The ExpressView designer is a data discovery and reporting tool that simplifies grouping, sorting, filtering, and aggregating data with a drag-and-drop interface. A chart can be added with a single click, and ExpressViews can be styled and saved as PDF, RTF, CSV, or Excel files.

The ExpressView Designer

Making an ExpressView

ExpressViews allow you to quickly see data and make reports without concern for the minutiae of old-fashioned report building.

To make an ExpressView:

1. Click the New Report  icon and select  ExpressView.

   Info. The ExpressView designer is divided into the Data pane on the left, and the Design pane in the middle. The Data pane comprises all of your accessible data categories, containing groups of related data fields. Click the Choose Data  icon to expand or collapse the Data pane.

2. Expand a category by clicking the arrow  icon. This shows the fields in that category.

3. Drag a field onto the Design pane to add it to the ExpressView. This expands the field into a data column. It will only show placeholder data initially.

   

   Dragging a field onto the Design pane

4. Continue to add fields as desired. Fields can be added or removed at any time.

   Note. As you add fields, unrelated fields will become unavailable. To learn about how fields relate to each other, see Joins.

5. When you are satisfied with your data selection, click Live Data to populate the ExpressView with data. You can now page through your data using the navigation icons     in the toolbar.

    Truncated results displayed
   This icon and message indicates that the report has only returned a partial data set. There are fewer detail rows than the full set, and aggregate formulas and visualizations apply only to the data that was returned to the report.
   To get more data, click the icon and select either:

   • Generate +number to get the next number of data rows and add them to the existing report.

   • Generate All to get the full data set.

6. Click the Save  icon to save the ExpressView. In the Settings window, enter a Name and select a folder where it should live. Then click Save Report Info.

These steps illustrate how quick it is to make a tabular report from scratch using ExpressView. But ExpressViews can be more than just basic reports. You can make groups, charts, calculations, and customize the look of the report. And it is all designed to be easy to use. The articles in this section will describe how to use these powerful features.

About the radial menu

Throughout this topic you will see references to a menu called the radial menu. The radial menu is a menu of options for each data column and group, which is accessed by clicking the colored Radial  icon on the top left of the column or group.

Using the radial menu

Each radial menu has four options, arranged in a circle around the center. When you are prompted to select a radial menu option, you will be asked to "use  radial>direction". Direction is one of the four cardinal directions corresponding with one of the four options: left, right, up, down.

For example, "use  radial>left" means to open the radial menu and select the left option. To do this, you have two options:

• Click the radial icon, move your cursor left, then click again.
• Click-and-hold the radial icon, drag your cursor left, then release.

To close the radial menu without selecting an option, click in the center.

Interactive Editing

With the introduction of interactive editing to ExpressViews in v2018.2, you can customize your report by simply right-clicking on the desired section while in design or live mode.

Right-click options include all of the capabilities of the radial menu, conditional filters, and formatting options such as text alignment, font type, and font color.