Understanding the Tabs in the Designer

Tabs in the Left Pane

The Objects, Data, Imports, and Shared Rules tabs are in the left pane. The Objects, Data, and Imports tabs are displayed by default. You can choose to display icons instead of names on the tabs. To display the icons on the tabs, click the Down Arrow button

after the last tab name, and select Show icons only. From this menu, you can also choose which tabs are displayed.

The following table lists the available tabs:

Tab	Description
Objects	This tab provides a list of the tables, graphs, gauges, controls, containers, other objects, and custom objects that can be used in a report or dashboard. Note: You can use the Show or Hide Objects window to specify which report objects are displayed on the Objects tab. For more information, see Show or Hide Report Objects in the Objects Tab.
Data	This tab enables you to select a data source (or data sources) and the data items for your report. You can add, refresh, import, or remove a data source using the icons above the list of data items. Using the menu, you can change the data source, define a hierarchy, define a calculated item, define an aggregated measure, show or hide data items, and filter on a data item. You can check the details for the measures in the data set. You can use this tab to add parameters to a filter, a calculated item, a display rule, or a rank. The data item table on the Data tab provides information about a selected item, including the name, classification, format, aggregation, sort options, and parameters. These data item properties can be modified, which impacts all of the report objects that use the data item. When a report has multiple data sources, the Data tab provides information about the data source and data items for the selected report object. When you select a report object that has a different data source, the Data tab updates automatically to provide information about the selected data source.
Imports	This tab provides a list of reports and report objects that have been created in the designer or exported from the explorer. This enables you to create reports from multiple data sources and create full-featured reports. You can choose objects or sections in these reports to include in either a new report or an existing report.
Shared Rules	This tab enables you to create a new display rule for a gauge, which is used by other gauges to designate intervals and colors for ranges. You can edit or delete an existing shared display rule. These display rules are shared across multiple gauges and can be created at any time.

Tabs in the Right Pane

The Properties, Styles, Display Rules, and Roles tabs are displayed by default. You can choose to display icons instead of tab names on the tabs. To display the icons on the tabs, click the Down Arrow button

after the last tab name, and select Show icons only. From this menu, you can also choose which tabs are displayed.

The following table lists the available tabs:

Tab	Description
Properties	This tab lists the properties for the currently selected report, section, info window, or report object. When a report is selected, the report’s title and description are listed. When a section is selected, the section’s name and layout are listed, as well as any section prompts. When an info window is selected, the name and layout, any section prompts, and the size of the window are listed. For more information, see Overview of Report Sections and Info Windows. When a report object is selected, the object’s name, title, and description are listed. Information that is specific to the report object type, such as the axes and legend, is listed. If a report object is not selected on the canvas, then the properties are for the section, info window, or report.
Styles	This tab enables you to specify the data styling, frame styling, text styling, and data colors for a selected report object. You can specify the report theme for the report.
Display Rules	This tab enables you to populate intervals, add intervals, or add color-mapped values to an object that is currently selected on the canvas. You can edit or delete an existing display rule for the selected table, graph, gauge, or control.
Roles	This tab enables you to add or update data role assignments in a selected report object that has a data source.
Alerts	This tab enables you to add, update, or delete alerts for report objects.
Comments	This tab enables you to add comments to the report after you save it.
Filters	This tab enables you to add a filter (or filters) to the selected report object.
Interactions	This tab enables you to create interactions and links.
Ranks	This tab enables you to add rankings to report objects. For example, you might want to see the top 10 products that sold last year.