I'm preparing a sub summary report from a selection of records in my found data set.  The report needs to have a detailed, record by record section at the top part and below this, summaries of the remaining records.  The problem I'm facing based on the layout below is, because I need the records for Groups 3,4 and 5 in my found set in order to calculate their summarised results, they're appearing as detailed records because of the layout set up I'm currently using to allow details to show for Groups 1 and 2.

I feel like I'm missing something very simple here, appreciate any help. Thanks in advance

Group1

DetailsRecord1

DetailsRecord2

     Summary of Group1

Group2

DetailsRecord3

DetailsRecord4

     Summary of Group2

----------------------------------------------------

Group3 

     Summary of Group3 (No record details)

Group4

     Summary of Group4 (No record details)

Group5

     Summary of Group5 (No record details)

 

I feel like I'm missing something very simple here

No, you're not. A report reports on all records of the found set alike. There is no simple way to treat some groups of records differently than others.

Ca you explain what distinguishes the first two groups from the others?

No, you're not. A report reports on all records of the found set alike. There is no simple way to treat some groups of records differently than others.

Ca you explain what distinguishes the first two groups from the others?

Hi Comment, 

For this report the first two groups represent sales by rep, so Group1 would be say, Bob, beneath this we'd see his sales for a given period on the report.  Group2 would be say, Tony, and we'd see his sales as well.  Then we can compare the two and get a total.

The other groups, 3,4,5 represent expenses that have occurred in the course of the month, hotels, fuel etc, so you'd have group3 being total hotel costs, group4 being total fuel costs and so on, dependent on the cost type.  Not worried about who incurred the expenses, that's taken care of elsewhere, but for this high level report, I just need the summaries, not the details.

One thought I have had is that I can use the trailing grand summary with a bunch of fields populated by global variables.  This means I can exclude the unwanted records from the report and instead, pull through their subtotals from formulae I have calculated elsewhere.  It'll work but it feels impure...

 

Edited July 29, 201510 yr by Stu412

I believe you have three options here (in order of increasing complexity):

1. Produce the report in two parts. The price: there will be a page break between the two parts.

2. Find the records for the second part of the report and use a method known as Fast Summaries to collect the sub-summary values and write them into a global text field. Then produce the first part of the report and display the global field in a trailing grand summary part.

3. Write the entire report into a variable (or variables) and use a dummy table to display it through calculation fields referencing the variable/s. This dummy table would have a record for each line of the report.

Hey Stu412,

Would this routine work out for you? See attached example.

dwdc_test_report.zip

Here's another way to do this; make sure to view in Preview mode. 

ProbablyASimpleSubsummaryQuestion_eos.fmp12.zip

Thanks everyone for all your replies.

I mapped out the top part of the report and started toying with some ideas after that.  I was looking at the global field option as I'd not be able to produce it in two parts.  

Eos, the idea of a second sort field is very useful but where the individual records are not shown in the fuel section for example, there's still an amount of grey space to remove.  If that can be removed it's a good solution.

Eos, the idea of a second sort field is very useful but where the individual records are not shown in the fuel section for example, there's still an amount of grey space to remove.  If that can be removed it's a good solution.

There will always remain a bit of space because you cannot get rid of the body part conditionally.

You could use the same fill colour for all parts and – if you require part distinction by colour – format one or more of the fields in the body part or use another conditional marker.

If you really need it a specific way, you could always generate it as HTML, set it to a global field, and then export the contents of the field to the TEMP folder (automatically opening the document). I modified my example to give the other option:

 

 

dwdc_test_report2.zip

Edited July 30, 201510 yr by dwdata
update file