Use the Group/Scale editor to control different aspects of grouping behavior and the way grouping fields are displayed in the output report. Group/Scale editor shows and edits properties for the currently highlighted grouping field of the selected report element. To select a grouping field for editing, highlight it in the report element or select it from the  combo box  in the Group/Scale editor. There are two types of grouping rules: grouping by unique values and grouping by scale ranges.

Unique values

 - Select a grouping field for editing 

 - Select a grouping rule. You have the following options to set up a rule for grouping:

Unique values - records with the same grouping value will be put into the same group. Grouping values can come from a database field or a custom field (See Dictionary editor).

Automatic scale - ranges for grouping are automatically calculated based on the selected options.

Manual scale - ranges are entered manually, but can be controlled dynamically through scripting.

 - A list of fields and aggregate function which can be used for sorting of the final results. Data on any grouping level can be sorted by corresponding fields and subtotal values.

 - Group sorting is available for grouping by unique values. Groups can be sorted by group field's value or by any calculated aggregate value available for this group. The number of nested levels for sorting is not limited.

Scale, which is a unique TARGET Reports feature, allows specifying ranges for data segmentation in your summary report.

Automatic scale

An automatic scale for grouping can be used with numeric or date fields. You can set the following scale properties:

 - Number of date/time intervals specified by the"Units" property. Thus, if "Units" is set to "Day" it will be the number of days in each range.

 - Units to measure date/time intervals. Can be: Year, Quarter, Month, Week, Day, Hour, Minute, Second.

 - A starting point for scale ranges. Can be: Minimum - a minimum value from the database for this grouping field will be used; constant - any value you choose to type in.

 - End point for the scale range. Can be: Maximum - a maximum value from the database for this grouping field will be used; constant - any date value you choose to type in.

 - The appearance of the range names in the output report. It can be 01/01/2006 - 01/15/2006 if the option is checked or just 01/01/2006 when not checked.

 - If some scale ranges do not have any records and the option is not checked all empty ranges will be purged from the output report.

Auto scale setup for numeric fields looks slightly different:

 - Set this value to define an interval for each range. The number of ranges in this case will be: (Maximum - Minimum) / Interval value.

 - Set the number of intervals (ranges). An interval value in this case can be calculated as: (Maximum - Minimum) / Number of intervals.

Other properties are the same as for date scale.

Manual scale

 A manual scale allows manual entering of scale ranges.

 - Use the Exact Match option to specify grouping behavior similar to unique values. This mode is useful when you need only some specific groups be present in the output report.

 - Continuous ranges cover all values from the first to the last rather than the sectioned ranges, which allow gaps in between intervals.

 - Sectioned scale allows designation of the starting and ending limits for each range.

 - When the "Range Names" option is checked, you can provide a name for each range. Otherwise, the actual range values will be used as range names.

 - If some scale ranges do not have any records and the option is not checked all empty ranges will be purged from the output report.

 - "Other <" and "Other >" options are applicable for continuous scales only.  When checked, additional ranges that include all elements below the set minimum and above the set maximum respectively.

Additional editing features for a manual scale include:

 - Clear the current scale.

 - Open a scale from a file.

 - Save the current scale to a file.

 - Initialize scale ranges from a database table.

Related Sections

User Interface

Report Element

Property Editors

TARGET Reports' Concept