Microstrategy 1 PDF

MICROSTRATEGY REPORT SERVICES: DOCUMENTS AND DASHBOARDS
Course Guide
Version: DOCDASH-941-Mar14-Color
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Patent Information
This product is patented. One or more of the following patents may apply to the product sold herein: U.S. Patent Nos.
6,154,766, 6,173,310, 6,260,050, 6,263,051, 6,269,393, 6,279,033, 6,567,796, 6,587,547, 6,606,596, 6,658,093,
6,658,432, 6,662,195, 6,671,715, 6,691,100, 6,694,316, 6,697,808, 6,704,723, 6,741,980, 6,765,997, 6,768,788,
6,772,137, 6,788,768, 6,798,867, 6,801,910, 6,820,073, 6,829,334, 6,836,537, 6,850,603, 6,859,798, 6,873,693,
6,885,734, 6,940,953, 6,964,012, 6,977,992, 6,996,568, 6,996,569, 7,003,512, 7,010,518, 7,016,480, 7,020,251,
7,039,165, 7,082,422, 7,113,993, 7,127,403, 7,174,349, 7,181,417, 7,194,457, 7,197,461, 7,228,303, 7,260,577, 7,266,181,
7,272,212, 7,302,639, 7,324,942, 7,330,847, 7,340,040, 7,356,758, 7,356,840, 7,415,438, 7,428,302, 7,430,562,
7,440,898, 7,486,780, 7,509,671, 7,516,181, 7,559,048, 7,574,376, 7,617,201, 7,725,811, 7,801,967, 7,836,178, 7,861,161,
7,861,253, 7,881,443, 7,925,616, 7,945,584, 7,970,782, 8,005,870, 8,051,168, 8,051,369, 8,094,788, 8,130,918,
8,296,287, 8,321,411 and 8,452,755. Other patent applications are pending.
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Phone: 877.232.7168
Fax: 703.848.8602
Email: education@microstrategy.com
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Tysons Corner, VA 22182
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Fax: 703.848.8610
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http://www.microstrategy.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Course Description.................................................................... 11
Who Should Take this Course ............................................... 12
Course Prerequisites ............................................................. 12
Follow-Up Courses ................................................................ 12
Related Certifications............................................................. 12
Course Objectives ................................................................. 13
About the Course Materials ......................................................... 14
Content Descriptions ............................................................. 14
Learning Objectives ............................................................... 14
Lessons ................................................................................. 14
Opportunities for Practice ...................................................... 15
Typographical Standards ....................................................... 15
MicroStrategy Courses .......................................................... 17
Core Courses......................................................................... 17
Advanced Courses ................................................................ 18
1. Introduction to Report
Services
Lesson Description ................................................................... 19

Lesson Objectives ................................................................. 20
Beyond Basic Grids and Graphs ................................................. 21
MicroStrategy Report Services .............................................. 21
The Benefits of MicroStrategy Report Services ..................... 21
Overview of the MicroStrategy Web Interface ............................. 23
Reporting Capabilities.................................................................. 27
Enterprise Reports ................................................................. 28
What Is an RS Dashboard? ......................................................... 31
What Is a Dashboard? ........................................................... 31
2014 MicroStrategy Inc.
Table of Contents
MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards
Interacting with an RS Dashboard ............................................... 33

Document Display Modes and Export Formats ........................... 39
Design Mode.......................................................................... 42
Editable Mode ........................................................................ 42
Interactive Mode .................................................................... 42
Flash Mode ............................................................................ 42
Express Mode ........................................................................ 43
Full Screen Mode................................................................... 44
Exporting Documents ............................................................ 47
Selecting Available Display Modes ........................................ 48
Selecting Available Export Formats ....................................... 49
Document Subscriptions.............................................................. 50
Subscriptions to History List................................................... 50
Subscriptions to Email, File, and Printer ................................ 51
Lesson Summary......................................................................... 52
Exercises: Introduction to Report Services.................................. 53
Document Display Modes and Export Formats ..................... 53
2. Creating Documents
Lesson Description ................................................................... 57

Lesson Objectives ................................................................. 58
Introduction to the Document Editor ............................................ 59
Detail Section Behavior ......................................................... 63
Custom Sections and Grouping ............................................. 66
Grouping Properties............................................................... 68
Headers & Footers................................................................. 69
Creating Documents .................................................................... 71
Creating Documents from Existing MicroStrategy Reports.... 71
Creating Documents from a Document Template.................. 73
Creating Multiple Layout Documents........................................... 75
Retain Grouping Selection between Layouts......................... 78
Useful Design Techniques and Document Specific Objects........ 80
Banded Layouts ..................................................................... 80
Auto Text ............................................................................... 81
Conditional Formatting........................................................... 84
Lesson Summary......................................................................... 88
Exercises: Creating Documents .................................................. 89
Basic Document..................................................................... 89
Detailed Instructions .............................................................. 91
3. Creating Report
Services Dashboards
Table of Contents
Lesson Description ................................................................. 101

Lesson Objectives ............................................................... 102
Dashboard Templates ............................................................... 103
Dashboard Layering .................................................................. 106
Layering with Panels and Panel Stacks............................... 106
Characteristics of Panels and Panel Stacks ........................ 111
Inserting and Defining Panel Stacks .................................... 113
Formatting Panels and Panel Stacks................................... 118
Lesson Summary....................................................................... 122
Exercise: Creating RS Dashboards ........................................... 123
Layering Grids in a Panel Stack........................................... 123
4.
Document Objects
and Formatting

Document Objects ..................................................................... 133
MicroStrategy Grid/Graphs .................................................. 133
Working with multiple dataset reports .................................. 137
Attributes, Metrics, Custom Groups, and Consolidations .... 145
Text ...................................................................................... 146
Images ................................................................................. 147
Lines & Shapes.................................................................... 148
Arranging and Formatting Objects on a Document ................... 150
Tooltips ................................................................................ 152
Drilling on Grid/Graphs .............................................................. 154
OLAP Services Features ........................................................... 158
Summary Metrics ................................................................. 160
View Filters .......................................................................... 161
Derived Elements ................................................................ 162
Graph Formatting....................................................................... 165
Transparency Effect............................................................. 166
Curved Lines........................................................................ 168
Data Tooltips on Graphs ...................................................... 169
Quick Switch and Portal Window ......................................... 171
Toggle Data Markers ........................................................... 175
Additional Formatting Features............................................ 176
Lesson Summary....................................................................... 180
Exercise: Document Objects and Formatting ............................ 183
Formatting Graphs and Drilling in a Panel Stack ................. 183
Table of Contents
5. Selectors

Selectors.................................................................................... 189
What Is a Selector? ............................................................. 189
Switching Panels in a Panel Stack....................................... 191
Selecting Attribute Elements in a Graph .............................. 194
Selecting Metrics in a Grid/Graph ........................................ 197
Metric Condition Selectors ................................................... 198
Selecting Attribute Elements in a Dynamic Text Box........... 202
Selector Targeting Another Selector.................................... 204
Selector Styles ..................................................................... 206
Alternative Methods for Inserting Selectors ......................... 208
Selector Defaults ................................................................. 210
Automatically Apply Selector Changes ................................ 212
Automatically Maintaining Targets for Selectors.................. 213
Formatting Selectors............................................................ 216
Analytic-Based Selectors ..................................................... 218
Report Condition Selector.................................................... 220
Using a Panel Stack as an Information Window........................ 221
Grouping and Selectors ............................................................. 224
Lesson Summary....................................................................... 225
Exercise: Selectors .................................................................... 227
Adding Selectors to Document ............................................ 227
Selectors .............................................................................. 231
Analytic-Based Selector....................................................... 239
6. Flash Mode and

Widgets

DHTML Versus Flash ................................................................ 247
DHTML Benefits .................................................................. 247
Flash Benefits ...................................................................... 248
Characteristics of Documents in Flash Mode ...................... 249
Advanced Visualizations............................................................ 256
Inserting Widgets ................................................................. 256
MicroStrategy Widgets......................................................... 258
Gauge Widget ...................................................................... 260
Time Series Slider................................................................ 262
Interactive Stacked Graph ................................................... 264
Heat Map ............................................................................. 266
Interactive Bubble Graph ..................................................... 270
Microcharts Widget .............................................................. 273
Table of Contents
Image Layout ....................................................................... 289

Widget Rendering in PDF and Microsoft Excel.......................... 292
Flash Widgets in Interactive Mode............................................. 293
Lesson Summary....................................................................... 295
Exercises: Flash Mode and Widgets ......................................... 297
Time Series Slider Widget ................................................... 297
Heat Map Widget ................................................................. 302
Microcharts Widget .............................................................. 311
Image Layout Widget ........................................................... 317
Exercise Answers ...................................................................... 325
7. Flash Selectors and

Formatting

Flash-only Selector Widgets ...................................................... 329
Widgets as Selectors ................................................................. 332
Using a Time Series Slider Widget as a Selector ................ 333
Using an Interactive Stacked Graph Widget as a Selector .. 336
Flash-Specific Formatting .......................................................... 340
Formatting Widgets.............................................................. 340
Transition Animations .......................................................... 340
Selector-Specific Flash Formatting ...................................... 341
Linking from Widgets ........................................................... 343
Lesson Summary....................................................................... 344
Exercise: Flash Selectors .......................................................... 345
Widgets As Selector ............................................................ 345
8. Dashboard Design
Considerations

Designing and Creating Dashboards......................................... 357
Consult Your Target Audience............................................. 357
Gather Related Datasets ..................................................... 358
Devise the Investigative Workflow of the Dashboard........... 359
Build the Dashboard ............................................................ 359
Best Practices in Dashboard Design ......................................... 360
General Design Recommendations ..................................... 360
Design Recommendations for Color in Dashboards............ 365
Lesson Summary....................................................................... 369
Table of Contents
9. Linking from
Documents

Document Linking ...................................................................... 373
Linking a Document to a Web Page .................................... 373
Linking to a Specific Report or Document............................ 375
Linking from a Dynamic Text Box to Simulate Drilling ......... 377
Linking from a Prompted Document to a Prompted Target . 380
Linking from a Document to Multiple Targets ...................... 385
Linking with a Button Object ................................................ 386
Lesson Summary....................................................................... 389
Exercises: Linking from Documents .......................................... 391
Links to Prompted Targets and a Website........................... 391
Link from a Prompted Source to a Prompted Target ........... 395
A. Works Cited
Works Cited ............................................................................... 400
Index ............................................................................................. 1
10
PREFACE
Course Description
This two-day course introduces the many features that enable you to create
documents in MicroStrategy Web, focusing particularly on the creation of
Dynamic Enterprise Dashboards using MicroStrategy Report Services. You
will learn how to design and use document and dashboard features, such as
how to add datasets, various objects such as grids, graphs, text boxes, images
and more to your document. You will also learn how to use panel stacks,
selectors, dashboard templates, and graph formatting features. The course
covers Flash-specific features, such as widgets, transitions, and Flash-specific
formatting options, as well as implementation of OLAP services features within
your document.
11
Preface
Who Should Take this Course

This course is designed for:
Document developers
Course Prerequisites
Before starting this course, you should know all topics covered in the following
courses:
MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts
MicroStrategy Web for Professionals
OR
MicroStrategy Developer: Reporting Essentials
Follow-Up Courses
After taking this course, you might consider taking the following course:
MicroStrategy Mobile for App Developers
Related Certifications
To validate your proficiency in the content of this course, you might consider
taking the following certification:
Certified Dashboard and Mobile Designer Exam
12 Who Should Take this Course
Preface
Course Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:
Understand the benefits of MicroStrategy Report Services, explain what a

dashboard is, describe various dashboard characteristics, explain how
MicroStrategy classifies dashboards, list the document display formats, and
more. (Page 11)
Explain the reporting capabilities available with Report Services, use the
Document Editor to create Report Services documents, create documents
with multiple layouts, and employ document specific design techniques.
(Page 49)
Use dashboard-optimized templates to quickly create a dashboard, view

your dashboards in the MicroStrategy Web display modes, and use panels,
panel stacks, and selectors to design a multilayered dashboard. (Page 93)
Use and format the various objects available for use in Report Services
documents, be familiar with drilling, describe the features available with
OLAP Service, and understand how to format graphs. (Page 123)
Explain what a selector is, how to create and use selectors, and how to
control the output of a selector. (Page 179)
Understand the characteristics of documents that you display in Flash Mode

and include advanced visualizations in these documents. (Page 237)
Understand the Flash selectors and all the formatting available in Flash
Mode. (Page 319)
Understand the process of creating a multipanel, interactive dashboard.

(Page 347)
Use links to enable navigation to websites and additional documents and

reports, passing prompt answers if desired. (Page 363)
Course Objectives
13
Preface
About the Course Materials

This course is organized into lessons and reference appendices. Each lesson
focuses on major concepts and skills that help you to better understand
MicroStrategy products and use them to implement MicroStrategy projects.
The appendices provide you with supplemental information to enhance your
knowledge of MicroStrategy products.
Content Descriptions
Each major section of this course begins with a Description heading. The
Description introduces you to the content contained in that section.
Learning Objectives
Learning objectives enable you to focus on the key knowledge and skills you
should obtain by successfully completing this course. Objectives are provided
for you at the following three levels:
CourseYou will achieve these overall objectives by successfully

completing all the lessons in this course. The Course Objectives heading in
this Preface contains the list of course objectives.
LessonYou will achieve these main objectives by successfully completing

all the topics in the lesson. You can find the primary lesson objectives
directly under the Lesson Objectives heading at the beginning of each
lesson.
Main TopicYou will achieve this secondary objective by successfully

completing the main topic. The topic objective is stated at the beginning of
the topic text. You can find a list of all the topic objectives in each lesson
under the Lesson Objectives heading at the beginning of each lesson.
Lessons
Each lesson sequentially presents concepts and guides you with step-by-step
procedures. Illustrations, screen examples, bulleted text, notes, and definition
tables help you to achieve the learning objectives.
14 About the Course Materials
Preface
Opportunities for Practice

A Workshop is a reinforcement and assessment activity that follows two or
more lessons. Because a Workshop covers content and applied skills presented
in several lessons, it is a separate section on the level of a lesson.
The following sections within lessons provide you with opportunities to
reinforce important concepts, practice new product and project skills, and
monitor your own progress in achieving the lesson and course objectives:
Review
Case Study
Business Scenario
Exercises
Typographical Standards
The following sections explain the font style changes, icons, and different types
of notes that you see in this course.
Actions
References to screen elements and keys that are the focus of actions are in bold
Arial font style. The following example shows this style:
Click Select Warehouse.
Code
References to code, formulas, or calculations within paragraphs are formatted
in regular Courier.New font style. The following example shows this style:
Sum(sales)/number of months
15
Preface
Data Entry
References to literal data you must type in an exercise or procedure are in bold
Arial typeface. References to data you type in that could vary from user to user
or system to system is in bold italic Arial font style. The following example
shows this style:
Type copy c:\filename d:\foldername\filename.
Keyboard Keys
References to a keyboard key or shortcut keys are in uppercase letters in bold
Arial font style. The following example shows this style:
Press CTRL+B.
New Terms
New terms to note are in regular italic font style. These terms are defined when
they are first encountered in the course material. The following example shows
this style:
The aggregation level is the level of calculation for the metric.
Notes and Warnings
A note icon indicates helpful information.

icon calls your attention to very important information that
Ayouwarning
should read before continuing the course.
Heading Icons
The following heading icons are used to indicate specific practice and review
sections:
Precedes a Review section
Precedes a Case Study
Precedes a Business Scenario
Precedes Exercises
Preface
MicroStrategy Courses
Core Courses
Implementing MicroStrategy: Development and Deployment
MicroStrategy Web Essentials
MicroStrategy Web for Professionals
MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts
MicroStrategy Visual Insight Essentials
MicroStrategy Report Services Documents and Dashboards
MicroStrategy Mobile for App Developers
MicroStrategy Architect: Project Design Essentials
MicroStrategy Developer: Reporting Essentials
MicroStrategy Developer: Advanced Reporting
MicroStrategy Office Essentials
17
Preface
Advanced Courses
MicroStrategy Administration: Configuration and Security
MicroStrategy Administration: Application Management
MicroStrategy Engine Essentials
MicroStrategy Architect: Advanced Project Design
MicroStrategy Advanced Data Warehousing
MicroStrategy Data Mining and Advanced Analytics
MicroStrategy Developer: Advanced Reporting Case Studies
MicroStrategy Freeform SQL Essentials
MicroStrategy Transaction Services for Dashboard and Mobile App

Developers
MicroStrategy Web SDK: Customization Essentials
MicroStrategy Web SDK: Customizing Security
MicroStrategy Web SDK: Portal Integration
*All courses are subject to change. Please visit the MicroStrategy Web site for the latest education
offerings.
1
INTRODUCTION TO REPORT
SERVICES
Lesson Description
This lesson introduces you to the basic concepts related to MicroStrategy
Report Services. You will learn the definition of a dashboard and its
characteristics, the various display modes and output formats for the
documents, and how you can subscribe to receive documents to your History
List, as well as email, file, and printer.
19
Introduction to Report Services
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
Understand the benefits of MicroStrategy Report Services, explain what a
dashboard is, describe various dashboard characteristics, explain how
MicroStrategy classifies dashboards, list the document display formats, and
more.
After completing the topics in this lesson, you will be able to:
Describe MicroStrategy Report Services and the benefits of Report

Services documents. (Page 5)
Navigate the MicroStrategy Web interface. (Page 7)
Describe the types of reports you can design with Report

Services. (Page 11)
Define dashboard, list RS dashboard characteristics. (Page 15)
Describe the many ways you interact with an RS dashboard. (Page 17)
Describe the possible output formats for Report Services

documents. (Page 23)
Create subscriptions to receive Report Services documents to your History

List, an email address, a file server, or a printer. (Page 34)
20 Lesson Objectives
Beyond Basic Grids and Graphs

After completing this topic, you will be able to:
Describe MicroStrategy Report Services and the benefits of Report Services
documents.
MicroStrategy Report Services

MicroStrategy Report Services is an enterprise reporting engine of the
MicroStrategy Analytics platform. It is an add-on product to the
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server. With the purchase of Report Services, the
product installs on the same machine as your Intelligence Server. After you
install it, you use the Document Editor in MicroStrategy Developer or
MicroStrategy Web to access Report Services functionality. The objects you
create with this editor are called documents.
A document displays several grid and graph reports at the same time, along
with images and text. High-quality, Pixel Perfect documents allow you to
display your business data in a user-friendly way that is suitable for
presentation to management for boardroom-quality material. Examples of
documents include scorecards and Report Services (RS) dashboards,
managed metrics documents, production and operational documents, and
more.
MicroStrategy Report Services enables users to combine many reports into
one RS dashboard and even multiple documents into a single location so all
the data is synchronized and in a single place.
The Benefits of MicroStrategy Report Services

MicroStrategy Report Services provides organizations with a revolutionary
solution for analyzing corporate performance. Using highly-interactive
dynamic dashboards and enterprise reports, business people can have all the
data they need to make quick, impactful, and informed business decisions.
MicroStrategy Report Services documents and dashboards accelerate and
enhance data comprehension and user adoption. Report Services provides
the following benefits:
Beyond Basic Grids and Graphs
21
Available everywhere via Web and mobile devices
Lower total cost of ownership
Uncover new insights and opportunities with powerful and simple

exploration
Communicate effectively to a larger audience using compelling data

visualizations
Explore any business data - enterprise, departmental, or personal
Remarkably reduce time to design and deploy new scorecards,

dashboards and enterprise reports
Collaborate easily, sharing and saving insights
Quickly spot outliers, uncover problem areas, and detect patterns and
trends
High-throughput production reporting
Simple information access via Internet browser or mobile device
No extra plug-ins or Java applets required
No need for IT intervention as data is set up as a "service" for true user

self-service
As you explore the many facets of Report Services in this course, you will
learn how all of these features are possible.
22 Beyond Basic Grids and Graphs
Overview of the MicroStrategy Web Interface

Navigate the MicroStrategy Web interface.
MicroStrategy Web provides a highly interactive, easy-to-use interface for

reporting and data analysis. It is a grouping of Web pages, which includes a
welcome page, login page, project home pages, and specific pages that allow
you to browse folders, reports, or documents and view results. MicroStrategy
Web displays any project objects in the metadata to which you have access.
As you run reports and documents, it returns results from your data
warehouse and displays them to you in the browser.
The following sections describe the various pages you use to access a
document in MicroStrategy Web.
Home Page
The home page displays the names and descriptions of all the available
projects. You can access any project for which the administrator has granted
you permission.
Home Page
23
Login Page
Depending on your web configuration, before you can access a project in
MicroStrategy Web, you generally have to log in to the project with a user
name and password.
Login Page
24 Overview of the MicroStrategy Web Interface
Project Home Page

After you log in to a MicroStrategy project, the project home page displays.
The following image shows the project home page:
Project Home Page
The project home page contains the following options:

Shared ReportsThis folder contains public reports, documents, and other
objects that are shared with other users.
folder displays the content of the Reports subfolder in
This
MicroStrategy Developer.
My ReportsThis folder enables you to run your own reports and access
favorites by using shortcuts. Only you can access the objects in this folder.
History ListThis option enables you to access your personal History List,
which displays messages about the reports and documents that you have
scheduled to run. You can click these messages to retrieve results for these
reports and documents.
25
My SubscriptionsThis option enables you to view and modify report and

document subscriptions. Whenever you schedule a report or document to
run, you create a subscription to it. You can also view any scheduled
deliveries you have defined, which enable you to send reports and documents
on a scheduled basis to email, printer, or a file server.
New DashboardThis option enables you to create a Visual Insight
dashboard.
course does not cover the use or creation of Visual Insight
This
dashboards. For information on creating Visual Insight dashboards,
see the MicroStrategy Visual Insight Essentials course.
New ReportThis option enables you to create a grid or graph report from
scratch or from a template.
New DocumentCreate an enterprise report, scorecard, or dashboard from
scratch or from a template.
New PromptCreate a prompt to ask for user input.
New FilterCreate a qualification to narrow down your result set.
Import DataImport external data into MicroStrategy from a local file,
relational database, or by joining multiple tables from different sources.
New Custom GroupCreate a Custom Group object to segment report data.
New MetricCreate a metric object to build a calculation based on facts in
the data warehouse, or existing metrics.
PreferencesThis option enables you to change preferences for a variety of
settings, including report display, printing and exporting properties, and
more.
SearchThis option enables you to access the MicroStrategy Web search
function, which can help you locate folders, reports, documents, and other
objects.
Intelligence Server AdministratorThis option enables administrators to
configure MicroStrategy Intelligence Server settings.
26 Overview of the MicroStrategy Web Interface
Reporting Capabilities
Describe the types of reports you can design with Report Services.
Report Services enable Web users to create documents, Report Services (RS)
dashboards, and Visual Insight (VI) dashboards. Report Services uses
documents to create reports that are print ready documents and can readily
be used as hard copy printouts. This topic highlights documents.
refer to the Visual Insight Essentials course for more
Please
information on VI dashboards.
27
Enterprise Reports
Operational Reports
Operational reports organize data into densely populated documents that
contain various rows of detail grouped in an easy to read fashion. The image
below shows an example of an operational document created with Report
Services:
Operational Report Example
28 Reporting Capabilities
Classic Business Reports

You create classic business reports using charts and grids, which you group
together so the data is easy to read. Classic business reports can satisfy many
types of reporting needs. The image below shows an example of a classic
business report created with Report Services:
Classic Business Report Example
29
Invoices and Statements

Invoices and statements are typically very personalized. They serve the
purpose of billing or communicating with recipients. These documents
employ a predefined, structured format with text and dynamically populated
fields. The image below shows an example of an invoice created with Report
Services:
Invoice Example
30 Reporting Capabilities
What Is an RS Dashboard?
Define dashboard, list RS dashboard characteristics.
A Report Services dashboard differs from a document by allowing

interactivity with the data and displaying all content on one screen. One of
the greatest challenges most report designers face is selecting the appropriate
data for their target audience and displaying it in the most easy-to-read,
digestible format. VI Dashboards and RS Dashboards attempt to address this
challenge.
What Is a Dashboard?
A dashboard strives to make data consumable for everyone. With its focus on
graphical representation and at-a-glance viewing, any type of business user
can benefit from retrieving information through a dashboard. By appealing to
a broad range of users, dashboards help increase user adoption of a corporate
standard reporting environment.
Another major benefit that dashboards provide is enterprise-wide
transparency. Because you can create a dashboard using data from multiple
sources, dashboards offer a unified view of the business to users from
different areas within the business. In this way, dashboards also help to align
organizations to identify and strive to meet common goals.
Dashboards are highly visual representations of enterprise performance data
that integrate a potentially wide variety of data elements into a single
graphical display. RS dashboards make use of tables, graphs, gauges, dials,
and other graphical indicators; conditional formatting; text labels; and
borders and background colors. They appeal to technical and non-technical
users alike with their easy-to-read design.
Dashboards have the following key characteristics:
Emphasis on graphicsA well-designed graphical representation can

often communicate more effectively than text alone.
What Is an RS Dashboard?
31
Emphasis on key performance indicators (KPIs) Dashboards

highlight metrics, as well as other important data, that help business
users make informed decisions.
Use of a single screenUsers digest data more efficiently when it is all

displayed on a single screen.
Emphasis on summary-level data and exception reportingMost

dashboards, regardless of their target audience, focus on providing
summary-level data and often highlight data that meets certain
exceptions.
Emphasis on customizationTypically, the most effective dashboards

are the ones that target a specific audience and display the types of visual
indicators that appeal to the target audience. Because dashboards are
interactive, users can further customize the dashboard to suit their
personal analysis needs and preferences.
32 What Is an RS Dashboard?
Interacting with an RS Dashboard

Describe the many ways you interact with an RS dashboard.
The Corporate Sales Overview dashboard provides a good introduction to RS

dashboard functionality in MicroStrategy Report Services. The following
image shows the first panel of the Corporate Sales Overview, which uses a
variety of selectors, panel stacks, and Flash features:
Corporate Sales Overview: Corporate Pane
T
h
i
s
This RS dashboard contains three panelsCorporate, Regional, and
Citythat provide different levels of analysis. The dashboard panel selector
enables you to choose which panel you view in the document. The current
view of the document shows the Corporate dashboard panel.
33
The Corporate dashboard panel has an analytic panel selector that enables
you to choose between viewing a gauge graph for Corporate Revenue and a
bar graph for Regional Performance Y/Y (Year over Year). It also has
selectors on the Regional Performance line graph and Subcategory Analysis
grid that enable you to choose the months and subcategories you want to
view in the graph and grid, respectively. When you select different months,
the line graph dynamically updates to plot the appropriate range of months.
The line graph also includes a Flash transition animation feature that
displays a gradual change in the line graph after you make a selection.
The Category Analysis (YTD) interactive bubble widget plots each product
category for its units sold and revenue. The size of each bubble represents the
categorys profit margin. The widget contains a Play button that shows
category performance over time.
Flash features also enable the rounded effect on the panel stacks for each
quadrant of this panel and the mirrored gradient used for the dashboard
panel and category selectors. Some of these same Flash features (rounded
edges and mirrored gradients) are also used on other panels in this
dashboard.
34 Interacting with an RS Dashboard
The following image shows the same Corporate dashboard panel with some
modifications to the document view using the various selectors:
Corporate Sales Overview: Corporate Panel, Different Selections
The RS dashboard panel now displays the Regional Performance Y/Y bar
graph. The Regional Performance line graph displays a different range of
months, and the Subcategory Analysis grid displays different subcategories
since a different category is selected.
35
You can select a different dashboard panel to view another layer in the
document. The following image shows the Regional dashboard panel:
Corporate Sales Overview: Regional Panel
This panel has a selector that enables you to choose the region for which you
want to display data in the two widgets. The Mid-Atlantic Growth Trends
uses a Flash Graph Matrix widget. This widget plots the Revenue Growth
(Y/Y) metric across months in 2012 for each category in each call center. If
you want to view data for the Profit Growth (Y/Y) or Profit Margin metrics,
you can select either metric from the metric selector, and the Graph Matrix
widget automatically updates.
The Daily Revenue section of the panel uses a Time Series Slider widget to
plot Revenue and Revenue Forecast over time. The widget consists of two
area graphs, one positioned above the other. The top graph shows a
macroview of the data over time, while the bottom graph enables you to focus
on a microview of a specific time segment in the graph. The widget enables
you to use the slider to choose the time period you want to view in the bottom
graph, which lets you analyze specific date ranges of interest. When you move
the slider, the bottom graph dynamically updates to show the selected data
range.
The following image shows the same Regional dashboard panel with some
modifications to the document view using the widget and various selectors:
Corporate Sales Overview: Regional Panel, Different Selections
The dashboard panel now displays data for a different region. The Profit
Margin metric displays in the Graph Matrix widget. The Daily Revenue area
graphs focus on a different series of dates.
37
You can select the third dashboard panel to view yet another layer in the
document. The following image shows the City dashboard panel:
Corporate Sales Overview: City Panel
This panel shows the KPIs for the selected city, with conditional formatting
applied to the KPIs that exceed or fall below expectations. The Monthly
Revenue line graph contains an analytic-based selector that makes it possible
to select a specific month (a data point on the line). When you select a month,
the Y/Y Detail Growth grid changes to display the corresponding subcategory
data for that month. The panel also contains a Time Series Slider controlled
by a Category and metric selector.
As you can see, with the variety of panels, selectors, and Flash features, this
dashboard provides many different levels of analysis in a single document,
gives users flexibility to easily change views, and displays the data in a
professional and appealing manner.
Document Display Modes and Export Formats

Describe the possible output formats for Report Services documents.
In MicroStrategy Developer and MicroStrategy Web, you can view

documents in the following display modes:
PDF
Export to Microsoft Excel
Design Mode
The following display modes are available only when you view documents in
MicroStrategy Web:
DHTML modes (Express Mode, Interactive Mode, and Editable Mode)
Flash Mode
Developer offers basic HTML and Flash preview

MicroStrategy
modes.
39
The following table briefly describes each of these modes:

MicroStrategy Web Display Modes
Display
Mode
Design
Mode
Features
Editable
Mode
Limitations
Intended for document designers

Create a new document
Edit an existing document
Quicker performance since document results are
not displayed
Add and remove dataset objects
Insert controls such as grids/graphs, text boxes,
lines, shapes, and panel stacks
Edit and format controls
Format grid/graph containers only
Pivot report objects on grid reports
Use Grouping pane
Cannot view the results of the

document without switching
modes
Cannot format all aspects of
grid/graphs, including metric
values and attribute headers
Cannot format widget Flash
properties
Cannot use selectors to flip
through the panels in a panel
stack or display different
attribute elements or metrics
in a grid/graph
Cannot use Page-by to group
data
Cannot sort grid reports
Cannot use the Fit to
contents/window features
Cannot show or hide rulers
Intended for document designers

Create a new document
Edit an existing document
View the results of the document
Add and remove dataset objects
Insert controls such as grids/graphs, text boxes,
lines, shapes, and panel stacks
Edit and format controls
Format grid/graphs, including the formatting of
metric values and attribute headers
Use selectors to flip through the panels in a panel
stack or display different attribute elements or
metrics in a grid/graph
Use Grouping pane
Use the Fit to contents/window features
Sort grid reports and pivot report objects on them
Show or hide rulers
Drill on one or more attributes or attribute elements
in a grid
Performance reflects the fact

that you see all document
results as you work.
properties
40 Document Display Modes and Export Formats
MicroStrategy Web Display Modes

Display
Mode
Features
Limitations
Interactive
Mode
Intended for document analysts

Format grid/graphs
Add totals
Resize rows and columns
Create metrics based on report objects already on
the grid report
Drill on one or more attributes or attribute elements
in a grid
Cannot create a new

document
Cannot format the layout and
positioning of objects or the
entire document
properties
Flash Mode

Access and interact with features provided by
Flash, such as widgets
Format widget Flash properties
Linking to other documents and reports
Drilling within the Grid/Graphs datasets
Filtering by selecting attributes or setting a
condition on the metrics
Pivoting data
Removing and adding objects to the Grid/Graph
Cannot create a new

document
Cannot manipulate or format
grid/graphs, except to sort and
pivot objects on them
If a grid/graph uses a graph
type that is not supported in
Flash, the graph is not
displayed
Express
Mode

Change the view in which a Grid/Graph is
displayed to Grid or Graph
Cannot create a new

document
properties
41
Design Mode
Design Mode is a display mode that works similarly to Design View in
Developer. This mode displays the document template and allows the
document designer to add report objects, and customize the format and
layout of the entire document. Design mode does not display report results,
so it is faster to execute compared to other MicroStrategy Web display
modes.
Editable Mode
Editable Mode is a DHTML display mode that displays the results of the
document, while still allowing you to edit the document. In Editable Mode,
you can quickly see how your changes affect the look and feel of the
document. Editable Mode differs from Design Mode in that the results of
your documents load in Editable Mode. Therefore, you can work more
quickly in Design Mode than in Editable Mode.
Interactive Mode
Interactive Mode is a DHTML display mode that offers a subset of the
features and functionality available in Editable Mode. You can manipulate
grids and graphs by pivoting, sorting, adding totals, resizing rows and
columns, drilling, and creating metrics based on report objects already on the
grid report. However, you cannot change the formatting and layout of the
entire document. Compared to Editable Mode, Interactive Mode is available
to more users and provides slightly better performance. Interactive Mode is
optimized for dashboard viewing in particular.
Flash Mode
Flash Mode is the display mode that enables you to access Flash functionality
within your documents, such as widgets. Flash Mode offers support for
advanced visualizations and Flash-specific formatting. However, you cannot
manipulate or format grids and graphs, except to sort and pivot objects on
them, assuming that you have MicroStrategy Web Analyst privileges. If a
graph object uses a graph type that is not supported in Flash, the graph does
not display.
Like all display modes, Flash Mode is only available to users if you, as the
document designer, specifically make it available. However, remember that
when you use one of the available dashboard document templates to create a
dashboard, Flash Mode is available by default.
Express Mode
In Express Mode, you can interact with the document by performing the
following manipulations:
Sort and pivot objects on a Grid/Graph
Switch between displaying a Grid/Graph as a grid, graph, or grid and

graph
Open links on a Grid/Graph
Interact with selectors
Access links on the document using the Link Editor
can also choose to disable sorting and pivoting by clearing the

You
checkbox Enable sorting and pivoting on grids in Express and Flash
modes under Document Properties.
43
Full Screen Mode

No matter which display mode you use to view a document, you also have the
option to enable or disable Full Screen Mode. This mode displays the
document without menus, toolbars, and panels, to maximize the amount of
the document that you can view at once. This feature gives maximum priority
to the document, instead of the MicroStrategy Web interface. Full Screen
Mode is particularly useful when viewing documents that contain multiple
grids, graphs, images, and panels (such as most dashboards), as shown
below:
RS Dashboard in Full Screen Mode
When viewing documents in Full Screen Mode, you still have access to the
Standard toolbar and the Grouping pane.
In MicroStrategy Web, you can toggle Full Screen Mode on and off, using the
button circled in the image above. Additionally, you can specify whether a
document initially opens in Full Screen Mode.
To enable full screen mode for a document:
1 Open the document in Design or Editable Mode.

2 On the Tools menu, select Document Properties.
3 In the Properties window, under Document Properties, select Document.
4 Under General, select the Always open this document in full screen
mode check box, as shown below:
5 Click OK to return to the document.

