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Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Published by philight Software International Pty Ltd All other copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners Printed: April 2014 Document Version: 1.0.5 Disclaimer: The information in this document remains the current view of philight Software International Pty Ltd and is subject to change without notice. This position is due to changing market conditions and should not be interpreted as a commitment to the correct operation of any technology or product contained herein. This document is intended as information only and philight Software International Pty Ltd makes no warranties, express or implied as to the information in this document. All rights reserved. The copyright of this document and the computer software described herein and provided herewith are the property of philight Software International Pty Ltd. No part of this publication or the computer software may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any human or computer language, in any form or by any means or otherwise used without the express written permission of philight Software International Pty Ltd. philight Software International Pty Ltd 15 Ohio Place Marangaroo WA 6065 AUSTRALIA
Contents 3 Table of Contents Part I Introduction 5 1 What... To Do 5 2 Additional... Resources 5 3 Before... You Start 6 Client... Setup 6 Web Service... 7 User Login... 8 Part II Microsoft Excel 10 1 Sharperlight... Ribbon 10 2 Query... Builder 10 Filters... 11 Selection... 14 Outputs... 16 3 Table... Formula 17 4 Drilldown... 19 5 Cell... Referencing 22 6 Recalculation... 25 7 Sorting... 25 8 Expressions... 26 9 Filtered... Columns 28 10 Value... Formulas 31 11 Query... Manager 34 12 Summary... 36 Part III Web Channel 38 1 Publisher... 39 General... 43 Report... 43 Table... 45 Chart... 46 2 Web... Interface 48 3 Dashboard... 51 4 Summary... 55 Index 0
Part I
Introduction 1 5 Introduction Welcome to the Sharperlight for Microsoft Dynamics GP Quick Start Guide. Using practical examples and a step by step approach, this guide will explain how new users can use Sharperlight to query and report from Dynamics GP. The basic functionality is examined in detailed and more advance concepts are mentioned and the audience is referred to other reference and training materials. This guide uses the Sharperlight XL Add-in to demonstrate how queries can be constructed using the Query Builder and then anchored in a Microsoft Excel worksheet with Sharperlight formulas. These formulas provide an access point back to the underlying query which can be refined and extended with new fields, calculations and additional filters. The Sharperlight formulas are also drill points which can automate Drilldown analysis of the selected query data. From these basic concepts the guide introduces cell referencing to the worksheet, how formulas are recalculation and the difference between Table and Value Formulas. The second section of this guide, shows how a query in Microsoft Excel can be seamlessly pushed to the web by saving the query in Publisher. The sample query is then accessed within a web browser and refreshed with different filters. Lastly, the web query is charted on the fly and the chart is added to a Dashboard page. The examples in this guide are using the Fabrikam Ltd company TWO that is supplied with Dynamics GP. If the TWO database is not available then the audience will have to adjust there thinking to use their own companies. 1.1 What To Do This guide has a Before You Start section that has some suggestions on what to check before you attempt to follow along, it is worth reading and verifying your Sharperlight installation, if you haven't worked with it before. The rest of this document focuses on the step by step examples of using Sharperlight, it has general background commentary at the start of each section and then directions on what to do. 1.2 Additional Resources Where other documents are referenced in this guide, the latest versions can be downloaded from Manuals and Guides folder on the Sharperlight Resources website. Most the dialogs and screens within Sharperlight have context sensitive help articles, just look for the Help buttons and they will open the online help resources.
6 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Sharperlight Resources Website 1.3 Before You Start If your organisation is already using Sharperlight with Dynamics GP, then all you need to do to follow this guide, is a local installation of the Sharperlight client. This will allow you to use the Sharperlight Add-in for Microsoft Excel. A quick way to check if Sharperlight is installed, is to open Microsoft Excel and see if there is a Sharperlight XL menu. If there is no menu then Sharperlight might still be installed but the add-in is not auto loading into Excel. Check to see if there is a Sharperlight folder from the Start - All Programs menu and if there isn't, use Windows Explorer to verify if there is a Program Files (x86) \philight\sharperlight folder. If neither the menu or the application folder are visible then you need a client install because the add-in needs local libraries and run-time files. For guidance on installing the software and loading the Sharperlight Add-in into Microsoft Excel, refer to the Sharperlight 2.10 Install Guide from the resources website. 1.3.1 Client Setup The standard deployment of Sharperlight uses a central application server which hosts the Sharperlight Query Engine and Web Service. Users then access published web content through a web browser or they can connect directly to the web service using a rich query client. If for whatever reason the Sharperlight client fails to connect to the web service, it will open the Client Setup dialog, for the connection details to be verified and tested. In a normal deployment of the client, there should be no Local Connections and only Remote Connections. There may be more than one Remote Connection and some of the connections may be using internet addresses, to connect to web services hosted elsewhere in the world.
Introduction 7 Client Setup There is a Test button below the Remote Connection details to confirm that the client can connect successfully to the remote service. If the connection fails, check the connection protocal, port number, server name and service code with another computer that does work or verify the connection details with someone who has technical knowledge of your Sharperlight installation. Remote Connection Test 1.3.2 Web Service The Sharperlight Web Service has two distinct parts, there is an API address for the rich client and a REST address for all the web content, like web reports and dashboards. To follow along with the examples in the Web Channel section of this guide, you will need to know the unique web address of your Sharperlight REST Service. This URL will probably be valid only in your local network and it will be a http:// or https:// address with a server name, port number and service name. For example, http://slserver:4001/service1rest/index would indicate the Sharperlight Service is running on the SLServer, the access port is 4001, the name of the service is Service1. For guidance on configuring and running the Sharperlight Service, refer to the Sharperlight 2.10 Install Guide from the resources website.
