Data Entry on a Flex Grid

💡 In version 14.2.2 and earlier, Data Entry on a Flex Grid Object is not available.

The Flex Grid Object has Data Entry capabilities with spreadsheet-like features such as:

• data entry on Pivot Mode with expand and collapse interactions on rows and columns

• data entry in combination with Object filters/sorting and selections

About Flex Grid Data Entry

The Data Entry option allows data entry on the selected Data Block. The default settings display cells that accept Data Entry actions with a yellow background.

Data entry can be enabled on Blocks and Algorithms populated with:

• A Cube. In this case, a Data Entry action saves a value (numerical, text, a date) or a file in the specified Cube

  • Data Entry actions on BLOB Cubes must be performed at physical level, i.e. the Cube dimensions must be present in the "BY ROW"  fields in the axis area or using By Column

• An Entity Block. In this case, a Data Entry action allows the assignment or change of a hierarchical relationship

  As in a Data View Object, only “direct” relationships can be edited via this configuration.

Activating this option alone is not sufficient to enable Data Entry. The following additional Data Entry conditions must be met:

• The user must have an appropriate Board license and the necessary security privileges to perform write-back actions

• For text, date, and BLOB Cubes, Data Entry is supported only at the physical level, not on aggregate views

• Time functions (such as Previous Year, Yearly Cumulated Valued, etc.) and reference functions (such as Refer to, Detail by, etc.) cannot be activated if the Data Entry option is enabled

• If the Layout view is an aggregate view on the Data Entry Cube, the Data Split & Splat (logical data-entry) feature must be enabled (Split & Splat is automatically enabled by default when Data Entry is enabled)

In conjunction with the Data Entry, it is possible to enable Split & Splat on the same Data Block.

How to: Data Entry on a Flex Grid

To perform data entry on a Flex Grid, you must first configure a Flex Grid Object. The Object must be configured with at least one Cube or Entity. For Cubes, data entry can only be performed at the physical level, meaning, all the Entities that configure a Cube must be added by Row in the Flex Grid.

Data entry can be performed at logical level if the split & splat option is enabled.

1. In Design Mode, configure a Flex Grid to show data at a physical level:

   1. Open the Layout Editor and add a Block

   2. Double click the Block or right click and choose “Settings” to open the Block Settings

   3. Enable the “Data Entry” toggle from the menu and click on it to configure the Data Entry settings as desired

      1. Add Validation Rule. Allows you to define a validation formula in order to automatically accept or reject entered values. Click on "ADD VALIDATION RULE" and type the logical expression and the corresponding error message to display when the rule is not met

      2. Validate only changed values

      3. Suggested Values. Allows the configuration of suggested values that will be shown to the user during data entry actions (i.e. double-clicking on the cell to be modified). These values are taken from another Block or Entity in the Layout, or from a manually configured Custom List chosen from the Dropdown box called “Show values from”

      4. Cells Locked By Block. Allows locking or unlocking Data entry on cells based on values from another Block. Locked cells are shown with a different background color.

         The locking rule works at the data aggregation level displayed in the Flex Grid, so it considers only cells that are visible on the Screen. If you drill down to a different aggregation level, the locking rule will only consider cells displayed in the Drill Down window.

         1. Block

         2. Condition

   4. Click Save

   5. Go to the Axes area of the Layout Editor

   6. Dimension the Flex Grid, usually by the Entities that make up the Cube in which you’ve enabled Data Entry on

2. In Play Mode, configure the Flex Grid in Flat Mode and Pivot Mode with the elements in the right panel to expose the yellow data entry cells

3. Enter data and click enter. The new data will display in the color red by default and will not be automatically saved

4. To save the data entry, click the checkmark in the Object Toolbar

It is possible to perform Data Entry on Unbalanced Entities when Tree View enabled

Data Entry Restrictions

Data entry cannot be performed on:

• Drillable Blocks

• RDB Cubes

• Blocks configured with a “Refer to” (instead, Data Entry is possible with Object Selection active)

• Multiple Unbalanced Entities set by row

• Reverse Rules

• Pattern based Data Entry

• Totals with Summary Algorithms different from SUM

• When more than 100k rows are displayed and row grouping is enabled, copy and paste is available only on visible data (1000 rows)

Locking Cells

You can generally lock cells by Block with a specified condition like a Data View with a few differences outlined below:

Lock in Configuration

You can configure cells to be locked directly within your setup with two available methods to apply this configuration:

• Cells Locked by Block. A Data Entry Block can be locked by the values of another Block, same as in Data View

• Lock via Data Model Security. A Data Entry Block can be locked by other Cubes in the Data Model using the configuration in the “Cubes Visibility” section of the Data Model security area

Lock Cells Manually

You can lock cells manually and perform multiple data entries, via the toolbar, before unlocking, unlike a Data View.

Lock Restrictions

Some restrictions on locking cells are the following:

• Locking totals to perform redistribution is not supported

• The "Lock physical cells where" and "Pattern-based allocation" functionalities are not available

• Lock & Spread functionalities except of "Manual Lock" are not available

• Locking an Unbalanced Entity will not lock all of its descendants like in a Data View

• Total cells which are both row and column totals cannot be manually locked

Nexel write-back is not supported as Nexel is still not available on Flex Grid.

Flex Grid Data Entry on Row Headers

It is possible to apply Data Entry on Row Headers from a Flex Grid Object to quickly adjust large amounts of data.

How to Apply Data Entry to a Row Header

To apply Data Entry to a Row Header, you must meet the requirements, configure the Flex Grid Layout appropriately, and setup the Object from the Screen in Design Mode. These are explained below:

In the case of Unbalanced Hierarchies, Data Entry on a Row Header is not available for parent Members.

Requirements

1. Add a Block and enable it with Data Entry (Block settings of Layout)

2. Add Entities to the Layout. Below the "By Row" section in the Axes area, select an Entity under "Data Entry on Row Headers"

3. Configure the Flex Grid with the same Entity selected in #2 in "Row Groups" (configured from the Fields panel)

4. Layout setup

   1. Enable Data Entry on Block

   2. In the Axes area of the Layout, under “Data Entry on Row Headers”, select the desired Data Entry Entities, of which will be placed into Row Groups

5. Object Setup

   1. Add the desired Data Entry Entities into Row Groups

Applying Data Entry on Row Headers in a Flex Grid

1. Double-click the member in the Row Groups column and a dropdown menu appears with all the members associated with the same Entity

2. Select one of the members. The name changes to the chosen member name and turns red to indicate unsaved data entry. The member name chosen that already exists in the column will also turn red to indicate that it also will change

3. To save the data entry, press the checkmark in the Object Toolbar.