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How to: Add or Delete a Group in a Data Region (Report Builder 3.0 and SSRS)

Add a group to a data region when you want to organize data by a specific value or set of expressions, for display and calculations. A group has a name and an expression that identifies which data from a dataset belongs to the group. For more information about groups, see Understanding Groups (Report Builder 3.0 and SSRS).

In a tablix data region, click in the table, matrix, or list to display the Grouping pane. Drag dataset fields to the Row Group and Column Group pane to create parent or child groups. Right-click an existing group to add an adjacent group. By definition, the details group is the innermost group and can only be added as a child group. Right-click an existing group to delete it. Rows and columns on which to display group values are automatically added for you. For more information, see Tables, Matrices, and Lists (Report Builder 3.0 and SSRS).

In a Chart data region, click in the chart to display the drop-zones. Create groups by dragging dataset fields to the category and series drop zones. To add nested groups, add multiple fields to the drop-zone.

Groups are not defined in a gauge by default. The default behavior for the gauge is to aggregate all values in the specified field into one value that is displayed on the gauge. For more information, see Gauges (Report Builder 3.0 and SSRS).

Note

You can create and modify report definitions (.rdl) in Report Builder 3.0 and in Report Designer in Business Intelligence Development Studio. Each authoring environment provides different ways to create, open, and save reports and related items. For more information, see Designing Reports in Report Designer and Report Builder 3.0 (SSRS) on the Web at microsoft.com.

To add a parent or child row or column group to a tablix data region

  1. Drag a field from the Report Data pane to the Row Groups pane or the Column Groups pane.

    Note

    If you do not see the Grouping pane, on the View tab, click Grouping.

  2. Drop the field above or below the group hierarchy using the guide bar to place the group as a parent group or a child group to an existing group.

    The group is added with a default name, group expression, and sort expression that is based on the field name.

To add an adjacent row or column group to a tablix data region

  1. In the Grouping pane, right-click a group that is a peer to the group that you want to add. Click Add Group, and then click Adjacent Before or Adjacent After to specify where to add the group. The Tablix Group dialog box opens.

  2. In Name, type a name for the group.

  3. In Group expression, type an expression or click the expression button (fx) to create an expression.

  4. Click OK. 

    A new group is added to the Grouping pane and a row or column on which to display group values is added to the tablix data region on the design surface.

To add a details group to a tablix data region

  1. In the Grouping pane, right-click a group that is the innermost child group, but not the Details group. Click Add Group, and then click Child Group. The Tablix Group dialog box opens.

  2. In Group expression, leave the expression blank. A details group has no expression.

  3. Select Show detail data.

  4. Click OK. 

    A new details group is added as a child group in the Grouping pane, and the row handle for the group you selected in step 1 displays the details group icon. For more information about handles, see Understanding Tablix Data Region Cells, Rows, and Columns (Report Builder 3.0 and and SSRS).

To edit a row or column group in a tablix data region

  1. On the report design surface, click anywhere in the tablix data region to select it. The Grouping pane displays the row and column groups.

  2. Right-click the group, and then click Group Properties.

  3. In Name, type the name of the group.

  4. In Group expressions, type or select a simple expression, or click the Expression (fx) button to create a group expression.

  5. Click Add to create additional expressions. All expressions you specify are combined using a logical AND to specify data for this group.

  6. (Optional) Click Page Breaks to set page break options.

  7. (Optional) Click Sorting to select or type expressions that specify the sort order for values in the group.

  8. (Optional) Click Visibility to select the visibility options for the item.

  9. (Optional) Click Filters to set filters for this group.

  10. (Optional) Click Variables to define variables scoped to this group and accessible from any child groups.

  11. Click OK. 

To delete a group from a tablix data region

  1. In the Grouping pane, right-click the group, and then click Delete Group.

  2. In the Delete Group dialog box, select one of the following options:

    • Delete group and related rows and columns   Choose this option to delete the group definition and all related rows that display group data. For the details group, if the same row belongs to both detail and group data, only the detail data rows are deleted.

    • Delete group only   Choose this option to keep the structure of the tablix data region the same and delete only the group definition.

  3. Click OK. 

To delete a details group from a tablix data region

  1. In the Grouping pane, right-click the details group, and then click Delete Group.

  2. In the Delete Group dialog box, select one of the following options:

    • Delete group and related rows and columns   Choose this option to delete the group definition and all related rows that display group data. For the details group, if the same row belongs to both detail and group data, only the detail data rows are deleted.

    • Delete group only   Choose this option to keep the structure of the tablix data region the same and delete only the group definition.

  3. Click OK. 

    The details group is deleted.

    Note

    Verify that after you remove a details row, the expression in each cell specifies an aggregate expression where appropriate. If necessary, edit the expression to specify aggregate functions as needed.