Oracle^® Business Intelligence Answers, Delivers, and Interactive Dashboards User Guide > Formatting Results in Oracle BI Answers > Using Column Formatting Functions in Oracle BI Answers >

Editing the Layout of Column Contents in Oracle BI Answers

Use the Column Format tab of the Column Properties dialog box to perform the following tasks:

• Specify whether the column should appear in results.

  Columns are usually visible in results by default. However, you may want to include a column in your request that you do not want displayed in results, such as a column used in creating a filter.

• Assign alternate table and column headings and apply custom formatting to them.
• Include the TimeZone icon. When you included this icon on a date/time column, a clock icon is displayed on a time zone header in a table or pivot view. The user can click this icon to view the name of the display time zone used in the column.
• Control the display of duplicate data such as repeating column labels.

  The data in one column of a table may be repeated in relation to rows of data in other columns in the table. For example, if one column lists customer names and another column lists the regions those customers are in, the region data could be repeated for each customer row. You can choose to display duplicate data only once, or display it for every row. Displaying repeating or duplicated data only once can make a table somewhat easier to read, and can make distinctions in that data more apparent.

• Specify the interaction that should occur when users work with the results, such as navigation to other requests or dashboards.

Your selections apply only to the contents of the column for the request with which you are working.

To hide a column in results

1. In Oracle BI Answers, click the Properties button for a column to open the Column Properties dialog box, and then click the Column Format tab.
2. Click the Hide Column check box to add a check mark.

To create custom table and column headings

1. In Oracle BI Answers, click the Properties button for a column to open the Column Properties dialog box, and then click the Column Format tab.
2. In the Headings area, click the Custom Headings check box.

   This allows you to change the heading text or the heading formatting (or both the text and the formatting).

3. To change the text of the table or column heading, type a new heading into the appropriate text box.

   The heading will be used in this request instead of the default heading.

   NOTE:  You can also specify navigation to other requests or dashboards in the Column Heading Interaction and Value Interaction areas. For more information, see To specify what happens when users click the column.

4. To change the format of the table or column heading, click the Edit Format button next to the text box.

   The Edit Format dialog box appears.

5. Make your choices for font, cell, border, and advanced style formatting options.

   For more information, see Formatting Column Content In Oracle BI Answers and Applying Cosmetic Formatting to Results and Dashboards.

To include the TimeZone icon

After you complete this task, the TimeZone icon will appear within the column. The user can click the TimeZone icon to view the name of the display time zone.

1. In Oracle BI Answers, click the Properties button for a column to open the Column Properties dialog box, and then click the Column Format tab.
2. In the Headings area, click the Show TimeZone icon.

To suppress duplicate data

1. In Oracle BI Answers, click the Properties button for a column to open the Column Properties dialog box, and then click the Column Format tab.
2. In the Value Suppression area, choose the appropriate option:
   • To display repeating data only once and suppress duplicate rows, click Suppress.
   • To display repeating data for every row, click Repeat.
   • To retain the default display characteristics, click Default.

To specify what happens when users click the column

1. In Oracle BI Answers, click the Properties button for a column to open the Column Properties dialog box, and then click the Column Format tab.
2. To specify what should happen when users click the column, click the appropriate option:
   • To restore the default interaction, click Default.
   • To allow drilldown functionality, click Drill.
   • To allow navigation to other saved requests or dashboards (when a user clicks on a column heading or a column value):
   1. Select Navigate from the Type drop-down list (in the Column Heading Interaction area or the Value Interaction area), and click the Add Navigation Target button.

      Target and Caption fields are displayed.

   2. Click the Browse button to open the Choose Request/Dashboard dialog box, navigate to the request or dashboard, and click OK to select the target.
   3. (Optional) Enter caption text in the Caption field.

      Caption text is displayed when the user clicks on the column header or the column value within the report.

      When no text is entered in the Caption field, the title of the target report or dashboard is displayed as the caption.

   4. To allow navigation to multiple saved requests or dashboards, click the Add Navigation Target button, and repeat the previous steps.
   5. Click OK to save your changes.

      When a user views a report and clicks on a column header or a column value, the following rules apply:

      • If multiple navigation paths exist to other saved requests or dashboards, a pop-up window displays a caption for each request/dashboard. The user should click a caption to navigate to the required request/dashboard.
      • If only a single navigation path exists, the request/dashboard is displayed.
   • To disable drilling or navigation, click No Interaction.
   • To add the write-back capability, click Write Back.