Need a multi-level control break report displaying a cross-tab for each ...

Question

I need a multi-level control break report that displays a cross-tab report for each
detail and subtotal. The individual cross-tabs are no problem. There are two issues:
1) How to get many cross-tabs (thousands) to appear in one report.
2) How to provide cross-tabs in-line on the multi-level subtotal lines.
Here is a concrete example.
Suppose the data base contains this table:
road (
id_number number, -- this is an artificial PK
city varchar2,
county varchar2,
state varchar2,
length number,
owner varchar2, -- roads may be owned by cities, counties, states, and others
surface_type varchar2 -- the surface type may be gravel, asphalt, concrete, and others
The table is populated with several million records that include every
length of road in a US city.
It is OK to suppose that all the attributes in all the records are not null.
Without the PK, there would be millions of duplicates,
which should all contribute to the summed lengths.
The report I need is like a control break report with a detail line for each
city together with subtotals for each county and state and
a grand total for the US at the end.
However, each detail and total line needs to be a cross-tab report
summing the length over the city, county, state or US
(whichever is called for at that location)
for each combination of owner and surface_type.
so the report would have the following structure:
a city cross-tab for the first city in county 1/state 1
a city cross tab for the last city in county 1/state 1
a cross-tab for count 1
a city cross tab for the first city in county 2/state 1
a city cross tab for the last city in county 2/state 1
a cross tab for state 1
a cross-tab for the US
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
This problem comes up because my client's legacy system,
which is being replaced,
already has such a report (in COBOL).
Thanks!!!
Steve
PS, I know one ugly way to do it. Namely, make a variable for each
possible combination of owner and surface. Then code an ordinary control
break report. However, I am looking for something better.

Answer 1

Hi Jenna_Fire,
According to your description, you have a matrix contains total for each group on each level. Now your requirement is, when you click on any number (data field or total), it will go to the detail report which returns all the detail information of the people
within the group scope. For example, if you click on the total of Active users in United States, it will return the detail information of Active users in New York and Texas. Right?
In this scenario, we should set the parameter (@Country, @State, @City) allow multiple values in both main and detail report. And in Default Value (@Country, @State, @City), query out all distinct values. In the textbox which contains
those total values, when set use these parameters to run the report, we only need to pass the parameters of parent groups. For example, if we click on the total of Active users in New York, we only need to pass Country, State, Status to detail report, and
in the detail report, the City parameter will use all distinct values (Default Values) because we don't pass the City parameter. We have tested this case with sample data in our local environment. Here are steps and screenshots for your reference:
1. Create parameter Country, State, City and Status in both main report and detail report. Set both Available Value and Default Value get values from query (Create a dataset for each parameter, use "select distinct [column] from [table]" as query). Set allow
multiple values for parameter Country, State and City in both reports.
2. In corresponding textbox, pass appropriate parameters in go to report Action.
4. Filter data in detail report (in where clause or using filters).
5. Save and preview. It looks like below:
Reference:
Using Parameters to Connect to Other Reports
If you have any question, please feel free to ask.
Best Regards,
Simon Hou