Using Controls to Display Results :: SAS(R) Visual Analytics 6.3: User's Guide

Working with Controls

A control is a report object that filters or narrows the scope of the data that you are currently viewing. A control enables you to group your data by a selected category, and then select which group you want to view. When you drag and drop a data item onto a control, the control creates a group based on that data item. For example, you might have a data item called Cars that contains all of the models that a manufacturer produces. When you drag and drop the Cars data item onto a drop-down list, the control groups the car models, and then you can select a car model to use as a filter. Controls can be used in a report with interactions.

Section prompts are the controls that are placed in the special row area at the top of the canvas. Only the drop-down list, button bar, and text input controls can be used in section prompts. A section prompt automatically filters all of the other report objects in the same section, as long as the report object uses the same data source as the section prompt control. For more information, see Use a Control to Create a Section Prompt.

You can place any control in the main area of the canvas below the section prompt row. You must define explicit interactions (using either the Interactions tab or the Interactions view) between these controls (as the source report objects) and one or more target report objects. For more information about interactions, see Overview of Interactions.

The following controls are available in the designer:

drop-down lists
lists
button bars
text input fields
range sliders

Specify Control Properties

To specify the properties for a control:

If it is not already selected, select the control in the canvas that you want to update.
In the right pane, click the Properties tab.
Update the general properties for the control. You can update the Name, Title, Format (for the title's font style), and Description.
Update the specific properties for the control. The available properties depend on the selected control.
Here are some details about the properties for controls:
- By default, the Enable selection in the viewers property is not selected for controls. This means that users who use the web viewer or a mobile device cannot select the control and click to see the control name and any incoming filter information. However, the user can still modify values for the control.
- For drop-down lists, lists, and button bars, select the Required property if you want to require users to make a selection in the control. If you select the Required property for a list, at least one check box must always be selected.
- By default, the Allow multiple selection property is selected for lists. If you clear the Allow multiple selection check box, radio button are displayed instead of check boxes and the Required property is applied automatically.
- For button bars and range sliders, the Horizontal property is selected by default.

Specify Control Styles

To specify styles for controls:

If it is not already selected, select the control in the canvas that you want to update.
In the right pane, click the Styles tab.
Update the styles for the control. The available styles depend on the selected control type. For example, for a drop-down list, you can specify Drop–down Styling and Text Styling.

Use a Control to Create a Section Prompt

The drop-down list, button bar, and text input controls are the only ones that can be used as section prompts.

To use a control to create a section prompt:

Drag the control icon from the Objects tab in the left pane and drop it onto the area above the canvas. (Look for the hint text that says, “Drop controls here to create a section prompt.”) The control appears above the canvas.
Drop a category onto the control. For example, if you drag and drop a drop-down list control, then you can assign a category like Facility City or Facility State. Then the drop-down list is populated with the cities or states that are used in that category.

You can also use the Roles tab in the right pane, and then specify the Category and Frequency roles.

If you use a control to create a section prompt, then the user can select a value to filter the data. For some control types, when the Required property is not selected, the user might need to press Ctrl+click to clear the value in the filter.