8 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Service 1.3.3 User Login Sharperlight logins are normally secured to designated users who then have rights to query production databases. User access can be controlled by a native Sharperlight login, with a user name and password, or it can use windows authenticated security. Before you can open the Query Builder, you need a valid login, so check with your Sharperlight administrator to confirm your login credentials. If you are just working with a demo environment, the default login for Sharperlight is guest with no password. Login Dialog
Part II
10 2 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Microsoft Excel The Sharperlight XL Add-in integrates the Query Builder into Microsoft Excel and queries can be anchored into worksheets with intelligent formulas. These Sharperlight formulas conform to all the standard concepts inherit in Excel and thus, the formulas can be referenced by name range or cell address to feed filters, and the formulas refresh whenever the worksheet is recalculated. The Sharperlight formulas can be copied and pasted, and the same query template can be used multiple times in the same workbook, even in the same worksheet. The Sharperlight Add-in will work with every release of Microsoft Excel from 2003 up to and including 2013. The same Excel 2003 workbook can be opened in any subsequent release of Microsoft Excel and the Sharperlight formulas will still work the same way without any loss of functionality. Directions: Open Microsoft Excel Open Microsoft Excel and select the Sharperlight XL Add-in menu, if the Sharperlight menu is not visible, refer to the instructions in the Before You Start section at the beginning of this document. 2.1 Sharperlight Ribbon The Sharperlight Ribbon in Excel provides shortcuts to its most common functionality. When a user opens Microsoft Excel the Sharperlight XL Add-in is normally configured to auto load but it won't attempt to login unless one of the ribbon icons is selected or a Sharperlight formula is recalculated or opened. On logging in, the user will either be challenged for a user name and password, or be logged in automatically based on their windows authentication. Sharperlight Ribbon For purposes of this guide the Value and Table Formula icons will be used to create these two types of formulas. The Drilldown icon will be used to drill into a Value Formula and the Query Manager will be used to view all the query templates stored in a workbook. 2.2 Query Builder The Query Builder is the common user interface for constructing queries and the same dialog is used throughout the Sharperlight suite. The Query tab is sectioned into a Filters, Selection and Outputs pane. The general idea is that any field can be dragged and dropped from any pane, so the fields in the Selection list can be dragged into Outputs and they can be added as Filters in the same way.
Microsoft Excel 11 Query Builder Directions: Select the Table Icon on the Sharperlight Ribbon Start with a new blank workbook, select cell D8 on Sheet1 and click on the Table icon from the Sharperlight Ribbon. If you have been setup for windows authentication in Sharperlight, then a small Sharperlight dialog with a spinning dial will appear and then the Query Builder will be opened into view. If you need a native login then you will be challenged for a valid user name and password before the Query Builder will open. What you see in the Query Builder will depend on whether you have used Sharperlight on this computer before and your user access. Chances are that it will display a few main filters but nothing in the Selection or Output panes. 2.2.1 Filters The Filters control where, what and how a query is returned to the user. There are normally three or four main filters that always appear in the Filter pane. The Mode determines whether the query will summarise the results or if individual detailed transactions will be returned. The Product defines the source of the data and each Product uses a Datamodel to control the layout and access to the underlying systems. The Tables filter is the name of the query object that the user wants to extract information from, and it may not be a physical table because it could be a view, stored procedure, web service call and even an in-memory object. The fourth filter may or may not exist and it will be dependent on the Datamodel. These are called Superfields and they always appear between the Product and Table filters. The Microsoft Dynamics GP Datamodel has a Company Id Superfield that allows users to easily query multiple company databases.
12 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Main Filters Below the Tables filter there may be some mandatory filters that always appear when specific tables are selected. These mandatory filters are shaded in a darker grey and they cannot be deleted. This is one of the ways, users can be guided to rationalise the volume of data they are attempting to query. Mandatory Filters Directions: Open and Set the Mode, Product, Company Id and Tables Filters With the Query Builder open we are going to set the Query Mode, Product, Company Id and Table. To set the Mode there is a lookup button with a single dot positioned to the right of the Mode description. Select the lookup button and the Query Mode dialog will appear. The are five modes with a short explanation and a visual representation of each when they are selected. For our purposes we are going to focus on the Summary Report, so select it if it isn't already enabled and use OK to close the dialog. Query Mode Use the lookup button on the Products filter and change the source Product to Microsoft Dynamics GP, if it isn't already set. Depending on your Sharperlight configuration you might have several available Products and it is even possible to have connections to several different services, that are hosting the same or different Datamodels.
Microsoft Excel 13 Products The Company Id filter has a lookup that shows all the available company codes that have been defined in the Dynamics database. Double clicking on the Company TWO record in the lookup dialog, will copy the Code into the Value selection and this value will be carried forward into the Filter pane. We could have multi-selected the companies and this would allow us to query multiple companies at the same time. This will be examined later in this guide. Company Id The Tables filter defines the query object that will be accessed and extracted from during the query process. The Tables lookup dialog is our first real view of the navigation and selection structure defined in the Dynamics GP Datamodel. Using folders and logical table groupings, the core query objects are accessible and can be individually selected. For our purposes, navigate the Financials tree down through the Transactions into the General Ledger folder and select the Account Transactions and use OK button to load this table into the Query Builder.
14 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Tables 2.2.2 Selection The Selection pane displays all the fields and relationships that have been defined in the Datamodel for the current Table. Fields use the terminology described in the Datamodel and the field data type is indicated by prefixed data label. The relationships between different tables, are accessed through folder icons with there own visible tree structure. Selection Directions: Set Filters On selecting the Account Transactions table, the Selection list will load with all the available fields and relationships that related to this table and mandatory filters will appear in the Filter pane. You will notice in the Selection list that the logical join from the Account Transactions to the Account Master is visible and accessible through an expandable join folder. The History and Account Type mandatory filters are already set with some presets. With the Period Year Values there is a special Period lookup that is designed for accounting systems that have an accounting period concept. Rather than using the Period lookup, just manually type 2014/001 into the From Value for the Period Year Values and then enter 2014/012 into the To Value.
