How do you merge vertically-adjacent tablix cells in MS Visual Studio 2010?

Question

Selecting horizontally-adjacent tablix cells and right-clicking on it gives you a merge option:

But doing the same on vertically-adjacent tablix cells doesn't:

Answer 1

As already noted by Bushell, this behaviour is because you are trying to combine a cell that is within a group, and one which is not in a group.

Assuming you want the behaviour where the cell in Column 1 spans two rows, and the cells in column2 span 1 row each then this can be achieved by using a tablix as your starting structure, and altering it to fit as follows

1. Create a tablix, and then select the Row header and right click, choosing Add Group -> Parent Group. Group by what you want each merged cell to show.

2. Add your detail to each row in the group

The design will then look like this

And when run, like this - note the merged cells for the Month name

This is the only way to merge cells vertically, when they are bound in the same group as indicated by the circled ( in the Row headers.

Hopefully this explains the limitation of using SSRS to merge cells, and how to work around them. Without an indication of your final desired layout it is difficult to advise further.

Answer 2

It is because you are trying to merge a cell that is part of a group, and a cell that is not part of the same group.

You can only merge cells vertically that are part of the same group.