Creating Analyses and Building Dashboards ( part 5 )

Lab 4: Working with Other View Types

You have learned about creating the following views:

• Titles
• Table
• Pivot Table
• Graph

In this topic, you create a Narrative view, a Column Selector view, and a View Selector view. You also create a Trellis chart.

Creating a Narrative View

You create a Narrative view to provide information such as context, explanatory text, or extended descriptions along with column values for an analysis. You can include values from attribute, hierarchical, and measure columns. If you want to include hierarchy levels in a Narrative view, use selection steps to display the levels. The Narrative view is a combination of text and query column values.

To add a Narrative view, perform the following steps:

1 .	To create a meaningful Narrative view, begin by creating a new analysis that includes a calculated item. a. Create an analysis as you did above, including the following columns: Folder Columns Customers C50 Region Customers C0 Customer Number Customers C1 Customer Name Base Facts 4-Paid Amount Base Facts 3-Discount Amount b. Change the properties of 4 - Paid Amount and 3 - Discount Amount to include dollar signs, commas, and two decimal places. The properties should look like this: c. Add a filter to C50 Region and select only the Americas region and save the filter as AMERICAS only.
2 .	a. Add 3 - Discount Amount to the Criteria tabbed page a second time. The Selected Columns within the Criteria tabbed page should look like this: b. Edit the Column Properties for the duplicate 3 - Discount Amount column. Click More Options for this duplicate column and select Column Properties. c. Select the Column Format tabbed page, and select the check box for Custom Headings. Enter Discnt Pct to Paid Amt in the Column Heading text box. d. Using the Data Format tabbed page, format the data for this column as a percentage with two decimal places and then click OK. The Selected Columns should look like this:
3 .	a. Click More Options for Discnt Pct to Paid Amt and select Edit Formula. The Edit Column Formula dialog box appears: b. Enter the following formula in the Column Formula text box. ("Base Facts"."3- Discount Amount"/"Base Facts"."4- Paid Amount")*100 Hint: You can copy the line of code and paste it in the Column Formula text box. The Edit Column Formula dialog box should look like this: c. Click OK.
4 .	a. Select the Results tabbed page and remove the Title view from the Compound Layout. b. Click the Edit View icon to open the Table editor. c. Click the More Options icon for C50 Region and select Hidden to hide the column. d. Click Done to review your results. The Table view should look like this: e. Save the analysis as Customer Discounts by Region.
5 .	To add the Narrative view perform the following steps: a. Click the New View icon on the toolbar and select Other Views > Narrative. b. Drag the Narrative view above the Table view. c. Click the Edit View icon for the Narrative view.
6 .	The Narrative editor appears. You use the Prefix text box to enter the header for the narrative. This text is displayed at the beginning of the narrative. You use the Narrative text box to enter the narrative text that will appear for each row in the results. You can include both text and column values. Include a line-break code at the end of this field to force each line of text and values onto its own line. To include values, use the at sign (@) by itself to indicate the first column. If you include multiple signs, then the first occurrence of the sign corresponds to the first column, the second occurrence corresponds to the second column, and so on. You use the @ sign to include the results from the designated column in the narrative. You use the "Row separator" text box to enter a row separator for each line from the Narrative field that contains values. For example you might enter a string of plus signs (+) between each line. You use the "Rows to display" text box to enter the number of rows from the column to return. For example, enter 5 to display values from the first 5 rows of the column. For a hierarchical column, you can use selection steps to display hierarchy levels with the hierarchical column. A hierarchy level is considered a row. You use the Postfix text box to enter the footer text to appear at the bottom of the narrative. To display the footer information on a separate line from the actual narrative text, include markup tags in the Postfix field. Ensure that the narrative ends in a line break, or that the footer begins with a line break. The toolbar allows you to use HTML code and markup to enhance the narrative. b. In the Prefix text box, enter This analysis shows the discount percentage for each customer within the , ensuring that you leave a single space following the last word. c. In the Narrative text box, enter @1, where the number "1" represents the first column in the analysis (C50 Region). Then, select the @1 that you entered and click the bold icon. d. In the Postfix text box, enter region., ensuring that you include a space before region and a period after region. e. Enter 1 in the "Rows to display" text box. Notice that a preview is provided at the bottom of the editor.
7 .	Click Done and save your analysis. The Compound Layout should look like this: This concludes the topic of creating a narrative view.

Creating Column Selector and View Selector Views

A Column Selector view adds a column selector to the results. A column selector is a drop-down list from which users can dynamically change the columns that display in results. This will allow you to analyze data along several dimensions. By changing the measure columns, you can dynamically alter the content of the analyses you have created.

To create a Column Selector and View Selector views, perform the following steps:

1 .	a. Open the Regional Revenue analysis in the Analysis Editor. The Results tabbed page appears. b. Click the New View icon and select Other Views > Column Selector.
2 .	The Column Selector view appears. Drag the Column Selector view above the Title view. Click the Edit View icon for the Column Selector view. The Column Selector editor appears.
3 .	a. Select the Include Selector C50 Region check box. b. In the Label (optional) Choices text box, enter Choose a column:. c. With Column still selected, double-click the following columns to add to the selector: P4 Brand, P3 LOB, and P2 Product Type. d. Click Done. The Compound Layout appears:
4 .	a. Click the Column Selector drop-down list and select P3 LOB: b. The values change appropriately. Note, however, that because you set a custom heading for the C50 Region column earlier, the custom heading is still displayed for the column. c. Save the analysis.
5 .	Now you will add the View Selector view. A View Selector view provides a drop-down list from which users can select a specific view of analysis results from among saved views. A View Selector view is analogous to a storage container, because it holds other views that have been selected in the editor for display. a. Perform these steps before adding the View Selector view: Delete the Title view from the Compound Layout. Set the Column Selector to display the C50 Region column, which is the default. Then delete the Column Selector view from the Compound Layout. Add a Graph view - Vertical Bar graph. These changes will allow you to showcase the analytic data-driven views. Regional Revenue should look like this:
6 .	a. Click the New View icon on the toolbar and select Other Views > View Selector. b. Drag the View Selector view to the right of the Table view. c. Click the Edit View icon for the View Selector view.
7 .	a. The View Selector editor appears.In the Caption text box, enter Choose a view:. b. In the Available Views list, select the Table and Graph views and click the shuttle icon to move them to the Views Included list. A preview appears at the bottom of the editor. Note that these views are data-driven views, unlike the Column Selector and Title views, which were deleted from the Compound Layout. c. Click Done.
8 .	The Compound Layout should look like this when the Graph view is selected: Do not save your changes to the analysis.