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Performing on-report analysis with
Web Intelligence
BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.0
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Copyright
© 2008 Business Objects. All rights reserved. Business Objects owns the following
U.S. patents, which may cover products that are offered and licensed by Business
Objects: 5,555,403; 5,857,205; 6,289,352; 6,247,008; 6,490,593; 6,578,027;
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7,222,130; 7,181,440 and 7,181,435. Business Objects and the Business Objects
logo, BusinessObjects, Business Objects Crystal Vision, Business Process On
Demand, BusinessQuery, Crystal Analysis, Crystal Applications, Crystal Decisions,
Crystal Enterprise, Crystal Insider, Crystal Reports, Desktop Intelligence, Inxight,
the Inxight Logo, LinguistX, Star Tree, Table Lens, ThingFinder, Timewall, Let
there be light, Metify, NSite, Rapid Marts, RapidMarts, the Spectrum Design, Web
Intelligence, Workmail and Xcelsius are trademarks or registered trademarks in
the United States and/or other countries of Business Objects and/or affiliated
companies. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective
owners.
Third-party
Contributors
Business Objects products in this release may contain redistributions of software
licensed from third-party contributors. Some of these individual components may
also be available under alternative licenses. A partial listing of third-party
contributors that have requested or permitted acknowledgments, as well as required
notices, can be found at: http://www.businessobjects.com/thirdparty
2008-02-06
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Contents
About Web Intelligence 13Chapter 1
How Web Intelligence performs business intelligence over the web.........14
How Web Intelligence performs business intelligence offline....................14
Interacting with Web Intelligence reports...................................................14
Creating and editing Web Intelligence documents....................................16
Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView 19Chapter 2
To log in to InfoView...................................................................................20
To log out of InfoView................................................................................21
Web Intelligence InfoView options.............................................................21
Viewing and printing Web Intelligence reports.....................................15
Drilling on Web Intelligence reports......................................................15
Performing on-report analysis..............................................................15
Web Intelligence Query - HTML...........................................................16
Web Intelligence Java Report Panel....................................................17
Web Intelligence Rich Client................................................................17
Web Intelligence HTML Report Panel..................................................17
Web Intelligence document creation and viewing options...................21
To set Web Intelligence drill options.....................................................24
Web Intelligence locale options............................................................26
To switch between viewing modes 29Chapter 3
Draft mode.................................................................................................30
Page mode................................................................................................30
PDF mode..................................................................................................30
Quick Display mode...................................................................................31
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To change Quick Display mode settings in Web Intelligence...............31
To select Enhanced Viewing mode 33Chapter 4
Working with reports 35Chapter 5
Organizing reports.....................................................................................36
To insert a new report in Web Intelligence...........................................36
To duplicate a report in Web Intelligence.............................................36
To move a report in Web Intelligence...................................................36
To delete a report in Web Intelligence..................................................37
To rename a report in Web Intelligence................................................37
Defining the page layout of reports............................................................37
To set report margins in Web Intelligence............................................37
To set the page orientation of reports in Web Intelligence...................37
To select the report paper size in Web Intelligence..............................38
To include report page headers and footers in Web Intelliegence.......38
To include report page numbers in Web Intelliegence.........................38
To add and format a report title in Web Intelligence.............................39
To include cells with predefined or custom formulas in reports in Web
Intelligence...........................................................................................40
Including images in reports........................................................................40
To select an image to display on a report background in Web
Intelligence...........................................................................................40
To insert an image in a free-standing cell in a report in Web
Intelligence...........................................................................................41
Merging dimensions from multiple data providers 43Chapter 6
Merged dimensions defined......................................................................44
When to merge dimensions.......................................................................44
Choosing which dimensions to merge.......................................................44
Creating, editing and deleting merged dimensions...................................45
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To merge dimensions in Web Intelligence............................................45
To merge dimensions automatically in Web Intelligence......................45
To edit a merged dimension in Web Intelligence..................................46
To delete a merged dimension in Web Intelligence..............................46
Understanding the effects of merged dimensions.....................................46
Synchronizing data providers with different aggregation levels...........47
Detail objects and merged dimensions................................................48
Filtering merged dimensions................................................................50
Drilling on merged dimensions.............................................................52
Filtering reports 53Chapter 7
Report filters defined..................................................................................54
Query filters and report filters compared...................................................54
Report filter operators................................................................................55
Equal To operator.................................................................................55
Not Equal To operator..........................................................................55
Different From operator........................................................................55
Greater Than operator..........................................................................55
Greater Than Or Equal To operator......................................................55
Less Than operator..............................................................................56
Less Than Or Equal To operator..........................................................56
Between operator.................................................................................56
Not Between operator..........................................................................56
In List operator.....................................................................................57
Not In List operator...............................................................................57
Is Null operator.....................................................................................57
Is Not Null operator..............................................................................57
Creating, editing and deleting report filters................................................58
To create a report filter in Web Intelligence..........................................58
To view the report filters in a Web Intelligence report...........................58
To edit a report filter in a Web Intelligence report.................................58
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To edit one dimension in a report filter in Web Intelligence..................59
To delete a report filter in Web Intelligence..........................................59
Combining and nesting report filters..........................................................59
The AND and OR operators.................................................................59
To combine report filters in Web Intelligence........................................60
To nest report filters in Web Intelligence..............................................61
To change the order of nested report filters in Web Intelligence..........61
Drilling on report data 63Chapter 8
What is drill?..............................................................................................64
Scope of analysis.................................................................................65
Drill paths and hierarchies....................................................................67
To start and end drill mode in Web Intelligence.........................................68
Retrieving more levels of data to the report...............................................68
To drill out of the scope of analysis......................................................68
To choose a drill path when more than one is available............................69
Drilling on dimensions in tables and sections............................................70
Drilling down.........................................................................................70
Drilling up.............................................................................................72
Drilling by..............................................................................................73
Drilling on measures in tables and sections..............................................75
To drill down on a measure value.........................................................75
To drill up on a measure value.............................................................76
Synchronizing drill across multiple tables and charts................................76
Drilling on charts........................................................................................76
Drilling on dimensions via chart axes...................................................77
Drilling on measures in charts..............................................................78
Drilling on axis legends........................................................................80
Using filters when you drill.........................................................................81
To change a filter value on the Drill toolbar..........................................81
To add or remove a drill filter ...............................................................81
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Saving reports with drill filters....................................................................82
Refreshing data in a drilled report with prompts........................................82
Drilling with query drill................................................................................83
Query drill defined................................................................................83
Drilling down with query drill.................................................................84
Drilling up with query drill.....................................................................85
Query drill and drill snapshots..............................................................85
Query drill and other reports based on the same data provider...........85
Displaying information in tables 87Chapter 9
Tables in Web Intelligence.........................................................................88
Table types in Web Intelligence.................................................................88
Vertical table.........................................................................................88
Horizontal table....................................................................................89
Crosstab...............................................................................................89
Forms...................................................................................................90
Creating, editing and removing tables.......................................................91
To insert a table in Web Intelligence.....................................................91
To name a table in Web Intelligence....................................................92
To change the table type using Turn To in Web Intelligence................92
To change the table type using drag and drop in Web Intelligence......92
To move columns in a table in Web Intelligence..................................93
To remove a column from a table in Web Intelligence.........................93
To remove a row from a table in Web Intelligence...............................93
To add a column to a table in Web Intelligence....................................93
To add a row to a table in Web Intelligence..........................................93
To move columns in a crosstab in Web Intelligence............................94
To add objects to a table in Web Intelligence.......................................94
To clear table or cell contents in Web Intelligence...............................94
To remove a table in Web Intelligence.................................................94
Formatting tables and table cells...............................................................95
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To copy formatting using the Format Painter.......................................95
To set cell height and width in Web Intelligence...................................95
To format text in table cells in Web Intelligence...................................96
To align cell values in Web Intelligence................................................96
To merge cells in Web Intelligence.......................................................96
To format numbers and dates in Web Intelligence...............................96
To align a table or cell on a report page in Web Intelligence................97
To format table borders in Web Intelligence.........................................97
To set the cell background color in Web Intelligence...........................98
To insert an image in a table in Web Intelligence.................................98
To display a skin in a table in Web Intelligence....................................99
To layer tables and cells.......................................................................99
Determining how tables display data.......................................................100
Showing or hiding empty tables, rows or columns.............................100
Aggregating duplicate rows................................................................100
To avoid page breaks in tables in Web Intelligence...........................101
To view, activate and deactivate alerters in Web Intelligence............101
To filter data in a table........................................................................101
Using sections to group data 103Chapter 10
Grouping information with sections.........................................................104
Creating and removing sections and subsections...................................106
To create a section from a table cell in Web Intelligence...................106
To add a section based on object available in the document in Web
Intelligences.......................................................................................107
Creating subsections in Web Intelligence..........................................107
To include hyperlinks to sections in Web Intelligence........................107
To remove a section in Web Intelligence............................................108
Formatting sections.................................................................................108
To select a background color for a section in Web Intelligence.........108
To display an image on a section background in Web Intelligence.....109
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To display a skin on a section background in Web Intelligence.........110
To set the page layout for a section in Web Intelligence....................111
Displaying data in free-standing cells 113Chapter 11
Free-standing cells defined.....................................................................114
To insert a free-standing cell in Web Intelligence....................................114
To remove a free-standing cell in Web Intelligence.................................115
Displaying data in charts 117Chapter 12
Creating charts........................................................................................118
Chart types in Web Intelligence...............................................................118
Bar charts...........................................................................................118
Line charts..........................................................................................119
Area charts.........................................................................................119
Pie charts...........................................................................................120
Radar, polar and scatter charts..........................................................120
3D charts............................................................................................121
2D charts............................................................................................121
Adding, copying and removing charts.....................................................122
To insert a blank chart and allocate data to the axes.........................122
To duplicate a chart............................................................................123
To turn a table into a chart..................................................................123
To remove a chart from a report.........................................................123
To name a chart..................................................................................123
Positioning charts....................................................................................124
To position a chart on the report page................................................124
Changing the chart type...........................................................................124
To change the chart type using TurnTo..............................................124
To change the chart type using drag and drop...................................124
Formatting charts.....................................................................................125
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To select a 2D or 3D look for a chart..................................................125
To show, format or hide axis labels....................................................125
To show, format or hide the axis grid..................................................125
To select the data color......................................................................126
To show values on pie charts as percentages...................................126
To select the style and color of a chart border...................................126
To remove the border of a chart.........................................................126
To select the background color of a chart..........................................127
To show or hide chart walls and floors...............................................127
To insert and format a chart title.........................................................127
To set the page layout of charts.........................................................128
To show, hide, position and format chart legends..............................128
Displaying and formatting chart data..................................................129
Linking to other documents 133Chapter 13
Linking to other documents.....................................................................134
Cell text defined as a hyperlink..........................................................134
A hyperlink associated with a cell......................................................135
A link to another document in the CMS..............................................137
Working with hyperlinks...........................................................................142
To link to another document from a hyperlink....................................142
To edit a hyperlink..............................................................................142
To delete a hyperlink..........................................................................143
Formatting hyperlink colors................................................................143
URL Reporting Using openDocument ....................................................143
Structuring an openDocument URL ..................................................144
OpenDocument parameter overview ................................................147
Contextual report linking ....................................................................168
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Working with documents 173Chapter 14
Creating and deleting documents............................................................174
To create a Web Intelligence document from InfoView......................174
To delete a Web Intelligence document from InfoView......................174
Saving documents...................................................................................174
To save a new Web Intelligence document in InfoView.....................174
To save a Web Intelligence document as an Excel spreadsheet.......175
To save a Web Intelligence document as a PDF file..........................176
To save a Web Intelligence document as a CSV file in Web Intelligence
HTML..................................................................................................176
Printing Web Intelligence documents......................................................177
To print a Web Intelligence report.......................................................177
Web Intelligence document properties....................................................177
To view and set Web Intelligence document properties.....................179
Get More Help 181Appendix A
Index 185
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About Web Intelligence
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About Web Intelligence
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How Web Intelligence performs business intelligence over the web
How Web Intelligence performs business
intelligence over the web
Web Intelligence provides business users an easy to use interactive and
flexible user interface for building and analyzing reports on corporate data
over the web, on secured intranets and extranets. The Web Intelligence
software is installed by your administrator on a web server on your corporate
network.
