Grouping in BI Dashboard Controls
- 5 minutes to read
The DevExpress BI Dashboard was not developed to visualize underlying, but already grouped (summarized) data: the control groups dimension values and displays summaries for entire groups rather than individual values. You can arrange dimension values in different sized groups by specifying the corresponding group interval. For instance, date-time values can be grouped by year, month, quarter, and other date-time intervals.
This topic describes how BI Dashboard groups data by default and lists the supported text and date-time group intervals. It also explains how to change the default group intervals.
Grouping String Values
When you add a string field to the dashboard item, the Dashboard combines identical field values into a single dimension value. You can also enable alphabetical grouping to combine field values by their first characters.
The following grouping intervals are supported for string values:
- No Grouping
Each value is displayed “as is”.
The Dashboard groups unique underlying string values to a single dimension value by default. In this example, the Product field is added to the dashboard item.
If you add several fields, the Dashboard shows unique dimension value combinations. In this example, the Category and Product fields are added.
- Alphabetical
Values are grouped alphabetically (for instance, A, B, C, … Z). In this example, the Product field is added to the dashboard item.
Grouping Date-Time Values
You can group underlying date-time values (DateTime, DateOnly, TimeOnly) as follows:
- DateOnly
- Day, Month, Year
- DateTime
- Day, Month, Year, Hour, Minute, Second
- TimeOnly
- Hour, Minute, Second
BI Dashboard controls use the Gregorian calendar for grouping date-time values.
A default group interval for DateTime and DateOnly values is Year. In this case, the Dashboard extracts a year from each date-time value and groups dates with the same year.
The image below shows how Dashboard groups date-time values by the same quarter in each year.
TimeOnly values show the exact time by default.
You can also add the same date-time field with different group intervals to display data hierarchically. For example, the image below shows how the Dashboard groups the Order Date field values when Year and Quarter group intervals are used.
Hierarchical data representation can also be used with the Drill-Down.
The following group intervals are supported for date-time fields:
| Group interval | Struct | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by year. | 2010, 2011, 2012 |
| Quarter | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by quarter. | Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 |
| Month | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by month. | January, February, March, … December |
| Day | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by the day of the month. | 1, 2, 3, … 31 |
| Hour | DateTime, TimeOnly |
Values are grouped by hour. | 0, 1, 2, … 23 |
| Minute | DateTime, TimeOnly |
Values are grouped by minute. | 0, 1, 2, … 59 |
| Second | DateTime, TimeOnly |
Values are grouped by second. | 0, 1, 2, … 59 |
| Day of Year | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by the day of the year. | 1, 2, 3, … 365 |
| Day of Week | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by the day of the week. | Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, … Saturday |
| Week of Year | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by the week of the year. | 1, 2, 3, … 52 |
| Week of Month | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by the week of the month. | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Quarter-Year | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by the year and quarter. | Q3 2012, Q4 2012, Q1 2013, Q2 2013, … |
| Month-Year | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by the month and year. | January 2012, February 2012, … December 2012, January 2013, … |
| Week-Year | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by the date of the first day of the week (uses culture settings). | 7/1/2018, 7/8/2018, 7/15/2018, … 11/4/2018, 11/11/2018, 11/18/2018, … |
| Day-Month-Year | DateTime, DateOnly |
Values are grouped by date. | 3/4/2012, 3/5/2012, 3/6/2012, … |
| Date-Hour | DateTime |
Values are grouped by date with an hour value. | 3/4/2012 0:00 AM, 3/4/2012 1:00 AM, 3/4/2012 2:00 AM, … |
| Date-Hour-Minute | DateTime |
Values are grouped by date with hour and minute values. | 3/4/2012 0:00 AM, 3/4/2012 0:01 AM, 3/4/2012 0:02 AM, … |
| Date-Hour-Minute-Second | DateTime |
Values are grouped by date with hour, minute and second values. | 3/4/2012 0:00:00 AM, 3/4/2012 0:00:01 AM, 3/4/2012 0:00:02 AM, … |
| Exact Date | DateTime, DateOnly |
Each date/date-time value is displayed “as is”. | 2009, Q2 2009, 6/15/2009 1:45:30 PM, … |
| Exact Time | TimeOnly |
Each time value is displayed “as is”. | 02:59:00 |
Note
See the following article to learn more about format setting customization: Formatting Data.
Change Group Settings
You can change group settings in the Dashboard Designer and in code. Refer to these articles for details on how to change the group interval in WinForms or Web Dashboard controls:
Obtain Underlying Data
If you need to obtain underlying data for the WinForms DashboardViewer or Web DashboardControl, refer to the following help topics for more information:
- WinForms Viewer - Obtaining Underlying and Displayed Data
- Web Dashboard - Obtaining Underlying and Displayed Data
Limitations
Custom grouping is not supported in OLAP mode because data in a cube is already grouped and summarized.