Best Practice


Highlights best practices within the content.

Introducing Joins

Your data may be arranged and structured in different ways depending on the size and amount of detail that it provides. Smaller data sources may be saved in a single spreadsheet or flat file, such as a CSV file, making them easy to access and distribute. Larger data sources, however, may contain too many records or fields to efficiently store in a single file.

Working with Metadata in WebFOCUS

Data is integral to building reports, charts, and visualizations in WebFOCUS Designer and other ibi tools. Metadata, or data about data, enables you to efficiently manage and manipulate your data in support of the business applications that you develop for yourself or for other members of your organization. WebFOCUS offers many advantages in metadata management that support and empower developers and business users with access to the information they need to solve problems or make business decisions.

Providing Access to Content Items and WebFOCUS Tools

When assembling pages from existing content in WebFOCUS Designer, two preset containers are available that allow you to provide access to content saved to your Repository. These are the Workbench template and the Explorer widget. In addition to running content, the Explorer widget allows users to create new content using the same options that are available on the WebFOCUS Home Page.

Searching Content

WebFOCUS provides an intuitive search functionality that allows you to quickly access content across the repository. Using a text bar found on the WebFOCUS Home Page, you can enter a search term to quickly display all content items that match that term. The interactive search engine updates the suggestions as you type, so you can find the desired item fast.

With the WebFOCUS search feature, you can:

Creating Data Flows

Data flows allow you to extract information from data sources, and load it into data targets for future analysis and use. You create data flows from the Web Console by right-clicking an application folder or synonym, and selecting the Flow shortcut menu option to open the data flow canvas.

You can build a data flow from a set of objects that identify data sources, data columns to include, and data targets. A flow is loaded to form a data warehouse, data mart, or any other type of target, containing only the data you need.

Exploring Chart Creation Options

WebFOCUS Designer enables you to quickly and easily create many different types of charts. You can build charts that use filters, matrix rows and columns, calculated fields, include run-time behavior such as Insight and Auto Drill, and many other customizable features. These charts can be added to a page or workbook with other charts to provide an expanded view of your data.