To use Web Intelligence from your local computer, you log into the business
intelligence portal InfoView via your Internet browser. Then, depending on
your security profile, you can interact with the reports in corporate documents
or edit or build your own documents using a Web Intelligence report panel
or query panel.
How Web Intelligence performs business intelligence offline
Web Intelligence can be used offline as Web Intelligence Rich Client, a
standalone Microsoft Windows application, equivalent to the Java Report
Panel, that you can install on your computer. Web Intelligence Rich Client
lets you continue to work with Web Intelligence (WID) documents when you
are unable to connect to a CMS, when you want to perform calculations
locally rather than on the server, and when you want to work with Web
Intelligence documents without installing a CMS or application server.
Web Intelligence Rich Client can also be used when connected to a CMS.
Interacting with Web Intelligence reports
Depending on your security profile and on how Web Intelligence is deployed
across your organization, you can view, analyze, or enhance and modify the
data displayed on reports.
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About Web Intelligence
Interacting with Web Intelligence reports
Viewing and printing Web Intelligence reports
Once logged into the business intelligence portal InfoView, you can access
Web Intelligence documents and view reports. Onscreen navigation is made
easy with page-to-page navigation buttons and a document map that allows
you to jump from section to section or report to report.
The same document can provide the information adapted to each user due
to prompts that request each user, who opens the document, to specify the
data they want to return to the reports.
When you print reports, Web Intelligence automatically generates a copy of
reports in Portable Document Format (PDF) format for optimum print quality.
Drilling on Web Intelligence reports
Drilling on Web Intelligence reports enables you to analyze the detailed data
behind the displayed results. You can turn the report you are viewing into a
drillable report or drill on a duplicate of the original report to retain a version
of the results before your drill analysis.
1
Once you have found the information you need, you can save a snapshot
of the drilled report to share the results of your analysis with other Web
Intelligence users, or save the document in Excel or Portable Document
(PDF) format to print or email to other business contacts.
Performing on-report analysis
Viewing Web Intelligence reports in Interactive view format enables you to
enhance reports and fine-tune the data reports contain, to highlight the
information that most interests you on demand.
On-Report Analysis is designed for:
• users who need to build queries and then want to build reports
• report consumers who need to manipulate the reports created by others
With On-Report Analysis you can:
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About Web Intelligence
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Creating and editing Web Intelligence documents
• view document metadata to understand the data behind reports and see
how reports are structured and filtered
• filter and sort results
• add new tables and charts
• add formulas and create variables
• format and change the layout of charts and tables
• slice and dice results by adding other data to charts and tables
Note: On-report analysis of Web Intelligence reports in Interactive view
format is only available if your administrator has deployed Web Intelligence
in JSP mode.
Creating and editing Web Intelligence
documents
You can create or edit Web Intelligence documents using several tools:
•
Web Intelligence Query - HTML on page 16
•
Web Intelligence Java Report Panel on page 17
•
Web Intelligence Rich Client on page 17
•
Web Intelligence HTML Report Panel on page 17
Web Intelligence Query - HTML
Designed for users requiring a pure HTML environment to build queries,
Web Intelligence Query – HTML offers the ability to define the data content
of documents on multiple data sources. You can use Query – HTML to create
new documents from scratch or edit the queries in documents created using
any of the other Web Intelligence tools.
Used together with On-Report Analysis, Query – HTML provides a complete
solution for building queries and designing powerful reports in a pure HTML
environment. Once you have run the queries to generate a standard report,
you can leverage Web Intelligence On-Report Analysis features to format
multiple reports, add formulas, and create variables.
Note: Web Intelligence Query – HTML and On-Report Analysis in Interactive
view format are only available, if your administrator has deployed Web
Intelligence in JSP mode.
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Creating and editing Web Intelligence documents
Web Intelligence Java Report Panel
The Java Report Panel is designed for users who need more flexibility with
designing report layout and defining formulas and variables. A graphical
Formula Editor enables you to build formulas rapidly using drag-and-drop.
Note: The Web Intelligence Java Report Panel is available if your
administrator has deployed Web Intelligence in ASP mode and if your
administrator has deployed Web Intelligence in JSP mode.
Web Intelligence Rich Client
Web Intelligence Rich Client is a locally installed Microsoft Windows
application that lets you work with Web Intelligence (WID) documents that
are stored locally or in a CMS.
When working without a CMS connection you can work on your local machine
with either CMS-secured or unsecured documents.
About Web Intelligence
1
Web Intelligence Rich Client is based on the Web Intelligence Java Report
Panel and provides equivalent document creation, editing, formatting, printing
and saving capabilities.
There are a number of reasons for using Web Intelligence Rich Client to
work with WID documents:
• You want to work with Web Intelligence documents but you are unable
to connect to a CMS (while traveling, for example).
• You want to improve calculation performance: Web Intelligence Rich
Client performs calculations locally, rather than on the server, and local
calculations can perform better than server calculations.
• You want to work with Web Intelligence documents without installing a
CMS or application server.
Web Intelligence HTML Report Panel
Designed for users who need to build basic reports, the HTML Report Panel
provides query and report features in a simple wizard-like interface. Each
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About Web Intelligence
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Creating and editing Web Intelligence documents
document is based on a single data source and can contain multiple reports,
displaying different subsets of information.
In addition, the HTML Report Panel is 508 compliant and can be customized
for specialized deployments.
Note: The Web Intelligence HTML Report Panel is only available if your
administrator has deployed Web Intelligence in JSP mode.
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Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
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Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
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To log in to InfoView
You access Web Intelligence reports and set global Web Intelligence options
from InfoView, the corporate business intelligence portal.
To log in to InfoView
Before you can use InfoView and Web Intelligence you need the following
information:
• a URL to the InfoView server
• the InfoView server name and port number
• your login and password
• your authentication, which controls the InfoView resources available to
you
Contact your adminstrator for these details if you do not already know them.
Note: By default the InfoView server name and authentification method are
not displayed on the InfoView logon page. You need to supply this information
only if your administrator has made these options visible.
You access Web Intelligence by using your web browser to log into InfoView,
the corporate business intelligence portal. Once you are in InfoView, you
can analyze and enhance Web Intelligence reports.
1. Launch your web browser.
2. Point your browser to the InfoView bookmark or URL.
The InfoView login page appears.
3. If the System box is blank, type the name of the InfoView server followed
by a colon (:), and then type the port number.
4. In the Username box, type your user name.
5. In the Password box, type your password.
6. In the Authentication box, select the authentication provided to you by
your administrator.
7. Click Log On.
The InfoView home page appears.
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Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
To log out of InfoView
To log out of InfoView
When you finish using InfoView or Web Intelligence you need to log out,
instead of simply closing your web browser.
Logging out of InfoView ensures that any preferences you modified during
your InfoView session are saved. It also lets your administrator track how
many users are logged into the system at any given time and thus optimize
InfoView and Web Intelligence performance.
• Click Log Out.
The login page appears. You are logged out of InfoView
Web Intelligence InfoView options
Web Intelligence document creation and viewing options
2
You can set your Web Intelligence options to determine how you create,
view and interact with documents using Web Intelligence.
You create documents using a query editor to build the query to retrieve the
document data. After the query returns the data to the document, you can
view and interact with the data.
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Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
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Web Intelligence InfoView options
Advanced
DescriptionDocument creation option
You create documents using the Java
Report Panel, a Java applet than
launches in your Web browser.
The Java Report Panel is a combined
query building, report editing and data analysis environment. If you
choose Advanced as your document creation option, you also use
the Java Report Panel for working
with the data returned by the query.
The View format option is not taken
into account.
The Java Report Panel provides the
richest feature set of all Web Intelligence query building, report editing
and data analysis environments.
Interactive
Desktop
Web Accessibility
You build queries using Query HTML, an HTML-based query editor.
You build queries, edit reports and
analyze data using Web Intelligence
Rich Client, a standalone version of
the Java Report Panel that runs outside your web browser.
You create documents using the
HTML Report Panel, a 508-compliant
query-building and report-viewing
environment.
You can use the following view formats to view and interact with existing
Web Intelligence documents, or documents that you have just created using
a query editor:
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HTML
Interactive
Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
Web Intelligence InfoView options
DescriptionView format
Use HTML format when you want to
open reports, answer prompts, navigate reports, and/or perform drill analysis.
Use Interactive format when you want
to apply filters, sorts, calculations,
modify formatting and data displayed
on tables and charts, and/or perform
drill analysis.
Use Interactive format if you are using
Query – HTML to define queries, and
you want to format reports based on
those queries and add formulas and
variables.
Interactive view format is only available
if your administrator has deployed Web
Intelligence in JSP mode.
2
PDF
Use PDF mode when you want to view
static reports.
To select the Web Intelligence query editor
1. Click the Preferences button on the InfoView toolbar.
2. Click Web Intelligence Preferences to display the Web Intelligence
options.
3. Select the query editor beneath Select a default creation/editing tool.
4. Click OK.
To select the Web Intelligence view format
You can select different view formats for Web Intelligence documents
depending on how you want to interact with the information displayed on the
reports. You select your Web Intelligence view options in InfoView. When
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Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
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Web Intelligence InfoView options
you modify your view options, the new settings are implemented the next
time you open a Web Intelligence document.
1. Click the Preferences button on the InfoView toolbar.
2. Click Web Intelligence Preferences to display the Web Intelligence
options.
3. In the Select a view format section, select the view format.
To select a default universe for new documents
1. Click Preferences on the Infoview toolbar.
2. ClickWeb Intelligence Preferences to display the Web Intelligence
options.
3. Click Browse beneath Select a default universe and browse to the
universe you want to select as the default.
To set Web Intelligence drill options
Drilling on reports lets you look deeper into data to discover the details behind
a good or bad summary result displayed on a table, chart, or section. Before
you begin a drill session, you can set your drill options in InfoView to specify
how reports will change each time you drill.
1. Click Preferences on the Infoview toolbar.
2. Click Web Intelligence Preferences to display the Web Intelligence
options.
3. Select the drill options under Drill options and Start drill session.
Hide drill toolbar option
When you drill on a value displayed on a report, the Drill toolbar appears
and displays the value on which you drilled. The value displayed on the
toolbar filters the results displayed on the drilled report.
For example, if you drill on year 2001, the results displayed on the drilled
table are Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 for year 2001. This means that the quarterly
values you drilled to are filtered by 2001.
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Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
Web Intelligence InfoView options
Note: If the drilled report includes dimensions from multiple queries, a ToolTip
appears when you rest your cursor on the value displayed on the filter. The
ToolTip displays the name of the query and the dimension for the value.
The Drill toolbar allows you to select alternative values on the same level,
in order to filter the results differently. For example, if you use the Drill toolbar
illustrated above to select “2002,” the results displayed on the drilled table
would be Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 for year 2002.
You can opt to hide the Drill toolbar when you start drill mode. The Drill
toolbar is only useful if you want to select filters during your drill session.
