HP Storage Essentials Storage Resource Management Report Optimizer Software 6.0 Performing On-Report Analysis with Web Intelligence (August 2008)

Saving formulas as variables224
You can remove the #MULTIVALUE error by activating the Avoid Duplicate Row
Aggregation block property. For more information, see ”Avoiding duplicate rows” on
page 121.
Editing and deleting variables
After you have created a variable you can edit it or delete it.
Editing a variable
To edit a variable:
1. Select the variable in the list of report variables under Available Objects in the Left
Pane.
2. Click the right mouse button and click Edit on the shortcut menu, or click Edit at the top
of the Left Pane.
The Edit Variable dialog box appears.
3. Edit the variable.
4. Click Validate to check the syntax of the updated variable.
5. Click OK to save the new variable definition.
The variable is saved in the document. You can include the variable in any of the
reports within the same document.
Deleting a variable
To delete a variable:
1. Select the variable in the list of report variables under Available Objects on the Left
Pane.
2. Click the right mouse button and click Remove on the shortcut menu or click Remove
at the top of the Left Pane.
Using variables to simplify formulas
If a formula is complex you can use variables to simplify it. By using variables you break a
complex formula down into manageable parts and make it much easier to read, as well as
making building formulas much less error-prone.
You can use previously-created variables in a formula in exactly the same way as you use
other report objects. Variables appear in the formula editor under the “Variables” folder.
Example: Create a formula to return a statistical variance
Variance is a statistical term. The variance of a set of values measures the spread of those
values around their average. Web Intelligence has the function
Var() that calculates the
variance in one step, but manual calculation of variance provides a good example of how
to simplify a complex formula using variables.
You have a report showing numbers of items sold by quarter and you want to include the
variance. To calculate the variance manually you need to:
• calculate the average number of items sold