Work with Subject Areas

In the Presentation layer, subject areas enable you to show different views of a business model to different sets of users.

Populate subject areas using the contents from a single business model. Subject areas can't span business models.

Subject areas are created automatically by dragging and dropping business models from the logical layer.

Aliases are created automatically whenever presentation objects are renamed, so that any queries using the original name don't break.

• See Set Permissions for Presentation Layer Objects.

• See Localize Oracle Analytics Server in Administering Oracle Analytics Server.

• See Control Presentation Object Visibility and Create Aliases (Synonyms) for Presentation Layer Objects.

1. In the Presentation layer, double-click a subject area.
2. In the General tab, you can change the name for the subject area.
3. To set permissions for this subject area, click Permissions.
4. Select Custom display name to dynamically display a name based on a session variable and to edit the Translation Key field. Select Custom description to dynamically display a custom description based on a session variable.

   These options are used typically for localization purposes. When you externalize strings in the Presentation layer and run the Externalize Strings utility, the results contain the session variable information and the translation key.

5. The Business model list displays the business model for this subject area.
6. Select the option Export logical keys to expose the logical keys to other applications.

   In most situations, this option should be selected. Many client tools differentiate between key and non-key columns, and the option Export logical keys provides client tools access to the key column metadata. Any join conditions the client tool adds to the query, however, are ignored, because the Oracle BI Server uses the joins defined in the repository.

   If you're using a tool that issues parameterized SQL queries, such as Microsoft Access, don't select the Export logical keys option. Not exporting logical keys stops the tool from issuing parameterized queries.

7. Optional: Set an Implicit Fact Column.
   This 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.
8. Optional: Specify an expression in the Hide object if field that controls whether this subject area is visible in the Subject Area Tree in Answers and BI Composer. Leave this field blank (the default) to show the object.
9. Optional: Type a description. This description appears in a mouse-over tool tip for the subject area in Answers .
10. In the Presentation Tables tab, you can add, remove, edit, or reorder the presentation tables for this subject area.
11. Use the Aliases tab to specify or delete aliases for this subject area.
12. Click OK.