Microsoft Excel 15 Query Builder - Table Selection For the Account Number filter, use the lookup button to display the Account Number lookup. Notice that the lookup is displaying both the account number and a description. Scroll down the available Account Numbers and when you see 100-5100-00 Salaries and Wages - Administration, double click on that row and it will copy the 100-5100-00 Account Number into the From Value. Scroll down to the bottom of the 100 accounts and then double click on the 100-9030-00 Fixed Assets - Computer Cabinets, this will copy 100-9030-00 to the To Value. Then use OK to close the lookup dialog and transfer these selections back into the filter row. Lookup
16 2.2.3 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Outputs The Outputs pane defines the fields that will queried and returned to the user interface. The fields are not just limited to fields available in the Selection pane, Expressions can be used to create user defined fields and Sub Queries can be used to extract values from other tables and even other Datamodels. Outputs Directions: Select Fields for Output With the Account Transactions table selected and the Filters set, we now select some fields from the Selection list to become query outputs. There are several ways to add fields to the Output pane, a field can be double clicked in the Selection pane and that will copy it to the Outputs, or a field can be dragged from Selection to Outputs. There is even a right hand click menu that can be used to add fields individually or output all fields at once. For our query we want to output the Account Number, Account Description, Account Type and the Amount. All these fields, except for the Account Type, are visible in the immediate field list but you will need to scroll down to see the Amount field. The Account Type is in the G2 \ Account Master join folder, click on the + symbol next to the folder name and it will expand the related Account Master table. Use drag and drop to output the Account Type field and drop it after the Account Description and before the Amount field. Selection to Outputs Before extracting the query into Microsoft Excel, let us sanity check what it is returning. Use the Preview button in the bottom left hand corner of the Query Builder to quickly review the results. So we have the Account Number, Account Description, Account Type and the calculated sum of the Amount. Remember, this is for Period 2014/001 to 2014/012 and we started with a Summary Report, so the standard behaviour of a Summary Report is to sum all the amount fields based on the available filters and output columns. You will notice that we have picked up a Units Account which
Microsoft Excel 17 we don't really want, so we can navigate back to the Query tab and make a small refinement to the filters. Select the Account Type lookup and then double click on Posting Account, this will copy the Code P into the Value selector and then use OK to close the lookup. Now if you Preview the query it will only return Posting Accounts. The Account Type column is some what redundant in this example because it just displays the same Posting Account label, so navigate back to the Query tab and remove the Account Type field from the Outputs pane. Removal can be done either by selecting the field and using the delete key or the field can just be dragged back into the Selection pane. Preview 2.3 Table Formula The Table icon on the Sharperlight Ribbon defaults the opened Query Builder to use either a Detailed or Summary Report. These reports can return multiple columns and rows, and the generated Table Formula will auto create and maintain a linked Excel Table, that contains the result data set. The Table Formula becomes the anchor to refreshing the table and it provides a simple access point to opening the underlying query.
18 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Table Formula - Query Directions: Create Table Formula With the query that we have authored in the previous steps, click on the OK button in the Query Builder and a Table Formula will be generated in the cell D8. We started in cell D8 and Sharperlight formulas are always created in the cell that was selected just prior to opening the Query Builder. Just below the Table Formula there will be an Excel Table which contains the same information that was returned in the Preview tab. The table columns are probably a little narrow and do not display the full Account Number and Account Description, to widen these columns you just drag the columns wider or double click on the right hand side of the column row header. This is standard Microsoft Excel functionality and it is an important point to highlight because most of the things you do with Sharperlight in Microsoft Excel are in fact using native Excel functionality and Sharperlight is providing the seamless integration and data refresh. If you select D8 and use the F2 function key to access the cell formula, you will see a formula that starts with mdtable and this is the Table Formula. Very rarely would you ever edit the formula directly because by double clicking on the formula, it will open the Query Builder and re-display the stored query template.
Microsoft Excel 19 Table Formula Double click on the Table Formula in cell D8 and it will open the Query Builder, you can also open the Query Builder by double clicking anywhere on the table and it will display a Sharperlight Table menu with an Edit query option. If you are wondering where the query template is stored, it is hidden away in very hidden worksheet. So if you give someone else your workbook, then they have both the worksheet layout and the underlying queries all wrapped together in the same workbook. 2.4 Drilldown Drilldown is a powerful extension of the Sharperlight Query Engine where a query can be drilled into on the fly, by selecting a result row and slicing it into distinct data dimensions. Drilldown can be initated in several different ways, for example the Preview tab in Query Builder has a right hand click menu with Drilldown, the Table Menu has Drilldown and there is a Drilldown icon on the Sharperlight Ribbon. Table Menu Directions: Drilldown Double clicking any of the rows in our sample table, will display the Table menu. If you want to follow along with the next examples, double click on the first row for the 100-5150-00 Account
20 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Number, this will focus the drill on just this account. Then select the Drilldown - Summary menu item and it will then automate the loading of the Drilldown - Summary selection dialog. As you can see, the left hand pane is the Selection list and the right hand pane is a list of all the fields for slicing the row. In our example, we are going to keep it simple so we will just output the Period Year Values. The Drilldown dialog doesn't use drag and drop, so the easiest method of outputting a field is to double click on it and it will be transferred to the top of the Output pane. Notice that the Amount has already been added to the Outputs. Drilldown - Summary Selection After selecting the Period Year Values, close the Drilldown dialog using the OK button and this will query the selection and load it into Explorer. Explorer is the visualisation tool for drilling into queries and it can display numerous drills in their own tabs. You should now be able to see that the balance for the 100-5150-00 account of $18,609.64 has been separated into the value for each period with a grand total at the bottom. Explorer - Summary Drilldown Each drill in Explorer can then be analysed further by doing another Drilldown on the available rows. In our case we will right hand click on the 2014/001 Period Year Value row and select Drilldown -
Microsoft Excel 21 Detailed from Explorer menu. Explorer Menu The Drilldown dialog for a Detailed drill looks the same as the Summary dialog and the only difference is that the extracted information will not be summarised, it will return every row in the underlying database into Explorer. Double click on the Transaction Date, Source Document, Reference and then use the OK button to action the drill. Drilldown - Detailed Selection You will now have two tabs in Explorer, the original drill from Microsoft Excel and the Detailed Drilldown from the summary tab. With a Detailed drill there might be hundreds of rows but there is a quick method for grouping the rows and creating subtotals. The column headers can be dragged into the Grouping Bar that is just above the drill data.
