Getting Started with Oracle Discoverer

Discoverer Tutorial

Tip: Print this page.

The total estimated time you need to complete lesson 1 is 30 minutes.

Overview of Lesson 1
The tutorial uses a small database that contains information about a
fictitious chain of video stores. The database contains data about the
chain's sales, inventory, and stores. You will use this database to get
data about the chain of video stores, to analyze the data, and to share
the data in the form of Excel spreadsheets and HTML pages.

Note: In order to connect to the video store database, your

Discoverer administrator must provide you with the correct
login name, password, and database name.

In Lesson 1, you will look at the Discoverer work area and learn the
names of Discoverer components that you see on screen, and learn
how to use them. To do this, you will connect to the video store
database. In the video store database, you will find the sample
Workbook that you will use with this tutorial, and you will move
through its Worksheets. You will also learn how to find more
information about Discoverer in its online Help system.

Looking at the work area

When you get data from the database, Discoverer shows it to you as a
Discoverer Workbook like the one shown below. Compare the list of
terms below with the Workbook. These terms are used throughout the
tutorial, the online Help system, and in the Workbook Wizard.
Workbooks. Look at the top of the Video Stores Analysis Workbook.
Do you see the words "Oracle Discoverer - [Video Stores Analysis]"?
The name of the Workbook you are using appears at the top of the
Workbook in brackets, in this case [Video Stores Analysis]. When you
change to another Workbook, its name appears in brackets so that you
can keep track of which Workbook you are using. A Workbook is a
collection of Worksheets.

Worksheets. Look at the bottom of the Video Stores Analysis

Workbook. Do you see two tabs that are labeled "Tabular Layout" and
"Crosstab Layout"? Each tab is a separate Worksheet. Both Worksheets
contain data about the video stores, but each Worksheet is organized
differently. Worksheets contain the data you want and allow you to
analyze and share it.

Queries. Every time you open a Workbook or create a new one,

Discoverer sends a query to your company's database. A query is a
question that Discoverer asks the database in order to get the data you
want; for example, "what are the total sales for stores in the Eastern
region in the last quarter?" Queries are written in SQL, a language that
databases understand. You do not need to understand SQL to
communicate with the database. Discoverer writes the SQL for you.

Items. Look in the main section of the Worksheet. Notice that data is
organized in rows and columns similar to a spreadsheet. The rows and
columns contain the data that answers the query Discoverer asked the
database. Do you see the column headings "Region", "Department",
and "Profit SUM"? In a Worksheet, column and row headings identify
Items. An Item contains a set of data that is stored in your company's
database; for example, the Item "Region" contains all the regions that
have video stores. In Lesson 2, you will create your own Workbook, and
you must select Items from the database.

Page Items. Look above the column headings at the area named Page
Items. Do you see the words "Year: 2000"? This database contains data
for three years: 1998, 1999, and 2000. This page only shows data for
2000. When a column heading appears above all the other Items, it is
called a Page Item. By selecting different Page Items from the Page
Item drop-down list, you are actually switching pages within that
Worksheet. In Lesson 3, you will use Page Items to switch between
pages within a Worksheet.

Launching Discoverer and connecting to the Video Store

Tutorial database

The Discoverer administrator at your company provides you with the

information you need to connect to your company's database. The
Discoverer administrator should provide you with the URL, or Web
address, for connecting to Discoverer. The administrator should also
provide you with a user name, password, and the name of the
database. You need this information before you can connect to the
database and before you can use Discoverer. Your administrator may
give you a different password and database name specifically for the
video store database. If so, use the video store's connection
information in the instructions below.
1. If your administrator has given you the necessary connection information, click
anywhere on the Welcome to Oracle Discoverer Web page to make it active.

