Grouping in ASP.Net MVC Grid Component

15 Feb 20247 minutes to read

The Grid has options to group records by dragging and dropping the column header to the group drop area. When grouping is applied, grid records are organized into a hierarchical structure to facilitate easier expansion and collapse of records.

To enable grouping in the grid, set the AllowGrouping as true. Grouping options can be configured through the GroupSettings.

CSHTML
Group.cs
@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.DataSource).Columns(col =>
{
   col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
   col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("150").Add();
   col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Format("yMd").Add();
   col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
   col.Field("ShipCountry").HeaderText("Ship Country").Width("120").Add();

}).AllowGrouping().Render()
public IActionResult Index()
{
    var Order = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
    ViewBag.DataSource = Order;
    return View();
}

NOTE

You can group and ungroup columns by using the groupColumn and ungroupColumn methods.

To disable grouping for a particular column, set AllowGrouping property of Column to false.

Initial group

To apply group at initial rendering, set the column field name in the Columns property of GroupSettings.

CSHTML
Initial-group.cs
@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.DataSource).Columns(col =>
{
  col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
  col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("150").Add();
  col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Format("yMd").Add();
  col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
  col.Field("ShipCountry").HeaderText("Ship Country").Width("120").Add();

}).AllowGrouping().GroupSettings(group => { group.Columns(new string[] { "CustomerID" }); }).Render()
public IActionResult Index()
{
    var Order = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
    ViewBag.DataSource = Order;
    return View();
}

Hide drop area

To avoid ungrouping or further grouping of a column after initial column grouping, define the ShowDropArea of GroupSettings as false.

CSHTML
Hide-drop-area.cs
@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.DataSource).Columns(col =>
{
    col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
    col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("150").Add();
    col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Format("yMd").Add();
    col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
    col.Field("ShipCountry").HeaderText("Ship Country").Width("120").Add();

}).AllowGrouping().GroupSettings(group => { group.ShowDropArea(false).Columns(new string[] { "Freight" }); }).Render()
public IActionResult Index()
{
    var Order = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
    ViewBag.DataSource = Order;
    return View();
}

Group with paging

On grouping columns with paging feature, the aggregated information and total items are displayed based on the current page. The grid does not consider aggregated information and total items from other pages. To get additional details (aggregated information and total items) from other pages, set the DisablePageWiseAggregates of GroupSettings to false.

NOTE

If remote data is bound to grid dataSource, two requests will be sent when performing grouping action; one for getting the grouped data and another for getting aggregate details and total items count.

Group by format

By default, a column will be grouped by the data or value present for the particular row. To group the numeric or datetime column based on the mentioned format, you have to enable the EnableGroupByFormat property of the corresponding grid columns.

CSHTML
Group-format.cs
@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.DataSource).Columns(col =>
{
   col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
   col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("150").Add();
   col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Format("yMd").EnableGroupByFormat(true).Add();
   col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).EnableGroupByFormat(true).Add();
   col.Field("ShipCountry").HeaderText("Ship Country").Width("120").Add();

}).AllowGrouping().GroupSettings(group => { group.ShowDropArea(false).Columns(new string[] { "OrderDate", "Freight" }); }).Render()
public IActionResult Index()
{
    var Order = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
    ViewBag.DataSource = Order;
    return View();
}

Grouping events

During the group action, the grid component triggers two events. The ActionBegin event triggers before the group action starts and the ActionComplete event triggers after the group action is completed. Using these events you can perform any action.

CSHTML
Grouping-events.cs
@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.dataSource).Columns(col =>
{
   col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
   col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("150").Add();
   col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Format("yMd").Add();
   col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
   col.Field("ShipCountry").HeaderText("Ship Country").Width("120").Add();

}).AllowPaging().AllowGrouping().ActionBegin("actionHandler").ActionComplete("actionHandler").Render()

<script>

    function actionHandler(args) {
        alert(args.requestType + ' ' + args.type); //Custom Action
    }

</script>
public IActionResult Index()
{
    var Order = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
    ViewBag.DataSource = Order;
    return View();
}

NOTE

The args.requestType is based on the current action name. For example, when grouping, the args.requestType value will be grouping.

Collapse by external button

You can collapse the selected group from an external button by invoking the expandCollapseRows method.

CSHTML
Collapse.cs
@Html.EJS().Button("collapse").Content("Collapse").IsPrimary(true).Render()

@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.DataSource).Columns(col =>
{
  col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
  col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("150").Add();
  col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Format("yMd").Add();
  col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
  col.Field("ShipCountry").HeaderText("Ship Country").Width("120").Add();

}).AllowGrouping().GroupSettings(group => { group.Columns(new string[] { "Freight" }).ShowDropArea(false); }).Render()

<script>
    document.getElementById('collapse').addEventListener('click', () => {
        var grid = document.getElementById('Grid').ej2_instances[0];
        if (grid.getSelectedRowIndexes().length) {
            var currentTr = grid.getRows()[grid.getSelectedRowIndexes()[0]];
            while (currentTr.classList && currentTr.classList.length) {
                currentTr = currentTr.previousSibling;
            }
            let collapseElement = currentTr.querySelector('.e-recordplusexpand');
            grid.groupModule.expandCollapseRows(collapseElement); //Pass the collapse row element.
        }
    });
</script>
public IActionResult Index()
{
    var Order = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
    ViewBag.DataSource = Order;
    return View();
}

Sort grouped columns in descending order during initial grouping

By default, grouped columns are sorted in ascending order. To sort grouped columns in descending order during initial grouping, you can set the field and direction in the Columns property of SortSettings.

The CustomerID column will be sorted in descending order when the grid is initially grouped, as shown in the following example.

CSHTML
Sort.cs
@{
    List<object> cols = new List<object>();
    cols.Add(new { field = "CustomerID", direction = "Descending" });
}

@Html.EJS().Grid("Grid").DataSource((IEnumerable<object>)ViewBag.DataSource).Columns(col =>
{
   col.Field("OrderID").HeaderText("Order ID").Width("120").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
   col.Field("CustomerID").HeaderText("Customer Name").Width("150").Add();
   col.Field("OrderDate").HeaderText("Order Date").Width("130").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Format("yMd").Add();
   col.Field("Freight").HeaderText("Freight").Width("120").Format("C2").TextAlign(Syncfusion.EJ2.Grids.TextAlign.Right).Add();
   col.Field("ShipCountry").HeaderText("Ship Country").Width("120").Add();
}).AllowGrouping().AllowSorting().SortSettings(sort => sort.Columns(cols)).GroupSettings(group => { group.Columns(new string[] { "CustomerID" }); }).Render()
public IActionResult Index()
{
    var Order = OrderDetails.GetAllRecords();
    ViewBag.DataSource = Order;
    return View();
}

Limitations

Grouping is not compatible with the following features:
1. Autofill