22 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Explorer - Detailed Drilldown When you have finished with Explorer, close it using the Close button or clicking on the close icon in the top right hand corner. Closing Explorer should take you straight back to our Sheet1 worksheet. 2.5 Cell Referencing In Microsoft Excel the concept of cell referencing, adds significant power to formulas because multiple formulas can use the same cell values and they can all recalculate in unison when the referenced values are changed. This overcomes the classic problem of hardcoding formulas and the resulting time lost in editing each formula to take into account new calculation inputs. Sharperlight formulas adhere to the cell referencing concept in Excel and query filters can use cell references and name ranges to drive the refresh of a query. Cell Referencing Directions: Cell Referencing Let us start with some filter values in Sheet1, so in cell B3 enter 2014/001 and in cell B4 enter 2014/010. The reason why we created the Table Formula in cell D8 was to show how the anchor formula is created in the cell that is selected prior to opening the Query Builder and to give us some
Microsoft Excel 23 room to enter some cell referenced filter values. Double click on the Table Formula in D8, select the From Value of 2014/001 in the Period Year Values filter and the entire input box should become shaded. Then double click on cell B3 in the worksheet. It should have turned the fixed 2014/001 value to a cell reference of =$B$3. Select the To Value of 2014/012 and this time double click on cell B4, and you should now have =$B$4 in the To Value input box. Close the Query Builder using the OK button and the Table Formula will be updated with the two cell references for the Period, you should also notice that the query will refresh and the amount total at the bottom of the table is now different because the Period range has changed. Formula Dependencies Cell referencing is standard functionality in Microsoft Excel and you can see the dependency between formulas and input cells by selecting a formula and using the F2 function key to highlight the dependencies. In our example, select the Table Formula and use the F2 key to show how the Period input cells are related to the Period filters in our query. If you now change the Period value in cell B4 to say 2014/006, the table will be refreshed (assuming you have automatic recalculation turned on) because it is now querying a different Period range. To extend this concept of cell referencing we are going to now reference the Company Id to a cell. In cell B2 input the Company Id TWO and then open the Query Builder by double clicking on the Table in the Sheet1 and using the Edit Query menu item. With the Query Builder open, select the Company Id From Value and again it will shade the input box. Then double click on cell B2 and the cell reference =$B$2 will be copied into the From Value box. Close the Query Builder using the OK button and you will see that the cell reference to the Company Id has been added to the formula. If you were to changed the Company Id in cell B2 to something else, the Table Formula will probably return nothing because it is hardcoded to an account range that exists in the Fabrikam demonstration company. However, it does raise the simple question of how do you know what filter values are available. You could open the Query Builder and use the lookup for each filter but there is a much easier and seamless way to see the filter values. Just double click on the cell reference of a filter and Sharperlight will display the relevant lookup dialog. This is called an Automatic Lookup and the selected value in the lookup dialog will be written back to the originating cell.
24 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Automatic Lookup As a general rule, from and to filters that reference the same cell can use multi-select in the lookup dialog and this will return multiple filter values into the same filter cell. For example, if you wanted to consolidate multiple companies together, you could select multiple rows in the Company Id lookup dialog using the Control or Shift keys. The filter value written to the worksheet cell becomes a comma delimited string, similar to TWO,YWO,ZWO. The Company Id in the Dynamics GP Datamodel is what we call a Superfield which means that it has some special behaviours controlled by the Sharperlight Query Engine. One of these behaviours is that it will take the comma delimited string of companies and generate a query that unions together the tables from each separate company database. It is effectively doing a Superfield Consolidation across companies on the fly. Superfield Consolidation
Microsoft Excel 2.6 25 Recalculation Sharperlight uses the native Microsoft Excel calculation engine to refresh Sharperlight formulas. If automatic calculation is turn on in Excel, then any change to a formula will force a recalculation. In some circumstances, the user might decide to turn off automatic recalculation or they may want to manually force a recalculation. Calculation options are available on the standard Excel Formula Ribbon and these control how the Sharperlight formulas behave. To assist in the running of manual recalculations, Sharperlight also has targeted recalculation icons on its ribbon and it adds Recalculation Range, Worksheet and Workbook to the standard worksheet right hand click menu. Recalculation 2.7 Sorting On the surface the Query Builder is a relatively simple drag and drop interface. However, it has a wealth of functionality that can be accessed through right hand click menus and the window pane labels are in fact menus. Take for example, the requirement to Sort the output columns in a query, right hand click on any of the output fields and their is a menu item for Sorting. Sharperlight can sort multiple fields at the same time and each field can have different sort order. Microsoft Excel has its own sorting capabilities but sorting in the Query Builder is repeatable and more efficient because the underlying query is passed to a database engine that does the sorting remotely rather than locally. Sorting
26 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Directions: Sorting Using the Table Formula that created on Sheet1, open the Query Builder by double clicking on the anchor formula. Then right hand click on any of the output fields and select the Sorting menu. This will open the Output Attributes dialog and take us straight to the Sorting & Grouping tab. To add a sort field either double click on the Unsorted fields and this will add the field into the Sorted pane, or use the movement arrows to transfer a field from unsorted to sorted. The default sort order is ascending but this can be changed to descending by double clicking on the field in the Sorted pane. You can have multiple fields being sorted and the sort sequence can be changed by moving the fields up or down in the sort pane. To Sort by the Account Description, double click on this field in the Unsorted pane and it will be transferred into the Sorted pane. Double click on the Account Description and it will changed the sort order from ascending to descending. You will notice that the graphic to the left of the field description will change from an arrow pointing down to an arrow point up. Close the Output Attributes dialog using the OK button and the Account Description in the Outputs pane will now have the label Sort 1 Descending in its Attributes. Accept this change and re-run the query by using the OK button to close the Query Builder. Output Attributes - Sorting The resulting table in Excel will have the Account Descriptions sorted in reverse alphabetical order and the Account Numbers will be jumbled because they are no longer in order. To remove the sort order just re-open the query template, navigate back to the Sorting & Grouping tab and remove the Account Description from the Sorted pane using the movement button with the left arrow. 2.8 Expressions Sharperlight has a powerful calculation engine that can use.net functions to manipulate and recast the data returned in a query. These calculations can be added to a query using an Expression output field. In Microsoft Excel the need for a calculated field in a query may not be always necessary because the user can always rely on Excel formulas and calculations. However, Expressions come into their own when you want the query to be totally self contained and not dependent on external
Microsoft Excel 27 calculations. Output Expression Directions: Add an Expression Using our Table Formula, open the query into the Query Builder and right hand click on the Outputs pane. Use the Add Expression menu item and it will open the Output Attributes dialog and focus on the Expression tab. This window is split into a pane at the top for the expression formula and the bottom pane has a list of selection fields and functions. Expand the Current Row folder in the Functions pane and double click on the Amount field, this will copy the Amount name reference {%Amount} into the Expression pane. To do a simple calculation, we can multiply the Amount by a fixed factor, by adding * 1.25 after the Amount name. Select the OK button to accept this formula, you will now have a new output Expression field in the Output pane. To see the calculation in practice, use the Preview in the Query Builder and it will extract the query and apply the Expression calculation.
