Custom Group by First Letter 1

[Oglesbay]

Hi all. I have a report with about 2,000 names grouped alphabetically. What I would like to do though is have a group heading of just the first letter. For example:

A
Adams, John
Ashley, Jennifer
B
Breckenworth, Steve
Busby, Mary
C
Christy, Stephen
Crosby, Bill

Does any one have a quick way of doing this? It seems easy but I can't get it figured out. Thanks!

 

[synapsevampire]

Create a formula of:

left(trim({table.field}),1)

Now group on that formula.

-k

 

[samiam07]

Create a formula:
{LastNameField}[1]

Use this formula for the grouping.

 

[Oglesbay]

Thanks guys, but when I typed in what said, it came up with an error. What I did was I went to the Group Expert and chose to sort by "xlastname". When I went to the options, I chose to :Use a Formula as a Group Sort Order" and put in the following formula:

left(trim({person.xlastname}),1))

I got the error:

A constant expression is required here (And the field was highlighted.)

Any ideas?

 

[synapsevampire]

So instead create a formula.

View->Field Explorer

Right click formulas and select new and name it

Then use my code.

The problem with samiam is if there's an inadvertent space in there, it will show the space, I trimmed the field.

-k

 

[Oglesbay]

Worked like a charm! Thanks!