
st.lastfirst,
st.grade_level,
to_char(f.date_value,'MM/DD/YYYY'),
f.fee_type_name,
f.description,
f.fee_amount,
f.fee_paid,
f.fee_balance
FROM PS.FEE f
LEFT OUTER JOIN STUDENTS ST
ON f.StudentID = st.ID
WHERE (f.SCHOOLID=%param1%) AND (st.ENROLL_STATUS=0) AND (f.date_value BETWEEN %parm2% AND %parm3%)
ORDER BY st.LASTFIRST

Answer 1

There isn't anything obvious to offer, except perhaps the use of to_date and exactly how you use that depends on the data type and format of the parameters. I assume they are strings, but don't know what format they are supplied (I have used yyyy-mm-dd below).
SELECT
st.dcid
, st.student_number
, st.lastfirst
, st.grade_level
, to_char(f.date_value, 'MM/DD/YYYY')
, f.fee_type_name
, f.description
, f.fee_amount
, f.fee_paid
, f.fee_balance
FROM PS.FEE f
LEFT OUTER JOIN STUDENTS st ON f.StudentID = st.ID
WHERE f.SCHOOLID = %param1%
AND st.ENROLL_STATUS = 0
AND f.date_value BETWEEN to_date(%parm2%,'yyyy-mm-dd') AND to_date(%parm3%,'yyyy-mm-dd')
ORDER BY
st.LASTFIRST
The only other thing to note is that between is often a poor way to define a date range - but this in part depends on the time precision of your data. IF your data is accurate to the day only, then between as you see above is ok. If there is lower level of precision (e.g. second or lower) then don't use between, instead:
AND f.date_value >= to_date(%parm2%,'yyyy-mm-dd')
AND f.date_value < to_date(%parm3%,'yyyy-mm-dd') + 1