Overview
Range Lists form a core component of creating dynamic, useful reports for users. In addition to enabling the author to return a lot of data with a single function, it also gives the author a high degree of control in terms of how the data is returned into the report.
Details
Range Lists are a powerful tool to enable authors to create dynamic reports. Even though Range Lists can be specified to move data in different directions, such as down rows or across columns, the general behavior and set up of the Range Lists is the same.
It is important to note that Range Lists will return a unique list of values from the database. For example, if the Range List is created to return a list of customer numbers from a sales transactions table, it will only show each customer number once when the report is run. If a particular customer had 100 transactions that match the Range List filters this customer will not appear 100 times in the report, it will only be returned one time.
Setting the Range
The user has full control over setting the range that will be copied for every value returned by the Range List. This results in the user being able to be extremely specific regarding the shape of the report and how the data should be returned.
To set the range the user would first highlight the selection of cells to be included (and copied) for every value, such as a customer number, which will be returned by the Range List.
Once the user has selected the desired cells they will navigate to the Range List section of the Task Pane and click the New button.
The user will then be shown a list of the tables and fields in the Cosmos database. Click on the desired field to create the Range List and insert a function in the upper-left-most cell containing the value of the field that the user selected. After selecting the field click Save.
For example, if the user selected the "No" field from the "Customer" table, the resulting function after clicking the field in the Report Editor would look like this:
Details of the Range List will then be visible to the user when they click on any cells in the range.
Name: This represents the name of the Range List. It is recommended to give this a descriptive name, such as "Customer No", as this will be used in other functions when referring to the Range List.
SELECT: This will highlight the area of the Range List.
EDIT: This will allow you to edit the Range List.
DELETE: This will delete the Range List.
General
Direction: The user can click the drop-down to specify whether the Range List will return values going down rows or across columns.
CONVERT TO CUSTOM LIST: This can be used if the user wants to list specific values in a specific order.
Data
Table: This represents the table that the Range List will be returning data from. The user can change this value using the drop-down.
- Important Note: If the table is changed the user may need to update any functions that reference the Range List to ensure they are pointing to the correct field(s).
Field: This represents the field that the Range List will be returning data from. The user can change this value using the drop-down.
- Important Note: If the field is changed the user may need to update any functions that reference the Range List to ensure they are pointing to the correct field(s).
Set: This represents the current set that is being used.
Limit: This allows the user to limit the amount of data that is returned by the Range List.
Filters
The Filters section enables the user to specify any filters that should apply to the Range List to limit the data that is being returned. For example, the user could add a "Country Code" filter so that only customers from Canada are returned by the Range List when the report is run.
If no filters are specified, then all results will be returned from the database.
More details on working with filters are covered in the KB article here:
Sorts
The Sorts section enables the user to specify how the data returned by the Range List should be sorted. For example, the user could add a "Name" sort so that the list of customer numbers being returned is sorted alphabetically by the customer's name.
If no sort order is specified, the results will be returned in the order in which they exist in the database.
More details on working with filters are covered in the KB article here:
Limits
The Limits section enables the user to control how many values will be returned by the Range List when the report is run. For example, the user may only want to return the first 10 customers that match the filter criteria.
If no limit is specified, then all results will be returned from the database.
More details on working with filters are covered in the KB article here:
How to Limit the Number of Results Being Returned
Deleting a Range List
If the user needs to delete a Range List, they simply need to click on the cell containing the Range List and click the "Delete" button in the upper-right corner of the Range List.
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