Prompt when drill requires additional data option
When you drill the results displayed on a Web Intelligence report, you may
want to drill to higher- or lower-level information that isn’t included in the
scope of analysis for the document. When this is the case, Web Intelligence
needs to run a new query to retrieve the additional data from the data source.
Since queries on large selections of data may take a long time to be
completed, you can choose to be prompted with a message every time a
new query is necessary. The prompt message asks you whether you want
to run the additional query or not. In addition, the prompt lets you apply filters
to the extra dimensions you include in the new query. This means you can
restrict the size of the query to only the data necessary for your analysis.
2
You need permission from your administrator to drill out of the scope of
analysis during a drill session.
Synchronize drill on report blocks option
When you select the Sychronize drill on all report blocks option, the display
of all blocks changes to correspond with your drill actions. For example, if
you drill down on a block from year to quarter, and your report also contains
a chart showing data by year, the chart display also changes to display data
by quarter.
If you do not select the option, only the drilled block changes in response to
drill actions.
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Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
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Web Intelligence InfoView options
Start drill session option
The Start drill session option controls how Web Intelligence behaves when
you start drill mode.
Start drill session on existing report option
When you select Start drill session on existing report, the current report
becomes drillable when you start drill mode. When you end drill mode, the
report displays the drilled values.
Start drill session on a duplicate report option
When you select Start drill on a duplicate report, Web Intelligence creates
a duplicate of the current report when you start drill mode, and you drill on
the duplicate. This allows you to compare the results of the original report
with the results you discover during your drill analysis.
Web Intelligence locale options
The locale determines how a Web Intelligence document displays data. It
affects, for example, the formatting of numbers and the default sort order.
Three locale settings combine to determine how Web Intelligence displays
data:
Product locale
Document locale
26 Performing on-report analysis with Web Intelligence
DescriptionLocale
The locale in which InfoView displays
data by default.
The locale associated with a particular
Web Intelligence document. When you
save a document, the document locale
becomes the current product locale or
the preferred viewing locale.
You can permanently associate a locale with a document. For more information, see To permanently associate
a locale with a document on page 28.
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Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
Web Intelligence InfoView options
DescriptionLocale
2
Preferred viewing locale
The product locale
The product locale is the locale that InfoView uses by default. You set the
product locale in the Infoview General preferences.
To set the product locale
1. Click Preferences on the main InfoView toolbar.
2. Click General to display the general options.
3. Select the product locale from the Product locale list.
The document locale
The document locale is the locale associated with a particular document. By
default, the document takes the product locale when you save a document,
or the preferred viewing locale if this is different from the product locale and
your settings give the preferred viewing locale priority. The document retains
this locale until the next time it is saved, when it again takes either the product
locale or the preferred viewing locale.
The locale in which you choose to view
documents
You can permanently associate the current document locale with a document.
For more information, see To permanently associate a locale with a document
on page 28.
The GetContentLocale() Web Intelligence function returns the document
locale.
To display data using the document locale
1. Click Web Intelligence Preferences to display the Web Intelligence
options.
2. Click Use the document locale to format the data beneath When
viewing a document.
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Accessing Web Intelligence from InfoView
2
Web Intelligence InfoView options
The preferred viewing locale
The preferred viewing locale is the locale that you choose to dislay data. The
preferred viewing locale overrides the product locale if it is different from the
product locale and your settings give the preferred viewing locale priority.
To set the preferred viewing locale
1. Click Preferences on the main InfoView toolbar.
2. Click General to display the general options.
3. Select the preferred viewing locale from the Preferred viewing locale
list.
4. Click Web Intelligence Preferences to display the Web Intelligence
options.
5. If you want data to be formatted using the preferred viewing locale, click
Use my Preferred Viewing Locale to format the data beneath When
viewing a document.
To permanently associate a locale with a document
1. In Web Intelligence Interactive, select Document > Properties from the
menu to display the" Document Properties" dialog box.
2. Select Permanent regional formatting.
3. Save the document.
The current document locale is associated permanently with the document
and overrides the product locale and the preferred viewing locale.
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To switch between viewing modes
3
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To switch between viewing modes
3
Draft mode
You can view Web Intelligence reports in different modes depending on how
you want to work with data and how you want the data to appear.
1. In Web Intelligence Interactive, select the report tab of the report you
want to view.
2. Click the arrow next to the View button on the main toolbar above the
report.
3. Select the viewing mode.
Web Intelligence Interactive displays the report in the selected viewing
mode.
4. In the Java Report Panel, use Switch Page/Quick Display on the
Reporting toolbar to alternate between Page mode and Quick Display
mode.
Draft mode
Draft mode displays just the tables, reports, and free standing cells in reports.
Use Draft mode when you want to focus on analyzing results, add calculations
or formulas, or add breaks or sorts to tables to organize results.
Page mode
Page mode displays the page layout of reports, including page margins,
headers, and footers.
Use Page mode when you want to fine-tune the formatting of tables and
charts and the layout of report pages.
PDF mode
PDF mode displays the report in PDF format.
Use PDF mode when you want to view the report in PDF format or print the
report from within Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®.
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Quick Display mode
Quick Display mode is the default display mode in Web Intelligence. It is a
pagination mode that is based on the data, rather than the physical size of
report pages. Quick Display mode displays just the tables, reports, and free
standing cells in reports and displays a maximum number of records vertically
and horizontally, depending on the Quick Display settings. Quick Display
mode also specifies the minimum page width and height and the amount of
padding around the edges of the report.
Because Quick display mode retricts the number of horizontal and vertical
rows, a report might not contain all possible data.
Use Quick Display mode when you want to focus on analyzing results, add
calculations or formulas, or add breaks or sorts to tables to organize results.
The Quick Display mode properties are configurable either by your
administrator in the CMC, or directly in Web Intelligence.
To switch between viewing modes
Quick Display mode
Where configuredProperty
3
CMCMaximum vertical records
CMCMaximum horizontal records
CMCMinimum page width
CMCMinimum page height
CMCRight padding
CMCBottom padding
Web IntelligenceVertical records per page
Web IntelligenceHorizontal records per page
To change Quick Display mode settings in Web Intelligence
You can change the number of horizontal and vertical records per page in
Quick Display mode in Web Intelligence.
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To switch between viewing modes
3
Quick Display mode
1. In the Java Report Panel, set the Page Content > Vertical Records per
page and Page Content > Horizontal Records per page properties.
2. In Web Intelligence Interactive, right-click the report background, select
Format Report to display the "Format Report" dialog box, and set the
Number of vertical records per page and Number of horizontal
records per page in the General tab.
3. As a shortcut, vou can also use the icons on the Page Navigation toolbar
(Java Report Panel) or main toolbar (Web Intelligence Interactive) to
increase or decrease these settings by increments of 50.
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To select Enhanced Viewing mode
4
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To select Enhanced Viewing mode
4
Your administrator can define minimum page margins, headers and footers
that are applied only when you view reports onscreen. This means that the
maximum amount of information on report pages is visible when you view
reports via your computer screen. To apply the page definition set up by your
administrator you need to select Enhanced Viewing mode.
1. Select Document > Properties (in Web Intelligence Interactive) or
right-click a report and select Document Properties (in the Java Report
Panel).
2. Select Enhanced viewing mode.
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Working with reports
5
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Working with reports
5
Organizing reports
Organizing reports
To insert a new report in Web Intelligence
1. With a Web Intelligence document open, right-click the report tab of the
report after which you want to insert a new report.
The contextual menu appears.
2. Select Insert.
A blank report appears after the report you selected. Web Intelligence
numbers the report according to where it is located in the document.
To duplicate a report in Web Intelligence
1. With a Web Intelligence document open, right-click the report tab of the
report after which you want to insert a new report.
The contextual menu appears.
2. Select Duplicate.
Web Intelligence inserts a duplicate of the report into the document.
To move a report in Web Intelligence
1. With a Web Intelligence document open, right-click the report tab of the
report after which you want to insert a new report.
The contextual menu appears.
2. Select Move.
A sub-menu appears. You can select where you want to move the report
here.
3. Click the appropriate option.
• To move the report to the beginning of the document, click First.
• To move the report before the selected report, click Previous.
• To move the report after the selected report, click Next.
• To move the report to the end of the document, click Last.
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Defining the page layout of reports
To delete a report in Web Intelligence
1. With a Web Intelligence document open, right-click the report tab of the
report after which you want to insert a new report.
The contextual menu appears.
2. Select Remove.
To rename a report in Web Intelligence
1. Double-click the report tab and type the new report name on the report
tab, or:
2. Right-click an empty area of the report and click Format Report to display
the "Format Report" dialog box.
3. Type the report name in the Name box on the General tab, then click
OK.
Working with reports
5
Defining the page layout of reports
To set report margins in Web Intelligence
1. Right-click an empty area of the report and click Format Report to display
the Format Report dialog box.
2. Click the Layout Properties tab
3. In the Margins section, type the measurement you want for the Top,
Bottom, Left and Right margins.
4. Click OK.
To set the page orientation of reports in Web Intelligence
1. Right-click an empty area of the report and click Format Report to display
the Format Report dialog box.
2. Click the Layout Properties tab.
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Working with reports
5
Defining the page layout of reports
3. In the Orientation section, click the arrow next to the list box, and then
select Portrait or Landscape as appropriate:
4. Click OK.
To select the report paper size in Web Intelligence
1. Right-click an empty area of the report and click Format Report to display
the Format Report dialog box.
2. Click the Layout Properties tab.
3. In the Page size section, click the arrow next to the list box, and then
select the appropriate page size.
To include report page headers and footers in Web Intelliegence
1. Right-click an empty area of the report and click Format Report to display
the Format Report dialog box.
2. Click the General tab.
3. To include a page header, select Show header, and then type the height
you want for the header into the text box.
4. To include a page header, select Show footer, and then type the height
you want for the footer into the text box.
5. To define a background color for the header or footer, click the arrow next
to Background color, and then either select a predefined color or click
More colors... to define a custom color, and then click OK.
6. Click OK.
To include report page numbers in Web Intelliegence
1. To display the Document Properties pane, click the Show left pane
arrow at the top left of the report.
2. Click the arrow to the right of the drop-down list box, then select Chart
and Table Types.
3. Select the appropriate page number cell from the Page Number Cells
folder and drag it onto the report.
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Working with reports
Defining the page layout of reports
To display the page number of the current report page (for example
•
1), select Page Number.
• To display the page number of the current report page over the total
number of pages in the report (for example 1/50), select Page
Number/Total Pages.
• To display the total number of pages in the current report (for example
50), select Total Number of Pages.
To add and format a report title in Web Intelligence
1. To display the Document Properties pane, click the Show left pane
arrow at the top left of the report.
2. Click the arrow to the right of the drop-down list box, then select Chart
and Table Types.
3. Select the Blank Cell format from the Formula and Text Cells folder
and drag it onto the area of the report page where you want to display
the report title.
The blank cell appears on the report
5
4. Right-click the cell and select Format > Cell .
The "Format Cells" dialog box appears.
5. Click the General tab.
6. Type the title you want to give the report into the Name text box
7. In the Size section, specify the width and height of the report title cell and
select Wrap text, if you want to continue the title onto the next line.
8. To format how the text and cell background appears, click the Font tab,
and then select the appropriate settings.
9. To format how the borders around the page number cell appear, click the
Border tab, and then select the appropriate settings for borders.
You can apply the same colors and styles to all borders in the Setting
applied to all borders section. You can also apply specific colors and
styles to one or multiple borders using the options in the Settings per
border section.
