Stored Aggregate Functions

Aggregate functions are functions that are computed over a sequence of rows and return one result for the sequence of rows.

Creating a custom aggregate function is done using the CREATE FUNCTION statement with two main differences:

• The addition of the AGGREGATE keyword, so CREATE AGGREGATE FUNCTION
• The FETCH GROUP NEXT ROW instruction inside the loop
• Oracle PL/SQL compatibility using SQL/PL is provided

Standard Syntax

CREATE AGGREGATE FUNCTION function_name (parameters) RETURNS return_type
BEGIN
      All types of declarations
      DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR NOT FOUND RETURN return_val;
      LOOP
           FETCH GROUP NEXT ROW; // fetches next row from table
           other instructions
      END LOOP;
END

Stored aggregate functions were a 2016 Google Summer of Code project by Varun Gupta.

Using SQL/PL

SET sql_mode=Oracle;
DELIMITER //

CREATE AGGREGATE FUNCTION function_name (parameters) RETURN return_type
   declarations
BEGIN
   LOOP
      FETCH GROUP NEXT ROW; -- fetches next row from table
      -- other instructions

   END LOOP;
EXCEPTION
   WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
      RETURN return_val;
END //

DELIMITER ;

Examples

First a simplified example:

CREATE TABLE marks(stud_id INT, grade_count INT);

INSERT INTO marks VALUES (1,6), (2,4), (3,7), (4,5), (5,8);

SELECT * FROM marks;
+---------+-------------+
| stud_id | grade_count |
+---------+-------------+
|       1 |           6 |
|       2 |           4 |
|       3 |           7 |
|       4 |           5 |
|       5 |           8 |
+---------+-------------+

DELIMITER //
CREATE AGGREGATE FUNCTION IF NOT EXISTS aggregate_count(x INT) RETURNS INT
BEGIN
 DECLARE count_students INT DEFAULT 0;
 DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR NOT FOUND
 RETURN count_students;
      LOOP
          FETCH GROUP NEXT ROW;
          IF x  THEN
            SET count_students = count_students+1;
          END IF;
      END LOOP;
END //
DELIMITER ;

A non-trivial example that cannot easily be rewritten using existing functions:

DELIMITER //
CREATE AGGREGATE FUNCTION medi_int(x INT) RETURNS DOUBLE
BEGIN
  DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR NOT FOUND
    BEGIN
      DECLARE res DOUBLE;
      DECLARE cnt INT DEFAULT (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM tt);
      DECLARE lim INT DEFAULT (cnt-1) DIV 2;
      IF cnt % 2 = 0 THEN
        SET res = (SELECT AVG(a) FROM (SELECT a FROM tt ORDER BY a LIMIT lim,2) ttt);
      ELSE
        SET res = (SELECT a FROM tt ORDER BY a LIMIT lim,1);
      END IF;
      DROP TEMPORARY TABLE tt;
      RETURN res;
    END;
  CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tt (a INT);
  LOOP
    FETCH GROUP NEXT ROW;
    INSERT INTO tt VALUES (x);
  END LOOP;
END //
DELIMITER ;

SQL/PL Example

This uses the same marks table as created above.

SET sql_mode=Oracle;
DELIMITER //

CREATE AGGREGATE FUNCTION aggregate_count(x INT) RETURN INT AS count_students INT DEFAULT 0;
BEGIN
   LOOP
      FETCH GROUP NEXT ROW;
      IF x  THEN
        SET count_students := count_students+1;
      END IF;
   END LOOP;
EXCEPTION
   WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
      RETURN count_students;
END aggregate_count //
DELIMITER ;

SELECT aggregate_count(stud_id) FROM marks;

See Also

• Stored Function Overview
• CREATE FUNCTION
• SHOW CREATE FUNCTION
• DROP FUNCTION
• Stored Routine Privileges
• SHOW FUNCTION STATUS
• Information Schema ROUTINES Table