Issue with distinct count

I have a table which contains activities, and I am trying to extract a section that has less than a certain number of activities for a given date range. I am receiving an error of

Incorrect syntax near 'activityid' for my select clause. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Code Snippet

Query I'm working with
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
declare @.sectionid int, @.maxcount int, @.stdate datetime, @.enddate datetime
set @.sectionid = 37
set @.maxcount = 5
set @.stdate = '01/01/06'
set @.enddate = '01/31/06'

select distinct (count activityid) <= @.maxcount, a.sectionid
from activity a
where
a.sectionid = @.sectionid
AND
(a.date between @.stdate and @.enddate)

Table Definition
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[p_Activity_Create]
(
@.ActivityID INT OUTPUT,
@.SectionID INT,
@.ActivityCategoryID INT,
@.STIAssessmentTestID INT,
@.Name VARCHAR(30),
@.Date DATETIME,
@.MaximumScore DECIMAL(6,2),
@.WeightAddition DECIMAL(9,6),
@.WeightMultiplier DECIMAL(9,6),
@.IsAssessment BIT,
@.IsHomework BIT,
@.IsScored BIT,
@.MayBeDropped BIT,
@.IsDropped BIT,
@.IsComplete BIT,
@.Unit VARCHAR(50)

)
AS

SET NOCOUNT ON

INSERT INTO [dbo].[Activity]
(SectionID,
ActivityCategoryID,
STIAssessmentTestID,
[Name],
[Date],
MaximumScore,
WeightAddition,
WeightMultiplier,
IsAssessment,
IsHomework,
IsScored,
MayBeDropped,
IsDropped,
IsComplete,
Unit)
VALUES
(@.SectionID,
@.ActivityCategoryID,
@.STIAssessmentTestID,
@.Name,
@.Date,
@.MaximumScore,
@.WeightAddition,
@.WeightMultiplier,
@.IsAssessment,
@.IsHomework,
@.IsScored,
@.MayBeDropped,
@.IsDropped,
@.IsComplete,
@.Unit)

SET @.ActivityID = SCOPE_IDENTITY()
GO

Table data
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

ActivityID SectionID Name Date ActivityCategoryID STIAssessmentTestID MaximumScore WeightAddition WeightMultiplier IsAssessment IsHomework IsScored MayBeDropped IsDropped IsComplete 11 37 Homework 9/20/2005 49 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 14 37 Midterm 10/16/2005 51 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 38 37 Homework 1/16 1/16/2006 49 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 39 37 Homework 1/17 1/17/2006 49 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 40 37 Extra 1/18 1/18/2006 52 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 41 37 Homework 1/19 1/19/2006 49 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 12 37 Quiz 1/20/2006 50 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 13 37 Test 4/20/2006 51 NULL 100 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 15 37 Final 5/20/2006 51 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 42 Homework 9/20/2005 5 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 4 42 Midterm 10/16/2005 7 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 42 Quiz 1/20/2006 6 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 3 42 Test 4/20/2006 7 NULL 100 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 5 42 Final 5/20/2006 7 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 26 43 Homework 9/20/2005 85 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 29 43 Midterm 10/16/2005 87 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 27 43 Quiz 1/20/2006 86 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 42 43 Homework 4/17 4/17/2006 85 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 43 43 Extra 4/18 4/18/2006 88 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 44 43 Homework 4/19 4/19/2006 85 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 28 43 Test 4/20/2006 87 NULL 100 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 45 43 Extra 4/21 4/21/2006 88 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 30 43 Final 5/20/2006 87 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 16 49 Homework 9/20/2005 61 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 19 49 Midterm 10/16/2005 63 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 17 49 Quiz 1/20/2006 62 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 18 49 Test 4/20/2006 63 NULL 100 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 20 49 Final 5/20/2006 63 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 21 50 Homework 9/20/2005 65 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 24 50 Midterm 10/16/2005 67 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 22 50 Quiz 1/20/2006 66 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 23 50 Test 4/20/2006 67 NULL 100 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 25 50 Final 5/20/2006 67 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 31 53 Homework 9/20/2005 121 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 34 53 Midterm 10/16/2005 123 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 32 53 Quiz 1/20/2006 122 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 33 53 Test 4/20/2006 123 NULL 100 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 35 53 Final 5/20/2006 123 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 6 67 Homework 9/20/2005 33 NULL 25 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 9 67 Midterm 10/16/2005 35 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 7 67 Quiz 1/20/2006 34 NULL 50 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 8 67 Test 4/20/2006 35 NULL 100 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 10 67 Final 5/20/2006 35 NULL 100 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0

43 row(s) affected)

The problem is with the line:

select distinct (count activityid) <= @.maxcount, a.sectionid

To me this looks like pseudocode.

You might try something more like:

select sectionId,
count(distinct activityId)
from activity a
where a.sectionId = @.sectionId
and a.date between @.stDate and @.endDate
group by sectionId
having count(distinct activityId) <= @.maxCount