2. On the right side of the Welcome to Oracle Discoverer Web page, click the
magnifying glass graphic above the words Click the image above to start. Wait a
few moments until the Connect to Oracle Discoverer dialog appears.
3. In the Connection Information box, type the User name, Password, and
Database name given to you by your Discoverer Administrator.
4. Click the Connect button. After a few moments, the Workbook Wizard appears,
which means you are connected to the video store database and ready to begin
using Discoverer.
 NOTE: If you do not see the Workbook Wizard screen, you may
have entered the wrong connection details. Re-enter the
connection details and try again. If you cannot connect to
Discoverer, contact your Discoverer Administrator.

5. The Workbook Wizard guides you through the necessary steps for getting the
data you want from the database.

You are now connected to the database and can begin working
through the tutorial. Begin by Opening an existing Workbook.

Opening an existing Workbook

You are going to open the tutorial Workbook that you will use with this
tutorial. The tutorial Workbook is saved in the video store database.
Your Discoverer Administrator will tell you the name of the Workbook
that you need to open. In this tutorial, the Workbook is called Video
Stores Analysis.

1. At the Workbook Wizard, click the Open an existing Workbook button.

2. Click the Database button. The Open Workbook from Database dialog appears,
which lists all the Workbooks that are already saved in the video store database.

3. Click on the Workbook, Video Stores Analysis.

Note: Your Discoverer Administrator may have given this

Workbook a different name. For example, your Discoverer
Administrator may choose the name, Video Analysis Tutorial. If
so, choose the Workbook name provided by your Discoverer
Administrator.

4. Click the Open button. If you are asked whether you wish to run the query for the
Worksheet, click Yes.

The sample Workbook, Video Stores Analysis, appears.

Switching between Worksheets

The Video Stores Analysis Workbook automatically opens to the Tabular

Layout Worksheet as shown above. The Video Stores Analysis
Workbook also contains another Worksheet, called Crosstab Layout.

1. Click the Crosstab Layout tab located at the bottom of the Workbook. A dialog
appears asking if you want to run the query for that Worksheet.
2. If you are asked whether you wish to run the query for the Worksheet, click Yes.

Discoverer sends a query to the database and presents the data

to you as another Worksheet.
Notice that the Tabular Layout Worksheet and the Crosstab Layout
Worksheet both contain information about the video stores. However,
the information is organized differently in the two Worksheets. When
you create your own Workbooks, you can group related Worksheets
together as a single Workbook in this way.

Using the online Help

Although you are probably familiar with using online Help, take a
moment to familiarize yourself with Discoverer's online Help. When you
need help, use the online Help system to find procedures for
complicated tasks, examples, and definitions of terms. There are two
ways to get help:

• The online Help menu.

• The context-sensitive Help buttons.

Use the online Help system at any time you have a question about
using Discoverer. However, if you are looking at a Discoverer dialog on
screen and you do not know how to use its buttons and text fields, use
the dialog's context-sensitive Help button.

To get help from the online Help menu:

1. From the Discoverer menu bar, choose Help | Help Topics. The main Online
Help window appears in a separate Web browser window so that you can read the
topic and still see the Discoverer window.

2. Notice that topics are organized by common tasks:

o Getting Started
o Getting the Data You Want.
o etc.
3. Click the link Looking at the work area topic in section 1, (Getting Started).
Read the description of that topic and scroll down the page until you see
additional hypertext links for related topics. These additional links take related
topics.
4. Perhaps this is not exactly the topic you are looking for.
 Notice other links that point to related topics, one of which might
be the one you want.

5. If you cannot find the topic you are looking for, click the Index button at the top
right of the page.

An alphabetical list of index entries appears.

6. Click the letter S. Scroll down the list of index entries that begin with the letter S
until you see sharing Workbooks.

There are two related topics under sharing Workbooks. They

are name 1 and 2.

7. Click the 1 link next to sharing Workbooks.

You will see help relating to that topic.

8. Close the Help topic window and click anywhere on the Discoverer window.

To get help with context-sensitive Help buttons:

Most Discoverer dialogs contain context-sensitive Help buttons. Click
these Help buttons to get assistance with using the dialog.

