Create a Subject Area

Manually create a subject area when you can't drag and drop a business model from the logical layer to the presentation layer.

You use logical content from a single business model to build the subject area. Subject areas can't span business models.

The subject area's specified implicit fact column is added to a query when it contains columns from two or more dimension tables and no measures. The column isn't visible in the results. It's used to specify a default join path between dimension tables when there are several possible alternatives or contexts.

You can select the Hide if field and write an expression to hide a subject area. See Write an Expression to Hide a Presentation Object.

Semantic Modeler doesn't create an alias when you change a subject area's name. If you need to track a subject area's previous names, then Oracle recommends that you use the Alternative Names field to create and manage alternative names for the subject. For more information about alternative names, see About Alternative Names for Presentation Objects.

  1. On your home page, click Navigator Navigator icon and then click Semantic Models.
  2. In the Semantic Models page, click a semantic model to open it.
  3. Click Presentation Layer Presentation layer icon.
  4. Click Create Create icon and then click Create Subject Area.
  5. In Create Subject Area, go to the Name field and enter a subject area name.
  6. Go to Business Model and select the business model to associate with the subject area.
  7. Click OK.
  8. In the subject area, click General to set the subject area's general properties.
  9. Optional: In the Description field, enter a description that is displayed when a user creating visualizations or analyses hovers over the subject area in the data sources list.
  10. Optional: In the Implicit Fact Column field and click Select to browse for and select the fact column you want to use.
  11. In the Alternative Names field, enter an alternative name for the subject area.
  12. Optional: Select the Hide if field and provide an expression that controls whether the subject area is available to users when they create visualizations and analyses.
  13. Click Save.