In discussing what isn’t allowed within a view (as I did in my February column "Viewer Advisory," InstantDoc ID 37660), I'm often asked about the importance of COMPUTE and COMPUTE BY clauses. These aren't allowed within a view’s definition, yet they're important clauses to understand for detailed reporting. For summarizing data, many people use only GROUP BY when COMPUTE BY might be a better alternative. I’m partial to COMPUTE and COMPUTE BY, so I always take a minute to explai...