10. To align the page number text on the cell, click the Alignment tab, and
then specify the appropriate horizontal and vertical alignment settings.
11. Click OK.
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Working with reports
5
Including images in reports
To include cells with predefined or custom formulas in reports in Web Intelligence
1. To display the Document Properties pane, click the Show left pane
arrow at the top left of the report.
2. Click the arrow to the right of the drop-down list box, then select Chart
and Table Types.
3. Select the formula cell you want to include on the report from the Formula
and Text Cells folder and drag it onto the report.
• If you want to display drill filters, select Drill Filters.
• If you want to display the date the last time the results in reports were
refreshed with up-to-date data on the database, select Last Refresh
Date.
• If you want to display the title of the document as it is listed in InfoView,
select Document Name.
• If you want to include a custom formula, select Blank Cell, then select
the cell in the report and type the formula in the Formula Bar.
The cell appears on the report with the predefined or custom formula.
Including images in reports
To select an image to display on a report background in Web Intelligence
1. Right click the report and select Format Report on the menu to display
the "Format Report" dialog box.
2. Click the Appearance tab.
3. Select Image from URL and type the URL to specify the image using a
URL.
4. Select Image from file, click Add then browse to the image to select an
image from the file system.
5. Click the arrow to the right of the Display drop-down list box, and then
select how you want the image to be displayed.
6. Align the image using the Position drop-down lists.
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Working with reports
Including images in reports
Note: The availability of the lists depends on the option chosen in the
Display list.
7. Click OK.
Specifying an image URL in Web Intelligence
There are two ways to specify an image URL in Web Intelligence:
• If the image file has been installed by your administrator in the images
directory on the BusinessObjects Enterprise server (located at <INSTALL
DIR>\Images), type boimg:// followed by the file name (for example,
boimg:// efashion_logo.gif).
• If the image file is located on another web server, type the URL (for
example, http://www.internal.businesscompany.com/images/com
pany_logo.gif).
To insert an image in a free-standing cell in a report in Web Intelligence
5
1. To display the Document Properties pane, click the Show left pane
arrow at the top left of the report.
2. Click the arrow to the right of the drop-down list box, then select Chart
and Table Types.
3. Select Blank Cell from the Formula and Text Cells folder and drag it
onto the report.
4. Right-click the cell and click Format > Cell to display the Format Cell
dialog box.
5. Click the Appearance tab.
6. Select Image from URL and type the URL to specify the image using a
URL.
7. Select Image from file, click Add then browse to the image to select an
image from the file system.
8. Click the arrow to the right of the Display drop-down list box, and then
select how you want the image to be displayed.
9. Align the image using the Position drop-down lists.
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Working with reports
5
Including images in reports
Note: The availability of the lists depends on the option chosen in the
Display list.
10. Click OK.
Image display options in Web Intelligence
DescriptionOption
Normal
Stretch (PDF only)
Tile
Note: The size of the image is defined when the image is created. You
cannot modify the size of the image using Web Intelligence.
Displays the image once at the top left
of the report, section, table, or cell.
Stretches the image over the entire report area.
Note: this option is only applied when
you view or save the report as a PDF
file.
Repeats the image vertically and horizontally.
Repeat the image horizontally across.Horizontal tile
Repeat the image vertically downward.Vertical tile
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
6
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
6
Merged dimensions defined
Merged dimensions defined
You can include multiple data providers in a Web Intelligence document.
You often need to synchronize the data returned by these data providers.
You do this by incorporating common dimensions into a merged dimension.
Merged dimensions and data synchronization were introduced in Web
Intelligence XI R2. They enormously increase the power and flexibility of
Web Intelligence by allowing you to synthesise data from different sources
in the same report, rather than simply including the data.
For example, if you have one database that contains detailed customer
information and another database that contains sales data, you can
synchronize the two data sources around the customer.
When to merge dimensions
You merge dimensions when your report draws related data from different
data providers. For example, you have a report showing revenue and sales
targets. The report contains sections based on the year, and each section
shows revenue and sales targets. If revenue and sales target data comes
from two different data providers, Web Intelligence does not know that it is
related. You tell Web Intelligence that the data is related by merging the two
data providers on the common dimension, year.
When you merge dimensions, Web Intelligence creates a new dimension
that contains all the values from the original dimensions that make up the
merged dimension. You use this dimension in reports as you use any other
report object. You can add report objects from all the data providers
synchronized through the merged dimension in the same block as the merged
dimension.
Choosing which dimensions to merge
The only restriction that Web Intelligence imposes on merged dimensions
is that they must be of the same data type: for example, character data. But
it does not make sense to merge unrelated dimensions even when their data
types are the same. For example, it does not make sense to merge a
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
Creating, editing and deleting merged dimensions
dimension containing customer names with a dimension containing sales
regions.
Merged dimensions often have the same name in both data sources, but
this is not obligatory. It can make sense to merge dimensions with different
names if they contain related data.
To merge dimensions correctly you need to be aware of the semantics of
the data (what the data refers to) in the different data sources. The dimension
data types and names are an approximate guide only to dimensions’ suitability
for merging.
Creating, editing and deleting merged
dimensions
To merge dimensions in Web Intelligence
1. Select the group of dimensions from different data providers that you
want to merge in the Available Objects section of the Left Panel by holding
down the Ctrl key as you select the dimensions.
2. Click Merge at the top of the Left Panel.
6
Web Intelligence creates a merged dimension with the same name,
description, qualification and data type as the first dimension you selected.
The original dimensions that make up the merged dimension appear
beneath it when you expand the merged dimension.
If you select any of these original dimensions, Merge/Unmerge is
unavailable.
To merge dimensions automatically in Web Intelligence
You can set Web Intelligence to merge dimensions automatically under the
following circumstances:
• The dimensions have the same name
• The dimensions have the same data type
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
6
Understanding the effects of merged dimensions
• The dimensions are in the same universe
1. With a Web Intelligence document open, click the arrow next to Document
on the main toolbar above the report.
2. Select Properties.
The "Document Properties" dialog box appears.
3. Select Auto-merge dimensions.
To edit a merged dimension in Web Intelligence
1. Right-click the merged dimension in the Available Objects section of the
Left Panel then select Edit Properties on the menu to display the "Create
Merged Dimension" dialog box.
2. Type the merged dimension name in the Merged Dimension Name in
the Merged Dimension dialog box.
3. Type the description in the "Description" box.
4. Select the dimension that provides default properties for the merged
dimension in the "Source Dimension" dialog box.
To delete a merged dimension in Web Intelligence
1. Select the merged dimension in the Available Objects section of the Left
Panel.
The Merge button at the top of the Left Panel becomes the Unmerge
button when you select a merged dimension.
2. Click Unmerge.
Understanding the effects of merged
dimensions
Data synchronization through merged dimensions adds enormous power to
Web Intelligence. Merged dimensions also have implications for the results
that Web Intelligence displays in certain situations. You need to understand
these implications to work effectively with merged dimensions and
synchronized data.
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
Understanding the effects of merged dimensions
Synchronizing data providers with different aggregation levels
You can synchronize data providers with different aggregation levels. This
can have implications for the way in which Web Intelligence calculates
measures.
Example: Synchronizing data providers with different aggregation levels
In this example you have two data providers as follows:
RevenueYearCustomer
15002004Jones
20002005Jones
12002005Smith
6
Number of salesCustomer
12Jones
10Smith
If you merge the two data providers and the table properties Avoid
Duplicate Rows Aggregation and Show Rows with Empty Dimensions
are unchecked, Web Intelligence returns the following:
Number of salesRevenueYearCustomer
1215002004Jones
1212002005Jones
1012002005Smith
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
6
Understanding the effects of merged dimensions
Web Intelligence cannot determine the number of sales per year for
customer Jones because the data provider that stores the number of sales
does not break them down by year. Web Intelligence therefore reproduces
the total number of sales on each row.
Note: Although the Number of Sales values are duplicated, if you add a
standard calculation to the bottom of the column (for example a Sum or Average
calculation), the result is correct.
One way of adressing this issue is to add the dimensions to the second
data provider that allow Web Intelligence to calculate to the appropriate
level of data. If this is not possible, you must be aware of any situations
where Web Intelligence cannot aggregate the data to the necessary level
of detail.
Detail objects and merged dimensions
Detail objects are associated with dimensions and provide additional
information about the dimension.
Web Intelligence XI R2 requires a one-to-one relationship between
dimensions and details (this means that a detail object can have one value
only for each value of its associated dimension) and does not take detail
objects into account when synchronizing data. The following example
illustrates why this is necessary.
Previous versions of Web Intelligence, as well as Desktop Intelligence and
BusinessObjects, allow a one-to-many relationship between dimensions and
details. If you migrate a report created using any of these products and the
detail object contains multiple values, Web Intelligence places the
#MULTIVALUE error in the detail cell.
Example: Synchronizing data providers with detail objects
In this example you have two data providers as follows, and [Address] is a
detail object related to [Customer].
48 Performing on-report analysis with Web Intelligence
RevenueAddressCustomer
10000LondonJohn
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
Understanding the effects of merged dimensions
RevenueAddressCustomer
15000LiverpoolPaul
AgeCustomer
25John
28Paul
If you create a merged Customer dimension to synchronize the data
providers, and Address can have more than one value for each customer,
the result is ambiguous because there is no common value around which
WebIntelligence can synchronize the data.
For example, Paul might also have an address in London, which means
that there is no unique ‘Paul’ row with which WebIntelligence can
synchronize Paul’s age:
6
AgeAddressCustomer
LondonJohn
ParisPaul
LondonPaul
25John
28Paul
If the relationship between Customer and Address is one-to-one,
WebIntelligence can ignore Address in the synchronization. This removes
the ambiguity:
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
6
Understanding the effects of merged dimensions
Filtering merged dimensions
Merging dimensions has implications for the way in which Web Intelligence
applies filters.
Note: You cannot apply a filter a on merged dimension. You apply filters on
the dimensions that make up the merged dimension.
Report filters and merged dimensions
AgeAddressCustomer
25John
28Paul
When you apply a report filter to a dimension that is part of a merged
dimension, Web Intelligence applies the filter to all data providers that are
synchronized through the merged dimension.
Example: Filtering a merged dimension
In this example you have a report with the following data providers, which
are merged on the Country dimension
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RevenueResortCountry
835,420French RivieraFrance
971,444Bahamas BeachUS
1,479,660Hawaiian ClubUS
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
Understanding the effects of merged dimensions
Future GuestsCountry
46France
56US
If you apply the filter Country=”US” to the first block, Web Intelligence also
filters the second block to give the following result:
Future GuestsCountry
56US
If the Country dimensions are not merged the second block is unaffected
by the filter.
6
Section filters and merged dimensions
When a dimension that is part of a merged dimension is set as a section
header, any filter applied to the section also applies to blocks from
synchronized data providers within the section. If Country is set as the section
header in the example Filtering a merged dimension on page 50 and the
filter Country=”US” is applied to the section, Web Intelligence filters both
blocks in the section—(Resort, Revenue) and (Country, Number of
Guests)—so that only those rows appear where the country dimension is
equal to “US”, even though Country in the second block comes from a
synchronized data provider.
Block filters and merged dimensions
When you apply a block filter to a dimension that is part of a merged
dimension, Web Intelligence applies the filter to the block. Web Intelligence
does not apply the filter to other data providers synchronized through the
merged dimension.
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Merging dimensions from multiple data providers
6
Understanding the effects of merged dimensions
Drilling on merged dimensions
When you merge dimensions, the new merged dimension belongs to the
hierarchies of all dimensions involved in the merge.
