Working with Calculated Items in Reports :: SAS® Visual Analytics 7.4: User's Guide

About Calculated Data Items

The designer enables you to calculate new data items from your existing data items by using an expression. For example, you might want to calculate a company’s profits by subtracting expenses from revenues.

In addition to performing mathematical calculations on numeric values, you can use calculated data items to create date and time values. For example, if your data contains separate categories for month, day, and year, then you can calculate a date value from those categories.

Here are some key points about calculated data items:

All calculations are performed on unaggregated data. The calculation expression is evaluated for each row in the data source before aggregations are performed. To perform calculations on aggregated data, see Add a New Aggregated Measure to a Report.
Calculated data items can accept parameters. For more information, see Working with Parameters in Reports.
A hierarchy can contain calculated data items as long as they are categories.
Starting in the 7.2 release, calculated data items can be changed into geographic data items and used in geo maps.

Using the designer, you can work with calculated data items or aggregated measures.

For information about deleting calculated data items, see Delete Data Items.

Add a New Calculated Data Item to a Report

To add a new calculated data item:

On the Data tab, click , and then select New Calculated Item. The New Calculated Item window is displayed.
Enter a Name.

Select a Result type from the drop-down list. Numeric is the default data type.

The following table lists the available result types:

Icon	Result Type
	Character
	Date
	Datetime
	Numeric
	Time

Calculated data items in the designer always default to the following formats, which are based on the data type:

Date: DATE9
Datetime: DATETIME10
Time: TIME8
Numeric: COMMA12.2

After you create the new calculated data item, you can change its format using the data item table on the Data tab unless it is a character calculated data item. You cannot specify a format for a character calculated data item.

Sum is the default aggregation for new numeric calculated data items in the designer. You can change the aggregation for numeric calculated data items using the data item table on the Data tab.

(Optional) Click beside Detail mode to clear the Show all drop zones option. You can also select Show display text, which adds a new tab between the Messages and Scratch tabs.
Use the Visual tab to build the expression for your calculated data item by dragging Data Items and Operators onto the expression in the right pane. For each rectangular field in the expression, you can insert a data item, an operator, or a specific value.

When you drag and drop data items or operators onto your expression, the precise location of the cursor determines where and how the new element is added to the expression. As you drag the new element over the expression, a preview appears that displays how the expression changes if you drop the element at that location.

For example, if your current expression is ( Profit / Revenue ), and you drag and drop the x - y (subtract) operator inside the open parenthesis symbol, then the expression changes to ( [number] – ( Profit / Revenue )). If you drag and drop the operator over the division symbol, then the expression changes to ( Profit – Revenue ), and so on.

Alternatively, you can use the Text tab to enter the expression.

You can use the Scratch tab to build temporary expressions.

There are a large number of operator types available to perform mathematical functions, process datetime values, handle text, and evaluate logical processing such as IF clauses. For more information, see Operators for Data Expressions.
(Optional) Click Preview to preview the results of the calculation. The Preview Results window is displayed. Click Close to return to the New Calculated Item window.
Click OK. The new calculated data item appears on the Data tab. The , , or icon identifies the new calculated data item on the Data tab.

Note: The icon is displayed if you change a calculated numeric measure to a category data item. It is also displayed for a character calculated data item (which is always a category).

Preview the Expression for a Calculated Data Item

For calculated data items only, you can preview the results of your expression by clicking Preview.

You can preview the results of a subset of your expression by right-clicking a part of your expression, and then selecting Preview Subexpression Results.

Edit a Calculated Data Item

To edit a calculated data item:

Right-click on a calculated data item on the Data tab, and select Edit Calculated Item. The Edit Calculated Item window is displayed.
Modify the Data Items and Operators for the calculated data item as needed. For information about the operators that are available, see Operators for Data Expressions.

Note: If the calculated data item has not been used in a report, then you can modify the Result type.
Click OK.

You can duplicate, rename, hide, and delete calculated data items using the same steps as any other data item. If a calculated data item is used inside another calculated data item, then it cannot be removed.

Tip

You can cut and paste from the Text area between different reports as well as between the explorer and the designer to transfer calculations or to e-mail them to others. For more information, see Editing a Data Expression in Text Mode.

Add a New Aggregated Measure to a Report

Aggregated measures enable you to calculate new data items by using aggregated values. For example, you might want to calculate a company's profit margin by region by taking the aggregated sum of the profit for all of the stores in a region group and dividing it by the aggregated sum of the revenue for all of the stores in that same region group. Aggregations are evaluated as part of a calculated expression.

To add an aggregated measure:

On the Data tab, click , and then select New Aggregated Measure. The New Aggregated Measure window is displayed.
Enter a Name.
(Optional) Click to Show all drop zones. You can also choose to Show scratch area to build temporary expressions.
Use the Visual tab to build the expression for your aggregated measure by dragging and dropping Data Items and Operators onto the expression in the right pane. For each field in the expression, you can insert a data item, an operator, or a specific value.

When you drag and drop data items and operators onto the expression, the precise location of the cursor determines where and how the data item or operator is added to the expression. As you drag the new element over the expression, a preview appears, which displays how the expression would change if you drop the element at the current location.

Alternatively, you can use the Text tab to enter the expression.

There are a large number of operator types available to perform mathematical functions and evaluate logical processing such as IF clauses. For more information, see Operators for Data Expressions.
For each data item in your expression, select an aggregation type. By default, Sum is used for measures and Distinct is used for categories. To select a new aggregation type, drag and drop an aggregated operator from the Operators list onto the aggregation type in the expression. See Operators for Data Expressions for a list of the aggregated operators that are available.
For each aggregation in your expression, select the aggregation context. A drop-down list beside each aggregation enables you to select one of the following context values:

ByGroup

calculates the aggregation for each subset of the data item that is used in a visualization. For example, in a bar chart, an aggregated measure with the ByGroup context calculates a separate aggregated value for each bar in the chart.

ForAll

calculates the aggregation for the entire data item (after filtering). For example, in a bar chart, an aggregated measure with the ForAll context uses the same aggregated value (calculated for the entire data item) for each bar in the chart.
By using the ForAll and ByGroup contexts together, you can create measures that compare the local value to the global value. For example, you might calculate the difference from mean by using an expression such as the following:
```
Avg ByGroup(X) - Avg ForAll(X)
```
For more information, see Periodic Operators.
Click OK. The new aggregated measure appears on the Data tab. The icon identifies the new aggregated measure.

Edit an Aggregated Measure

To edit an aggregated measure:

Right-click on an aggregated measure on the Data tab, and select Edit Aggregated Measure. The Edit Aggregated Measure window is displayed.
Modify the Data Items and Operators for the aggregated measure as needed. For information about the operators that are available, see Operators for Data Expressions.
Click OK.

You can duplicate, rename, hide, and delete aggregated measures using the same steps as any other data item.

Tip

You can cut and paste from the Text area between different reports, as well as between the explorer and the designer, to transfer calculations or to e-mail them to others. For more information, see Editing a Data Expression in Text Mode.