A Summary Report adds more functionality to a report and allows users to aggregate data, create detailed drill down and grouped reports. To create a Summary report, click on the “Summary” button in the “Choose Report Type” section.
You can summarize or aggregate data for Summary Report or any Chart report as well.
After choosing a visualization option that allows summarizing data, the next step as usual is to select the fields that will be in the report.
Depending on how your database is set up, different information will be stored in different tables. Users can choose fields from more than one section to populate their report. The fields selected for the report will be summarized in the “Selected data for the Report” section as shown below. The table shows the fields that were chosen, as well as the tables from which the fields were chosen.
For the Summary report type, the “Selected data for the Report” section allows users to further customize report with more options on the right side.
Understanding Aggregation Options in Dotnet Report
Aggregation options control how data is summarized, grouped, or calculated when building reports in Dotnet Report. The available options depend on the field type (numeric, date, text, etc.) and whether the field comes from a joined table.
Below is a quick explanation of each aggregation option you may see in the report designer.
| Aggregation Option | Applicable Data Types | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Group | Text, Numeric, Date, Boolean | Groups rows by the field value and displays one row per unique value |
| Group by Day | Date, DateTime | Groups records by calendar day |
| Group by Month | Date, DateTime | Groups records by month (e.g., January) |
| Group by Year | Date, DateTime | Groups records by year |
| Group by Month/Year | Date, DateTime | Groups records by month and year (e.g., Jan/2025) |
| Count | All data types | Counts the total number of records |
| Count Distinct | All data types | Counts unique values only |
| % over Count | All data types | Shows each group as a percentage of the total record count |
| Sum | Numeric, Boolean | Adds all values in the group (Boolean counts true as 1) |
| % over Sum | Numeric | Shows each value as a percentage of the total sum |
| Average | Numeric | Calculates the average value |
| Max | Numeric, Date | Returns the highest value in the group |
| Min | Numeric, Date | Returns the lowest value in the group |
| Pivot | Text, Date, Numeric | Converts distinct field values into columns instead of rows |
| Outer Group | String | Groups data at the outer (parent) level to display report in a parent/child format |
| Only in Detail | All data types | Displays the field only at the detail row level and excludes it from summary calculations |
| Group in Detail | All data types | Groups data at the detail level while keeping overall summary calculations |
| CSV | Text only | Outputs raw field values primarily for CSV export |
| Do Not Display | All data types | Uses the field for grouping or filtering but hides it from the report output |
All these options allow end-users to create highly customized reports to meet their needs.
Running a Summary Report
After clicking “Save & Run Report”, the Summary Report will be displayed as shown below. Based on how the grouping options are set in the “Selected Data for Report” section, the report can be displayed in many configurations. In the example below, a summary sales report is generated, with the product name, average unit price and quantity sold in the main report, with drill-down reports for order dates and customer names.
