Trying to produce report but have ERROR ORA-00900: invalid SQL statement

Question

Hi,
I am new to Oracle so have been experimenting with a few things to get the hang of it. I have been trying to produce a report, but keep getting the error: ORA-00900: invalid SQL statement.
This happens at my first line of code where I have COLUMN <column_name> HEADING <Heading_name>
So I am a bit confused - is there a command that I am supposed to issue that indicates to SQL*Plus that I am trying to create a report?
Also, if I just delete the COLUMN <column_name> HEADING <Heading_name> rows and just start at BREAK ON <column_name> SKIP 1, it produces the same error.
I am using Oracle 8.0.6 - does this make a difference?
Here is my code:
COLUMN a.p_ctryid HEADING 'Country'
COLUMN s.p_animid HEADING 'Stallion ID'
COLUMN s.p_uname HEADING 'Stallion Name'
COLUMN a.p_animid HEADING 'Horse ID'
COLUMN d.p_careertp HEADING 'Career'
BREAK ON s.p_animid SKIP 1
BREAK ON d.p_careertp SKIP 2
COMPUTE SUM LABEL 'Total' OF d.p_careertp ON REPORT
SELECT DISTINCT a.p_ctryid, s.p_animid, s.p_uname, a.p_animid, d.p_careertp
FROM p_owby.p_animal a, p_owby.p_animal s, p_owby.p_mating m, p_owby.p_anim_dtl d
WHERE m.p_mateyr = 2001
AND a.p_animid = d.p_animid
AND a.p_animid = m.p_animid
AND a.p_animid > 0
AND s.p_animid = a.p_sire
AND a.p_ctryid IN('GB','IRE')
GROUP BY a.p_ctryid, s.p_animid, s.p_uname, d.p_careertp, a.p_animid
ORDER BY a.p_ctryid, s.p_animid, d.p_careertp
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You are trying to do COMPUTE SUM ... ON REPORT but there is no BREAK ON REPORT specified. The computed sum will not be shown unless you also break on report. see below demonstration. first select has no sum even though we have specified COMPUTE. The second select shows the sum since now we have done break on report.
SQL> compute sum of sal on report
SQL> select * from scott.emp order by empno ;
     EMPNO ENAME      JOB              MGR HIREDATE           SAL       COMM     DEPTNO
      7369 SMITH      CLERK           7902 17-DEC-1980        800                    20
      7499 ALLEN      SALESMAN        7698 20-FEB-1981       1600        300         30
      7521 WARD       SALESMAN        7698 22-FEB-1981       1250        500         30
      7566 JONES      MANAGER         7839 02-APR-1981       2975                    20
      7654 MARTIN     SALESMAN        7698 28-SEP-1981       1250       1400         30
      7698 BLAKE      MANAGER         7839 01-MAY-1981       2850                    30
      7782 CLARK      MANAGER         7839 09-JUN-1981       2450                    10
      7788 SCOTT      ANALYST         7566 19-APR-1987       3000                    20
      7839 KING       PRESIDENT            17-NOV-1981       5000                    10
      7844 TURNER     SALESMAN        7698 08-SEP-1981       1500          0         30
      7876 ADAMS      CLERK           7788 23-MAY-1987       1100                    20
      7900 JAMES      CLERK           7698 03-DEC-1981        950                    30
      7902 FORD       ANALYST         7566 03-DEC-1981       3000                    20
      7934 MILLER     CLERK           7782 23-JAN-1982       1300                    10
14 rows selected.
SQL> break on report
SQL> select * from scott.emp order by empno ;
     EMPNO ENAME      JOB              MGR HIREDATE           SAL       COMM     DEPTNO
      7369 SMITH      CLERK           7902 17-DEC-1980        800                    20
      7499 ALLEN      SALESMAN        7698 20-FEB-1981       1600        300         30
      7521 WARD       SALESMAN        7698 22-FEB-1981       1250        500         30
      7566 JONES      MANAGER         7839 02-APR-1981       2975                    20
      7654 MARTIN     SALESMAN        7698 28-SEP-1981       1250       1400         30
      7698 BLAKE      MANAGER         7839 01-MAY-1981       2850                    30
      7782 CLARK      MANAGER         7839 09-JUN-1981       2450                    10
      7788 SCOTT      ANALYST         7566 19-APR-1987       3000                    20
      7839 KING       PRESIDENT            17-NOV-1981       5000                    10
      7844 TURNER     SALESMAN        7698 08-SEP-1981       1500          0         30
      7876 ADAMS      CLERK           7788 23-MAY-1987       1100                    20
      7900 JAMES      CLERK           7698 03-DEC-1981        950                    30
      7902 FORD       ANALYST         7566 03-DEC-1981       3000                    20
      7934 MILLER     CLERK           7782 23-JAN-1982       1300                    10
sum                                                         29025
14 rows selected.
SQL>