Skip to main content

Break Groups

Screenshots and diagrams on this page illustrate the historical desktop tools or conversion workflow; installed versions may look different.

Any Input Item in Report Builder can become a Break Group that will affect the structure of printed reports. Break Groups are typically used for the following purposes:

  • Structure the report along categories or sub-headers, for example, a sorted list of customers with group headers based on their country.
  • Display summaries and totals for a group of records, for example, the number of products in a product category.
  • Reset running totals when the break item changes, for example a partial sum within a category.

If an Input Item is defined as a Break Group, Report Builder will automatically add a header and a footer for this item above and below the Detail Block. Each break item will always have an associated header and footer in the report. The number of lines determine if these are visible or not when the report is filled.

Historical Break Groups example Definition of Break Groups in Report Builder

Stimulsoft Reports.NET represents grouping with bands. An input field, report variable, or formula can supply the condition on a Group Header; an associated Group Footer can show the summary. The header's condition defines when the group changes. Conversion can merge source lines into a band or use child bands when their properties require separate layout.

Historical Break Groups example Definition of Group Headers and Group Footers in Stimulsoft Reports.Net

Nested Groups​

The grouping condition belongs to the Group Header. Keep a header for a group even when only its footer should be visible. Headers are ordered outside-in before the data band; matching footers close those groups in reverse order. Footers may be omitted, so equal numbers of visible headers and footers are not a universal requirement. See Stimulsoft's nested-group documentation.

Validation​

For a country group, rows UK: 10, UK: 20, US: 5 should produce UK subtotal 30, US subtotal 5, and grand total 35. If the source order is UK, US, UK, a change-based grouping can produce three runs unless sorting deliberately brings the UK rows together.

Country header
    City header
        Detail rows
    City footer / subtotal
Country footer / subtotal

The inner subtotal resets at a city boundary; the outer subtotal resets at a country boundary. A grand total spans both. Use different amounts in each group so a misplaced reset is obvious, and check the totals when a group spans a page break.

Supply records in the intended group order or configure sorting deliberately. Test nested groups, null keys, a group spanning pages, and subtotal resets. A group change is an evaluation event, not simply a different caption on the page. Verify keep-together and repeat-header settings after conversion.