28 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Expression Formula Return to the Query tab and before we re-extract this Table Formula into Microsoft Excel, we want to change the Output field description of the Expression. Right hand click on the Expression field and use the Change Description menu item to rename the Output Description of the field to Amount by Factor. Any of the fields in the Output pane can be renamed in exactly the same way. Table Formula - Expression 2.9 Filtered Columns Filters by default restrict the overall query but this can be overridden by applying filters to specific columns. These output filters have the benefit of condensing information into a separate columns rather than creating a long sectional report. Directions: Apply Output Filters We are going to add another Amount column to our existing Table Formula but this new column will only return the balance for the current month. Open the Table Formula into the Query Builder and drag the Amount field from the Selection list into the Output pane. We now have two Amount fields in the output, use the right hand click menu in the Output pane and select Change Description to rename the original Amount field to Year To Date. Change the second Amount field to Current Month.
Microsoft Excel 29 To apply a period filter to the Current Month we are going to need another filter for the Period Year Values. We don't want to change the existing Period filter because we still need it, to restrict the rows and amount balances for the Year To Date. Select the Period Year Values field from the Selection pane and drag it into the Filter pane. Cell reference this new Period filter to =$B$4, for both the From and To Values. Filtered Columns With the new Period Year Values filter cell referenced and the new Amount field renamed to Current Month, right hand click on the Current Month output field and select the first menu item called Options. This will open the Output Attributes dialog and display the Functions tab. On the right hand side there is a pick list to apply filters to the currently select output column. Notice that it doesn't refer to the field descriptions, it uses the defined name of a filter. Filter names are auto generated and are visible in the far right hand side of the Filter pane, they are always prefixed with the @ symbol. To filter the Current Month field using the new Period filter that references cell =$B$4, pick the Filter Name that corresponds with that filter row. Output Attributes - Output Filters To confirm that the Current Month column is being filtered to a specific month, use the Preview tab and sanity check that the amount in the Current Month column is less that the Year To Date column. If the result looks reasonable, then select the OK button and return the result set into Excel. It is very likely that renaming the original Amount field to Year To Date will distort the resulting table columns. Sharperlight uses the Excel Table object to contain and display the results from a Table Formula, however Excel Tables can sometimes get confused with column reordering and column name changes.
30 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Table Formula - Adding Columns If the columns returned by a Table Formula are distorted in order or the columns are duplicated, the easiest way to reset the table is to select all the column headers in a table and then use the Delete Table Columns function from the right hand click menu. This will delete all the columns and effectively remove the table but the Table Formula will identify that the table is missing and recreate the table with the correct columns. Table Formula - Delete Columns Distortions in the placement of Table columns is one of the reasons why the Preview pane can be very useful because it can reduce the double handling of output columns and output order. This Table behaviour also illustrates the light coupling between the Sharperlight Add-in and Microsoft Excel, we don't attempt to force Excel to work in a particular way. We work with Excel and this approach means our Add-in is much simpler and works the same way with all supported versions of Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft Excel 2.10 31 Value Formulas Table Formulas can return multiple rows and columns into Excel and they will automatically resize to handle more or less rows. However, sometimes you just want to return the balance for an account, into a single cell and then create other formulas around, using Sharperlight and Excel formulas. This requirement is no different to what people have always done in Microsoft Excel with hardcode values, VLOOKUPS and SUMIFS. People what the flexibility of layout and design that a spreadsheet grid provides. The alternative to a Table Formula in Excel, is a Value Formula which is a self contained formula and query template in a single cell. A workbook can have thousands of Value Formulas and they can all recalculation in unison when they are cell reference to the same filters. Directions: Create Value Formulas Using the same workbook where we created the Table Formula, copy the Account Number and Account Description columns from our Table Formula and Paste Special the Values into cell D9 on Sheet3. We use Paste Special because the default Paste will create another Table in Sheet2 and we don't need a Table, just the Account Details. If you had to insert a worksheet, you may be wondering why the new sheet isn't called Sheet2 because that would be the logical next sequential sheet number. When you created the Table Formula, Sharperlight inserts a hidden sheet and stores the query template in it. This is the missing Sheet2 and thus, then next sequential sheet is Sheet3. Paste Special - Account Details Next we will add the default worksheet filters. In cell B2 enter TWO for the Company Id and in cell B3 enter the Period 2014/006. In cell H4, we are going to add an Excel formula to represent the starting period of the financial year. Enter =LEFT(B3,4)&"/001" into H4 and this is a simple method of defining the year to date start period. To make it self-explanatory, enter the label Current Month into cell G7 and Year To Date into H7.
32 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Filters and Cell References To create the Value Formula, select cell G10 and click on the Value Formula icon on the Sharperlight Ribbon. This will open the Query Builder but it will now default to Aggregation in the Query Mode. Similar to what we did with the Table Formula, we need to set the Product, Company Id and Table if they are not already configured. Set the Product to Microsoft Dynamics GP, Company Id TWO and the Account Transactions table. Then cell reference the Company Id filter to B2, the Period Year Values to B3 and the Account Number to D10. Also copy the Amount into the Outputs pane. After selecting the filter cell references, you will notice that the Company Id is set to =$B$2, the Period becomes =$B$3 whilst the Account Number is set to =$D10. The Account Number has been automatically resolved to be absolute on the column and relative on the row whilst the Company Id and Period are both absolute on row and column. There is fuzzy logic in the cell selection where it attempts to create the optimum cell reference for copying and pasting the formulas. Value Formula - Current Month With the cell references set in the Filter pane, close the Query Builder by using the OK button and it will create an mdvalue() formula in cell G10. Use the F2 key to show the dependencies between the formula in G10 and the cell referenced filters. If you have your absolute and relative references set correctly, then you can copy the same Value Formula down the column, to the bottom of the available account numbers. Automatic recalculation will then refresh each formula once the paste has been completed.