1. From the Discoverer menu bar, choose Sheet | Edit Sheet. The Edit Worksheet
dialog appears.
 2. On the Edit Worksheet dialog, click the Help button located on the bottom left.
A Help topic appears specifically for that dialog. The context-sensitive Help
topics describe the procedure for using that dialog.
3. If necessary, scroll to the bottom of the Help topic window until you see the
underlined hypertext links. The context-sensitive Help topics also provide a
choice of related procedure topics for that particular dialog.
4. Close the Help topic window and click anywhere on the Discoverer window.

Questions and Answers

Test how well you learned Lesson 1 by answering the questions below.
If you are using the tutorial online, click the word Answer after each
question to see its answer. If you printed out the tutorial, the answers
are located at the very bottom of the lesson's last page.

What is the difference between a Workbook and a

Worksheet? Answer.
 What is the difference between an Item and a Page Item?
Answer.

How do you switch between pages of a Worksheet?

Answer.

How do you switch between different Worksheets in the

same Workbook? Answer.

What is the Workbook Wizard? Answer.

Summary of Lesson 1
Congratulations on finishing Lesson 1. Now you have learned how to
connect to a database from Discoverer and how to open a Workbook
that is saved in a database. You also know the main features of a
Workbook, such as Worksheets, Items, and Page Items. And you know
that at any time you need help using Discoverer, you have two
choices: the online Help system and the context-sensitive Help buttons
found on Discoverer dialogs.

Return to Tutorial Home Page

Answers
What is the difference between a Workbook and a Worksheet?

A Workbook is a collection of related Worksheets. For example, you

may choose to have a Workbook with separate Worksheets for Sales by
Region, Sales by Department, and Sales by Product; each Worksheet
contains sales information grouped by region, department, and
product.

A Worksheet contains data that answers the query Discoverer asks the
database; for example, the Sales by Region Worksheet contains data
that answers the question (query) "What are my company's sales for
the Eastern, Central, and Western regions?"

What is the difference between an Item and a Page Item?

An Item identifies a specific set of data in the database; for example, if
you want to see all departments in the database, you select the
Department Item. In Lesson 2 you will learn how to select Items from
the database with the Workbook Wizard. On a Worksheet, Items appear
as column and row headings, and in Lesson 3 you will learn how to
rearrange Items on a Worksheet.

A Page Item is a special Item that groups all the data on a page; for
example, data can be grouped by the years 1998, 1999, or 2000. On a
Worksheet, a Page Item appears above all the other column headings.
In Lesson 3 you will learn how to create Page Items and how to switch
between them.

How do you switch between pages of a Worksheet?

If your Worksheet contains more than one page, you can switch
between pages by switching Page Items. For example, if you group
data on a page by year, you can switch the year Page Item to 1998,
1999, or 2000. In Lesson 3 you will learn how to switch Page Items and
how to create your own.

How do you switch between different Worksheets in the same

Workbook?

If there is more than one Worksheet in a Workbook, click a tab located

at the bottom of the Workbook to switch between Worksheets. The first
time you click a tab, Discoverer may ask you if you want to run the
query for that Worksheet, (depending on how Discoverer is configured
in the Tools\Options\General tab). If you choose Yes, or if Discoverer is
configured to automatically run the query, Discoverer retrieves the
most current information for that Worksheet from the database. Each
Worksheet has its own query.

What is the Workbook Wizard?

The Workbook Wizard is a Discoverer tool that helps you create new
Workbooks or Worksheets. The Workbook Wizard automates much of
the work of creating Worksheets, including writing SQL queries and
sending them to the database for you. In Lesson 2, you will use the
Workbook Wizard to create a new Worksheet.
 Copyright © 2000, Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.

Getting the Data You Oracle Discoverer

Want Tutorial

Tip: Print this page.

The total estimated time you need to complete lesson 2 is 30 minutes.

