group controls / subtotals

[Guest]

Kind of hard to describe this question. Am using 07 though don't think that
is important;

I have a tricky ordering which was accomplished with the query using sql
code. The category outline is simple: Type - Model - Year - $$

but the order of the records was tricky to accomplish

If I add report's grouping - it resorts the order.

Just fyi; Type grouping is fine at the highest level. The model is grouped
- however it is ordered by the oldest date first (not by Model alpha)...and
there are overlapping dates between models....it isn't grouped by date - that
would co-mingle the models...it is grouped by model starting with oldest

Anyway....Have the sql driven query giving the right order - which is great
as a simple list...but I can't implement subtotals because that requires
report groupings and the report groups when implemented re-orders the records
too simplistically (for lack of better description) and incorrectly.

So the question is custom grouping or subtotaling in a report that is not
dependent on report's grouping logic....?? not sure I explained well -
welcome a dialog with someone that might have some experience in this.

 

[Guest]

Found my own answer - just in case someone reads this with same issue;

the sql method that set the ordering in the query required a 'phantom' field
(for lack of a better description) which is routine in sql which had been
named: MinDate

and this value was used to subgroup together Models records that had the
same model and consecutive years

I realized that this was a common value on all records in any one subgroup -
and unqiue to that subgroup where neither model nor year was unique; so I
added it as a field on the report non-visible; - and then grouped on this
MinDate

I guess the bottom line is for custom grouping - you might be able to invent
a field via query that serves no other purpose than just to drive the
grouping. worked.