SQL Server query with dynamic pivot scenarios due to 'Invalid column name' scenarios when using aliases
I'm trying to configure I'm trying to create a dynamic pivot table in SQL Server 2019 to summarize sales data by category and month. However, when I run my query, I get an 'Invalid column name' behavior for the aliases I'm using in the SELECT clause of my dynamic SQL. Here's the query I'm working with: ```sql DECLARE @cols AS NVARCHAR(MAX), @query AS NVARCHAR(MAX); SELECT @cols = STRING_AGG(QUOTENAME(MONTH(OrderDate)), ', ') FROM (SELECT DISTINCT MONTH(OrderDate) AS OrderMonth FROM Sales) AS Months; SET @query = 'SELECT Category, ' + @cols + ' FROM (SELECT Category, MONTH(OrderDate) AS OrderMonth, SUM(Amount) AS TotalAmount FROM Sales GROUP BY Category, MONTH(OrderDate)) AS SourceTable PIVOT (SUM(TotalAmount) FOR OrderMonth IN (' + @cols + ')) AS PivotTable'; EXEC sp_executesql @query; ``` I've checked and the column names in the base query are correct, and the behavior references the `OrderMonth` alias from the inner SELECT. I suspect that the scenario might be related to how SQL Server handles aliases in dynamic SQL, but I'm not sure how to fix it. I also tried running the inner query separately and it works as expected. Any ideas on how to resolve this? Any ideas what could be causing this?