Overview of Lesson 2
In Lesson 2, you will choose layout defaults for new Workbooks that
you create using the Workbook Wizard. After you create a new
Workbook, you will organize Items and Page Items on your table
Worksheet. You will duplicate your table Worksheet as a crosstab
Worksheet. Then, you will reduce the amount of data in your
Worksheet by creating conditions and parameters. Finally, you will add
new Items to your new Workbook.

Selecting layout defaults for your Worksheets

Before you create a new Workbook, you can decide how you want the
data in your Workbook to look. For example, you can choose font size,
background color, and text alignment. The choices you make become
the default settings for all new Workbooks. You can later change your
mind and change the default settings. However, default settings affect
only new Workbooks from that time forward. They do not change the
layout of Workbooks that you already created or that were created by
someone else.

1. Launch Discoverer and connect to the Video Store database. Did you forget how?
Click here for a Hint.
2. The Workbook Wizard appears, which guides you through the steps necessary
for getting the data you want from the database. For now, click the Cancel button.
The Workbook Wizard closes.
3. From the menu bar at the top of the Discoverer window, choose Tools | Options.
The Options dialog appears with the General tab active. You use the Options
dialog to choose default settings for using Discoverer. Options customize
Discoverer to your work preferences.
4. Click the Default Formats tab.

5. If it is not already highlighted, click Data Format, and then click the Change...
button. The Data Format dialog appears, which you use to choose font styles for
data in new Worksheets.
6. On the right side of the Data Format dialog, you see an example of the current
font settings. On the left side of the Data Format dialog, click the B button and
notice how the example text changes to bold. The example changes every time
you change text features. Change some of the font settings and notice how the
example changes: choose a font size that you like from the Size drop-down list,
choose a color for your text and a background color in the Color group box, and
choose the vertical alignment you like.

Note: The Discoverer Administrator at your company

typically chooses horizontal alignment for you based upon
the type of data; for example, your administrator will often
align numbers to the right.

7. When you are finished, click OK. The Data Format dialog closes.
8. If you want, change the default formats for headings and totals also. The Heading
Format selection affects row and column headings, and the Total Format
selection affects how totals are displayed; for example, if you want your grand
totals for profits and sales to stand out, make total format bold and a larger size
than data format.
9. Click OK to close the Default Formats dialog.

QUESTION: Do your layout options affect Workbooks created by other people,

even if you open them on your own computer? Answer.

NOTE: You can make changes to the layout of your Workbooks

later, using the Format tab on the Edit Worksheet dialog. For
example, you may want to change the format of your currency.
Creating a new Workbook

For the moment, we will put aside the tutorial Workbook Video Stores
Analysis, and create our own Workbook.

Before you can get the data you want, you must create a new
Workbook using the Workbook Wizard. With the Workbook Wizard,
you select Items from the video store database. The Items you choose
determine the data you get. You must also decide how you want to
display the data you get from the database.

1. From the Discoverer menu, choose File | New. The Workbook Wizard appears.
2. The Workbook Wizard asks you how you want to display the data that you will
get from the database. Discoverer gives you four ways to display data:
o Table
o Page-Detail Table
o Crosstab
o Page-Detail Crosstab
3. The simplest way to display your data is in a table. A table displays data in
columns with column headings. Click Table and then click the Next button.
4. The next page of the Workbook Wizard asks you to select Items from the
database. By selecting Items, you decide which data you want to get and analyze
in your table. On the left side of the Workbook Wizard, click the arrow below
the word Available. From the drop-down list, choose Video Store Tutorial. The
choices you see in the drop-down list are different parts of your company's
database that your Discoverer Administrator has organized for you - these are
called Business Areas.
 Business Areas contain data specific to your area of interest; for
example, an Accounts Payable Business Area, a Sales Business
Area, and an Operations Business Area. Your Discoverer
Administrator creates Business Areas for the whole company and
grants access and other privileges to each Business Area.