The next time you open this document in MicroStrategy Web, it displays in
Full Screen Mode. Web users can switch between Full Screen Mode and
normal view by clicking the Restore Normal Screen Mode button in the
toolbar, as shown below:
45
To switch back to Full Screen Mode, users can select Full Screen Mode on
the View menu, click the Full Screen Mode button in the toolbar, or press
F12.
your view of a document even more, enable full screen
Tomodemaximize
in your Web browser, as well as the Full Screen Mode in
MicroStrategy Web. For example, you can press F11 to enable full
screen mode in Internet Explorer and press F12 to enable it in
MicroStrategy Web.
Users can control if they want to open all documents in Full Screen Mode
across an entire project by setting a user preference in MicroStrategy Web.
To specify full screen mode behavior for all documents in a project:
1 In the top left corner, click the MicroStrategy icon.
2 On the MicroStrategy menu, select Preferences.

3 On the User Preferences page, under General, under Output Formats, in
the Full Screen Mode Behavior for Documents drop-down list, select
from the following options:
Read from DocumentEnsures that a document opens in Full

Screen Mode only if the documents Always open this Document in
Full Screen mode check box in the Document Properties window is
enabled.
Open every Document in Full Screen mode Ensures that all

documents in the current project execute in Full Screen Mode by
default.
Dont open any Document in Full Screen mode Ensures that no

documents in the current project execute in Full Screen Mode.
you select this check box and have the document-level setting
IfAlways
open this document in full screen mode in the
Document Properties window enabled, the document does not
open in Full Screen Mode. The user preference overrides the
document-level setting.
4 Click Apply.
Exporting Documents
The following table describes the document export formats:
Document Export Formats
Export Format
Features
PDF
In Developer:
Executing a document, automatically renders the
output in PDF format in Adobe Acrobat Reader
The Developer machine generates the PDF output
In MicroStrategy Web:
Users can export documents to PDF
The Intelligence Server generates the PDF output
Excel
Exporting to Microsoft Excel, sends the document

data to an Excel spreadsheet, retaining the data
and formatting
Document graphs are exported as Microsoft Excel
graphs
You can select the Excel format for export (Excel
2003, 2007, and so on) from Preferences
Exporting a Single Grid/Graph

You can export a single grid/graph instead of exporting the entire document.
This feature has the following requirements:
The document must be running in Express Mode. For dashboard style

documents, you can also export single grid/graphs from Flash Mode.
The title bar for the grid/graph to be exported should be enabled from its
Properties and Formatting window.
47
To export a grid/graph, click the down arrow on the top-right of the title bar,
and select Export to PDF or Export to Excel:
Grid/Graph Export Options
Selecting Available Display Modes

By altering the Document Properties, you can specify which display modes
are available for your documents, as well as which display mode is the default
display mode.
To specify available display modes and the default display mode for
documents:

3 In the Properties window, on the left panel, under Document Properties,
select Document.
4 Under Run Modes, under Available Display Modes, select the check
boxes for each mode in which this document should display. Clear the
check box for any mode that should not be available.
5 In the Run by default as drop-down list, select the desired default
display mode.
When you view a document in any of the DHTML modes (Express,

Interactive, or Editable), it looks the same as if you were viewing it in PDF.
However, the DHTML modes display the content of a document
continuously, with no section or page breaks. Therefore, all
pagination-related settings apply only to the PDF.
Selecting Available Export Formats

Before you can export a document, you need to enable the available export
formats.
To specify the available export formats for a document:

3 In the Properties window, on the left panel, under Document Properties,
select Document.
1 Under Run Modes, under Available Export Formats, select the check
boxes for each format to which you want to export. Clear the check box for
any format that should not be available.
can export a document to Flash format (an MHT or PDF file). For
You
information on Flash documents and MHT/PDF Flash files, see the
Flash Mode and Widgets lesson starting on page 245.
49
Document Subscriptions
Create subscriptions to receive Report Services documents to your History
List, an email address, a file server, or a printer.
Because Report Services integrates seamlessly into the MicroStrategy

platform, you can take advantage of certain platform features to view
documents in other media or applications.
A History List is a collection of pre-executed reports and documents that
have been sent to a users personal History folder. These pre-executed
reports and documents are called History List messages.
Subscriptions to History List

You can subscribe to a document, just as you would a report, by choosing a
schedule as defined in Intelligence Server. When the schedule is triggered,
Intelligence Server executes the document to your preferred output format
and places a message in your History List.
must possess the appropriate privileges to be able to create
You
subscriptions.
50 Document Subscriptions
The image below shows the subscription options available when you select
when you subscribe to a document in MicroStrategy Web.
more information on subscribing a document or dashboard to the

For
History List, refer to the MicroStrategy online help.
Subscriptions to Email, File, and Printer

If MicroStrategy Distribution Services is installed and configured on your
system, you can schedule subscriptions to the following outputs:
Email
File server
Printer
You can also set up an immediate email delivery of a document and email
delivery notifications for your History List subscriptions.
Document Subscriptions
51
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, you learned:
Report Services is an add-on product to Intelligence Server, and it

seamlessly integrates into the entire MicroStrategy platform.
Report Services offers the following advantages:

Rich data access
WYSIWYG Report Layout and formatting that is Pixel Perfect on the
screen and print-perfect on paper
Ability to create different types of scorecards, dashboards, and
enterprise reports
Scalable, secure documents
MicroStrategy Web has five document display modes: Express Mode,

Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, Design Mode, and Flash Mode. In
addition, you can choose to view documents in Full Screen Mode.
Dashboards are highly visual representations of enterprise performance

data and integrate a potentially wide variety of data elements into a single
graphical display.
Dashboards emphasize the use of graphics, KPIs, single-screen display,

summary-level data, and exception reporting. They are typically
customized for their target audiences.
You can export documents to PDF and Excel formats.
You can create document subscriptions to go to your History List.
With MicroStrategy Distribution Services, you can create document

subscriptions to:
Email
File servers
Printers
52 Lesson Summary
Exercises: Introduction to Report Services

Overview
In this exercise, you will run a document called Performance Management. You
can find this document in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards
folder. You will view the document in different display mode.
If you want to create the document without following step-by-step instructions,
you can use the following information as a guide:
Run the Performance Management dashboard.
Enable exporting to PDF and Microsoft Excel.
Export the dashboard to PDF and Excel.
Detailed Instructions
Log in to MicroStrategy Web
1 Depending on the configuration of your training environment, to connect to

MicroStrategy Web, do one of the following:
On the Windows desktop, click the Start menu, point to All Programs,
point to MicroStrategy Products, and select Web.
OR
Open your Internet Browser and type the URL provided by your instructor.
2 On the MicroStrategy Web home page, click the MicroStrategy Tutorial
project.
53
3 On the MicroStrategy Web login page, in the User name box, type the user
name provided to you by your instructor.
4 In the Password box, type the password provided to you by your instructor.
5 Click Login.
Run the Performance Management dashboard
6 On the MicroStrategy Tutorial project home page, click Shared Reports.

7 Click Dashboards and Scorecards.
8 Click Performance Management to run it.
The document runs in Interactive Mode by default.

Switch to Editable Mode and Change a Text Box
9 On the toolbar, click Restore Normal Screen Mode.

10 On the Home menu, select Editable Mode.
You can also click Editable Mode on the Home toolbar.

11 Select the Regional Performance Management Dashboard (YTD) title
text box.
12 On the Format toolbar, in the Text Color drop-down list, select Red.
13 On the Format toolbar, click Undo.
Enable Exporting to PDF and Excel

15 In the Properties window, under Available Export Forms:, select the Excel
and PDF check boxes.
16 Click OK.
Exporting to PDF
17 On the Home menu, point to Export, and select PDF.

18 Close the PDF.
54 Exercises: Introduction to Report Services
19 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home menu, point to Export, and select

Excel.
If you receive a MicroStrategy Web warning message, click OK.

might receive a message stating that Internet Explorer has blocked
You
this site from downloading files to your computer. To proceed, click the
message and select Download File.
20 In the File Download window, click Open.
If you receive a Microsoft Office Excel warning, click Yes.

21 Right-click the bar graph and notice the available Microsoft Excel options.
22 Close the Excel file without saving it.
23 Close the MicroStrategy Web export window.
55
56 Exercises: Introduction to Report Services
2
CREATING DOCUMENTS
Lesson Description
This lesson provides an overview of how to create documents using
MicroStrategy Report Services.
57
Creating Documents
Lesson Objectives
Explain the reporting capabilities available with Report Services, use the
Document Editor to create Report Services documents, create documents
with multiple layouts, and employ document specific design techniques.
Identify the components of the Document Editor. (Page 43)
Create documents using existing reports or out-of-the-box document

templates. (Page 55)
Create a multiple layout document and understand the default

rules. (Page 59)
Effectively employ banding, use auto text and conditional formatting in

MicroStrategy documents. (Page 64)
Creating Documents
Introduction to the Document Editor

Identify the components of the Document Editor.
When you want to create a new document or edit an existing document in

MicroStrategy Web, you use the Document Editor in Design Mode. This
document display mode shows the following sections:
Accordion with the Dataset Objects pane, the Document Structure pane,
the Notes pane, and the Related Reports pane
on your privileges, you may not see all of the above
Depending
panes.
Layout area
Grouping panel
Document Editor (from the Blank Document template)
59
Creating Documents
To open the Document Editor for a new document:
1 On the MicroStrategy Tutorial home page, click New Document.

2 On the Create Document page, keep the View document in Design
Mode check box selected.
3 Select a template from either Dashboard Templates or Document
Templates.
on the template you select, the Document Editor
Depending
displays different sections and different objects in the Layout area.
To open the Document Editor for an existing document:
1 Right-click the document and select Edit.

OR
Run the document and switch to Design Mode.
The following table describes the various document sections and panes:
Document Sections and Panes
Section/Pane
Dataset Objects
60 Introduction to the Document Editor
Features
Shows the datasets i.e. preexisting MicroStrategy reports
available as source data for the document
Click Add Dataset
to add a dataset to the document
You can add a standard report, view report, or an Intelligent
Cube as a dataset.
You can add multiple datasets to a document. In which
case, the Intelligence Server performs a compound join
between the datasets to produce the final document.
You can replace one or all datasets with a single dataset.
Section/Pane
Document Structure
Layout Area
Creating Documents
Features
Shows content of each document section in a tree view
Makes it easier to select individual objects
You can right-click any object and choose from a variety of
placement and formatting options.
Useful for repositioning objects within panels in an RS
dashboard
Displays the content of the document
Consists of various sections:
Page Header Items in this section display at the top of each page in the
document
Useful for page numbers, corporate logos, and so on
Document Header Items in this section display once, below the Page Header
section of the first page of the document
Useful for cover page and also for grand totals and summary
data
Detail Header Items in this section display once, directly above the detailed
data
Useful for adding column headers to Detail section data and
also for displaying entire MicroStrategy grids/graphs
Detail Displays the detailed data of the document and prints one
row for each row of data in the dataset
Useful for displaying detail data such as attribute elements
and metrics
Detail Footer Items in this section display once, directly below the detailed
data
Useful for displaying subtotals
Document Footer Items in this section display once, on the last page of the
document
Useful for displaying summary page and also filter details of
the document
Page Footer Items in this section display at the bottom of each page of
the document
Useful for page numbers and other footer information
Custom Headers and Footers Custom sections are created when you add objects to the
Grouping panel of the document
61
Creating Documents
Hiding Sections of the Layout Area

You can specify whether or not you want to hide or display certain sections of
the Layout area in the Document Editor. When you use one of the dashboard
templates to create an RS dashboard, only the detail header displays. The
other sections of the document editor are hidden by default. By hiding the
sections that you are less likely to use as you design a document, you can lend
more screen space to the sections that you use more often.
To hide sections in the Document Editor:
1 Open a document in Design mode.

2 On the Tools menu, select Sections.
3 In the Properties window, under Sections, clear the check box for any
section you want to hide:
cannot hide all sections. At least one section must be

You
displayed.
Only the selected sections display in the Document Editor.

Creating Documents
Detail Section Behavior

As you create Report Services documents, you need to understand the impact
of placing attributes and metrics in the Detail section. The Detail section is
the only section in the layout area in which you cannot add grid/graph
objects.
When you place attributes and metrics into this section, the document
displays data for each row that exists in the dataset.
This concept is important to understand because it significantly impacts the
design of documents, and most importantly the output. For example, assume
the report shown below serves as the dataset for a document. The dataset has
15 rows of data, three attributes (Region, Call Center, and Year), two metrics
(Profit and Profit Margin), and a report filter for years 2011 and 2012.
Sample Dataset
Now consider what happens if you place only Region and Profit in the Detail
section of the Layout area, as shown below:
Detail Section with {Region} and {Profit}
63
Creating Documents
Based on what you learned earlier (items in the Detail section display data for
every row that exists in the dataset), the result set displays as follows:
Repeating Data in Detail Section
The region information (Central, Mid-Atlantic, and so forth) repeats due to

profit values for every record in the dataset. In other words, the profit values
(the numeric data) display for every Call Center and Year (the other
attributes in the dataset) even though they are not currently in the Detail
section. For example, the Central region displays four times because there are
two call centers in Central (Milwaukee and Fargo) and there are two years
(2011, 2012) in the dataset, resulting in four profit figures in all.
Creating Documents
general rule, after you place an attribute into the Detail section, it
Asis aagood
practice to do one of the following:
Place all other attributes into the Detail section.

OR
Group by all attributes not placed in the Detail section. Grouping is

covered in the next topic (see Custom Sections and Grouping
starting on page 66).
To make the document output more comprehensible, you can place the other
attributes into the Detail section as shown below:
All Dynamic Text Boxes in Detail Section
When you add the other attributes, the results show all levels of detail,
making the output easier to understand.
All Dynamic Text Boxes in Detail Section Output
65
Creating Documents
However, the data still repeats. While the results are easier to understand,
the format is still not quite ideal. You can use custom grouping sections to
improve the look and readability of the document.
As a general rule, when the dataset you use in a document contains multiple
attributes and you want to display the data in the Detail section, your best
design approach is to use custom sections. Custom sections are possible
through grouping.
Custom Sections and Grouping

Grouping is a powerful design technique that enables you to create custom
bands so that data can be arranged and sorted in an efficient and easily
consumable layout. When you group the document described in the previous
topic by Year and Region, you see the following results:
Banded Layout
Creating Documents
To create this layout, you simply add attributes to the Grouping panel of the
Document Editor. For each attribute you place into this panel, Report
Services adds a custom header and footer for that attribute. In the image
below, the editor displays the Grouping panel for the sample document.
Because the document groups by Year and Region, corresponding header and
footer sections (Year Header, Region Header, Year Footer, and Region
Footer) display in the Layout area:
Grouping by Year and Region and Custom Sections
Consider the following important factors about grouping:
The order in which you place attributes into the Grouping panel impacts
the outputs order. If Region comes before Year, the document displays a
breakdown of regions and then years.
It is good practice to group on attributes that are at a higher logical level

than those used in the Detail section. For example, the sample document
above groups on Region while Call Center is in the Detail section. If you
group by Call Center and place Region in the Detail section, the resulting
output becomes nonsensical.
Report Services can only group by objects from the grouping and sorting
dataset. The grouping and sorting dataset controls how data is grouped
for a banded document and also how the data is sorted within the
document.
default, the first dataset that you add to the document is the
Bygrouping
and sorting dataset. However, you can assign a different
grouping and sorting dataset. The grouping and sorting dataset
always displays in bold type in the Dataset Objects pane in the
Document Editor.
67
Creating Documents
To change the Grouping and Sorting Dataset:
1 If two or more datasets exist in the Dataset Objects pane, identify which
one you want to assign as the grouping and sorting dataset.
2 Right-click the dataset name.
3 Select Set as Grouping and Sorting Dataset.
4 Select attributes, custom groups, or consolidations as grouping objects
(not metrics).
Grouping Properties
For any attributes that you place in the Grouping panel, you can assign
several grouping properties. By right-clicking an attribute in the Grouping
panel and selecting Grouping Properties, you access options that enable you
to control the layout and display of your document. The image below shows
the grouping properties:
Grouping Properties
Creating Documents
Page-By Mode - When you include attributes in the Grouping panel of a

Report Services document, you can choose whether or not to apply
page-by functionality to the document as well. To control the page-by
behavior for a document, you select one of the following Page by Mode
settings:
No Page-By (All Only)
Page-By (Single Element or All)
Page-By (Single Element Only)
Show Totals - This option enables totals on grouping objects. Totals

aggregate the metric values for each element and display the sum for the
entire grouping object. When you select the Total option in the grouping
attribute, you see the metric values change to reflect the total.
PDF-Specific Properties
There are a number of properties that pertain to the grouping behavior of the
document in PDF.
Keep group together - Ensures that groups do not get separated across
pages. For example, assume you have Region in the Grouping panel and
any object in the Detail section. The Keep group together option will
ensure that all information for a region is printed on the same page,
unless the information is longer than an entire page.
Page break between groups - Forces a new page every time a new data
element of the group is printed. For example, if you have Year in the
grouping panel and data for 2010 and 2011 displays in the documents
output, this setting causes the information for 2011 year to begin on a new
page.
Restart page numbering - Causes page numbering for auto text fields to
restart at number 1 within a group.
Headers & Footers

Now that you understand the behavior of the Detail section and how
grouping works, you are ready to learn the behavior of header and footer
sections. As mentioned previously, header and footer sections are useful for:
Labeling columns of data that display in the Detail section
69
Creating Documents
Displaying MicroStrategy grids or graphs
Displaying totals and subtotals
It is important to understand how certain objects behave when you place

them in headers or footers. Behaviors can change depending on whether you
are using grouping objects in the document. The following table lists the
behavior of objects placed in headers and footers:
Behavior of objects in Headers & Footers
Header or
Object
Footer type type
Behavior
Use
Page
Header /
Footer &
Document
Header /
Footer
Attribute
dynamic
text
boxes
Only the first attribute element

in the results of the dataset
displays.
Varies
Metric
dynamic
text
boxes
The metric is summed for all

values in the dataset.
Useful for
grand total
Detail
Header /
Footer
Attribute
dynamic
text
boxes
If Grouping is NOT used, the

first attribute element in the
results of the dataset displays.
Varies
Metric
dynamic
text
boxes
The metric displays a subtotal

for the grouping level.
If Grouping is used, the first

attribute element for the level
of grouping displays. Results
will vary depending on the
attribute.
Useful for
subtotals
Creating Documents
Creating Documents
Create documents using existing reports or out-of-the-box document
templates.
Creating Documents from Existing MicroStrategy Reports

You can create a Report Services document directly from a MicroStrategy
report. When you right-click any report and select Create Document, a new
document opens and the following actions take place automatically:
The source report, with all of its attributes and metrics, becomes the
dataset of the document.
The dataset displays in the Detail Header section as a grid (for a grid
source report) or as a graph (for a graph source report).
The grid or graph displays the same attributes and metrics as the source
report.
For example, in the source report, if any attributes, metrics, or other
objects are in the Report Objects pane of the Report Editor but not in the
report template, the grid/graph in the document does not display them.
Instead, these objects will display under the dataset in the Dataset Objects
pane of the Document Editor.
The grid or graph uses the source reports formatting.
Any prompt answers that are stored in the source report are copied to the
document.
If the source report has an object in the page-by panel, this object
becomes a grouping object in the document. The document automatically
displays a header and footer section of the grouping object. Also, a
dynamic text box containing the objects name, such as {Region}, displays
in the custom header section.
If the source report has a view filter, it is applied to the grid/graph in the
document.
Creating Documents
71
Creating Documents
In the example shown below, a document is created using the Category Sales
Report. The reports Category page-by becomes the documents Category
grouping attribute. Also, the {Category} text box displays automatically in the
Category Header. The grid, with formatting, displays in the Detail Header:
Document Created from Category Sales Report
To create a document from an open report:
1 Run the report.

2 On the Tools menu, select Create Document.
OR
On the Tools toolbar, select Create Document:
72 Creating Documents
Creating Documents
Creating Documents from a Document Template

After clicking Create Document, on the Create Document page, a set of
dashboard and document templates display at the top of the page. These
out-of-the-box templates are designed to help speed up the document
creation process. They provide a predefined structure that helps you create a
traditional document with multiple sections. They come in a variety of
formats as shown below:
Dashboard and Document Templates
To create a document using Blank Document template:
1 On the project home page, click New Document.

2 On the Create Document page, keep the View document in Design
Mode option selected.
3 Under Document Templates section, select Blank Document.
iPad and iPhone templates help you create documents that are
The
correctly sized for display on the iPad and iPhone.
Creating Documents
73
Creating Documents
Designers can also create custom document templates and

Developer
make them available to MicroStrategy Web Professionals. A custom
document template might include corporate colors, fonts, and images
that give documents a standardized look and feel. Developer Designers
can also import and export templates from one MicroStrategy project
to another.
74 Creating Documents
Creating Documents
Creating Multiple Layout Documents

Create a multiple layout document and understand the default rules.
Documents and RS dashboards can display different layouts in a single

document. Using multiple layouts, you can combine independently
maintained documents into a single, unified dashboard to create statements
or report books.
When you create a multiple layout document, you perform either of the
following actions:
Import existing documents into a new document. Each document

displays on its own layout tab in the new document.
OR
Add a new blank layout to an existing document. The document displays

its original layout, plus a new blank layout tab that you can continue to
format.
MicroStrategy Developer, you can right-click multiple reports and

Inselect
Create Document. Each report displays on its own layout tab in
the new document.
When you import existing documents into a new document, the following
rules apply:
The datasets of the imported source document are automatically included

in the new documents Dataset Objects pane.
Each layout tab can have its own default grouping and sorting dataset.
Each layout tab can have its own grouping objects.
Each layout tab can display data in its own distinct sort order, as defined
by any grouping objects or with the grouping and sorting dataset.
Each layout tab can have its own page setup options, such as paper size,
margins, page orientation, scaling and horizontal fit or overflow.
Each layout can have its own border and background color.
Each layout can have its own autostyle.
75
Creating Documents
All layouts can use all datasets imported into the document.
The Page Header and Page Footer sections are shared sections, meaning
that their contents display on every layout in the document, by default.
However, you can configure these sections to display differently for each
layout.
When you add a layout, the Document Header and Document Footer
sections are replaced by the Layout Header and Layout Footer. These
sections print at the beginning and end of the layout.
There is no limit to the number of layouts that a document can contain.

However, the more layouts you include, the more time it might take to
render the document.
can also use multiple layouts with RS dashboards to improve

You
performance compared to utilizing multiple panel stacks.
In the example shown below, three existing documents are imported into a
new multiple layout document. The first layout tab displays as follows:
Layout 1
76 Creating Multiple Layout Documents
Creating Documents
The second layout tab displays as follows:

Layout 2
The third layout tab displays as follows:

Layout 3
77
Creating Documents
Each layout tab uses different grouping attributes.

To import existing documents into a new multiple layout document:
1 Open a document in Design view.

2 On the Insert menu, select Layout.
3 In the Insert Layout window, select the Browse Documents tab.
4 Locate the desired document and click OK.
Exporting Multiple Layout Documents to Microsoft Excel

When you export a multiple layout document to Microsoft Excel, each layout
of the document automatically displays on its own worksheet in the Microsoft
Excel workbook.
Retain Grouping Selection between Layouts

In a document with multiple layouts, you can retain the grouping selection
between all layouts that have a common grouping attribute. For example, if
you have a grouping on the Year attribute in three layouts, changing the Year
grouping selection in one layout, will change the Year grouping selection in
the remaining two layouts.
78 Creating Multiple Layout Documents
Creating Documents
You can enable this feature from the Document Properties window as shown
below:
Apply Grouping Section to All Layouts Feature
79
Creating Documents
Useful Design Techniques and Document

Specific Objects
Effectively employ banding, use auto text and conditional formatting in
MicroStrategy documents.
Banded Layouts
Now that you understand the behavior of the Detail, Custom and Header and
footer sections of the Layout area, you can employ Banded Layouts. Banding
is one of the ways that you can make documents more appealing and legible.
An example of a banded layout is shown below. Notice how years and regions
are grouped so that call centers and a metric display together. You will study
this very simple example of banded layout in this topic.
Banded Layout
80 Useful Design Techniques and Document Specific Objects
Creating Documents
Auto Text
Auto text fields are another useful object type. They are variables that you can
insert into a document to be dynamically displayed at run time. Auto text
fields are similar to dynamic text boxes, in that they are surrounded with
braces {}. However, they differ from dynamic text boxes because they are
reserved words, which are also preceded with an ampersand (&).
The following table lists the auto text codes for a document:
Auto text Codes for a Document
Auto text
Description
{&PAGE}
Inserts the current page
{&NPAGES}
Inserts the total number of pages into a

document or in the groups section
before page numbering restarts
{&DATETIME}
Inserts the current date and time of the

client computer when the document
executes
{&USER}
Inserts the full name, not the login, of

the MicroStrategy user who executes
the document
{&DOCUMENT}
Inserts the saved name of the

document
{&DESCRIPTION}
Inserts a documents description
{&PROJECT}
Inserts the name of the MicroStrategy

Project where the document is saved
{&EXECUTIONTIME}
Inserts the time the document

executes. This auto text is useful for
non-interactive users, such as those
who receive documents on a
scheduled basis.
{&NOTES}
Inserts notes
place the {&Promptn&} text box in a document to dynamically

You
insert the answers you provide to prompts. In the syntax, the n refers
to the number of the prompt. For example, {&Prompt1&} represents
the first prompt displayed to the user.
Useful Design Techniques and Document Specific Objects
Creating Documents
The following table lists the auto text codes for a specific dataset:
Auto Text Codes for a Dataset
Auto Text
Description
{&REPORTNAME: Inserts the description of the specified dataset. If

DESCRIPTION
the report does not have a description, the text
field remains blank.
{&REPORTNAME: Inserts the filtering criteria (report filter and report
FILTERDETAILS} limit) used in the dataset. If there is no filter,
Empty Filter is displayed.
{&REPORTNAME: Inserts prompt information for all prompts in the
PROMPTDETAILS specified dataset.
}
{&REPORTNAME: inserts as many report details as you want to
REPORTDETAILS include, such as filter details, template details, and
}
prompt details, for the specified dataset.
{&REPORTNAME: Inserts the filtering criteria for the report filter used
REPORTFILTERD in the dataset.
ETAILS}
{&REPORTNAME: Inserts the report limit details for the dataset.
REPORTLIMITDE
TAILS}
{&REPORTNAME: Inserts the complete template details, including
TEMPLATEDETAI attributes and metrics, for the specified dataset.
LS}
{&REPORTNAME: Inserts the date and time the dataset was
EXECUTIONTIME executed.
}
do not specify the datasets REPORTNAME as part of the code,

Iftheyoudocuments
grouping and sorting dataset is used as the source for
the dataset-specific auto text codes.
You can configure most of the dataset-specific auto text codes to display as
much or as little information as you like. You can also specify their
formatting.
Creating Documents
To insert auto text into a document:
1 Select the section in which you want to place the auto text.
2 On the Insert menu, point to Auto-text, and select the desired auto text.
OR
Type the auto text (with its required syntax) into a text box.
Formatting Auto Text

You can custom format the {&REPORTDETAILS}, {&FILTERDETAILS},
{&PROMPTDETAILS}, {&TEMPLATEDETAILS}, and
{&REPORTLIMITDETAILS} auto text codes by choosing how much
information to display in these fields.
To define custom formatting for the specific auto text fields:
1 Right-click the auto text and select Report Details Properties.

2 In the Report Details Properties window, select the check boxes for the
information you want to display in the auto text.
For more information on each option, refer to the Report Services
Document
Creation Guide product manual or the MicroStrategy
Online Help.
3 Click OK.
Concatenating Auto Text and Text

You can concatenate auto text fields with other text boxes. For example, you
can type the following string in a single text box:
Page {&PAGE} of {&NPAGES}
Creating Documents
If you are viewing page 2 of a 10 page document, the example above displays
as:
Page 2 of 10
Notice that {&PAGE} is auto text for the current page, and {&NPAGES} is
auto text for the total number of pages in the document.
Conditional Formatting
You may already be familiar with the concept of thresholds in MicroStrategy
reports, which define specific formatting for metrics that satisfy user-defined,
data-driven conditions. With Report Services, you can apply conditional
formatting to many types of document objects. If an object meets your
specific conditions, it displays the custom format.
The example below shows conditional formatting that displays a symbol for
the Total Number of Engineers. The document also uses conditional
formatting to value of Total Number of Cases Closed using green, bold font.
Conditional Formatting Example
Creating Documents
The example shows two of three possible formats (formatted values,

replacement text, and quick symbols) for conditional formatting defined on
dynamic text boxes.
Conditional formatting involves combining an object, a condition, and
formatting properties that are applied to the object when the condition is
met.
The following table lists the objects and the types of conditional formatting
available for each object:
Object
Type
Image
Hide object
Formatting: Borders
Line
Hide object
Formatting: line style, color and weight
Rectangle
Hide object
Formatting: background color, line style, color and weight
Text box
Hide object
Replacement text and symbols
Formatting: All formatting properties
Section
Hide object
Formatting: background color
When you define conditional formatting in documents, you use either the
Visual or Advanced Conditional Formatting Editor.
To define conditional formatting on a text box using the Advanced Conditional
Formatting Editor:
1 Open a document in Design or Editable Mode.
Creating Documents
2 Right-click the desired text box, point to Conditional Formatting, and

select Advanced.
can also use the Visual Conditional Formatting Editor to
You
define conditional formats, but the Advanced Conditional
Formatting Editor provides more formatting options.
The Conditional Formatting window displays, as shown below:
3 In the Filter On drop-down list, select the object on which you want to
define the condition.
4 Specify the operator and value and click Apply:
5 On the Conditional Formatting toolbar, select Cell Formatting,:
6 Specify the formatting for the conditional format as you would any
standard threshold, including font formatting, replacement text, quick
symbol, and so on.
7 To close the Cell Formatting window, click OK.
8 To close the Conditional Formatting window, click OK.
Thresholds are Conditional formats that you define on individual
grid/graphs.
If you select the Allow user to toggle conditional formatting on and off
option in the Conditional Formatting window, users can use the appropriate
toolbar button to view or hide conditional formatting.
Creating Documents
To toggle conditional formatting in a document:
1 Open the document that contains a conditional format in Design,

Editable, or Interactive Mode.
2 On the Data toolbar, click Toggle Conditional Formatting:
Creating Documents
Lesson Summary
You use the Document Editor in MicroStrategy Web, or MicroStrategy

Developer, to create Report Services documents.
The Dataset Objects pane of the Document Editor displays the preexisting
MicroStrategy report that serves as data input for the document.
The Document Structure pane shows the content of a document, you can
view the complete definition of a document in a tree view.
The Layout area window is where you define the content for a document.
It consists of the following sections:
Page Header and Page Footer
Document Header and Document Footer
Detail Header and Detail Footer
Detail
Custom headers and footers
You can specify whether you want to hide or display certain sections of the
Layout area in the Document Editor.
You can create documents using the following methods:

directly from a MicroStrategy report
from a predefined document template
You can create multiple layout documents.
Auto text fields are variables that you can insert into a document to be
dynamically displayed at run time.
Conditional formatting works similarly to thresholds, and if an object

meets your specific conditions, it displays the custom format.
88 Lesson Summary
Exercises: Creating Documents

Basic Document
Overview
In this exercise, you will create a simple document that uses many different
types of objects. You can design the document by replicating it in Design
Mode, or you can use the detailed instructions. The document uses the
Employee Headcount by Region report in Shared Reports\Subject
Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder as its dataset.
89
The final document should resemble the following in PDF:
90 Exercises: Creating Documents
If you want to create the document without following the detailed

instructions, you can use the Design Mode image below as a guide:
Begin document creation
1 On the MicroStrategy Tutorial project home page, click New Document.

2 In the Create Document window, with the View document in Design
Mode check box selected, under Document Templates, click Blank
Document.
3 In the Dataset Objects pane, click Add Dataset.
4 In the Select Dataset window, in the Shared Reports\Subject
Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder, select the Employee
Headcount by Region report.
5 Click OK.
91
Insert and format auto text in the Page Header
6 In the Layout area, expand the Page Header section, if it is not expanded
already.
OR
If the Page Header section is already expanded, select it.
7 On the Insert menu, point to Auto-text and select Date/Time.
box is inserted into the Page Header with the following auto
Atext:text{&DATETIME}.
By default, the auto text will display a time
stamp (for example December 20, 2013 11:30).
8 Format the auto text to display the date as in December 20, 2013.
the text box and use the Properties and Formatting
Right-click
window to change the date format.
9 Using the Format menu, Right align the text box.
10 With the text box selected, use the > keyboard arrow key to position the
text box to the far right of the document, as shown below:
text box moves incrementally to the next set of grid points,

IfthetheSnap
to Grid feature is enabled. To turn off this feature, in
Design Mode, in the Tools Menu, select Snap to Grid.
Add a title text box to the Document Header
11 In the Layout Area, expand the Document Header section.

12 Click the Insert menu to view the toolbar.
13 On the Insert toolbar, click Text:
Alternatively, on the Insert menu, select Text.

14 Use the cross-hairs cursor to place and position a text box in the
Document Header so that it takes up the width of the section.
15 In the text box, type Employee Headcount by Region.
16 With the text box selected, use the Format toolbar and format the text box
as follows:
Property
Setting
Font
Tahoma; 20 point; Center alignment
Fill Color
Grey-25%
Your document should display as follows:
Save the document
17 On the toolbar, click Save.

is a good idea to save your work frequently because in your
Itclassroom
environment, Intelligence Server is probably configured
to disconnect you from your project source after a certain block of
idle time. The time you take while you format your document is not
considered active time by Intelligence Server, so to avoid losing
your work, save your document every few minutes.
18 Browse to the My Reports folder and save the document, naming it Basic
Document.
19 Click OK.
20 In the Document Saved window, click Run the newly saved document.
21 Switch to Design Mode.
93
Add and format a grid in the Detail Header
22 Click the Detail Header section.

23 Right-click and select Properties and Formatting.
24 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select
Layout.
25 Under Size, select the Height can shrink check box.
26 Click OK.
27 In the Dataset Objects pane, right-click the Employee Headcount by
Region dataset and select Add to Section without Formatting.
28 In the Layout Area, right-click the grid and select Properties and
Formatting.
To select or right-click a grid/graph, use the cross-arrows icon that
displays
at the top-left corner of the grid/graph.
Layout.
30 Set the following properties:
Property
Auto text field
Left
Top
Width
Fixed at 6.875
Height
Fixed at 3
31 Click OK.
Switch the grid to a graph
32 With the grid selected, to view the toolbar, click the Graph menu to view
the toolbar.
33 On the toolbar, select View: Graph.
Add a subsection to the Detail Header
34 Click any white space within the Detail Header.

35 Right-click the Detail Header below the graph and select Insert Section
Below.
may have to increase the size of the Detail Header to view the
You
white space below the graph. After you insert the new subsection,
you will see the divider line under the graph.
may have to drag the divider line up to remove any white space
You
between the graph and the divider line.
36 In the Dataset Objects pane, press CTRL, select Region and Employee
Headcount., right-click, and select Add to Section as Static Text.
37 Increase the length of the Employee Headcount text box to display the
complete text.
38 Using the > keyboard key, position the Region and Employee
Headcount labels as shown below:
Add dynamic text boxes to the Detail section
39 Click the Detail section header bar.

40 In the Dataset Objects pane, pressing CTRL, select Region and
Employee Headcount, right-click, and select Add to Section as
Dynamic Text.
41 Using the Keyboard keys, position the dynamic text boxes so that they line
up under their labels.
95
42 Use the Format toolbar and change the alignment of {[Employee

Headcount]} to Left.
Enable the section-specific Height can shrink property
43 Right-click any white space in the Detail section and select Properties
and Formatting.
Layout.
45 Under Size, select the Height can shrink check box.
46 Click OK.
Your Detail section should resemble the following image:
Add text boxes to the Detail Footer
47 Click the Detail Footer section header bar.

