Overview
You can set the default format for a field on the format tab. This will then be the display type when a user adds the column to a report. The report writer may choose to change the format through the report formatting options if they wish.The formats are limited to the data type – For example the data type below is integer so only number based formats are permitted – such as currency, decimal, percentage or time stamp.
Format
Based on the type of field that the column being formatted is there are various format options. The ones listed below come default with Yellowfin, however as this is customisable there may be additional ones that comes as part of your installation.
| Common Format Options |
|---|---|
Link To URL | Allows you to pass the value of the returned data into a URL link. Use the hashes ## to indicate to Yellowfin where you want the column value to be placed in the URL itself. For example: Formatting on a column of IP addresses and the URL typed in is: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=##This essentially means that every IP address will be placed into it i.e.: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=10.100.32.44 |
Org Reference Code | Converts the text in the cell to the value of an internal lookup table. E.g. AU to Australia
|
Raw Formatter | Displayed the data as it would have been returned from the database – no additional formatting applied. |
| Text |
Text | Displays as plain text |
Email Address | Creates a hyperlink on the text that will open an email client and pre-populate the sent to address. |
URL Hyperlink | Creates a hyperlink on the text and will open web page on click. Assumes the text is a legitimate URL. |
Flag Formatter | If your data contains ISO country codes you can display these as flags of the world instead of text. |
| Date |
Date | Displays value as a date – multiple date options exist. |
Time | Displays value as a time field – multiple date options exist. |
Timestamp | Displayed full date and time value |
Date Part Formatter | Allows you display part of the date, e.g. Month Name, rather than the full date. |
| Numeric |
Numeric | Displays value as a decimal – allows you to set the decimal places to be used. |
Percentage Bar | Converts a percentage value less than or equal to 100 into a bar. |
Additional Format Options
The display options are used to change the data format of the column such as the number of decimal places and the prefix or suffix to be applied.Option | Description | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sub Format | Depending on the format option you have chosen for the column above you will have a separate set of sub format options. Select the appropriate sub format option. | ||||||||
Date Other | If you select ‘Other’ from the date sub format you will be able to build your own custom date format. | ||||||||
Decimal Places | If you have a defined a numeric format you can set the number of decimal places to be defined. This can be used to define cents in a decimal place for $20.00 by adding in:
| ||||||||
Prefix | The prefix is used to include additional characters before the value that is returned from the data base. This can be used to define currency for $20.00 by adding in: | ||||||||
Suffix | The suffix is used to include additional characters after the value that is returned from the data base. This can be used to define percentage for 30% by adding in: | ||||||||
Rounding | The rounding format allows you to choose how a decimal value should be rounded.
| ||||||||
Thousand Separator | Turns the defaulted thousand separator for your instance on or off. For example: |
Semi Additive Fields
When the field type is a metric you will be able to set the additive type, which can be set to either Additive or Semi-Additive.The additive type option should be set to Semi-Additive when there are fields upon which the metric is constrained by use (when business rules dictate how the column should be used in a report). When this is the case a new tab labelled Constraint is displayed to enable the user to select these constraints.
See Constraints & Semi Additive Fields for more information
Default Aggregation
When the field type is a metric you will be able to set the default aggregation (e.g. Sum, Average etc).This is used when adding the metric to a report it will automatically set the aggregation based on this default value. The options in the dropdown when the field type is a date are count, max and min. For all other field types the dropdown options are sum, average, count, max and min.
See Aggregation for more information.
Colour
When the field type is a metric you will be able to define a default colour to be applied in charts.
See Chart Formatting for more information on how to use Colour Sets.