5. In the Available group box, click the [+] next to Video Analysis Information.
The [+] becomes a [–] and Video Analysis Information expands to show a list of
all Items that you can get from the video store database. For example, the first
Item in the list, Department, contains data about the departments at the video
stores.
6. Click the word Department and add it to the Selected group box.

To add an Item, you can either drag-and-drop it to the Selected

group box, or you can use the left arrow and right arrow buttons.
 Note: If you click the [+] next to the Item, Region, notice
that there are three regions: Central, Eastern, and Western.
If you want, you can drag-and-drop just one or two of the
regions at a time. Or if you want all the regions, drag-and-
drop the word Region and notice that all three regions
move to the Selected group box.

1. In the Available group box, click the [+] next to the Profit Item so that Profit
expands to show a list of additional Items.
2. Add Region and Calendar Year and to the selected list.
3. Add Profit SUM to the Selected group box.

For numerical data like sales, costs, and profits, Discoverer

provides you with a choice of aggregations, or summaries. For
example, if you want to know the total profit for a particular
region, choose SUM. If you want to know the average profit for
the same region, choose AVG.

You should now have the following Items in your selected list:

Department

Region

Calendar Year

Profit SUM

QUESTION: Which aggregate moved: SUM, COUNT, MAX, MIN,

AVG, or Detail? Answer.

4. Click Next to display the Format page. In our case will accept the default Format
settings.
5. Click Next to display the Table Layout page.

You can see that Department is in the Page Items area. Region,
Calendar Year, and Profit SUM are in the rest of the Worksheet.
6. To re-order the Items, click the Calendar Year Item and drag it to the left of the
Region Item. A black bar between the columns shows you where the Item will be
positioned.

7. Click next to display the Conditions page.

8. Click the check box next to Department is Video Rental or Video Sale. This
will restrict our data to only the Video Rental and Video Sale Departments.
9. Click the Finish button. A new Worksheet, called Sheet 1, appears. Sheet 1
contains the data for the Items you selected. Notice the column headings; they
match the Items that you chose in the Workbook Wizard.
Saving your Workbooks

Discoverer saves your Workbooks in your company's database. Your

Discoverer Administrator must grant you the privilege to save
Workbooks in the database. If you try the procedure below and find
that you cannot save your Workbook, it is likely that your Discoverer
Administrator has not granted you this privilege. If you cannot save
your work, stay connected to the video store database instead for the
duration of this lesson. You will occasionally see a warning that asks if
you want to stay connected. If so, click Yes.

1. From the Discoverer menu bar, choose File | Save As. The Save Workbook to
Database dialog appears.
 2. In the text field under the label, New name, type a name for your Workbook; for
example, My First Workbook.
3. Click the Save button.

QUESTION: Where will you find the name of your Workbook on the Workbook
itself? Answer.

Working with the Worksheet

The data you got from the database contains columns of information.
The rows are disorganized and not yet useful for any meaningful
analysis. In Lesson 3 you will learn to use Discoverer's most powerful
features: its data analysis tools. After you organize your data for
analysis, you will add more Items to the table.

One technique you can use to organize your data is to create Page
Items. For example, Sheet 1 contains data for two departments at the
video stores: Video Rental and Video Sale. With Page Items, you can
organize your data so that you get a separate page for each
department.
However, suppose you want to see your data organized by region
instead of department. To create a separate page for each region, you
must move region to the Page Items area.

1. From the menu, choose Sheet | Edit Sheet. The Edit Worksheet dialog appears.
Notice that the Edit Worksheet dialog looks like the Workbook Wizard.
Discoverer provides you with both methods for getting the data you want,
analyzing your data, and sharing your results with others. However, you use the
Edit Worksheet dialog after you have already chosen some initial data with the
Workbook Wizard.
2. Click the Table Layout tab. With the Table Layout tab, you create Page Items
and re-arrange the columns on your Worksheet. The Table Layout tab does not
affect the data itself; it just re-organizes the data.

