Creating Freeform Grids

  To create a freeform grid:

1. Start Web Analysis Studio.

2. Perform one:

   • Select File, then New, then Document.

   • Click .

   • Click , and select Document.

   • In the View Pane Browser tab, right-click a document and select Edit.

   • Press Ctrl+N.

     The Document Designer is displayed.

3. Drag the Freeform Grid icon from the component toolbar to a document panel.

   An empty freeform grid and the Set Grid Size dialog box are displayed. Note that the grid can consists of only row and column axes.

4. Enter the number of rows in Number of Rows.

5. Enter the number of columns in Number of Columns.

6. Click OK.

   The grid is reset to the indicated number of rows and columns.

7. Optional: To move the freeform grid object, click and drag the component with the Move cursor to another location on the document panel.

   The conventional cursor is transformed into the Move cursor when it is floated over a selected component. Be careful not to drag over a blue selection handle, as this resizes the component instead of moving it.

8. Optional: To resize the freeform grid object, click and drag the blue selection handles on the sides and corners of the selected grid component.

9. Optional: To anchor the freeform grid object to document panel borders, right-click the component and select Anchor, and an anchor option: Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Slack, None.

   The Anchor property orients selected components to an edge of the panel containing them. Using Slack, you can realign objects to occupy empty space. It is best to design documents in terms of container panels and orient components relative to these panels. Components that are placed with an absolute alignment in the context of the main document panel, maintain their position even as other components fluctuate. This may cause the overlapping and shifting of components.

10. When the custom document is laid out correctly, click Analyze.

    The remaining customization is done in the Analyze interface.

    Data sources are anchored at cells in a freeform grid. This is done by selecting a cell and composing a query.

11. To specify an OLAP or Oracle | Hyperion data source, perform these tasks:

    1. Right-click a cell and select Add Data Source.

       The Select Data Source dialog box is displayed.

    2. You can select a database connection, or select <Add Data Source> to define a database connection, and click OK.

       1. If you selected <Add Data Source>, the Open dialog box is displayed. Select a database connection, and click OK. The Data Layout dialog box is displayed, so that you can create a query for the selected cell. Assign dimensions to axes, make members selections, and click OK.

          Note that you cannot page dimension member selections assigned to the Pages axis, unless you create a subscription control using a matching data source and page dimensions.

       2. If you selected a database connection, the cell is populated based on the selected database connection.

12. To specify a relational data source:

    1. Right-click a cell and select Add SQL Query.

       The Enter SQL Query dialog box is displayed.

    2. Enter the JDBC connection information, log on credentials, query governor parameters and SQL statement, and click OK. See Creating SQL Spreadsheets.

       The query is submitted to the corresponding data source, and the result set origin is displayed at the origin of the selection set.

13. To manually enter data values in the freeform grid, click a cell and enter text.

    See Formatting Freeform Grids and Creating Formulas for Freeform Grids.