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----------------
Window Functions
----------------
By the SQL specification, window functions (also know as analytical functions) are a kind of
aggregation, but which does not "filter" the result set of a query. The aggregated data is mixed
with the query result set. That sort of functions are used with the OVER clause. Window functions
may appear only in the select list or the order by clause of a query.
Additional to the OVER clause, Firebird window functions may be partitioned and ordered.
Syntax:
<window function> ::= <window function name>([<expr> [, <expr> ...]]) OVER (
[PARTITION BY <expr> [, <expr> ...]]
[ORDER BY <expr> [<direction>] [<nulls placement>] [, <expr> [<direction>] [<nulls placement>] ...]
)
<direction> ::= {ASC | DESC}
<nulls placement> ::= NULLS {FIRST | LAST}
1. Aggregate functions used as window functions
-----------------------------------------------
All aggregate functions may be used as window functions, adding the OVER clause. Imagine
a table EMPLOYEE with columns ID, NAME and SALARY, and the need to show each employee with his
respective salary and the percentage of his salary over the payroll. With a "normal" query, this is
possible in the following manner:
select
id,
department,
salary,
salary / (select sum(salary) from employee) percentage
from employee
order by id;
Results:
id department salary percentage
-- ---------- ------ ----------
1 R & D 10.00 0.2040
2 SALES 12.00 0.2448
3 SALES 8.00 0.1632
4 R & D 9.00 0.1836
5 R & D 10.00 0.2040
It's necessary to repeat the query in a subquery and wait so much to see the results, specially if
EMPLOYEE is a complex view.
The same query could be specified in much more elegant and faster way using a window function:
select
id,
department,
salary,
salary / sum(salary) over () percentage
from employee
order by id;
Here, sum(salary) over () is computed with the sum of all SALARY from the query (the employee table).
2. Partitioning
---------------
Like aggregate functions, that may operate alone or in relation to a group, window functions may
also operate on a group, which is called "partition". Its syntax is:
<window function>(...) OVER (PARTITION BY <expr> [, <expr> ...])
When aggregation is done over a group, it could produce more than one row. So the result set
generated by a partition is joined with the main query using the same expression list of the
partition.
Continuing the employee example, instead of get the percentage of the employee salary over all
employees, we would like to get the percentage based only on the employees in the same department:
select
id,
department,
salary,
salary / sum(salary) over (partition by department) percentage
from employee
order by id;
Results:
id department salary percentage
-- ---------- ------ ----------
1 R & D 10.00 0.3448
2 SALES 12.00 0.6000
3 SALES 8.00 0.4000
4 R & D 9.00 0.3103
5 R & D 10.00 0.3448
3. Ordering
-----------
The ORDER BY sub-clause can be used with or without partitions, and used with the standard aggregate
functions, make them return the partial aggregations as the records are being processed. Example:
select
id,
salary,
sum(salary) over (order by salary) cum_salary
from employee
order by salary;
The result set produced will be:
id salary cum_salary
-- ------ ----------
3 8.00 8.00
4 9.00 17.00
1 10.00 37.00
5 10.00 37.00
2 12.00 49.00
Then cum_salary returns the partial/accumulated (or running) aggregation (of the SUM function).
It may appear strange that 37.00 is repeated for the ids 1 and 5, but that is how it should work.
The ORDER BY keys are grouped together and the aggregation is computed once (but summing the two
10.00). To avoid this, you can add the ID field to the end of the ORDER BY clause.
It's possible to use multiple windows with different orders, and ORDER BY parts like ASC/DESC and
NULLS FIRST/LAST.
With a partition, ORDER BY works the same way, but at each partition boundary the aggregation is
reset.
All aggregation functions are usable with ORDER BY, except the LIST function.
4. Exclusive window functions
-----------------------------
Beyond aggregate functions, there is also exclusive window functions, currently divided in ranking
and navigational categories.
Both set of functions can be used with/without partition/ordering, but the usage does not make much
sense without ordering.
4.1 Ranking functions
---------------------
Syntax:
<ranking window function> ::=
DENSE_RANK() |
RANK() |
ROW_NUMBER()
The rank functions compute the ordinal rank of a row within the window partition. In this category
are the functions: DENSE_RANK, RANK and ROW_NUMBER.
With these functions, one can create different type of incremental counters. Think about
SUM(1) OVER (ORDER BY SALARY), these functions do this type of thing, but all of them in different
ways. Following is an example query, also comparing with the SUM behavior.
select
id,
salary,
dense_rank() over (order by salary),
rank() over (order by salary),
row_number() over (order by salary),
sum(1) over (order by salary)
from employee
order by salary;
And the result set:
id salary dense_rank rank row_number sum
-- ------ ---------- ---- ---------- ---
3 8.00 1 1 1 1
4 9.00 2 2 2 2
1 10.00 3 3 3 4
5 10.00 3 3 4 4
2 12.00 4 5 5 5
The difference between DENSE_RANK and RANK is that there is a gap related to duplicate rows (in
relation to the window ordering) only in RANK. DENSE_RANK continues assigning sequential numbers
after the duplicate salary. On the other hand, ROW_NUMBER always assigns sequential numbers, even
when there is duplicate values.
4.2 Navigational functions
--------------------------
Syntax:
<navigational window function> ::=
FIRST_VALUE(<expr>) |
LAST_VALUE(<expr>) |
NTH_VALUE(<expr>, <offset>) [FROM FIRST | FROM LAST] |
LAG(<expr> [ [, <offset> [, <default> ] ] ) |
LEAD(<expr> [ [, <offset> [, <default> ] ] )
The navigational functions gets the simple (non-aggregated) value of an expression from another
row (inside the same partition) of the query.
It's important to note that FIRST_VALUE, LAST_VALUE and NTH_VALUE also operates on a window frame,
and Firebird is currently always framing from the first to the current (and not the last) row of
the partition. This is likely to get strange results for NTH_VALUE and specially LAST_VALUE.
select
id,
salary,
first_value(salary) over (order by salary),
last_value(salary) over (order by salary),
nth_value(salary, 2) over (order by salary),
lag(salary) over (order by salary),
lead(salary) over (order by salary)
from employee
order by salary;
And the result set:
id salary first_value last_value nth_value lag lead
-- ------ ----------- ---------- --------- ------ ------
3 8.00 8.00 8.00 <null> <null> 9.00
4 9.00 8.00 9.00 9.00 8.00 10.00
1 10.00 8.00 10.00 9.00 9.00 10.00
5 10.00 8.00 10.00 9.00 10.00 12.00
2 12.00 8.00 12.00 9.00 10.00 <null>
FIRST_VALUE and LAST_VALUE gets respectively the first and last value of the ordered partition.
NTH_VALUE gets the n-th value, starting from the first (default) or the last record, from the
ordered partition. If offset is 1 from first, it's equivalent to FIRST_VALUE. If offset is 1 from
last, it's equivalent to LAST_VALUE.
LAG and LEAD get the value within a distance respect to the current row and the offset (which
defaults to 1) passed. In the case the offset points to outside of the partition, the default
parameter (which defaults to NULL) is returned. LAG looks for a preceding row, and LEAD for a
following row.
Author:
Adriano dos Santos Fernandes <adrianosf at gmail.com>
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