48 Use the Insert toolbar to add a text box named Total Headcount:.
49 Use the Format toolbar to format the text box to display in Bold type.
50 Add another text box and type {[Employee Headcount]}.
51 Press CTRL, select the Region, {Region}, and Total Headcount: text
boxes, right-click, point to Align, and select Align Left.
52 Repeat step 48 for the Employee Headcount, {[Employee Headcount]},

and {[Employee Headcount]} text boxes.
The text boxes should align as shown below:
Add auto text to the Page Footer
53 Expand the Page Footer, if it is not already expanded.

OR
If Page Footer is already expanded, select it.
54 On the Insert menu, point to Auto-text, and select Page Number.
55 Center the {&PAGE} auto text box in the middle of the section.
56 Double-click the {&PAGE} text box and modify it by typing Page
{&PAGE} of {&NPAGES}.
57 Resize the text box to display entire text.
58 Switch to Editable Mode.
Format the graph in Editable Mode
59 Select the graph.

60 To view the toolbar, click the Graph menu.
61 To hide the legend, Click Legend:
62 In the Graph toolbar, set Categories to 12 and click Apply:
97
63 On the Format menu, select Graph.

64 In the Format: Graph window, under Format, select Format.
65 In the Format drop-down list, select Titles.
66 In the All Titles drop-down list, select Title.
67 Clear the Show check box.
68 Click OK.
Apply some formatting changes to text boxes
69 In the Detail Footer, select the 39 text box, and apply Bold.
70 Right-click Total Headcount and select Copy.
71 In the Detail Header section, select the Region text box, right-click, and
select Paste Format.
72 Repeat step 72 for the Employee Headcount text box.
Add a watermark for PDF

74 In the Properties window, under Document Properties, select
Watermark.
75 In the Watermark drop-down list, select Text watermark (PDF only).
76 In the Text box, type Confidential.
77 Click Format:
78 In the Font Formatting window, under Style, select Italic.

79 Click OK.
80 In the Properties window, click OK.
Export to PDF and save final document
81 On the Home menu, point to Export and select PDF.

82 After viewing the PDF output, close the PDF.

Optional: Apply transparency to the graphs background
In PDF, you may have noticed that the graph covers the watermark. To
have the watermark show through, you need to change the transparency
of the graphs background fill color.
83 In Editable Mode, select the graph.
86 In the Titles drop-down list, select Format.
87 In the All Text drop-down list, select Background.
88 Under Fill, use the slider to set Transparency to 100%, as shown below:
89 Click OK.
90 Export to PDF again to view the results.
91 Compare your results to the final PDF image in the Overview section of
the exercise.
92 Close the PDF window.
93 Save the document.
99
3
CREATING REPORT SERVICES
DASHBOARDS
Lesson Description
In this lesson, you will learn about creating Report Services dashboards using
dashboard-optimized templates. You will also review the MicroStrategy Web
document display modes, focusing primarily on Interactive Mode and Flash
Mode. The rest of this lesson covers how you use panel stacks, panels, and
selectors to create multilayered dashboards.
101
Creating Report Services Dashboards
MicroStrategy Report Services: Dynamic Dashboards
Lesson Objectives
Use dashboard-optimized templates to quickly create a dashboard, view your
dashboards in the MicroStrategy Web display modes, and use panels, panel
stacks, and selectors to design a multilayered dashboard.
Use the dashboard-optimized design templates to quickly create dynamic

enterprise dashboards. (Page 87)
Use panels and panel stacks to provide users with multiple views of data
within a single document. (Page 90)
Dashboard Templates
Use the dashboard-optimized design templates to quickly create dynamic
enterprise dashboards.
Dashboard templates are designed to help speed up the document creation

process because they contain predefined zones to which you add document
objects.
Dashboard templates display when you begin creating a new document. They
have the following default characteristics:
Predefined and locked panel stacksDepending on the dashboard

template you use, one or more panel stacks form the basis for the
predefined zones of the dashboard template. The panel stack displays
with a gray background fill color, rounded edges, a drop shadow, and no
borders. Its width, height, and position properties are locked. It displays
only one panel by default. To add more panels, you must unlock the panel
stack, assuming you have the appropriate privileges and permissions to
do so.
Default display modeThe default display mode is Interactive Mode.
Other display modesAdditional available display modes include

Express Mode, Flash Mode, and Editable Mode.
Export formatsAvailable export formats include Excel, PDF, HTML,

and Flash.
Full Screen ModeWhen you switch from Design Mode to Express

Mode, Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, or Flash Mode, the document
displays in Full Screen Mode by default.
Grid/graphs match the size of the panel stackObjects that you add to
the predefined zones of the dashboard template automatically take up the
entire width and height of the panel stack. That is, the width and height
properties of the grid/graph are fixed to match those of the underlying
panel stack. When you add shapes and text boxes, they take up the width
but not the height.
Title bars for grid/graphs, selectors, and panel stacksTitle bars are
enabled by default and display with a gray gradient fill color.
Dashboard Templates
103
Predefined formatting for text boxesDepending on the dashboard

template you choose, predefined text boxes for titles have a default font
and font size (Tahoma, 24 point).
Single layoutDashboard templates have a single layout by default.
AccordionContains the following:

Dataset Objects paneEnables you to add a dataset to the document.
You can add one or more standard reports or view reports to a
document, or you can add an Intelligent Cube.
Document Structure paneDisplays an outline of the documents
structure.
Notes paneEnables you to add, view, or remove notes about the
document.
Related Reports paneDisplays additional reports that may be related
to the document.
Document developers working in MicroStrategy Developer can create their

own custom document templates. They can save existing documents as
templates and format new documents based on the document template.
A document template can contain more than just formatting properties, it
can also include underlying datasets, text boxes, images, and layout
properties. After you create a new document based on the document
template, you can further customize the document as you like.
more information on document templates, refer to the Report
For
Services Document Creation Guide product manual.
To create a document from any of the out-of-the-box dashboard templates:

2 On the Create Document page, select a dashboard template, such as 01
Blank Dashboard.
104 Dashboard Templates
The Document Editor opens containing a single layout and a single

placeholder for dashboard content, as shown below:
01 Blank Dashboard Template
Dashboard Templates
105
Dashboard Layering
Use panels and panel stacks to provide users with multiple views of data
within a single document.
Layering with Panels and Panel Stacks

You can design a dashboard to contain panels. A panel is a predefined
portion of the document canvas that contains any content, such as grids,
graphs, text boxes, images, and so forth. Multiple panels can be layered on
top of each other to form a panel stack. By using panel stacks, you increase
the analytic richness of your dashboard by overlaying multiple layers of data.
Users can navigate between the panels using selectors such as radio buttons,
drop-down lists, sliders, list boxes, check boxes, button bars, and link bars.
Panels and panel stacks make it possible to include all types of information
(related or unrelated) within a single dashboard. For example, by including
panels in a document, you can help guide your users through a logical
workflow where they can move successively from high-level information to
more detailed information without ever leaving the dashboard.
You can view panels and panel stacks in both Developer and MicroStrategy
Web. However, when you want to interact with multiple panels in a panel
stack, you should use the Express Mode, Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, or
Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web. The PDF and HTML modes in Developer
enable you to view the current panel only, without giving you the choice to
select other panels. This behavior is also true for documents you view in
Express Mode or export to PDF or Microsoft Excel from MicroStrategy Web.
For dashboard designers who need to preview documents in Flash Mode in
Developer, there is a Flash preview mode where you can interact with panels
in a panel stack.
With dashboard panels, users have immediate access to the reports they need
to see and with which they want to interact. Being able to view these reports
simultaneously, or in quick succession, makes it easier for users to identify
connections among reports. Panels and panel stacks are essential building
blocks for interactive RS dashboards.
106 Dashboard Layering
You can organize dashboards in two ways, as shown below:
Layers of dashboard panelUse a large panel stack as the basis for a

multilayered dashboard
Layers of analytic panelLayer grids and graphs on a single panel stack

within a larger dashboard
Methods for Layering Dashboards
Dashboard Layering
107
Layers of Dashboard Panel

The dashboard below offers three different views of human resources-related
data from the Human Resources Analysis Module project. The Headcount
Summary tab shows KPIs on the top left, an area chart with headcount data
on the top right, and a grid at the bottom with more detailed departmental
and regional headcount metrics.
Dashboard Panel Example - Panel 1
see this dashboard in action, you can run the Human Resource
ToAnalysis
Dashboard located in the Human Resources Analysis
Module project in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards
folder.
If you select the Attrition/Hiring Summary tab, you see an entirely different
set of data, as shown below:
Dashboard Panel Example - Panel 2
The third tab, Compensation Summary, offers yet another perspective of this
human resources-related data.
From a design perspective, the entire dashboard is based on one large panel
stack that contains three panels. Within each panel, there are many grids,
graphs, and panel stacks.
From these examples, you can see how panels and panel stacks add flexibility
and greater depth to your dashboards. They make it possible to display much
more information than a traditional dashboard. They also make it easy for
users to interact with the data.
Dashboard Layering
109
Layers of Analytic Panel

With this method, you layer two (or more) panels, each containing a different
grid or graph, within a single panel stack. The panel stack is just one
component of a larger dashboard. In Express Mode, Interactive Mode,
Editable Mode, and Flash Mode in MicroStrategy Web, users can flip
between the panels, quickly replacing one object with the other.
In the following image, a single gauge displays on a panel. The name of the
panel is Corporate Revenue. In the image below, the user selects the
Corporate Revenue panel in a radio button selector:
Analytic Panel Example: Panel 1
When the user selects the Regional Performance Y/Y panel instead, a second
panel opens to display a bar graph, as shown below:
Analytic Panel Example: Panel 2
Using panels, you can display many independent layers of data within a
single panel stack on a dashboard page. Imagine a dashboard that contains
many individual panel stacks where each stack lets users toggle between
various grids and graphs. Selectors, like the radio buttons, enable users to
interact with the dashboard and proactively choose the data they want to
view at a given time. In this example, you view graphs that show two different
levels of similar data (corporate versus regional), but you could also use grids
or graphs that show completely unrelated data.
Characteristics of Panels and Panel Stacks

A panel stack is a container for a group of panels. You must add a panel stack
before you can insert and design individual panels. When you insert a new
panel stack into a document, the panel stack automatically includes one
panel. You can add additional panels as you want. With the panels in place,
you add the objects (also called controls), such as grids, graphs, text boxes,
and so on, which display the data that a user sees on a given panel.
A user sees only the border of a panel stack. You can design the border with
formatting properties, such as 3-D effects, drop shadows, rounded corners
(displayed in Flash Mode only), border colors, and border styles. Each
individual panel controls its own background color, so you can assign
different panels distinct background colors.
Dashboard Layering
111
The panel stack stores the properties that control a group of panels. These
properties control the display of title bars and pop-up text, as well as size and
position information.
The title bar is an area across the top of the panels that shows the title. You
can specify whether the title bar displays the name of the panel stack or of the
panel currently being displayed. You can also choose to hide a title bar.
The current panel is the panel currently displayed in all display modes
(Design, Express, Interactive, Editable, and Flash). It is also the panel that
displays on the panel stack when you export the document to PDF or
Microsoft Excel.
the user exports to PDF or Microsoft Excel, whichever panel is
When
current is the only panel in view, as well as the only panel you can
print. The user cannot change to a different panel.
When using panels and panel stacks, you can add a selector, such as a radio
button or drop-down list, to enable users to display the different panels of a
panel stack. In Interactive Mode, Editable Mode, Express Mode, and Flash
Mode, a user can use the selector to switch panels. In Interactive Mode and
Express Mode, a user has the option to use auto-selectors instead of adding a
separate selector for the panel stack.
Unlike title bars and panels, a selector is not part of a panel stack. It is a
different type of object that you add to the document separately.
more information on selectors, see Selectors starting on
For
page 187.
The following image points out the individual parts of a panel stack and
panel:
Panel Stack Components
When you use panel stacks in a document, the data and formatting elements
of each panel in the panel stack transfer to the Web browser, resulting in a
longer initial response time. The performance impact of using multiple panel
stacks in a document varies depending on the size of the data associated with
each panel, the format of each panel, and so on. This behavior is something to
consider as you create your dashboards.
Inserting and Defining Panel Stacks

The following high-level steps outline the procedure for inserting and
defining panels:
1 Insert a panel stack (the holder for the panels). A single panel is
automatically added to the panel stack.
2 (Optional) Display the title bar, which shows either the panel stack title or
the panel name to help identify the panel stack.
3 Insert as many additional panels as you need to hold the layers of data.
Dashboard Layering
113
4 Add objects to each panel to display the data. You can add grids and
graphs, text boxes, images, and so forth, just like you add to any typical
document.
5 (Optional) Specify an order for the panels. By default, panels display in
the order in which you add them.
6 Choose a panel to display when users initially view the document.
7 Format the panel stack, panels, and title bar.
8 Add a selector to enable users to switch between panels.
Each of these steps is described in more detail in the next few sections.
1. Inserting Panel Stacks

A panel stack is the holder for panels. When you insert a panel stack, a single
panel is automatically included in the panel stack. You can then add more
panels to the panel stack as you please.
To insert a panel stack into a document:
1 Open the document in Design Mode or Editable Mode.

2 On the Insert menu, select Panel Stack.
OR
On the Insert toolbar, select Panel Stack:
you move the mouse to the Layout area, the pointer displays
When
as cross-hairs.
3 Click the desired location of the Layout area.
If you click and drag in the section, you can size the panel stack.
The panel stack displays in the section, with a single panel.
2. Displaying a Title Bar (Optional)

You can choose whether you want to display the title bar, which shows either
the name of the panel stack or the name of the panel that is currently
selected.
By default, the name of the current panel (the panel that is currently in view)
displays in the title bar, as shown below. When you switch panels, the name
in the title bar changes:
Panel Stack Title Bar Shows Panels Name
If you want the same title to display, regardless of which panel is currently in
view, you can change a setting in the panel stack properties. You can assign
any name you like to the panel stack, and this name displays constantly no
matter which panel is in view, as shown below:
Panel Stack Title Bar Shows Panel Stacks Name
Dashboard Layering
115
To display a title bar:
1 In the Layout area, right-click the panel stack and select Properties and
Formatting.
General.
3 Under Panel Stack, select the Show Title Bar check box. This option is a
selected by default.
4 By default, the name of the current panel displays in the title bar. To
display the title of the panel stack instead, in the Title drop-down list,
select Custom Title.
5 The title of the panel stack is blank by default. To change it, in the Custom
Title box, type the desired title.
6 Click OK to apply the changes and return to the document.
In the Layout section of the Properties and Formatting window you can
adjust the height of the title bar. By default, it is set to 0.2 inches.
Steps 3 - 6: The Panel Stack Toolbar

The panel stack toolbar provides many functions that help to define the panel
stack, including the following:
Panel Stack Toolbar
Button
Purpose
Select or move the panel stack
Display the previous panel. This button is grayed out if

the panel stack contains only one panel.
Display the next panel. This button is grayed out if the

panel stack contains only one panel.
Panel Stack Toolbar

Button
Purpose
Add a new panel
Duplicate the current panel
Delete the current panel
Move the current panel backward
Move the current panel forward
Rename the current panel
Insert content into the current panel, such as text boxes,

shapes, grids, graphs, panel stacks, and so forth.
You can insert as many additional panels to a panel stack as needed. When
you add a new panel, it is placed after the panel that is currently in view. For
example, a panel stack contains Panel1, Panel2, and Panel3. Panel2 is
currently in view. When you add another panel, the order is Panel1, Panel2,
Panel4 (the new panel), and Panel3. You can use the toolbar to change the
order at any time.
order of the panels in a panel stack also impacts the order in
The
which they are displayed in a selector.
By default, panels get generic names like Panel1, Panel2, and so forth. You
can rename panels to better describe their business purpose. In fact, you
should provide more meaningful names for panels, especially since these
names display in the selector (from which users select the panel they want to
view) and in the title bar.
Dashboard Layering
117
The panel that displays in Design Mode is set as the current panel. If you add
a panel to a panel stack, the new panel becomes the current panel. The
current panel also displays when you first open the document, although you
can use a selector to switch to a different panel.
To speed up the document design process, you can duplicate panels within a
panel stack. For example, if you like the layout of an existing panel, you can
duplicate it, make minor changes to the duplicate, and save a lot of time on
formatting.
Formatting Panels and Panel Stacks

You can format a panel stack by changing its borders. You can control the
border color and style, as well as apply 3-D effects, drop shadow effects, and
rounded corners (Flash only). For example, in the image below, the panel
stack shows a drop shadow and the default gray background color for the
current panel, Revenue Information:
Panel Stack Formatting - Panel 1
If you decide to display the title bar, you can format it by changing the font
and background color (including using gradients as backgrounds).
For the individual panels within the panel stack, you can assign different
background colors and gradients. For example, in the image below, the panel
has a white background fill color instead of the default gray background.
Also, notice how the panel stacks drop shadow still displays, regardless of the
background color of the panel:
Panel Stack Formatting - Panel 2
To format a panel stack:
1 Right-click the panel stack and select Properties and Formatting.

2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select one of the
following:
Color and LinesEnables you to change the fill color and borders of
the panel stacks title or the panel stacks body
FontEnables you to specify the font, font style, font size, font color,
and special effects
EffectsEnables you to specify 3-D borders, drop shadows, and

rounded corners (Flash only)
3 After formatting the panel stack, click OK.

the contents of a panel stack do not fit within the container, by
Ifdefault
scroll bars will display in the panel stack. You can toggle this
behavior under Properties and Formatting window, under Layout, in
the Content Overflow drop-down list to Scroll or Clip.
Dashboard Layering
119
Locking Panel Stacks

If you want to prevent users from inadvertently moving, resizing, or adding
panels to a panel stack, you can lock it.
To lock a panel stack:

2 Under Properties, select Layout.
3 Under Position, select the Locked check box.
4 Click OK.
a panel stack is locked, it displays a padlock button when you
When
select it in Design Mode or Editable Mode, as shown below:
Auto-selector on Panel Stacks

If you do not want to create a selector to control your panel stack, there is a
formatting option that permits you to change panels without creating a panel
selector. The auto-selector option can only be used in Interactive, Express,
and Flash Mode. When the auto-selector option is enabled, you can use the
arrow buttons shown below to switch between panels.
Auto-selectors on a Panel Stack
To enable auto-selectors on a panel stack:

2 In the Properties and Formatting window, select General.
3 Under Panel Stack, select the Allow current panel to be changed
without selector check box.
4 Click OK.
and interact with the auto selectors, you must have the title bar
Toof theseepanel
stack visible.
Dashboard Layering
121
Lesson Summary
The dashboard document templates enable you to create dashboards

quickly, because you can place objects in predefined placeholders.
A panel stack is a container for one or more panels. A panel on a panel

stack can contain any content, such as grids, graphs, text boxes, images,
and so forth.
A panel stack can display a title bar that shows either a custom title or the
names of the individual panels within the stack.
The current panel is the panel in view.
You can insert as many panels as you want within a panel stack.
You can rename panels, change their order, and format their individual
background colors.
You can change the borders of a panel stack.
You can format the font and background color of the panel stack title bar.
122 Lesson Summary
Exercise: Creating RS Dashboards

Layering Grids in a Panel Stack
Overview
In this exercise, you will create an RS dashboard that uses a grid and a graph
on a multipanel panel stack. The focus of the exercise is to learn how to work
with panels and panel stacks.
If you want to create the document without following step-by-step
instructions, you can use the following information as a guide:
Using a blank dashboard template, you will create an RS dashboard with

two panels.
The first panel will be entitled Country Headcount and will contain a
graph depicting country headcount.
A second panel will be entitled Region Headcount contain a grid

displaying region headcount data.
After you complete this RS dashboard, ensure that you can drill from
Region to Call Center from the Region Headcount panel.
The final dashboard will be called Grid Layers on Panel Stack, and the
panels on your panel stack should resemble the following two images
(additional guidelines are provided on the following pages):
123
Country Headcount Panel
124 Exercise: Creating RS Dashboards
Region Headcount Panel
Log in to MicroStrategy Tutorial
1 On the MicroStrategy Web home page, click the MicroStrategy Tutorial

project.
2 On the MicroStrategy Web login page, in the User name box, type the user
name provided to you by your instructor.
3 In the Password box, type the password provided to you by your
instructor.
4 Click Login.
Create the document

6 On the Create Document page, click 01 Blank Dashboard.
125
7 In the Layout area, on the placeholder panel stack, click Add Content and
select Panel Stack.
8 On the panel stack toolbar, click Rename Panel.
9 In the Rename Panel window, in the Name box, type Country

Headcount.
objects descriptive names is important because you can
Giving
better identify these objects when you need to select them and
modify them later on. Also, as objects become layered on top of one
another, you will be able to find them by name in the Document
Structure pane and the toolbar in Editable Mode.
10 Click OK.
11 On the Country Headcount panel, click Add Content and select Report.
12 In the Select Dataset window, browse to the Shared Reports\Subject
Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder, select Employee Headcount
by Country.
13 Click OK.
14 Right-click the Employee Headcount by Country grid, point to View
Mode and select Graph View.
Your document should resemble the following image:
Save your document
15 Click Save.
16 Name the document Grid Layers on Panel Stack and save it to your My
Reports folder.
Remember to save your document periodically.

17 Run the newly saved document.
Add another panel
19 Hover your cursor over the panel stack until you see the panel stack
toolbar and click Add Panel.
.
127
20 With the new panel in view, on the panel stack toolbar, click Rename
Panel.
21 In the Rename Panel window, in the Name box, type Region Headcount.
22 Click OK.
23 With the Region Headcount panel in view, on the panel stack toolbar,
click Insert and select Report.
24 In the Select Dataset window, in the Shared Reports\Subject

Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder, select Employee Headcount
by Region.
25 Click OK.
Assign a custom title to the panel stacks title bar
26 Right-click the panel stack (not the grid) and select Properties and
Formatting.
27 In the Properties and Formatting window, under General, in the Name
box, type Main Panel Stack.
28 Under Panel Stack, notice how the Show Title Bar check box is enabled by
default. In the Title drop-down list, select Custom Title.
Panel Name is selected by default. Typically the title bar
Current
shows the current panel name, but you want the title bar to show a
panel stack name, which displays no matter which panel is currently in
view. To ensure the panel stack name displays in the title bar, you
choose Custom Title.
29 In the Custom Title box, type Headcount Information.
30 Click OK.
Save your document
31 Save your document again.

32 In the message window, click Yes.
129
4
DOCUMENT OBJECTS AND
FORMATTING
Lesson Description
This lesson focuses on the objects you can use to create documents and RS
dashboards. It also includes graph formatting properties that help you display
sophisticated graphs within your Report Services documents.
131
Document Objects and Formatting
Lesson Objectives
Use and format the various objects available for use in Report Services
documents, be familiar with drilling, describe the features available with
OLAP Service, and understand how to format graphs.
Describe the various types of objects you use in documents. (Page 117)
Use a variety of methods for arranging and formatting objects in the

Layout area of the Document Editor. (Page 134)
Use derived metrics, summary metrics, view filters, and derived elements
to enhance your documents and RS dashboards. (Page 142)
Describe the formatting properties for graphs within Report Services

documents and some additional formatting features. (Page 149)
Document Objects
Describe the various types of objects you use in documents.
Now that you understand how to create and use a panel stack, you are ready
to explore the many types of objects that you can use to define the contents of
a panel stack or anywhere else on a document or RS dashboard.
MicroStrategy objects (such as grids, graphs, attributes, metrics, and so
forth) are the most common types of document objects.
MicroStrategy Grid/Graphs
After you add a dataset in the Dataset Objects pane, you can add it to the
Layout area. When you drag a dataset into the Layout area becomes a
grid/graph object.
In most cases, when you want to design a document to show grids and
graphs, you should use one of the dashboard templates. These templates
display only the Detail Header section by default, so any grid/graphs you
place in the Layout area of the document automatically go into this section.
In addition, the templates contain placeholders for document objects. The
placeholders make it easier to size and position in the grid/graphs on the
document.
To add a grid/graph to the Layout area, do one of the following:
1 Select the desired Layout area section to which you want to add the
grid/graph.
2 Right-click the dataset and select either Add to Section with
Formatting, Add to Section without Formatting or Add to Section as
Shortcut.
OR
Drag the dataset to the desired Layout area section. The resulting
grid/graph retains its original formatting.
Document Objects
133
Shortcut to Dataset
When you right-click a dataset and select Add to Section as Shortcut, you
ensure that the grid/graph within the document maintains a link to the
original report. If you modify the formatting, template definition, or filter
definition on the original report, your changes automatically take effect
within the document.
For example, in the document shown below, the grid displays the original
formatting for the documents dataset:
Document with Original Report Formatting
134 Document Objects
With the shortcut to dataset, after you change the formatting of the original
report and run the document again, the document automatically displays the
changes as follows:
Document Automatically Shows Reports New Format
After you design a document using shortcuts to datasets, you always have the
option to remove the link to the source report. When you remove the link,
you can format the dataset differently from the original report.
For example, when you use the shortcut to dataset option, the grids/graphs
you include in the document based on the dataset must contain all of the
datasets attributes, metrics, and so forth. However, when you remove the
shortcut, you can create grids/graphs based on the dataset that contain
subsets of the original attributes and metrics. Without the shortcut option,
the grids/graphs based on the dataset can have independent formatting and
can hold a subset of the contents from the original dataset.
Document Objects
135
To remove the shortcut to dataset functionality:
1 Right-click the desired grid/graph and select Properties and

Formatting.
Layout.
3 Under Grid, clear the Shortcut option.
4 Click OK.
Report Modifications that Affect Document Grid/Graphs

Whether or not you use shortcuts to datasets, there are certain report
changes that will always affect your document. For example, if you remove an
object from the original report, the object is also removed from the
documents dataset, any grid/graphs based on that dataset no longer display
the object.
If you have a dynamic text box for the removed object in the document, a
static text box displays in the documents output. For example, your original
report contains the Profit metric. You place {Profit} in the Layout area of a
dashboard that uses the report as its dataset. If you delete Profit from the
original report, the document no longer lists Profit as a metric in the dataset.
Instead, the {Profit} text box dashboard displays the static text {Profit}
instead of any Profit values.
more information on dynamic text boxes, see Attributes, Metrics,
For
Custom Groups, and Consolidations starting on page 145.
Furthermore, if you add a new object to the original report in the Report
Editor, when you close and reopen the document that uses that report as its
dataset, the Dataset Objects pane automatically displays the new object
under the dataset.
MicroStrategy OLAP Services Features in Grid/Graphs

When you add a dataset to a document, any derived metrics that are defined
in the original report are also available within the document. Furthermore,
you can define additional document-level derived metrics.
more information on creating document-level derived metrics,

For
see Derived Metrics starting on page 315.
If the original report that serves as a document dataset contains a view filter,
you can retain the view filter by right-clicking the dataset and selecting Add
to Section with Formatting. The resulting grid/graph object automatically
retains the original reports view filter. If you want to retain the original
reports formatting but do not want to retain its view filter, after you add the
grid/graph to the section with formatting, you can right-click it, select Edit
View Filter, and either clear or modify the view filter definition.
more information on creating document-level view filters, see
For
View Filters starting on page 319.
Inserting MicroStrategy Reports

To make the process of inserting datasets and grid/graphs quicker and easier,
you can insert a report directly into a document.
To insert a report into a document:
1 Select the section to which you want to add the grid/graph.

2 On the Insert menu, select Report.
3 Use the cross-hairs cursor to position and size the placeholder for the
grid/graph.
4 In the Select Dataset window, select the desired dataset and click OK.
Inserting a report adds the dataset and the grid/graph into the document in
one step.
Working with multiple dataset reports

MicroStrategy now allows for you to use attributes and metrics from different
datasets in the same document object.
Document Objects
137
Using Multiple Datasets in a Grid

If a dataset from which metrics are added is filtered, the attribute elements
displayed in a report are also filtered. For example, the following document
has two datasets. The first dataset has a filter for Book and Electronic
categories, while the second report has a filter for the Book, Movies, and
Music categories. In the grid displayed below, the Category attribute is added
to the grid from the Book, Elec dataset and the Profit metric is added from he
Book, Movies, Music dataset. Only the attribute elements that are displayed
in the dataset where Profit is used display in the grid.
Multiple Datasets in a Grid with the Profit Metric
If the Profit metric is removed and the Revenue metric from the Book, Elec
dataset is added to the grid in its place, the attribute elements displayed
change to those associated with the dataset from which Revenue was added.
Multiple Datasets in a Grid with the Revenue Metric
If the Profit metric is added back into this grid, all attribute elements for
Category display. However, a null value is given when the metrics dataset
does not include the attribute element listed.
Multiple Datasets in a Grid with the Profit and Revenue Metrics
Document Objects
139
Notice that Books is the only attribute element included in both datasets, so it
is the only element that has values displayed for both Revenue and Profit.
same rules apply when using the Grouping Pane. The attribute
The
elements displayed in the Grouping Pane are determined by the
datasets from which the metrics in a document come.
Grid Data Source

MicroStrategy Report Services provides users with the ability to select the
behavior of objects from available data sources. In the grids Properties and
Formatting window, in the Layout properties, under the Grid section, the
Data source drop-down list is now available, as shown in the following image:
Properties and Formatting Window for Grid Data Source
When you add objects from a dataset to a grid, the Data source changes to the
corresponding dataset. The Grid Data source does not change when you add
objects that already exist from different datasets or remove objects from the
grid.
When you have multiple datasets in a document with the Documents Grids
from Multiple Datasets option enabled and with the Grid Data source set to
none, a union of elements is retrieved.
For example, in the document below the Profit metric was added to the grid
from the Movies, Elec dataset.
Grid with the Movies, Elec Dataset as the Data Source
By opening the grids Properties and Formatting window and changing the
Data course to the Books, Movies, Music dataset, the grid will change to
display data for the Books, Movies, and Music attribute elements.
To change a grid data source:
1 Right-click the Grid.

2 Select Properties and Formatting...
Layout.
4 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Grid, in the Data Source
drop-down list, select the desired data source.
5 Click OK.
Document Objects
141
Join Behavior
If a document contains multiple datasets, you can define the join behavior of
each dataset as either primary or secondary. This functionality allows you to
decide which datasets determine which attribute elements appear in the
document results.
Elements from primary datasets are displayed in all document objects,
whereas elements from secondary datasets are displayed only if they also
appear in a primary dataset.
For example, a document has contains the three datasets below:
Datasets
Dataset 1 contains Region and the Revenue metric, filtered for Central,
Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Southeast
Dataset 2 contains Region and the Profit metric, filtered for Mid-Atlantic,
Northeast, Northwest, and South
Dataset 3 contains Region and the Customer Count metric, filtered for
Mid-Atlantic, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest
In a document or RS Dashboard, all the datasets can be added to a grid and

will display as primary datasets by default:
All Datasets Display as Primary Datasets
The metrics only display values for the regions that are in the dataset that are
used in. So the Revenue metric cannot display values for the Northwest,
South, or Southwest regions since these regions are not included in Dataset 1.
However, since all the datasets are primary datasets by default, seven
attribute elements display in this document.
Document Objects
143
By setting the join behavior of Dataset 1 as a secondary dataset, the Central

region no longer displays:
Dataset 1 Set as a Secondary Dataset
The Central region is only included in Dataset 1 and not in any of the primary
datasets, so it is no longer displayed in the document. If you also change the
join behavior of Dataset 2 so that it is a secondary dataset, the document
would only display the attribute elements included in Dataset 3 and would no
longer display data for South.
more information about Join Behavior, refer to the Report
For
Services Document Creation product guide.
To change the join behavior of a dataset:
1 In MicroStrategy Web, open a document in Design Mode or Editable

Mode.
2 Make sure the Dataset Objects pane displays. If it is not displayed, in the
Tools menu, select Dataset Objects.
3 In the Dataset Objects pane, right-click the dataset you wish to change,
point to Join Behavior, and select Primary or Secondary.
Attributes, Metrics, Custom Groups, and Consolidations

You can add the individual attributes, metrics, custom groups, and
consolidations from datasets to any section of a document.
All of these objects can come from one or more datasets.
When you add any of these objects, they are denoted with braces { }. For
example, {Region}.
objects that contain spaces or special characters
MicroStrategy
must be surrounded by square brackets []. For example, {[Call
Center]}.
To add Attributes, Metrics, Custom Groups, or Consolidations to a document:
1 In the Dataset Objects pane, drag the desired object into the desired
section of the panel stack in the Layout area.
OR
In the Dataset Objects pane, right-click the object and select Add to
Section as Dynamic Text or Add to Section as Static Text.
show a particular attribute form, expand an attribute,
Toright-click
the form, and add it to the document as static or
dynamic text.
OR
Insert a text box into the desired section of the Layout area and type the
name of an object surrounded by braces.
For example, type {Region} in a text box in the Layout area and the
dashboard displays the attribute elements for Region from the dataset.
If you want to specify the source dataset for a certain metric, you can also
include the name of the dataset in the text box. For example, if the same
metric is used in multiple datasets, use the syntax {[dataset name]:[object
name]}. Although you do not have to use square brackets unless the names
contain spaces or special characters, using brackets can help set off the
names.
If you want to display a particular attribute form, add @attribute_form after
the object name, within the braces. For example, {Customer@[Last Name]}
displays only the last names of customers on the document.
Document Objects
145
Text
You can insert text into any section of a document using text boxes. You can
format text boxes by specifying the size, transparency, borders, font, and
much more.
To insert text into a document:
1 Select the desired section of the Layout area to which you want to add a
text box.
2 From the Insert menu, select Text. (Alternatively, on the Insert toolbar,
you can select Text, as shown below:)
3 Use the cross-hair cursor to place and position a text box in the desired
section.
4 Type the text that you want to display on the document.
Concatenating Static and Dynamic Text

You can create dynamic sentences by concatenating static text with dynamic
text. Remember that when you surround text with braces {}, the text is
treated as data, when an object in the datasets matches the text in braces.
For example, if your dataset contains the Region attribute and the Profit
metric, you can insert a text box that dynamically populates the {Region} and
{Profit} text with data, as shown below:
Design view: The {Region} region showed a profit of
{Profit}.
HTML output: The Northeast region showed a profit of
$1,495,107.
different types of text boxes are combined in one text box, the
When
entire text box has the same formatting and properties. For example, if
you want to make the {Region} names and {Profit} values bold but
keep the static text in plain text, you should place them in separate text
boxes and format them differently.
Images
You can insert images into any section of a document. The image must be
available to both the Intelligence Server and to the designers of the
document. If the designers do not have access to the image, they cannot see
the image while creating the document.
To ensure that the image is available as needed, you can use any of the
following options in the Image Source box:
An http reference to a central Web server machine, such as

http://microstrategy/Test/myimage.jpg. Use this type of reference for
documents that display in Flash Mode, because images that use a
non-HTTP-based path do not display in Flash Mode. Intelligence Server
and MicroStrategy Developer must both be able to access the machine for
MicroStrategy Web and MicroStrategy Developer users to view the image
in the document.
A full path to the image on a shared network drive, such as

\\my_computer\shared\myimage.jpg. All users, the Intelligence Server,
MicroStrategy Developer, and the Web server must be able to access the
drive.
A partial or relative path, such as images\myimage.jpg. The relative path

starts from the images folder in the directory where MicroStrategy is
installed. Myimage.jpg is the actual name of the image. The image is still
embedded in the file, but this option enables you to use a reference to an
image location rather than an absolute path to an image on your local
machine or the network. The image must be copied in all of the following
folders:
Desktop\images
Intelligence Server\images
Web ASPx\images
Web directory is the physical location where the Web product is

The
installed (for MicroStrategy Web) or where it is deployed (for
MicroStrategy Web Universal).
For example, if the image is on a Web server machine, you can specify the
URL for the file as long as Intelligence Server and users who design the
documents can access that location. After you establish the location and store
the image file in that location, you insert the image into a document.
can find the path and file name of images that you want to use by
You
viewing the source of a Web page.
Document Objects
147
display an image correctly in the PDF view of a document, the

Toimage
type must be .bmp, .jpg, or .gif.
To insert an image into a document (URL example):
1 From the Insert menu, select Image. The cursor changes to a crosshair
(+) when you place it over any section of the Layout area.
2 Place the image placeholder in the desired section.
3 If the Properties and Formatting window does not open automatically,
right-click the image placeholder, and select Properties and Formatting.
Image.
5 In the Source box, type the address of the file you want to reference. For
example: http://www.mywebaddress.com/images/myimage.gif
6 Click OK.
Lines & Shapes

Lines and shapes are a great way to enhance the appearance of your
documents by delineating areas where data changes. After you insert them,
you can customize lines and shapes by changing their size, transparency, line
width, color, and so on.
To insert a line or a shape into a document:
1 On the Insert menu, select Line.

