1. Visualizing Data and Building Reports in Oracle Analytics Cloud
  2. Visualize Data
  3. Create and Use Parameters
  4. About Parameter Properties

About Parameter Properties

How and where you want to use a parameter in the workbook determines the properties that you set for it. For example, you might set different properties for a parameter that you want to use as a filter control versus a parameter that you want to use in an expression.

These are the properties that you can set when you create or modify a parameter:

Data Type

Specifies the kind of data the parameter contains and the values or range of values that the parameter accepts. The data type is also used to validate that the parameter is compatible and any expressions are generated correctly for the location where you use the parameter.

Allow Multi Select

Determines if the parameter can accept a single initial value or multiple initial values.

After you enable multiple values, you use the Initial Value field to specify more than one initial values or write a SQL expression to provide initial values. When your parameter includes multiple initial values and you use the parameter as a filter control, the user can choose one or more initial values.

Alias

Provides an override display value for the data element or key value passed by the parameter.

Many datasets use unfriendly names for the data elements. Use an alias to help users understand what the data element is. For example, instead of LST_OR_DT, you can create an alias "Last Order Date" to make the data element name user-friendly.

Use aliases to provide more familiar, user-friendly names for users to choose from filter controls. For example, for a data value of 1, you can provide an alias of East Sales Region, and for a data value of 2, you can provide an alias of West Sales Region.

For data actions, use aliases in a parameter to pass a key value and display value. Then when the target workbook applies the incoming parameter values, it also applies the incoming display values for each incoming key value.

Format Numbers

Determines if the parameter's numeric values contain the thousands and decimal formats. This option is available for Integer and Double data types.

When Format Numbers is toggled to on, parameter values use number formatting determined by the browser's language setting, for example, 12,500 or 12.500.

When Format Numbers is toggled to off, parameter values contains no number formatting, for example, 12500.

Available Values

Specifies the list of values that the parameter can hold. A parameter's available values are any, value, column, a Logical SQL query, and a range of values.

  • Select Any to allow users to enter any value supported by the data type.

  • Select Value to provide one or more values that the user can choose from. If Allow Multiple Values is enabled, then users can choose more than one value.

  • Select Column to choose a column from which to fetch a list of values. When you select this option, the column selection field displays a tree of all of the workbook's datasets or subject area columns and any calculations in the workbook's My Calculations folder.

  • Select Logical SQL Query to enter a Logical SQL expression to return one or more available values. You can reference other parameters within the Logical SQL expression. After you enter a Logical SQL expression, you can click the Validate icon to validate the expression.

  • Select Range to provide start and end values to limit the value a user can choose from.

Enforce Validation

When you create or modify a parameter, this option checks the parameter's initial value or values against the list of available values.

At runtime, this option validates that the specified parameter value or values is included in the list of available values.

At design time, if in the Available Values field you select Value, enabling the Enforce Validation option provides the available values list in the Initial Value field.

Initial Value

The initial value is the parameter's default value that is applied and displayed when the user opens the workbook.

  • Select Value and leave the value field blank when you don't want to apply a default initial parameter value. If you don't specify an initial value, then all values are used.

  • Select Value and specify a value that you want to apply as the default initial parameter value. Note the following:

    • If you selected Allow Multi Select, you can specify more than one initial value.

    • If you selected Enforce Validation, you can select from the values specified in the Available Values field.

  • Select First Available Value to apply and display the first value in the parameter's value list as the default initial value. If you're working with an attribute column that contains letters, then the first value is determined by the list returned by the Logical SQL expression. The returned list is always in alphabetical order.

  • Select Logical SQL Query to enter a Logical SQL statement to dynamically fetch a list of values from the data source. You can reference other parameters within the Logical SQL expression. After you enter a Logical SQL expression, you can click the Validate icon to validate the expression.