This was derived from an actual discussion on the ACL User Forum:

 

A user had been struggling with a GROUP command that utilized multiple conditions.  The sample data looked like:

N 11             C 5             C 25                       C 100      N 7

EncntrID     PlanName     NameFullFormatted     ALIAS     AliasTypeCd
11801010     Plan1          ALPHA, BRAVO           611899     1079
11801010     Plan1          ALPHA, BRAVO           8650505     1077
11801010     Plan2          ALPHA, BRAVO           611899     1079
11801010     Plan2          ALPHA, BRAVO           8650505     1077
11801010     Plan3          ALPHA, BRAVO           611899     1079
11801010     Plan3          ALPHA, BRAVO           8650505     1077
11878300     Plan4          CHARLIE, DELTA         2055504     1079
11878300     Plan4          CHARLIE, DELTA         8672685     1077
11878300     Plan5          CHARLIE, DELTA         2055504     1079
11878300     Plan5          CHARLIE, DELTA         8672685     1079

Here's his script:

finNbr = blanks(10)
mrn = blanks(10)
eid = 0
pn = blanks(5)
GROUP IF eid=encntrID AND pn=planName
       finNbr=substring(alltrim(alias)+blanks(10),1,10) IF encntrAliasTypeCd=1077
       mrn=substring(alltrim(alias)+blanks(10),1,10) IF encntrAliasTypeCd=1079
    ELSE
       EXTRACT finNbr mrn eid AS "encntrID" nameFullFormatted AS "Name" pn as "PlanName" IF recno()<>1 TO extract1 LOCAL EOF
       eid = encntrID
       pn = planName
       finNbr=blanks(10)
       mrn=blanks(10)
       finNbr=substring(alltrim(alias)+blanks(10),1,10) IF encntrAliasTypeCd=1077

       mrn=substring(alltrim(alias)+blanks(10),1,10) IF encntrAliasTypeCd=1079
END

 

 

His end results were to look like this:

finNbr         mrn         encntr_id      name                 planName
8650505     611899     11801010     ALPHA, BRAVO     Plan1
8650505     611899     11801010     ALPHA, BRAVO     Plan2
8650505     611899     11801010     ALPHA, BRAVO     Plan3
8672685     2055504   11878300     CHARLIE, DELTA   Plan4
8672685     2055504   11878300     CHARLIE, DELTA   Plan5

Instead the user got this:

finNbr         mrn         encntr_id      name                 planName

8650505     611899     11801010     ALPHA, BRAVO     Plan1
8650505     611899     11801010     ALPHA, BRAVO     Plan2
8650505     611899     11801010     CHARLIE, DELTA   Plan3
8672685     2055504   11878300     CHARLIE, DELTA   Plan4
8672685     2055504   11878300     ALPHA, BRAVO     Plan5

 

 

One way to test GROUPS if they aren't behaving the way you expect them to is to manually perform the test.  In other words, a GROUP will perform a number of commands on every record. To simulate this, one would need to identify the record and perform the actions of the code on individual lines.

 

First, one can use the "LOCATE RECORD" command to identify a record---if you know where the code is having problems, you might select the record just before the error.  

 

Second, if the code uses a condition such as IF or WHILE, you can test the results by using "DISPLAY IF <Condition>."  If the result is "True", then you would perform the actions in that section.  If it is "False", you would skip to the next "ELSE" option.

 

Third, if you are performing an EXTRACT, make sure that you modify the EXTRACT command to include the condition "IF RECNO() = [the record being analyzed] and the option "APPEND."

 

Fourth, when you finish running through the GROUP on a given record, perform a "DISPLAY VAR"   DISPLAY VAR will display all the variables in the system.  Use that to compare what the values in the system match the values you expected them to be.

 

Fifth, after performing it on on record, redo the entire GROUP command after advancing to the next record via the LOCATE RECORD command.

 

At each point, check the results to see if they are what you expected them to be.  If they are not, figure out what you need/want.