OR
On the Insert menu, point to Shape, and select either Rectangle or
Rounded rectangle.
2 Use the cross-hair to add the shape to the desired section of your
document.
By setting the Length and/or Height property for lines and rectangles to
100%, you can make them grow dynamically with your data. This setting
causes the line or rectangle to span the entire section in the output, thus
growing dynamically as the data in the section grows.
Document Objects
149
Arranging and Formatting Objects on a

Document
Use a variety of methods for arranging and formatting objects in the Layout
area of the Document Editor.
After you have added objects to a document, you can adjust how the
documents output displays them. The following tables describe the various
ways in which you can arrange and format objects.
Arranging Objects in a Document
Option
Description
Moving Objects
You can move one or multiple objects using drag and

drop, keyboard arrows, or the Properties and
Formatting window.
Alignment and Distribution
You can align objects horizontally to Left, Right or

Center and vertically to Top, Bottom, or Middle.
You can evenly distribute objects using Distribute
Horizontally or Distribute Vertically.
Sizing Objects
You can size objects by: dragging sizing handles;

pressing SHIFT + keyboard arrows; or by
right-clicking, pointing to Size, and selecting from
various options.
You can even use the Properties and Formatting
window to size objects.
Ordering Objects
You can change the order of overlapping objects by

right-clicking, pointing to Order and selecting from the
various options.
Locking Objects
To lock an object: in the Properties and Formatting

window, under Properties, under Layout, select the
Locked option.
150 Arranging and Formatting Objects on a Document
Formatting Objects in a Document

Option
Description
Control Defaults
You can set control defaults for formatting each type

of object in a document.
Once you format an object, you can right-click it and
select Set Control Defaults.
Any new object of the same type created in the
document, will have the same format applied to it.
You can also apply control defaults for existing
objects by right-clicking and selecting Apply
Control Defaults.
Formatting Features
You can right-click an object and select Properties

and Formatting to apply several formatting
features to each object type.
The following table provides a quick list of formatting features and their
corresponding objects:
Formatting Features by Object
Object Type
Formatting Feature
Grid/graph,
shapes, text box
Gradient color, gradient variant
Grid/graph,
shapes, line, text
box, image
Drop shadow, drop shadow depth, display tooltip
Grid/graph,
shapes, text box,
image
3D effect, 3D weight
Grid/graph,
shapes, text box
Fill color
Grid/graph, text
box, image
Border
Line, shapes
Line color, line style, line weight, line orientation

(only for lines)
Grid/graph or
text box
Font, style (regular, bold, italic, and bold italic), size,

effects (underline or strikeout), text color
Grid/graph or
text box
Number format (currency, date, time, percentage,

and so forth)
Grid/graph or
text box
Horizontal or vertical text alignment, wrap text, and

text direction (horizontal or vertical)
Arranging and Formatting Objects on a Document
151
Formatting Features by Object

Object Type
Formatting Feature
Grid/graph
Cell padding
Display state (grid, graph, or grid and graph)
Show title bar
Show, merge, or lock row and column headers
Show or hide outline format, banding, attribute form
names, and/or the Metrics column
will use some of these features for arranging and formatting

You
objects when you perform the exercises for this course. To learn more
about arranging and formatting objects, refer to the MicroStrategy
Web Online Help or the Report Services Document Creation Guide
product manual.
Tooltips
Tooltips are a useful feature for describing an object when a user hover over it
in the document. For example, you can associate a tooltip with a particular
metric so that the metrics definition displays in the tooltip description.
Imagine a tooltip on a {Revenue} dynamic text box that displays the
following text when you hover over it: Revenue is defined as Sum(Sales). This
is an example of a static tooltip.
152 Arranging and Formatting Objects on a Document
To make your tooltips more flexible, you can include dynamic text. For
instance, imagine a tooltip on a {Revenue} dynamic text box that displays the
following text when you hover over it: {Revenue} revenue produced in
{Year}. When you view the document in any DHTML or Flash Mode in
MicroStrategy Web, the dynamic text renders the actual revenue and year
values, as shown below:
Dynamic tooltips do not display in PDF and Microsoft Excel.

To define a tooltip in Design Mode or Editable Mode:
1 Right-click the object to which you want to add a tooltip and select
Properties and Formatting.
General.
3 Under General, in the Tooltip box, type the text you want displayed as the
tooltip for that object.
4 If you want to hide the tooltip, clear the Visible option.
5 Click OK.
Arranging and Formatting Objects on a Document
153
Drilling on Grid/Graphs
You can enable drilling on grids and graphs in documents. Drilling provides
additional interactivity to your documents, as well as helping users discover
trends and identify exceptions in reports.
On a grid/graph, you can enable drilling to attributes already contained
within the source dataset. When you drill within the source dataset, the drill
result displays in the same window as your document.
You can also enable drilling outside the source dataset, which opens a new
report in a separate window and takes you to other attributes available in the
project.
For example, the document below contains a grid that lets you drill only to
other attributes within the source dataset for the grid. When you right-click
Call Center in the grid, the drill options you see include only the Region
attribute that exists in the dataset:
Drill Within on a Grid in a Document
154 Drilling on Grid/Graphs
In the next example, the document contains a grid that lets you drill to any
attribute in the project. When you right-click Call Center in the grid, the drill
options display all of the project drill paths with no restrictions.
Drill Anywhere on a Grid in a Document
When you select any of these target attributes, a new page opens with the drill
report results.
To enable drilling on a grid/graph in a document:
1 Open the document in either Design or Editable Mode.

2 Right-click the desired grid/graph and select Properties and
Formatting.
3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Grid.
4 Under Drilling, in the Drill options drop-down list select Drill within to
restrict drilling to the attributes within the source dataset.
OR
To enable drilling outside the source dataset, select Drill anywhere.
OR
155
To disable drilling, select No drilling.

5 Click OK.
can control other drilling behavior, such as parent attribute and
You
thresholds, by setting parameters in the MicroStrategy Web user
preferences.
Synchronized Drilling
You can enable synchronized drilling across multiple objects in a document.
This feature is useful for documents with multiple grid/graph objects that
share common attributes, whether or not they come from the same dataset.
For example, if synchronized drilling is enable between the grid and graph in
the document below, drilling on Category in the grid, will automatically
perform the drill in the graph:
156 Drilling on Grid/Graphs
You can enable synchronized drilling for an object from the Properties and
Formatting window as shown below:
157
OLAP Services Features

Use derived metrics, summary metrics, view filters, and derived elements to
enhance your documents and RS dashboards.
MicroStrategy OLAP Services is an add-on product to Intelligence Server.

While this product is not required to develop documents or RS dashboards,
the functionality it provides can greatly enhance the type of analysis you can
achieve.
This product provides MicroStrategy web customers with the following
featuresderived metrics, summary metrics, view filters, and derived
elements.
Derived Metrics
Document-level derived metrics are calculations that use at least one metric
from a document's dataset in combination with functions and operators. For
example, if your dataset contains the Subcategory attribute, the Profit metric,
and the Revenue metric, you can create a derived metric in the document that
calculates the cost. The derived metric's formula is defined as
Revenue-Profit.
Derived Metric Example
A document-level derived metric:
Must be a compound metric, which means it must use at least one existing
metric
Can be added to any section of the document and also to the document's
grids/graphs and its conditional formatting expressions
158 OLAP Services Features
Is local to the document and is not saved with the original MicroStrategy
report.
Is calculated by the Analytical Engine
Cannot use transformation objects
To create a document-level derived metric:

2 In the Dataset Objects pane, under a dataset, right-click the metric on
which you want to base the derived metric, and select Insert New Metric.
The Insert New Metric window opens, as shown below:
3 In the Insert New Metric window, in the Object drop-down list, select
New metric or select an existing derived metric from which to define a
new derived metric.
4 In the Name box, type a name for the derived metric.
5 In the Available pane, select the metrics for the derived metric definition
and move them to the Definition pane.
Alternatively, you can click Function Wizard to use the wizard, which
guides
you through the process of defining a derived metric.
6 When you complete the derived metric definition, click OK.
159
Summary Metrics
Summary metrics enable you to control the aggregation function used to
calculate a subtotal for any given metric on a document. When you add a
metric to a document to produce a subtotal or grand total, the function that
calculates the subtotal is the same function that defines the subtotal function
for the metric.
define the subtotal function for a metric on the
You
Subtotal/Aggregation tab in the Metric Editor in MicroStrategy
Developer.
In the image shown below, the document displays the Max (Revenue)
summary metric. The Max (Revenue) summary metric uses the MAXIMUM
aggregation operator and calculates the highest revenue figure.
Summary Metric Example
To create a summary metric:
1 In the Dataset Objects pane, under the desired dataset, right-click the
metric for which you want to create a new summary metric, select Insert
Summary Metric, and click the desired aggregation function.
The summary metric is added to the appropriate dataset and displays in
the Dataset Objects pane.
2 Drag the summary metric into the desired document section. You can
reuse a summary metric in different sections within the same document.
like any metric that you add to a document, summary metrics

Just
calculate differently depending on their location in the document.
View Filters
You can create view filters within a document to maximize the use of a single
dataset. View filters help you decrease the number of datasets that you need
to build certain types of documents because you use view filters to apply
different filtering criteria to the same dataset. In a sense, you use view filters
to create different views of a single dataset.
For example, you create a document that contains revenue and profit
information for different product categories. You need to be able to display
different grids for each product category, all on a single document. Without
view filters, you must create a dataset report with the Category attribute and
the Revenue and Profit metrics. You must then create copies of the dataset
report, each with a different category filter.
You can create a document with view filters by first creating one
MicroStrategy report, which contains all of the attributes and metrics of the
individual datasets above, and adding it as the dataset to the document.
Then, insert the same report as a grid multiple times into the document.
Finally, you define a different view filter for each grid. All of the individual
grids share the same exact dataset, but they each employ a different filtering
condition.
viewing a document that contains a view filter and you do
IfnotyouhaveareMicroStrategy
OLAP Services, you can view the definition of
the view filter, but you cannot modify it.
To create view filters on grids and graphs in a Report Services document:
1 In Design or Editable Mode, right-click the grid/graph object and select

Edit View Filter.
2 Click Add Condition.
3 In the Filter On drop-down list, select the attribute or metric with which
you want to define the view filter.
161
4 If you selected an attribute, do one of the following:

Select Select and choose an operator. The operators include: In list
and Not in list.
After you select the In list or Not in list operator, use the Add to
selections button to move the desired attribute elements to the
Selected box.
OR
Select Qualify and choose an attribute form on which to qualify (ID,
Description, and so forth). Then, you choose the appropriate operator
and enter a value for the qualification.
5 If you selected a metric, from the first drop-down list select an operator
and in the second drop-down list type a value or select a metric to
compare.
6 Click Apply.
7 Click OK.
View filters that you define on a grid or graph in are local to the document on
which they are created. In other words, when you define a view filter on a
grid/graph on a dashboard, you do not change the original report.
Derived Elements
Custom Grouping of Elements
Derived elements are best understood as a custom grouping of attribute
elements that aggregate at the group level. You can group multiple elements
on a grid to display as a single element, replacing its individual components.
For example, consider the following report with Region on the rows and a few
metrics in the columns:
Derived Elements Example
There are eight regions on the report, many of which you can combine to
form super regions, or derived elements. You can group the Northwest and
Southwest regions and display them on the report as one elementWest. The
Profit metric values automatically aggregate to include both element values
($195,868+ $411,335 = $607,203):
Derived Elements Example - West
In addition to creating derived elements that replace their components, you

can also create new calculations that display in addition to the elements that
comprise them. For example, when you create a new calculationWest Web using the new West grouping and subtracting it from the Web element
on the same report, a new element displays on the grid, as shown in the
image below:
Derived Elements Example - Calculation
163
modify, delete, save, or reuse derived elements in grids, you

Tomustcreate,
work with the document in Editable or Interactive Mode.
To create derived elements on a grid:
1 Open the document in Editable or Interactive Mode.

2 Select a grid to which you want to add derived elements.
3 Perform one of the following actions:
Right-click the desired attribute header for the derived element and
select Derived Elements.
In the Derived Elements Editor, create the derived element.
OR
Select multiple element rows, right-click and select Create Group.
In the Create Group window, name the group and click OK.
OR
Select multiple element rows, right-click, point to Create Calculation
and select a function.
In the Create Calculation window, name the calculation derived
element and click OK.
To insert an existing derived element
4 In the Derived Elements window toolbar, click Link Derived Elements.

5 Locate and select the desired derived element.
6 Click OK.
Graph Formatting
Describe the formatting properties for graphs within Report Services
documents and some additional formatting features.
When you create graphs in documents, you can take advantage of the
following formatting features:
Transparency effect
Curved lines
Data tooltips
Graph Formatting
165
Transparency Effect
You can adjust the transparency on a graph to make bars in a bar chart, pie
slices in a pie chart, or areas in an absolute area chart appear more
translucent. The transparency property applies to graph series and graph
legends. In the image shown below, the areas of the area chart are easy to
distinguish since you can see right through them. In fact, without the
transparency effect, the order of the areas might cause one to be hidden by
the other:
Transparency in a Graph Series
To apply transparency to a graph in a document:
1 With the document open in Editable Mode, select the graph to which you
want to apply the transparency effect.
The graph must display in Graph View or Grid and Graph View.
2 Right-click the graph and select Format.
to apply the transparency effect, you must first ensure that
Intheorder
rounded effects option is cleared.
3 In the Format: Graph window, under Format, click General.
4 Under Maximum, clear the Apply rounded effect to all series check
box.
166 Graph Formatting
5 In the Format: Graph window, under Format, click Format.

6 In the Format drop-down list, select Series Shapes.
7 In the next drop-down list, select the specific series to format.
8 Under Fill, in the Color drop-down list, specify the background color for
the selected graph series.
9 Under Transparency, slide the needle on the bar to the desired
transparency setting, as shown below:
As you slide the needle, the percentage of transparency displays in a

tooltip. When you set the transparency to a low percentage, the colors of
the object display brighter and more solid. When you set the transparency
to a high percentage, the colors seem more faded.
10 Click OK.
Graph Formatting
167
Curved Lines
When you format a graph that contains lines, such as a Line, Area, Polar, or
Radar graph, you can specify whether the lines in the graph are straight
(default) or curved. In many cases, curved lines provide these line and area
graphs with a more attractive look and feel, as shown below:
Curved Line Graph Example
lines are most effective when graphing densely packed data. If

Curved
there are too few data points, the curved line might show trends in a
misleading manner.
To apply curved lines to a graph in a document:
want to apply the curved line effect.
3 In the Format: Graph window, under Format, click General.
4 Select the Use curved lines check box, as shown below:
5 Click OK.
Data Tooltips on Graphs

Tooltips display pop-up text when a user positions the mouse over an object
in MicroStrategy Web. Tooltips are useful when you need to provide detailed
information on a document but you do not want that information to take up
valuable screen space.
that you can view tooltips only in MicroStrategy Web, not
Remember
in PDF or Microsoft Excel. Furthermore, tooltips do not display in a
Firefox Web browser.
By including tooltips on a graph, you help your users investigate the values
behind the bars, pie slices, and so forth. For example, when you hover over a
bar in a bar graph, a tooltip displays the name of the series (the bar) and the
data value for that specific bar on the graph.
Graph Formatting
169
In the image below, a tooltip displays when you hover over a data point in a
line graph:
Data Tooltips on a Line Graph
To enable tooltips on a graph in a document:
want to enable tooltips.
3 In the Format: Graph window, under Format, click Format.
4 In the Format drop-down list, select Series Values.
5 In the next drop-down list, select All Data Values or select the specific
series for which you want to enable tooltips.
6 Select the Tooltips check box, as shown below:
the Tooltips check box is selected for All Data Values,

When
tooltips display for all data values on the graph.
7 Click OK.
Quick Switch and Portal Window

You can apply the Quick Switch and Portal Window features to grids and
graphs in documents.
Graph Formatting
171
Quick Switch
Quick Switch enables users to instantly switch a grid/graph from Grid view to
Graph view and vice versa. When you enable this feature on a grid/graph in a
document and run the document in Interactive, Editable, or Flash Mode, the
Quick Switch button displays on the grid/graph, as shown below:
Quick Switch Example
To enable quick switch:
1 In Design Mode, select the graph you want to enable Quick Switch on.
2 Right-click the graph and select Properties and Formatting.
Layout.
4 Under Grid, select the Quick Switch check box.
Portal Window
The Portal Window feature enables users to maximize or minimize a
grid/graph on a document by selecting the appropriate buttons on the
grid/graphs title bar. If you want to hide the minimize and maximize
buttons, you must disable the grid/graphs title bar.
Graph Formatting
173
In the example shown below, the dashboard contains several graphs, all of
which have the portal window visible. By selecting the minimize or maximize
buttons on the upper right-hand corner of each graph, you can hide or show
the individual graphs on the page:
Graphs with the Portal Window Feature Enabled
Toggle Data Markers

Document designers can change the formatting of the data markers used in
graphs.
Toggle Data Markers
To toggle data markers:
want to apply the toggle data markers.
4 In the first drop-down list, select Series markers.
5 Under Shape, in the Shape drop-down list, select the desired data marker.
6 Click OK.
Graph Formatting
175
Additional Formatting Features

You can apply the following formatting features to grid/graph objects and to
other document objects as well:
Gradients
Drop shadows
3D borders
Gradients
Gradients enable you to blend two colors to show a gradual color change in
the background of a document object. You can apply gradients to the
following document objects:
Text boxes
Rectangles
Sections
Panel stacks
Selectors
When using a gradient, you can choose a shading style, which determines the
direction for the color blend (top to bottom, left to right, and so forth). The
panel stack below has a background gradient with a vertical shading style:
Gradient Variant Example
Notice how the background blends gradually from white at the top to a dark
red at the bottom.
that display in Flash Mode can use a three-way directional
Documents
display.
To apply a gradient to the background of a panel stack in a document:
1 Right-click the panel stack to which you want to apply a gradient and
select Properties and Formatting.
2 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select Colors
and Lines.
3 Under Fill, in the Color drop-down list, select Gradients.
4 In the Gradients window, under Colors, select colors for Colors 1 and 2.
5 Under Shading Styles, select the desired shading direction.
6 Click OK.
Drop Shadows
Drop shadows help make objects seem as if they are floating above their
background, or they can make objects seem deeper. You can apply drop
shadows to the following document objects:
Grid/graphs
Images
Lines
Rectangles and rounded rectangles
Text boxes
Panel stacks
Selectors
Graph Formatting
177
The following image shows a graph with a drop shadow effect:

Drop Shadow Effect on a Graph
Notice how the graph casts a darker grey shadow against the lighter grey
background.
To apply a drop shadow to a grid/graph in a document:
1 Open the document in Design Mode.

2 Select the grid/graph to which you want to apply the drop shadow.
3 Right-click the grid/graph and select Properties and Formatting.
4 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select Effects.
5 Under Drop Shadows, select the Enable Drop Shadows check box.
6 Under Distance, use the slider to adjust the thickness of the drop shadow,
as shown below:
3D Borders
The 3D borders option is also available in the Effects section of the Properties
and Formatting window (as shown above). When you apply a 3D border, you
give the object the effect of being raised or sunken (similar to a button). You
also assign a weight to the 3D border to specify how raised or sunken the
object displays.
In the example below, the Manager Performance text box has a 3D border
with the raised effect and a weight of 4:
You can apply a 3D border to the following document objects:
Grid/graphs
Images
Rectangles and rounded rectangles
Panel stacks
Selectors
Text boxes
Graph Formatting
179
Lesson Summary
You can insert the following types of objects in documents:

MicroStrategy reports (with or without formatting or as a shortcut)
Individual attributes, metrics, custom groups and consolidations from
MicroStrategy reports
Text boxes
Auto text
Images
Lines and shapes
The dataset from which a metric comes determines the attribute elements
for which data is displayed in a grid.
You can change the data source of a grid.
You can define the join behavior of datasets as either primary or

secondary. Only attribute elements included in a primary dataset display
in document objects.
Tooltips enabled you to hover over an object and view additional text
about that object.
Drilling is available for grids and graphs.
Synchronized drilling enables you to drill on multiple objects in a

document.
Derived metrics are calculations that use at least one metric from a
documents dataset in combination with functions and operators.
Summary metrics enable you to control the aggregation function that

calculates a subtotal for any given metric on a document.
View filters are filtering conditions that you apply to individuals

grids/graphs. View filters make it possible to maximize the use of a single
dataset, because with them, you can create multiple views of the same
dataset.
180 Lesson Summary
Derived elements are custom groupings of attribute elements that

aggregate at the group level. You can group multiple elements on a grid to
display as a single element, replacing its individual components.
You can apply the following formatting features to graphs:

Transparency effect
Data tooltips
Toggle data markers
You can apply the following formatting features to document objects:

Gradients
Drop shadow effects
3D borders
Lesson Summary
181
182 Lesson Summary
Exercise: Document Objects and Formatting

Formatting Graphs and Drilling in a Panel Stack
Overview
In this exercise, you will format the graph and enable drilling in the Grid
Layers on Panel Stack dashboard you created in an earlier lesson.
Open the Grid Layers on Panel Stack dashboard
Enable drop shadows in the graph and set it to 5.
Format the title bar of the panel stack so it has a size 12 font and a
background color of Grey-40%.
Enable drilling on the Employee Headcount by Region grid and drill

down to Call Center to confirm it works correctly.
1 Open the Grid Layers on Panel Stack RS dashboard you created earlier.
Add a special effect to the graph
2 Right-click the graph and select Properties and Formatting

3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Format, select Effects.
4 Under Drop Shadows, select the Enable Drop Shadows check box.
5 On the Distance slider, drag the needle to 5 of 20.
6 Click OK.
183
Format the title bar of the panel stack
7 Select the main panel.

8 In the Properties and Formatting window, click Color and Lines.
9 On the top right drop-down list, select Title.
10 Under Fill, in the Color drop-down list, select Grey-40%.
11 Under Format, click Font.
12 In the Size list, select 12.
Save your document
14 Save your document again.

Drill on a graph
16 Switch to Interactive Mode.

17 In the Employee Headcount by Region grid, right-click the Region
header.
18 Point to Drill and select Call Center.
A report displays with the Call Centers object instead of Regions.

19 Click Back.
Remove Scroll Bars
20 Switch back to Editable Mode.
21 Resize the grid so that it displays better on the panel stack.

184 Exercise: Document Objects and Formatting
23 To remove the scroll bars on the panel stack, in the Document Structure
pane, right-click Main Panel Stack and select Properties and
Formatting.
Layout.
25 Under Size, in the Content Overflow drop-down list, select Clip.
26 Click OK.
185
186 Exercise: Document Objects and Formatting
5
SELECTORS
Lesson Description
This lesson provides an overview of the basic concepts related to selectors. You
will learn how to create and use selectors to control RS Dashboards.
187
Selectors
Lesson Objectives
Explain what a selector is, how to create and use selectors, and how to control
the output of a selector.
Create and use selectors to interact with RS dashboards. (Page 173)
Use grouping to control the output of a selector. (Page 208)
Selectors
Selectors
Create and use selectors to interact with RS dashboards.
What Is a Selector?
Selectors provide dashboards with interactivity, enabling users to select the
data they prefer to see. MicroStrategy Web users use selectors in Express,
Interactive, Editable, or Flash Mode. With selectors, you can:
Switch between panels in a panel stack.
Display different metrics or elements of an attribute, custom group, or

consolidation in a grid or graph.
are special application objects you create in
Consolidations
Developer. You can create custom groups in Developer or
MicroStrategy Web. For more information on these objects, refer
to the MicroStrategy Developer: Advanced Reporting course, the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide product manual, or the
MicroStrategy online help.
Display different elements of an attribute, custom group, or consolidation

within a dynamic text box on a panel stack.
selector can target only three document object types a grid/graph,

Aa panel
stack, or another selector. If you want a selector to change the
contents of a dynamic text box, you must place the dynamic text box
on a panel stack and use the panel stack as the selectors target.
Control the options available in another selector.
Selectors
189
Selectors
The image below shows a generic example of a dashboard with multiple

selectors. The buttons at the top enable you to control the data you see in the
various graphs. The check boxes let you specify which elements to view on the
pie chart, and the slider lets you decide a time frame by which to filter the line
graph.
Selectors at a High Levels
Selector Components Summary

When you define a selector, you specify the following properties:
190 Selectors
Selector styleDetermines how the selector displays and whether it

enables you to select multiple elements simultaneously
Action typeDetermines whether a selector displays elements, metrics,

or panels
SourceDefined only when the selector displays elements. The source is

the attribute, custom group, or consolidation whose elements display in
the selector
Target(s)Determines which grids, graphs, selectors, or panel stacks the

selector affects
Selectors
Switching Panels in a Panel Stack

In a previous example, you saw how you can use a selector to switch the
panels in a panel stack:
Selector Switches Panels in a Panel Stack
Every selector must have an action type and a target. In this example, the
selectors action type is to select a panel and the target is the panel stack on
which the grids are placed.
To create this type of selector, you first insert the selector in the section of the
Layout area. Then you define its various properties. The document must
already contain the panel stack that serves as the selectors target. The next
few procedures explain the steps involved in creating this type of selector.
To insert a selector into a document:

2 Select the section to which you want to add a selector.
3 On the Insert menu, point to Selector and select the desired selector
style.
OR
On the Insert toolbar, click the arrow next to Selector Control and select
the desired style.
Selectors
191
Selectors
4 Click within the Layout area section to place the selector in it.
If you click and drag within the section, you can size the selector.
To create a selector that switches panels in a panel stack:
1 After you add a selector to the document, right-click it and select

Selector.
have a default setting that automatically assigns and
Dashboards
maintains the target for a selector. You can disable it at the end of
the sentence This layout is configured to automatically maintain
targets. If you would like manual control, click here by selecting
click here.
3 Under Selector, in the Action Type drop-down list, select Select Panel.
Source property is grayed out because you define a source for a
The
different action type.
4 Under Targets, in the Panel Stack drop-down list, select a desired panel
stack.
A selector can have only one panel stack target.

5 Click OK.
will learn more about the Advanced settings throughout this
You
lesson.
can also insert a selector by right-clicking the panel stack and
You
selecting Create Panel Selector. For more information on how to
insert selectors, see Alternative Methods for Inserting Selectors
starting on page 208.
192 Selectors
Selectors
In the example, the selectors properties are defined as follows:

Panel Stack Selector Definition
Notice the Action Type is Select Panel, the Source is unavailable, and the
Target is a panel stack. In this example, the panel stack contains the two
panels, each with its own distinct grid.
Selectors
193
Selectors
Selecting Attribute Elements in a Graph

In the document shown below, the selector is a check box list that lets you
choose one or more airports. The airports that you select affect the contents
of the line graph shown below:
Selector Controls Attribute Elements in a Graph
This type of selector requires an action type, a source, and a target. In the
example, the Airport attribute on the graph is the source, and the graph is the
target. The selector also displays the (All) option, which lets you view every
airport on the line graph simultaneously.
To create a selector that selects the attribute elements to display on a
grid/graph:

Selector.
3 Under Selector, in the Action Type drop-down list, select Select Attribute
Element.
194 Selectors
Selectors
4 In the Source drop-down list, select the desired source attribute.

Source list contains all of the attributes in all of the datasets
The
included in the document.
5 Under Targets, in the Available list, select the desired grid/graph and
move it to the Selected list.
attribute element selector can have multiple targets. You can
An
select single or multiple grid/graphs, selectors, panel stacks, or any
combination of the three, as targets.
6 If you want the selector to apply to all targets as a filter, select the Apply
selections as a filter check box.
the Apply selections as a filter check box is selected. If
Byyoudefault,
want the selector to apply all targets as a slice, clear the check
box.
7 If you want to show a Total option in the list of elements, select the Show
option for Total check box.
more information on this setting, see Show Totals in a
For
Selector starting on page 211.
8 If you want to show an All option in the list of elements, select the Show
option for All check box.
9 If you select the Show option for All check box and you want to use an
alias for the default (All) option, type the desired text in the Alias box.
10 In the Selection Type drop-down menu, select Include or Exclude.
default, the selector type is set to Include. This means that any
Byattribute
element you select in the selector will be included in the
target. If you set the selection type to Exclude, any attribute
element you select in the selector will be excluded from the target.
11 Click OK.
Selectors
195
Selectors

Attribute Element Selector Definition
The Action Type is Select Attribute Element, the Source is the Airport
attribute, and the Selected target is Panel Stack62. To enable users to see all
of the attribute elements on the graph, the Show option for All check box is
selected. However, since there is no custom alias in the Alias box, the selector
displays (All) by default.
196 Selectors
Selectors
Selecting Metrics in a Grid/Graph

In the document shown below, the selector is a link bar that lets you choose
one or more metrics. The selector lists all of the metrics contained in the grid
or graph that you choose as the target. The metrics you select in the selector
show up on the target grid, as shown below:
Selector Controls Metrics on a Grid
To create a selector that chooses metrics to display on a grid/graph:

Selector.
3 Under Selector, in the Action Type drop-down list, select Select Metric.
Source drop-down list is greyed out because this type of
The
selector does not have a source.
4 Under Targets, in the Available list, select the desired grid/graph and
move it to the Selected list.
metric selector can have multiple targets. You can select single or
Amultiple
grid/graphs, panel stacks, or any combination of the two,
as targets.
5 If you want to show an All option in the list of metrics, select the Show
option for All check box.
6 If you select the Show option for All check box and you want to use an
alias for the default (All) option, type the desired text in the Alias box.
7 Click OK.
Selectors
197
Selectors

Metric Selector Definition
The Action Type is set to Select Metric, the Source is unavailable, and the
Selected target is Category Sales Report.
When you run the document in Express, Interactive, Editable, or Flash Mode,
the selector shows the metrics that are contained in the target grid/graph.
Metric Condition Selectors

Different from metric selectors, metric condition selectors act as filters and
limit the data that is brought back. Metric condition selectors improve
performance by bringing back only a small subset of data.
While a metric selector allows you to choose from various metrics to include
in a grid/graph, a metric condition selector displays data that meets the
qualifications set for one metric.
198 Selectors
Selectors
In DHTML modes (Express, Interactive, and Editable modes) and Flash

Mode, the slider displays with its complete range. You can adjust the slider
endpoints to modify the filtering. You can also use the drop-down list to
change qualification behavior. You can qualify a metric on the rank, percent,
or value of that metric.
Metric Condition Slider
To enable metric condition selectors in the Dataset Objects pane:
1 In the Dataset Objects pane, right-click the desired metric and select Add
Metric Slider.
2 To change formatting, right-click the metric condition selector and select
3 Click OK.
To enable metric condition selectors on a grid:
1 On the document grid, right-click the desired metric and select Create
Selector Control.
Selectors
199
Selectors
2 To change formatting, right-click the metric condition selector and select

3 Click OK.
Metric condition selectors can qualify a metric on the rank, percent, or value
of that metric, and you can change default qualification behavior.
users can also change the metric qualification behavior at run
End
time.
To specify default metric qualification behavior:
1 Right-click the metric condition selector and select Properties and

Formatting.
2 In the Properties and Formatting window, select Selector.
3 Under Advanced, in the Qualify on drop-down list, choose what you want
the selector to qualify on by default.
200 Selectors
Selectors
Properties and Formatting - Qualifying on Condition Metric Selectors
4 Click OK.
Selectors
201
Selectors
Selecting Attribute Elements in a Dynamic Text Box

In the image shown below, a drop-down list lets you choose a category and
the dynamic text box at the right automatically displays the category you
select, as well as the revenue value for that category. The text box combines
{Category} and {Revenue} variables with static text. These dynamic variables
correspond to the Category attribute and the Revenue metric in the
documents dataset. The selector can control the text box because it displays
on a panel stack and the panel stack is the selectors target.
Selector Controls Dynamic Text on a Panel Stack
You define the selector as an attribute element selector where the source is
Category and the target is the panel stack that contains the dynamic text box.
202 Selectors
Selectors

Attribute Element Selector Definition
The Action Type is Select Attribute Element, the Source is Category, the
DHTML style is Drop-down, and the Selected Target is the Panel Stack with
Dynamic Text.
Selectors
203
Selectors
Selector Targeting Another Selector

When a selector targets another selector, whichever element the user chooses
in the first selector affects the options available in the second selector. For
example, there is a selector showing the categories that targets a selector
showing the subcategories.
Category Selector Targets the Subcategory Selector
When you choose the Movies from the first selector, the second selector
automatically displays only the subcategories that are in the Movies category.
dashboard above is a modified version of Category Sales &
The
Profitability Dashboard located in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project
in the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform
Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report Services\Dashboards folder.
204 Selectors
Selectors
In the image shown below, the Category selectors target is set to control the
Subcategory selector.
Region Selector Targets Distribution Center Selector
To enable a selector to target another selector:
1 Right-click the selector and select Properties and Formatting.

2 Under Selector, in the Action Type drop-down list, select Select Attribute
Element.
3 Under Targets, in the Available list, select the desired selector and move it
to the Selected list.
4 Click OK.
Selectors
205
Selectors
Selector Styles
When you define a selector, you must choose a style, an action type, a source,
and a target. The image below shows DHTML styles for attribute and metric
selectors:
DHTML Styles for Selectors
you select slider, radio buttons, check boxes, or button bar as the
IfDHTML
style for your selector, you can control the orientation of the
selector. The Orientation option lets you choose between displaying
the selector horizontally or vertically.
can also define a few Flash styles for selectors. For more
You
information on these styles, see Flash-only Selector Widgets starting
on page 329.
The following table lists the selector styles that require only one selection at a
time and those that let you select multiple elements simultaneously:
Selector Styles
206 Selectors
One Selection at a Time
Multiple Selections
Drop-down
Button Bar
Radio Buttons
Check Boxes
Selectors
Selector Styles
One Selection at a Time
Multiple Selections
Link Bar
Listbox
Slider
you set the DHTML style to Check Boxes, you cannot create a
Ifselector
with the Select Panel action type, since you cannot display
multiple panels simultaneously. Select a different DHTML style to
display panels.
When you insert a selector using the Insert menu option or the Insert toolbar
button, you choose the selector style right away. However, you can change the
selector style at any time.
To change the selector style for an existing selector:

Layout.
3 Under Selector, in the DHTML Style drop-down list, select the desired
style.
4 Depending on the style you choose, you can modify the orientation. In the
Orientation drop-down list, select Horizontal or Vertical.
can change the orientation for all selector styles, except the
You
Drop-down, Listbox, and Search Box styles.
5 Depending on the style you choose and depending on whether you want
users to be able to select multiple items, you can select the Allow multiple
selections check box.
Allow multiple selections option is disabled by default for all
The
selector styles, except for the check boxes style.
6 If you want the selector to display all elements with the same consistent
width no matter how long each element might be (in terms of character
length), select the Make all items the same width check box.
Selectors
207
Selectors
more information on this option, see Formatting Selectors

For
starting on page 216.
Metric Condition Selector Styles

For the metric condition selector, there are only two styles of selector: metric
slider and metric qualification.
By default, metric condition selectors display as a slider.