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Filtering reports
7
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Filtering reports
7
Report filters defined
Report filters defined
You can filter reports to limit the results that are displayed to specific
information that interests you. For example, you can limit the displayed results
to information for a specific customer or a sales period. The data you filter
out remains within the Web Intelligence document; it is simply not displayed
in the report tables or charts. This means you can change or remove report
filters in order to view the hidden values, without modifying the query definition
behind the document.
You can apply different filters to different parts of a report. For example, you
can limit the results in the entire report to a specific product line and then
limit results in a table or chart further to focus on results for a specific region
or customer profile.
To create a report filter, you need to specify three elements:
• a filtered object
• an operator
• a value(s)
You can include multiple filters in a report.
Query filters and report filters compared
You can apply filters at two levels within a document:
• query filters – these filters are defined on the query; they limit the data
retrieved from the data source and returned to the Web Intelligence
document.
• report filters – these filters limit the values displayed on reports, tables,
charts, sections within the document, but they don’t modify the data that
is retrieved from the data source; they simply hide values at the report
level.
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Report filter operators
Equal To operator
Use the Equal to operator to obtain data equal to a value.
For example, to return data for the US only, create the filter "County Equal
To US".
Not Equal To operator
Use the Not Equal To operator to obtain data not equal to a value.
For example, to return data for all countries except the US create the filter
"County Not Equal To US".
Filtering reports
Report filter operators
7
Different From operator
Use the Different From operator to retrieve data different from a value.
For example, to retrieve data for all quarters execpt Q4, create the filter
[Quarter] Different From "Q4"
Greater Than operator
Use the Greater Than operator to retrieve data greater than a value.
For example, to retrieve data for customers aged over 60, create the filter
"[Customer Age] Greater than 60".
Greater Than Or Equal To operator
Use the Greater Than Or Equal To operator to retrieve data greater than or
equal to a value.
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Filtering reports
7
Report filter operators
For example, to retrieve data for revenue starting from $1.5M, create the
filter "[Revenue] Greater than or equal to 1000500".
Less Than operator
Use the Less Than operator to retrieve data lower than a value.
For example, to retrieve data for exam grades lower than 40, create the filter
"[Exam Grade] Less Than 40".
Less Than Or Equal To operator
Use the Less Than Or Equal To operator to retrieve data less than or equal
to a value.
For example, to retrieve data for customers whose age is 30 or less, create
the filter "[Age] Less Than Or Equal To 30".
Between operator
Use the Between operator to retrieve data between and including two values.
For example, to retrieve data for weeks starting at week 25 and finishing at
36 (including week 25 and week 36), create the filter "[Week] Between 25
and 36".
Not Between operator
Use the Not Between operator to retrieve data outside the range of two
values.
For example; to retrieve data for all the weeks of the year, except for and
not including weeks 25 through 36, create the filter "[Week] Not between 25
and 36".
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In List operator
Use the In List operator to retrieve data corresponding to values in a list of
values.
For example, to retrieve data for the US, UK and Japan only, create the filter
[Country] In List ("US";"UK";"Japan").
Not In List operator
Use the Not In List operator to retrieve data that does not correspond to
multiple values.
For example, if you do not want to retrieve data for the US, UK and Japan,
create the filter [Country] Not In ("US";"UK";"Japan").
Is Null operator
Filtering reports
Report filter operators
7
Use the Is Null operator to retrieve data for which there are no values in the
database.
For example, to retrieve customers without children (the children column in
the database has no value), create the filter [Children] Is Null.
Is Not Null operator
Use the Is Not Null operator to return data for which there is a value in the
database.
For example, to return customers with children, create the filter [Children] Is
not Null.
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Filtering reports
7
Creating, editing and deleting report filters
Creating, editing and deleting report
filters
To create a report filter in Web Intelligence
1. Select the report element (for example a table or section) you want to
filter. To filter the entire report, click outside all tables, sections and charts.
2. Click the arrow to the right of the Filter button on the Reporting toolbar
and click Add Filter.
The "Filter" dialog box appears
3. Select the operator you wish to use in the filter from the drop-down list.
4. Select the values that you wish to use in the filter and click >> to add
them to the list of filter values
5. To remove a value from the filter, select the value in the list of filter values,
then click <<.
6. Click OK to close the dialog box and apply the report filter.
To view the report filters in a Web Intelligence report
1. Display the Document Structure and Filters pane by selecting Left
panel from the View menu then selecting Document Structure and
Filters at the bottom of the Left panel.
2. The Document Structure and Filters displays the overview of the filters
in the report.
To edit a report filter in a Web Intelligence report
1. Display the Document Structure and Filters pane by selecting Left
panel from the View menu then selecting Document Structure and
Filters at the bottom of the Left panel.
2. Navigate to the filter in the Document Structure and Filters pane,
right-click it and select Edit Filter to display the Filter Editor.
3. Edit the filter using the Filter Editor.
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Filtering reports
Combining and nesting report filters
To edit one dimension in a report filter in Web Intelligence
1. Display the Document Structure and Filters pane by selecting Left
panel from the View menu then selecting Document Structure and
Filters at the bottom of the Left panel.
2. Select the filtered dimension in the Document Structure and Filters
pane.
3. Click Edit.
The Filter Editor appears.
4. Use the Filter Editor to edit the filter.
To delete a report filter in Web Intelligence
1. Display the Document Structure and Filters overview by selecting Left
Panel from the View menu then selecting Document Structure and
Filters at the bottom of the Left Panel.
2. Select the filter you want to remove
3. Click Remove or right-click the filter and select Remove Filter.
You can also remove individual parts of the filter by selecting the
dimension, detail or measure individually then clicking Remove or clicking
the arrow to the right of Apply Filter on the Reporting toolbar, then
selecting Remove Filter.
7
Combining and nesting report filters
The AND and OR operators
You use the AND and OR operators to combine and nest query filters or
report filters. When you use AND to combine filters, Web Intelligence displays
only the data that matches the criteria in both the filters linked by the operator.
When you use OR, Web Intelligence returns the data that matches the criteria
in either one of the filters linked by the operator.
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Filtering reports
7
Combining and nesting report filters
You can mix the AND and OR operators when combining and nesting filters.
For example, you can link three filters in the relationship (Filter1 OR Filter2)
AND Filter3. In this case, Web Intelligence first restricts the data by the
conditions in either Filter1 or Filter2. Web Intelligence then compares this
data with the condition in Filter3 and returns only the data that corresponds
to this condition.
To combine report filters in Web Intelligence
1. Display the Document Structure and Filters overview by selecting Left
panel from the View menu then selecting Document Structure and
Filters from the drop down list at the top of the Left panel.
2. Select the table that you want to filter in the Document Structure and
Filters overview.
3. Click Add Filter.
The Filter Editor appears.
4. Select the dimension, detail or measure that you want to include in the
filter, then click >> or drag the filter to the Filter pane to add it to the filter.
5. To remove a dimension, detail or measure from the filter, select it in the
Filter pane, then click << or drag the dimension, detail or measure back
to the Available Objects pane.
6. Select the dimension, detail or measure in the Filter pane.
7. Select the operator that you want to use with the dimension, detail or
measure from the drop down list of operators.
8. Type the value or values that you want to associate with the operator or
click Values to display the Quick Filter dialog box that you use to select
the values by which to filter.
9. Click Update Filter.
The filter on the dimension, detail or measure is updated in the Filter
pane. For example, if you filtered the Country dimension to return only
those rows where the country is ‘US’, the text reads ‘Country Equal To
US’.
10. Repeat from step 4 for all dimensions, details and measures that you
want to include in the filter.
When you add multiple dimensions, details or measures, Web Intelligence
links them by default with the AND operator. To toggle between AND and
OR, double click the operator.
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Combining and nesting report filters
Related Topics
• The AND and OR operators on page 59
To nest report filters in Web Intelligence
When you nest filters you set up an order of precedence between them. Web
Intelligence executes the first filter in the order or precedence, then applies
subsequent filters. (Country = ‘US’ AND Resort = ‘Bahamas Beach’) OR
(Revenue > 500000) is an example of combined and nested filters. Web
Intelligence filters according to the nested filter Country = US AND Resort =
Bahamas Beach (which is also an example of a combined filter) then applies
this filter along with the combined filter Revenue > 500000.
1. Create the initial filter.
2. Select the dimension in the initial filter. (Select any of the dimensions or
operators in the initial filter if it is a combined filter.)
3. Click Add Nested Filter.
Web Intelligence adds a nested OR operator to the initial filter.
Filtering reports
7
4. Select the OR operator.
5. Double click the OR operator to change it to AND if you want your nested
filter to be linked to the initial filter by an AND operator.
6. Select the dimension(s) that you want to appear in the nested filter and
click >>, or drag them to the right of the operator that links the nested
filter to the initial filter.
To change the order of nested report filters in Web Intelligence
1. Select a dimension, detail or measure in the filter.
2. Click Move up or Move down to change the place of the dimension,
detail or measure.
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Filtering reports
Combining and nesting report filters
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Drilling on report data
8
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Drilling on report data
8
What is drill?
What is drill?
You use drill to analyze the results displayed in reports. Drilling on reports
lets you look deeper into your data to discover the details behind a good or
bad summary result displayed in tables, charts, or sections.
Example: Why did sales of accessories, outwear, and overcoats rise in
Q3?
You work for a US national fashion retail chain, and are in charge of sales
of accessories, outerwear and overcoat clothing lines in western states.
You see that revenue is much higher for Q3 than the other quarters.
To understand why, you drill down to look at the factors behind the result.
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Drilling on report data
What is drill?
8
You see that jewelry sales escalated in July (month #7).
Scope of analysis
The scope of analysis for a query is extra data that you can retrieve from the
database to give more details on the results returned by each of the objects
in a query. This extra data does not appear in the initial result report, but it
remains available in the data cube, so you can pull this data in to the report
to allow you to access more detail at any time. This process of refining the
data to lower levels of detail is called drilling down on an object.
In the universe, the scope of analysis corresponds to the hierarchical levels
below the object selected for a query. For example, a scope of analysis of
one level down for the object Year, would include the object Quarter, which
appears immediately under Year.
You can set this level when you build a query. It allows objects lower down
the hierarchy to be included in the query, without them appearing in the
Results Objects pane. The hierarchies in a universe allow you to choose
your scope of analysis, and correspondingly the level of drill available.
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Drilling on report data
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What is drill?
In the Java Report Panel and in Web Intelligence Rich Client, you can also
create a custom scope of analysis by selecting specific dimensions for the
Scope of Analysis pane.
Note: You cannot set the scope of analysis when working in query drill mode
because this drill mode causes Web Intelligence to modify the scope
dynamically in response to drill actions.
Levels of scope of analysis
You can set the following levels for scope of analysis:
None
• One level down
• Two levels down
• Three levels down
DescriptionLevel
Only the objects that appear in the
Results Objects pane are included in
the query.
For each object in the Result Objects
pane, one, two, or three objects lower
down the hierarchy tree are included
in the query. The data from these objects is stored in the cube until you add
them to the document.
Custom
Note: This option is available in the
Java Report Panel and in Web Intelligence Rich Client only.
Including a scope of analysis in a document increases the document size
significantly. This is because the data necessary for the scope you specify
is saved with the document, even though it is not visible in the reports unless
you start drill mode and drill down to the data to display the corresponding
values.
In order to minimize the size of documents and optimize performance, we
recommend that you only include a scope of analysis in documents where
you are certain that users will need to drill.
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All objects added manually to the
Scope of Analysis panel are included
in the query.
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We suggest the following method because it will be easier for you to set the
scope of analysis seeing the hierarchy of the classes and objects.
