Quick Design Wizard

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Designer includes a wizard for basic universes. You probably will not be able to use a universe created with the wizard 'as is,' but it is a useful tool for creating a universe quickly and becoming more familiar with universe components. In the following example, you will create a new universe based on the MS Access database EFASHION.DB that BusinessObjects provides in the demo directory. For now, leave some options blank and at the default setting. The various options are explained further in this chapter.

1. To invoke the Quick Design Wizard, start Designer and choose File | New or click New Universe. Table 6-1 lists all buttons and shortcuts available in Designer.

   Note 

   If the wizard does not appear, check that your default settings enable the wizard. From the Designer menu, select Tools | Options. On the General tab, click the check box File/New Starts Quick Design Wizard.

   Table 6-1: Designer Toolbar Buttons

   Button/Key Combo	Name	Function
   or ctrl-n	New Universe	Creates a new universe
   or ctrl-o	Open Universe	Opens an existing universe
   or ctrl-s	Save Universe	Saves the universe to disk in the .unv file. Does not export the universe to the repository
   or ctrl-p	Print	Prints the universe definitions and structure
   	Print Preview	Previews what definitions will be printed
   or ctrl-x	Cut	Cuts the selected item (table, join, object)
   or ctrl-c	Copy	Puts the selected item into the MS Windows clipboard
   or ctrl-v	Paste	Pastes the selected item
   or ctrl-z	Undo/Redo	Undoes or redoes the last action
   	Quick Design Wizard	Launches the universe design wizard to build a new universe
   	Parameters	Modifies the universe parameters such as connection information, SQL settings, strategies
   	Hierarchies	Creates or modifies the universe hierarchies
   	View List Mode	Views the join and context lists in statements as well as in the ERD
   	Arrange Tables	Reorganizes the tables to make the structure pane easier to read
   	Zoom Out	Makes tables in the structure window appear smaller
   	Zoom In	Makes tables in the structure window appear larger
   	Contextual Help	Launches the Designer Help
   	Insert Class	Inserts a new class
   	Insert Object	Inserts a new object within a class
   	Insert Condition	Inserts a condition object
   	Show or Hide Item	Hides an object or class from users
   	Table Browser	Shows a list of tables available to add to the universe
   	Insert Join	Inserts a join between two tables
   	Insert Alias	Creates an alias name for a table that already is used in the universe
   	Insert Context	Creates a context to prevent loops in a universe
   	Detect Joins	Checks the universe to determine if there are any tables not joined
   	Detect Cardinalities	Detects cardinalities, or relationships between tables
   	Detect Loops	Checks the universe to determine if there are any loops, and prompts for ways to resolve
   	Detect Aliases	Checks the universe to determine if any tables create a loop that an alias could resolve
   	Detect Contexts	Checks the universe for loops and determines if contexts would resolve the loops
   	Check Integrity	Performs multiple universe integrity checks

2. The Wizard will present you with a welcome screen that gives you an overview of the steps to build a universe. Click Begin to proceed.

   

3. Give your universe a meaningful name such as Test Fashion. The universe name can be more than eight characters long and can contain spaces. The universe name is different from the PC filename that contains all the universe definitions. Test Fashion is what users will see when selecting a data source for a report.

4. Click New to create a connection to efashion.mdb.

5. Select ODBC Drivers from the list and click OK.

6. From the ODBC Drivers dialog box, give the connection a meaningful name such as Fashion Database.

   Note 

   Users will never see this connection name; only universe designers do.

   

7. Under Database Engine, select the version of MS Access used to create the database.

8. Under Data source name, select Efashion and then click OK. Test your connection. BusinessObjects should reply with 'The Server Is Responding.' If you do not receive this message, BusinessObjects cannot locate the MS Access database, because you selected either the wrong path or the wrong database driver. Click OK to return to the Quick Design Wizard.

9. Click Next to proceed to Step 2 of the wizard. In this step, you select either the full tables or individual data columns that will become universe classes and objects, respectively. By clicking the + sign next to the table name, you can choose individual columns from the table that will become objects. You may find it easier initially to add all the columns and delete the individual ones you don't want. Hold down the CTRL key while clicking the following three tables: ARTICLE_LOOKUP, CALENDAR_YEAR_LOOKUP, and SHOP_FACTS.

10. Click Add. If you click the + sign next to any of the individual classes, you will notice that Designer has added all the columns in each table with a blue box next to the item to denote a dimension. These symbols and object types are discussed further in Chapter 8.

    

11. Click Next to proceed to Step 3 of the wizard, in which you select objects that become measures. A measure is often referred to as a 'fact' in a fact table in a data warehouse. It is numeric data that business users wish to analyze by different dimensions. In BusinessObjects, measures generally include a SQL aggregate function such as COUNT or SUM. These are also discussed further in Chapter 8. For now, click the + sign next to Shop_Facts, select Article_Code, then Count. Notice that the wizard will add a measure object called Number Of Article Code with a pink circle or sphere. Repeat the same steps for MARGIN, AMOUNT_SOLD, and QUANTITY_SOLD, using the Sum aggregate function for these objects.

    

    Note 

    These measure objects are duplicates of objects created when you added the whole SHOP_FACTS table. The difference is that these objects contain a SQL SUM or COUNT command, whereas the ones in the Shop Facts class do not. You will eventually delete the duplicate objects from the Shop Facts class.

12. Click Next to proceed to Step 4 of the wizard. In this step, the wizard tells you how many classes, objects, and joins your initial universe contains. Click Finish to exit the wizard and view the universe in Designer.

13. Unfortunately, efashion.mdb has a small typo in the database that does not dynamically create one join you need. The default join strategy setting (discussed later in this chapter, in the section 'The Strategies Tab') uses columns with the exact same names to create joins. The names are case sensitive. In the sample efashion.mdb database, 'key' in the WEEK_KEY column is lowercase in the SHOP_FACTS table and initial caps in CALENDAR_YEAR_LOOKUP. You need to manually add this join. To create the join, click and drag CALENDAR_YEAR_LOOKUP.WEEK_KEY to SHOP_FACTS.WEEK_KEY.

    

14. Click File | Save from the pull-down menu or click the Save button on the toolbar to save your universe. The first time you save a universe, BusinessObjects will propose an eight-character filename with .unv as the extension. This is different from the name of the universe you created in step 3. Universe files are saved to disk by default in BusinessObjects 5.0\Universe or in whatever folder is specified under Tools | Options | Save. Users working with the BusinessObjects full client may see the .unv file on their hard disks; otherwise, it is not something they need to be aware of.

15. If you are working with a Repository, you must click File | Export to export your universe to the repository and make it available to users. Users will not see the new universe until you complete this step.

Congratulations! You have just completed your initial universe. If only a real business universe could be this easy! In the following sections of this chapter, we will look at the settings and options that helped you build this universe.

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