Set Properties for Columns

When you build an analysis, you can edit column properties to control the look and feel of the column. For example, you can specify that values in the Revenue column are displayed with two decimal places and a dollar sign.

1. Open the analysis for editing.
2. In the Selected Columns pane, click Options beside the column name, and then select Column Properties.
   
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3. Specify how you want column values to be displayed.
4. Format column headings and custom text, and add data display conditions.
5. Specify what action you want to happen when a user clicks a column heading or value.
6. Set default column formatting.
7. Click OK.

Apply Formatting to Content

You can apply basic formatting to values in many types of content including columns, views, and dashboard page sections.

For example, you might want region names in a column to be displayed as Arial 14 point and red. You might also want state names to be displayed as Calibri 12 point and blue.

1. In the Selected Columns pane, click Options beside the column name, and then select Column Properties.
2. Specify the style characteristics of the column such as font, cell alignment, and border.
   
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3. Click OK.

Format Columns

When you create an analysis, you can edit properties for columns to control their appearance and layout. You can also specify formatting to apply only if the contents of the column meet certain conditions.

For example, you can specify that values that exceed $1 million in the Revenue column are displayed with a green background.

1. In the Selected Columns pane, click Options beside the column name, and then select Column Properties.
2. In the Column Properties dialog, click the Column Format tab.
3. To hide the column in the analyses without affecting value aggregation, select the Hide check box.
   For example, you might want to build an analysis that includes only Illinois customers. You can hide the Customers.State column because you only added this column for filtering purposes.
4. To enter your own values in the Folder Heading and Column Heading fields, select Custom Headings . You can use these fields to reference variables and format the heading values. These values identify the column in the analysis.
5. If you have administrator privileges and want to customize headings with HTML markup, including JavaScript, select Custom Heading, then select Contains HTML Markup, and then enter the HTML markup you want to apply.
6. To affect the display of repeating data values for the column, select one of the Value Suppression options.
   When the same value occurs in multiple consecutive rows, you can specify to show that value only once.
7. To override the default display of data for the column, click the Data Format tab.
   The options on the tab differ depending on the data type.
8. To specify if column values are displayed in a certain way based on certain criteria, click the Conditional Format tab. Conditional formats can include colors, fonts, images, and so on, for the data and for the cell that contains the data. You can’t apply conditional formatting to the data cell background or font color in a heat matrix.
9. Click Add Condition, and then select a column.
   
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10. Select an operator such as is equal to / is in or is greater than.
11. Specify a value for the operator by either entering a value directly (such as 1000000) or by selecting a value from the list.
12. Optional: Click Add More Options to add a variable to the condition.
13. Specify the formatting to apply when the condition is true.
14. Click OK.

General Custom Format Strings

You can use general custom format strings to create custom time or date formats.

The table shows the general custom format strings and the results that they display. These allow the display of date and time fields in the user's locale.

