Understanding Scratchpad
Video tutorials
Scratchpad is a work area located below Data Tree, as shown in Figure 2‑6. Segments can be placed in Scratchpad for use in an analysis or for examining them in detail. Items in Scratchpad are not saved between sessions.
Figure 2‑6 Scratchpad showing two segments
Use Scratchpad in the following ways:
*Drag segments directly from Data Tree to use as filters in analyses.
*Drag results of different analyses to Scratchpad for detailed analysis.
*Manipulate segments from Data Tree or from an analysis to create intersections, invert content, and so on.
All changes applied to a segment in Scratchpad affect only the current session. To retain these segments for later use, save them in My Folders, as described in Using My Folders.
Scratchpad consists of four elements:
*Segments window. Drag segments from other windows in BIRT Analytics and drop them in this main area of Scratchpad. Available segments are tables from a database, discrete values, and the results of some analyses.
*Status bar. This information section appears below the Scratchpad segments window and displays the number of records in the selected segment.
*Segment handling menu. When you drag one segment over another in Scratchpad, the join functions in Table 2‑2 appear in a menu.
Table 2‑2 Functions used to join segment contents
Icon
Function
Description
AND
Joins the two categories with the resulting segment containing those records that meet both conditions simultaneously.
For example, you could select Customers who are Sales Assistants and under the age of 25.
OR
Joins the two categories with the resulting segment containing those records that meet one or both of the conditions.
For example, you could select customers who are either Sales Assistants or under the age of 25, which would include Sales Assistants under the age of 25.
Exclude
Joins the two categories, with the resulting segment containing those records that meet the conditions in the first category but not the second one.
For example, you could select customers who are Sales Assistants but not under the age of 25, which would exclude Sales Assistants under the age of 25.
NAND
Inversion of AND.
NOR
Inversion of OR.
*Secondary menu. When you right-click a segment, the options in Table 2‑3 are available.
Table 2‑3 Segment options
Option
Description
Rename
Prompts for a new name for the segment. Use this option if you have changed the results of the segment by joining it with another one and the default name no longer describes the segment accurately.
Delete
Removes the segment from the scratchpad.
Edit
Edits the segment in the Selections window that opens, making necessary changes or corrections.
Explore
Display all relevant table columns of the selected database in the Data Explorer panel, filtering with the chosen segment.
Invert
Change the segment to return results that exclude the selected segment.
For example, to select all records from households that are not in London, select London and invert the selection. [Household].[Town] contains 1335 different towns. Selecting all towns, except London, one by one would be very time‑consuming. Invert takes the category of London and returns all of the records that do not belong to this category.
Make permanent
Save the segment as a new field. The field appears in the table currently being used for resolution. Save a segment to make it available in a subsequent BIRT Analytics session.
After refreshing the screen view, the new field appears in the table in which it belongs.
Change resolution level
You can resolve results at different levels within the database. These levels correspond to the tables that make up the segment. For example, resolve a category from the Customer table at the Household level to display the households of the customers. To interpret the results of changing the resolution, keep in mind the direction of the resolution change, either many (N) to one or one to N.
First discrete
Choose a record for each of the selection's attributes based on a field in the database.
View definition
Examine the definition of the segment. The definition contains all of the operations applied to the segment, indicating the type of operation, the segment's total records, the number of records after performing the operation, and the query that obtains this segment. After you make a change in resolution, the operations performed are displayed in groups.
Sort
Uses a field from the database to sort the segment. The result of the sort appears in Scratchpad and not in the data explorer.
Select sample
Returns a data sample with the size determined by the selection criteria: Top, Bottom, Middle, 1 in N, Random.
Refresh
Updates the count of records in the segment.
Related topics
Understanding Data Tree
Understanding Data Explorer
Using Discrete Values
Sorting values
Video tutorials
Exploring a table
Exploring a column
View definition
This function shows the definition of the domain of the segment. This definition contains all of the operations that have been applied to the segment, indicating the type of operation, the segment's total registers, the number of registers after performing the operation and the query that obtains this segment. When changes in resolution are made, the operations previously performed are displayed in groups.
Related topics
Understanding Data Tree
Understanding Data Explorer