Data Groups are groups of data fields which have been collated together because they derive from the same category of data, eg data which relates to the client’s demographics. The only time you would notice the data group to which a data tag belongs, if you hover of the tag name.

However, some tags are displayed in the tag list, within their data group under a single heading, denoted in the tag list with a + sign. This is because the template will return more than one record for these fields and therefore the tags need to be laid out in the template in a particular manner – known as “repeating sections”.  An example of this is the “Warnings” data group as there could be more than one warning and therefore the data needs to be displayed appropriately – the most usual format is in a table to create a list.

Data Group table

This example sets up a table which will list all the warnings against a client:

1. Insert a table, with just 2 rows. The top row is for your column headings and the second row for the data tags.
2. Select the entire row by clicking just to the left of the first cell in a table.
   
3. Double click on the appropriate data group tag in the Designer’s tag list. This will put a tag around the entire selected row or area.
   
   You will notice that the tag list now shows a list of the fields available for “Warnings” (or whichever data group you selected). Now select the location, by clicking inside the cell, where you want one of these fields to be inserted and double click it in the tag list.
4. When the document is generated the table will expand to list each record:
   
   Note: Data tags inside a data group can only be added to the template when surrounded by the data group tag.

 

“Number of rows” Tag

These data groups, which are designed to return more than record of data, are accompanied by a data tag which the software generates automatically:  Data Group Name: Number of rows.  This tag counts the number of records it’s going to return and the output is the sum, represented by a number only. This can be useful to head-up a table, so that the end users know how many records are listed on the generated document. It is also useful to use in conditions, ie: If Number of rows=0.