Keith Clark skrev:
> I have the following statement:
>
> select chart_of_accounts.accountname as Account,
> concat('$',format(coalesce(sum(sales_journal_entries.debit),0),2)) as
> Debit,
> concat('$',format(coalesce(sum(sales_journal_entries.credit),0),2)) as
> Credit,
>
> concat('$',format(coalesce(sum(sales_journal_entries.credit),0)-coalesce(sum(sales_journal_entries.debit),0),2))
> as Balance
> from sales_journal_entries
> left join sales_journal
> on sales_journal.journalID=sales_journal_entries.journalID
> left join chart_of_accounts
> on chart_of_accounts.accountID=sales_journal_entries.accountID
> where sales_journal.date > '2008-12-31'
> and sales_journal.date < '2010-01-01'
> group by sales_journal_entries.accountID
> order by Balance asc;
>
> and I'd like the output to be sorted by the Balance according to the
> numberic value, but it is sorting by the string result. I tried
> abs(Balance) but I get the following error:
>
> 1247 Reference 'Balance' not supported (reference to group function)
>
> I'm not sure I understand the error.
Balance is the result of a string operation (concat), and abs is a
numeric function that won't work on strings.
You should add a field to the result with the numerical value of
Balance, and then sort on that.
/ Carsten
