# Lists of series

This feature is available in Macrobond 1.24 and later.

# Overview

This feature is available in Macrobond 1.24 and later.

This is a great way to organize large sets of series. You create lists in documents in the tab called Lists in the Series list. Lists are great to work with in Cross sampling or Formula analysis. For example in the latter analysis you can use just one formula to calculate on each of the series from list.

# Creating list

The easiest way to add series to a list is to copy one or more series from the Data browser and paste it into the list.

## Single lists

Here are a few things you can do with a single list:

• You can use the name of a list in a formula expression and the calculation will be applied on all the series of the list. From the example in the screenshot, you can use the list called “cpicomp” in a formula expression like this:
cop(list:doc:cpicomp,1)

Not only is this easier to write and gives you better overview, but it also works nicely if you add more series to your list.

• You can change the order of the series in a list and it will be retained and will not break any calculations.
• In most analyses, like Rate of change, you can set parameters for the whole list.
• In most analyses, you can make exceptions on series level:

## Combining lists

Lists can also be combined. This works in formulas and in the new Cross sampling analysis.

Combining lists works if either the lists have a relationship (parent/child lists) or if they are organized by region using the type of list called “list by region”.

Here is an example where several “lists by region” have been created:

You can then use a formula expression like

list:doc:gdp/list:doc:pop

The calculation will be applied pairwise to the series in the lists and the result is a new list.

# Types of lists

There are two types of lists. You decide the type when you create the list by pressing either the “Add new by region list” or “Add new plain list”.

## List by region

All series in a list by region are associated with a region. The region is determined by the selection in the Region column and will be populated automatically when a series is added provided that it has an associated region. There can only be one series per region, and you cannot have two series where one is associated with a sub-region of the other. Thus, you cannot have a series for U.S. and one for California in the same list.

List by region can be used with Plain list in analyses.

The benefit of this type of list is:

• When combining lists, in a formula expression or in the Cross sampling analysis, the regions can be used to match the series in one list with series in another list. Lists by region can be combined even if they do not contain exactly the same set of regions.
• The descriptions of the items in the list will be the name of the region, which is known to be unique, and you get short and distinct labels.
• You get help avoiding mistakes of adding duplicates or the wrong series.

#### Child list

This type of list can be created under lists of regions.

## Plain list

A plain list is not restricted to have just one series per region. You can have any mix of series.

Plain lists can be used with list by region in analyses.

#### Child list

If you want to combine two plain lists - they must belong to the same family. You create a family of lists by adding child lists. A child list will have a corresponding set of series as the parent and in the same order.

The parent list and its children form a family and can be combined in formulas and in the Cross sampling analysis. The two series in the screenshot above can be used in an expression like

join(list:doc:index, list:doc:forecast)