A blank is a value that is missing from the data. AG Studio handles blanks the same way for every data type, and this page describes how they display, sort, group, filter and aggregate.
The behaviour on this page is the default. Your developer can change some of it, such as the text shown for a blank value.
The example below shows each behaviour on this page over five orders that have blank values. Order 1 has a blank amount, true/false value and date, Order 3 has a blank region, and every amount in Team B is blank.
Display Copy Link
Where a Widget shows a blank value, the text it shows depends on the field's data type:
| Data Type | Blank Display |
|---|---|
| Text | (Blanks) |
| Number | N/A |
| Boolean | Empty |
| Date and Date Time | Empty |
Chart category labels, Selection Filter lists, and List and Button Filter Widgets show a blank value as (Blanks) for every data type.
Sorting Copy Link
A blank sorts as the smallest value, so an Ascending sort puts blanks first and a Descending sort puts them last. See Sorting.
Grouping Copy Link
When a field is used as a Group by, rows with a blank value form their own group. A chart labels the group (Blanks).
Filtering Copy Link
A Simple Filter condition treats a blank as having no value:
- Conditions that ask for a value to match, such as Equals, Contains and Between, exclude blanks.
- Conditions that ask for a value not to match keep blanks. These are Does not equal (Not on for dates) and Does not contain.
- Blank keeps only blanks, and Not blank removes them.
For example, Region Does not equal "North" keeps rows where Region is blank. To remove those rows as well, add a second condition, Not blank, joined with AND.
A Selection Filter lists (Blanks) at the top when the field has blank values. You can select or clear it like any other value.
When you click a (Blanks) category in a chart, Cross-Filtering restricts the other Widgets to rows where that field is blank.
Aggregation Copy Link
Aggregations treat blanks as follows:
- Sum, Average, Minimum and Maximum ignore blanks. The Average of 10, a blank and 20 is 15.
- If every value in a group is blank, Sum, Average, Minimum and Maximum return a blank, not 0. A number field shows this result as
N/A. - Count counts only the values that are not blank. If every value in a group is blank, Count also returns a blank, not 0.
- Count (Distinct) counts blank as one distinct value. The values North, South and a blank give a Count (Distinct) of 3.
- First and Last return the first or last value that is not blank.