Generic table grouper

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for column grouping of a table having a plurality of columns, the request received from an application;

executing a column grouping algorithm by a column grouping component in response to the request, the column grouping algorithm defining a column grouping order when applied causes a table rearrangement in which all identical entries within at least a first selected column are adjacent to each other and all identical entries in a second column that are in a row also having identical entries in the first column are adjacent to each other, wherein the column grouping component is an application independent and back end independent component such that an interface between the application and the column grouping component is independent of the application accessing the interface and the use of the column grouping component by the application is transparent to a user;

traversing column data of the table to locate adjacent identical entries;

merging adjacent identical entries; and

returning the table rearrangement to the application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving column data as a parameter of the column grouping component.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

grouping each column of the table by the column grouping component such that the column grouping defines an arrangement in which identical column entries within each column are arranged to be adjacent to each other subject to the column grouping order.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a request to ungroup all columns by the column grouping component; and

ungrouping each column of the table by the column grouping component.

5. A method comprising:

providing an interface to manage application settings, the application settings including a default configuration of column grouping wherein column grouping defines a hierarchy in which common values within one or more columns are group together on a per column basis such that all identical entries within at least a first selected column are adjacent to each other and all identical entries in a second column that are in a row also having identical entries in the first column are adjacent to each other;

receiving a customization for the default configuration of column groupings through the interface the customization defining that adjacent identical entries are merged together when displayed; and

storing the customization in a file to be accessed by an application upon creation or opening of a table to implement the customization for default configuration of a column.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the interface is a portal interface.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

storing a customization for column grouping for a specific table or column of a table.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

storing the customization in a format accessible to an application independent and back end independent column grouping component.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the customization is user specific data.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the customization is system wide as specified by an administrator.

11. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

storing a group all setting in the customization file.

12. The method of claim 6 , wherein the portal is a web based portal.

13. A non-transitory machine readable medium, having instructions stored therein, which when executed cause the machine to perform a set of operations, comprising:

receiving call from an application, the application independent from a call recipient, the call including table data;

executing a column grouping algorithm on at least one column of the table data by a column grouping component in response to the call, the column grouping algorithm defining a column grouping order when applied causes a table rearrangement in which all identical entries within at least a first selected column are adjacent to each other and all identical entries in a second column that are in a row also having identical entries in the first column are adjacent to each other, the column grouping component is an application independent and back end independent component;

traversing column data of the table to locate adjacent identical entries;

merging adjacent identical entries; and

returning the table data as rearranged to the application transparently to a user of the application.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , having further instructions stored therein, which when executed cause the machine to perform a further set operations comprising:

parsing column data from the table data by the column grouping component.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , having further instructions stored therein, which when executed cause the machine to perform a further set operations comprising:

receiving a request to group all columns in the table data by the column grouping component; and

grouping each column of the table data by the column grouping component, such that identical column entries within each column are arranged to be adjacent to each other subject to the column grouping order.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , having further instructions stored therein, which when executed cause the machine to perform a further set operations comprising:

receiving a request to ungroup all columns in the table data by the column grouping component; and

ungrouping each column of the table data by the column grouping component.