Microsoft Excel 33 So every Value Formula in row G has exactly the same structure but it is using a different Account Numbers because the cell referenced filter for the Account is relative to each row. In this way, the same structural formula can be reused thousands of times and it is just a matter of copying and pasting the formula. Formula Dependencies In column H we want the Year To Date balance for these accounts. So select cell H10 and use the Value Formula icon on the ribbon to open the Query Builder for a new formula. This Year To Date query will have the same structure to the existing Current Month query but the From Value for the Period Year Values filter, will use the formula in cell H4 to resolve the starting period. Value Formula - Year To Date Use the OK button in the Query Builder to deploy the Value Formula into cell H10. If you have your absolute and relative references set correctly then you should be able to copy the formula in cell H10 down to the bottom of the available account numbers. If you were to copy the Value Formula down past the available account filters, a Logging dialog will appear with the message "Filter values are mandatory for 'Account Number'", with the cell reference of the offending cell.
34 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Copy Value Formula Value Formulas have the same Drilldown capabilities that we saw before with the Table Formula, to Drilldown on a Value Formula you select the cell you want to drill into, and use the Drilldown icon on the ribbon. 2.11 Query Manager A Microsoft Excel workbook could contain numerous Sharperlight queries and formulas. The formulas are self evident because they are visible in the worksheets but the query templates are stored away in a hidden worksheet. To easily view all the queries stored in a workbook and to assist in the maintenance of these queries, there is a Query Manager. From the Query Manager, query templates can be cloned and renamed, queries can be edited and deleted. Query Manager Directions: Open the Query Manager
Microsoft Excel 35 Use the Manager icon on the Sharperlight Ribbon to open the Query Manager. If you have followed along with the instructions in this guide their should be three query templates stored in the your workbook. What you will notice immediately, is that they are all called Account Transactions. This could be quite confusing if someone else was to look at the workbook, so we are going to rename these query templates. The first query in the tree should be our Table Formula query, and if you right hand click on the query name, it gives you the option to rename the description. Change the query name of summary report query to Accounts by Month and Year To Date, then rename the first aggregation query to say Current Month and the second aggregation query to Year To Date. Rename Query templates can be stored in a workbook waiting to be deployed as a formula. If they are used in formulas, then the rename will do a global find and replace to remap the existing formulas to use the new query name. Parameters You might have noticed that each query template has an icon that reflects the Query Mode defined in the underlying query. You can also see the cell referenced filters in a Parameters folder. Using the Parameters we can differentiate between the Current Month query and the Year To Date query
36 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide because the later will have two cell references for the Period Year Values. 2.12 Summary We have come to the end of our examples of using the Sharperlight XL Add-in. As you have seen, the Table and Value Formulas are created in worksheet cells and they provide a link back to a query template. Most of the design work, of creating queries, is managed through the Query Builder and there can be close integration between the query filters and worksheet cell references. Our next section will examine the Sharperlight Web Channel and we will see how web reports and charts can be accessed in a web browser. The same web elements will also be added to a Dashboard page and this will demonstrate how the same the web content can be reused in different web layouts.
Part III
38 3 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Web Channel Sharperlight can deliver reports, charts, tables, dashboards and custom layouts in a web browser. Queries can be published to the web with filters and users can then access a secure web address to change the filters and refresh the queries. The Sharperlight Web Service publishes this content using industry standard HTML4 and HTML5, so it will work on most web browsers and it does not require any browser plug-ins. Homepage Published queries and dashboard pages all have a unique web address pointing back to the Sharperlight Web Service. This means that any piece of Web Channel content can be imbedded in another website, and it can be referred to in a document hyperlink. So a dashboard page could be viewed in Microsoft SharePoint or an email could have a hyperlink to a relevant web report. The Sharperlight Web Service has a main Index page which shows some basis service details and has shortcuts to View Published Queries and View Dashboard Pages. These shortcuts will take the user to simple list pages that show all the available web content. The list pages are a quick way of viewing all content but normally users interact with targeted dashboards or billboards that list team and role specific content.
Web Channel 39 Billboard 3.1 Publisher Before a query can be deployed in the web, it needs to be saved and configured in Publisher. Publisher maintains a shared catalogue of queries which can be accessed through the Sharperlight Web Service and the same queries can be imported back into the Query Builder in Microsoft Excel. Published queries provide the data set and the same data can be rendered into multiple different styles like a basic table, chart, pivot table, a Silverlight table or a report. Publisher The Publisher dialog is the interface to add, delete, export and import published queries. The Publish Query dialog is the maintenance screen for defining the query and configuring the various rendering styles.
40 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Publish Query Directions: Publish Query from Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a powerful analysis tool but it can be cumbersome, especially when sharing workbooks with a large consumer audience. To delivery reporting content to the masses, Sharperlight uses its web service to render queries stored in Publisher. We could just open Publisher and create a query from scratch but Publisher is often the destination of queries that have been prototyped in Microsoft Excel and then they get published to the web. So to publish a query from within Excel, open the Query Builder using the Table Formula that we created in the previous section. Click on the Filters label and it will have a dropdown menu, select Publisher from this menu. This will open Publisher in front of the Query Builder. In the bottom right hand corner of the Publisher window, click on the New button and it will display the Publish Query dialog. Query Builder - Publisher Publishing an existing query from within the Query Builder has the simple advantage that query
Web Channel 41 template gets copied straight into the new published query. It even generates a unique code and copies the Table name into the Title. Without doing anything else, let us just save this new published query by selecting the OK button. The Publish Query dialog will close and the Publisher window should now have this new query at the top of the list, with the same Code and Title. Publish Query - New To view this published query in the web, you will need the web address of the Sharperlight Web Service, that is running on your network. Most installations of Sharperlight only have one web service running, so if anyone in your team or someone in the IT department has the URL address, it should work for you too. If in doubt, refer to the Web Service topic in the Before You Start section at beginning of this guide. Assuming you know the Sharperlight Web Service address, open up your web browser and type in the URL. The web address should be in the syntax of server name, communication port, service name and then the landing page. For example, http://vm-w8e-demo:4005/swsrest/index will take you to the service index page. Don't be concerned if the port number has been omitted, that just means the web service is using port 80. Alternatively, you might be given an address which has most of the details but after the service name it has /Report/?query= and then a long string of characters. We want to access the list page, so in the example above, remove everything after the service name and just append /List after the service name, eg http://vm-w8e-demo:4005/ SWSRest/List
42 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide List Page The List page will return a table of all the available published queries currently hosted in Publisher, and enabled for public listing. You should be able to see the published query that we just created and saved into Publisher. To view the query, click on the relevant Code and it will open the query in another browser tab. If the Web Service is using native authentication then you will be challenged for a login and password; if it is using windows authentication it will either just open the report or return the message "Your Windows Account does not have sufficient permissions to access this content". If your login cannot be authenticated successfully, you need to ask for assistance from whoever in your organisation, oversees the rights and permissions of Sharperlight Service. Table Assuming you can open the report successfully, the top of the browser window will have a set of prompts equivalent to the filters that have been defined in the published query. To view the report, select the Submit button and the available filter values will be used to generated a table.
