Conditional Block or Conditional Style?

[twister]

Hello Gurus,
I have 50 account lines (rows) in a crosstab. Depending on the input, I need to show/hide certain account lines.

User can make 4 different selections. I know conditional styling works and I can conditionally hide/show each account line based on selection. However I am not sure whether conditional block is more efficient (with 4 different crosstabs based on selection) in which I no need to do conditional style for each account line.

Which is more efficient?
Conditional Block with 4 different layouts or Conditional Style with conditions on each row in a crosstab?

Thanks.

[intrepid402]

I think render variable is more efficient than conditional block. In render variable, your query will not be executed unless it matches the condition, this is not the case with conditional block.

[twister]

Thanks mate. I agree, render variable works better than conditional block. So, render variable with 4 different layouts is more efficient than the conditional styling for 50 rows in a crosstab?

The only issue could be maintenance of 4 different layouts if we choose the render variable route?

[intrepid402]

Yes, that would be correct, IMO. Render variable with 4 different crosstabs may be more efficient than conditional styling for 50 rows.

When you mean issue of maintenance, wouldn't that same apply for conditional styling but you have to maintain that for 50 rows instead of 4 when you go with render variable?

[twister]

Yes..I agree.

The render variable route limits the local processing to a huge extent.
However,too many objects make the report layout looks too busy in the report studio. That was my only concern with render variable route. Since there is no better option available, will use render variable route.

Many Thanks for your time and sharing your opinion.

[cognos810]

Hello Twister,
I beg to differ here. Apologies upfront. If you use Conditional Blocks and Block Variables to Show/Hide multiple objects, only the query for the block that is being rendered will be run. If you use multiple blocks(plain blocks) and then apply box type none to conditionally hide/show objects, then the queries for all objects run and are only hidden from the display.
By the way, do not know your exact requirement in detail, but can you not use filters in the query to include/exclude accounts ?

-Cognos810