If there is an alternative

Question

I have a report which has a condition:
bring me the records which have quantity > 100 ( for example ) or whatever you tell it to do
Inside the report (rdf) the field "quantity" has as a source a placeholder (cp_qty),
which takes value from a formula for example CF_qty.
there, the cp, changes values depending on some flags.
for example
if flag1 = 3 then
cp_qty = -quantity
end if;
if falg2 = 4 and flag3 = 1 then.....
cp_qty = quantity
end if;
if flag3= 2 then cp_qty = 0
end if;
this, has as a result, when a tell the report "bring me the records which have quantity > 100"
it brings me various results, which are wrong (105 , 0, -400). And that because of the palceholder.
One solution is to go to the data model, and use decode(flag1... decode(flag2)... quantity
and in the field quantity to change the source to "quantity" instead of CP_qty.
I want to ask if there is a more "smart" solution, and not change the cp although I don't think so.
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Your decode (or CASE) actually sounds like a better solution to me (at least from what you've stated here). I always find it easier to tweak the SQL to give the results I need rather than trying to solve the issue in Reports. There are a couple of reasons for doing it in the SQL (execution time, and Reports typically requires 2 steps or more where as the SQL is just the SQL)
I would go with the decode over the placeholder, as it seems to me to be the more practical approach to a solution.
HTH,
Steve