Reports - meaning of isTotals()

Question

I'm working on some report customization and I can see report collections has different behavior on the base of isTotals() parameter.

• What is the meaning of isTotals() ?
• any relation with the backend report page ( is it a value that can be submitted )?

Answer 1

The reports usually have 2 sections.
Some lines per period or other fields that you can filter when you want to view a report, and one "totals" line.
This "totals" line is retrieved via a query also. The isTotals tells magento to modify the select of the collection if it is used for rendering the totals line.
See for example what isTotals does in Mage_Reports_Model_Resource_Report_Product_Viewed_Collection::_beforeLoad

        if ($this->isTotals()) {
            // calculate total
            $cloneSelect = clone $this->getSelect();
            $this->getSelect()->reset()->from($cloneSelect, $this->getAggregatedColumns());
        } else {
            // add sorting
            $this->getSelect()->order(array('period ASC', 'views_num DESC'));
        }