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Grouping Sets in MS SQL Server 2008

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10 Jun 2009CPOL 28.7K   15   7
New feature - SQL Server 2008 Grouping Sets.

Introduction

One of the fantastic new features of SQL Server 2008 is the Grouping Sets. Grouping Sets is an extension to the GROUP BY clause that lets users define multiple groups in the same query.

Facts about Grouping Sets

Here are a few facts that you must know before starting to use Grouping Sets:

  1. Grouping set: a set of group by columns.
  2. Helps support dynamic analysis of aggregates.
  3. SQL Server versions earlier than 2008 had limited support for grouping sets.
  4. Produces a single result set that is equivalent to a UNION ALL of differently grouped rows.
  5. Makes aggregation querying and reporting easier and faster.

Example

SQL
-- Use UNION ALL on dual SELECT statements
SELECT CustomerType, Null AS TerritoryID, MAX(ModifiedDate)
FROM dbo.tbl_Customer GROUP BY CustomerType
UNION ALL
SELECT Null AS CustomerType, TerritoryID, MAX(ModifiedDate)
FROM dbo.tbl_Customer GROUP BY TerritoryID
ORDER BY TerritoryID

-- Use GROUPING SETS on single SELECT statement
SELECT CustomerType, TerritoryID, MAX(ModifiedDate)
FROM dbo.tbl_Customer
GROUP BY GROUPING SETS ((CustomerType), (TerritoryID)) 
ORDER BY CustomerType

SELECT 
       d.Year, d.Quarter, t.Country, SUM(f.SalesAmount) AS SalesAmount
FROM 
       dbo.tblSales AS f INNER JOIN 
       dbo.tblSDate AS d ON f.SDateID = d.SDateID INNER JOIN 
       dbo.tblSTerritory AS t ON f.STerritoryID = t.STerritoryID
WHERE 
       d.Year IN (2006, 2007)
       GROUP BY GROUPING SETS ( 
                (Year, Quarter, Country), 
                (Year, Quarter) ,
                (Country), 
                () )
       ORDER BY 
                Year, Quarter, Country

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)



Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralNice Pin
Md. Marufuzzaman14-Jan-10 23:52
professionalMd. Marufuzzaman14-Jan-10 23:52 
GeneralRe: Nice Pin
Robin_Roy17-Jan-10 16:04
Robin_Roy17-Jan-10 16:04 
GeneralRe: Nice Pin
Md. Marufuzzaman17-Jan-10 17:43
professionalMd. Marufuzzaman17-Jan-10 17:43 
GeneralMy Vote of 5 Pin
johnclark6410-Aug-09 17:03
johnclark6410-Aug-09 17:03 
GeneralRe: My Vote of 5 Pin
Robin_Roy17-Aug-09 20:55
Robin_Roy17-Aug-09 20:55 
GeneralBetter if you showed the output as well. A picture tells.... Pin
robvon16-Jun-09 15:48
robvon16-Jun-09 15:48 
GeneralRe: Better if you showed the output as well. A picture tells.... Pin
Robin_Roy17-Aug-09 20:56
Robin_Roy17-Aug-09 20:56 

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