dynamic columns/aliases - Continue

Hi
Following my previous question. Here is the implemetation.
I have to design a report which display monthes as columns.
The number of columns in the report depends on the range paramters.
For example : if the Range is from 01/02/05 to 30/06/05 there ara 6 columns
shown.
01/05,02/05....06/05. (column alias) .
if the range of dates are 8 monthes range there are 8 dynamic columns, etc'
1) My first major problem is to write a SP or a function that return a
dynamic number of columns.
2) Second,(This is not a must) to change column alias (Heading) according to
the parameters.
thanksWhat reporting tool do you use? This is called a cross tab report and
any decent reporting tool will render it for you client-side with no
programming required. Otherwise you'll have to use dynamic SQL, which
is not much fun.
David Portas
SQL Server MVP
--|||>> 1) My first major problem is to write a SP or a function that return a dy
namic number of columns. <<
NO, your **first** problem is that you missed the basic concepts of
RDBMS. A query returns a table; a table has a fixed number of columns.
A query is not a report; a query sends information to a front end
which can have a reporting tool in it.
This is definitions, not anything fancy.
\If you want to be a bad SQL programmer, this can be done with dynamic
SQL and a ton of procedural code that will be a XXXXX to maintain.|||Yes. My Big Problem is indeed the Reporting tool which is Custom Reporting
tool of an ERP software that simply translate
the resulted query to a GUI look alike Report.
Unfortunately , There's Nothing I can do about it.
What are my options with dynamic sql ?
"David Portas" <REMOVE_BEFORE_REPLYING_dportas@.acm.org> wrote in message
news:1126806242.941597.208120@.g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> What reporting tool do you use? This is called a cross tab report and
> any decent reporting tool will render it for you client-side with no
> programming required. Otherwise you'll have to use dynamic SQL, which
> is not much fun.
> --
> David Portas
> SQL Server MVP
> --
>