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jwilk
10-Dec-2013, 04:59 AM
How do we create custom fields / columns for use in doing sums and averages?

Bob Cergol
10-Dec-2013, 08:55 AM
I suggest you search the documentation for the word "formula".

Also the document DAI_Release_6.4.pdf gives lots of information about "on report" calculations using the point-and-click formula editor. Also information about cross-report calculations, etc.

Making an extra column or "+column" in a report is one of the most basic and common things done in report design and/or in the data dictionary. Searches for these terms in the doc will intersect with searches on "formula".

I highly recommend at least skimming, if not reading every page, in the server manual cover-to-cover. Ditto for the 6.4 release document and the Dynamic AI Revision Changes.pdf" document. All of these have been mentioned in a post answering another of your questions and pointing you to the sticky "resources" post.

Also several videos demonstrate making formula columns, and I think there are other forum posts showing specific examples.

Regards,
Bob

jwilk
10-Dec-2013, 01:12 PM
No Bob. A formulae will not work. If you read what was said the extra columns are calculated on the fly from data in the table.

We do not want to do a basic report as per your examples. This is a complex report and exactly what a BI Tool is for. If the tool is not capable of doing the job then it is not a BI tool.

Garret Mott
10-Dec-2013, 01:36 PM
No Bob. A formulae will not work. If you read what was said the extra columns are calculated on the fly from data in the table.

Isn't that exactly what formulas are?

Bob Cergol
10-Dec-2013, 02:47 PM
John,

BI tools, among other things, are all about aggregations of measures across various dimensions and Dynamic AI excels at doing that -- largely without requiring any programming.

Dynamic AI operates on 2-dimensional result sets. While it can do an impressive array of reporting directly from simple tables or joins -- sometimes you do indeed have to make complex views to "flatten" your data. I think this is not unique to Dynamic AI, and in fact is common to virtually any reporting system -- and it is why end-users need knowledgeable developers to get involved in making really complex reports. (I don't agree that all of the examples are simple or basic.)

I don't think it is so hard to use a sub-select in a view to bring some aggregation up to the level of another column in your result set. I suspect that is what you need to do, and/or use key figures to build formulas on top of totals in your report. As mentioned in the duplicate thread you started on this same question, key figures are not going to display as grand column totals across the last row of your report. They will show stacked on the left side at the bottom with the label and formatting you assign them. I've also used dashboard/packages to combine multiple reports, sharing common filters, to display what cannot be contained in a single report.

You've barely started using this tool and I think if you just spend a little time working with it, in a logical progression of understanding it's different capabilities, you'll find the scope of what it can handle is large. The learning curve is quick and gentle -- but there is a learning curve.

Regards,
Bob

Bob Cergol
11-Dec-2013, 08:47 AM
For the benefit of others reading this thread please also see the "duplicate" thread: http://support.dataaccess.com/Forums/showthread.php?52339-Custom-Fields-Columns which gives more information on this subject.