Re: On what OLAP can and what OLAP can't - A little problem

pamelafluente_at_libero.it wrote:
> Hi Jan. Thanks for the input. "semijoin" ? hmm I have to take a look at
> that ...
>
> I make a first example for discussion. Let take 5 simple tables. Let's
> avoid talking about name, key issue or pathological design
> issue. Let's just focus on the abstract reporting problem.
>
> CLIENT
> Name
> U1
> U2
> U3
>
> LINE_A
> ItemA
> A_1
> A_2
> A_3
> A_4
>
> LINE_B
> ItemB
> B_1
> B_2
> B_3
>
> TRANS_A
> Name ItemA Amount
> U1 A_1 10
> U1 A_3 20
> U1 A_1 20
> U1 A_3 10
> U1 A_1 20
> U3 A_2 10
>
> TRANS_B
> Name ItemB Amount
> U1 B_1 20
> U1 B_1 10
> U1 B_3 10
> U1 B_1 20
> U1 B_2 10
> U3 B_1 20
>
>
> Assume one wants this simple report (given the above):
>
> Name | ItemA | ItemB | TotalAmountItemA | TotalAmountItemB
>
> One first question is what is the best way to create this kind of
> result

Such a report doesn't make much sense. Do you really want to repeat in it the information for each ItemB for a Name for each ItemA for that Name? Why so much redundancy?

But, nonsense or not, I can of course give you the SQL statement to retrieve it, if that is what you want, but I suggest you first give what you think is the content of your report in the example you gave. Just to avoid misunderstandings.

• Jan Hidders