Web Channel 3.1.1 43 General The General tab in the Publish Query dialog has the main descriptive details concerning the query. The Group and Code combined together are the unique id for a published query. General Tab Directions: Update General Details We are going to refine the look and feel of the published query deployed in the previous step. Instead of using Publisher from the Query Builder in Excel, we are going to run Publisher on its own, using the application Publisher shortcut from the Start Menu - All Programs - Sharperlight folder. This should avoid some confusion because loading Publisher from within Microsoft Excel locks the window for Excel and the Query Builder, for the duration that Publisher is open. After opening Publisher, double click on the query you created and it will open the query definition in the Publish Query dialog. Start by changing the code from the generated number to something a bit more meaningful like AccntByMthYTD, type into the Group the letters AAA and update the Title to Accounts by Current Month and Year To Date. It is also a good idea to update the author name and the version number, so other people have some idea of the status and who is working on the query. 3.1.2 Report The Report tab controls the default output type, the filtering behaviour, custom page layout, the use of HTML and numerous other incidental settings. The Default Type defines the rendering style if the query is opened without any rendering override.
44 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Report Tab Directions: Stack and Hide Filters Moving from the General tab to the Report tab, enable the Stack Filters tick box in centre at the top. This will change how the filters are displayed in the Prompt bar in the browser, stacking will position the filters one on top of the other. Hide Filters There are also quite a few filters and they may not be relevant in all circumstances and they add to the visual clutter of the Prompt bar. To hide some filters use the Edit Query button and it will open the Query Builder with the stored query template. To hide the History and Account Type filters, right hand click on there filter rows and select Hide from the menu. This will grey out the filter description, to indicate that they are now hidden filters.
Web Channel 45 Named Filters You may also notice that we have the Period Year Value filter in twice because the first filter applies to the overall query (returning the Year To Date) whilst the second Period filter applies to the Current Month filtered column. We can pass the filter To value from the first Period Year Value, by referencing its filter name in the second filter. To the right of the second Period filter From and To value, there is a downward pointing arrow. Click on the arrow and it will display a list of all the available filter names, we want to use the {@PerYeaVal2} in both the From and To filter values. Referencing this filter means it does not need to be updated separately and thus, it can be hidden just like the History and Account Type filters. 3.1.3 Table The Table is the default output style for all new queries in Publisher. The Table tab controls lines per page, colour schemes, sizing and headings. Table Tab Directions: Change Rows on Page On the Table tab change the Page Size to 10 rows and then use the OK button to save the changes
46 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide you have made on the General, Report and Table tabs. If you were to now refresh the List page in your web browser, the previous query will have disappeared and it will have been replaced with a row with an AAA Group and the Code is AccntByMthYTD. If you still have the previous query open on a browser tab, if you try to refresh it, it will return the message "Published Query Code Q... was not found. Someone has deleted it!" but in fact you have renamed it. To open the AAA.AccntByMthYTD table click on its code on the List page and it will be opened into another browser tab. Notice, the change in how the filters are stacked and some of the filters are now hidden. Also, the table is now paged with 10 rows on each page. Report 3.1.4 Chart The Chart tab has settings to control the type of chart, colour schemes, the sizing, position of the legend and axis layout. The default charting engine using HTML5 to render the charts, they are resizable and cross browser compatible.
Web Channel 47 Chart Tab Directions: Clone Published Query and Default to Chart We could make more changes to existing AAA.AccntByMthYTD published query but instead, let us create a duplicate copy of this query. To Clone a published query in Publisher, select the source query in the Publisher list pane and use the right hand click menu to Clone the query. The resulting clone will have the same query code but with a 2 appended to the end. Double click on the AAA.AccntByMthYTD2 entry in the Publisher list pane and this will open the Publish Query dialog. Rename the query code to AccntByMthYTDChart and open the underlying query template using the Edit Query button.
48 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide With the Query Builder open, delete the Amount by Factor expression and the Account Number from the Output pane, this is just to simplify the chart. You could either use the Delete key or the right hand click Delete menu item, in the Outputs pane, to remove these fields. Accept these change by selecting the OK button to close the Query Builder. Chart On the Chart tab change the Chart Type to Column Stacked and on the Report tab change the Default Type to Chart. Accept these changes by using the Apply button. In your web browser, refresh the List page and use the Code hyperlink for AAA.AccntMthYTDChart to open this query. It will chart the result set because the Default Type on the Report tab is set to Chart. 3.2 Web Interface The Sharperlight web interface has several features that enhance the user experience. There is the Prompt bar where page filters are maintained and the user can access lookup lists, similar to the Query Builder, by using the buttons to the right of the filter value. Filters can be edited directly and they support the full range of advanced filtering syntax. For example, <like> in the From value and 100% in the To value will do a wildcard search for all values starting with 100. To handle large numbers of rows, Tables can be paged into easily viewed and navigated row blocks. The number of rows on the page can be set into multiples of fives and tens in the published query, and it can be reset in the web page. Tables also have a row menu that provides shortcuts to charting the table, saving the table to file and printing it.
