-> Help me w/this built-in function!
Date: 1996/10/18
Message-ID: <32686A32.4B8E_at_earthlink.net>#1/1
I'm new to Oracle (but not new to SQL databases) and wonder...why can't I do the following with the DECODE() function?:
select e.id e.lastname, e.firstname decode((select count(*) from qualifications q where q.id = e.id),3,'Qualified','Not Qualified') from employee e
I want the following and if the employee has three entries in the qualifications table, then I want the phrase 'Qualified' and if not, the 'Not Qualified':
The SQL statement won't work as constructed above. Is it that the expression "select count(*)..." is a complex expression? It works for a simple expression, such as when specifying a column name. It even works with a "simplified" complex expression, such as "2 + 1". In this case the "Qualified" gets displayed. If I put "5 + 1" then "Not Qualified" is displayed. This is correct...but what about a complex expression like a sub-query?
Thanks in advance!
id lastname firstname
------- --------------- -------------- --------------
123 Smith Jim Not Qualified
765 Doe John Qualified
444 Garner Debbit Qualified
231 Smith Robin Not Qualified
885 Lopez Rick Not Qualified
--
Les Gainous, lesgainous_at_earthlink.net
Visit my web page at
http://home.earthlink.net/~lesgainous
Looking for a Client-Server job in California?
http://home.earthlink.net/~lesgainous/jobs.html
Received on Fri Oct 18 1996 - 00:00:00 CEST