Drill paths and hierarchies
When you analyze data in drill mode, you move along a drill path. These
paths are based on the dimension hierarchies set by the designer of the
universe. Universe designers organize objects in classes in a hierarchy with
the most summary objects at the top and the most detailed at the bottom.
So if you want to make a high-level report, you know that your query should
include objects at the top of the list. If you want to see more detailed
information, you can then switch to Drill mode and drill down on each
dimension value displayed in the reports.
For example, if the data from [Quarter] did not sufficiently explain a result,
you could drill down to [Month] or [Week], depending on how the universe
designer set up the hierarchy. When you drill to a different level, measures,
such as a [Revenue] or [Margin], are recalculated accordingly.
Drilling on report data
What is drill?
8
Drill paths usually follow the same hierarchy order as the classes on a
universe. For example, a class called Time typically includes the [Year]
dimension at the top of the class, followed by the [Quarter], [Month], and
[Week] dimensions. The hierarchies for drill within the Time hierarchy typically
follow the same order, because users want to drill annual results to analyze
details for quarter, month, and so on. However, the universe designer can
also define custom hierarchies.
Note: A dimension can belong to several hierarchies. When you drill a result
on a dimension that belongs to more than one hierarchy, Web Intelligence
prompts you to select the drill path.
To view drill hierarchies
1. Open a document in Edit mode.
2. Verify you are in Query View.
3. Click the Data tab.
4. Click the Hierarchies radio button.
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Drilling on report data
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To start and end drill mode in Web Intelligence
To start and end drill mode in Web
Intelligence
1. Click Drill on the main toolbar.
A hyperlink appears on each drillable result.
2. Click Drill again to end drill mode.
Retrieving more levels of data to the report
When you are drilling a Web Intelligence report, you may want to drill up or
down to a dimension that lies outside the scope of analysis defined for the
document. To return the additional data, Web Intelligence must run a new
query that includes the additional dimension(s) you specify. This is called
extending the scope of analysis.
You can extend the scope of analysis during your drill sessions only if your
security profile allows you to do so. Your security profile is controlled by your
BusinessObjects Enterprise administrator.
If your Drill options are not set to display the Extend the Scope of Analysis
prompt message during drill, you will not be given the option to select filters
if you drill beyond the data already available in the document. In this case,
Web Intelligence immediately runs a new query and returns data for all the
values on the dimensions you are drilling.
To drill out of the scope of analysis
1. Hold your mouse cursor over a dimension value that is at the end of the
scope of analysis.
A ToolTip informs you that a new query is necessary to return the
additional data to the document.
2. Drill on the dimension.
If your Drill options are set for Web Intelligence to prompt you when a
drill action requires a new query, the Extend the Scope of Analysis dialog
box appears.
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Drilling on report data
To choose a drill path when more than one is available
The dialog box lists the dimensions in the hierarchy above and below the
drilled value. The dimensions already included in the document are
checked. The dialog box also displays the filters that you can select to
filter the new query.
3. Select the check boxes next to the dimensions you want to drill.
4. Select the check boxes next to the filters you want to use to filter the
query.
5. Click OK.
Web Intelligence runs a new query and returns the additional data to the
document and the results for the dimension you drilled to appear on the
table.
To choose a drill path when more than
one is available
A dimension can belong to multiple hierarchies. When you drill down on such
a dimension value, Web Intelligence does not know which drill path to follow.
You must define the drill path.
8
Note: If the dimension value you choose to drill on is the result of a previous
drill, the drill path is already known. Therefore you do not need to select a
drill path.
1. Drill on the dimension.
The "Select Drill Path" dialog box appears. The dialog box lists the
dimensions in the hierarchy above and below the drilled value. A check
box appears next to each dimensions below the current dimension you
are drilling, so that you can select which of these dimensions you want
to retrieve from the database, in order to continue your drill action. The
dialog box also displays the filters that you can select to filter the new
query.
2. Select the path you want to drill.
3. Click OK.
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Drilling on report data
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Drilling on dimensions in tables and sections
Drilling on dimensions in tables and
sections
Dimensions typically represent character-type data, such as customer or
business names, and dates. Web Intelligence makes calculations based on
the dimensions in a report. For example, if you create a report that calculates
a region’s total sales revenue for a given year, Web Intelligence calculates
the [Sales revenue] measure based on the two dimensions: [State] and
[Year].
When you drill on a dimension to see the more data behind the displayed
result, the sales revenue is calculated according to the values to which you
drill. If you drill on [Year] in the above example, Web Intelligence calculates
and displays sales revenue by state and quarter, because [Quarter] is the
next dimension in the time hierarchy below [Year].
Note: You cannot drill on detail objects.
Drilling down
You drill down to see the lower-level data that makes up the summary results
displayed on reports. This helps explain why high or low results occurred.
Example: Using drill analysis to find out why sales decreased dramatically
in 2003
In this example, you receive a report that shows sales revenue results for
the accessories line at the eFashion retail store. The following crosstab
shows that the Accessories line decreased in 2003.
To analyze more precisely when the decrease occurred, you drill down on
the cell value 2003, to view the detailed data for each quarter.
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Drilling on report data
Drilling on dimensions in tables and sections
When you drill down on the cell value 2003, a filter appears in the Drill
toolbar to show that the quarterly values you have drilled to are filtered for
the year 2003. The drilled chart clearly shows that the problem arose in Q4
of 2003.
To find out which of the of the categories within the Accessories line was
responsible for the drop in revenue, you drill down again on the cell value
Accessories.
8
The drilled crosstab shows which categories were responsible for low
revenue in Q4.
Note: If you try to drill to a dimension that is already displayed in another
column or row of the same table, Web Intelligence automatically displays the
next available dimension in the drill path.
To drill down on a dimension value in a table or section cell
1. Verify you are in Drill mode
2. On a table or section cell, place your pointer over the dimension value
on which you want to drill.
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Drilling on report data
8
Drilling on dimensions in tables and sections
A ToolTip appears, showing the next dimension in the drill path. If the
drilled report includes dimensions from multiple data providers, the ToolTip
displays the name of the query and the dimension for the value.
3. Click the value.
The drilled table or section displays data one dimension level down. The
Drill toolbar, at the top of the report, displays the values from which you
drilled. These values filter the values displayed on the drilled table.
Drilling up
You drill up on a dimension value to see how the more detailed data
aggregates to a higher-level result. For example, you may have drilled down
on Year to examine data for each quarter. If you want to see how this data
aggregates to yearly results, you can drill up.
When you drill up on a dimension value, you move along the drill path from
lower- to higher-level data. For example, you may have drilled down on [Year]
to [Quarter]. If you drill up on [Quarter], you return to [Year].
You can only drill up on a dimension value if you have previously drilled down
to that dimension, or you have defined the appropriate drill path in the scope
of analysis.
To drill up on a dimension value
1. Verify you are in Drill mode.
2. On a table or section cell, right-click the dimension value on which you
want to drill up, then on the shortcut menu click Drill up , or click the Drill
Up icon next to the dimension value you want to drill up.
If the table is a crosstab without headers that display the names of the
dimensions on the table, then the Drill Up icon appears next to each value
from which you can drill up.
The report now displays data one dimension level up. The filters that
filtered the value you drilled up from, are removed from the Drill toolbar.
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Drilling by
When you drill down or up, you move through a hierarchy one dimension at
a time. However, you can get another view of the data by slicing it in a
different way, and then look at the data in other hierarchies. To do this, you
drill by the other dimensions that interest you.
Note: You can only Drill by to a dimension that is included in the scope of
analysis of the document.
Example: Drilling by the Products hierarchy to slice sales revenue results
by product
You work as regional manager for California in a retail clothing store, and
have been sent the following report that shows quarterly sales revenue by
state:
Drilling on report data
Drilling on dimensions in tables and sections
8
You are only interested in analyzing the results in the state of California.
In addition, you want to analyze the sales revenue broken down by each
product line you sell. To drill on California data, you place your pointer on
the table cell that says California.
If you drilled down now, however, you would drill to results for each city
within California, because [City] is the dimension below [State]. Instead,
you select Drill by from the drill menu and then you navigate through the
dimensions on the Products hierarchy by selecting the sub-menus until you
reach the [Lines] dimension.
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Drilling on report data
8
Drilling on dimensions in tables and sections
The drilled report displays the detailed sales revenue results for each
product line sold in California.
To drill by a dimension value
1. Verify you are in Drill mode.
2. On a table or section cell, right-click the dimension value you want to drill
by.
A shortcut menu appears, displaying the available drill paths.
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Drilling on report data
Drilling on measures in tables and sections
3. Place your pointer on Drill by, then on the class to which you want to
drill.
4. Click the dimension to which you want to drill.
The report now displays data for the dimension to which you drilled.
Drilling on measures in tables and
sections
When you drill on a measure value, Web Intelligence performs the drill action
one level down for each related dimension in the block and displays the new
measure calculation for the displayed dimensions.
Example: Drill on annual sales revenue results to see the breakdown by
city and quarter
For example, you drill down on the year 2003 sales revenue value for
California, which is displayed on a crosstab that shows sales revenue by
year in by state.
8
The drilled report displays sales revenue by quarter by city for California –
the state on which you drilled.
To drill down on a measure value
1. Verify you are in Drill mode.
2. Place your pointer over the measure value on which you want to drill.
A ToolTip appears, displaying the next dimension(s) in each related drill
path
3. Click the measure value.
Your report now displays data one dimension level down. The table
headers display the names of the dimensions you drilled to and the drill
up arrow, which indicates you can drill back up to the summary results if
wished. The Drill toolbar displays the values that filter the results displayed
on the drilled table or section.
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Drilling on report data
8
Synchronizing drill across multiple tables and charts
To drill up on a measure value
1. Verify you are in Drill mode.
2. Right-click the measure value on which you want to drill up, then click the
Drill up option on the shortcut menu, or click the Drill Up icon next to the
measure value you want to analyze.
The drilled table now displays data one dimension level up.
Synchronizing drill across multiple tables
and charts
A Web Intelligence report can contain several tables or charts. The generic
term used to refer to tables and charts in this guide is a block. There are two
ways to drill on a report with multiple blocks:
• drill simultaneously on each block in the report the contains the drilled
dimension
• drill on only the current block of data
You set how Web Intelligence performs drill on reports with the Synchronize
drill on report blocks option on page 25.
If you set Web Intelligence to synchronize drilling across a report, you drill
on each block in the report containing that drilled dimension. The next
dimension in the drill path replaces the previous dimension in all blocks of
the report.
If you set Web Intelligence not to synchronize drilling on all blocks in a report,
the next dimension in the drill path replaces the previous dimension only in
the current block of the report.
Drilling on charts
Drilling down, up, or by on a chart, provides you with a graphical explanation
for why summary results are particularly high or low.
You can drill on:
• dimensions – by drilling on chart axes
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• dimensions – by drilling on the chart legend
• measures – by drilling on the data bars or markers in the body of the chart
You cannot Drill by dimensions on chart axes. However, you can Drill by
dimensions on chart legends. For more information, see Drilling on axis
legends on page 80.
Drilling on dimensions via chart axes
On 2D charts, you can drill on dimensions via the X-Axis. On 3D charts, you
can drill on dimensions via the X-Axis and the Z-Axis. Charts can contain
one or multiple dimensions on a single axis. When an axis contains multiple
dimensions, each possible combination of the dimension values appear on
the axis (this is sometimes referred to as a cartesian product).
In the 2D bar chart illustrated below, the X-axis includes the [Year] and
[Quarter] dimensions. Each bar on the chart shows the values for one
combination of year and quarter; for example, 2001/Q1, 2001/Q2, and so
on.