Notice the checkmark in the box next to the words Show Page
Items. This check box allows you to create Page Items. In this
example, the box is already checked and the Department Item
appears in the Page Items text field.

3. Click the Region and drag it into the Page Items text field next to Department.
 4. Click the Item, Department, and drag it down into the main body of the table.
Notice that a black line appears that indicates the new position of the Item's
column. Drag-and-drop Department so that it is positioned between the Calendar
Year and Profit SUM Items.

5. Click OK. The Worksheet appears, re-organized by Region. Notice that Page
Items: Region appears at the top of the Workbook window. The Department Item
is now displayed between the Year and Profit SUM columns. For which region are
you viewing data? Click the word Region and choose another region from the
drop-down list. Notice how the data changes.

6. Save your work. Hint.

Changing from a Table layout to a Crosstab layout

Another way to organize your data for analysis is to duplicate your

table as a crosstab. A crosstab relates two sets of data and then
summarizes their interrelationship in terms of a third set of data. For
example, a typical crosstab for the video stores shows the monthly
profit for each region, organized by department. In other words, there
are three sets of data: total sales, region, and department. By
duplicating your table as a crosstab, Discoverer calculates a subtotal of
the profit for each region, as shown below.

In the screen shot above, notice that you now have new data, the
subtotal of profit for each Region for each Year. Notice also that the
Regions appear on the left side as row headings. In addition to
columns, crosstabs also have rows.

1. From the menu, choose Sheet | Duplicate as Crosstab.

A warning appears to let you know that you must have rows
defined in a crosstab. Rows on Crosstabs are side axis items.
Click OK.

2. The Edit Worksheet dialog appears again, open to the Crosstab Layout tab.
 Notice in the Crosstab Layout screenshot below that there are no
side axis Items on the left hand side. The three Items Calendar
Year, Department, and Data Point:Profit SUM, all appear on the
top axis.

The Crosstab Layout tab looks very similar to the Table

Layout tab that you have already seen.

Notice that the column heading, Department, and a new one

called Data Point:Profit SUM appear by themselves. Calendar
Year, Department and Data Points are top axis Items because
they appear on top of other Items. When you create a crosstab,
you must choose which column headings become the top and
side axis Items. You can rearrange axis Items whenever you want
from the Edit Sheet dialog.

3. Drag the Region Item from the Page Items are to the side axis area.
4. Drag the Department Item to the Page Items area.

5. Click OK. If you are unclear about axis Items, look at the new Worksheet. Notice
that the crosstab is organized by Region on the left axis Item. And notice that
Department is the top axis Item.

6. If you would like to rename your new Crosstab Worksheet, double click the Sheet
2 tab at the bottom of the Worksheet.
 7. Type in a new name and click OK.

Filtering data with conditions

Some video stores show larger profits than others. What factors cause
some stores to earn more profit than others? If you are getting data
from a very large database, the amount of data you get could be so
large that you would have difficulty finding the answer to that
question. So if you are interested in analyzing only the stores with the
highest profits, how could you reduce the amount of data you get from
the database?

Discoverer provides you with a tool called conditions that reduces the
amount of data you get from the database. Conditions filter data to
exclude some information so that the data is more manageable. For
example, if you want to analyze stores with the highest profits, you
could create a condition that says "Show me regions with annual profit
great than 50,000 dollars".