To change metric condition selector type:
1 On the grid, right-click the metric condition selector and select

2 In the Properties and Formatting window, select Layout.
3 Under Selector, from the DHTML Style drop-dow list, select Metric
Qualification.
4 Click OK.
Alternative Methods for Inserting Selectors

Beyond using the Insert menu and toolbar to include selectors in documents,
you can insert selectors in the following ways:
208 Selectors
For a panel selector, right-click the panel stack and select Create Panel
Selector. The panel stack is automatically assigned as the selectors
target.
For an attribute element selector, right-click the source attribute in the

grid/graph and select Create Selector Control. The grid/graph is
automatically assigned as the selectors target.
For an attribute element selector, right-click the source attribute in the

Dataset Objects pane (under the dataset) and select Create Element
Selector. The selector does not have a target, but you can assign one in
the selectors properties.
Selectors
For a metric selector, right-click the Metrics header in the grid and select
Create Selector Control. The grid is automatically assigned as the
selectors target.
Besides using the Properties and Formatting window, you can select targets
for a selector using another method called target selection mode.
To assign targets for selectors in target selection mode:
1 Right-click the selector and select Select Target.

2 Pressing the CTRL key, select the desired targets, which must be either
grid/graphs, panel stacks, or a combination of those object types.
3 Click the checkmark in the Select Target floating toolbar, as shown below:
automatic target maintenance is enabled. This means

Bythatdefault,
you will not have to select a specific target and that it will be
available automatically. If you try to manually select a target you
will see a warning message that you will need to manually maintain
targets for all selectors in the current layout, as shown below:
Selectors
209
Selectors
Selector Defaults
The following section describes some of the default properties of a selector
control.
Selector Title Bar

Similar to panel stacks and panels, selectors have a title bar that shows the
selectors title. The selector title bar displays by default, but you can choose to
hide it.
To disable a title bar for a selector :

General.
3 Under Selector, clear the Show Title Bar check box.
4 Click OK.
Title Bar for Selector
210 Selectors
Selectors
Show Totals in a Selector

Selectors that contain attribute, consolidation, or custom group elements as
selector items can also include an option to display totals. The total is
calculated for all the selector items. Users can choose to display the total,
specific elements only, or all of the elements at the same time.
For example, the document below has a selector for categories and a grid that
displays months, categories, and revenue. The check boxes selector lets you
choose whether you can view specific categories, all categories, or the total. In
the image below, the user selects (All):
Totals on a Selector - (All) Selected
You could also choose to see specific categories and the total, as shown below:
Totals on a Selector - Specific Categories and Total
values in the Totals column remain the same as in the previous

The
example. The total is always calculated using all selector items (in this
case, categories).
Selectors
211
Selectors
To enable totals on a selector:
1 In Design or Editable Mode, right-click the selector and select Properties

and Formatting.
The selector must be an element selector.

Selector.
3 Under Advanced, select the Show option for Total check box.
Automatically Apply Selector Changes

Typically, after a user chooses an item in a selector, the target immediately
updates itself. This happens after every selection, which may take some time
when the user chooses to select several items. To enable the user to manually
apply their selections, you must clear the Automatically apply selector
changes check box in the Document Properties window. Disabling this option
enables the user to choose when to update the target. This way, the user can
select a single item or multiple items before clicking an Apply button on a
floating toolbar to update the target.
As a document-level setting, the Automatically apply selector changes option
applies to an entire document or dashboard, not to individual selectors. In
other words, if you disable the option, a user must manually apply their
selections for every selector in the document, including those that permit
only one selection at a time.
Apply button displays only if the Automatically apply selector
The
changes check box is disabled and after the user modifies a selection of
a selector.
To clear the automatically apply selector changes check box for a document:

3 In the Document Properties window, under Document Properties, select
Document.
212 Selectors
Selectors
4 Under General, clear the Automatically apply selector changes check

box.
Automatically Maintaining Targets for Selectors

Dashboards are configured to automatically define and maintain the targets
for all selectors in the document. This simplifies the design process when
creating a new dashboard.
If targets are enabled to be automatically maintained in a layout:
All attribute and metric selectors automatically target all grid/graphs and
panel stacks that are in the same panel or document section as the
selector.
You cannot change the target of an attribute or metric selector, except by

moving controls to different document sections.
Any new grid/graph or panel stack is automatically added as the target of

all attribute and metric selectors in the same panel or document section.
are not automatically maintained for panel selectors. You

Targets
always manually define the targets for panel selectors.
For example, the document below has two panel stacks (Panel Stack A and
Panel Stack B). Each panel stack has its own grid/graph and its own selector
that lets you choose a region. By default, the selector you create in each panel
stack controls the grid contained in the same panel stack, as shown below:
Automatic Target Maintenance Enabled
Selectors
213
Selectors
If you were to add new selectors to each panel stack, they too would
automatically target the grid/graph in their respective panel stack.
Additionally, if you add new panel stacks or grid/graphs to one of the panel
stacks, the new panel stack or grid/graph is automatically added as a target to
the respective selector.
The image below shows the Properties and Formatting window for the
selector in Panel Stack A from the example above:
Automatic Target Maintenance Enabled
Notice that the Available targets and Selected targets lists are grayed out, and
only GridGraph46 displays in the Selected targets list. Also, at the very
bottom of the image, there is a link that switches the selector back to manual
control.
Even though automatic target maintenance is enabled, you must define
certain properties for the selector, such as Source.
214 Selectors
Selectors
You can disable automatic target maintenance while editing a selector.

However, you disable this feature for the entire document layout, not just the
selector you are editing.
To disable automatic target maintenance for an entire document layout while
editing a selector:

2 In the Properties and Formatting window, on the left-hand pane under
Properties, select Selector.
3 Under the Targets section, under the Apply selections as filter check box,
click the link for This layout is configured to automatically maintain
targets. If you would like manual control, click here.
warning message displays indicating that you will need to
Amanually
maintain targets if you disable automatic target
maintenance.
4 Click OK.
You can also disable automatic target maintenance through the Document
Properties.
To disable automatic target maintenance for an entire document layout in the
document properties:
1 Open the document in Design Mode.

3 In the Document Properties window, on the left-hand pane under Layout
Properties, select Layout.
4 Under the Layout section, clear the Automatically maintain targets for
all selectors in this layout check box.
5 Click OK.
When you disable automatic target maintenance, targets that were
automatically maintained before are automatically saved and no targets are
deleted or changed.
Selectors
215
Selectors
Formatting Selectors
You can apply various formatting options to selectors. They include the
background color, border, drop shadow, font, gradient color, tooltip, and so
on. One formatting property that is specific to selectors is the Make all items
the same width.
By default, items in a selector are sized so that they are wide enough to
display the complete text for the item, with minimal wasted space. However,
there might be instances where you want to force the selector to display all
items with the same width, particularly when the items have similar lengths,
such as a selector that enables you to choose quarters and all the quarter
descriptions are the same character length.
To specify a selector width as fixed:

Layout.
4 Under Selector, select the Make all items the same width check box.
5 Click OK.
in mind that how you size the selector also impacts the display of
Keep
the items in it, as shown below:
Panel Stack Selector With All Items the Same Width
216 Selectors
Selectors
Changing the Selection Color for a Stand-Alone Selector

By default, the background for selected items is automatically chosen to
provide contrast with the selector's background. In Flash Mode, you can
specify the color for selected items for Drop-down, Listbox, and Link Bar
selectors. In all other MicroStrategy Web DHTML modes, you can specify the
selection color in Link Bar selector only.
The following image shows a green selection color instead of the default
selection color.
Selection Color Change in Flash Mode
You can change the selection color for a selector in the Properties and
Formatting window, under the Color and Lines format items.
Properties and Formatting Window
Selectors
217
Selectors
Analytic-Based Selectors
Just as you can use an attribute, consolidation, or custom group as the source
for a selector, you can also use a grid or graph. When you use a grid or graph
to control another grid/graph, you synchronize data across the grids and
graphs, as shown in the diagram below:
Analytic-Based Selectors
Using grids and graphs as selectors adds a new dimension of depth to your
dashboards.
218 Selectors
Selectors
Example: Analytic-Based Selector

In the image shown below, the Category Revenue pie chart controls the Top 5
Suppliers horizontal bar chart. If you select Books from the pie chart, the Top
5 Suppliers chart automatically displays the top 5 suppliers for the products
in the Books category, as shown below:
Analytic-Based Selector Example
see this dashboard in action, you can run the Performance

ToManagement
dashboard located in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project
in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
The example above uses one graph targeting another graph. The pie chart
does not actually become a selector, but behaves in a similar manner as a
selector. You can use the lower panel stack or the Top 5 Suppliers grid/graph
as the target for the pie chart.
Selectors
219
Selectors
To use a grid or graph as a selector:
procedure assumes you have already created a grid/graph to use

This
as the selector, as well as the panel stack or grid/graph to use as the
target. The selector and target must have an attribute or metric in
common. That is, the grid/graph that serves as the selector and the
target grid/graph should be based on datasets that have an attribute or
metric in common.
2 Select the grid/graph to use as the selector.
The grid/graph must be in Grid view.

3 Right-click the attribute header to use as the selector and select Edit
Selector.
4 In the Configure Selector window, in the Available Targets list, select the
desired targets and move them to the Selected Targets list.
you can right-click the attribute header on the grid and
Alternatively,
select Select Targets. In target selection mode, select the target panel
stack or the grid/graph and click the green check mark on the target
selection mode toolbar.
Report Condition Selector

The Report Condition Selector is a selector that provides granular filtering
for grid selectors. Unlike the filter selectors, where filtering is executed in the
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server memory, the Report Condition Selector
filters from the database. Every time a selection is made, new SQL is
generated by the MicroStrategy SQL Engine and executed against the
warehouse. This ensures that only a slice of the data is brought back to the
MicroStrategy Intelligence server from the warehouse. With this selector, the
database takes the burden of the filtering load.
more information on the Report Condition Selector, refer to the
For
MicroStrategy Dashboards and Widgets Creation Guide.
220 Selectors
Selectors
Using a Panel Stack as an Information Window

An information window enables users to see information about any specific
attribute element. When a panel stack is set as an information window, a
window containing additional information displays whenever an attribute
element is selected from the targeted panel stack. You can hide the
information window by clicking anywhere outside of the grid. Information
windows controlled by text boxes, images, and buttons can be displayed in
Express Mode and Flash Mode. Information windows controlled by selectors
can be displayed in Express Mode.
The following image shows a Panel Stack used an Information Window:
Panel Stack as an Information Window
To set a panel stack as an information window:

2 In the Properties and Formatting window, select General.
221
Selectors
3 In the right pane, under Panel Stack, select the Use as Information
Window check box.
Use as Information Window
The automatic placement option enables MicroStrategy Web to pick the most
suitable position for the information window. MicroStrategy Web prefers to
display the information window on the right if the selector or graph is in
vertically orientation. If the selector or graph is in a horizontal orientation,
MicroStrategy Web prefers to display the information above the selector or
graph, and MicroStrategy Web prefers to display the information above text
boxes and images.
The fixed option displays the information window in the same location that it
appears in Design mode.
If users select a specific placement option for the information window and
there is a conflict at runtime, the information window will display in the
opposite option.
222 Using a Panel Stack as an Information Window
Selectors
In the Properties and Formatting windows for text fields, image, and buttons,
there is an Information Windows section containing a Panel Stack
drop-down list, as shown below:
Information Windows for Text Fields
To define an attribute in a grid/graph as the selector for an information

window:
1 Open the document in document in Design Mode.

2 On the grid, right-click the attribute that you want to use as a selector and
select Use as Selector.
3 In the Configure Selector window, move the panel stack you want to
target from the Available Targets list to the Selected Target list.
4 Click Create.
223
Selectors
Grouping and Selectors

Use grouping to control the output of a selector.
You can use grouping to customize the output of selectors in RS dashboards.

The item you select in the grouping object controls the elements listed in the
selector. The following example uses grouping on the Region attribute and a
radio button selector on the Call Center attribute, which controls the output
on the grid. When you choose a region (such as Northwest), the selector
automatically displays only the call centers that belong to that region:
Grouping and Selectors Example
To use grouping and selectors (high level steps):

2 In the Grouping pane, place a higher-level attribute (like Region).
3 Add the grid/graph to the Body section.
4 Add a selector and define its source as another related, but lower-level,
attribute (such as Call Center).
5 Specify the selectors target as the grid/graph.
224 Grouping and Selectors
Selectors
Lesson Summary
Selectors enable users to interact with a dashboard by letting them choose

which elements, metrics, or panels they want to view at a given time.
Auto-selectors are available in the title bar of a panel stack in Interactive,

Express, or Flash Mode.
Selectors are able to control other selectors.
A selector has the following components: style, action type, source, and
target.
Metric condition selectors are different from metric selectors because

they display data that meets the qualifications set for one metric.
Depending on whether you enable or disable them, the following options

impact the behavior of selectors:
Allow multiple selections
Automatically update when there is no data for the current selection
Show option for Total
Show option for All
Automatically apply selector changes
Automatically maintain targets for selectors
You can format selectors like you can format other objects by changing
their fonts, background colors, gradients, tooltips, borders, and so on.
You can also format a selector so that the items listed within it display
with the same width.
You can enable the Use as Information window check box to display a
panel stack as an Information window when you select an attribute
element that targets the panel stack.
Analytic-based selectors are grids/graphs that control other grids/graphs.

These objects should be based on datasets that have at least one attribute
in common.
Lesson Summary
225
Selectors
226 Lesson Summary
Exercise: Selectors
Adding Selectors to Document
Overview
In this exercise, you will edit the Grid Layers on Panel Stack document you
created in an earlier chapter to include selectors. When you complete the
exercise, your document named Grid Layers on Panel Stack with Selectors,
should resemble the following image:
Exercise: Selectors
227

On the main panel stack, use a button bar selector.
On the selector, the title bar is hidden.
Create a panel selector
1 In the My Reports folder, open the Grid Layers on Panel Stack document.
2 View the document in Design Mode.
228 Exercise: Selectors
3 With the Main Panel Stack selected, press the DOWN ARROW to position
the panel stack (and all of its contents) a little lower on the placeholder. You
want to leave room at the top for the panel selector, as shown below:
4 Right-click the Main Panel Stack and select Create Panel Selector.
5 Position the panel selector above the Main Panel Stack, on the placeholder.
Size it so that it matches the width of the panel stack, as shown below:
should always place the selector in a location outside of the

You
panel stack, or else you lose sight of it when you toggle to a panel that
is not the current panel.
Selector.
8 Under Selector, ensure that Action Type lists Select Panel.
9 Under Targets, in the Panel Stack drop-down list, select Main Panel Stack.
10 Under Properties, select General.
Exercise: Selectors
229

13 Under Selector, in the DHTML Style drop-down list, select Button Bar.
14 Click OK.
Test your new panel stack's interactivity
16 Click the buttons in the panel selector to switch between panels.

18 In the Home menu, click Save As.
19 Save your document in My Reports as Grid Layers on Panel Stack with
Selectors.
Selectors
Overview
In this exercise, you will practice creating different types of selectors. When
you complete the exercise, your document named Product Performance,
In this dashboard, you can select a category, which controls the subcategories
listed in the check box selector. You can also select one or more metrics to
display on the graph. The subcategories you choose also affect the graph. This
dashboard behaves very much like the Product Performance dashboard,
located in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
Exercise: Selectors
231
Use the Product - Monthly report, located in the Shared

Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy Report
Services\Datasets\Product Performance folder, as a dataset.
Create the following grid and view as a graph:
Add a drop-down list selector on Category above the graph.
Add a radio button metric selector with horizontal orientation above the
graph yet under the Category drop-down selector.
Add a check box selector with vertical orientation on Subcategory to the left
of the graph.
Hide the title bar for all selectors.
Include a check box option for total in the Subcategory selector.
Save the RS dashboard as Product Performance.
Create the document
1 Log in to MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

2 In the top left corner, click the MicroStrategy icon.
3 On the MicroStrategy menu, select New Document.
4 On the Create Document page, under Dashboard Templates, click 02 Title
and Content.
5 In the Document Editor, on the Tools menu, select Dataset Objects to
open the Dataset Objects window (if it is not already open).
6 In the Dataset Objects window, add the Product - Monthly report, located
in the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy
Report Services\Datasets\Product Performance folder, as a dataset.
Add a title
7 In the Layout area, double-click inside the top-most text box and type
Product Performance as the title.
Add the Category static label
8 In the Layout area, on the placeholder panel stack, click Add Content and
select Text.
9 In the text box, type Category: and resize the text box to accommodate the
text, as shown below:
Add a grid
10 On the Insert menu, select Grid.

11 Add a grid to the bottom right of the placeholder, as shown below:
Exercise: Selectors
233
12 In the Dataset Objects window, under the Product - Monthly dataset, drag
Quarter to the rows of the grid.
13 Drag Subcategory to the columns.
14 Pressing the CTRL key, select all of the metrics and drag them to the
metrics section of the grid, as shown below:
Save the document
15 Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Product

Performance.
16 Run the newly saved document and switch to Design Mode.
Add the Subcategory selector
17 In the grid, right-click the Subcategory header and select Create Selector
Control.
18 Place the new Subcategory selector to the left of the grid.
19 Right-click the Subcategory selector and select Properties and
Formatting.
General.
22 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Layout.
23 Under Selector, in the DHTML Style drop-down list, select Check Boxes.
24 In the Orientation drop-down list, select Vertical.
25 Click Apply.
26 Under Properties, select Selector.
Bythatdefault,
available automatically. You will notice in this exercise that some
steps ask you to simply confirm that the automatically selected
target is the correct one.
27 Ensure that the selector is defined as such:
The Action Type drop-down list: Select Attribute Element
The Source drop-down list: Subcategory.
The Targets: GridGraph50, or whatever automatic number was given to

your grid.
28 Under Advanced, select the Show option for Total check box.
Show option for Total checkbox is disabled by default. You need
The
to disable the Apply selections as filter check box first.
29 In the Alias box, type All Subcategories, as shown below:
30 Click OK.
Exercise: Selectors
235
31 Resize the Subcategory selector so that it stretches to the bottom of the

panel stack.
32 Click Save.
34 Switch to Interactive Mode. Your dashboard should resemble the image
below:
Add the Category selector

36 With the panel stack selected, in the Dataset Objects window, right-click the
Category attribute and select Add Element Selector.
37 Place the new selector next to the Category label at the top of the panel
stack.
38 Right-click the Category selector and select Properties and Formatting.
General.
42 Under Advanced, clear the Show option for All check box.
43 Click OK.
44 Right-click the Category selector and select Select Target.

45 Select the Subcategory selector.
46 In the target selection mode toolbar, click the green check mark, as shown
below:
47 A message window displays regarding manually maintaining targets for this

selector. Click OK.
Create the metrics selector
48 In the grid, right-click the Metrics header and select Create Selector
Control.
49 Place the metrics drop-down selector between the Category selector and the
Subcategory selector as shown below:
50 Right-click the Metrics selector and select Properties and Formatting.

General.
54 Under Selector, in the DHTML Style drop-down list, select Radio Buttons.
Exercise: Selectors
237
55 Click Apply.
Action Type and Target are already defined because you created
The
the selector from the Metrics header in the grid.
57 Under Advanced, clear the Show option for All check box.
58 Click OK.
59 Resize the metrics selector so that it takes up the width of the placeholder
panel stack.
Switch the grid to Graph view
60 Right-click the grid, point to View Mode, and select Graph View.
Save the document and study it in Interactive Mode
61 Click Save.
64 In the Category drop-down selector, select Electronics.
65 In the metrics radio button selector, click Profit.
66 In the Subcategory check box selector, select Cameras and Computers.
Your document should resemble image at the beginning of this exercise.

68 Right-click the Product Monthly graph and select Format.
69 On the Format:Graph window, under Format, select Advanced.
70 Under Advanced, select the Show subtotals check box.
71 Click OK.
72 Click Save.

75 In the Subcategory selector, select the Total check box.
Total bar in the graph reflects values for all subcategories, not
The
just Cameras and Computers.
Analytic-Based Selector
Overview
In this exercise, you will use a graph to control another graph. Imagine this
design as just a section of a larger dashboard. When you complete the exercise,
your final result, named Analytic-Based Selector Example, should resemble the
following image:

Exercise: Selectors
239
In the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy

Report Services\Datasets\Performance Management folder, add the
following reports as datasets:
Performance by Store
Top 5 Suppliers in Category
Create a grid with Category and Revenue in the columns that takes up the
top half of the panel.
Create a bar chart graph based on the Top 5 Suppliers in Category that
takes up the bottom half of the panel.
Use the Category attribute from the grid to control the bar chart below.
Change the grid into a pie chart.
Hide all title bars.
Format the pie chart as follows:

The legend is hidden
Text on the graph is displayed in 8 point font
The report titles are hidden
Category labels for the pie slices display
Create the document
1 Create a new document, based on the 01 Blank Dashboard template.

2 In the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy
Report Services\Datasets\Performance Management folder, add the
following reports as datasets:
Performance by Store
Top 5 Suppliers in Category
You can press CTRL to multiselect datasets.

Add a grid
3 Add a grid to the placeholder panel stack and position it so that it takes up
the top half of the placeholder.
4 In the Dataset Objects window, under Performance by Store, drag

Category and Revenue to the columns of the grid.
sure you add Category attribute to column of the grid, otherwise
Make
you will end of with four pie charts in your final dashboard.
Add a graph
5 Right-click the Top 5 Suppliers by Category dataset and select Add to

Section with Formatting.
6 Position and size the grid/graph object so that it takes up the bottom half of
the placeholder.
Set the grid to control the graph
7 Select the top grid.

8 Right-click the Category attribute and select Select Targets.
9 Select the Top 5 Suppliers by Category grid/graph.
10 Click the green check mark on the target selection mode toolbar.
Bythatdefault,
available automatically. If you try to manually select target you will
see a warning message that you will need to manually maintain
targets for all selectors in the current layout, shown below:
Switch the grid to a pie graph
11 Right-click the grid, point to View Mode and select Graph View.
12 Click the Graph menu to view the toolbar.
13 On the Graph toolbar, change the graph type to Pie.
14 Use the Pie graphs Properties and Formatting window to disable the title
bar.
Exercise: Selectors
241
15 Disable the title bar on the bottom graph as well.

16 Save the dashboard to the My Reports folder, naming it Analytic-Based
Selector Example.
17 Run the newly saved document and study it in Interactive Mode. Your
results should resemble the following image:
Optional Tasks: Format the Pie Graph

19 Click Restore Normal Screen Mode, as shown below:
20 Click the Graph menu to view the toolbar.

21 Select the pie graph.
Hide the graphs legend
22 On the Graph toolbar, click Legend to hide the legend, as shown below:
Change the font size for all text on the graph

24 In the Format: Graph window, under Format, with Format and All Text
listed in the top two drop-down lists, change the font size to 8 point.
25 Click Apply.
Hide the reports title
26 In the Format: Graph window, under Format, in the Format drop-down

list, select Titles.
27 In the All Titles drop-down list, select Title.
28 Clear the Show check box.
29 Click Apply.
Display the category labels for the pie slices
30 In the Titles drop-down list, select Series Labels.

31 In the Title drop-down list, select Pie Labels for Books Revenue.
32 Select the Show check box.
33 Click Apply.
34 Repeat steps 31 - 33 for every pie label (series 2 through 4).
35 Click OK.
Study the document in Interactive Mode
36 Switch to Interactive Mode and test the interactivity by clicking any section
of the pie chart and studying how your selection impacts the bar graph.
Exercise: Selectors
243
37 Save your document, replacing the existing document.
6
FLASH MODE AND WIDGETS
Lesson Description
In this lesson, you will explore Flash Mode and all of the functionality that this
document display mode offers.
245
Flash Mode and Widgets
Lesson Objectives
Understand the characteristics of documents that you display in Flash Mode
and include advanced visualizations in these documents.
Explain the benefits of DHTML and Flash output formats and understand
certain characteristics of Flash in particular. (Page 231)
Use MicroStrategys out-of-the-box Advanced Visualization Library to

include data widgets in your documents. (Page 240)
Choose how a Flash-only widget displays in PDF and Microsoft

Excel. (Page 276)
List the widgets that can be displayed in both Flash Mode and Interactive
Mode. (Page 277)
DHTML Versus Flash

Explain the benefits of DHTML and Flash output formats and understand
certain characteristics of Flash in particular.
DHTML Benefits
All of the features and functionality that you have learned up to this point in
the course focus on pure DHTML (also called AJAX) functionality. Each of
the MicroStrategy Web document display modesExpress Mode, Interactive
Mode, and Editable Mode are DHTML modes. Documents that display in
DHTML offer the following benefits:
Shorter initial load timeWhen you view a document in DHTML, you do

not download all of the content for a document all at once. Instead, you
download content on demand from the Web server. This behavior helps
shorten the documents initial load time.
Incremental fetch of dataWith DHTML as your document format, you

can enable incremental fetch, which makes it possible to download slices
of data from the Web server in increments. This feature helps minimize
the documents initial load time even further. For documents that contain
a large amount of data, DHTML might perform better than Flash.
True zero footprint on the clientWhen you view a document in

DHTML, you do not need additional applications installed on your client
machine. A standard Internet browser is the only required application.
Minimal security issuesBecause documents in DHTML do not require

the use of special plugins (like Flash), they enable corporations to
maintain strict security policies prohibiting users from downloading such
plugins.
Smaller output filesDepending on the amount of data in the

document, documents in DHTML format typically produce smaller
output files than those in Flash.
Best mode for PDF display, printing and archivingDocuments that

you view in DHTML also display well in PDF. When converted to PDF,
they print easily and produce the smallest-sized files for archiving.
DHTML Versus Flash
247
Flash Benefits
While DHTML has its benefits, you might want documents that offer a
greater level of interactivity. To address this need, MicroStrategy Web offers
a Flash Mode, which displays Adobe Flash technology within documents.
Flash Mode offers the following benefits:
Immediate interactive responseDocuments that display in Flash

Mode automatically download all data to the client machines browser,
which means that all manipulations and interactivity happen locally,
without requiring trips back and forth to the Web server. This behavior
typically results in a much faster response to user interactions. Also, if
documents contain attributes in the Grouping pane, grouping occurs
locally within the Flash dashboard on the client browser.
Advanced visualizations and animationsMicroStrategy offers an

out-of-the-box library of advanced Flash visualizations (or data widgets)
that go beyond standard graphs. Examples of widgets are time series
sliders, gauges, and heat maps. These sophisticated graphs make it
possible for users to view and interact with the graphical data, much like
they are accustomed to interacting with grids.
Disconnected operationYou can export a document saved in Flash

Mode to an MHT file or a PDF. This type of file enables you to view the
document, with all of its Flash functionality, without being connected to
the MicroStrategy environment. In addition, using MicroStrategy Office,
you can run documents saved in Flash Mode in Microsoft Word,
Powerpoint, and Excel and retain all the Flash functionality.
Unlimited visualization extensibilityMicroStrategy offers native

integration with Adobe Flash Builder 4 (the application that enables you
to create Flash widgets). You can create any visualization and simply plug
it into MicroStrategy. You can also import third-party visualizations.
more information on extending the visualization library, refer
For
to the MicroStrategy Developer Library (MSDL) provided with
MicroStrategy SDK.
Because Flash is a native part of MicroStrategys architecture, any documents

you design in the Editable Mode are also available in Flash Mode. In other
words, with Report Services, you can design a document once and decide if
you want to view it in any of the DHTML modes or Flash Mode, or all modes.
248 DHTML Versus Flash
Although it is possible to toggle between DHTML and Flash Modes, in most

reporting environments, users would analyze a document in one mode. They
might toggle modes to view a document that displays by default in Flash
Mode to one of the DHTML modes instead, because they do not have a Flash
player installed on their client machine. Switching from Flash Mode to any of
the DHTML modes is as easy as selecting a new display mode on the View
menu, or selecting the appropriate view button in the toolbar.
toggling, if users want to always view Flash Mode documents
Besides
in one of the DHTML modes, they can disable the Enable Flash Mode
option in their Report Services User Preferences in MicroStrategy
Web. When this setting is disabled, documents that open by default in
Flash Mode will open in Interactive Mode instead, assuming that
Interactive Mode is enabled.
Characteristics of Documents in Flash Mode

The following are characteristics of documents that display in Flash Mode:
You can design a document in Developer or MicroStrategy Web and

render it using the Flash preview mode in Developer or Flash Mode in
MicroStrategy Web. The Flash preview in MicroStrategy Developer
renders the document but does not permit you to save any changes to it.
For this reason, it is typically most efficient to design documents for Flash
Mode directly in MicroStrategy Web.
To view documents in Flash Mode, you must have a Flash player installed
on your client machine. See the MicroStrategy Readme for the latest
supported. Since Flash functionality is commonly used across most
Web-related applications, it is likely that you have a Flash player installed
already. If you try to open a document that displays by default in Flash
Mode and do not have a Flash player installed, you receive a warning
message.
DHTML Versus Flash
249
In Flash Mode, you can perform the following basic manipulations:

Sort data in grid/graphs
Pivot objects within grid/graphs, which includes changing the relative
position of a row or a column, changing a row into a column, or
changing a column into a row
Use Quick Switch on grid/graphs
Use Maximize/Minimize Portal Window feature on grid/graphs
Link to other documents or reports
Drill to other objects contained within the grid/graphs dataset report
Filter, by selecting attribute elements or defining a condition on a
metric using top, bottom, equals, less than, or greater than
Remove and add objects to the grid/graph. Only objects in the
grid/graph's dataset report can be added to the grid/graph
To enable or disable the interactive options available in Flash Mode, go to
the Document Properties, as shown in the image below:
Document Properties Window
Objects such as panel stacks and selectors have a sharper, richer display
in Flash Mode, although their function is the same as in the DHTML
modes.
As you know, MicroStrategy offers many out-of-the-box graph types.

Unfortunately, not all graphs that are available in DHTML modes are
available in Flash Mode. MicroStrategy uses the Adobe Flash Builder 4
Framework to generate Flash graphs and Adobe Flash Charts only
supports a subset of the charts in MicroStrategy's graph library. The
following table lists the graph types supported in Flash Mode:
Graph Types Supported in Flash Mode
Graph Type (graph subtype)
Area Vertical (absolute, percent, stacked, dual-axis absolute, dual-axis
stacked)
Area Horizontal (absolute, dual-axis absolute
Bar Horizontal (percent, stacked, absolute, dual-axis absolute,
dual-axis clustered)
Bar Vertical (percent, stacked, absolute, dual-axis absolute, dual-axis
stacked, dual-axis clustered)
Pie (pie, ring pie, multiple proportional pies, multiple proportional ring
pies)
Line Horizontal (absolute, dual axis absolute)
Line Vertical (absolute, percent, stacked, dual-axis absolute, dual-axis
stacked)
Scatter (X-Y scatter, X-Y scatter dual axis)
Stock (Hi-Low Open Close)
Bubble (bubble, dual-axis bubble)
Combination (bar area, bar line, area line, dual-axis bar area, dual-axis
bar line, dual-axis area line)
a graph object in a document uses a graph type that is not

Ifsupported
by Flash, the graph does not display in Flash Mode. In
its place, the user sees a message stating The selected graph type
is not currently supported in Flash.
Like documents in DHTML format, documents that display in Flash

Mode automatically inherit all of the security and scalability features that
come with the MicroStrategy platform.
When you print a document from Flash Mode, the printed version of the
dashboard resembles the default DHTML view of the dashboard. Some
objects may not print due to their interactivity requirements (like
macrographs in a time slider series widget).
DHTML Versus Flash
251
You can export a document in Flash Mode to PDF or MHT format and
analyze it offline.
format is an archive web page format that enables you to
MHT
view the dashboard offline. This archived web page is an MHTML
(MIME HTML) document.
Like documents that you view in the DHTML modes, you can run
documents saved in Flash Mode using MicroStrategy Office in Microsoft
Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. You can work offline with these documents
and take advantage of their Flash functionality. In addition, with
MicroStrategy Distribution Services, you can subscribe to receive
documents saved in Flash Mode by e-mail. All of the documents Flash
features display in the e-mail body or attachment.
For more information on MicroStrategy Office, see the Office User
Guide
product manual. For information on MicroStrategy
Distribution Services, see the System Administration Guide
product manual.
Exporting Flash Documents as PDF or MHT

You can export dashboards as a Flash file and save it on your computer for
offline analysis. The Flash file is a fully interactive, stand-alone Flash
dashboard that works similar to the Flash dashboard in Flash Mode in
MicroStrategy Web.
You can choose to export all the Flash files in a project in either MHT or PDF
format. MHT file format can be opened in Internet Explorer or Firefox with
add-ons, and PDF file format can be opened in Adobe Reader 9. The Flash
file preference is a project level setting that can be changed in Project
Configuration Editor, as shown in the image below:
Project ConfigurationExport Settings
configuration settings are typically set up by an administrator

Project
using MicroStrategy Developer.
In Flash export (stand alone document), drilling is not supported.
must use Internet Explorer to open .mht files. Other browsers do
You
not currently support opening .mht files, unless you use special
plugins.
To export a flash mode document to MHT:
1 Open the desired document in MicroStrategy Web.

2 On the toolbar, click Flash:
3 In the MicroStrategy Web warning window, which states that you need to
save the exported file locally before opening it, click OK.
DHTML Versus Flash
253
4 In the File Download window, click Save.

