WebI 4.x Vertical Text orientation in a table header

building reports webintelligence
1

Hi All,

With this post I would like to group all working ways how to display the header names having Vertical text orientation.

If you search within the Web you should easily find the idea to decrease the column width and to use Word wrap property as well but I don’t think that this is good enough, at least for me, as the cell data in the table body is wrapped as well.

Using HTML is not working for me either.

So I found this formula somewhere in the forums:

=Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace([MyDimension];“a”;“a”+Char(10));“b”;“b”+Char(10));“c”;“c”+Char(10));“d”;“d”+Char(10));“e”;“e”+Char(10));“f”;“f”+Char(10));“g”;“g”+Char(10));“h”;“h”+Char(10));“i”;“i”+Char(10));“j”;“j”+Char(10));“k”;“k”+Char(10));“l”;“l”+Char(10));“m”;“m”+Char(10));“n”;“n”+Char(10));“o”;“o”+Char(10));“p”;“p”+Char(10));“q”;“q”+Char(10));“r”;“r”+Char(10));“s”;“s”+Char(10));“t”;“t”+Char(10));“u”;“u”+Char(10));“v”;“v”+Char(10));“w”;“w”+Char(10));“x”;“x”+Char(10));“y”;“y”+Char(10));“z”;“z”+Char(10));“A”;“A”+Char(10));“B”;“B”+Char(10));“C”;“C”+Char(10));“D”;“D”+Char(10));“E”;“E”+Char(10));“F”;“F”+Char(10));“G”;“G”+Char(10));“H”;“H”+Char(10));“I”;“I”+Char(10));“J”;“J”+Char(10));“K”;“K”+Char(10));“L”;“L”+Char(10));“M”;“M”+Char(10));“N”;“N”+Char(10));“O”;“O”+Char(10));“P”;“P”+Char(10));“Q”;“Q”+Char(10));“R”;“R”+Char(10));“S”;“S”+Char(10));“T”;“T”+Char(10));“U”;“U”+Char(10));“V”;“V”+Char(10));“W”;“W”+Char(10));“X”;“X”+Char(10));“Y”;“Y”+Char(10));“Z”;“Z”+Char(10));" “;” “+Char(10));“0”;“0”+Char(10));“1”;“1”+Char(10));“2”;“2”+Char(10));“3”;“3”+Char(10));“4”;“4”+Char(10));“5”;“5”+Char(10));“6”;“6”+Char(10));“7”;“7”+Char(10));“8”;“8”+Char(10));“9”;“9”+Char(10));”-";"-"+Char(10));"";""+Char(10))

It simply replaces every character in [My Dimension] dimension object with the same concatenated with the new line character Char(10). This works fine for me.

BUT as it is working only for the English letters and I’m having a Japanese customer then I have had to think of a way to make it work for any letter. But the Japanese/Chinese/etc. alphabets are having much more than 26 letters. So I did just this simple idea - get the value and add Char(10) to the string.

This is quite easy in a normal function with a loop but in BO there are no loops…

So here is how I did it:

STEP1:
Create a new Dimension variable (a dummy one for the test) called [Text], type String, Formula =“Simple text” (or any text having special characters or symbols).

STEP2:
Create a new Dimension variable called [1], type String, having formula
=(Substr([Text];1;1)+Char(10))

STEP3:
Create new Dimensions like [1] called [2], [3], etc. at least 10 or 20 of them. Each one of them is needed for the loop and the number depends on that how long the displayed text would be.

Keep this logic:
Name: n
Qualification: Dimension
Type: string
Formula: =[n-1] + (Substr([Text]; n; 1) + Char(10))

Here is an example of that how Variable [5] should look like:
=[4] + (Substr([Text]; 5; 1) + Char(10))

STEP4:
Create new Dimension called [L]=Length([Text]) - you need to know how many characters are there in [Text].

STEP5:
Create New Dimension called [Display], type String, Having the formula:
=If [L]=1 then [1]
ElseIf [L]=2 then [2]
ElseIf [L]=3 then [3]
ElseIf [L]=4 then [4]
…

and so on! If you want to capture up to 20 characters then you’ll have to create 20 dimensions ([1]; [2]; …; [20]) and the formula of [Display] should be ending with
ElseIf [L]=20 then [20]

Hope this post will help somebody with his tasks.

Please share your thoughts if any.

Thanks,
Svet

svelikov (BOB member since 2009-08-19)

2

Superb!!! Loved this and it helped me immensely in making a vertical orientation of the header.

bubblesjoe (BOB member since 2008-10-31)

3

You can adjust the horizontal padding in the header cell only instead of decreasing the width of the whole column. E.g. if the column width is 2.15 cm, you can set the horizontal padding to 1 cm (and enable word wrapping). Then the text in the header will be displayed vertically. The drawback of the approach is that the text will be centered, you cannot align it to the left or to the right.

Dmytro Bukhantsov :norway: (BOB member since 2011-10-14)

4

Is this not available out of the box in 4.2?

Nick Daniels :uk: (BOB member since 2002-08-15)

5

To be frank, although very clever this is I tend to steer people away from something that may cause maintenance headaches later on.

In addition, if you work for large organization, you will get other teams asking for the same thing.
It would be quite an ask for this sort of thing to be on all reports.

Just my ten cents.

Mak 1 :uk: (BOB member since 2005-01-06)

6

Consider voting for this idea:

https://ideas.sap.com/D929

It has been marked as ‘For Future Consideration’ so the more votes it get the harder it becomes for SAP to ignore.

Nick Daniels :uk: (BOB member since 2002-08-15)