Is it possible to do a SUM( CASE... END ) in ABAP 7.4 SP04?

[Former Member]

Hi everyone,

We recently upgraded to EHP7 and we gain new features in ABAP.

Particularly the enhancements of open sql suits us very well with programs we are developing now.

However a SELECT I'm trying to do is not working. By the ABAP online help it should work, I think, but it is not.

I explain myself:

In the online help it states that you do a SELECT like this:

SELECT result

Where result is ... lines select_list ...

And select_list could be a col_spec

And col_spec could be aggregate

And aggregate could be SUM( [DISTINCT] col|sql_exp )

And sql_exp could be sql_case

And sql_case could be CASE operand

                        WHEN operand1 THEN result1

                       [WHEN operand2 THEN result2]

                        ...

                       [ELSE resultn]

                   END

So, I think, I can do something this:

SELECT some_field, SUM( CASE ... END ) ...

FROM some_table

GROUP BY some_field.

But the ABAP editor keep saying that there is a syntax error after CASE given the message ')'  was expected here. no matter what I write after the word CASE.

I'm sure ABAP is using the new syntax 'cause in fact I can use CASE in a SELECT, but notSUM( CASE... as I said.

So:

am I missing something?,

SUM( CASE... isn't supported and it's a glitch in the syntax help?

Maybe the ABAP 7.4 SP4 I have does not support it and a later one does?

Any hint would be highly appreciated.

J.

[naimesh_patel]

CASE (SQL expression) and SUM (SQL aggregation) are not allowed together. The SUM can't obtained without GROUP BY and; Group by and SQL aggregation can't be used together.

Regards,

Naimesh Patel

[Former Member]

Exactly...

The ABAP editor complains... but the *ABAP help* says it should be possible.

Maybe an error in the ABAP documentation?

J.

[naimesh_patel]

It uses the stricter syntax check when SQL expressions are used. I think that documentation needs to be updated. You can get the current version from here.  http://help.sap.com/abapdocu_740/en/abenopensql_strict_mode_740_sp08.htm

Regards,
Naimesh Patel

[Former Member]

Well it turns out that I'm on ABAP 740 SP05 (Not SP04).

And what I tried to do is possible but only from ABAP 740 SP08. Horst Keller give the correct hint.

The problem was that I was trying examples from ABAP Keyword Documentation which happen to be most recent help about ABAP.

So I wasn't careful to check in which SPxx the help was and which SPxx my system was. So in the end I tried examples only possible in SP08 using my system that is in SP05.

One need to be careful about this. And is easy to check: See release "ABAP - Release-Specific Changes > Changes in Release 7.40" in the ABAP Keyword Documentation and compare it with the the same path of transaction ABAPHELP of your system.

J.

[naimesh_patel]

So, are you saying that, CASE and GROUP-BY can be used together since SP08?

Regards,

Naimesh Patel

[Former Member]

Yes you can.

And this one is a very nice feature. For example you can replicate MB51 without haveing to use internal tables in ABAP just a SELECT of this kind.

J.