As the next generation of roll-ups, Active Displays do just about everything that standard (Spreadsheet, Tree View, and My) roll-ups do, and more. Of course, they allow users to execute actions against the list items displayed. They also offer a number of enhancements that are not available in standard roll-ups, including:
• Ability to select and rearrange the columns to be included in the Active Display without using the Roll-Up Wizard
• Ability to calculate totals and other numeric functions on any column in the Active Display, without using a custom display
• Support for Central Configuration
• Ability to group by site, list, and/or folder
• Multi-level dynamic grouping
• Increased availability of date functions for static grouping
• Ability to sort numeric columns
• Improved handling of long column values
• Display of hyperlinked pictures as pictures rather than links
• Ability to define the Web Part Name and Description displayed for the Active Display without accessing the web part properties tool pane
There are some other differences between Active Displays and standard roll-ups. Specifically, Active Displays do not support the following:
• Manual filter definition (can use the Filter Builder only)
• Connections to the Workplace View Advanced web part
• The Show URLs as Text, Not Links property
If you need to take advantage of any of these capabilities, you should use one of the standard roll-up types, instead.