1. To return to the Tabular Worksheet, click Sheet 1 tab at the bottom of the
Workbook.
2. From the menu, choose Tools | Conditions. The Edit Worksheet dialog appears,
open to the Conditions tab.
3. Notice that two conditions already exist. They were created for you by the
Discoverer Administrator at your company. Some conditions have check marks
next to them and some do not. The conditions with checkmarks next to them are
active, or turned on, in this Worksheet.
4. Select the check box next to 'Department is Video Rental or Video Sale' to restrict
your Worksheet to profits in these Departments.
5. You are going to create a new condition. Click New. You will create a new
condition to limit the data to Regions with annual profit over 50,000 dollars.
6. If the Generate name automatically is not selected, click this check box.
Discoverer will create a condition name for you.
7. In the text field under What description would you like to give your condition?
type, Regions with annual profits greater than $50,000. This description appears
in the Conditions tab. If the name is unclear, the description you write helps other
users understand the purpose of your condition.
8. Look at the Formula group box. This is where you create the condition's formula.
Discoverer displays any data that equals the formula and ignores any data that
doesn't equal the formula. In this example, Discoverer displays any data about
regions with profits greater than 50,000 dollars and ignores all other data. From
the left-most drop-down list, select Video Analysis Information.Profit SUM.
From the middle drop-down list, select the "greater than" symbol [>]. In the right-
most text field, type 50000.
9. Click OK. Discoverer returns you to the Conditions tab.
10. Notice the name of your new condition: Profit SUM > 50000. This is the
condition name that Discoverer generated automatically for you. You can see the
description that you typed in below: Regions with annual profits greater than
$50,000. The checkmark next to the name means that the new condition is turned
on. If you want to turn off the condition, uncheck the checkbox.
11. Click OK. Discoverer sends a new query to the database and shows you the new
results in the Worksheet. Notice that you now have less data. Only regions with
annual profits greater than 50,000 dollars are shown.
 As you can see, only for the Video Sale Department in the
Central Region did profits exceed $50,000.

NOTE: Another way to highlight data is to use Discoverer

Exceptions. Here, the data in the Worksheet is not restricted, but
values that match a specified figure are highlighted. Refer to the
Discoverer 4i Plus User's Guide for information about using
Exceptions.

12. When you have finished working with the Worksheet, remember to turn off you
Condition Profit SUM > 50000. Choose Tools\Conditions, then uncheck the
Profit SUM > 50000 Condition check box.

Creating parameters for other users

Sometimes you may open this Workbook and want to see data about
the year 2000, and sometimes you may want to see data about the
year 1999. Or perhaps you want to share this Workbook with another
person, and you do not know what Year they want to see. Discoverer
gives you another tool, parameters, which gives you and other users a
choice of filters when a Workbook opens.

You will create a new parameter that asks you which Year you want to
look at. Every time you or another person opens this Workbook,
Discoverer will ask you to which Year you want to look at.

1. Make sure that you have turned off the Condition Profit SUM > 50000, (see step
12 in the previous task).

2. From the menu, choose Tools | Parameters. The Edit Worksheet dialog appears,
open to the Parameters tab. The Parameters tab lists all the parameters that
already exist for this Workbook. A checkmark next to a parameter indicates that it
is turned on.
3. Click New to create a new parameter. The New Parameter dialog appears.
4. In the text field under What do you want to name this parameter?, type
Choose a Year.
5. From the drop-down list under Which Item do you want to base this parameter
on?, select Video Analysis Information. Calendar Year.
6. In the text field under What prompt do you want to show other users?, type
Please choose a Year. Every time this Workbook opens, you or other users will
see this prompt.
7. In the text field under What description do you want to show other users?,
type Restrict the Workbook to one or more Years. Every time this Workbook
opens, you or others will see this description. If the prompt or name is unclear, the
description you write helps other users understand the purpose of your parameter.
8. Click the drop-down list under the question What default value do you want to
give this parameter? and click 2000. Every time this Workbook opens, 2000 will
be the default choice that users see when asked to choose a Year.
9. Put a checkmark in the box next to Let users select multiple values. If you or
another user wants to see data for both 1999 and 2000, ticking this checkbox
allows you to select more than one Year at a time.
10. Leave the default value for Allow only one value for all sheets selected. The
Parameter will apply to all Worksheets in the Workbook.
11. Leave the default value for Create condition option selected. A new Condition
will be created, which will allow us to turn this Parameter on and off.
12. Click OK. Discoverer returns you to the Parameters dialog.

