Subject Areas pane

Use this pane to:

Select the columns and members to add to an analysis.
Select the column to use when you create or edit a named filter.
Initiate a search within the subject areas that are displayed in the Subject Areas pane.
Change the sort order of subject area folders and objects within the subject area folders.
Add or remove subject areas that are related to the primary subject area that you have selected. You select a primary subject area when you create an analysis or a new named filter. (Only related subject areas that you have permission to access are available for you to add.)
Refresh the columns that display in the subject area or refresh the subject area's metadata after the administrator made changes to the columns in the repository.
View the metadata dictionary information for a selected subject area, folder, column, or hierarchy level.

For more information, see:

This pane is part of all the tabs of the "Analysis editor" and part of the "Filter editor."

Components

Subject Area Tree

Displays the primary subject area and any related subject areas that you have added.

Use this tree to:

Expand and collapse a folder to show the folder's columns.

In addition, when the Subject Areas pane is displayed in the:
- "Analysis editor: Criteria tab," you can expand a hierarchical column to show its levels.
- "Analysis editor: Results tab," you can expand a column to show its members. (You cannot show its members in the Criteria tab.)
If tooltips have been configured in the Oracle BI Presentation Services Administration page, then you can hover over a column name and see its description.
Select the columns and members to add to an analysis. You can add a column or a member to an analysis in one of two ways:
- Double-click the column to display it in the "Selected Columns pane" or the Results tab.
- Drag and drop the column to the Selected Columns pane.
  
  For tasks that allow you to select more than one column, you can press Ctrl+Click to select multiple columns or Shift+Click to select a range of columns and then drag and drop those multiple columns at once.
You cannot select levels of a hierarchical column; you can select only the entire column.
Select the column to use when you create or edit a named filter. To do so, double-click the column to display the "New Filter dialog," where you create the filter based on the selected column.

Toolbar

The toolbar contains the following buttons:

Search — Use this button to display the Search field, where you can initiate a search within the subject areas that are displayed in the Subject Areas pane. The results of the search include subject areas, columns, and folders. For example, if you enter time, the search results show all subject areas, columns, and folders that include "time" in their name.

You can use:
- The percent sign (%) as a wildcard.
- The Sort Subject Area toolbar button to sort the results.
- The Refresh toolbar button to clear the results.
- The tooltip to see which subject area a column or folder belongs.
Sort Subject Area — Use this button to sort the subject areas and objects within the subject areas for this analysis. See "Changing the Sort Order of Subject Areas and Subject Area Folders," for additional information. To change the subject area sort order for all analyses, select an option from the Subject Area Sort Order list in the "My Account dialog: Preferences tab."
Add/Remove Subject Areas — This button is available only if one or more related subject areas are available and you have permission to access them. Use this button to display the "Add/Remove Subject Areas dialog," from which you can add or remove related subject areas.
Refresh — Clicking this button executes the default behavior of Refresh Display. Clicking the arrow beside the button enables you to select one of the following options:
- Refresh Display — Use this option to refresh the subject area view without refreshing the Oracle BI EE server cache. Use this option when the subject area does not contain the columns that you expect to see. If you use this option and the expected columns still do not display, then use the Reload Server Metadata option.
- Reload Server Metadata — Use this option to reload the subject area's metadata when you know that the administrator has built new metadata in the repository or if after you use the Refresh Display option and the subject area display still does not contain the columns that you expect to see in the subject area. For example, if the administrator added a new measure column to the repository metadata, then you would not see it in the subject area until after you reloaded the metadata. The administrator cannot force a reload of the subject area's metadata. Reloading the metadata also refreshes the subject area's display.
  
  Reloading metadata clears the metadata cache that is used by all users within the server instance, and after the metadata is reloaded, the metadata cache is re-built as user queries are run. This process of re-building the cache can slow system performance slightly.
View Metadata Dictionary — This button is available only when the Subject Areas pane is displayed in the Criteria tab or the Results tab of the Analysis editor and only if the administrator has configured for the display of metadata dictionary information. This button is not available if you select column values or members. Click this button to display the metadata dictionary page for the selected subject area, folder, column, or hierarchy level.

For more information, see "Viewing Metadata Information from the Subject Areas Pane."

Notes

See "Columns in the Excluded Drop Target" for information on how adding columns to a view using the Subject Areas pane can place them in the Excluded drop target.