Selecting Filter Values 

Use

You use the value selection in the Business Explorer Analyzer to select filter values for characteristics.

Prerequisites

You have executed a query in an Excel workbook. You have also selected a characteristic in the filter cells, and chosen Select filter value... from the context menu (right mouse button).

Procedure

Selecting single values

This function is used only if the characteristic does not have an active display hierarchy.

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       1.      In the top left of the selection field, choose single value, and (flat list) as the hierarchy.

       2.      Select one or more values from the list of available values displayed in the left-hand window, and drag the value(s) into the Selection box on the right (alternatively, use the pushbutton with the arrow pointing to the right to move the values).

Only those values for which there are data records in the InfoProvider, and which you are authorized to use are displayed. The number of available values in the left-hand window is restricted to 100. It is possible to remove this restriction, or to choose the values displayed according to other criteria. See Filter Values: Formulating Selection Conditions.

Selecting value ranges

This function is used only if the characteristic does not have an active display hierarchy.

You can set the time interval for individual time characteristics in the SAP Reference IMG. The value help only offers those values that lie within this time interval. In the SAP Reference IMG, choose BW Customizing ® Implementation Guide ® Business Information Warehouse ® Reporting-relevant Settings ® General Reporting Settings ® Set F4 Help and Hierarchies for Time Characteristics / OLAP Settings. On the General Settings tab page, you can set the required Time Interval.

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       1.      Choose value range from the top left of the selection field, and the operator that you want to use (top right).

The following operators are possible:

¡        Is between

¡        Is greater than or equal to

¡        Is less than or equal to

¡        Is greater than

¡        Is less than

       2.      If you choose the operator between, first select the upper and lower limits of the interval from the list of available values in the left-hand window, and choose the button with the arrow pointing to the right. The characteristics for the interval you select appear in the right-hand Selection window.

If you choose one of the operators is greater than or equal to, is less than or equal to, is greater than, or is less than, select a value from the list of available values in the left-hand window, drag it across, and drop it into the Selection window on the right (alternatively use the button with the arrow pointing to the right to move the value across into the Selection window).

Intervals are formed using a key and not according to the displayed texts. For example, [January; November ] also contains August.

Selecting hierarchy nodes

This function is used only if the characteristic has an active display hierarchy.

If Single Values is set in the top left of the selection field, the active display hierarchy appears in the top right corner of the screen.

If the display hierarchy for the characteristic is active, the standard hierarchy (flat list) is not displayed, and you cannot select any value ranges.

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       1.      In the list of available hierarchy nodes in the left-hand window, navigate to the hierarchy node you want to use.

       2.      Select one or more hierarchy nodes, and drag the node(s) into the Selection window on the right (alternatively, use the button with the arrow pointing to the right to move the node(s)).

Searching for values

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       1.      Specify a search term in the entry field (bottom left).

       2.      Choose Find. The first value found that fits the search string is underlined.

       3.      Click on the Find button again to move through the list of values that the system has found matching the search term.

The search function differs depending on whether you are looking for values in a flat list of characteristic values or in a hierarchy.

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       1.      In the list of fixed values, in the left window, a flat list of characteristic values is displayed.

The system searches locally in the displayed value list (not on the server) regardless of whether you entered the text in upper case or lower case.

If the list or values displayed in the list is only part of all the values (for example, only the first 100 values), the search is restricted to this amount of values.

If you want to expand the search to all values available on the server, that is, if you want to search through values that do not appear in the list as well, choose Display Other Values (button with the yellow arrow at the bottom left of the screen). You get to the Selection Conditions dialog box. See Filter Values: Formulating Selection Conditions.

You can restrict the value list by different attributes of the characteristic in the Selection Condition enhanced search. Compounded characteristics and the text of the characteristic are considered as attributes in this context.

For attributes you can only search using the key of the attribute value. This is for performance reasons. Therefore, all search terms entered here are displayed in upper case.

There is an exception for text attributes (which are not offered for every characteristic). This system can differentiate between upper and lower case when you enter a search term for the text attribute. The search takes place in the text, taking into account the upper and lower case used in the search term.

If you leave the Selection Condition dialog box by choosing OK, a search is executed on the server with the selection condition entered. The result it displayed as a list in the left window.

       2.      A hierarchy is displayed in the list of fixed values in the left window:

The search is executed in the entire hierarchy on the server. The search takes place:

-         In the text and key of the hierarchy nodes.

-         Without taking upper or lower case into account.

The Selection Condition dialog box is not available for hierarchies. You can restrict the search to a sub-area of the hierarchy in the following way:

a.       After you have entered the search term, in the left window, highlight the hierarchy node below which the search is to take place.

b.       Call the context menu using the right mouse button on the selected hierarchy node and choose Search in Sub-hierarchy.

You can change the search on the server-side in hierarchies to a local search or a flexible search strategy. This option is particularly useful if you know that the node in which you are searching is on the level immediately below the super-ordinate node but the number of hierarchy nodes is so large that a (local) search function is not required.

Local Search

The search takes place locally in the value list displayed.

To convert to a general, local search instead of a search on the server, you have to add a table entry with the following in the BW server in the table RSZCONTROLTEXTS:

LANGU = <space>; TARGETID = ID_FLAG_HIERARCHY_SEARCH_MODE; CAPTION = L

Flexible Search Strategy

For every search in a hierarchy, a dialog box appears. You can decide between the local and server-side search here.

To convert to a flexible search strategy instead of a search on the server, you have to add a table entry with the following in the BW server in the table RSZCONTROLTEXTS:

LANGU = <space>; TARGETID = ID_FLAG_HIERARCHY_SEARCH_MODE; CAPTION = D

Direct entry

This function is used only if you want to restrict a characteristic to a value or a value range. You cannot make an entry directly when you are selecting structure elements (key figures, for example) and hierarchy nodes.

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       1.      In the entry field (bottom left) specify a characteristic value in external format.

       2.      Choose the button with the arrow pointing to the right.

The system checks whether this value exists. If the value does not exist, you get an error message.

Note the following conventions for making entries for value ranges and intervals:

Value range: <operator><value>, for example, >= 1995

Intervals: <lower limit>;<upper limit>, for example, A01; Z99

Deleting values from the selection window

If you want to delete values from the selection, highlight the relevant values in the Selection window on the right-hand side of the screen, and drag them back into the window on the left (alternatively, use the button with the arrow pointing to the left to move the values).

Excluding characteristic values

You use this function to select the values that you do not need for your report.

This function is only used with single values.

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       1.      In the right-hand window, select the value that you want to exclude.

       2.      Choose Exclude from selection from the context menu (right mouse click).

If you want to include the value in the selection again, choose Include in selection from the context menu (right mouse click).

Displaying value keys

Characteristic values can also be displayed as value keys.

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       1.      Select a characteristic value from either the left-hand or right-hand window.

       2.      Choose Technical names from the context menu (right mouse click).

The characteristic values appear as value keys in Selection window on the right-hand side of the screen. On the left-hand side, you see the value keys in a separate column to the right of the characteristic value name.

Result

You have filtered a characteristic by certain characteristic values. Choose OK.

The query is reconstructed according to the selection criteria you specified. The selected characteristic values are displayed in the filter cells, on the right, next to the corresponding characteristic. Only the characteristic values you selected are included in the results area.