About Repeating Sections

Repeating sections repeat the components within the section of the layout based on the occurrence of an element in the data. Repeating sections are used to create classic banded reports, as well as repeating pages or sections for different data elements such as Group Above/Outline.

1. Drag and drop the repeating section component to the layout.
2. In the Repeating Section dialog, select one of the following:

   • Element - Specify the element for which the section repeats. For example, if the dataset contains sales information for several countries. If you select COUNTRY as the repeat-by element, then the section of the layout repeats for each unique country occurring in the dataset.

   • Group Detail - If you have nested sections, then select this option. To continue the previous example, assuming there're unique data rows for each city and grouping by country, then this option creates a section that repeats for each city.

The following figure shows a layout with a repeating section defined for the element Department. Within the repeating section are a chart that shows salaries by manager and a table that shows all employee salaries. So for each occurrence of department in the dataset, the chart and table are repeated.

Description of the illustration xdo11g_le_re_examp1.gif

Set Page Break Options for a Repeating Section

By default, for paginated output types, the page breaks automatically according to the amount of content that fits on a page.

You typically have the report break after each occurrence of the repeated content.

Using the preceding example, in the PDF output you typically want to break after each department.

To create a break in the report after each occurrence of the repeating section:

1. Select the repeating section component.
2. Open the Properties pane.
3. Set the Page Break property to Page.

   The following illustration shows the Properties for a repeating section.

   
   Description of the illustration xdo11g_le_re_prop.gif

How Repeating Sections Display in Interactive Mode

In interactive mode, the values for the repeat by element are displayed as a list of values. This enables the report consumer to dynamically select and view the results.

The following figure shows the repeat by element Department displayed in a list of values:

Description of the illustration xdo11g_le_re_examp2.gif

By contrast, the below figure shows the same layout displayed in PDF. In this example the page break option is set so that each new department begins the repeating section on a new page.

Description of the illustration xdo11g_le_re_examp3.gif

Show All Values in a Repeating Section

You can view all the values in a repeating section.

In interactive mode, the values for the repeat by element are displayed as a list of values. By default, this list includes only the values present for the element in the data. Therefore, a report consumer can view results for only one item at a time.

To enable a report consumer to view the results in the repeating section for all values of the element, the Repeating Section component provides the property: Show All. When this property is set to true, the value "All" is added to the list to enable the display of results for all values.

1. Select the repeating section component.
2. Open the Properties pane.
3. Set the Show All property to True.

When you view the report, the option All is added to the menu of values, as shown in the following illustration.

Description of the illustration xdo11g_le_re_propall_ex.gif