Question

I have a table, let’s call it My_Table that has a Created datetime column (in SQL Server) that I’m trying to pull a report that shows historically how many rows were to My_Table by month over a particular time. Now I know that I can show how many were added each month with:

SELECT YEAR(MT.Created), MONTH(MT.Created), COUNT(*) AS [Total Added]
FROM My_Table MT
GROUP BY YEAR(MT.Created), MONTH(MT.Created)
ORDER BY YEAR(MT.Created), MONTH(MT.Created)

Which would return something like:

YEAR    MONTH     Total Added
-----------------------------
2009    01        25
2009    02        127
2009    03        241

However, I want to get the total list size over the given period (call it what you will; a running total, a cumulative sum, a historical report):

   YEAR    MONTH     Total Size
   -----------------------------
-- 2008    12        325
   2009    01        350
   2009    02        477
   2009    03        718

I’m trying this:

SELECT YEAR(MT.Created)
    , MONTH(MT.Created)
    ,(
    SELECT COUNT(*) FROM My_Table MT_int
    WHERE MT_int.Created BETWEEN 
        CAST('2009/01/01' AS datetime)
        AND DATEADD(s,-1,DATEADD(mm, DATEDIFF(m,0,MT.Created)+1,0))
        -- the last day of the current month
        -- (Additional conditions can go here)
    ) AS [Total added this month]
FROM My_Table MT
WHERE MT.Created > CAST('2009/01/01' AS datetime)
GROUP BY YEAR(MT.Created), MONTH(MT.Created)
ORDER BY YEAR(MT.Created), MONTH(MT.Created)

However, SQL Server is responding with this error:

Msg 8120, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
Column 'My_Table .Created' is invalid in the select list because 
it is not contained in either an aggregate function or the GROUP BY clause.

I just know I’m missing something obvious, but after walking away and coming back and staring at it for a while I’m at a loss. So if someone would be so kind as to point out what on earth I’m missing here (or point me at a better way of doing it) I’d be eternally grateful.

Answer 1

“Running” implies row by row. So one way is to sum previous months and add it to current month. To deal with year boundaries, you also take min/max date per group. The CROSS APPLY is slightly RBAR but makes it clear(er?) what is happening.

;WITH cTE AS
(
SELECT
     MIN(Created) AS FirstPerGroup,
     MAX(Created) AS LastPerGroup,
     YEAR(MT.Created) AS yr, MONTH(MT.Created) AS mth, COUNT(*) AS [Monthly Total Added]
FROM MY_Table MT
GROUP BY YEAR(MT.Created), MONTH(MT.Created)
)
SELECT
   C1.yr, c1.mth, SUM(C1.[Monthly Total Added]),
   ISNULL(PreviousTotal, 0) + SUM(C1.[Monthly Total Added]) AS RunningTotal
FROM
 cTE c1
 CROSS APPLY
 (SELECT SUM([Monthly Total Added]) AS PreviousTotal FROM cTE c2 WHERE c2.LastPerGroup < C1.FirstPerGroup) foo
GROUP BY
  C1.yr, c1.mth, PreviousTotal
ORDER BY
   C1.yr, c1.mth