SPICA Deal with the Objects

DATA SYSTEMS

• Once the universe is created & loops are

handled, its time to work on types of objects –

¾User Defined Objects,

¾List of Values (LOVs) Objects,
¾Predefined condition-filter Objects.

Contd….
SPICA User Defined Objects
DATA SYSTEMS

• The Database provides Sales Price & Qty Sold, but I

want “Sales Revenue”. Now what?
Not an issue! Create an object that calculates the
same & name it Sales Revenue. This will be User
Defined Object.

• Click on Insert ÆObject on the Designer toolbar, edit

properties box appears & using it you can define the
functionality of the object.
SPICA List of Values (LOVs)
DATA SYSTEMS

• Hard coding conditional values in reports make them

static, but what if different users want to select
different value(s) of specific objects?

• Solution : enable the LOVs that can be used in

Prompts at report level. This makes single report
usable for multiple users looking for different values of
same object.
SPICA List of Values
DATA SYSTEMS
SPICA Predefined Condition-filters
DATA SYSTEMS

• Frequently used conditions for reports can be

created as condition-filter objects at universe level.
• On toolbar click InsertÆcondition & define it in
Where clause.
• Advantages –
9Easy for end users to pick from the list,
9No need to define conditions every time they create
reports
9One time creation so time saving activity.
SPICA Creating Condition
DATA SYSTEMS
SPICA Deal with Objects
DATA SYSTEMS

• Lets Consider earlier problem, What if my end users

want to display Sales Revenue for specific Products
or States in Christmas period?

• Solution : Create an object which will calculate

revenue & use the LOVs feature of Products or
States, Create predefined Christmas time condition-
filter object & use it as a condition in conditions pane.
SPICA Prompts
DATA SYSTEMS

• Syntax :
• Table_name.column_name IN
@prompt(‘Message',' Data type’, ‘Values
or Classname\Objectname’, multi/mono,
free/constrained)
• E.g..
• Article_Lookup.family_name IN
@prompt(‘Select Product Lines :’, ‘A’,
‘Product\Lines’, multi, free)
SPICA Hierarchies
DATA SYSTEMS

• A hierarchy is an ordered series of related dimensions.

• An example of a hierarchy is Geography, which may
group dimensions such as Country Æ Region ÆCity.
• It is useful for Multidimensional Analysis.
• If you create a hierarchy, while Drilling BO uses it &
helps you either restrict or expand the scope of
analysis.
• For E.g. if your time dimension has 15 different
columns & you want to drill through year to week, you
can define new hierarchy having only year, quarter,
month & week objects that restrict the scope to the
week limit.
• To create/modify hierarchy click ToolsÆ Hierarchies.
SPICA Hierarchies Editor
DATA SYSTEMS
SPICA Exercise # 3
DATA SYSTEMS

In eFashion universe,
• create condition filters for –
– Year 2001, Year 2002, Year 2003
– Christmas
– Holidays
– Condition prompting for Product Lines.
• create Objects for –
– Prompting users to select product categories.
– Calculating Discount,
– Calculating Sales Revenue for prompted Product Lines,
– Add “---All Categories---” to your LOVs of Product
Categories, on selecting of which you can select all
categories.
SPICA Exercise # 3
DATA SYSTEMS

• In your universe, create custom

hierarchies for Product, Time, Store.
SPICA Aggregate Awareness
DATA SYSTEMS

• Aggregate Aware function helps you to define Select

statements for objects that use values from Aggregate (or
Summery) Tables, instead of going to base tables.

• Why Aggregate Tables?

– Unlike Databases, BO first fetches all the records in memory & then
display them in report.
– If my query deals with 1M records which will need to go to 7
dimension tables, fetch the data, perform calculations & give Output?
Be sure for compromise in performance !
– To avoid this, we use Aggregate Tables, that hold the summarized
data & hence bypass the base tables & improves performance.
SPICA Aggregate Awareness
DATA SYSTEMS

• Syntax
– @Aggregate_aware(aggregated_table1.column ,
aggregated_table2.column, aggregated_table3.column,
base_table.column)
• For E.g.
– @Aggregate_Aware(Agg_yr_qt_rn_st_ln_ca_sr.Yr,
Agg_yr_qt_mt_mn_wk_rg_cy_sn_sr_qt_ma.Yr,
Calendar_year_lookup.Yr)
• This way we guide BO to go to agg_table1 first,
then agg_table2 & so on to select the specific
column, based on other member objects of Report.
SPICA Aggregate Awareness
DATA SYSTEMS

• Because similar objects are present in multiple

Aggregated tables as well as in Base Table, the
possibility of Cartesian products arises.
• To deal with this, you need to tell BO, which objects
are compatible with every aggregated table and
which are not.
• You define compatibility using Aggregate
Navigation tool. To find this tool –
– Click Tools Æ Aggregate Navigation on toolbar.
SPICA Using Derived Tables
DATA SYSTEMS

• These are the tables that you define in the universe

schema. You create objects on them as you do with
any other table.
• A derived table is defined by an SQL query at the
universe level that can be used as a logical table in
Designer.
• To create Click Insert Æ Derived Table & then
define it using SQL query.
• Remember, You never create any table in your
backend database as a derived table ! It is logically
present in the universe only.
SPICA Creating Derived Table
DATA SYSTEMS
SPICA Advantages of Derived Tables
DATA SYSTEMS

• Reduced amount of data returned to the

document for analysis.
• You can include complex calculations and
functions in a derived table. These operations
are performed before the result set is returned to
a document,
• Saves time and reduces the need for complex
analysis of large amounts of data at the report
level.
SPICA Exercise # 4
DATA SYSTEMS

1. Insert Aggregated tables in your universe.

– Re-define your objects as per aggregated tables.

– Define Aggregate Navigation to make the irrelevant

objects incompatible.

– Check integrity.
SPICA Deployment
DATA SYSTEMS

• Once the universe is created & tested, it is ready

to use for end users.
• Export the universe to the repository, so it has
single location from where everyone can access it.
You can –
¾Export to domain (same repository),
¾Migrate from one domain to another (same repository),
(for example : production to testing.)
¾Exchange between different repositories.