Cross-Tab or Grouping

[foru11]

Hi all, I am using CR 10 and Oracle 10g.

I have received a sample report (printed) and need to transform it into CR.
I have attached a file in excel format which shows the report layout and some explanations.

http://www.mediafire.com/?qup5554o8nq5m5c

Wondering whether it is better to do the report using cross-tab (I am new to cross-tab) or normal grouping?
If it is better to use cross-tab, appreciate can get steps here.

Appreciate for any help/suggestions provided. Thanks in advanced.

 

[lbass]

If you are reporting only on one period at a time, it might be easier to just use grouping, instead of a crosstab, but it is hard to tell just from a visual display, since we don't know what is contributing to each summary.

-LB

 

[foru11]

Thanks LB for your reply.

Ya, it will always only reporting one period at a time. All the summary columns are stored inside table fields. I just need to retrieve and display in the report.

The problem is how can I order the Location in the sequence shown in the Excel file?

 

[lbass]

I don't quite see the point of making this a CR if everything is already summarized by field in Excel. Also don't know the logic of the sorting, but you could create a formula like this:

select {table.location}[1]
case "N" : 1
case "C" : 2
case "S" : 3

Insert a group on this but place the location field itself on the report instead of the group name. Then also add a sort by {table.location} so that the numbers sort correctly.

-LB

 

[foru11]

I will have a try on your suggestion and thanks LB.

By the way, I found out a solution to make the sorting I wanted. Insert a group using {table.location}, choose the sorting "in a specified order". Then at the Specified Order tab, I arranged the location name (N1, N2, C1, C2, S1, S2) in the way I wanted. So far this seems to be working fine. But will this giving any unforeseen causes?

 

[foru11]

I have tried your formula. It works perfect as I wanted! This is something I can't think of. Thanks again LB.