Grouping Columns in Oracle APEX Interactive Grid

Groups are used to associate columns together in the grid and Single Row View. Groups are added by expanding the Attributes node within the Rendering tree, and right-clicking on Column Groups. Let’s try this feature by executing the following steps:

1.   Create a new page by clicking the Create Page button. Select the Report option in the first wizard screen, followed by the Interactive Grid option on the next screen.

2.    Set Page Number to 100, Page Name to Column Groups, Page Mode to Normal, Breadcrumb to Breadcrumb, Parent Entry to No Parent Entry, Entry Name to Column Groups, and click Next.

3.  Set Navigation Preference to Do not associate this page with a navigation menu entry, because this page is not associated with our sales application. Click Next.

4.     On the Report Source screen, set Editing Enabled to No, set Source Type to SQL Query, and enter the following SQL Statement in Enter a SQL SELECT Statement text area. Read this post to add the table used in the following query.

SELECT empno,ename,job,mgr,hiredate,sal,comm,deptno,onleave,notes,
flex4 as tags

FROM EBA_DEMO_IG_EMP

5.      Click the Create button to finish the page creation process.

6.  In the Page Designer, under the Column Groups region (in the Rendering tree), right-click the Attributes folder, and select Create Column Group from the context menu. In the Properties pane, set the Heading attribute for this new group to Identity.

7.   Repeat step 6  to create two more groups. Enter Compensation and Notes for their headings.

8.   Under the Columns Group region, expand the Columns folder. Click the EMPNO column and set its Type to Hidden.

9.      Set the appropriate column headings, as shown in Figure 5-5.

10. Use the following table to associate each column with a group defined in steps 6 & 7. To establish this association, click any column (ENAME, for example), scroll down to the Layout section, and set the Group property as follows:

Column	Group Property
ENAME	Identity
JOB	Identity
MGR	Identity
HIREDATE	Identity
SAL	Compensation
COMM	Compensation
DEPTNO	Identity
ONLEAVE	Notes
NOTES	Notes

11. Save your work and run the page. Column group headings can be used to reorder columns just like column headings. Play around with column reordering (using drag and drop) to see how the group headings are split and joined.

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