Multiple records one column separated by comma BUT!

Question

Gurus,
I'm trying to write a SQL statement to insert multiple records in one column. I'm aware of the multiple String Aggregation Techniques out there BUT ...
This works like a champ!!!
select wm_concat(bnuinfc) as emp_id
from bnu,agr,baz
where bnunamc = bazbnunamc and
agrkeyi = bazagrkeyi and
agrkeyi = 21;
emp_id
70348,70111
But I get errors if I add multiple columns and joins
select distinct
katinac ,
prsvf2c ,
prsvf18c,
prsvf19c,
prsvf20c,
kvtbezc ,
artvf9c ,
artanrc ,
artvf6c ,
artbnrc ,
dokvf3c ,
prokeyi ,
probezc ,
doksnei ,
pagpags ,
wm_concat(bnuinfc) as emp_id,
dokkeyi,
dokdlad ,
agrbezc,
stabezc,
prsnums,
systimestamp
from art,aez,pro,dok,wob,sta,kat,prs,srz,bnu,agr,baz,pag,kvt,kav
where
artkeyi = aezartkeyi and
prokeyi = aezprokeyi and
aezkavkeyi = artkavkeyi and
aezkavkeyi = katkavkeyi and
prokatkeyi = katkeyi and
kavkvtkeyi = kvtkeyi and
katkeyi = kavkatkeyi and
prokavkeyi = katkavkeyi and
prskavkeyi = artkavkeyi and
dokkatkeyi = katkeyi and
wobobjkeyi=dokkeyi and
pagdokkeyi = dokkeyi and
prosnei = doksnei and
prosnli = doksnei and
UPPER(DOKNLBC) = bnunamc and
bazagrkeyi = agrkeyi and
agrkeyi = 21 and
prokatkeyi = dokkatkeyi and
probezc <> '---Page element---' and
wobvarkeyi=dokkavkeyi and
stakeys=srzstakeys and
srzrolkeyi = 70 and
wobstakeys=stakeys and
prsartkeyi = artkeyi;
ORA-00937: not a single-group group function - Not really sure how this needs to be done!
How do I get this to work with mulltiple columns and joins on the bnuinfc column??? Is there a better method?

Answer 1

Hi,
Don't use wm_concat. It's undocumented, so it could disappear in the next version of Oracle, or it could do something slightly different, which you might not notice until you've gotten wrong results for months.
If you like wm_concat, then install and use STRAGG, which you can copy from
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:2196162600402
Stragg seems to do the same thing as wm_concat. (Since wm_concat is undocumented, we can only guess at what it actually does. We can be sure what stragg dioes, and that it will keep doing exactly the same thing if we change versions.)
Either way, you're calling an aggregate fucntion, so everyhting in your SELECT clause has to be one of the GROUP BY expressions or an aggregate.
You could make a really big GROUP BY clause, but if you're joining tables, it may be simpler and more efficient to compute stragg in a sub-query, which just uses one table, and then join the results to the other tables.
I hope this answers your question.
If not, post a little sample data (CREATE TABLE and INSERT statements, relevant columns only) for all tables, and also post the results you want from that data.
Explain, using specific examples, how you get those results from that data.
Simplify the question as much as possible. I'll be you could get a good example of your problem using no more than 5 columns from 2 tables. (If you used scott.emp and scott.dept to illustrate the problem, you wouldn't even have to post sample data.)
Always say which version of Oracle you're using.