aggregate functions are not allowed in WHERE - when joining PostgreSQL tables

Question

In a game using PostgreSQL 9.3.10 some players have paid for a "VIP status", which is indicated by vip column containing a date from future:

# \d pref_users

   Column   |            Type             |     Modifiers      
------------+-----------------------------+--------------------
 id         | character varying(32)       | not null
 first_name | character varying(64)       | not null
 last_name  | character varying(64)       | 
 vip        | timestamp without time zone | 

Also players can rate other players by setting nice column to true, false or leaving it at null:

 # \d pref_rep

  Column   |            Type             |                         Modifiers                         
-----------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------
 id        | character varying(32)       | not null
 author    | character varying(32)       | not null
 nice      | boolean                     | 

I calculate a "reputation" of VIP-players by issuing this SQL JOIN statement:

# select u.id, u.first_name, u.last_name, 
  count(nullif(r.nice, false))-count(nullif(r.nice, true)) as rep 
  from pref_users u, pref_rep r 
  where u.vip>now()and u.id=r.id group by u.id order by rep asc;


           id            |           first_name           | last_name | rep  
-------------------------+--------------------------------+--------------------
 OK413274501330          | ali                            | salimov   | -193
 OK357353924092          | viktor                         | litovka   | -137
 DE20287                 | sergej warapow                 |              

My question is please the following:

How to find all negatively rated players, who have rated other players?

(The background is that I have added a possibility to rate others - to all VIP-players. Until that only positively rated players could rate others).

I have tried the following, but get the error below:

# select count(*) from pref_rep r, pref_users u 
where r.author = u.id and u.vip > now() and 
u.id in (select id from pref_rep 
where (count(nullif(nice, false)) -count(nullif(nice, true))) < 0);

ERROR:  aggregate functions are not allowed in WHERE
LINE 1: ...now() and u.id in (select id from pref_rep where (count(null...
                                                             ^

UPDATE:

I am trying it with temporary table now -

First I fill it with all negatively rated VIP-users and this works well:

# create temp table my_temp as select u.id, u.first_name, u.last_name,
  count(nullif(r.nice, false))-count(nullif(r.nice, true)) as rep 
  from pref_users u, pref_rep r 
  where u.vip>now() and u.id=r.id group by u.id;

 SELECT 362

But then my SQL JOIN returns too many identical rows and I can not find what condition is missing there:

 # select u.id, u.first_name, u.last_name 
   from pref_rep r, pref_users u, my_temp t 
   where r.author=u.id and u.vip>now() 
   and u.id=t.id and t.rep<0;

           id            |           first_name           |         last_name          
-------------------------+--------------------------------+----------------------------
 OK400153108439          | Vladimir                       | Pelix
 OK123283032465          | Edik                           | Lehtik
 OK123283032465          | Edik                           | Lehtik
 OK123283032465          | Edik                           | Lehtik
 OK123283032465          | Edik                           | Lehtik
 OK123283032465          | Edik                           | Lehtik
 OK123283032465          | Edik                           | Lehtik

Same problem (multiple rows with same data) I get for the statement:

# select u.id, u.first_name, u.last_name 
  from pref_rep r, pref_users u 
  where r.author = u.id and u.vip>now() 
  and u.id in (select id from my_temp where rep < 0);

I wonder what condition could be missing here?

Answer 1

First of all, I would write your first query as this:

select
  u.id, u.first_name, u.last_name,
  sum(case
        when r.nice=true then 1
        when r.nice=false then -1
      end) as rep 
from
  pref_users u inner join pref_rep r on u.id=r.id 
where
  u.vip>now()
group by
  u.id, u.first_name, u.last_name;

(it's the same as yours, but I find it clearer).

To find negatively rated players, you can use the same query as before, just adding HAVING clause:

having
  sum(case
        when r.nice=true then 1
        when r.nice=false then -1
      end)<0

to find negatively rated players who have rated players, one solution is this:

select
  s.id, s.first_name, s.last_name, s.rep
from (
  select
    u.id, u.first_name, u.last_name,
    sum(case
          when r.nice=true then 1
          when r.nice=false then -1
        end) as rep 
  from
    pref_users u inner join pref_rep r on u.id=r.id 
  where
    u.vip>now()
  group by
    u.id, u.first_name, u.last_name
  having
    sum(case
          when r.nice=true then 1
          when r.nice=false then -1
        end)<0
  ) s
where
  exists (select * from pref_rep p where p.author = s.id)

eventually the having clause can be removed from the inner query, and you just can use this where clause on the outer query:

where
  rep<0
  and exists (select * from pref_rep p where p.author = s.id)