General Format String	Result
[FMT:dateShort]	Formats the date in the locale's short date format. You can also type [FMT:date].
[FMT:dateLong]	Formats the date in the locale's long date format.
[FMT:dateInput]	Formats the date in a format acceptable for input back into the system.
[FMT:time]	Formats the time in the locale's time format.
[FMT:timeHourMin]	Formats the time in the locale's time format but omits the seconds.
[FMT:timeInput]	Formats the time in a format acceptable for input back into the system.
[FMT:timeInputHourMin]	Formats the time in a format acceptable for input back into the system, but omits the seconds.
[FMT:timeStampShort]	Equivalent to typing [FMT:dateShort] [FMT:time]. Formats the date in the locale's short date format and the time in the locale's time format. You can also type [FMT:timeStamp].
[FMT:timeStampLong]	Equivalent to typing [FMT:dateLong] [FMT:time]. Formats the date in the locale's long date format and the time in the locale's time format.
[FMT:timeStampInput]	Equivalent to [FMT:dateInput] [FMT:timeInput]. Formats the date and the time in a format acceptable for input back into the system.
[FMT:timeHour]	Formats the hour field only in the locale's format, such as 8 PM.
YY or yy	Displays the last two digits of the year, for example 11 for 2011.
YYY or yyy	Displays the last three digits of the year, for example, 011 for 2011.
YYYY or yyyy	Displays the four-digit year, for example, 2011.
M	Displays the numeric month, for example, 2 for February.
MM	Displays the numeric month, padded to the left with zero for single-digit months, for example, 02 for February.
MMM	Displays the abbreviated name of the month in the user's locale, for example, Feb.
MMMM	Displays the full name of the month in the user's locale, for example, February.
D or d	Displays the day of the month, for example, 1.
DD or dd	Displays the day of the month, padded to the left with zero for single-digit days, for example, 01.
DDD or ddd	Displays the abbreviated name of the day of the week in the user's locale, for example, Thu for Thursday.
DDDD or dddd	Displays the full name of the day of the week in the user's locale, for example, Thursday.
DDDDD or ddddd	Displays the first letter of the name of the day of the week in the user's locale, for example, T for Thursday.
r	Displays the day of year, for example, 1.
rr	Displays the day of year, padded to the left with zero for single-digit day of year, for example, 01.
rrr	Displays the day of year, padded to the left with zero for single-digit day of year, for example, 001.
w	Displays the week of year, for example, 1.
ww	Displays the week of year, padded to the left with zero for single-digit weeks, for example, 01.
q	Displays the quarter of year, for example, 4.
h	Displays the hour in 12-hour time, for example 2.
H	Displays the hour in 24-hour time, for example, 23.
hh	Displays the hour in 12-hour time, padded to the left with zero for single-digit hours, for example, 01.
HH	Displays the hour in 24-hour time, padded to the left with zero for single digit hours, for example, 23.
m	Displays the minute, for example, 7.
mm	Displays the minute, padded to the left with zero for single-digit minutes, for example, 07.
s	Displays the second, for example, 2. You can also include decimals in the string, such as s.# or s.00 (where # means an optional digit, and 0 means a required digit).
ss	Displays the second, padded to the left with zero for single-digit seconds, for example, 02. You can also include decimals in the string, such as ss.# or ss.00 (where # means an optional digit, and 0 means a required digit).
S	Displays the millisecond, for example, 2.
SS	Displays the millisecond, padded to the left with zero for single-digit milliseconds, for example, 02.
SSS	Displays the millisecond, padded to the left with zero for single-digit milliseconds, for example, 002.
tt	Displays the abbreviation for ante meridiem or post meridiem in the user's locale, for example, pm.
gg	Displays the era in the user's locale.

Make Your Analyses Dynamic

You can specify what you want to happen when a user clicks a column heading or value in an analysis. For example, you could specify that when a user clicks the Product column value, it drills down into the data that was summed to create the column value.

Topics:

• Add Interactivity to Analyses

• Make Interactions Available

Add Interactivity to Analyses

You can make views more interactive by adding interactions that are available to users who left-click in a view or right-click to display a popup menu. For example, you might specify the default primary interaction (the left-click action) for a geographical region column as Drill. This enables users to drill down to sub-regions.

For hierarchical data, the default left-click interaction is to drill down to detail in the data. You can add right-click options that display a web page or link to a view.

1. Open the analysis for editing.
2. In the Selected Columns pane, click Options beside the column name, and then select Column Properties.
3. In the Column Properties dialog, click the Interaction tab.
   You can specify interactions for the column heading and data values.
4. Click Primary Interaction next to Column Heading or Value and select the behavior you want. For example, select None to disable the action or select Drill to display more detail.
   • Use None to disable all interactions on the column.
   • Use Drill to display a deeper level of detailed content if the data is hierarchical. If no hierarchy is configured for the column, then drilling isn’t enabled.
   • Use Action Links to opens a web page or navigates to supporting BI content.
   • Use Send Master-Detail Events to connect views so that one view drives changes in one or more other views.
5. Click OK.

   You can specify the interactions that are available at runtime when you right-click a dashboard column or data cell. Here’s an example of the available interactions when you right-click a product name in the Products column. This column is in a Top Product Performers Based on Revenue table.

   
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   Of the selections shown, you can set Drill, Create Group, and Create Calculated Item.

Make Interactions Available

When you add interactions to analyses, you then make those interactions available to others in popup menus.

1. Open the analysis for editing.
2. Click either the Criteria tab or the Results tab.
3. Click Edit Analysis Properties on the toolbar.
4. Click the Interactions tab.
   
   

   
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5. Select the interactions that you want to make available for that analysis.
6. Click OK.

Set Default Formats for Your System

If you have the appropriate privileges, then you can save the formatting of a column as default formatting. When you set a system-wide default, it can provide users with a more consistent experience and save them time when working with analyses.

For example, you might set Times New Roman as the system-wide default for text columns.

A best practice is to change the default value rather than overriding the default with specific values.

1. Open an analysis for editing.
2. In the Selected Columns pane, click Options beside the column name, and then select Column Properties.
3. In the Column Properties dialog, specify how you want columns to be formatted by default.
4. Click Save as Default.
5. Click OK.