5 Save the file to a desired location.
6 In the Download Complete window, click Close.
7 Close the Export page.
8 Browse to the location where you saved the file and open it.
file will have the same name as the document, plus the .mht
The
extension.
Sending Flash Documents

Distribution Services enables the delivery of Flash documents in MHT and
PDF file formats. When creating an E-mail or File subscription, you can
choose Flash as the delivery format of the content. Depending on your Export
settings for Flash file format, the document is sent as a MHT file or a PDF
file.
Subscribe to File Window
The MHT file format can be opened in Internet Explorer or Firefox with
add-ons, and the PDF file format can be opened in Adobe Reader 9.
DHTML Versus Flash
255
Advanced Visualizations
Use MicroStrategys out-of-the-box Advanced Visualization Library to
include data widgets in your documents.
Widgets are interactive, Flash-only graphs that dynamically update when you
select a new set of data to view. MicroStrategy offers several widgets that you
can use in Flash dashboards. Each of these widgets typically serve a specific
business purpose and have strict data requirements.
In Developer, you define widgets in Design Mode. In MicroStrategy Web, you
define widgets in Design Mode or Editable Mode. To interact with widgets,
you must view the document in Flash Mode.
Inserting Widgets
The process by which you insert a widget into a document is the same no
matter which widget you choose.
To include a widget in a document:
1 Select the panel or section in the Layout area to which you want to insert a
widget.
2 Do one of the following:
On the Insert menu, point to Widgets, point to Flash, and select the
appropriate widget.
OR
256 Advanced Visualizations
On the Insert toolbar, in the Widget drop-down list, point to Flash and
select the appropriate widget, as shown below:
3 Drag the widget to the location on the panel that you want it.
grid-like object represents the widget in Design Mode. You can
Aright-click
this object to modify any of its properties.
4 Define the widget by placing report objects, such as attributes and
metrics, on the widget grid.
Defining Widgets from Existing Grid/Graphs

You can also turn any existing grid/graph object in your document into a
widget, as long as the grid/graph meets the data requirements for the
selected type of widget. For example, imagine you have a document that
contains a grid with Region on the rows and Profit Margin on the columns.
You can define this grid to display as a Gauge widget by modifying its
properties.
257
To define a widget from an existing grid/graph in a document:
1 Right-click the grid/graph that you want to display as a widget and select
grid/graph must meet the widgets data requirements or else
The
the widget will not render in Flash Mode, and you will receive an
error message.
Widget.
3 Under Widget Selection, in the Widget drop-down list, select the desired
widget.
4 Click OK.
MicroStrategy Widgets
MicroStrategy is continually creating new widgets. Because there are so many
widgets, this course focuses on seven of the most popular widgets. However,
the table below lists every widget available for MicroStrategy dashboards, as
well as the data requirements and when to use the widget.
Widgets Available in MicroStrategy Web
Widget
Data Requirements
When to Use
Bubble Grid
- Only two attributes in the rows
Use to perform analyses

involving key business ratios
- At least two metrics in the columns

Cylinder
- One attribute in the rows

- One metric in the columns
Data Cloud
Date Selection
Useful when it has a metric

selector to change the value
displayed in the cylinder
- At least one metric in the columns
Useful when trying to see the

largest and smallest contributor
at a glance
- no attributes or metrics required
Allows the user to select a date
- choose dates to display and set a

target for the widget
Fish Eye Selector
Use to create an interactive list

of attribute elements, usually
used as a selector
Widget
Data Requirements
When to Use
Funnel
Useful for percent to total

comparisons

Gauge

Graph Matrix
- At least two attributes in the rows

- At least one attribute in the columns
- At least one metric in the columns
Heat Map
- At least one attribute in the rows

- At least two metrics in the columns
Image Layout
- At least one attribute on the rows

- At least two metrics on the columns
Interactive Bubble Graph
- One to three attributes in the rows

- At least three metrics in the columns
Interactive Stacked Graph

- One attribute in the columns
Map
- Attributes or attribute forms that

supply latitude and longitude

displayed in the gauge
Use this widget when
answering questions such as
How are actual sales
compared to forecast sales, by
time and region?
Often used to simultaneously
show the overall and detailed
status of a company, region,
and so forth
Useful for visually conclusions
about data with geographical
parameters.
Used to visualize the trends of
three different metrics for a set
of attribute elements
Used to compare the
contribution of various attribute
elements to the change in the
value of the entire metric
Used to visualize data with
locations on a map.
- At least one metric

Media
- no attributes or metrics required

- Video formats: .swf, .flv
- Audio formats: .mp3
Used to present media such as

video, audio, images, or web
site content on a dashboard
- Graphic formats: .gif, .jpg, .png, .svg

Microcharts
- At least two attributes in the rows,

except when in KPI mode, when only
one is allowed
Used to view the trend of a

metric at a glance
- Two or seven metrics in the columns

Network
- At least one attribute on the rows

- At least three metrics on the column
Thermometer

Useful to quickly identify

relationships between items
and clusters for social network
and market basket analysis
displayed in the thermometer
259
Widget
Data Requirements
When to Use
Time Series Slider

Usually used to show the trend

of a metric over time
Waterfall
- At least one metric on the rows or

columns
Used to perform what-if

analyses
Weighted List Viewer
- At least one attribute on the rows or

columns
Useful for assessing the

performance of a group of
items
Gauge Widget
To represent a single value in a visual manner, dashboard designers often use
gauge widgets. A Gauge widget is much like a cars speedometer. It displays a
needle that moves within a range of numbers shown on the gauge, as shown
below:
Gauge Widget
The needle within the gauge is a visual representation of the single metric
value (in the example, the Profit Margin metric).
see an example of a gauge widget in a document, run the Regional
ToPerformance
Management Dashboard in the Shared
Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
This widget has the following data requirements:
The source dataset must contain one attribute in the rows and one metric
in the columns.
You must include a selector if you want users to interact with the widget.
The image below shows the widget template in Design Mode for the Gauge
widget in the previous example:
Gauge Widget Template
When using gauges, keep in mind that unless you have unlimited screen
space for your dashboard, you might save valuable space by listing a single
value metric as text.
261
Time Series Slider

The Time Series Slider widget lets users see two views of time-related data,
microview or macroview. The Time Series Slider has a controller (shown
below in the upper graph) that permits users to set the range of data that is
visible in a separate area graph (shown below in the lower graph). Using the
slider of the controller, users can focus on a specific time range or expand
their view to a broader time range. An example of a Time Series Slider widget,
where the controller focuses on a specific time frame (Dec 2011 to Nov 2012),
is shown below:
Time Series Slider Widget
see an example of the Time Series Slider widget, run the Customer
ToRegional
Analysis document in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and
Scorecards folder.
The Time Series Slider widget has the following data requirements:
The source report must contain one attribute along the rows. This
attribute is normally time-based, but does not have to be time-based. The
attribute displays on the X-axis of the chart.
attribute should contain many values (like days, weeks, or
The
months). In the example, the X-axis represents the Day attribute.
The source report must contain one or more metrics along the columns.
The metrics display on the Y-axis of the chart. In the example, the Close
Price metric displays on the Y-axis.
source report has more than one metric along the columns,
Ifthethegraphs
display as a stacked area chart. To see an example of a
Time Series Slider with multiple metrics, run the Corporate Sales
Overview dashboard in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and
Scorecards folder of the MicroStrategy Tutorial project and click
the Regional tab.
No separate selector is required for interactivity.
The image below shows the widget template for the Time Series Slider
widget:
Time Series Slider Widget Template
263

The Interactive Stacked Graph widget enables users to see a contribution of
an individual metric series (or a specific group of series) to the total. This
widget uses a built-in selector that permits the user to control the displayed
series. For example, in the image below, the check box selector on the left of
the chart controls the series that display in the area graph:
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget
see an example of the Interactive Stacked Graph widget, run the

ToSupport
Center Dashboard in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and
Scorecards folder.
As you select support regions, more series display in the area chart. When all
of the series display, the chart represents the total of all the series. If you want
to view how a single series contributes to the total, simply click a single
region. If you want to view how multiple series contribute to the total, use the
CTRL key to multiselect several regions. This type of widget enables you to
quickly analyze how the individual parts make up the whole, which is useful
when analyzing percent-to-total contributions.
CTRL key to multiselect several regions (highlighted in the image below).
This type of widget enables you to quickly analyze how the individual parts
make up the whole, which is useful when analyzing percent-to-total
contributions.
CTRL key to multiselect several regions. This type of widget enables you to
quickly analyze how the individual parts make up the whole, which is useful
when analyzing percent-to-total contributions.
To use an interactive stacked graph, you must meet the following
requirements:
The source report must contain two attributes:
One attribute must display along the rows (for the graphs X-axis). In the
previous example, the Month attribute displays along the X-axis.
Another attribute must display along the columns (for the check box
selector). In the example, the Support Region attribute acts as the
check box selector.
The source report must contain one metric along the columns (for the
graphs Y-axis). In the example, the New Cases metric is measured along
the Y-axis.
the Interactive Stacked Graph widget contains its own
Since
built-in selector, you do not need to create a separate selector to
make the widget interactive.
The image below shows the widget template for an Interactive Stacked Graph
widget:
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget Template
265
Heat Map
Heat maps (also called treemaps) display a combination of colored
rectangles, each representing an attribute element. Heat maps enable you to
quickly grasp the state and impact of a large number of variables at once.
Heat maps are often used in the financial services industry to review the
status of a portfolio. The size of each rectangle represents its relative weight.
The color represents the relative change in the value of a rectangle. The
smaller rectangles represent individual elements that form the larger
rectangle.
For example, in the image below, the heat map displays several rectangles.
Each rectangle represents individual subcategories. The large rectangles
represent the categories to which those subcategories belong. The size of each
subcategory rectangle represents its relative weight in terms of revenue. The
color represents the state of the individual subcategories in terms of positive
or negative revenue growth. The darkest rectangles have the lowest percent of
revenue growth while the lightest rectangles have the highest percent of
revenue growth. When you place your cursor over the darkest rectangle, a
tooltip displays to show the Computers subcategory, the Revenue value, and
the Percent Growth value.
Heat Map Widget - Tooltip
To use the Heat Map widget, you must meet the following requirements:
One or more attributes along the rowsIf you use one attribute only, this
attribute represents the large rectangles whose names display in the
widget. If you add another attribute, it represents the smaller rectangles
that fall within the larger ones.
widget can use any number of attributes. Attributes with a
This
parent-child relationship work best, because they are nested within
one another on the Heat Map.
Two metrics along the columns

The first metric determines the relative size of each of the smaller
rectangles within the larger rectangle. Items with lower values display
as smaller rectangles.
The second metric (value between -1 and 1) determines a rectangles
color.
you include more than two metrics on the widget template, they
Ifdisplay
as options in the drop-down list in the interactive pane.
A separate selector for interactivity
The image below shows the widget template for a Heat Map widget:
Heat Map Widget Template
267
To Interact with a Heat Map

The Heat Map provides an interactive pane that enables users to control
many aspects of its appearance, as shown below:
Heat Map Interactive Pane
With the interactive pane, you can choose which metrics control the size of
the rectangles and the color of the rectangles. As you can see in the image
above, the Percent Growth metric currently controls the color.
You can also filter the number of elements you see in the widget using two
metric filter sliders. One slider filters data elements based on the metric that
defines the size of each rectangle. The other slider filters data based on the
metric that controls the color of each rectangle. When you move the thumbs
of the sliders, any regions that are excluded on the Heat Map display as
shaded while those still in view are highlighted.
By selecting the Filter check box, you can remove from view the rectangles
that are excluded. This makes it easier to focus on the elements of interest.
The interactive pane also makes it possible to perform the following actions:
Pivot or completely remove attributes from the widget template
Use the Search to quickly navigate to a specific element
Zoom to view a specific element
Move, resize, minimize, dock, or close the interactive pane
Format colors to use blending or banding
Refresh the Heat Map to return to its original state
View a list of deleted items, which displays the names of all the rectangles
that you have removed from view
To open the interactive pane:
1 With the document open in Flash Mode, right-click the widget, and select
Interactive.
2 Perform manipulations to the Heat Map as desired.
269
The following image shows the Heat Map when the interactive pane is
docked. The Revenue metric controls the color; the Category and
Subcategory attributes are pivoted; and the color bands are red and green:
Heat Map - Interactive Pane Docked
more information on the interactive pane, see the MicroStrategy

For
Web online help.

A traditional bubble chart lets users view a trend of three different metrics for
a set of attribute elements. One bubble represents a single attribute element.
The bubbles position on the X-axis represents the value for the first metric.
Its position on the Y-axis represents the value for the second metric. The size
of the bubble represents the value of the third metric.
The Interactive Bubble Graph widget offers the following added benefits:
Enables the animation of the bubbles through time. You accomplish this
by moving a time slider or pressing a Play button.
Enables the user to drill into the components of a bubble to see the
distribution of underlying data. You drill on a bubble by clicking it.
Allows multiple element selection using the CTRL key. You expand any
selection by holding the CTRL key while you click on other bubbles. The
extended selection is highlighted to reflect which bubbles are currently
selected.
Allows multiple element selection using Marquee Selector. You can make
a selection of bubbles that are contiguous or that fall within the limits of a
rectangular area. The selection of bubbles also triggers the underlying
selector with the enclosed bubbles as the values of the selection. Specified
area can be magnified by the zoom operation.
The image below shows an Interactive Bubble Graph. You can click the arrow
Play button (on the top left) to view the trend over time. You can double-click
individual bubbles to drill to more detailed data. You can select multiple
bubbles by holding the CTRL key, and you can also make a selection of
bubbles using Marquee Selector. Drawing a marquee is initiated
automatically when you click and drag the pointer. The zoom button appears
inside the selection when the mouse pointer is inside the box.
Interactive Bubble Graph Widget
see an example of the Interactive Bubble Graph Widget, run the

ToCorporate
Sales Overview dashboard in the Shared
The bubbles represent different categories for each year. Their positions
reflect their performance for Revenue and Units Sold. Their size reflects the
Profit Margin.
271
The Interactive Bubble Graph widget has the following data requirements:
At the very least, one attribute and three metrics are required. Depending
on whether you want color coding, animation, or drilling, you should
include additional attributes, as specified below:
One attribute along the rows for the series (bubble)
Optional additional attribute to the left of attribute along rows for
series animation and drilling
One attribute along columns (for color coding)
Three metrics along columns (X-axis position, Y-axis position, and
size of bubble)
For time animation, one extra unit is required on the time axis. If you
enable time animation, the left-most attribute on the row axis represents
time and groups the data for animation.
For drilling, the data that drives the X and Y axis should be non-summing
functions, like Average and Standard Deviation. This makes the range
(scale) of values for the parent bubbles and child bubbles similar.
In addition, for drilling, the source report requires specific formatting,
which you can achieve by using a custom group or advanced subtotals
in MicroStrategy Developer. When using a custom group, you must set
the display options so that the individual child elements display under
the total for the custom group element.
will learn more about the advanced subtotals method in an
You
exercise at the end of this lesson. For additional information on the
requirements for the Interactive Bubble Graph widget, refer to the
MicroStrategy Dashboards and Widgets Creation Guide product
manual.
No separate selector is required for interactivity.
The image below shows the widget template for an Interactive Bubble Graph
widget:
Interactive Bubble Graph Widget Template
Microcharts Widget
The Microcharts widget consists of one or more microcharts, which are
compact charts integrated into a grid of data that enables analysts to quickly
identify trends. Microcharts convey information in such a way that the user
can, at a glance, determine the trend of a metric over time or how a metric is
performing compared to forecasted figures. The Microcharts widget is useful
for this purpose because individual microcharts can display attribute and
metric data in a small graph that would otherwise be displayed as a single
value in a grid report cell.
273
One, two, or three microcharts can be used in the Microcharts widget,

depending on the number of metrics you include on the widget template. In
the document shown below, all three microcharts display within a single
Microcharts widget. That is, the widget template contains the requisite
number of metrics to display all three types of microcharts and they are all
enabled for display. The bar and sparkline microcharts convey the trend of a
metric over time, from left to right in the widget below. On the right, a bullet
reveals the percentage of cases that were closed, in correlation with the goal
for that region, which is represented by the vertical line.
Microcharts Widget (Sparkline, Bar, and Bullet)
see this example, run the Customer Support Dashboard in the

ToShared
Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder. This example
includes widget-specific formatting such as labels for the bar,
sparkline, and bullet microcharts. To learn more about formatting a
Microcharts widget, see Formatting the Microcharts Widget starting
on page 280.
The number of rows in the widget represents the number of elements from
the first attribute on the widget templates rows. For example, there are five
rows of region data because the Region attribute on the widget templates
rows has five different elements, or regions.
In the example, you see each of the three types of microcharts that are
available within the Microcharts widget. Each of the following microcharts
provides a unique way to visualize your data, as described below:
Microcharts Display Types
Microcharts Type
Description
Bar chart
Bar microcharts plot a metric with respect to

time using a single bar, displaying a metrics
current value and historical data to visualize
the shape of the trend.
Sparklines
Sparkline microcharts plot a metric with

respect to time using a line graph, displaying
a metrics current value and historical data to
visualize the shape of the trend.
Sparkline microcharts consist of the following:
A line graph that depicts the metrics value
over time.
A horizontal reference line, which provides
a comparison point between the actual
values and the reference values.
Bullet chart
Bullet microcharts compare the value of one

metric against other metrics, typically
representing a target value. One common
example is comparing the year-to-date value
of a metric to the annual target or the forecast
of the metric.
Bullet charts consist of the following:
A horizontal performance measure bar.
This represents the actual metric value.
A vertical reference line, which is typically
the target value for the metric.
Colored reference bands (Band 1, Band 2,
and Band 3) that indicate a numeric range
in which the metrics values exist.
Microcharts Display Options

Depending on how many metrics you want to include in the Microcharts
widget template, you have the following display options:
Display a bar or a sparkline (or both)
Display only a bullet
Display all three microcharts (sparkline, bar, and bullet)
275
Displaying a Bar or a Sparkline (or Both)

Bar and sparkline microcharts are based on the same metric, so they are
designed the same way. Whether you choose to display a sparkline or a bar,
or both, largely depends on the Flash formatting properties you enable when
you view the widget in Flash Mode.
By default, the sparkline displays in Flash Mode for the Microcharts widget.
If you prefer to display the bar instead, you use the widgets Flash Mode
properties to hide the sparkline and display the bar. You can also enable both
microcharts so that the bar and sparkline display next to each other.
The data requirements for a bar or sparkline microcharts include the
following:
Data Requirements for Bar or Sparkline Microcharts
Rows
Columns
At least two attributes:

The first attribute on the rows, and the
second, third, fourth, and so on, determine
the total number of rows displayed in the
widget. The elements from those attributes
become individual rows in the widget.
The last (right-most) attribute determines the
X-axis values in the bar and sparkline
microcharts in the widget.
At least two metrics:

The first (left-most) metric on the columns
determines the size of the bars (the series) in a bar
and the fluctuations in the line graphs in the
sparkline.
The second metric creates the horizontal
reference lines that display in the sparkline.
If you place a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth metric on
the columns, the metrics display as individual
columns in the widget. These columns display
after the bar or sparkline.
If you place a seventh metric on the columns, you
can produce a bullet. See the next section for
more information on bullet microcharts.
Using the same example mentioned previously, the following image shows a
valid arrangement of report objects on a Microcharts widget template
designed to display a sparkline and/or a bar:
Microcharts Widget Template - Sparkline and/or Bar
The same template produces the following display in Flash Mode, with the
default sparkline display:
Microcharts Widget in Flash Mode - Sparkline Only
If you analyze the sparkline, note the first (left-most) Open Cases (TM)
metric represents the fluctuations in the sparkline. The second metric, Avg.
Open Cases (T12 M), represents the horizontal reference line.
277
Displaying Only a Bullet

The requirements listed below produce bullet microcharts in the widget.
They also automatically produce bar and sparkline microcharts. As
mentioned earlier, the bar microcharts are hidden and the sparkline and
bullet microcharts display on the dashboard, by default. You can disable the
sparklines display using the Flash Mode properties so that the widget shows
only the bullet.
Data Requirements for Bullet Microcharts
Rows
Columns
At least two attributes:

The first attribute on the rows, and the
second, third, fourth, and so on, determine
the total number of rows displayed in the
widget. The elements from those attributes
become individual rows in the widget.
The last (right-most) attribute determines the
X-axis values in the bar and sparkline
microcharts in the widget.
At least seven metrics:

The first (left-most) metric on the columns
determines the size of the bars (the series) in the
bar microcharts and the fluctuations in the line
graphs in the sparkline microcharts. This applies
even if you want to display only bullet microcharts.
The second metric creates the horizontal
reference lines that are displayed in the sparkline
microcharts.This applies even if you want to
display only bullet microcharts.
The third metric determines the length of the
performance measure bar in the bullet
microcharts. The bar represents the actual metric
value.
The fourth metric determines the maximum
possible values in the bullet microcharts.
The fifth metric determines the right-most
boundary of the first color band, Band 1, in the
bullet microcharts.
The sixth metric determines the right-most
boundary of the second color band, Band 2, in the
bullet microcharts.
The seventh metric determines the value of the
vertical reference line in the bullet microcharts,
which is typically the target value for the metric.
Any additional metrics (eighth metric and beyond)
display in the columns of the widget, after the
microcharts and their associated metrics.
The following is an example of a valid arrangement of report objects on a

Microcharts widget template designed to display a bullet:
Microcharts Widget Template - Bullet
The same template produces the following display in Flash Mode:

bar and sparkline are disabled using the widget templates Flash
The
Mode properties. However, the metrics that define the bar and
sparkline are still required components in the widget template
because, you need a minimum of seven metrics to display the bullet.
Microcharts Widget in Flash Mode - Bullet Only
If you analyze the bullet, note the third metric in the template, Closed Cases
(TM), determines the length of the performance measure bar, the darkest
horizontal bar. The fourth metric, Max (Closed Cases), represents the
maximum possible value, Band 3, in the bullet. The fifth metric, Low (Closed
Cases), determines the right-most boundary of the first color band, Band 1, in
the bullet. The sixth metric, Med (Closed Cases), determines the right-most
boundary of the second color band, Band 2. Finally, the seventh metric,
Target Closed Cases, determines the value of the vertical reference line,
which represents the target value for the metric.
279
As you can see, bullet microcharts are particularly effective because they help
you visualize the output of five different metrics in a simple, very compact
display. The horizontal performance bar shows the status of the metrics
performance against the vertical target line. The three color bands show how
the performance bar falls within poor, average, and good (or low, medium,
and high) thresholds. An analyst can see, at a glance, the regions that are
performing well and exceeding targets versus the regions that need
improvement.
Displaying All Three Microcharts (Bar, Sparkline, and Bullet)

The data requirements to display all three microcharts simultaneously are
the same as the requirements described in the table for the bullet. As long as
you have the minimum seven metrics, you can ensure that the Microcharts
widget displays each of the three chart types. As mentioned earlier, the bar
and sparkline use the same metric for their data source. To display both the
bar and sparkline, simply enable their display options through the widget
templates Flash Mode properties. When you place the seven metrics on the
widget template and you enable the display of the three types of microcharts,
the widget displays as follows:
Microcharts Widget (Bar, Sparkline, and Bullet)
Formatting the Microcharts Widget

To format the widget, like many other widgets, you specify font color and
styles directly within the widget template in Editable Mode. You can also
specify the font color, style, and number values of the first metrics values on
the widget template. However, you cannot format individual metric columns.
To apply additional formatting options that are specific to the Microcharts

widget, switch to Flash Mode, right-click the widget, and select Properties.
Within the properties, you can control the formatting. For additional
information on the Formatting a Microcharts widget, refer to the
MicroStrategy Dashboards and Widgets Creation Guide product manual.
Operation Modes for the Microcharts Widget

In addition to the formatting options described above, you can also specify
the operation mode for the Microcharts widget. These modes include the
following:
Grid
Vertical Scroll
Ticker
KPI List
You control the operation mode by specifying the desired mode in the
Microcharts widgets Flash properties.
Grid Mode
This is the default mode for the Microcharts widget. In this mode, all the rows
of microcharts are displayed at the same time, from top to bottom.
In Grid mode you can display groups of rows collapsed or expanded to show
different levels of detail using the Tree Display option. The Tree Display is
useful when there are two to three attributes on the rows, in addition to the
time series attribute.
281
In the following image, the rows are grouped by the Support Region attribute.
The Northeast group is expanded to display the elements of the Call Center
below with the rows Boston and New York.
Tree Display
To enable Grid mode with Tree Display:
1 Open the document in Flash Mode.

2 Right-click the Microcharts widget and select Properties.
3 In the Microcharts Widget Properties window, on the Options drop-down
list at the top left, select Mode.
4 In the Operation mode drop-down list, makes sure Grid is selected.
5 Select the Tree display check box.
6 In the Aggregation Function drop-down list, select a function that
determines the totals for the grouped rows.
7 Click OK.
Vertical Scroll Mode

By default, the Microcharts widget displays multiple rows. In Vertical Scroll
mode, you can view each row of microcharts one at a time as they
automatically scroll from the top to the bottom. You can also manually
navigate from one row to the next using the Previous and Next buttons on the
right side of the widget, as shown below:
Microcharts Widget - Vertical Scroll Mode
To use the vertical scroll operation mode in the microcharts widget:

3 In the Microcharts Widget Properties window, in the Options drop-down
4 In the Operation mode drop-down list, select Vertical Scroll.
5 On the Vertical Scroll tab, you can choose to manually scroll from one row
to the next. To do this, select the Previous/Next buttons check box.
6 In the Motion drop-down list, determine the speed of the vertical
scrolling by selecting an option.
7 Click OK to apply the changes to the widget.
Ticker Mode
In Ticker mode, you can view microcharts and supplemental text in a
scrolling ticker that moves from right to left. You can add text next to each
microchart to provide background information or highlight a trend displayed
in the microchart. This text is displayed alongside the microcharts as they
scroll horizontally, as shown below:
Microcharts Widget - Ticker Mode
283
A ticker is a combination of text and variables. The text is static and it

displays exactly as you specify in the Properties window in Flash Mode. The
variables are dynamic and the values of the variables display at run time. For
example, you might want the variable to alert you appropriately when profits
are either above or below a specified target.
You can define two tickers in the Properties window. The ticker that is
displayed in the widget depends on the following:
Ticker 1 displays when the third metric on the widget template (the
performance metric) is less than the target value, which is represented by
the seventh metric. Consider this when defining the text that you want to
display for this ticker.
Ticker 2 displays when the third metric on the widget template (the
performance metric) is equal to or greater than the target value, which is
represented by the seventh metric. Consider this when defining the text
that you want to display for this ticker.
The following is an example of using variables to define text that appears in

Ticker 1. Recall that Ticker 1 displays when the third metrics (the
performance metric) values are less than the target values represented by the
seventh metric.
{&sparkline} The {[Support Center]} support center did
NOT reach its closed cases target of {[Target Closed
Cases]} {&bullet}
The text in brackets are variables for a microchart, attribute, or metric.
The remaining text is the message you want to include for analysts.
To use the ticker operation mode in the microcharts widget:

4 In the Operation mode drop-down list, select Ticker.
5 Click the Ticker tab.
6 On the Ticker tab, in the Title box, type a name for the ticker.
This name displays above the ticker.

7 You can choose to manually scroll the ticker across the screen. To do this,
select the Previous/Next buttons check box.
8 Select or clear the Enable detail view check box to display or hide a
detailed view of each row.
detailed view displays a larger version of the corresponding
The
row when you click the text within the scrolling row. This view is
similar to the view in Grid operation mode.
9 In the Motion drop-down list, determine the speed of the scrolling ticker
by selecting an option.
Define the text that will appear in the tickers
Ticker 1 displays when the third metrics (the performance metric) values
are less than the target values represented by the seventh metric.
Ticker 2 displays when the third metrics values are equal to or greater
than the target values represented by the seventh metric.
10 To define the text that displays in the tickers, in the Ticker 1(M3 < M7)
and Ticker 2(M3>=M7) boxes, type values for the tickers.
You can use the following variables to define the text for tickers:
MicrochartsEnter one of the following to display specific types of

dynamic microcharts at run time:
{&bullet}
{&bar}
{&sparkline}
For example, if you enter {&sparkline}, at run time, &sparkline is replaced
by the corresponding sparkline microchart. Using & to prefix macros for
the microcharts such as in {&bullet} or {&sparkline} ensures that the
variables refer to dynamic data values in the widget.
Attributes and MetricsEnter attributes and metrics in brackets to

display dynamic attributes and metrics at run time. For example, if
you enter {name of attribute or metric}, the corresponding values of
the attribute or metric display at run time.
285
To specify attributes or metrics that are composed of more than one word,
include brackets as shown in the following example: {[Revenue
Forecast]}.
11 In the Ticker 1 color and Ticker 2 color drop-down lists, select a font color
for Ticker 1 and Ticker 2, respectively.
12 Click OK to apply the changes to the widget.
KPI List Mode

If you view the Microcharts widget in Grid mode or Vertical Scroll mode and
if the widget template contains only one attribute on the rows, you can enable
KPI List mode. In this mode, the widget displays a group of related metrics
(such as Revenue, Average Revenue, and Revenue Target) in its own row of
microcharts. This mode makes it easier to quickly analyze multiple KPIs
simultaneously.
KPI List mode is available only if the following conditions are met:
The Microcharts widget is in Grid mode or Vertical Scroll mode.
The widget template contains only one attribute in the rows.

the attribute time-based, like Month, since it controls the
Make
time series of the bar and sparkline microcharts.
The image below shows an example of a Microcharts widget in KPI List

mode:
Microcharts Widget - KPI List Mode
this example, run the Operational Performance Dashboard in

TotheseeShared
The example above is possible because there are many metrics on the widget
template that represent each KPI in the rows of the Microcharts widget. For
example, if you want to display a bullet for each KPI, you need to include the
requisite seven metrics. Multiply this requirement against the number of
KPIs and you see that the widget template requires many metrics.
When you enable KPI List mode in the Flash properties of the Microcharts
widget, you must also specify the number of metrics on the widget template
that should be used to generate each KPI row. For example, the following
widget template produces a simplified Microcharts widget in KPI List mode,
which displays only sparklines:
Microcharts Widget Template for Sparklines in KPI List Mode
Microcharts Widget with Sparklines in KPI List Mode
above Microcharts widget was modified to show only 2 Metrics

The
per KPI in the Operational Performance Dashboard. And selected the
Show bar graph check box in the widgets Flash properties.
In the widgets Flash properties, you specify that each KPI row contain two
metrics. With only two metrics, you can display a bar or sparkline (including
their horizontal reference lines), but not the bullet. To display a bullet, you
need to have the minimum seven required metrics per KPI row.
287
To view a microcharts widget in KPI list mode:
procedure assumes that you have already created a Microcharts

This
widget and that the widget template contains only one attribute in the
rows.
4 In the Operation mode drop-down list, select Grid or Vertical Scroll.
the widget template contains only one attribute in the rows,
Since
the KPI List Mode check box is selected by default.
5 In the Metrics per KPI box, type the number of metrics on the widget
template to use to generate the row of microcharts for each KPI.
If you specify only one metric, you can show only the sparkline or bar
microcharts, but without the horizontal reference line.
If you specify two metrics, you can show only the sparkline or bar
microcharts, including the horizontal reference line.
If you specify three to six metrics, you can show the sparkline or bar
microcharts with additional metrics shown to the right of the sparkline or
bar.
If you specify seven or more metrics, you can show the sparkline, bar, and
bullet microcharts. Any additional metrics are shown to the right of the
bullet.
Naming the metrics associated with Microcharts
6 If you want to specify a name to the associated metric for the sparkline or
bar chart, in the Options drop-down list, select Labels.
7 For the Sparkline or Bar tab, in the Associated metric box, type the name
of the metric.
The associated metric displays the same value as the last data point in the
sparkline or bar chart.
Image Layout
The Image Layout widget displays a map that is overlaid with colored areas
or bubbles. The color of the area or bubbles comes from the value of a metric
within the visualization.
While the Image Layout widget displays on a map, you do not have to have a
Google Maps API key to utilize this visualization. The image layout
visualization uses HTML map technology. Each area on a map, defined in a
shape file, is assigned a unique name that typically corresponding to a
geographical location. The attribute that you add to the template should
contain values that match the names defined for individual map areas. The
color of each map area is based on the value of a metric corresponding the
geo attributes element.
In the image below, the elements of the Customer State attribute have been
automatically matched with area names in the States of USA map. The color
of each area corresponds to the value of the Revenue metric.
Image Layout
289
The widget properties also gives you the option to change the display mode of
the visualization to areas or bubbles. Selecting Area causes the map to color
whole states, countries, and so forth; selecting Bubbles causes the map to
place colored circles in each area, as shown below:
Image Layout with Bubbles
When the display mode is set to Bubble and a metric exists in the Size By
drop zone, you can change the Maximum size settings for the bubbles.
Image Layout Properties
You can change the color schemes of each area or bubble in the Thresholds
editor.
more information on the Image Layout widget, see the
For
MicroStrategy Web online help.
291
Widget Rendering in PDF and Microsoft Excel

Choose how a Flash-only widget displays in PDF and Microsoft Excel.
Imagine that you want to create a dashboard for a broad target audience.
Some of the users need a PDF or Microsoft Excel-only version while others
want to see Flash functionality. If you include widgets in the dashboard, they
will not render as expected in PDF or Microsoft Excel. To make your
dashboard viewable for your non-Flash users, you need to decide if the
widget should be replaced in PDF or Microsoft Excel with the original
grid/graph, a placeholder, or nothing. You control this behavior within the
individual widgets properties, as described below:
To define PDF and Microsoft Excel rendering options for widgets:
1 Right-click the widget and select Properties and Formatting.

2 Under Properties, select Widget.
3 Under Widget Selection, in the Alternative Display drop-down list, choose
one of the following options:
To display the underlying grid/graph instead of the widget in PDF and

Microsoft Excel, select Show Grid or Graph.
To display an empty placeholder instead of the widget in PDF and

Microsoft Excel, select Show Placeholder. The container of the
grid/graph object displays, with the border and background
formatting. The following message displays within the container:
Flash Widgets cannot be rendered in this display. This message
displays in View and Interactive Mode only.
To display nothing instead of the widget in PDF and Microsoft Excel,

select Hide Grid or Graph.
4 Click OK.
292 Widget Rendering in PDF and Microsoft Excel
Flash Widgets in Interactive Mode

List the widgets that can be displayed in both Flash Mode and Interactive
Mode.
You can view the following widgets in Interactive Mode as well as Flash
Mode:
Flash Widgets Available in Interactive
Mode and Flash Mode
Widget
Bubble Grid
Data Cloud
Date Selection
Fish Eye Selector
Funnel
Gauge
Graph Matrix
Heat Map
Media
Microcharts
RSS Reader
Waterfall
Image Layout
You can view the following widgets only in Flash Mode:

Flash Widgets in Flash Mode Only
Widget
Cylinder
Flash Widgets in Interactive Mode
293
Flash Widgets in Flash Mode Only

Widget
Thermometer
Time Series Slider
Weighted List Viewer
Network
To enable users to view a Flash widget in Interactive Mode:

2 Right-click the widget template and select Properties and Formatting.
3 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Properties, select Flash.
4 Under Widget, in the DHTML rendering drop-down list, select Same as
Widget.
5 Click OK.
6 Switch to Interactive Mode to view the widget.
294 Flash Widgets in Interactive Mode
Lesson Summary
The Express, Editable, and Interactive document display modes use

DHTML functionality.
Running Report Services documents in the DHTML modes has the

following benefits:
Shorter initial load time
Incremental fetch
Zero footprint on the client
Minimal security issues
Smaller output files
Best mode for printing, PDF viewing, and archiving
Flash Mode uses Adobe Flash technology to provide the following

benefits:
Immediate interactive response
Advanced visualization animations
Disconnected operation
Unlimited visualization extensibility
Lesson Summary
295
The following are characteristics of documents in Flash Mode:

To view documents, you must have a Flash player installed on your
computer.
In Flash Mode, you can perform basic grid/graph manipulations.
Objects such as panel stacks and selectors have a sharper, richer
display in Flash Mode, although their function is the same as in the
DHTML modes.
Not all graphs that are available in the DHTML modes are available in
Flash Mode.
When you print a document from Flash Mode, some objects may not
print due to their interactivity requirements (like Time Series Slider
macrographs).
You can export a document saved in Flash Mode to MHT format and
PDF and retain all of its Flash functionality.
With MicroStrategy Office, you can render Flash Mode documents in
standalone Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.
With MicroStrategy Distribution Services, you can subscribe to receive
documents that display in Flash Mode by e-mail.
Using MicroStrategys out-of-the-box visualizations, you can include

many different types of widgets in your documents.
The Gauge widget is a single value widget that displays a needle moving
within a range of numbers shown on the gauge.
The Heat Map widget, also called a treemap, displays a combination of

colored rectangles, each representing an attribute element.
The Microcharts widget consists of one or more microcharts, which are

compact charts integrated into a grid of data that enable analysts to
quickly identify trends. Depending on how you define the widget
template, the Microcharts widget can display a bar, a sparkline, and/or a
bullet.
You can enable certain widgets to display effectively in Interactive Mode,

while others can display only in Flash Mode.
296 Lesson Summary
Exercises: Flash Mode and Widgets

Time Series Slider Widget
Overview
In this exercise, you will create a dashboard that will ultimately display three
different types of widgets. The first type of widget you create is the Time
Series Slider. When you have completed the Time Series Slide Widget
exercise, your dashboard should be named Flash Widgets Dashboard and
Time Series Slider

297
Create a report entitled Daily Category Units which contains the Category
and Day attributes, and the Units Sold metric.
Create the Time Series widget with the Day attribute and Units Sold
metric to display on panel entitled Daily Category Units Sold.
Create 3 panels that are controlled by a Button Bar selector. Entitle the
panels Daily Category Units Sold, Panel X, and Panel Y.
The Time Series Slider widget should display on the Daily Category Units
Sold panel.
Change the document properties so that this RS Dashboard runs in Flash

Mode by default.
Create the dataset
1 In MicroStrategy Web, create a report that contains the following:
Category (from the Products folder)
Day (from the Time folder)
Units Sold (from the Metrics\Sales Metrics folder)
the Units Sold metric, you need to click 2 or, in tree view,
Toclicklocate
Next 30 items to see additional metrics in the Sales metrics
folder contents.
The report should display as follows in Design Mode:
2 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it Daily Category Units
Sold.
Create the document
3 Create a new document, using the 01 Blank Dashboard template.
298 Exercises: Flash Mode and Widgets
4 Add the Daily Category Units Sold report as a dataset to your document.
5 In the Layout area, click Add Content and select Panel Stack.
6 Using the panel stack toolbar, rename the current panel, calling it Daily
Category Units Sold.
7 Using the panel stack toolbar, add a new panel to the panel stack and
name it Panel X.
8 Add a third panel to the panel stack, naming it Panel Y.
You will rename these panels later in the next exercise.