Drilling on report data
Drilling on charts
8
When you drill on an axis value with multiple dimensions, the drilled results
are filtered by both dimensions. For example, in the chart illustrated above,
if you drill down on 2001/Q1 to the next level of data for [Month], the results
displayed on the drilled chart are those for the months in Q1 of 2001.
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Drilling on report data
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Drilling on charts
To drill on a chart axis
1. Verify you are in Drill mode.
2. Place your pointer over the dimension value on which you want to drill.
3. If you want to drill down on the dimension value, click the value. If you
want to drill up on the dimension value, right-click the value then select
Drill Up. If you want to drill down on the dimension value, right-click the
value then select Drill Down. If you want to drill by the dimension value,
right-click the value then select Drill By
Note: Drill by is not available if the axis has multiple dimensions.
Drilling on measures in charts
You can drill on the measures displayed on the following types of chart:
• bar charts – by drilling on the bars
• line and radar line charts – by drilling on the data markers
• pie chart – by drilling on the segments
When you drill on measures, Web Intelligence performs the drill action on
each dimension displayed on the chart axes. The new measure calculations
displayed on the bars or data markers on the drilled chart, correspond to the
lower- or higher-level dimensions to which you drilled. The chart axis labels
display the names of the drilled dimensions.
Example: Analyze detailed information for the sales revenue measure on
a chart
For example, this 3D bar chart displays values for the [State] dimension on
the X-Axis and displays values for the [Lines] dimension on the Z-Axis. This
means that the chart bars display values for sales revenue per state per
line.
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Drilling on report data
Drilling on charts
As the example below shows, when you drill down on the bar for “City
Trousers” in “California” you also drill down from [State] to [City] on the
X-Axis and from [Lines] to [Category] on the Y-Axis.
The drilled chart displays sales revenue per city per category for the “City
Trousers” clothing line.
8
To drill on a measure in a chart
1. Verify you are in Drill mode.
2. Place your pointer on the measure value on which you want to drill.
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Drilling on report data
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Drilling on charts
On charts, each measure is represented by a bar (on bar charts) or by a
data marker (on a line charts and radar line charts).
3. If you want to drill down on the measure value, click the bar or data
marker. If you want to drill up on the measure value, right-click the bar or
data marker, and then click Drill up.
Limitations when drilling measures on charts
When you drill on charts that are not bar charts, Web Intelligence may perform
the drill action only on certain dimensions instead of performing the drill action
on all of the dimensions on the chart axes. When you drill on measures in
the following chart types, Web Intelligence only performs the drill action on
the values in the axis legend:
• area charts – 2D, 3D, and stacked
• radar and scatter charts – all types
Note: You cannot drill on measures in 3D surface charts.
Drilling on axis legends
You can drill on charts via the chart legend whenever the legend lists the
dimensions displayed on the chart. When the chart legend lists the measures
displayed on the chart, drilling on the legend is not possible.
Drilling on a legend is useful, if you are working with a pie chart, because
the axis labels, which display the names of the dimensions represented by
each pie segment, are not often displayed.
Note: You can only Drill by on a chart legend, if there is a single dimension
on the axis.
To drill on an axis legend
1. Verify you are in Drill mode.
2. Place your pointer over the value on which you want to drill.
3. To drill down the dimension value, click the color associated with the
value. To drill up the dimension value, right-click the color associated with
the value, then click Drill up ; or click the Drill Up icon. To drill by the
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dimension value, right-click the color associated with the value, then click
Drill by .
Using filters when you drill
When you drill on a dimension or measure value in a table or chart, Web
Intelligence filters the drilled results by the dimension or measure you drilled
on. The filter is applied to all of the results displayed on the drilled report.
Filters appear as list boxes in the Drill toolbar. Each list box contains the
values associated with that filter. You select the data displayed in a table or
chart by choosing the appropriate values from the list boxes.
Example: Filtering drilled reports by different US states
For example, if you drill down on a table cell displaying “California,” to view
results for cities in California, Web Intelligence filters the values in the entire
report for California and only displays results for California in the report.
By changing the value of each filter, you can then see data for other values
on the drilled dimension. For example, you can select Colorado in the filter
on State.
Drilling on report data
Using filters when you drill
8
Note: If the drilled report includes dimensions from multiple data providers, a
ToolTip appears when you rest your cursor on the value displayed on the filter.
The ToolTip displays the name of the query and the dimension for the value.
To change a filter value on the Drill toolbar
1. Verify you are in Drill mode.
2. In the Drill toolbar, click the drop-down arrow relating to the dimension
you want to filter.
3. Click the value you want.
To add or remove a drill filter
1. Verify you are in Drill mode.
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Saving reports with drill filters
2. Drag the dimension containing the values around which you want to filter
your report and drop it onto the Drill toolbar.
A list box for the new filter appears on the Drill toolbar. You can select a
value from the list of values to filter the results displayed on the drilled
table, chart, or report.
3. To remove a drill filter, drag the dimension away from the Drill toolbar.
Saving reports with drill filters
When you save a document with reports in drill mode, Web Intelligence
maintains any filters that have been generated during drill. When you open
a document saved in drill mode, Web Intelligence displays the Drill toolbar
on the drilled reports showing the filters generated during the last drill session.
Note: Documents saved in drill mode take longer to open than documents
saved in results mode.
Refreshing data in a drilled report with prompts
Some Web Intelligence reports contain prompts. When you refresh the
document, the prompt(s) require(s) you to specify the value(s) you want to
retrieve from the database and return to the report(s) in the document. For
example, a prompt can require you to specify a year, for which you want to
retrieve data. This drilled report shows values for Year 2003 – the year
selected for the prompt.
If the drilled report is filtered for Year 2003, and you then refresh the document
and select year 2002 to answer the prompt, Web Intelligence retrieves results
for 2002 instead of 2003. The drilled report then displays values for 2002.
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Drilling with query drill
Query drill defined
You can set Web Intelligence to drill in query drill mode, which behaves
differently from the standard drill mode described so far in this chapter. When
you activate query drill, Web Intelligence drills by modifying the underlying
query (adding and removing dimensions and query filters) in addition to
applying drill filters.
Example: Drilling down from month to week
n this example, Month is the lowest dimension currently available in the
query from a time hierarchy, and Week is the dimension immediately below
it in the hierarchy.
If you drill down on Month = January, three things happen:
• Web Intelligence adds Week to the query scope of analysis.
• Web Intelligence adds a query filter to restrict Month to January.
• Web Intelligence adds a drill filter to restrict Month to January.
Drilling on report data
Drilling with query drill
8
If you drill up from Week to Month, the process is reversed:
• Web Intelligence removes Week from the query scope of analysis.
• Web Intelligence removes the query filter.
• Web Intelligence removes the drill filter.
Note: Drill filters are not strictly necessary in query drill mode. Web Intelligence
applies them for consistency with standard drill mode. For example, the
DrillFilters function returns the correct value in query drill mode because
Web Intelligence applies drill filters to match the query filters.
When do you use query drill?
You use query drill when your report contains aggregate measures calculated
at the database level. It is designed in particular to provide a drill mode
adapted to databases such as Oracle 9i OLAP, which contain aggregate
functions that Web Intelligence either does not support, or cannot calculate
accurately at the report level during a drill session.
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Drilling on report data
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Drilling with query drill
The kinds of aggregate functions that are candidates for drilling in query drill
mode are: percentages, distinct counts, ranks, standard deviations and
variances, running aggregates, lead and lag functions. Because query drill
modifies the query at each drill operation, it ensures that these aggregates
are recalculated by the server each time you drill.
Query drill is also useful for reducing the amount of data that Web Intelligence
must store locally during a drill session. Because query drill reduces the
scope of analysis when you drill up, Web Intelligence is able to purge
unecessary data.
To activate query drill in Web Intelligence
1. Click Document > Properties on the main toolbar to display the
"Document Properties" dialog box.
2. Select Use query drill.
Drilling down with query drill
When you drill down, query drill behaves similarly to standard drill at the
point where the data moves outside the scope of analysis.
When Web Intelligence filters a drilled dimension in query drill mode it does
so by adding a query filter in addition to a drill filter. For example, if you drill
on Year=2001, Web Intelligence adds a filter at the query level to restrict the
Year dimension to 2001. For this reason, the only value that appears in the
drill toolbar for the drilled dimension is the value on which you drilled (in this
case 2001). This is different from standard drill mode, in which all values of
the dimension are visible in the toolbar. As a result, you cannot change filter
values in query drill mode (for example, drill on Year=2001 then switch to
Year=2003) as you can in standard drill mode.
Because query drill automatically extends the scope of analysis, you can
use it only if your BusinessObjects XI administrator has granted you the the
right to drill outside the scope. See your administrator for more details.
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Drilling up with query drill
When you drill up, query drill removes dimensions from the query. For
example, if you drill up from Month to Quarter, Web Intelligence removes
Month from the query. This has two consequences:
• Query drill is incompatible with drill snapshots. For more information, see
Query drill and drill snapshots on page 85).
• Web Intelligence does not allow you to drill up beyond any dimension
that appears as one of the report objects. For example, if your report
displays Year, Quarter and Revenue, you cannot drill up from Quarter to
Year because this would remove quarter from the list of report objects.
Query drill and drill snapshots
Do not use drill snapshots when working in query drill mode, because query
drill means that snapshots cannot be guaranteed to stay the same.
Drilling on report data
Drilling with query drill
8
In query drill mode, snapshots change when you drill up beyond a dimension
that you included in a snapshot. Because the drill up removes the dimension
from the underlying query, it also removes the dimension from the snapshot.
Query drill and other reports based on the same data provider
If your document contains other reports that contain dimensions on which
you drill in query drill mode, these reports are affected because the query
drill modifies the dimensions they contain.
You can avoid this (at the cost of retrieving duplicate data into Web
Intelligence) by creating a new data provider and rebuilding the other report
against it. Now when you drill in query drill mode, the other report remains
unaffected.
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Drilling with query drill
Example: Drilling on a dimension that appears in another report
If you have two reports based on a query that contains Year, Quarter and
Sales Revenue, and you use query drill to drill down to Year = 2001 on the
first report, Web Intelligence also filters the data for Year in the second
report to include 2001 only.
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Displaying information in tables
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Displaying information in tables
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Tables in Web Intelligence
Tables in Web Intelligence
When you create a new document and run the query the first time to display
the results, Web Intelligence generates a report that includes all of the results
in a vertical table. You can modify how the table is organized, remove or add
data, change the table type to display the results differently or insert other
tables. You can also insert free standing cells to display results in a single
cell.
Table types in Web Intelligence
A Web Intelligence report displays results in a block. You can format the
block as a specific type of table.
Vertical table
Vertical tables display header cells at the top of the table and the
corresponding data in columns. By default, the header cells display the names
of the dimensions, details, and measures included in the table. The body
cells display the corresponding values.
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Horizontal table
Horizontal tables display header cells at the left of the table and the
corresponding data in rows. By default, the header cells display the names
of the dimensions, details, and measures included in the table. The body
cells display the corresponding values.
Crosstab
Crosstabs display values for dimensions across the top axis and on the left
axis. The body displays the values of a measure that correspond to the
cross-section of the dimensions. For example, this crosstab displays values
for [Quarter] across the top axis and displays values for [State] on the left
axis. The body displays values that [Sales Revenue] for each quarter in each
state.
Displaying information in tables
Table types in Web Intelligence
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You can include multiple dimensions in crosstabs. For example, this crosstab
displays two dimensions. The values for the [Sales Revenue] measure are
values each state by quarter for each line.
