Can a group be suppressed by a parameter selection?

[helpnout]

I am using CR 8.5 and Notes 5.09. I am trying to find a way to suppress a group in a report. What I would like to do is have the user choose a parameter at runtime and then depending on what the parameter is will depend which of 4 groups will be shown. I have a the detail section along with one group that will show the same data, this of course is the fine detail of the data. What I need to be able to do is give a different representation of the results at a higher level before the user starts to drill down. I can create what I need via 4 slightly different reports. What I was hoping to be able to do is to just create one report with four different groupings and then show the appropriate grouping to the user depending on the parameter they choose.
Anybody out there have any ideas? I have searched through this site as well as the CR Support and Dev site but nothing that covers this aspect.
Thanks in advance.

 

[dgillz]

Yes this is common.

You can conditionally supress a group, or conditionally select different records for the report, based on the parameter answer.

If the paramter asked for the first letter of a customer's name, then to select records that did not start with that letter, enter the formula:
Left{{Customer},1)<>{?Parmfield}
into the record selection formula. No records starting with letters other than what is entered for the parameter will be shown. Group Selections work the same.

Using conditional formatting, you can acheive much the same effect by conditionally supressing these records, EXCEPT any sub or grand totals will take the suppressed records into account. I highly recommend approach #1.

Let me know if you have questions.
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