Web Channel 49 Web Interface Column and line charts have a single click menu with items to Refresh the chart, Zoom In and open the chart again in a New Window. With Zoom In, the Zoom area can be positioned and selected, and there is a Zoom Out and Refresh to reload the Chart. Charts with a Legend, can be used to disable and hide series by click on the Legend colour. Hiding a series will refocus the Chart to scale around the remaining data series. Directions: Filtering and Charting Return to the browser tab that has the AAA.AccntByMthYTD table or using the List page and reopen the query using the AccntByMthYTD Code shortcut. We could just edit the Account Number From and To range but we are going to use the filter lookup. Click on the button with the two dots to the right of the To Account Number value and it will display a lookup list of available values equivalent to what the lookup in the Query Builder would display. Rather than paging through Account Numbers we want to jump to the 100 accounts, so type 100 into the input box to the left of the Refresh button and then select Refresh. This will reload the lookup but it will now start from the 100 Account Numbers. Use the lookup paging numbers to navigate to the end of the 200 accounts and double click on the 200-9030-00 Fixed Assets Computer Cabinets account. The 200-9030-00 account number will be copied into the To filter for the Account Number. Use the Refresh button to reload the table and use the upwards facing arrow in the far right hand corner of the Prompts bar, to hide the Prompts.
50 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Lookup With the Prompts bar hidden, increase the number of rows on each table page to 20. See how the table page size resizes automatically. Right hand click on the any of the table rows and the Table menu will appear. From the Table menu you could use the Remove Pages item from the Other submenu to remove all the pages but we are going to use the Chart sub-menu to chart the table. Select Bar from the Chart sub-menu and the table data will be charted in a new browser tab. Table Menu To hide some of the data series, click on the Legend colour palette and it will disable the Legend entry and refresh the chart without the disabled series.
Web Channel 51 Bar Chart 3.3 Dashboard Sharperlight has the concept of Dashboard pages where content Tiles can be position, sized and configured. A Dashboard page can combine multiple Tiles and they are created and maintained within the web browser. The primary source of Tile content is published queries but any web address can be displayed in a Tile. There is no limit to the number of Dashboard pages that can be created and the pages are usually sized to reflect the audience and their preferred web browser device, eg Desktop Computer, Tablet, Smart Phone.
52 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Dashboard The size and position of a Tile is stored in the Dashboard page and each Tile can have an Expanded URL, which will be displayed if the Tile Title bar is clicked or the Expand icon is selected. Directions: Create a Dashboard From the Sharperlight Web Service Index page select the View Dashboard Pages hyperlink or edit the service URL to remove everything after the service name and append /ListDashPage after the service name, eg http://vm-w8e-demo:4005/swsrest/listdashpage The Dashboard Pages service address is a simple interface for adding, removing, exporting and importing Dashboard Pages. If you are dealing with lots of pages, then you can filter the dashboards using the Group, Code, Title and Author from the Prompt bar. We are going to create a Dashboard Page and then use the two published queries, from the previous section, to populate its Tiles. Click on the New button and then select OK to Create a new page. A new Dashboard will be created and it will generate with a default code. The new Dashboard will be opened in a new browser tab and it will be opened in edit mode, with the Edit Page Properties displayed. Dashboard Pages The Edit Page Properties window controls the overall details for the Dashboard page. Change the Code to DGPDEMO and update the Title to Dynamics GP Demo Dashboard. Then click on the Tile tab to access the Edit Tile Properties window. Change the Tile Title to Accounts Table and use the lookup button next to the Content URL address to display a full list of web content from Publisher.
Web Channel 53 Page and Tile Properties The Content lookup dialog displays all the published queries available in Publisher and it provides a simple navigation pane to select a particular rendering style. Navigate to the AAA.AccntByMthYTD query and select the Table item below the Without Prompts folder. The shortened web address / Table/?query=AAA.AccntByMthYTD will be copied into the Content URL. Title Content To accept these changes, click on the Save button at the bottom of either the Page or Tile
54 Sharperlight 2.10 Quick Start Guide Properties. The edit windows will disappear and the Dashboard page will be loaded into the same browser tab. The initial Tile size is probably too small for the content, so hover the cursor over the right hand side bottom corner border and drag the border out until all the content is visible. If you refresh the page it will revert back to the original size, so we need to save this change. Hover the cursor over the Tile Title bar and you will see three icons in the right hand corner. The cog icon on the left will open the Tile Properties window, select Save and the resizing will be permanent. Dashboard Tile You will probably notice that Accounts by Current Month and Year To Date table takes up quite a bit of space. Often with Dashboard Tiles special effort is made to condense the information and reduce the visual clutter because the browser pane is a finite resource. Click on the cog icon again and we will change the Content URL to use the other published query that we cloned for the chart. Instead of using the Content lookup button, we are going to manually edit the URL address by change the AAA.AccntByMthYTD to AAA.AccntByMthYTDChart. Select Save to accept these changes and see how the table has changed. We also want to add the Chart to the same Dashboard page. Open the Tile Properties and use the New Tile button to create a new Tile, change the Title to Accounts Chart and use the Content lookup button to select the Line Stacked style below the Charts folder for the AccntByMthYTDChart published query. Use the Save button to accept these changes and you should now have two tiles on the same Dashboard page. Depending on the size of your browser window it might have positioned the chart tile below or alongside the table tile. You can reposition the Tile by dragging the Title Tile to the preferred location and it can be resized like before. Tiles do not have to be the same size and shape, you can tinker with positioning and sizing to allow optimum information but using the least space.
Web Channel 55 Tile Layout Once a Dashboard page is created, it has its own unique web address from the Sharperlight Service, so it can be hyperlinked and bookmarked for future use. 3.4 Summary This section of the Quick Start Guide has shown how the Query Builder concepts, discussed in the Microsoft Excel section, can equally be used in Publisher to publish queries to a web audience. Publisher is the stored catalogue of queries and the Sharperlight Web Service deploys these queries to the web in a wide range of rendering output styles. This same content can be reused in Dashboard pages and web browser users can layout and configure their own dashboard content.
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