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Informix Error -4361: Group aggregates can occur only in AFTER GROUP clauses.

Cause and resolution

Group aggregates can occur only in AFTER GROUP clauses.

The aggregate functions that apply to a group of rows (GROUP COUNT, GROUP PERCENT, GROUP SUM, GROUP AVG, GROUP MIN, and GROUP MAX) can only be used at the point in the report when a complete group has been processed, namely, in the AFTER GROUP control block. Make sure that the AFTER GROUP statement exists and was recognized. If you need the value of a group aggregate at another time (for instance, in a PAGE TRAILER control block), you can save it in a global variable with a LET statement in the AFTER GROUP control block.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-4361 fires when a group aggregate (GROUP COUNT, GROUP PERCENT, GROUP SUM, GROUP AVG, GROUP MIN, GROUP MAX) is used outside an AFTER GROUP control block — per the official guidance, these are only meaningful once a complete group has been processed.

  1. A group aggregate used outside an AFTER GROUP control block, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.
  2. A missing or unrecognized AFTER GROUP statement, per the official guidance — a related possible cause.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Confirm the AFTER GROUP statement exists and was recognized, per the official guidance.
  2. If the group aggregate's value is needed elsewhere (e.g. a PAGE TRAILER), save it in a global variable with a LET statement inside AFTER GROUP, per the official guidance.
Examples
Using a group aggregate outside AFTER GROUP
FORMAT
  ON EVERY ROW
    PRINT GROUP SUM(rec.amount)
    -- -4361: group aggregates only work in AFTER GROUP
Corrected
FORMAT
  AFTER GROUP OF rec.customer
    LET group_total = GROUP SUM(rec.amount)
    PRINT group_total
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check every group aggregate's location, and confirm it's inside an AFTER GROUP block, saving its value to a global variable first if needed elsewhere.
Related Errors / Related Topics

No closely related error codes are cross-referenced for -4361 in this set yet.

A group aggregate is used outside AFTER GROUP — move it inside, saving its value to a global variable if it's needed elsewhere in the report.