Create a Panel Selector
9 With the panel stack selected, right-click and select Create Panel
Selector.
10 Place the panel selector immediately above the panel stack (outside of it)
and size it to take up the width of the panel stack, as shown below:
11 Using the selectors properties, hide the selector title bar and change the
DHTML Style to Button Bar.
Create a Time Series Widget
12 On the panel stack toolbar, click the arrow button to view the Daily
Category Units Sold panel.
can ensure that you are viewing the correct panel by looking at the
You
title bar.
13 On the panel stack, click Add Content, point to Widgets, point to Flash,
and select Time Series Slider.
on the panel stack toolbar, you can click the Insert
Alternatively,
button, point to Widgets, point to Flash, and select Time Series
Slider.
299
The widget displays as a grid with a special icon on the bottom right to
indicate that it is a widget, as shown below:
on your computers screen resolution, to view the entire

Depending
section in the Layout area, you might want to change the zoom
factor to 75%.
14 From the Daily Category Units Sold dataset, drag the Day attribute onto
the row axis and the Units Sold metric onto the column axis of the widget
grid. Your template should resemble the following image:

Document.
17 Under Run Modes, in the Run by default as drop-down list, select Flash.
18 Click OK.
19 Save the document in your My Reports folder and name it Flash Widgets
RS Dashboard.
20 Run the newly saved document and view it in Flash Mode.
21 Mouse over the arrow buttons (located in the upper left-hand corner of
the dashboard) to view the macrograph of the time series. Move the slider
and the slider's endpoints to change the range of data that displays on the
main graph.
22 Right-click the main graph and select Properties.
23 Observe the various formatting properties available for the Time Series
Slider widget. Change any of these properties as you like.
301
Heat Map Widget

Overview
In this exercise, you will add more content to the Flash Widgets RS
Dashboard you created in the previous exercise. You will create a Heat Map
widget that displays within its own panel. The final output of the document
will resemble the following:

Rename Panel X as Product Growth Analysis.
Create a report that contains the Month, Category, and Subcategory

attributes along with the Revenue and Percent Growth metrics with a
filter for 2012.
Use this dataset to create a Heat Map widget on this panel along with a
drop-down selector, as shown below:
The drop-down selector settings should be as follows:

Property
Setting
General
Clear the Show Title Bar check box
Action Type
Select Attribute Element
Source
Month
Show option Disabled

for All
Target
Heat Map widget grid (Grid/Graph#)
303
In the Heat Map widget, use the interactive panel to:

Pivot Subcategory above the Category attribute
Create a banded color scheme where Subcategories with less than
$15,000 in red, between $15,000 and $30,000 are blue, and above
$30,000 are green. The heat map should display as shown on the
following page:
Refresh all these settings
Create the dataset
1 Create a report that contains the following attributes on the rows:
Month (from the Time folder)
Category (from the Products folder)
Subcategory (from the Products folder)
2 Add the following metrics to the columns:
Revenue (from the Metrics\Sales Metrics folder)
Percent Growth (from the Metrics\Sales Metrics folder)
3 Include a filter for year 2012.

In Design Mode, the report should display as follows:
4 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it Subcategory

Revenue Analysis.
Edit your existing document
5 Open the Flash Widgets Dashboard you created in the previous exercise
in Design Mode.
6 Add the Subcategory Revenue Analysis report as a new dataset.
7 Using the arrows on the panel stack toolbar, switch from the Daily
Category Units Sold panel to Panel X.
8 Rename Panel X, Product Growth Analysis.
9 Insert a Heat Map widget and position the widget within the Product
Growth Analysis panel.
10 From the Subcategory Revenue Analysis dataset, drag Category and
Subcategory to the rows of the widget grid.
11 Drag Revenue and Percent Growth to the columns of the grid.
305
Your widget grid should resemble the following:
12 Resize the grid to leave room at the top of the panel for a new selector.
Create a Selector
13 Add a drop-down selector to the current panel, positioning it above the

widget grid, as shown below:
14 Use the selectors properties to define the following settings:
Property
Setting
General
Clear the Show Title Bar check box
Action Type
Select Attribute Element
Source
Month
Show option Disabled

for All
Target
Heat Map widget grid (Grid/Graph#)
automatic target maintenance is enabled for this exercise.

ByThisdefault,
means that you will not have to select a specific target and that it
will be available automatically. You will notice in this exercise that
some steps ask you to simply confirm that the automatically selected
target is the correct one.
15 Right-click the grid and select Properties and Formatting.
16 In the Properties and Formatting window, under General, clear the Show
Title Bar check box.
Save and run the document

18 Switch to Flash Mode.
19 Change the month in the selector to Mar 2012.
Notice the difference in size between the Electronics category and the
other categories. The Electronics subcategories use larger rectangles
because their revenue is greater. Also notice the difference in color
between the Audio Equipment subcategory and the Comedy subcategory
in the Electronics and Movies area. Audio Equipment is green because it
had over 40% revenue growth and Comedy is red because it had only a
little over 10% revenue growth. The colors change depending on the
percent growth metric.
20 Right-click the Heat Map and select Properties.
307
the Flash properties, you can modify certain basic settings such
Inas header,
border and background colors, metric scale boundaries,
and more.
21 On the Format tab, change the Header Color as you like and observe the
changes in your document.
Use the Heat Map Interactive Pane
22 Right-click the Heat Map and select Interactive.

23 Under Attributes, in the Grouping list, pivot the Subcategory attribute
above the Category attribute (look for the blue line for exact placement)
and observe the changes in the widget.
24 Pivot Subcategory back to its original position.
25 Under Controls, in the Size drop-down list, select Percent Growth.
26 In the Color drop-down list, select Revenue and observe the changes.
Notice how the rectangles are more similar in size now that they are sized
by the Percent Growth metric. Which subcategory in Electronics has the
lowest revenue?
27 Under Metric Filters, under Color: Revenue, move the right-most thumb
so that it rests at approximately the $45,000 mark.
Notice how the Video Equipment and Electronics - Miscellaneous
subcategories become darker, since they do not fall within this revenue
range.
28 Under Metric Filters, select the Filter check box.
This action removes the Video Equipment and Electronics -Miscellaneous
subcategories from view.
29 Under HeatMap Colors, select Band Colors.
30 Pressing the CTRL key, click inside the red band to add a new thumb.
31 Position the new thumb at approximately the $15,000 mark.
32 Position the right-most thumb at approximately the $30,000 mark.
33 Double-click the middle range and change the color from red to any blue
hue. The interactive pane should display as follows:
309
Notice how only the subcategories with the lowest revenue now display in
red. Your Heat Map should display as follows:
34 In the Interactive pane, under Controls, click Refresh.
35 On the upper-right hand corner, click Dock:
36 Save the document, overwriting the existing document.
Microcharts Widget
Overview
In this exercise, you will add a Microcharts widget to the Flash Widgets
Dashboard you created in the previous exercise. First, you learn how to
define the Microcharts widget to display a sparkline. Then, you will edit the
display properties to include a bar. Finally, you will add more metrics to the
widget template to display all three microcharts: the sparkline, the bar, and
the bullet. At the end of the exercise, your document should resemble the
following image:

Rename Panel Y Region Summary.
Add the Regional Case Summary report, located in the Shared

Services\Datasets\Customer Support Dashboard folder, as a dataset.
311
Add a microchart to the panel with the following attributes and metrics
(in the following order):
AttributesRegion, Month
MetricsOpen Cases, Open Cases (LY), Closed Cases, Max Cases
Closed, Low Cases Closed, Med Cases Closed, Target Cases Closed
Change the properties for the Sparkline visualization so all points are
enabled, associated metrics are not displayed, and the header box reads
12 Month Trend (Open Cases)
Display the bar graph with the title 12 Month Trend Min/Max
Display the bullet graph with the title % to Goal (Closed Cases)
As you study the results, answer the following questions:

Which metric represents the vertical reference line in the bullet?
Which metric represents the right-most boundary for Band1 (the
darkest band)?
middle band)?
Which metric represents the maximum possible value in the bullet?
Which metric represents the length of the performance bar (the dark
blue bar) in the bullet?
Which region exceeded its target?
Which region fell farthest below its target?
Change the bullet colors so the performance bar is dark gray
Use a custom theme for the sparkline graph so the bar colors are blue and
the reference line color is green.
Create the document
in Design Mode.
2 Add the Regional Case Summary report, located in the Shared

Services\Datasets\Customer Support Dashboard folder, as a dataset.
3 Using the arrows on the panel stack toolbar, switch from the Daily
Category Units Sold panel to Panel Y.
4 Rename Panel Y Regional Summary.
5 In the Layout area, click Add Content, select Widgets, select Flash, and
select Microcharts.
6 Add the following attributes from the dataset to the rows of the widget
template:
Region
Month
7 Add the following metrics from the dataset to the columns of the widget
template:
Open Cases
Open Cases (LY)

9 As you study the results, answer the following questions:
Which metric represents the fluctuations in the sparkline?
Which metric represents the horizontal reference line?
How are the months represented in Flash Mode?
10 In the Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties and
change the following properties for the Sparkline:
Enable the All points check box.
Clear the Associated metric check box.
In the drop-down list, select Labels. In the Header box type 12 Month
Trend (Open Cases).
11 Click OK to apply all of the formatting changes and study the results.
313
Your results should resemble the following image:
can adjust the column sizes in Flash Mode by hovering your

You
cursor to locate the sizing handles for each column.
Enable the bar microcharts display
12 After reviewing the changes to the sparkline, use the Flash formatting
properties to include the following formatting changes for the bar:
Select the Show bar graph check box.
Select the Reference line check box.
Change the bar label header to 12 Month Trend Min/Max.
Change the theme to Custom.
Change the bar colors so that the positive value is blue.
Change the reference line color to green.
13 Click OK to apply all of the formatting changes and study the results.

At this point, you have created a document that displays both a sparkline
and a bar. You could potentially leave the dashboard as is. However, if you
want to include a bullet, you need to add more metrics to the widget
template. This next portion of the exercise teaches you how to define the
bullet.
Add metrics to the widget template for the bullet
15 Back in Design Mode, add the following metrics to the right of the existing
metrics on the widget template, in this order:
Cases Closed
Max Cases Closed
Low Cases Closed
Med Cases Closed
Target Cases Closed
you add metrics to the grid, to ensure the visibility of all columns,
Asright-click
the grid and select Swap Rows and Columns. After
adding all the metrics switch the rows and columns in the grid back to
the original position.
17 As you study the results, answer the following questions:

darkest band)?

middle band)?
blue bar) in the bullet?
Which region exceeded its target?
Which region fell farthest below its target?
315
18 Edit the Flash formatting properties as follows:
Change the bullet label to % to Goal (Closed Cases).
Change the bullet colors so that the performance bar (Positive values)
is dark grey (or any color you like).
In the Microcharts window, in the bullet options, notice that the

associated metric is enabled by default. Leave this option as is.

Add another metric
20 Back in Design Mode, add the New Cases metric as the last metric in the
columns of the widget template.
21 Switch to Flash Mode. Did the New Cases metric impact the sparkline,
bar, or bullet microcharts? Why or why not?
22 Optional: Test out the various operation modes for the Microcharts
widget.
Image Layout Widget

Overview
In this exercise, you will add a Image Layout widget to the Flash Widgets
Dashboard you created in the previous exercise to show the analysis
graphically using map of United States of America. First, you learn how to
define the bubbles on the map. Then, you will edit the display properties to
show regions. Finally, you will arrange the metrics to display colors in map.
At the end of the exercise, your document should resemble the following
image:

Add a fourth panel and name it Customer State Revenue
Create a report that includes the Call Center and Customer State
attributes, as well as the Revenue and Order Count metrics. Use this
report as a dataset.
317
Add a grid with Customer State in the rows and the Revenue and Order
Count metrics in the columns. Set this grid as an Image Layout widget.
Set the display properties for the widget as bubble and the shape file as
States of the USA.
Create a threshold on the Order Count metric where values below 30%
display as red, values between 30 and 60% display as blue, and values
greater than 60% display as green.
Change the display properties for the widget to area.
Move the Order Count metric so that it is the left-most metric in the
columns of the grid.
Create the dataset
1 In MicroStrategy Web, create a report that contains the following:
Call Center (from the Geography folder)
Customer State (from the Customers folder)
Revenue (from the Metrics/Sales Metrics folder)
Order Count (from the Metrics/Count Metrics folder)
2 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it Customer State

Analysis.
Create the document
in Design Mode.
4 Add the Customer State Analysis report as a dataset to your document.
5 In the Layout area, click Add Panel.
6 Rename the panel Customer State Revenue.
Create a Image Layout Widget
7 On the panel stack, click Add Content, point to Widgets, point to Flash,
and select Image Layout.
8 From the Customer State Revenue dataset, drag the Customer State
attribute onto the row axis and the Revenue and Order Count metrics
onto the column axis of the widget grid. You template should resemble the
following image:

Widget.
11 Click the Widget Properties icon as shown below:
319
12 In the Image Layout Properties window, under General, in the Display

Mode drop-down list select Bubble.
13 Under General, in the Shape file drop-down list select States of USA as
shown below:
14 Click OK.
15 In the Properties and Formatting window, click OK.
16 Run the Document in the Flash Mode. Your dashboard will should
resemble the following image:
you hover over the bubbles you will see the details about the
IfCustomer
State, Revenue and Order Count Metric.
18 Right-click the Order Count metric and point to Thresholds and select
Visual.
19 In the Visual Threshold Editor, add thresholds at 30% and 60%.
20 Hover over the slider at 0 to 30% and select Format from the toolbar.
321
21 In the Format window, click the Color and Lines tab.

need to apply thresholds on the background color for the widget
You
to apply the threshold colors on the bubbles or areas on the map. If
you do thresholds on the font, the threshold colors will not show up on
the map.
22 Under Fill, in the color drop-down list, select Red as shown in the image
below:
23 Click OK.
24 In the Visual Threshold Editor, add Blue color fill threshold for 30% to
60% and Green color fill for 60% to 100%.
25 Close the Visual Threshold Editor.
26 Switch to Flash Mode. Your dashboard should resemble the following

image:
the Image Layout widget with the bubble display mode, the first
Inmetric
is used to size the bubbles and the second metric is used to
color with thresholds.
29 In the Properties and Formatting window, select Widget.
30 Click the Widget Properties icon.
31 In the Image Layout Properties window, under General, in the Display
Mode drop-down list select Areas.
32 Click OK.
33 In the Properties and Formatting window, click OK.
323
will see the Map with only one color. In the Image Layout widget
You
with the areas display mode, the first metric is used to color the
regions with thresholds.
36 Right-click the Order Count metric, point to Move and select Left.
37 Switch to Flash Mode. Your dashboard will resemble the following
image:
Exercise Answers
Microcharts Exercise
9) As you study the results, answer the following questions:
Which metric represents the fluctuations in the sparkline? Open

Cases
Which metric represents the horizontal reference line? Open Cases

(LY)
How are the months represented in Flash Mode? They control the
X-axis.
17) As you study the results, answer the following questions:

Target Cases Closed

darkest band)? Low Cases Closed

middle band)? Med Cases Closed

Max Closed Cases
blue bar) in the bullet? Cases Closed
Which region exceeded its target? Northeast
Which region fell farthest below its target? Mid-Atlantic
20) Switch to Flash Mode. Did the New Cases metric impact the sparkline,
bar, or bullet microcharts? Why or why not? No, because it is the eighth
metric on the widget template so it displays as a regular metric to the
right of the bullet.
Exercise Answers
325
326 Exercise Answers
7
FLASH SELECTORS AND
FORMATTING
Lesson Description
In this lesson, you will explore Flash selectors and all the formatting Flash
Mode offers.
327
Flash Selectors and Formatting
Lesson Objectives
Understand the Flash selectors and all the formatting available in Flash
Mode.
Use Flash-only selectors widgets to control the output of grid/graphs or

panel stacks. (Page 313)
Use widgets as selectors to control the output of grid/graphs or panel

stacks. (Page 316)
Use Flash-specific formatting features to enhance documents that display

in Flash Mode. (Page 324)
Flash-only Selector Widgets

Use Flash-only selectors widgets to control the output of grid/graphs or panel
stacks.
Flash-only selector widgets look like standard selectors in Editable,

Interactive, and Express Modes, but they are formatted differently in Flash
Mode and become interactive when a user hovers the cursor over them.
The Fish Eye is an interactive, Flash-only selector widget. The Fish Eye
selector addresses the challenge of scrolling through a long list of elements
and selecting items from the list. With the Fish Eye selector, you can view the
entire list of elements on the screen and scale up or down a few elements at a
time. The elements you hover over or select automatically become magnified,
while the remaining elements are minimized and displayed in the
background of the selector. The example below shows a list of states in a
traditional list box (on the left) as compared to the same list box with the Fish
Eye Flash display option enabled (on the right):
Traditional List box Selector vs. Fish Eye Selector Widget
329
Notice how the traditional list box requires a scroll bar for viewing the entire
contents of the selector. The Fish Eye selector, on the other hand, lets you
view the entire list of states and automatically enlarges a particular state as
you hover over it. When you select a state, the Fish Eye selector displays it in
a different color and with a drop shadow effect.
can see an example in the Sales by Customer State RS dashboard
You
in the Shared Reports\Dashboards and Scorecards folder.
You can create a Fish Eye as a widget or as a selector.
To create a fish eye widget:

2 Insert a new widget by doing one of the following:
On the Insert menu, point to Widget, point to Flash, and select Fish Eye.
OR
On the Insert toolbar, click the Widget button drop-down list and select
Fish Eye.
3 Switch to Flash Mode to view the Fish Eye selector.
To create a fish eye as a selector:

2 Insert a new widget by doing one of the following:
On the Insert menu, point to Selector and select Fish Eye.
OR
On the Insert toolbar, click the Selector button drop-down list and select
Fish Eye.
OR
If you already have a selector on the document, right-click the selector
and select Properties and Formatting.
330 Flash-only Selector Widgets

Layout.
4 Under Selector, in the Flash Style drop-down list, select Fish Eye.
5 Switch to Flash Mode to view the Fish Eye selector.
You can define the Fish Eye selector widget to display in any of the DHTML
document display modes (Express Mode, Interactive Mode, and Editable
Mode) with the list box style, the Button Bar style, the Link Bar style, and so
on.
The Fish Eye selector permits you to make a single selection from the list of
elements. However, you can press the CTRL key to multiselect elements.
Also, if you have the All option enabled for the selector, you can select the All
element to view all elements simultaneously in the target.
Another Flash-only selector widget is the Date Selection widget.

would like to learn more about additional widgets, please see
IftheyouMicroStrategy
Dashboards and Widgets Creation Guide product
manual.
331
Widgets as Selectors
Use widgets as selectors to control the output of grid/graphs or panel stacks.
Some of the out-of-the-box widgets can act like selectors that control other
document objects. When you configure a widget to act as a selector in a
document, users can interact with the widget and also have the widget
control the data that displays in other grid/graphs or panel stacks within the
same document. The widget itself is not a selector but the attributes, custom
groups, or consolidations within the widget template are selectors.
You can create selectors from the following widgets:
Widgets That Can Act As Selectors
Widget
Bubble Grid
Data Cloud
Fish Eye
Graph Matrix
Heat Map
Image Layout
Microcharts
Time Series Slider
Waterfall
Weighted List
As you know, each widget has its own unique display and its own method for
selecting elements. For example, in a Time Series Slider widget, you select
elements by clicking data points on the graph. When you configure the Time
Series slider widget as a selector, you can click a specific data point (for
instance, March 2012), and all of the target grid/graphs and panel stacks in
the document update to display this specific months data.
332 Widgets as Selectors
lesson explains the process for defining widgets as selectors with

This
respect to the Time Series Slider widget and the Interactive Stacked
Graph widget. For information on how to define other widgets as
selectors, refer to the MicroStrategy Dashboards and Widgets
Creation Guide product manual.
Using a Time Series Slider Widget as a Selector

When you create a Time Series Slider widget, you can work in Design Mode
or Editable Mode to define one or more objects on the widget template as
selectors. When you switch to Flash Mode, by default you use the primary
graph at the bottom of the widget as the selector to control other panel stacks
or grid/graphs on the document. For example, you can select a specific data
point on the graph and all of the data in the target panel stacks or grid/graphs
automatically update to reflect that same data point. You can also enable the
slider to operate as the selector instead of the primary graph.
In the example below, the document contains a Time Series Slider widget
that displays all the months for two years (2011-2012) in Flash Mode. The
user selects the March 2012 data point from the widgets graph, and the data
point acts as a selector to show the same month on the grid report below the
widget.
Time Series Slider Widget as Selector - March 2012
If you click the data point for July 2012, the grid report displays the profit
data related to that particular month instead, as shown below:
333
Time Series Slider Widget as Selector - July 2012
While the widget in this example targets a single grid, it could target multiple
grid/graphs, panel stacks, or selectors.
As mentioned previously, to use a widget as a selector, you must define one of
the widgets objects (in this case, the Month attribute) as the selector. You
specify the target for the selector and switch to Flash Mode to interact with it.
For the previous example, the Month attribute is configured as a selector in
the Configure Selector window, as shown below:
Configure Selector Window for Month Attribute
The procedure below lists the general process for defining a widget as a
selector.
To use a widget as a selector:
This procedure assumes:
You already created a widget that contains the report objects to use as
selectors.
The widget is one of the types that can act as a selector.
You created the panel stack or grid/graph to use as the target.
The selector and target must have an attribute in common.
1 Open the document in either Design or Editable Mode.

2 Do one of the following:
Right-click the attribute, custom group, or consolidation header (not an
element) in the widget template to use as the selector, and select Use as
Selector.
OR
Right-click the Metrics column in the widget template and select Edit
Selector.
3 In the Configure Selector window, select the target in the list of available
objects on the right, and click the > button to add it to the list of selected
targets.
need to right-click and select Edit Selector in order to display
You
the Configure Selector window.
can select multiple targets. The attribute, metric, custom
You
group, or consolidation you selected is the source, and the selected
grid/graph is the target. The Action Type of the selector is set to
Select Element.
4 (Optional) To ensure that you can select more than one element in the
widget, select the Show option for All check box.
5 (Optional) To ensure that the element displayed in the selector changes if
an element is chosen in another selector, select the Automatically
update when there is no data for the current selection check box.
335
need to disable Apply selections as a filter check box in

You
order to select the Automatically update when there is no data
for the current selection check box.
6 Click OK.
7 Switch to Flash Mode to view the results.
Using an Interactive Stacked Graph Widget as a Selector

For the Interactive Stacked Graph widget, you must choose the parts of the
widget to act as the selector. Like the other widgets, you begin this process in
the widget template by defining the objects that serve as selectors. Because
the Interactive Stacked Graph widget displays both a legend and a graph, you
choose the portion of the widget should act as a selector. If you want the
graph to be the selector, you must define additional properties within the
widgets Flash properties.
For example, the document below shows an Interactive Stacked Graph.
When you select a region from the widget legend on the left, the target grid
below the widget updates to show data related to that region.
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget as Selector - Legend
The Interactive Stacked Graph widget template contains the following

objects:
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget Template Definition
The Region attribute in the widget template is defined to act as a selector for
the grid below the widget. That is, the Region attribute uses the grid as a
target, as shown below:
Configure Selector Window for Region Attribute
If you want only the legend to behave as a selector, you do not need to
perform any additional steps beyond those described above. By default, the
widget permits the legend to act as a selector.
However, if you want the widgets graph to behave as a selector, you must
also define the Month attribute on the widget template so that it uses the grid
as its target. Then, you must switch to Flash Mode to make a modification to
the widgets Flash properties, as described in the procedure below:
337
To determine which part of an interactive stacked graph widget is enabled as

a selector:

2 Right-click the widget and select Properties.
3 In the Properties window, in the Selectable Area drop-down list, select
Graph (or Legend), as shown below:
Flash Properties for Interactive Stacked Graph
Legend is the default setting.

4 (Optional) To ensure that target grid/graphs and panel stacks are updated
when you hover over one of these objects, select the Change Selection
on Mouse Over check box.
5 Click OK.
The document below shows how you can click a data point on the graph to
control the data that displays on the grid below the widget:
Interactive Stacked Graph Widget as Selector - Graph
the data point represents the intersection of a specific month

Because
and a region, the target grid displays data for the same month and
region.
In summary, after you enable one or more objects on the widget template as a
selector, switch to Flash Mode to specify the remaining properties,
particularly if you want the graph to behave as a selector. In Flash Mode, you
can enable the following as a selector in the widget:
Attribute elements in the legend on the leftThis is the default. You can
use the attribute elements in the checklist as selectors if one or more of
the attributes on the columns of the widget template are enabled as
selectors. A user can choose only one attribute element from the list to
update the target panel stacks and grid/graphs.
Area graphsYou can use the area graphs as selectors if the attribute used
to generate the graph series is enabled as a selector.
339
Flash-Specific Formatting
Use Flash-specific formatting features to enhance documents that display in
Flash Mode.
There are certain types of formatting that you can display only in Flash Mode.
Formatting Widgets
You can format a variety of aspects of widgets, including fonts, colors, and
data markers. Each widget has its own specific set of formatting features. For
example, you can format the view that displays in a Fish Eye widget or the
color of the bubbles in an Interactive Bubble Graph widget. You access the
formatting options by right-clicking the widget and selecting Properties.
will explore some of the widget formatting properties when you
You
perform the exercises for this lesson. For more detailed information
on specific widget formatting properties, refer to the MicroStrategy
Web online help.
Many of the widgets, such as the gauge widget, can inherit formatting defined
within the widget template. Generally, you should define as many formatting
options as possible within the widget template and enable the widget to
inherit that formatting when it displays in Flash Mode. This typically
improves the time it takes to render the widget.
Transition Animations
You may notice that when objects such as grids and graphs and panel stacks
first display in Flash Mode, they fade or blur as they appear on the document.
These visual animations are transitions that you can enable in grid/graph
objects and panel stacks. For example, a graph may fade slowly onto the
screen when you select an item from a selector in the document. Transitions
can take effect when you first open a document in Flash Mode or when you
choose a new element from a selector.
340 Flash-Specific Formatting
see transition animations in action, run the Corporate Sales

ToOverview
RS dashboard located in the Shared Reports\Dashboards
and Scorecards folder. Notice how the Regional Performance line
graph slowly fades onto the screen. Also, on the City panel, when you
click a specific city, the Monthly Revenue line graph displays a
transition.
To enable a transition animation for an object in flash mode:
1 Open the document in either Design Mode or Editable Mode.

2 Right-click the object for which you want to enable a transition animation
and select Properties and Formatting.
Advanced.
4 Under Transition, in the Selected Transition drop-down list, select the
desired transition.
types of transitions that display in the drop-down list depend
The
on the object. The list of transition types for graphs is different
than the list for grids and panel stacks.
5 In the Speed drop-down list, select the desired speed.
6 Click OK.
8 Select items from a selector to see the transition take effect.
Selector-Specific Flash Formatting

The Change Selection on Mouse Over formatting feature is specific to
selectors. This option lets you determine how an item in a selector is chosen
in Flash Mode. If you enable this check box, the item is chosen when a user
clicks the item, and while hovering the cursor over the item, a preview
displays. If you clear this check box, the item is selected when a user clicks
the item, without any special preview.
341
To enable the change selection on mouse over feature:
1 Open the document in either Design Mode or Editable Mode.

Layout.
4 Under Selector, select the Change Selection on Mouse Over check box,
as shown below:
Change Selection on Mouse Over check box will not be available

The
for selection if the Apply Selections as a filter option is enabled in
Selector properties. To use this feature, in Selector properties clear the
Apply Selections as a filter check box.
5 Click OK.
7 Mouse over the selector and observe the previews.
342 Flash-Specific Formatting
Additional Flash Mode Formatting Features

Documents that display in Flash Mode can also display special gradients, text
alignments, and font anti-aliasing. You can learn more about these options in
the MicroStrategy Web online help or the MicroStrategy Dashboards and
Widgets Creation Guide product manual.
Linking from Widgets

Linking allows users to connect from a widget to another document or report.
If a link is added to an attribute in the widget's grid, the target report or
document is displayed in the tooltip associated with the attribute when the
widget is displayed.
For example, in the following widget, when the user hovers over the graph,
the links are displayed.
Linking from the Microchart Widget
The links functionality is available on the following widgets:
Data Cloud
Heat map
Microchart
more information see the Linking from Documents lesson

For
starting on page 371
343
Lesson Summary
You can create a Fish Eye as a widget or as a Flash selectors
You can use report objects on a widget template to make the widget
behave like a selector for the several types of widgets.
If you define the Time Series Slider widget to act as a selector, you can
specify either the primary graph at the bottom of the widget or the slider
to control other panel stacks or grid/graphs on the document.
If you define the Interactive Stacked Graph widget to act as a selector, you
can specify either the legend or the graph as the portion that controls
other panel stacks or grid/graphs on the document.
The following are Flash-specific formatting features:

Widget formatting
Transition animations
Change Selection on Mouse Over (for Selectors)
344 Lesson Summary
Exercise: Flash Selectors

Widgets As Selector
Overview
This exercise is designed to give you hands-on practice with using an
Interactive Stacked Graph widget as a selector to control the output of a grid
on the same document. After you complete the exercise, your document
should be named Widget as Selector Practice and should resemble the
following image:

345
Create the following reports for your dataset:

ISG Dataset
ISG Target
Create a document entitled Widget As Selector Practice and make Flash

Mode the default view mode for the document.
346 Exercise: Flash Selectors
Add the datasets to the document as shown below, with ISG Dataset
functioning as a Interactive Stacked Graph widget:
In the Interactive Stacked Graph widget, set Month and Region as

selectors for the ISG_Target grid below. Edit the Month selector so that
the option for all is available.
In the Interactive Stacked Graph widget, set the Flash property so the
graph area acts as the selector.
347
Create the dataset
1 Create a new report containing the following objects:
Remember to include the report filter for 2012.

2 Run the report and study the results.
3 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it ISG_Dataset.
Create the target grids dataset
4 Create another report defined as follows:
5 Run the report and study the results.

6 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it ISG_Target.
Create a Document and add the ISG_Dataset
7 Create a new document, using the 01 Blank Dashboard template.

8 Add the ISG_Dataset report as a dataset to your document.
9 With the Layout area selected, right-click ISG_Dataset and select Add to
section with Formatting.
10 Position the new grid within the panel in the Layout area so that it fills the
upper half of the panel.
11 In the grids properties, under Widget, in the Widget drop-down list,
point to Flash and select Interactive Stacked Graph.
12 Click OK.
13 In the grid, ensure that Region is listed above Revenue.
Enable Flash Mode as the default display mode

Document.
16 Under Run Modes, in the Run by default as drop-down list, select Flash.
349
17 Click OK.
18 Save the document, naming it Widget as Selector Practice.
19 Select Run newly saved document.
Add the ISG_Target dataset
20 Add the ISG_Target as a dataset to the document.

21 With the panel in the Layout area selected, right-click the ISG_Target
and select Add to Section with Formatting.
22 Size and position this grid below the Interactive Stacked Graph widget, as
shown below:

24 Click the Mid-Atlantic element in the legend.
Does your Mid-Atlantic selection have any impact on the grid below the
widget?
25 Click any data point on the bottom portion of the widgets graph. Does
your selection have any impact on the grid?
Define the widgets Region attribute as a Selector
27 Switch back to Design Mode.

28 In the columns of the widget template, right-click the Region attribute
and select Use as Selector.
351
30 Click the Northeast element in the legend and observe the results.
Define the widgets Month attribute as a Selector
32 Switch back to Design Mode.

