Main Screen
View management is done on the main screen and is the primary workspace for a user. All DSF View actions are performed from this screen.
The View ribbon panel hosts the general View actions. Selecting New will create a new view tab to begin the data selection process.
New View
To select data to add to a View you must first select an Entity from the pull-down. In this example, the Entity selected is “HumanResources_vEmployee”. Once a View has been saved you cannot change the Entity. Entities create the context for which the View is designed. If you need to change the context you must create a new View and delete the one you no longer need.
Once the Entity is selected it will display ALL fields that are available from the Entity’s corresponding low level Data Category. Fields are presented on a hierarchical selection list. Entities and Data Categories were created during data discovery.
The preselected fields are the default fields for the Entity. These are just a starting point for the View and can be removed if not wanted.
The preview pane will show a small sample of data records (NOT your full record list) from the database with the selected data elements (The default record limit is set by your Administrator).
The preview display is only to give you a sample of what your data values look like to help in your data mining efforts. Although the preview window has many features (Grouping, Sorting, Filtering Etc.) it is NOT designed to be used for reporting.
DSF is NOT a reporting tool, it is a data access tool. By design, the preview screen has no formatting options for the data columns. All formatting of data is to be done in your visualization/reporting tools.
If you wish to transform data elements at the server level you can use a User Defined Field (UDF). For example, in the preview below the BirthDate column displays a simple date. Using a UDF you could create a new field which transforms the date to "Millennial or "Baby Boomer" based on a date threshold value. Once the new UDF is created it will become available on the field list.
Newly selected fields from the list will NOT be shown on the Preview pane until the Apply button is pressed. This is to limit the calls to the database to retrieve records during the selection process.
Apply refreshes the Preview panel with the new selections.
Once saved, Views will be listed on the Views tree.
The View ribbon panel hosts the general View actions that can be performed on the active View Tab. The active view name will be displayed in the ribbon panel.
Most View actions are self-explanatory.
Rename
This will convert the View Tab to an editable text box where you can change the name of the View. Double-clicking the View Tab will have the same affect.
Save
Saves the active View. Un-saved View Tabs have an asterisk (*) after the view name. Once saved, Views appear on the Views tree.
Save As …
Used to create a copy of the active View as a new name.
Delete
Removes the active View from the system. This will NOT remove any Published Views from your database.
Close
Closes the active View Tab. Clicking the X on the tab has the same affect.
Show SQL
If licensed and allowed by your Administrator, the this option may be available. A separate panel will appear below the Preview panel and display the actual SQL Query generated by DSF. This is the query text used by the Publish View option.
Filtering Data with the Preview Grid
Any column on the preview panel can be filtered by selecting the filter icon on the column header.
Filters are represented on the bottom or the preview panel.
Custom Filters
The Custom option displays an advance filter window where you can create any combination of filter selections.
By selecting a value from the list you can quickly filter your data records.
Exclude View Columns from Publishing
Sometimes you may want to filter on a View field but not have it published. To accomplish this you can right-click on the field column header you wish to exclude and select Exclude This Column from Publishing.
Excluded column headers will be strike-through and not included in the SELECT statement that is published.
