You can use the sparklines and bar charts in a Microcharts widget as selectors by enabling a time-based attribute (such as Month) on the Grid/Graph as a selector. When you hover the cursor over a sparkline or bar chart, and then click a specific data point, all data related to that data point is displayed in all target Grid/Graphs and panel stacks in the document.
You can also use the row names in a Microchart as a selector. For instance, the Region attribute is enabled as a selector. When the user clicks the name of the Northeast row in the Microchart, all targeted Grid/Graph and panel stacks are updated with data for the Northeast.
For more information on using widgets as selectors, see Viewing data related to a widget: Using a widget as a selector.
To use a widget as a selector, you must first enable the widget as a selector in Design Mode or Editable Mode. You can also enable the widget as a selector in Desktop. For steps, see the Desktop Help.
The document must contain a widget with the report objects that you want to use as selectors. For instructions to add a widget, see Inserting a widget into a document.
The document must also contain the panel stack or Grid/Graph to use as the target. The selector and target must have an attribute in common. For instructions, see Inserting a panel stack into a document or Adding a Grid/Graph to documents.
Open the document in Design or Editable Mode.
Do one of the following:
In the widget's Grid/Graph, right-click the header of the attribute, custom group, or consolidation that you want to use as the selector, and select Use as Selector. The Configure Selector dialog box opens.
Right-click the Metrics column in the Grid/Graph, and select Use as Selector. The Configure Selector dialog box opens.
Note: If targets are automatically maintained in the document, the selector is automatically created and the Configure Selector dialog box is not opened. To specify selector options, such as the target of the selector, right-click the new selector and select Edit Selector. The Configure Selector dialog box opens.
Select the target Grid/Graph
or panel stack in the Available Targets
list on the left, and click >
to add it to the Selected Targets
list on the right. You can select multiple targets.
Note: If targets are automatically maintained in the document,
the selector automatically targets all Grid/Graphs and panel stacks in
the current panel or section of the document. You can disable automatic
target maintenance and choose targets manually by clicking click
here in the Configure Selector dialog box. For more information
on automatically maintaining selector targets, see
Automatically
maintaining targets for selectors.
You can specify whether the selector is used to filter data displayed in the target or to determine how the data is sliced. For more information, see Applying selections as filters or slices. Do one of the following:
To use the selector to filter data, select the Apply selections as a filter check box.
To use the selector to slice data, clear the Apply selections as a filter check box.
The All option allows the user to display data for every element in the selector. For example, the Region attribute is enabled as a selector. If the user selects the All option, data for every region is displayed in the selector's target. To enable the All option, select the Show option for All check box. If the check box is selected, the attribute names in the headers of the widget can be used as selectors.
The Total option allows the user to display the total for all attributes, custom groups, consolidation elements or metrics in the targeted Grid/Graph or panel stack. To display totals, select the Show option for Total check box.
You can determine the behavior of the selector's target when no data exists for the current selection. This option can be used to create selectors that update other selectors. For more information, see Determining how the target of a selector displays when no data exists.
To display a message that no data is returned, clear the Automatically update when there is no data for the current selection check box.
To automatically update the selector and display an item, select the Automatically update when there is no data for the current selection check box.
Click OK to apply the changes.
Related topics
Viewing data related to a widget: Using a widget as a selector