Using :group with #count generating bad SQL in Postgres

Rails 4.0.0, Ruby 2.0

class Title < …

has_many :comments

def self.order_by_number_of_comments_descending
select(‘titles.*, count(comments.id) AS comments_count’).
joins(:comments).
group(‘titles.id’).
order(‘comment_count DESC’)
end

results in a malformed SQL on Postgres,

SELECT COUNT(*) AS count_all, titles.id AS titles_id FROM “titles”
INNER JOIN “comments” ON “comments”.“title_id” = “titles”.“id” GROUP BY
titles.id ORDER BY comments_count DESC

I’ve contacted @steveklabnik and he’d re-open an issue reporting this
bug.https://github.com/rails/rails/issues/5588In the meantime, has
anybody got around this? The SQL is all correct until
you call group.
Thanks for helping

Your query is wrong…
You need group all columns you show that arent the result of an
aggregate
function…
So your group would be group(‘titles.*’)
Em 22/07/2013 18:22, “yaw” [email protected] escreveu:

Can you write the right (no pun intended) query here? Thanks

On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 12:36 PM, Carlos Figueiredo <
[email protected]> wrote:

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def self.order_by_number_of_comments_descending
select(‘titles.id, titles.name, titles.whatever, count(comments.id)
AS
comments_count’).
joins(:comments).
group(‘titles.id, titles.name, titles.whatever’).
order(‘comment_count DESC’)
end

Assuming titles model is like (id, name, whatever)

The result query expected is:
SELECT COUNT(*) AS comments_count, titles.id AS titles_id, titles.name
as
titles_name, titles.whatever as titles_whatever FROM “titles”
INNER JOIN “comments” ON “comments”.“title_id” = “titles”.“id” GROUP
BY titles.id,
titles.name, titles.whatever http://titles.id ORDER BY comments_count
DESC

Atenciosamente,

Carlos Figueiredo

There are at least 2 problems with how you recommend the query to be
written:

  1. Why would titles.* work in regular SQL but not in Rails’
    selectmethod? What would be the case if I have 100 columns on the
    titles table?
  2. During grouping, the normal SQL requirement is to group on a
    column
    that is on both tables. As far as I know, grouping can’t be done on
    two
    tables when they don’t a common column. In your group call, only
    titles.id would be useful. The rest won’t

Did you try running the resulting query? It should throw an exception
concerning the GROUP BY

On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 7:18 PM, Carlos Figueiredo <
[email protected]> wrote:

Carlos Figueiredo

joins(:comments).

titles.name, titles.whatever http://titles.id ORDER BY comments_count

Can you write the right (no pun intended) query here? Thanks

group('titles.id').

I’ve contacted @steveklabnik and he’d re-open an issue reporting this
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On Jul 23, 2013, at 6:28 PM, Yaw Boakye elGran [email protected]
wrote:

During grouping, the normal SQL requirement is to group on a column that is
on both tables. As far as I know, grouping can’t be done on two tables when they
don’t a common column. In your group call, only titles.id would be useful. The
rest won’t

You seem to be confusing the grouping with the join condition. The join
requires 1 (usually, sometimes more) column common to both tables. The
grouping must include all columns not used in the aggregate function.


Scott R.
[email protected]
http://www.elevated-dev.com/
(303) 722-0567 voice

I think so, sorry for the misinformation. Thanks for the correction :slight_smile:

On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 12:36 AM, Scott R.
[email protected]wrote:

grouping must include all columns not used in the aggregate function.


visit my blog @ yawboakye.blogspot.com | call me on +233242057831 or
+233273201210

Sorry…
Are there more columns on titles entity? If yes… the problem is that
you
tried to show columns you weren’t grouping… and on postgresql it blows
an
exception… but if there is only one column on titles… (titles.id)
so, I
can’t figure out what’s the problem you mentioned…

What were your expected SQL to say that the result were malformed?

Atenciosamente,

Carlos Figueiredo

On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 4:11 PM, Carlos Figueiredo <

@Carlos this query still throws an exception:

def self.order_by_number_of_comments_descending
select(‘titles.id, titles.title, titles.submitter_name,
titles.submitter_email, titles.created_at, titles.updated_at, count(
comments.id) AS comments_count’).
joins(:comments).
group(‘titles.id, titles.title, titles.submitter_name,
titles.submitter_email, titles.created_at, titles.updated_at’).
order(‘comments_count DESC’)
end

still complaining about not finding comments_count :confused:

I’m using PostgreSQL 9.1.5

On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 10:32 AM, Yaw Boakye elGran
[email protected]wrote:

   During grouping, the normal SQL requirement is to group on a

Scott R.
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visit my blog @ yawboakye.blogspot.com | call me on +233242057831 or
+233273201210


visit my blog @ yawboakye.blogspot.com | call me on +233242057831 or
+233273201210

Now I figured out what is the error…
I dont know why… But rails changed the column name where you count
froum
comments_count to count_all… And you refer it on your order by
statement
using the alias you choose…
I hope somone more experienced on rails help you fix it, but for now…
U
could do 2 fix…

You can call the alias rails choose (count_all) on your order statement
(ugly way to solve)
Or you can call for count(*) without alias on your order statement (more
practiced by dba… Less ugly to solve)
Em 24/07/2013 07:40, “Yaw Boakye elGran” [email protected]
escreveu:

@Yaw, can you test if you change the way you call the count on postgres,
rails still change the name of the column?

Ex. Try using count(comments.id) or count(1) besides count(*) on your
query
and let me know what happens…

Ps.: The ugly fix of my last email still works
Em 24/07/2013 08:10, “Carlos Figueiredo” [email protected]
escreveu:

Error message:

PG::Error: ERROR: column “comments_count” does not exist
LINE 1: …l, titles.created_at, titles.updated_at ORDER BY
comments_c…
^
: SELECT COUNT(*) AS count_all, titles.id, titles.title,
titles.submitter_name, titles.submitter_email, titles.created_at,
titles.updated_at AS
titles_id_titles_title_titles_submitter_name_titles_submitter_e FROM
“titles” INNER JOIN “comments” ON “comments”.“title_id” =
“titles”.“id” GROUP BY titles.id, titles.title, titles.submitter_name,
titles.submitter_email, titles.created_at, titles.updated_at ORDER BY
comments_count DESC

On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 10:38 AM, Yaw Boakye elGran
[email protected]wrote:

end


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