Include missing months in Group By query

Question

I think I have a tough one here... :(

I am trying to get an order count by month, even when zero. Here\'s the problem query:

SELECT datename(month,          


        

Answer 1

Here is one using recursive CTE:

declare @StartDate datetime = '2015-04-01';
declare @EndDate datetime = '2015-06-01';

-- sample data
declare @orders table (OrderNumber int, OrderDate datetime);
insert into @orders
select 11, '2015-04-02'
union all
select 12, '2015-04-03'
union all
select 13, '2015-05-03'
;

-- recursive CTE
with dates
as (
    select @StartDate as reportMonth
    union all
    select dateadd(m, 1, reportMonth)
    from dates
    where reportMonth < @EndDate
    )
select 
    reportMonth,
    Count = count(o.OrderNumber)
from dates
left outer join @orders as o 
    on o.OrderDate >= reportMonth
    and o.OrderDate < dateadd(MONTH, 1, reportMonth)
group by 
    reportMonth
option (maxrecursion 0);
;