3
About the Discoverer workarea

This chapter introduces the main dialogs that you will work with when you use Discoverer, and includes the following topics:

• "About the Discoverer menu bar and toolbar"

• "About the workbook window"

• "About the Workbook Wizard"

Note: The examples in this chapter use the sample Video Tutorial Workbook that comes with Discoverer. The specific tables, charts, data, and other items you see on your screen depend on the actual data in your database, and the workbook(s) designed by your organization's Discoverer manager.

About the Discoverer menu bar and toolbar

Discoverer provides you with a standard menu bar and toolbar. Each menu selection provides you with a dialog or Wizard to help you perform a task. The figure below shows the Tools menu.

Figure 3-1 Discoverer Menus

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The toolbar contains icons for the most common menu options (e.g. Save, Print, Refresh, Edit Worksheet, Sort). As you become more familiar with Discoverer, you can use the toolbar instead of the menu bar to choose options.

Figure 3-2 The Discoverer toolbar

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You can also use the Discoverer Graph toolbar to easily edit graph components (see figure above).

About the workbook window

The workbook window is where you will do most of your analysis work with Discoverer. The workbook window displays the data in the workbook. Discoverer's navigation facilities make it easy to find your way around workbooks and worksheets to find the information you want.

Figure 3-3 The Discoverer workbook window

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Key to figure:

1. Menu bar - click on the menu bar to display drop down menus.

2. Toolbar - use the toolbar options as a short-cut to menu options.

3. Title bar - displays the title of the workbook.

4. Page Items area (also known as the Page axis).

5. Top Axis showing item headings.

6. Left Axis - showing item values.

7. Data Points - showing item values.

8. Worksheet navigation buttons - enabling you to page through long lists of data.

9. Worksheet Tabs - click a different tab to display a different worksheet.

10. Scroll bar - use to scroll up and down data in a worksheet.

11. Worksheet subtotal and grand totals - summarizing numeric values.

12. Sheet format button - click to change how many rows are displayed on each page.

About tool tips

To help you use Discoverer, tool tips are displayed when you move the cursor over tool bar options. Additional information on tool bar options is also displayed at the bottom of the workbook window.

The figure below shows the tool tip for a condition item and also shows where additional information is displayed at the bottom of the workbook.

Figure 3-4 Discoverer tool tips and status bar

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Key to figure:

1. When you move a pointer over a button, the button enlarges and displays a tool tip that describes the button. In this example, the button is used to displays the Conditions dialog.

2. The status bar below the worksheets provides extra information about the button option.

What are axis items?

Axis items are items that appear in the workbook window in:

• the page axis

• the top axis

• the left axis

Typically, axis items have a relatively few, discrete values. You use axis items to identify particular data values.

For example, if a crosstab worksheet shows sales figures, it might include Year as the top axis and Region as the left axis. You can then use the axis items to see the sales of a particular region in a particular year. In the figure below, Department item is on the page axis, Year is on the top axis, and Region is on the left axis.

Figure 3-5 A crosstab worksheet showing page axis, left axis, and top axis

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Key to figure:

1. The page axis (Page Items area)

2. The top axis

3. The left axis

4. Data points

About data points

Data points on a worksheet are the data in the body of a worksheet. Data points are the data that you want to use for analysis purposes or to see listed on a table. Typically:

• on a table worksheet, data points contain text and numeric information (e.g. customer mailing lists, product part number lists).

• on a crosstab worksheet, data points contain numeric values calculated at the intersection point of the top axis and left axis (e.g. monthly profits, sales amounts by product). In the figure above, the data point value $108, 558 is the calculated value for the East region in the year 1998.

About the Workbook Wizard

Discoverer's Workbook Wizard enables you to easily create and configure workbooks and worksheets.

About using the Workbook Wizard

Whenever you create a new worksheet, the Workbook Wizard walks you through the steps necessary to get data from the database. Simply click the folder or item you want in the worksheet then drag it to the Selected column.

Figure 3-6 The item navigator page of the Discoverer Workbook Wizard

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