33 In the rows of the widget template, right-click the Month attribute and
select Use as Selector.
34 In the rows of the widget template, right-click the Month attribute and
select Edit Selector.
35 In the Configure Selector window, select the Show option for All check
box.
36 Click OK.
39 To be able to use the graph as a selector, you must enable a Flash
property. In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties.
40 In the Interactive Stacked Graph window, under Selectors, in the
Selectable Area drop-down list, select Graph.
41 Click OK.
42 Click any data point on the bottom portion of the graph and notice how
the graph now controls the grid below the widget.
43 To display all months, click any portion of the plotted area graph that is
not a specific data point, as shown below:
353
8
DASHBOARD DESIGN
CONSIDERATIONS
Lesson Description
This lesson describes the process for designing a multipanel RS dashboard and
provides a hands-on exercise for creating this type of dashboard from scratch.
This lesson also reviews best practices for designing dashboards.
355
Dashboard Design Considerations
Lesson Objectives
Understand the process of creating a multipanel, interactive dashboard.
Create a multipanel dashboard, including choosing the appropriate

datasets, designing the layout, and building the dashboard. (Page 341)
Describe various best practices for dashboard design. (Page 344)
Designing and Creating Dashboards

Create a multipanel dashboard, including choosing the appropriate datasets,
designing the layout, and building the dashboard.
Designing any type of dashboard requires some forethought. However, a

multipanel dashboard, with its additional objects and interactivity, requires
even more planning. The following topics offer suggestions for creating a
multipanel dashboard efficiently.
Consult Your Target Audience

Typically, the most effective dashboards are the ones that target a specific
group of users. To satisfy their analysis requirements, you should perform
the following tasks:
Determine the dashboards overall purpose. This helps you know the level
of detail you should include in the dashboard. For example, will the
dashboard be used to perform a detailed analysis or will it be used to
group together various reports that users would typically view
individually?
Gather existing dashboards (in Microsoft Access, Excel, or other

applications) as examples of what users are already familiar with and are
striving to achieve with the Report Services document.
Identify common visual paradigms that you can reuse in your dashboard.
For example, if Sales Managers are accustomed to seeing sales pipelines
depicted as funnel graphs, plan to use these same graph types in your
dashboard.
Determine if the dashboard targets a larger audience, in which case you

need to consider how security filters or prompts might come into play in
the dashboards design.
In gathering requirements for the dashboard, determine if the dashboard

needs to be printable in PDF (in other words, determine the desired
output formats). Also, determine if the dashboard needs to be available
offline. If so, it needs to be convertible to Flash.
357
When polling the target audience, identify what portion of the data needs
to be represented. For example, do users need to see year-to-date
information, current quarter information, preceding 6 months data, or
some other time frame?
Gather Related Datasets

After you have a clear idea of the purpose of the dashboard, determine which
reports you need on hand to serve as datasets for the document.
Study your existing MicroStrategy reports to see if they can be used in

your dashboard.
Identify any new reports that you need to create specifically for the
dashboard.
Determine which related topics users might need to view on a single

dashboard.
Try to have at least one common attribute among the datasets.
If you have existing traditional/static dashboards, consider combining

them into a multipanel interactive dashboard.
358 Designing and Creating Dashboards
Devise the Investigative Workflow of the Dashboard

When you know which datasets you need for the dashboard, you can start
imagining the analytic workflow as well as the interactivity between the
datasets and potential selectors.
Poll your target audience to gather feedback on how users want to study
the dashboard and potentially investigate other areas or levels of detail
beyond the initial output. Polling your audience is very much an iterative
process whereby certain requirements may eventually lead to additional
requirements, and so on, and so on.
Sketch a draft of the investigative workflow in another application, such

as Microsoft PowerPoint, to identify how users should navigate through
the different layers of data and how they should interact with individual
grid/graphs. For example, would users benefit from the ability to choose a
particular element on a graph? Also, look for areas where prompts were
originally defined on reports and consider replacing these prompts with
selectors.
Beyond the layers or tabs of the dashboard, consider if users need links to
provide them access to even more detailed reports.
Build the Dashboard

Work in MicroStrategy Web to create the initial panel stacks, selectors, and
other objects that comprise the dashboard. Testing the interactivity of these
objects is easier in MicroStrategy Web than MicroStrategy Developer,
although Developer does provide HTML preview and Flash preview display
modes.
As you build the dashboard, remember to assign the document objects
meaningful names. By doing this, you can identify and select the objects more
easily as the dashboard becomes more complex.
When you need to select and modify certain objects in the document, use the
Document Structure pane. This pane provides a tree-style view of the
document contents and makes it easier to see the objects that are associated
with each layer of the document.
Consider delivering draft versions to your target audience as you continually
build the dashboard. You can make adjustments along the way and leave
most of the detailed formatting as the last step in the dashboard creation
process.
359
Best Practices in Dashboard Design

Describe various best practices for dashboard design.
The topics discussed below are based on recommendations from two top
experts on dashboard creation and visual design, Stephen Few and Wayne
Eckerson.
a complete list of bibliographic references and recommended
For
reading for dashboard design topics, see Works Cited starting on
page 399.
General Design Recommendations

Focus on the Data First
Your first priority when designing a dashboard should be to choose the right
data for your target audience and display the data in the best possible format.
Since the data is the most important aspect of a dashboard, be sure to use the
correct visual display and graphical representations to get the meaning
across to your users. As much as it can be tempting to fill a dashboard with
lots of graphics and bright colors, keep the dashboard simple. Too many
graphical elements on a dashboard can detract from the importance of the
actual data and confuse the user.
Design the Dashboard with Your Target Audience in Mind

As a general rule, the higher up your users are in the companys
organizational chart, the more they want to see data displayed visually. If you
build a dashboard for your CEO, you will likely use more graphs and charts
than if you build a dashboard for an operations manager. While the CEO
wants the birds eye view of the business, the operations manager wants to
see actual numbers. Similarly, when choosing between different graph types
360 Best Practices in Dashboard Design
for a dashboard, use graphs that are familiar to and appeal to your target
audience. For example, sales managers might already be familiar with funnel
graphs that depict sales pipelines. It is wise to include these familiar graphs
on a dashboard that is customized for their use, like the dashboard shown
below. Always keep the target audience in mind when deciding how to
represent the data on a dashboard.
Familiar Graph for Sales Managers
Keep Related Data on a Single Screen

By showing all of a dashboards data on a single screen, users can better
assimilate the information displayed to them. According to Stephen Few,
author of Information Dashboard Design: Beyond Gauges, Meters, and
Traffic Lights, you can only hold a few chunks of information (3 - 9 chunks)
at a time in your short-term memory (81). If you design a dashboard that
requires users to scroll down to view the entire display, they are likely to
forget what they saw at the top of the screen. While scrolling within a
dashboard is generally undesirable, keep in mind that it is a good idea to
provide tabs for alternate dashboard panels of information or links to actual
reports. Layering dashboards or linking to source reports is a good way to
guide your users along a workflow where they can dig deeper to find the
source of alerts and exception metrics.
361
Pay Attention to Object Placement

According to the visual design experts, objects in the top left of your
dashboard or the center of a dashboard receive the most attention while
those at the bottom right receive the least. Keeping this in mind, make sure to
place the most important data on the upper left of the dashboard and move
corporate logos, navigation buttons, and other non-data objects to less
prominent locations. Since object placement is largely influenced by how a
person reads (left to right and top to bottom), global companies need to
consider their audience carefully. Also, keep in mind that larger graphical
items might attract the users attention no matter where they are placed
within the dashboard.
The image below shows a generic example of object placement in a
dashboard:
Object Placement Example
When Possible, Limit the Number of Metrics

While a strategic performance dashboard might need to include 20 or more
metrics, whenever possible, display between three to seven metrics
(particularly for departmental users who need to study only a subset of
metrics at a time). According to Wayne Eckerson, author of Performance
Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business, three
to seven metrics have the most visual impact (226).
Focus on Important Indicators like Trends, Variances, and

Performance States
Your dashboard should focus on the KPIs that matter most to your target
audience. Typically, these KPIs will be quantitative measures, trends over
time, variances or comparisons, and performance states. Depending on your
target users, the dashboards might even include some non-quantitative
information, such as top 10 lists of customers or project goals. When
displaying performance states, such as whether profits are up, down, or
unchanged, consider using arrows or plus/minus signs.
When emphasizing the difference between metrics, spare your users from
having to do the math between two figures to calculate the variance. As an
example, the dashboard below shows Revenue versus Forecast. Rather than
making your users interpret the variance between the two metrics in the
Financial Highlights section and on the Revenue Quarterly Trends graph, you
should display the variance directly on the dashboard (Few, 57):
Variance Example
363
Group Like Items or Comparison Items Together

By placing like items in close proximity to one another, users can focus their
attention on identifying trends or connections between the data, rather than
having to scan the screen from one set of data to the other. The same concept
applies to data elements that you want users to compare against one another.
Use White Space or Thin Grey Lines to Separate Groups of

Data
You can effectively delineate separate groups of data by making sure that
there is sufficient white space between the groups. If your dashboard is so
densely populated with data that you cannot use white space alone to
separate the groups, use thin gray lines instead. Alternatively, you can use a
common background color to group like data. The document shown below
uses white space, thin lines, and a background color to group like items:
White Space, Thin Lines, and Background Colors
Keep Simple Navigation in Mind

If you plan to use multiple panels or layers on your dashboard, or if you need
to include links to more detailed reports, be sure to place the navigation
buttons and links in consistent locations. Use the same area from one
dashboard panel to the next for displaying navigation elements.
Limit the Number of Fonts in a Dashboard

Be consistent with your use of fonts in a dashboard and avoid including too
many different fonts. If necessary, only use a different font for headings.
According to Stephen Few, the most easy to read fonts are:
Arial, Tahoma, and Verdana (Sans Serif fonts)
Courier, Palatino, and Times New Roman (Serif fonts)
The image below shows text in each of these fonts:

Recommended Fonts
Design Recommendations for Color in Dashboards

The general consensus among visual design experts is to use color carefully
and sparingly in dashboards. Consider the following guidelines:
Consider the Corporate Color Scheme

If your dashboard needs to represent the company or even a specific
department in the company, consider using colors that match the corporate
color scheme.
365
Use Color Intensities Versus Color Hues

Color intensities are essentially the same color, only brighter or lighter. Color
hues are actual colors. When possible, use different intensities of the same
color to represent different data elements rather than using different colors
altogether.
Use Earth-Toned Colors

Using too many bright colors can make a dashboard look unprofessional.
Earth-toned colors (like grays, browns, oranges, blues, and greens) are
pleasing to the eye, can effectively emphasize important data elements, and
complement one another on a single screen.
Use the Same Color for a Single Measure that Displays in

Multiple Places on the Dashboard
Imagine a dashboard that shows revenue across three different graphs. By
using a consistent color to represent revenue, you can help users quickly
identify data that is the same, even if it appears in multiple locations on the
dashboard.
Use Contrasting Colors to Enable Quick Comparisons

If users need to compare two measurements (such as actual versus forecasted
values), using contrasting colors makes the comparison easier. For example,
actual forecast numbers in orange contrast with forecast revenue numbers in
blue.
Use Colors to Show Different Levels of Alerts

Most dashboard users can recognize that some alerts are more severe than
others. For example, a red alert indicates a metric that falls severely below
expectations, while an orange alert represents an under performing metric,
and a yellow alert signals a metric that might soon fall below expectations.
Consider the Dashboard in Hard Copy

If you plan to make the dashboard available in hard copy, how will the colors
display in print? Will most users print on a black and white printer or a color
printer? The answers to these questions can drive the color choices you make
for your dashboard.
Consider Downloading a Color Finder Tool

A color finder tool can help you identify the exact RGB (Red-Green-Blue)
code for a given color. After you know the code, you can enter it into the
MicroStrategy Advanced Color Picker to specify a custom color. The
Advanced Color Picker (shown below) is available when you format the fill
color for graphs, text boxes, document sections, and more:
Advanced Color Picker
367
Use Sharp Contrasts Between Font and Background Fill

Colors
Darker fonts should have lighter background colors and vice versa.
Otherwise, the colors blend together and users have a hard time
distinguishing text. The image below shows good and bad examples of font
and background color combinations:
Sample Color Combinations
Consider Color-Blind Users

Ten percent of males and one percent of females are color blind (Few, 75). A
multicolored dashboard loses its effectiveness on color-blind recipients.
Imagine a dashboard that displays symbols in red when metrics are below
expectations and green when they are above expectations. Color-blind users
would have a difficult time distinguishing between green and red, thus
potentially misinterpreting the data. However, color-blind users should have
no problem differentiating between different intensities of the same color, so
this is yet another reason for using color intensities over many different color
hues. Furthermore, to avoid any color confusion, you could use symbols (like
arrows) to specify good or poor performance for a given set of metrics.
Lesson Summary
The process of creating a multipanel dashboard involves the following

steps:
Consulting your target audience
Gathering related datasets
Devising the investigative workflow
Building the dashboard
The following best practices are recommended for general dashboard

design:
Focus on the data first
Design the dashboard with your target audience in mind
Keep the data on a single screen
Pay attention to object placement
Limit the number of metrics
Focus on important indicators like trends, variances, or performance
states
Group like items or comparison items together
Use white space or thin gray lines to separate groups of data
Keep simple navigation in mind
Limit the number of fonts in a dashboard
Lesson Summary
369
The following best practices are recommended for the use of color in
dashboards:
Consider the corporate color scheme
Use color intensities versus color hues
Use earth-toned, natural colors
Use the same color for a single measure that might appear in multiple
places on a dashboard
Use contrasting colors to enable quick comparisons
Use colors to show different levels of alerts
Consider the dashboard in hard copy
Consider downloading a color finder tool
Use sharp contrasts between font and background fill colors
Keep your color-blind users in mind when you choose colors for your
dashboards
370 Lesson Summary
9
LINKING FROM DOCUMENTS
Lesson Description
In this lesson, you will learn how to use links to enable users to navigate from a
document or RS dashboard to other reports, documents, or websites. With
links, you can suggest investigative workflows to the users who analyze your
documents.
371
Linking from Documents
Lesson Objectives
Use links to enable navigation to websites and additional documents and
reports, passing prompt answers if desired.
Use different types of links to navigate to websites, static documents and

reports, or prompted documents and reports. (Page 357)
Document Linking
Use different types of links to navigate to websites, static documents and
reports, or prompted documents and reports.
A link is a connection in a document to another document, report, or web page.

A link enables you to navigate from a source document to a target document or
report and to pass parameters for any prompts in the target document or
report.
You can link from a text box, an image, or an object on a grid/graph within a
document. While you can create links in both MicroStrategy Developer and
MicroStrategy Web, they are functional only in MicroStrategy Web, for all view
modes except Design Mode.
Linking a Document to a Web Page

To create a link in a document to point to a web page, you associate the link
with a text box or an image. In the document shown below, the documents title
text box leads users to the MicroStrategy corporate website:
Link on a Text Box to a Website
Document Linking
373
title text box also contains a tooltip describing the destination for
The
the hyperlink. You define the tooltip within the text boxs properties,
independent of the hyperlink.
To link a document to a web page using the Links Editor:
1 Open a document in Design or Editable Mode.

2 Insert a text box (or an image) in the document.
3 In the text box, enter text, such as the documents title or Click here to go
to X website.
4 Right-click the text box and select Edit Links.
The Links Editor opens, as shown below:
5 In the Links Editor, in the Url display text box, type the name that you
want displayed if the user right-clicks the text box and points to Links.
can right-click the text box and point to Links in Interactive or
Users
Editable Mode. Naming the hyperlink is recommended, particularly
if you define multiple links on one text box.
374 Document Linking
6 Click Navigate to this URL.

7 Type the URL for the target website in the corresponding box.
8 If you want the hyperlink to open in a new browser window, in the Links
Editor, select the Open in new window check box.
you do not select the Open in new window option, the hyperlink
Ifopens
the target website within the same browser window as the
current document, replacing the current document.
9 Click OK.
When you create a link using the Links Editor, it functions in all MicroStrategy
Web document display modes, except for Design Mode. However, the link does
not function for MicroStrategy Developer users who export the document to
PDF. To accommodate Developer users, you should consider creating a
hyperlink.
Linking to a Specific Report or Document

Just as you can link a document to a website, you can link a document to
another MicroStrategy report or document. The target report or document can
contain similar information as the source, or completely unrelated
information. For example, in the Category Sales and Profitability document
shown below, you can click a link to execute an unrelated document called
Corporate Sales Overview:
Source Document with Category Sales Information
Document Linking
375
Target Document with Corporate Sales Information
To link a document to another report or document:
1 Open the source document in Design or Editable Mode.

2 Insert a text box to serve as the link.
3 Right-click the text box and select Edit Links.
4 In the Links Editor, in the Url display text box, type a name for the link, if
desired.
5 Under When this link is clicked, click Run this report or document and
locate the desired target report or document.
6 Select the Open in new window check box if you want the target report or
document to display in a new browser window.
7 Click OK.
Linking from a Dynamic Text Box to Simulate Drilling

You can use a link to simulate drilling, where you start at one level of analysis
(the source document) and drill to another level of analysis (the target report
or document). For example, the source document below contains regional sales
information. You can click a specific region to execute another document that
displays sales for the call centers (stores) in that region, as shown below:
Source Document at the Region Level
Target Document at the Call Center Level
To simulate drilling between a source document and a target report or

document, the target must be prompted. When you click a specific attribute
element, such as the Northeast region, from the source document, you pass the
attribute element as the prompt answer to the prompted target report or
document. Therefore, the target report or document must contain an element
prompt for the same attribute for which you are passing the element answer
from the source document. In the example, the target document contains a
prompted dataset that requires a prompt answer for the Region attribute.
To link from a text box to simulate drilling:
1 Open the source document in Design or Editable Mode.

Document Linking
377
2 Right-click the dynamic text box, such as {Region}, from which you want to
drill and select Edit Links.
3 In the Links Editor, in the Url display text box, type a name for the link, if
desired.
4 Under When this link is clicked, click Run this report or document and
locate the desired target report or document.
target report or document must have a prompt for the same
The
attribute for which you are passing an element answer.
The targets prompts display in the box, as shown below:
In the bottom drop-down list, select one of the following prompt answer
methods:
Prompt Behavior in Document Links
Prompt
Answer
Method
Requirements
Prompts in the Target are Answered

by...
Answer with
the same
prompt from
the source
Same prompt in
the target and
source
The source document.
Prompt
User
None
The user (prompts are displayed when

the target is executed)
Answer with
an empty
answer
Target prompt
must not be
required
Nothing (no prompt answer is provided

from the target to the source and the
user is not prompted)
Answer
dynamically
Attribute
element prompt
in target
The object selected in the source (for

example, the attribute element that the
user clicks)
Use default
answer
None
The default prompt answer for the

target prompt
5 Select the Open in new window check box if you want the target report or
document to display in a new browser window.
6 Click OK.
the drilling example described in this section, the chosen prompt
Inanswer
method is Answer dynamically.
Similar to the dynamic text box example, you can define links on a specific
object within a grid/graph on a document. When you select a particular
attribute element, the selection gets passed as a prompt answer to the target
document or report that contains a prompt for the same attribute.
Document Linking
379
In the example shown below, the user clicks the Northeast customer region on
the grid, which executes a target report that shows the number of customers in
the Northeast region:
Source Document with Customer Region Information
Linking from a Prompted Document to a Prompted Target

You can define a link to pass a source documents prompt answers to a
prompted target report or document. To accomplish this, you choose the
Answer with the same prompt from the source option in the Links Editor.
Also, the source and the target must use the same prompt object.
For example, the Revenue vs. Forecast document shown below requires
prompt answers at run time for the region, category, and quarter. If you select
three eastern regions, the Electronics category, and four quarters in 2012, the
document displays the following results:
Prompted Source Document Results
Document Linking
381
When you define a link on the Region attribute within the documents grid, you
can navigate to the Sales by Region prompted report that contains prompts for
region and category. In the image shown below, the user right-clicks the
Region grid header, points to Links, and selects Sales by Region.
Link from a Prompted Document to a Prompted Report
When you click the link, your original prompt answers get passed to the target
report as follows:
Prompted Target Report
When creating the link for this example, you must select a prompt behavior for
each prompt in the target report, as shown on the following page:
Document Linking
383
Prompts in the Link Editor
Both the Region selection and Category selection prompts use the Answer
with the same prompt from the source option.
There are additional ways that you can define links, depending on the usage
scenario and the contents of the target report or document. To learn more
about them, refer to the Report Services Document Creation Guide product
manual.
Linking from a Document to Multiple Targets

With so many linking possibilities, you can even define links from one object (a
text box or a grid/graph) to multiple targets. For example, the grid in the
document below contains links to multiple prompted reports. Users right-click
any customer region element, point to Links, and choose their target report:
Source Document with Link to Multiple Target Reports
can right-click the linked object to view the list of links in

Users
Interactive and Editable Mode, but not Flash Mode.
To define multiple links:
1 In the Links Editor, click New and define the link.
To set a default link:
1 In the Links Editor, under Select the link you wish to edit box, select the
link that you want to set as the default.
2 Click Set as Default:
Document Linking
385
default link is the link that takes effect when users click directly
The
on the linked object. The default link works in all modes, except
Design Mode.
You can also clear the default link for an object. If no links are defined as the
default link for a particular object, the object is not underlined when viewed in
MicroStrategy Web, but the links still function. To do this, in the Link Editor,
select the default link and click Clear Default:
Linking with a Button Object

A Button object enables you to create customized buttons. This button object
can be configured to execute documents, execute reports, or link to external
URLs. The button object can also pass prompt answers for documents or
reports.
There are six different templates for the button object. Five of these templates
contain a combination of a caption and an icon. You can use images for icons,
and the images sources can also be external link. You can also setup images for
the icon for normal and highlighted states. The last template is a custom
template available for a fully customized feel. This custom template is
recommended only for designers with a button type image.
Button Object Templates
To configure a button object to link to external URL or report or document:
1 On the Insert menu, point to Buttons, and select Icon on top of caption.
2 Use the cross-hairs cursor to place the button.
You can resize the button by clicking and dragging its handles.
3 In the text field of the button object, type the text you want to display.
4 Double-click the image icon.
Document Linking
387
5 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Button, in the Image

section, paste the desired URL links into the two state source fields.
6 Click Apply.
7 In the Properties and Formatting window, under Button, in the Actions
section, click Configure actions on this button.
8 In the Links window, in the URL display text box, type the text you want to
display.
9 In the Navigate to this URL box, type the URL for the web page to which
you are linking.
10 Select the Open in new window check box if you want to enable users to
view this web page in a new window.
To create a link to a report or document
11 In the Links window, click Run this report or document.

12 In the URL display text box, type the text you want to display.
13 Click Run this report or document and click Select Target to choose
report.
14 Click OK.
Lesson Summary
Links in RS dashboards and documents make it possible to navigate to

other reports, documents, and websites.
You can define links to websites on text boxes or images.
You can define links to other reports or documents on text boxes, images,
and grid objects within documents.
You can simulate drilling on documents by passing selected elements to

prompted reports or documents.
You can pass prompt answers from a prompted source document to a

prompted report or document.
You can define links to open the target in the same window as the source
document or in a new browser window.
You can define more than one link on an object.
Lesson Summary
389
390 Lesson Summary
Exercises: Linking from Documents

Links to Prompted Targets and a Website
Overview
In this exercise, you will create different types of links on a predefined
document called Supply Chain Management Report. You will use the links to
navigate to a prompted document, a prompted report, and a website. When
you complete the exercise, your document should resemble the following
image:
The links are circled in the image above.

391

Use the Supply Chain Management Report, located in the Shared

Reports\Enterprise Reporting Documents folder.
The Supply Chain Management Report static text box contains a link that
points to the MicroStrategy corporate Web site, which is
www.microstrategy.com.
The Central Region dynamic text box contains a link that passes the region
element to the prompted Store Performance Management Dashboard (For
a Specific Region), which is located in the Shared Reports\Enterprise
Reporting Documents folder.
The Category attribute in the Category Performance grid contains a link

that passes the category element to the prompted Units Sold and Profit by
Supplier, Select a Category report, which is located in the Shared
Reports\Subject Areas\Supplier Analysis folder.
All of the links described above open in a new window.
Save the document so that it displays in Interactive Mode by default.
Run the predefined document
1 In the Shared Reports\Enterprise Reporting Documents folder, run the

Supply Chain Management Report.
Add a link from a static text box to the MicroStrategy corporate website
3 In the Region Header, right-click the Supply Chain Management Report

text box and select Edit Links.
4 In the Links Editor, in the Url display text box, type MicroStrategy.
5 With Navigate to this URL selected, type http://www.microstrategy.com.
6 Select the Open in new window check box.
7 Click OK.
The title text box should be underlined.

392 Exercises: Linking from Documents
Add a link from a dynamic text box to a prompted document
8 In the Region Header, right-click the {Region} Region dynamic text box
and select Edit Links.
9 In the Links Editor, in the Url display text box, type Store Performance
Management Dashboard.
10 Under When this link is clicked, click Run this report or document.
11 Under Run this report or document, click Select Target.
12 In the Shared Reports\Enterprise Reporting Documents folder, select the
Store Performance Management Dashboard (For a specific Region)
document and click OK.
13 In the Links Editor, with the Choose from all elements of Region option
selected, in the prompt behavior drop-down list, select Answer
dynamically.
15 Click OK.
Save and run the document
16 Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Supply Chain

Management Report with Links.
17 Run the newly saved document.
18 In Express Mode, click the Supply Chain Management Report link.
If you receive a security warning message, click Yes.

19 In the new browser window, view the MicroStrategy corporate website and
close the window.
20 Back in the document, click the Central Region link.
might have to press the CTRL key and click the link to disable
You
any pop-up blockers on your computer.
21 In the new browser window that displays the Store Performance
Management Dashboard, select the Call Center page-by to confirm that
only the Central call centers, Milwaukee and Fargo, display in the
drop-down list.
393
22 Close the window.

23 Back in the Supply Chain Management document, switch to Design Mode.
Add a link from a grid to a prompted report
24 Scroll down to the grid that displays under the Category Performance title
text box.
25 Select the grid, right-click the Category column header and select Edit
Links.
26 In the Links Editor, in the Url display text box, type Units Sold and Profit
by Supplier.
28 In the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Supplier Analysis folder, select the
Units Sold and Profit by Supplier, Select a Category report.
29 Click OK.
30 In the Links Editor, with Category selection selected, in the prompt
behavior drop-down list, select Answer dynamically.
32 Click OK.
33 In the document, on the Home menu, select Page Setup.
34 In the Properties window, under Document Properties, select Document.
35 Under Run Modes, under Available Display Modes, select the Interactive
option.
36 In the Run by default as drop-down list, select Interactive.
37 Click OK.
39 On the Category Performance grid, click the Movies column header.
40 In the new browser window, study the Units Sold and Profit by Supplier,
Select a Category report and close the window.
Report Details show that the Movies category does indeed filter the
The
report results.
41 Save the document again, overwriting the previous version.
Link from a Prompted Source to a Prompted Target

Overview
In this exercise, you will create a document from a prompted report. You will
then create a link that passes the source documents prompt answers to a
prompted target report.
When you complete the exercise, and you run the document selecting the
Central and South regions at run time, your document should resemble the
following image:
395
After you click one of the region element links (such as Central shown above)
and pass the source documents prompt answers, the target report should
resemble the following image:

Create a document from the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Sales and

Profitability Analysis\Revenue vs. Last Year by Region and Quarter report.
To make the report look more like a document, add a Revenue vs. Last
Years Revenue title text box in the Document Header.
In the grid on the document, create a link on the Region attribute that
points to the Item and Order Tracking report, which is located in the
Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Inventory and Supply Chain Analysis folder.
Define the link so that the region prompt answers you select in the source
document are passed to the prompted Item and Order Tracking report.
The quarter prompt in the target report should use the default answers.
Save the source document so that it displays in Interactive Mode by default.
Create a document from an existing prompted report
1 In the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Sales and Profitability Analysis

folder, right-click the Revenue vs. Last Year by Region and Quarter
report and select Create Document.
2 For the Region prompt, select all regions and click Edit in Design Mode.
3 In Design Mode, insert a title text box in the Document Header entitled
Revenue vs. Last Years Revenue and format it as you like.
Create a link from a grid to a prompted report
4 In the Detail Header, select the grid.

5 Right-click the Region attribute and select Edit Links.
6 In the Links Editor, in the Url display text box, type Item and Order
Tracking.
8 In the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Inventory and Supply Chain Analysis
folder, select the Item and Order Tracking report and click OK.
9 Under When this link is clicked, with region selection selected, in the
prompt behavior drop-down list, select Answer with the same prompt
from the source.
10 Under When this link is clicked, select Elements of Quarter.
11 In the prompt behavior drop-down list, select Use Default Answer.
13 Click OK.
Save the document and run it
14 Save the document to the My Reports folder, naming it Revenue vs. Last
Year with Links.
397
15 In the Save window, under the Advanced options, make sure that the
Display prompt and use the current answers as the default answers
option is selected.
16 Click OK.
17 Run the newly saved document, selecting the Central and South regions at
run time.
18 On the document grid, click the Central link.
you could right-click the Region header, point to
Alternatively,
Links, and select Item and Order Tracking.
19 In the new browser window, study the Item and Order Tracking report.
Report Details show that even though you selected the Central
The
link, all of the prompt answers from the source document get passed
to the prompted target report. Also, the quarter prompt does not
display at run time because the default prompt answer is used to
resolve the quarter prompt.
A
WORKS CITED
399
Works Cited
Works Cited
The following books were referenced for creating this course and are
recommended for further study:
Few, Stephen. Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual
Communication of Data. Sebastopol, CA: OReilly Media, 2006.
Eckerson, Wayne W. Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and
Managing Your Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006.
Zelazny, Gene. Say It With Charts: The Executives Guide to Visual
Communication. 3rd ed. USA: McGraw-Hill, 1996
400 Works Cited
INDEX
Numerics
3-D effect 179
A
Adobe FlexBuilder 248
analytic panel layers 123, 183
analytic-based selector 218, 239
Attribute form 145
Attributes 145
Auto text 81
concatenating 83
automatically apply selector changes
option 212
automatically maintain selector targets
disable 215
automatically maintaining targets for selectors option 213
B
Behavior of objects in Headers &
Footers 70
best practices for dashboard design 360
color recommendations 365
general design recommendations 360
use of color 365
C
Change Selection on Mouse Over
option 341
color in dashboards 365
Concatenating auto text and text 83
Concatenating text and dynamic text 146
Conditional Formatting 84
Conditional formatting 152
Consolidations 145
Creating document from report 71
current panel 112
curved lines 168
custom group 272
Custom Groups 145
Custom headers and footers 60
Custom Sections
Grouping 66
D
dashboard
best practices 360
characteristics 31
Index
definition 31
dashboard templates 103
data tooltips 169
Datasets
shortcut to 134
Derived elements 162
Derived metrics 136, 158
designing and creating dashboards 357
build the dashboard 359
consult your target audience 357
devise the investigative workflow 359
gather related datasets 358
Detail Footer 60
Detail section 63
DHTML benefits 247
Display modes
available display modes 48
available export formats 49
display modes
Design 40, 47, 60
Editable 40, 47
Express 41, 43
Flash 41, 42
Full Screen 44
Interactive 41, 42
distribution services 254
document
Flash Mode characteristics 249
Document Header 60
Document objects
attributes 145
auto text 81
consolidations 145
custom groups 145
grid/graphs 133
HTML container 150
images 147
lines and rectangles 148
metrics 145
text 146
document template 104
documents
definition 21
Drilling on grid/graphs 154
drop shadow 177
E
Email subscription 51
e-mailing flash documents 254
enable Flash mode option for MicroStrategy Web 249
exercise 227, 231
multliple layout documents 78
Export to PDF 252
exporting documents in Flash Mode 253
Express mode 41, 43
F
File subscription 51
Flash Mode 41, 42
benefits 248
characteristics 249
export to PDF or MHT 252
graph types 251
manipulations 250
selector-specific formatting 341
transition animations 340
Flash player 249
formatting panel stack 118
Full Screen Mode 44
web browser 46
G
gauge widget 260
gradients 176
graph
formatting 165
3D borders 179
curved lines 168
drop shadow 177
gradients 176
portal window 173
quick switch 172
tooltips 169
transparency effect 166
graph types for Flash Mode 251
grid data source 140
grid/graph as selector 218
Grid/graphs 133
drilling 154
report modification impact on 136
Grouping
Detail section 63
grouping 224
Grouping and sorting dataset 68
Grouping properties 68
Keep group together 69
Page break between groups 69
Page-by mode 69
Restart page numbering 69
totals 69
H
Headers & Footers
Behavior of objects 70
heat map 266
interaction 268
Hide "Metrics" column in grid 152
Hiding sections 62
History List 50
Index
HTML container 150

Hyperlinks
open in new window property 375
I
Images 147
information window 221
inserting panel stacks 114
interactive bubble graph 270
drilling custom group method 272
Interactive Mode
widgets 293
Interactive mode 41, 42
interactive stacked graph 264
interactive stacked graph widget 336
Flash properties 338
Invoices 30
J
join behavior 142
K
Keep group together property 69
key performance indicator (KPI) 32
KPI list mode
microcharts widget 286
L
Layout area
Hiding sections 62
Layout area sections
Custom headers and footers 60
Detail 63
Detail Footer 60
Document Header 60
Layouts 75
3
Index
Lines & Rectangles 148

Linking
prompted document to prompted
target 380
set a default link 385
to a website 373
to another report or document 375
to multiple targets 385
to simulate drilling 377
multiple dataset reports 137

Multiple layout documents 75
export to Excel 78
Page break between groups 69

Page-By mode 69
panel 106
characteristics 111
current panel 112
panel stack 106
as an information window 221
auto-selector 120
characteristics 111
formatting 118
inserting 114
inserting more panels 117
locking 120
title bar 112, 115
toolbar 116
portal window 172, 173, 175
Print subscription 51
Managed Metrics Report 30

Map Visualization
image layout type 289
Metrics 145
MHT file 252
MHT format 253
Microchart widget 273
bar chart 275
bullet chart 275
display all microcharts 280
formatting 280
sparklines 275, 276, 278
microchart widget
bar chart 276
Microcharts widget
data requirements 275
display types 275
ticker mode 283
vertical scroll mode 282
microcharts widget
KPI list mode 286
operation modes 281
MicroStrategy OLAP Services 136
derived elements 162
derived metrics 136, 158
summary metrics 160
view filters 137, 161
4
O
Operational Reports 28
orientation for selectors 206
Q
quick switch 172
R
Report Services
definition 21
Restart page numbering property 69
S
Scorecards 39
selector 112, 189, 218, 227, 231
action type 190
analytic-based 218, 239
Automatically apply selector changes
option 212
automatically maintain selector targets
disable 215
automatically maintaining targets
option 213
defaults 210
formatting 216
make all items the same width
option 216
selection color for stand-alone
selector 217
grouping 224
inserting 208
metric condition selector 198
orientation 206
selecting attribute elements in a dynamic text field 202
selecting attribute elements in a
grid/graph 194
selecting metrics 197
selector targeting another selector 204
selectors as filters 216
show totals 211
source 190
style 190
DHTML styles 206
metric condition styles 208
switching panels in a panel stack 191
target 190
target selection mode 220
title bar 210
selectors as filters 216
selector-specific Flash formatting 341
Index
sending flash documents 254

Shortcut to dataset 134
Subscriptions
Email, file, and print 51
History List 50
Summary metrics 160
T
target selection mode 220
Text 146
concatenating 146
ticker mode
Microcharts widget 283
time series slider 262
time series slider widget 333
title bar 112, 115
Tooltips 152
tooltips 169
Totals in grouping objects 69
transition animations 340
transparency effect 166
V
vertical scroll mode
Microcharts widget 282
Vertical text 151
View filters 137, 161
Visualizations
image layout 289
W
widget
gauge 260
widgets 248, 256
additional flash mode formatting 343
available in MicroStrategy Web 258
Index
bubble grid 258

cylinder 258
data cloud 258
date selection 258
defined from grid/graphs 257
fish eye selector 258
formatting 340
funnel 259
gauge 259
graph matrix 259
heat map 259, 266
in Interactive Mode 293
inserting 256
interactive bubble graph 259, 270
interactive stacked graph 259, 264,
336
linking 343
media 259
microchart 259, 273
bar chart 275, 276
bullet chart 275
display all microcharts 280
formatting 280
sparklines 275, 276, 278
microcharts, operation modes 281
rendering in PDF or Excel 292
thermometer 259
time series slider 260, 262, 333
waterfall 260
widgets as selectors 332

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MICROSTRATEGY REPORT SERVICES: DOCUMENTS AND DASHBOARDS

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MicroStrategy, MicroStrategy 6, MicroStrategy 7, MicroStrategy 7i, MicroStrategy 7i Evaluation Edition,

Lesson Description ................................................................... 19

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

Interacting with an RS Dashboard ............................................... 33

Lesson Description ................................................................... 57

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

Lesson Description ................................................................. 101

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

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6. Flash Mode and

Lesson Description ................................................................. 245

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

Image Layout ....................................................................... 289

7. Flash Selectors and

Lesson Description ................................................................. 327

Lesson Description ................................................................. 355

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

Lesson Description ................................................................. 371

Works Cited ............................................................................... 400

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

Who Should Take this Course

MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts

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MicroStrategy Developer: Reporting Essentials

MicroStrategy Mobile for App Developers

Certified Dashboard and Mobile Designer Exam

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

Understand the benefits of MicroStrategy Report Services, explain what a

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Understand the process of creating a multipanel, interactive dashboard.

Use links to enable navigation to websites and additional documents and

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

About the Course Materials

CourseYou will achieve these overall objectives by successfully

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Main TopicYou will achieve this secondary objective by successfully

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

Opportunities for Practice

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MicroStrategy Report Services: Documents and Dashboards

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