I’m trying to use a filter selector in my dashboard. I want to have the “All Blah” row always be at the top of the list. In my database I have a query that adds leading spaces. When I test the query in the Information Design Tool I get the results I expect. Now when I create that same query (with the appropriate sorting) in Xcelsius the results are correct (“All Blah” is always first) but in the results pane the leading spaces have been trimmed off.
First question: Why are the leading spaces being trimmed off?!?! I checked the universe and there is no trimming happening there.
Now when I use the results of my query in the filter selector “All Blah” is not always at the top. If I had “Abe” in my list that would show up first even though the data are sorted in the right order (“All Blah” at the top of the list). It seems as though the filter selector is sorting the data on its own. Second question: Did I just miss something in the documentation?
This behavior does not surprise me in the least. Xcelsius (and very probably the underlying Excel) is being “helpful” in automatically “cleaning up” your data.
And, no, it’s probably not actually mentioned in the documentation. That would be actually helpful.
A frequent option is to actually have the ALL option begin with a punctuation mark. This has the same effect as the leading space, but it far less likely to get stripped off. Some formats I’ve seen include:
_ALL Blah ALL Blah
!ALL Blah!
“ALL” Blah
‘ALL’ Blah
(ALL Blah)
Obviously, none of these are entirely aesthetically pleasing. But you can likely choose one that offends the least.
Is it always “All Blah”? I have an “All” option I want top of my list, but I just hard-code it into a cell, put the query results undeneath and selecet the whoel lot for the compoent.
Yes, it always has to be “All Blah” at the top of the list.
I just tried having " All Blah" (with the leading space) at the top of the range where I insert my values for the filter selector. Now " All Blah" is sorting to the top of the list.
The best answers are the simplest ones. Thanks Debbie.
I checked the universe and there is no trimming happening there.
(BOB member since 2006-03-01)
(BOB member since 2005-03-01)