Adding Groups or Group Types
About this task
Why add groups?
Groups allow you to define repeated occurrences of sets of records, for example the groups that are used with EDI messages to define loops. Groups are only required when the data does not provide any additional delimiters or structure to clearly mark the beginning and end of repetitions that contain more than one record. The following example data shows a repeating set of records that can be defined using groups:

Groups can contain any number of records or other groups. Groups cannot contain fields. For an example of using a group to model the preceding input Flat File data, see Group Example.
You create groups in the Schema Layout tab. Groups that are not based on a group type are displayed in the Schema Layout tab using the following icon:
Groups that are based on a group type are displayed in the Schema Layout tab using the following icon:
Why Add Group Types?
Group types allow you to define a set of repeating records or groups once and then use it many times within a Flat File Schema. Both the occurrence properties and the content you define in a group type are inherited by any group based on that type.
- Groups based on a group type cannot contain any other content besides the nodes inherited from the group type
- The content inherited from the group type is not visible in the Schema Layout tab.
- Group types can also be based on other group types.
- Group types are not global to the project and can only be reused in the current Flat File Schema.
Create group types in the Type Library tab. Group types that are not based on a group type are displayed in the Type Library tab using the following icon:
Group types that are based on a group type are displayed in the Type Library tab using the following icon:
Adding Groups or Group Types
The procedure for adding groups and group types is identical except for the tab you initially select as described in the following procedure. To add a group or group type: