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Getting Started

Tutorial Scenario: Overview

This tutorial shows you how to build, format, and customize Oracle Business
Intelligence queries and format and customize requests and Interactive Dashboards.
It covers how to use Oracle Business Intelligence Answers to create queries, format
views, charts, and add user interactivity and dynamic content to enhance the user
experience. You create queries and work with views including charts, pivot tables, and
narratives. You then create selectors to drive interactivity in your Business Intelligence
requests, and build a custom Dashboard to contain the requests and views you've
created. Finally, you work with dashboard prompts to filter your dashboard and
populate variables.
The dashboard you build in this tutorial charts sales for the last 12 months by channel,
country region, and product category and provides trend analysis data as well as
narrative highlights of categories that have declined in sales in the last month.

The Business Problem

This chapter contains the following sections:

Tutorial Scenario: Overview

Restoring Business Intelligence Presentation Catalog and Updating Metadata

Creating a Query and a Chart

Working With a Pivot Table

Creating a Narrative View

Creating Column Selectors and View Selectors

Creating an Interactive Dashboard

Using Dashboard Prompts

Summary

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Restoring the Business Intelligence Presentation Catalog and Updating

Metadata
In this topic you update the Presentation catalog and copy the repository to prepare
the environment for the rest of the tutorial.
To restore the Presentation Catalog, perform the following steps:
1. Click Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Services.
2. In the Services dialog box, select the Oracle BI Presentation Server and select
Action > Stop to stop the service. Also stop the Oracle BI Server. These services
can be stopped in any order.

3. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the SetupFiles 2 folder and copy the sh folder
and its contents to C:\OracleBIData\web\catalog. This is a backup of the
Presentation Catalog corresponding to the Sales History content.

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4. Open C:\OracleBIData\web\config\instanceconfig.xml in Notepad and edit the

CatalogPath section to point to the directory you just copied. The path should be
C:/OracleBIData/web/catalog/sh

5. Navigate to the SetupFiles 2 folder and Copy sh.rpd to C:\OracleBI\server\Repository.

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Files ending in .rpd are metadata files, also known as repositories. The metadata
contains the information that the server uses to translate from a logical query (using
business terms) to one or more physical queries needed to retrieve the correct
information to satisfy the request.

6. Open C:\OracleBI\server\Config\NQSConfig.ini in Notepad and edit the repository

name to point to the sh.rpd repository you just copied. In the Repository section,
enter # before "Star" to comment out any other repository name entry. Then, below
that entry, create a new line and enter Star = sh.rpd, DEFAULT; to point to your
repository.

NQSConfig.ini is the initialization file read by the Business Intelligence Server when it
starts up. It contains a number of parameters that control server settings and
behavior. Right now, you are concerned with the section that tells the server which
metadata repository to read.

7. In the Services dialog box, select the Oracle BI Server and click Action > Start.
Also restart the Oracle BI Presentation Server service.

8. In a browser, navigate to http://oraclebi:9704/analytics/saw.dll?Dashboard, or

click start>programs>Oracle Business Intelligence>presentation services.
Enter Administrator as the User ID and password, and click Log In.

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Creating a Query and a Chart

In this topic you build and format a business intelligence request using Oracle BI
Answers, and create and format a chart.
Create a query
Add a filter
Create totals and format results
Create a chart

To create a query, perform the following steps:

1. Click the Answers link to navigate to the Answers start page, and select the Sales
History subject area by clicking the SH link in the Subject Areas list.

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In this example, there is only one subject area, but there could be a long list,
depending on the metadata that is defined in the Oracle Business Intelligence
repository, which can contain multiple subject areas. Subject areas are sets of related
information with a common business purpose.

2. In the left-hand selection pane of the Answers interface, click the Plus icon next to
Times to expand it. Expand the Calendar table and click the Calendar Month Desc
column to add it to your query criteria, which appears in the right pane.

The query you are building has one measure and three attributes.

3. Click the Calendar Month Name column to add it to your query. From the Products
table, add the Prod Category column. Finally, add Measures > Sales Facts >
Amount Sold (000). Your query should look like this:

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4. You can reorder the columns in your query by clicking and dragging them. Drag the
Prod Category column in front of the columns from the Calendar table in your query.
Your query criteria should look like this:

Now drag the column back to its original location.

5. Add a saved filter to the query to limit the data to the last 12 months (based on the
SH data, this will cover from January to December 2001). Under Filters in the lefthand selection pane, expand the SH folder and click the Most Recent 12 Months.
The Apply Saved Filter dialog box is displayed.

This filter has been created and saved in a shared folder so that it can be used by
other users. The filter uses a variable defined as the value of the maximum month ID,
which has been created in the Oracle BI repository metadata to ensure that it is
synchronized with the data.

6. Click OK in the Apply Saved Filter dialog box to add the filter to your query.

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7. Click the Advanced tab. The Advanced tab can be made available only to specific
users. The XML fully defines the query (including chart formats in case of charts). The
SQL defines the content of the query. Note that any query or reporting tool that can
issue SQL over ODBC connection, can issue a query to the BI server, just like Answers.
Examine the request XML that defines the view and the logical SQL that will be issued
for the query.

The Request XML defines the whole analysis, including logical SQL and views for the
query. The SQL Issued field contains only the logical SQL that will be issued to the
Oracle BI Server for processing. Note the saw_X column aliases, which are added
automatically. Editing the logical SQL will change your view definitions.
To add a filter for the direct channel, perform the following steps:
1. Click the Criteria tabs, using the selection pane, add Channels > Channel Desc to
your query criteria.

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2. In the criteria pane, click the Filter

filter on that column.

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button on the Channel Desc column to add a

3. In the Create/Edit Filter dialog box, click the All Choices link to display all values for
the column.

4. Verify that the Operator for the filter is set to "is equal to / is in" and then click the
Direct Sales value in the list of choices. Direct Sales is added as a value in the filter.
Click OK to create the filter.

The filter is added to the existing saved filter you used earlier.

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5. Click the Delete button (with and X) on the Channel Desc column to delete it from
the criteria. You are filtering on the channel, but you don't need the column in your
query.

Another way to achieve this result is to CTRL-click the column in the selection pane,
which opens the Create/Edit Filter dialog box with the selected column, but doesn't
add the column to the query criteria.
6. Your query criteria should look like this:

7. Click the Results tab to view the results of your query.

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Other ways to view results are by clicking the view buttons below the tabs in the
Criteria pane, or by clicking the Display Results button below the columns in your
query criteria. By default, the results are displayed in the Compound Layout view,
which contains two other views, a Title view and a Table view. As you will see, you can
delete these default views and add other views to the Compound Layout. Later, you
will add these different types of views to a dashboard.

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8. Return to the Criteria tab and remove the Channel Desc filter you just created by
clicking the X next to the filter in the Filters section.

To create totals and format results, perform the following steps:

1. To open the Edit Table view for your results, click the Edit view
view in the Compound Layout.

icon for the Table

The column controls for each column are displayed with the results. Using the viewlevel controls, you can also set table-wide formatting properties, import formatting
from other queries, and set grand totals for the entire table.

2. Click the Total By

icon above the Calendar Month Desc column to add subtotals by
month to your results.

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The measure is totalled each time the value in Calendar Month Desc changes.

3. Click the Grand Total button at the view level to add a grand total to your results.

4. In the Display drop-down menu, select Results Only to eliminate the Header
Toolbars.

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5. Scroll down to the bottom of the Results pane and click the All Pages
button to
navigate to the end of your results. Verify that the grand total that you set for the
results is present.

6. In the Display drop-down menu, select Header Toolbars with Results to access the
Header Toolbars.

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7. Click the Column Properties

icon above the Amount Sold (000) column. In the
Column Properties dialog box, click the Data Format tab, select the Override
Default Data Format option, then select Use 1000's Separator option and click
OK. This will display a comma separator in the number results for the column.

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8. Click OK and verify that a 1000's separator is displayed in the results for the Amount
Sold (000) column.

To create a chart, perform the following steps:

1. Pick Chart in the View menu. By default charts are displayed as a Vertical Bar graph.

2. Select Line from the Graph drop-down menu and 2D from the Type drop-down
menu.

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3. Under the Legends icon in the column area of the left side of the Chart view, select
Prod Category to create a separate line in the chart for each product category. Click
the Redraw button at the bottom to confirm the change.

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The column area of the chart view shows the columns that are included in the
request. You can select the columns to display as the different axes in the chart. You
can also indicate whether measure labels appear for factual data plotted on an axis.
The available axes can change depending on the type of chart selected from the
Graph drop-down list.

4.

Click the Axis Titles and Labels

icon. In the Left tab of the Axis Titles & Labels
dialog box, select Custom Title and change the custom title to Amount Sold. In the
Bottom tab, change the custom title to Calendar Month.

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5. Click OK. Your chart should look like this:

6. Click the General Chart Properties

icon. In the General dialog box, select
Custom Title, enter Category Sales Last 12 Months as the chart title, and click
OK.

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7.

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Click the Additional Charting Options

icon. In the Additional Charting Options
dialog box, click the Borders & Colors tab and set the background color to light
gray. Click the color box for Background Color and, in the Color Selector dialog box,
select light gray from the pallette and click OK.

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8. In the Additional Charting Options dialog box, click the Grid Lines tab and set the
major grid line color to white and the minor grid line color to light gray, using the
same method as above. After you've set both colors, click OK to apply your changes.

Your chart should look like this:

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9. Sort the legend by sorting the data. You want to sort by month in ascending order
and then by sales in the last month in descending order:
a. Click the Criteria tab and add the Measures > Sales Facts Current Month >
Amount Sold (000) Current Month column to your query.

b. Click the Order By

button in the Calendar Month Desc column. The arrow
points up to indicate an ascending sort.

c. Click the Order By button in the Amount Sold (000) Current Month column
twice. The arrow points down to indicate a descending sort, and the number 2 is
displayed to indicate a secondary sort.

10. Click the Results tab to verify that your sort has been applied to the legend in your
chart. The legend is sorted to match the order of the lines in the last month.

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11. Select Compound Layout from the View drop-down menu.

Click the Add View link and select Chart to add the Chart view to the Compound
Layout view.

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13. Scroll to the bottom of the Compound Layout view and drag the Chart view above the
Table view in the Compound Layout. A yellow line will appear when you have a valid
insertion point.

14. Click the Delete View

Layout.

icon in the Title view to delete it from the Compound

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15. Click the Save Request icon. In the Choose Folder dialog box, click Shared
Folders, then click the Create Folder button. In the Create Folder In Shared Folders
dialog box, enter Learn and click OK.

16. In the Save Request dialog box, click the Learn folder. Enter Category Sales as the
name and click OK.

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Working with a Pivot Table

In this topic you create a pivot table to examine your results and add calculations and
formatting.
Create and set basic layout for a pivot table
Add calculations and formatting to the pivot table
To create and set the basic layout for a pivot table, perform the following steps:
1. Pick Pivot Table in the View menu. This opens the Pivot Table Layout page.

2. Examine the default pivot table that's created and displayed below the layout
controls. Measure labels for the measures in your query appear in blue as columns in
the pivot table. Row headings for the dimensional attributes in your query are
displayed in grey as rows by default. The measures are displayed at the intersection
of the rows and columns.

3. Deselect the Display Results option. This option displays the results of any layout
modifications you make as you work in the Pivot Table layout. To speed performance,
you will only view your results periodically.

4. Drag the Amount Sold (000) Current Month column from the Measures area to
the Excluded area in your layout controls. When you see a blue line appear around

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the control, you have a valid insertion point and can drop the column.

5. Drag the Calendar Month Desc column below the Measure Labels in the Columns
area in your layout controls. When you see a blue line appear, you have a valid
insertion point and can drop the column.

6. Drag the Calendar Month Name column below the Calendar Month Description in
the Columns area in your layout controls. Click the Disply Results link to verify your
changes in the pivot table.

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Your pivot table should look like this:

Deselect the Display Results link.

To add calculations and formatting to the pivot table, perform the following steps:
1. You need to add a measure to your pivot table to display the percentage of total
monthly sales for each product category. Duplicate the Amount Sold measure. Click
the More Options
Layer.

icon in the Amount Sold (000) measure and select Duplicate

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2. Click the More Options icon in the duplicated measure and select Format
Headings.

3. In the Edit Format dialog box, change the caption to % of Period and click OK.

4. Click the More Options icon in the duplicated measure and select Show Data As >
Percent of > Column.

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This setting means that the measure will be displayed as a percentage of the column,
which is Month. Note the other options that are available; you can present a measure
as a percentage of the total amount for any dimension present in the pivot table
layout, for example a row or a section. You can also set alternate aggregation rules
for the measure using the Aggregation Rule option (the default is Sum).

5. To total the values of the rows in each column, click the Total
layout control and select After.

icon in the Rows

Note that you have formatting options available for the total row labels as well as
values.

6. To add totals for each column in each row, click the Total icon in the Columns layout
control and select After.

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7. Click the click the More Options

select Hidden.

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icon in the Calendar Month Desc column and

8. To show both measures together within each calendar month, drag Measure Labels
under Calendar Month Name in the Columns layout control.

9. Click the Display Results link. Your pivot table should look like this:

10. Save the request by clicking the Save Request

icon.

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Creating a Narrative View

In this topic you build and format a business intelligence request using Oracle BI
Answers, and create and format a Narrative View. The Narrative view allows you to add
text to appear with the results to provide information such as context, explanatory
text, or extended descriptions.
Create a query
Add a filter
Create a Narrative view

To create a query, perform the following steps:

1. Click Answers to navigate to the Answers start page, and select the Sales History
subject area by clicking the SH link in the Subject Areas list.

You want a query to detail what happened in the most recent month, pointing out all
product categories where sales are less than the previous month.

2. In the left-hand selection pane of the Answers interface, expand the Products table
and click the Prod Category column to add it to your query criteria.

3. Add Measures > Month Ago Facts> % Chg Amount Sold MAgo to your query .
Your query should look like this:

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4. Add a saved filter to the query to limit the data to the current calendar month. Under
Filters in the left-hand selection pane, expand the SH folder and click the Current
Calendar Month filter. Click OK.

This filter has been created and saved in a shared folder so that it can be used by
other users. The filter uses a maximum month variable defined in the Oracle BI
repository metadata to ensure that it is synchronized with the data.

To add a filter for the percent change in the amount sold, perform the following steps:
1. In the criteria pane, click the Filter button on the % Chg Amount Sold MAgo column
to add a filter on that column.

2. In the Create/Edit Filter dialog box, select the is less than operator, and enter 0 as
the value, then click OK.

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The filter is added to the existing saved filter you used earlier. Your filters should look
like this:

3. Click the Display Results button to view the results of your query.

Your results should look like this:

To create a narrative view, perform the following steps:

1. Select Narrative from the View drop-down menu.

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2. In the Narrative view workspace, enter the following: @1 declined @2% this
month compared with last month in the Narrative field.

The narrative is a combination of text and query column values. In this example, @1
refers to the first column in the query, Prod Category, and @2 refers to the second
column, % Chg Amount Sold MAgo. Note that you can control the number of row
values returned in the Narrative view by setting the Rows to display value. By
default, all queried rows are displayed.

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3. To highlight the column values in the narrative, select @1 in the narrative and click
the Bold button. Also add bold tags to @2%.

Your results should look like this:

4. Select No Results from the View drop-down menu. You need to create a No Results
view to appear when there are no results for the query.

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5. In the No Results view workspace, enter No categories declined this month! as

the headline. Enter All categories had positive sales results compared with the
previous month as text.

Your results should look like this:

6. Click the Save Request icon. In the Choose Folder dialog box,select the Learn
folder and save the request as Narrative and No Results Views.

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Creating Column Selectors and View Selectors

In this topic you build Column and View Selectors and experiment with their use in
requests and dashboards. Column selectors allow users to select from a group of
columns, substituting columns in their queries for comparitive analysis. View Selectors
allow users to quickly navigate between different views of their queries, for example
viewing different charts of the same data or quickly navigating to a pivot table to do
trend analysis.
Create a Column Selector
Create a View Selector

To create a Column Selector, perform the following steps:

1. Click the Answers link and open the first query you saved. In the selection pane,

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click Shared Folders > Learn > Category Sales.

2. Click the Modify button.

3. Click the Results tab and select Column Selector from the View drop-down menu.

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Select the Include Selector option in Column 3, currently Prod Category.

5.

In the selection pane, click the following columns to make them available in the
Column Selector: Customers.Country Region, Customers.Country, and
Channels.Channel Desc.

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Your Column Selector in the results pane should look like this:

6. Select Compound Layout from the View drop-down menu.

7. Click the Add View link and select Column Selector to add the Column Selector
view to the Compound Layout view.

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Notice that views that you have built for the active request appear in the View and
Add View drop-down menus with green circle icons next to them.

Scroll to the bottom of the Compound Layout and drag the Column Selector view
above both Table and Chart views.

In the Column Selector, select Country.

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Your Compound Layout view should look like this:

Note that the third column in the table now reflects values for the Country column, as
does the chart. Switch the column back to Channel Desc. Save the request.

To create a View Selector, perform the following steps:

1. Duplicate the existing chart:
a. Using the Views menu, navigate to the Chart view.

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b. Click the Menu

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icon and select Duplicate View.

You should now have a new view, Chart:2:

c. In the Type drop-down menu, select 3D.

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2. Select View Selector from the View drop-down menu.

3. In the View Selector design workspace, select Chart, Chart:2, and Pivot Table in
the Available Views field, using CTRL + Click to select multiple views.

Click the Move Right icon to add them to the Views Included field.

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4. Select Chart in the Views Included field, click the Rename button, and, in the
Rename dialog box, rename it 2D Chart. Click OK.

5. Rename Chart:2 as 3D Chart and Pivot Table as Trend Data. Use the Move buttons
to arrange the views in the list as follows: 2D Chart, 3D Chart, Trend Data.

6. Use the View drop-down menu to navigate to the Compound Layout view. Delete the
Chart view from the Compound Layout.

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7. Add the View Selector view using the Add View button and drag it above the Table
view.

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8. Select Trend Data from the View Selector.

Your chart should now change to the Pivot Table view:

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Creating an Interactive Dashboard

In this topic you build a new shared Interactive Dashboard and add content you've
saved in previous steps.
To create an Interactive Dashboard, perform the following steps:
1.

Click the Settings link and select Administration.

2.

In the Oracle BI Presentation Services Administration window, click the Manage

Interactive Dashboards link.

The Oracle BI Presentation Services Administration window offers access to many

administrative features, including session monitoring and management of user and
group privileges across the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog.

3.

In the Manage Dashboards window, click Create Dashboard.

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4.

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In the Create Dashboard window, set the Group Folder to CountryManagers, name
the dashboard CountryManagers2, and click the Finished button .

The dashboard inherits the security of the group folder. Click Finished again to close
the Manage Dashboards window. Finally, click Close Window to close the Oracle BI
Presentation Services Administration screen.

5.

Click the Dashboards link and then click the CountryManagers2 Interactive
Dashboard link to navigate to the new dashboard.

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Your new dashboard is empty and should look like this:

6.

Click the Page Options button in the upper right corner and select Edit Dashboard
to open the Dashboard Editor.

7.

In the Dashboard Editor, you can drag saved content from your Presentation Catalog
directly into the dashboard. Sections are are automatically created in the layout to
contain the requests and other objects you add to the dashboard. In the left-hand
selection panel, expand the Learn folder you've saved your work in.

Drag the Category Sales request onto the layout workspace. The layout area is
highlighted in blue to indicate that you have a valid insertion point for the object.

Your dashboard layout should look like this:

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Notice that a section was automatically added to contain the request. You could also
have dragged a Section object from the Dashboard Objects pallette to create the
section before dragging content into the section. Sections and columns are
containers you can use to control the layout of your dashboards.

8.

Drag the Narrative and No Results request into Section 1 of the dashboard layout,
below the Category Sales request.

9.

In the Narrative and No Results object, select Properties > Show View >
Narrative 1 to ensure that when the dashboard is presented, the request will be in
the Narrative view.

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You can select any other view; note that the list is limited to views which you've
created or worked with for the request. The Compound Layout is the default view.
The No Results view is always displayed if there are no results for the request at
runtime.

10. Click Save to save your changes and display the dashboard.

Your dashboard should look like this:

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Scroll to the bottom of the dashboard to verify that the narrative view appears
correctly for the Narrative and No Results embedded request. It should look like this:

Note that the Column Selector only applies to the request that contains it. If you
select a column in the control, it will only apply to the table and chart, not the
narrative request in the same dashboard.

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Using Dashboard Prompts

In this topic you build a dashboard prompt to filter your dashboard for a specific
country region. Then you use a Presentation variable to dynamically update a request
title in your dashboard that includes the filtered name of the country region.
Dashboard prompts are used both to allow users to filter results of embedded requests
in a dashboard as well as to populate and update Presentation variables, which are
variables that can be defined in Oracle BI Answers.
Create a dashboard prompt
Use a presentation variable

To create a dashboard prompt that filters on Country Region, perform the following
steps:
1.

Click the Answers link. In the selection pane, click the New Dashboard Prompt
icon and, in the drop-down Subject Area menu, select SH.

2.

In the selection pane, click Customers.Country Region to add it to the prompt.

The prompt should look like this:

This prompt will filter the Country Region column in any requests which contain it in
a dashboard with which it is associated. Note that you can control several aspects of
the prompt. You can select the type of control users will use to enter their selections
in the prompt, and you can determine what values will be presented in a drop-down
list or multi-select control, limiting the available values either through SQL or by
constraining the values based on the results of another dashboard prompt.

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3.

Leave the default selections for the prompt and select Dashboard from the Scope
drop-down menu. This means the filter will be applied to all pages in any dashboard
it is associated with.

4.

Click the Save icon and save the prompt in the Learn folder as Prompt for Country
Region.

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You have created the prompt, but for it to take effect on any embedded requests in a
dashboard, the requests must contain filters on the column being prompted.

5.

Click the Open

icon, and in the Open dialog box, select the Category Sales
request in the Learn folder and click OK.

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6.

Oracle Technology Pre-Sales

In the selection pane, CTRL + click the Customers.Country Region column to add
a filter on it. In the Create/Edit Filter dialog box, select is prompted as the operator
for the filter and click OK.

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Your filters should look like this:

7.

Save the Category Sales Request and, using the same steps, add a filter to the
Narrative and No Results Views request and save it. When complete, the filters on
the request should look like this:

8.

Click the Dashboards link and navigate to the CountryManagers2 dashboard,

then click Page Options > Edit Dashboard to open the Dashboard Editor.

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9.

Oracle Technology Pre-Sales

From the left-hand selection panel, expand the Learn folder and drag Prompt for
Country Region above the Category Sales request in Section 1 of the dashboard.
The area will be highlighted in blue when you have found a valid insertion point.

Your dashboard should look like this:

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10. Click Save.

Your dashboard should look like this:

11. Add a Filter view to the Category Sales request to verify that the dashboard prompt
is filtering the data on the dashboard correctly.

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a. Open the dashboard in the Dashboard Editor. In the dashboard, click the
Properties button for the Category Sales request and select Modify Request.

b. Click the Results tab and select Filters in the View menu.

Your results should look like this:

c. Using the View menu, navigate to the Compound Layout. Click the Add View
link and select Filters.

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d. Drag the Filters view to the top of the Compound Layout and save the request.

e. Navigate back to the CountryManagers2 dashboard, select Americas in the

Country Region dashboard prompt, and click Go.

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f. Verify that the dashboard prompt has added a filter to the requests on the
dashboard for Country Region is equal to Americas.

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Summary
In this lesson, you learned how to:
Create and work with different views, including charts, pivot tables, and
narratives
Use selector views to add interactivity and navigability to requests
Build, lay out, and work with Interactive Dashboards
Use dashboard prompts to filter dashboard data.

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