PL/SQL throwing errors! trying to alter dates

Question

the following code keeps throwing errors, I was wondering if it is due to me getting confused when to use ":" before a variable and also ":=" when setting values?
Can anyone see what I am doing wrong?
Here is the code, at the moment it is throwing an error on line 44
ORA-06550: line 44, column 1:
PLS-00103: Encountered the symbol "" when expecting one of the following:
CODE.....
DECLARE
     QNStart DATE;
     QNFinish DATE;
     Q1Start DATE;
     Q1Finish DATE;
     Q2Start DATE;
     Q2Finish DATE;
     Q3Start DATE;
     Q3Finish DATE;
     Q4Start DATE;
     Q4Finish DATE;
     Q5Start DATE;
     Q5Finish DATE;
     QNT NUMBER;
     Q1T NUMBER;
     Q2T NUMBER;
     Q3T NUMBER;
     Q4T NUMBER;
     QNR NUMBER;
     Q1R NUMBER;
     Q2R NUMBER;
     Q3R NUMBER;
     Q4R NUMBER;
BEGIN
     case current_date
          when current_date between to_date('01-JAN', 'DD-Mon') AND to_date('31-MAR', 'DD-Mon') then
                    QNStart := to_date('01-JAN', 'DD-Mon');
                    QNFinish := to_date('31-MAR', 'DD-Mon');
          when current_date between to_date('01-APR', 'DD-Mon') AND to_date('30-JUN', 'DD-Mon') then
                    QNStart := to_date('01-APR', 'DD-Mon');
                    QNFinish := to_date('30-JUN', 'DD-Mon');
          when current_date between to_date('01-JUL', 'DD-Mon') AND to_date('30-SEP', 'DD-Mon') then
                    QNStart := to_date('01-JUL', 'DD-Mon');
                    QNFinish := to_date('30-SEP', 'DD-Mon');
          when current_date between to_date('01-OCT', 'DD-Mon') AND to_date('31-DEC', 'DD-Mon') then
                    QNStart := to_date('01-OCT', 'DD-Mon');
                    QNFinish := to_date('31-DEC', 'DD-Mon');
     End Case
:Q1Start := ADD_MONTHS(:QNStart,-3);
:Q1Finish := ADD_MONTHS(:QNFinish,-3);
:Q2Start := ADD_MONTHS(:QNStart,-6);
:Q2Finish := ADD_MONTHS(:QNFinish,-6);
:Q3Start := ADD_MONTHS(:QNStart,-3);
:Q3Finish := ADD_MONTHS(:QNFinish,-3);
:Q4Start := ADD_MONTHS(:QNStart,-4);
:Q4Finish := ADD_MONTHS(:QNFinish,-4);
:Q5Start := ADD_MONTHS(:QNStart,-5);
:Q5Finish := ADD_MONTHS(:QNFinish,-5);
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :Q1T from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN :Q1Start AND :Q1Finish
AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME;
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :Q2T from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN :Q2Start AND :Q2Finish
AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME;
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :Q3T from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN :Q3Start AND :Q3Finish
AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME;
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :Q4T from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN :Q4Start AND :Q4Finish
AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME;
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :QNT from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN :QNStart AND :QNFinish
AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME;
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :Q1R from FF_ACTIONS a
WHERE a.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN Q1Start AND Q1Finish
AND a.COMPANY_NAME IN
     (select f.COMPANY_NAME from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
     WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN Q2Start AND Q2Finish
     AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
     AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
     GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME)
GROUP BY a.COMPANY_NAME;
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :Q2R from FF_ACTIONS a
WHERE a.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN Q2Start AND Q2Finish
AND a.COMPANY_NAME IN
     (select f.COMPANY_NAME from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
     WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN Q3Start AND Q3Finish
     AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
     AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
     GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME)
GROUP BY a.COMPANY_NAME;
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :Q3R from FF_ACTIONS a
WHERE a.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN Q3Start AND Q3Finish
AND a.COMPANY_NAME IN
     (select f.COMPANY_NAME from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
     WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN Q4Start AND Q4Finish
     AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
     AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
     GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME)
GROUP BY a.COMPANY_NAME;
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :Q4R from FF_ACTIONS a
WHERE a.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN Q4Start AND Q4Finish
AND a.COMPANY_NAME IN
     (select f.COMPANY_NAME from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
     WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN Q5Start AND Q5Finish
     AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
     AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
     GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME)
GROUP BY a.COMPANY_NAME;
select COUNT(COUNT(*)) INTO :QNR from FF_ACTIONS a
WHERE a.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN QNStart AND QNFinish
AND a.COMPANY_NAME IN
     (select f.COMPANY_NAME from FF_ACTIONS f, FF_ACTION_TYPE_LOV a
     WHERE f.DATE_ENTERED BETWEEN Q1Start AND Q1Finish
     AND a.ACTION_SCORE = 'Y'
     AND f.INPUT_TYPE = a.ACTION_NAME
     GROUP BY f.COMPANY_NAME)
GROUP BY a.COMPANY_NAME;
EXECUTE
Cheers
Simon

Answer 1

Dave had given you already some good advice.
Your code is not only too complicated, but you have also probably a bug in it. You have for instance a QNstart as to_date('01.01, 'dd.mm') and a corresponding QNfinish as to_date('31.03', 'dd.mm'). As this means, it is the time portion at 00:01, you are missing the complete last day of this interval. So you better do:
declare
  l_QNstart      date;
  l_Q1start      date;
  l_Q1finish     date;
  l_q1t          number
begin
  l_QNstart := trunc(sysdate, 'Q');
  l_Q1start := add_months(l_QNstart, -3);
  l_Q1finish := l_QNstart;
  -- your condition is now
  select count(count(*))
  into   l_q1t
  from   ff_actions f, ff_action_type_lov a
  where  f.date_entered >= l_Q1start and f.date_entered < l_Q1finish
  and    a.action_score = 'y'
  and    f.input_type = a.action_name
  group by f.company_name;
end;
/Message was edited by:
Leo Mannhart
btw: what is the difference between Q1Start / Q3 Start and Q1Finish / Q3Finish resp.?