13. Notice that your new parameter, called Choose a Year, appears with a checkmark
next to it. Look at the Description box at the bottom. The description you wrote,
Restrict the Workbook to one or more Years, appears also.
14. Click OK. The Edit Parameter Values dialog appears and asks you to choose
which Year you want.
15. Accept the default value '2000' from the drop-down menu and click OK.
Discoverer sends a new query to the database and displays the Worksheet. Only
data for the year 2000 appears in the Worksheet.
 Notice that only data for the Year 2000 is displayed on your
Worksheet. You are also restricting your worksheet to data for the
Central Region using the Region Page Item.
Because you checked the Create condition option when you
created the parameter, you can turn this parameter value off and
on using the Conditions dialog. Choose Tools\Conditions and
uncheck the Calendar Year = :Choose a Year condition to turn
this value off.

What is the difference between a condition and a parameter? Answer.

How do you turn conditions on and off? Answer.

Adding more Items to the Worksheet

Now that you have begun to organize your data for analysis, you
realize that you need more information in your table. You know the
Profit for each region, but you would also like to see Sales.

1. Return to the Tabular Worksheet by clicking the Sheet 1 tab at the bottom of the
Worksheet.
2. From the menu, choose Sheet | Edit Sheet. Once again, the Edit Worksheet
dialog appears.
3. If it is not already clicked, click the Select Items tab. Once again, you see the
Available group box and the Selected group box. Click the [+] next to Video
Analysis Information, which expands to show you a list of additional Items.
From the list of Items, move Sales SUM to the Selected group box.
4. Click the Table Layout tab. Drag-and-drop the Items so that they are organized in
the following order: Calendar Year, Department, Profit SUM, and Sales SUM.
5. Click OK.
 Your Worksheet now contains the new Item Sales SUM. You can
now analyze how Sales relate to Profit figures.

Summary of Lesson 2
In lesson 2 you got the data you want from the database and made
choices about how the data appears. By selecting layout defaults, you
customized the way all new Workbooks look after you create them.
Layout defaults do not affect Workbooks created by other people or
Workbooks that you created before you changed the defaults, only new
Workbooks created after you change defaults.

You used the Workbook Wizard to create a new Workbook by

selecting Items that you want to see in your Worksheet. Later, you
went back to the Workbook Wizard to add more Items to your
Worksheet. You can add or delete Items from Worksheets at any time
using the Workbook Wizard. After saving your Workbook in the
database, you arranged Items into Page Items and axis Items to make
analysis easier. You then created conditions that reduce data in your
Worksheets to make them more manageable. You also created
parameters, which give you the choice of filters when the Workbook
opens.

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Answers and Definitions

Do your layout options affect Workbooks created by other
people, even if you open them on your own computer?

No, your layout options only affect the Workbooks you create after the
time you choose your options. If you change your layout options, only
new Workbooks are affected. Old Workbooks or Workbooks created by
other people retain the layout options that were in effect at the time
they were created.

Which aggregate moved: SUM, COUNT, MAX, MIN, AVG, or

Detail?
SUM moved. In this example, Discoverer defaults to SUM for
aggregations. Your Discoverer Administrator decides which type of
aggregation to use as the default.

Where will you find the name of your Workbook on the

Workbook itself?

The Workbook's name appears at the top of the Workbook, in brackets.

For example, [Video Stores Analysis].

What is the difference between a condition and a parameter?

A condition filters data in the same way every time the Workbook
opens. Parameters offer you and other users a choice of filters to use.

How do you turn conditions on and off?

From the Tools menu, choose Conditions. In the Conditions dialog, you
see a list of conditions that already exist. A checkmark next to the
name indicates that the condition is turned on. By removing the
checkmark, you turn the condition off.

Items. An Item is a name for a specific set of data in the database; for
example, if you want to see all departments in the database, you
select the Department Item. In a Worksheet, Items appear as column
and row headings.

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