Column attributes

Each column in the column set has its set of attributes displayed in the lines of the Column sets (CS206020) window. The column attributes specify how the data is selected, calculated, formatted, and displayed in the columns of printed analytical reports. By changing the column attributes, you can define the data selection, processing, and formatting rules for a specific column in the analytical report. To define what data should be included in the report and set up the formatting for the columns, you can set the values of the column attributes covered in the sections in this topic.

The system assigns a letter code to every column that you add to the column set. The added columns are named as they are named in the Excel file, and the letter assigned to the column cannot be changed later. In the Description field, you can add a descriptive definition of the column contents. The data from the Description field is not automatically printed in the analytical report. To include the column description in the report, you should create a header for this column.

By defining the Type attribute for a column in the column set, you specify what data will be displayed in the particular report column, and how the data in this column will be processed. You can select one of the following column types:

Type Description
General ledger A column type you select when the data to be displayed in the column does not include the values calculated on the column level. This column type can be selected when no formulas are used to calculate the values in the column. If some cells from the rows to be displayed in the report use formulas to calculate the values to be inserted in the row, these formulas will be applied to calculate the values in this column.
Calc A column type you select when a formula is used to calculate the values to be inserted in this cell (for example, when a column cell summarises the values from the other columns).
Descr A column type you select if a test description must be displayed in this column of the printed report.

By specifying the Value attribute, you define a certain value to be displayed in the report column. The values in the columns can be predefined parameters or computed values calculated by using formulas. Values are frequently used to insert the sums and totals into the report columns.

The formulas used to calculate the data in the report columns usually include the references to other columns or particular cells in the report. The expressions defined for the report columns can also use the parameter queries to select the values from the data source and insert them in the column cells.

Note: When you use the Value attribute to display the predefined or calculated values in the column, you must confirm that the appropriate Type attribute is selected for this column; otherwise, the formula and value calculation rules will be ignored.

For more information about the formulas, see About formulas.

By specifying the Rounding attribute, you set up the level of rounding that will be used in each particular column of your report to round the values. You can select one of the following types of rounding for a column: No rounding, Whole dollars, Thousands, Whole thousands, Millions, Whole millions, Billions, and Whole billions. For a detailed description of each type, see Column sets (CS206020)

You use the Format attribute to specify the format functions for the column cells and row cells. For the rules of cell formatting, see Cell formatting

Multiple column attributes are used to define page formatting and to control printing, as shown in the following table. These attributes include options you can use to set the column printing options and block the printing of empty columns.

Column type Description
Width The column width in the printed report (in pixels).
Auto height An attribute that automatically adjusts (if selected) the height of the selected cell in a column. You can select this check box to move a long string of text to the next line inside the cell.
Extra space The indentation for the entire column.
Suppress empty An attribute that is used when the empty columns must not be printed in the report.
Suppress line An attribute that is used to control the underline printing in the column. This parameter switches printing the underlines in the report if some rows in the report have the Underline type; the underlines will not be printed in the column when the Suppress line option is selected for it.
Page break An attribute that you use to split the printed report into the pages and insert a page break in the printed report after the current column. If this option is selected, the next columns in the column set will be printed on the next page.

You use the Printing group attribute to define the group of rows where the values from the current column will be printed. Every printing group can include one row or multiple rows, and can be assigned to a single column set or multiple sets. When a column group attribute is set for the current row, the same column group should be assigned to the Printing group attribute for the column set that will be included in this analytical report.

You use the Unit group attribute to include the current column in the unit group. Unit groups are used to generate summarised or aggregated reports; they define the groups of columns to be displayed in some specific reports. Unit groups include the column sets and row sets in the hierarchically organised units that can be used to summarise the values in the report formed from the various column sets and row sets.

You use the Printing control attribute to specify how the columns will be printed in the report. The following printing control options are available for the columns.

Printing control parameter Description
Print The option you select to print the column in the report.
Hidden The option you select to prevent the column from appearing in the printed report. If you select it, the column will not be printed in the report. You can use this option when some columns are used only as a source of data to calculate other report values and must not be included in the printed report.
Merge next The option you select to merge the data in the current column with the data in the next column. When the two columns are merged, the values from the merged column are inserted in the free cells of the next column. To merge the columns, you should define in which rows of the next row the data will be inserted, by setting the Printing group values for the merged rows. Rows merging is used, for example, when a single report line must include data from various rows selected from the database by using different selection criteria or calculated values.

You use the Visible formula attribute to define the conditions of hiding a column when you run the report. If you do not want to have needless columns (for example, those with no data) in the report, you can hide a column or multiple columns by specifying appropriate hiding conditions in the Visible formula box.

Hiding a column does not remove a column or its data at all. The column will be displayed when the report is generated outside the specified conditions.

For example, suppose you have an annual report that has twelve columns, where each column accumulates data by month. If you run the report in March, it will contain the data for the three months (from January to March), so only three columns will contain data. In that case, there is no need to display other columns that have no data. Thus, you can specify conditions to hide the columns depending on the period of time when you run the report.

For the Visible formula attribute, you can specify such values as =True (for displaying the column), =False (for hiding the column), or a formula with specific conditions for hiding the column depending on the @StartPeriod parameter.

You can use the Style attribute to define the printing style, such as the font, background colour, or text alignment, for the data in a specific report column. This attribute can be used when some report column must be visually emphasised and have formatting that differs from that of the other columns in the report. For example, you can set special formatting attributes for the columns that include the total values for some periods.

For more information about the printing style, see Printing styles .

You use the Data source attribute to define the filtering criteria for the data to be displayed in a specific column of your report. To set up filtering criteria, you should specify appropriate parameters in the Data source editor dialog box. You can specify criteria on different levels (row, column, unit, or entire report). The filtering rules defined for the unit have the highest priority. The rules defined on the row, column, and report levels have the next highest priorities (in that order). For example, if you want to define filtering criteria for a column and these criteria differ from the criteria that has already been specified for the rows, you need to clear the parameters or specify them as Not set for the row that interacts with the corresponding column so that the data filtering criteria specified for the column will be applied. For more information about the data filtering criteria, see About data filtering criteria.

By specifying the data filtering parameters on the row level, you define the data structure in the report. For example, if a group of lines in the report must display the calculated values for the specific period, you should set the start date and the end date of the period for each row included in this group of report lines. If some lines in the report must display the data related to a specific account, and the columns must display the values calculated for certain periods, you should specify the account on the rows level, and set the start date and the end date of each period on the columns level.