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Table types in Web Intelligence
When you create crosstabs that include a dimension(s) in the body, the body
cell values are calculated according to a multi-dimensional data model. The
values displayed in the body are calculated according to all of the coordinates
on the table axes, whether or not there is a row for the specific coordinate
in the SQL result.
Forms
Forms are useful in your report if you want to display detailed information
per customer, product, or partner. For example, a form is a useful way of
displaying individual customer records with information such as the customer
account, name, address, and so on.
Forms are also useful for formatting address labels for envelopes.
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Displaying information in tables
Creating, editing and removing tables
Creating, editing and removing tables
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To insert a table in Web Intelligence
1. To display the Document Properties pane, click the Show left pane
arrow at the top left of the report.
2. Select Chart and Table Types from the drop down list in the Document
Properties pane.
The Left panel now displays all the types of tables, charts and free
standing cells that you can add to the report.
3. Select the table type that you want to add to the report in the Left panel
and drag the table onto the report.
4. Right-click the table in the report, select Insert from the menu, then select
New column or New row to add rows or columns to the table.
5. Select Available Objects from the drop-down list at the top of the left
panel.
6. Drag the object that you want to associate with a column to the column
in the report table.
The column is populated with the data from the report object.
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Creating, editing and removing tables
7. Continue dragging objects to table columns until you have associated
objects with all columns.
To name a table in Web Intelligence
1. Select the table, right click, select Format from the menu and then select
Table from the sub menu.
2. Select the General tab on the "Format Table" dialog box.
3. Type the table name in the Name box.
To change the table type using Turn To in Web Intelligence
1. Right-click inside the table and select Turn table to from the menu.
The "Turn To" dialog box appears.
2. Make sure that Tables is selected in the left pane.
3. Select the type of table to which you want to change the current table in
the Available Formats area on the right.
4. Click OK.
Web Intelligence changes the table to the type you selected.
To change the table type using drag and drop in Web Intelligence
1. Make sure that the Document Properties pane is displayed to the left
of the selected report. To display the Document Properties pane, click
the Show left pane arrow at the top left of the report.
2. Select Chart and Table Types from the drop down list at the top of the
Left panel.
3. Select the table type to which you want to change the existing table and
drag it over the existing table.
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Displaying information in tables
Creating, editing and removing tables
To move columns in a table in Web Intelligence
1. Right-click in the table, select Format from the menu, then select Table.
The "Format Table" dialog box appears.
2. Select the Pivot tab.
3. Select objects in the Available Objects area, and click >> to add them
to the table.
4. Select objects in the Column(s) area and click << to remove them from
the table.
5. Drag objects in the Column(s) area to set the order of columns in the
table.
6. Click OK.
To remove a column from a table in Web Intelligence
1. Select the column and right-click.
2. Select Remove from the menu, then select Column.
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To remove a row from a table in Web Intelligence
1. Select the row and right-click.
2. Select Remove from the menu, then select Row.
To add a column to a table in Web Intelligence
1. Select a column in the table and right-click.
2. Select Insert from the menu, select New Column, then select Left or
Right, depending on whether you want to insert the column to the left or
right of the selected column.
To add a row to a table in Web Intelligence
1. Select a row in the table and right-click.
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Creating, editing and removing tables
2. Select Insert from the menu, select New Row, then select Above or
Below, depending on whether you want to insert the row above or below
the selected row.
To move columns in a crosstab in Web Intelligence
1. Select the crosstab.
2. Right-click and select Swap Axis from the menu.
Web Intelligence swaps the rows and columns of the crosstab.
To add objects to a table in Web Intelligence
1. Make sure that the Document Properties pane is displayed to the left
of the selected report. To display the Document Properties pane, click
the Show left pane arrow at the top left of the report.
2. Select Available Objects from the drop down list at the top of the Left
panel.
3. Select the object you want to add and drag it over to the table so that a
red bar appears where you want to place the object.
4. Release the object.
Web Intelligence adds the object to the table.
To clear table or cell contents in Web Intelligence
1. Select the cell or column within a table.
2. Display the Formula bar by selecting View from the menu, then selecting
Toolbars, then Formula.
3. Delete the cell formula in the Formula bar.
Web Intelligence removes the data from the cell(s).
To remove a table in Web Intelligence
1. Select the table.
2. Right-click and select Remove from the menu, then select Table.
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Displaying information in tables
Formatting tables and table cells
Formatting tables and table cells
To copy formatting using the Format Painter
You can quickly apply the formatting from a report, table or cell to other
reports, tables or cells using the Format Painter.
The formatting options applied depend on the objects you choose as the
source and target. In general, only properties that affect the visual formatting
(for example font style, background color) are applied. Properties that affect
the display of data (for example, table properties such as "Avoid duplicate
row aggregation" property) are not applied.
1. Select the report, table or cell whose formatting you want to apply.
2. Click the Format Painter to apply the formatting once, or double-click to
apply the formatting multiple times.
The Format Painter is the button furthest to the right on the Formatting
toolbar.
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3. Click the report, table or cell to which you want to apply the formatting.
Web Intelligence applies the formatting to the report, table or cell you
selected. If you single-clicked the Format Painter, it is deactivated.
If you double-clicked the Format Painter, it remains activated.
4. If you double-clicked, click the Format Painter again or press Esc to cancel
the formatting operation. (You can do this before applying the formatting
for the first time if you decide to abandon the formatting operation.)
To set cell height and width in Web Intelligence
1. Select the cell, right click, select Format from the menu and then select
Cell from the sub menu.
2. Select the General tab in the "Format Cells" dialog box.
3. Check the Specify width check box and enter the width of the cell, or
check Autofit width to set the width of the cell in relation to the cell
content.
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Formatting tables and table cells
4. Check the Specify height check box and enter the height of the cell, or
check Autofit height to set the height of the cell relative to the cell content.
Note: Some Web Intelligence functions are incompatible with AutoFit
cells. If you place any of these functions in an AutoFit cell, Web
Intelligence returns the #RECURSIVE error message as the function
output.
To format text in table cells in Web Intelligence
1. Select the cell, right-click, select Format from the menu then select Cell
from the sub menu.
2. Select the Font tab in the Format Cells dialog box.
3. Use the controls on the Font tab to format the text.
To align cell values in Web Intelligence
1. Select the cell, right click, select Format from the menu and then select
Cell from the sub menu.
2. Select the Alignment tab in the "Format Cells" dialog box.
3. Use the radio buttons to set the horizontal format (left -justified, centered
or right-justified) and the vertical format (top, middle or bottom).
4. To set the vertical and horizontal padding (the distance of the cell content
from the left and top cell borders) enter the padding distances in the
Vertical and Horizontal boxes.
To merge cells in Web Intelligence
1. Multi-select the cells or columns you want to merge by holding down Ctrl
and selecting each cell/column.
2. Select Merge cells.
To format numbers and dates in Web Intelligence
1. Select the cell containing the number or date you want to format.
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Formatting tables and table cells
2. Right-click, select Format from the menu then select Cell from the sub
menu.
The "Format Cells" dialog box appears.
3. Select the format from the list of formats and click OK.
f the cell contains a number, the list of formats contains number formats.
If the cell contains a date, the list of formats contains date formats.
To align a table or cell on a report page in Web Intelligence
1. Select the table, right-click, select Format from the menu then select
Table or Cell from the sub menu.
2. Select the Layout tab in the "Format Table" dialog box or the Alignment
tab in the "Format Cell" dialog box.
3. Select the alignment options.
• For a cell, you use the Alignment section of the dialog box to select
the horizontal and vertical alignment of the cell text.
• For a table, you use the Within the Report section of the dialog box
to select either the absolute or relative position of the left and top of
the table. If you select a relative option you also select the report object
relative to which the table is positioned.
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To format table borders in Web Intelligence
1. Select the cell, right-click, select Format from the menu and then select
Cell from the sub menu.
2. Select the Border tab in the "Format Cells" dialog box.
3. To set the style for all the borders of the selected cell, select the style
from the Settings applied to all borders list.
4. To set the style for each border of the selected cell individually, select
the styles from the four lists in Settings per border.
5. To remove borders, select None in the lists.
6. Click the down arrow beside each drop down list to display the color editor
to choose the border color.
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Formatting tables and table cells
7. Select the color in the Color Editor or click More colors... to display the
Custom Color Picker.
8. Select the color in the Custom Color Picker or enter the red, green and
blue values of the color.
To set the cell background color in Web Intelligence
1. Select the cell, right-click, select Format from the menu and then select
Cell from the sub menu.
2. Select the Font tab in the "Format Cells" dialog box
3. Click the arrow next to Background to display the color editor.
4. Select the color in the color editor or select More colors... to display the
Custom Color Picker. (To remove the color, select Default in the color
editor.)
5. Select the color in the Custom Color Picker or enter the red, green and
blue values of the color.
To insert an image in a table in Web Intelligence
1. Select the table, right-click, select Format from the menu then select
Table from the sub menu.
2. Select the Appearance tab in the "Format Table" dialog box.
3. Click Image URL.
4. Type the file name in the Image from URL box (Web Intelligence inserts
the HTML tag boimg:// before the file name and links to the image file
on a corporate web server), or type the web server URL followed by the
file name of the image file (the URL and file name must not include
spaces).
5. To specify an image on the file system, select Image from file, then click
Add and browse to the image file.
6. Click the arrow to the right of the Display drop-down list box, and then
select how you want the image to be displayed
If you selected Normal as the image display format, you can specify how
you want the image to be vertically and horizontally aligned by clicking
the arrows in the list boxes next to Position and selecting the appropriate
vertical and horizontal position.
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Displaying information in tables
Formatting tables and table cells
To display a skin in a table in Web Intelligence
1. Select the table, right-click, select Format from the menu and then select
Table from the sub menu.
2. Select the Appearance tab in the Format Table dialog box.
3. Click Skin then select the skin from the list of server skins in the
drop-down list next to the Skin radio button.
4. Type the skin spacing and padding in the Spacing and Padding boxes.
To layer tables and cells
Layering determines how tables and cells appear when they occupy the
same space in a report. An object further forward in the layering order appears
over an object further backward in the layering order.
1. Select the table or cell whose layer you want to set.
2. Right-click, click Order and click the layering option.
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Bring to front
Send to back
Bring forward
Send backward
DescriptionOption
Make the table or cell the first object in the layering order.
Make the table or cell the last object in the layering order.
Bring the table or cell one layer forward in the
layering order.
Send the table or cell one layer backward in the
layering order.
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Determining how tables display data
Determining how tables display data
Showing or hiding empty tables, rows or columns
Sometimes tables or specific rows and columns display no values. For
example, if a sales of a specific product are discontinued, table rows or
columns that normally show results for that product appear empty. By default,
Web Intelligence displays such empty rows, columns, or tables. You can
choose to display or hide empty tables, rows or columns.
To show or hide empty tables, rows or columns in Web Intelligence
1. Select the cell, right-click, select Format from the menu and then select
Table from the sub menu.
2. Select the General tab on the "Format Table" dialog box.
3. To hide empty rows, uncheck Show empty rows.
4. To hide empty columns, uncheck Show empty columns.
5. To hide the entire table if it is empty, uncheck Show table when empty.
Aggregating duplicate rows
When rows contain duplicate data, Web Intelligence aggregates measure
values by default.
To avoid duplicate row aggregation in Web Intelligence
1. Select the cell, right click, select Format from the menu and then select
Table from the sub menu.
2. Select the General tab on the "Format Table" dialog box.
3. Uncheck Avoid duplicate row aggregation.
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