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Working With Hierarchies

You may have fields in your data that are represented as hierarchies.

For example, in the sample Retail Banking dataset, the Area field contains a hierarchy of several levels, with states at the top level, down to postal codes at the lowest level:

The field list showing the Area field at the State, Suburb and Postcode levels

Using Select All At Level with Hierarchies

You can use the Select all at level option with hierarchies to quickly select all values at a particular level inside a hierarchical field.

The following examples demonstrate selections for each level of the hierarchy subsumed under the Area field. (Note the way the number of items selected from the schema tree and the consequent cell count in the table is reduced as postal codes are selected from further down the hierarchy in each successive example.)

  • Use the Select All at Level option from the top level of a hierarchy (in this example, from the "Area" field) to select all postal codes in all branches beneath it within the hierarchy.
  • Click Add to Row.
  • All the postcodes are added.

Selecting the Postal Codes option from the Select all at level drop-down menu on the Area field

Clicking the Add to Row button to add the 2451 items selected to the table

Postcodes are added as rows to a table with a cell count of 2452 cells

  • Use the option from one of the states to select all the postal codes under that state only.
  • Click Add to Row.
  • All the postcodes in that state are added.

Selecting the Postal Codes option from the Select all at level drop-down menu on the New South Wales field

Clicking the Add to Row button to add the 601 items selected to the table

Postcodes are added as rows to a table with a cell count of 601 cells

  • Use the option from one of the state sub-divisions to select all the postal codes from all the branches under that sub-division only.
  • Click Add to Row.
  • All the postcodes in that state sub-division are added.

Selecting the Postal Codes option from the Select all at level drop-down menu on the Sydney field

Clicking the Add to Row button to add the 252 items selected to the table

Postcodes are added as rows to a table with a cell count of 253 cells

  • Use the option from one of the suburbs to select just the postal codes under that suburb.
  • Click Add to Row.
  • Al the postcodes in that suburb are added.

Selecting the Postal Codes option from the Select all at level drop-down menu on the Inner Sydney field

Clicking the Add to Row button to add the 28 items selected to the table

Postcodes are added as rows to a table with a cell count of 29 cells

When using the Select all at level drop-down, you are recommended to always use the Add to Row, Column or Wafer buttons located above the schema tree to add the selected items to the table. Attempting to drag and drop may result in unintended results (such as both the children and its parent item being added to the table together).

Navigating the Hierarchy within a Table

When your table includes a hierarchical field, you can also navigate the hierarchy within the table itself.

Click any of the underlined field items to drill down through the hierarchy. For example:

Clicking the name of a State withinin a hierarchical field in a table to navigate down through the hierarchy

Clicking the name of a State Sub-Divison within a hierarchical field in a table to navigate down through the hierarchy

Clicking the name of a State Suburb on a hierarchical field in a table to navigate down through the hierarchy

Postal codes at the bottom of a hierachical field in a table

Click << next to the row or column heading to navigate up the hierarchy. For example:

Clicking the back arrow in a table to navigate back up the levels of a hierarchical field

Clicking the back arrow in a table to navigate back up the levels of a hierarchical field

Clicking the back arrow in a table to navigate back up the levels of a hierarchical field

A table containing States organised as rows, which is the top level of a hierarchical field

Using Items from Different Levels of a Hierarchy in the Table

By default, SuperWEB2 allows you to add items from different levels in a hierarchy to a table at the same time.

For example, with the Retail Banking Area field, you can add a mix of cities and states to the table:

A table containing a mix of items from different hierarchical levels of the Area field (Melbourne, Sydney, ACT, South Australia, Western Australia and Brisbane)

SuperWEB2 administrators can choose to disable this feature, so you may be prevented from mixing levels of a hierarchy in your table. For full details on disabling this feature, see the rules engine documentation .

Add Items in Selection Order or Hierarchical Order

By default, when you select some items in the field list and click one of the Add to buttons, SuperWEB2 will add those items in the order you selected them.

For example, if you select Sydney, then New South Wales, then Victoria, and then click Row, SuperWEB2 will add them in that order:

The field list with three items selected, and a mouse pointer hovering over the Add to Row button

A table containing the three items selected in the previous image in the rows

Alternatively, use the Add in hierarchical order option. You can select this option by using the drop-down arrow next to the button.

A table containing the three items selected in the previous image in the rows

When you select some items and click Add in hierarchical order, then those items will be added according to their relative positions in the hierarchy, regardless of the order they were selected.

For example, for the Area field in the Retail Banking sample dataset:

If you select... (in any order)The table will be:
  • New South Wales
  • Victoria
  • Sydney
  • Melbourne
  • 2000
  • 3000

The State column containing New South Wales, Sydney, 2000, Victoria, Melbourne, 3000 and Total, in that order

This feature uses the following rules when determining the sort order:

  • Only levels in the hierarchy that are included in the selection are considered when sorting.
  • If you select items from multiple fields or summation options then they will be added in the order those fields appear in the list.
  • Custom data items (even those from the same underlying field as items in a selection) will always be placed at the start.
  • Summation options are sorted by weight and then statistical function.
  • User defined fields are sorted as their own separate field.
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