The Property-Editor
The Property-Editor is the table in the left, lower corner of the Workbench. The editor is used for investigating and editing the properties of any selected element. Whenever you select an element in the worksheet by clicking on it with the mouse, its properties are displayed and can be edited.
Editing properties
In order to change a property, you must click into the value field in the second column, right to the name of the property. After the cursor appears in the table cell, you can edit the value.
Press the "Enter" key or click anywhere outside the cell to confirm the input. Then the system will check the new property value (e.g. for syntax errors in formulas). If an error was detected, it will be displayed as error-notification the Workbench.
If no error was detected, the editor will stop the input mode and you will be able to edit other elements afterwards. Otherwise, the input cell will show a red background.
In the case of an incorrect input you must correct this before you can leave the input field. Alternatively you can use also the "ESC" to reset the property to the previous value and stop editing.
When selecting an element or after changing a property, the system checks all properties of the element and shows an error message if any error was detected.
Default values
Some properties offer default values from which you one by opening the combo box (the small triangle beside the input field).
The previous value of the properties is replaced by clicking on a value. After the selection you still can change the property back to its previous value by using of the "ESC" key.
Special editors
For some properties (for expressions, SQL expressions, or cron-pattern) the Property-Editor offers special editors, which you can use to edit a value instead of using the simple input-field. If a property offers such an editor, a button containing three points "..." will be visible right to the input field. Press this button in order to edit the property with the editor.
Also, most editors offer a check function, which you can use to examine your input without leaving the editor. Press the button "Check" to examine your input.
The Expression-Editor
With this editor you can create and edit formulas, which are used in many properties of the report-elements. Read the "instantOLAP Reference" for a complete overview of the instantOLAP expression-language and its functions.
The editor is divided into three different areas: The input-area in the upper left area (for editing the text of the formula), the function-table on the right side and the message field at the lower edge.
- In the function-table, all functions offered by the instantOLAP server (grouped by their topic) are listed. For each function you can see its syntax (i.e. the expected data types of their arguments). With a double-click on a function, the function will be insert at the current caret-position inside the input-field.
- The message field shows possible errors being detected in the current formula.
Use the "Check" button in order to examine your formula on its correctness and to, if any error was found, show the error in the message-field.
The SQL-Expression-Editor
With the SQL-Expression-Editor you can edit SQL-expressions which are needed in every SQL based element, e.g. for loading dimensions or facts out of databases.
The editor is divided into three different areas: The input-area in the upper left area (for editing the text of the expression), the database-explorer on the right side and the message field at the lower edge.
- In the database-explorer all tables and columns of the used database and some standard SQL-functions can be explored and added (by double-clicking the with the mouse) to your expression.
- The message field shows possible errors being detected in the current formula.
Use the "Check" button in order to examine your expression on its correctness and to, if any error was found, show the error in the message-field.
The Cron-Pattern-Editor
The Cron-Pattern-Editor allows to edit the cron patterns instantOLAP uses to define frequency repeated tasks like reloading dimensions or rebuilding stores.
The rows of the editor stand for the minute, hour, day of week, day of month and year in which the cron will be triggered. Each row must have a least one selected field, otherwise the cron-pattern will never be triggered. Instead of selecting each field of a row (e.g. if you want to cron-pattern to be triggered each hour) you can also check the "*" field at the beginning of the row.
