Step 8 - Grade Level Sorting

Tutorial 2 for Pro Version: Using Report Bands

Step 8 - Grade Level Sorting (*If Necessary)

The grade levels in your chart may be sorted incorrectly.

For example, you may notice that Grades "10, "11", or "12" are not in the right order. Or, you may notice that Grades "K", "TK", "PreK", etc. are showing last.

This is happening because the Grade Level field is a "String" (aka "text") field, and the chart is sorting the grade levels alphabetically.

There are two scenarios, which will call for different solutions:

Scenarios

1. Your data includes only numeric grade levels (i.e. Grades 1-12, but NOT Grades K, TK, etc.)

2. Your data includes non-numeric grade levels (i.e. Grades K, TK, etc.)

Scenario 1 - Numeric Grade Levels Only

If your dataset includes only numeric grade levels, you can simply tell Jaspersoft to treat your Grade Level field as if it were an Integer, and it will sort your grade levels correctly.

• Navigate to your Outline tab

• Select the Current Grade Level field under the "Fields" section in your outline.

• Go to the Properties tab

• Change the Class to java.lang.Integer

Preview your report. Your grade levels should now be sorting correctly.

WARNING: If, at any point, the dataset includes a grade level that is not numeric, the report will throw an error and will not run.

Only use this method if you are absolutely sure the dataset for this report will never include non-numeric grade levels.

Scenario 2 - Data Contains Non-numeric Grade Levels

If your dataset includes non-numeric grade levels, you'll need to create a variable that transforms your grade levels into pure numeric values.

Create "Grade Level Numeric" Variable

• Navigate to your Outline tab

• Right-click on the Variables section in your outline

• Select Create Variable

• Select the newly created Variable_1 variable in the outline

• Rename the variable to: "Grade Level Numeric"

• Set the Value Class Name to java.lang.Integer

• Click the pencil icon to the right of the expression field to bring up the expression editor.

Translate Grade Levels to Numeric Values

TIP: Know your data! To use the BI Tool effectively, you need to know your data. Look at the data in your custom report. Grade Levels are unique to your instance of Illuminate. Do you have "Pre-K"? "TK"? etc. You may need to adjust the expression below to account for the grade levels you have in your Illuminate site.

In the expression editor,

• Write the following Expression:

  • You may need to customize the expression to account for the unique grade levels that you have in your Illuminate site.

$F{Current Grade Level}.equals("TK")
    ? -1
:$F{Current Grade Level}.equals("K")
    ? 0
:INTEGER_VALUE($F{Current Grade Level})

What is this expression doing?

If the current grade level is "TK", then output -1. If the current grade level is "K", then output 0. Otherwise, output the integer value of the current grade level.

Refer to Basics of Writing Expressions in JSS for detailed documentation on writing expressions in JSS.

Create a Sort Field

Now, we need to sort our data using this "Grade Level Numeric" variable that we just created.

• Navigate to the Outline tab

• Right-click on Sort Fields

• Select Create Sort Field

• Select Grade Level Numeric

• Click Finish

Remove Sorting (a.k.a "Order") Default from Chart

Finally, we need to remove the sorting from the chart. By default, HTML5 Charts will re-sort your data, based on your Category Level. In this case however, we are pre-sorting the data using the "Grade Level Numeric" variable, so we need to tell the chart not to re-sort our data.

Double-click on the chart

• Click Chart Data > Configuration

• Double-click on the "Grade Level" category level (or click Modify)

• Change the Order field from "Ascending" to "None"

• Click Finish

Preview your report. The grade levels should now be sorting correctly.

Did you know Illuminate can build your BI Tool for you? Click here to learn about Illuminate's Report Building Service.