Brioquery

BrioQuery
Version 5.0 for Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, and Motif systems

™

Handbook

Copyright © 1997 Brio Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Brio Technology, Inc. 3950 Fabian Way Palo Alto, CA 94303 (415) 856-8000 Refer to the Brio Technology License Agreement in this package before installing or using this product. If you find any errors or problems with this documentation,please notify Brio. Brio does not guarantee that this document is without error. The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Trademarks Brio is a registered trademark and BrioQuery is a trademark of Brio Technology, Inc. Apple, Macintosh, Data Access Language, Mac and the Mac OS logo are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., used under license. Microsoft, MS,MS-DOS, and Microsoft SQL Server are registered trademarks and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc., in the United States and other countries. Motif is a registered trademark of Open Software Foundation, Inc. ORACLE and SQL*Net are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. SYBASE and Open Client are registered trademarks of Sybase, Inc.Red Brick is a trademark of Red Brick Systems. Informix is a registered trademark of Informix Software, Inc. Essbase is a registered trademark of Arbor Software Corporation. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Part Number 60-991-0898 July 1997

Contents

Preface
About BrioQuery Editions xii Who Should Use this Handbook xiii What this HandbookContains xiii Related Documentation xv Conventions xvi Contacting Brio xvii

Part I: Getting Started
1 Introducing BrioQuery
Understanding Business Intelligence Tools 1-2 Year “2000” Compliance 1-7 What’s New in 5.0? 1-8

2

A Tour of Brio Query
Step One: Start BrioQuery 2-2 Step Two: Opening and Saving a Sample File 2-3 Step Three: Finding Your Way 2-4 Step Four: Introducing Query 2-5Step Five: Getting Some Results 2-7 Step Six: Pivot Your Data 2-9 Step Seven: Charting Unlimited 2-14 Step Eight: Detail Reports 2-16 Step Nine: Returning to Query 2-18

Contents

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3

Turning Data into Information
About Aggregation 3-2 Introducing Personal Computer Warehouse 3-3 BrioQuery’s Aggregation Features 3-10 Aggregation at the Desktop 3-15 Where To Go From Here 3-17

4BrioQuery Fundamentals
The BrioQuery Workspace 4-2 Understanding BrioQuery Sections 4-3 Using the Toolbars 4-4 Using Drag-and-Drop Command Lines 4-6 Using the Outliners 4-8 Selection and Clicking Techniques 4-9 Using Speed Menus 4-10 Formatting Options 4-11 Printing in BrioQuery 4-15 Saving Documents 4-15 Opening an Existing Document 4-17 About Online Assistance 4-17

Part II: Querying and Results5 Querying
About Database Queries 5-2 Choosing a Data Model 5-3 Data Model Basics 5-7 Building a Query 5-10 Aggregating Data 5-13 Limits 5-16 Computed Items 5-16 Sorting 5-16 Query Estimates and Governors 5-16 Importing Data Files 5-19 Stored Procedures 5-19 Processing Queries 5-21 Working Directly in SQL 5-25 Where To Go From Here 5-26

iv

Contents

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Results
About Results 6-2Reviewing the Data Set 6-3 Computed Columns 6-3 Grouping Columns 6-3 Results Limits 6-7 Enhancing the Results Display 6-7 Sorting Results 6-10 Calculating Totals 6-10 Exporting Data 6-13 Saving the Results Set 6-15 Where To Go From Here 6-15

7

Limits
About Limits 7-2 The Limit Line 7-5 Simple Limits 7-5 Advanced Limit Techniques 7-13 Where To Go From Here 7-18

8

Computed Items
AboutComputed Items 8-2 Computed Items in BrioQuery Sections 8-4 Creating a Computed Item 8-5 Where To Go From Here 8-13

9

Sorting
Sorting Data 9-2 Sort Lines 9-3 Complex Sorting in Query and Results 9-4 Complex Sorting in Reports 9-6 Where To Go From Here 9-11

Contents

v

Part III: Reports
10 Pivot Reports
Analyzing Data with Pivot Reports 10-2 Techniques for Managing Your Data 10-6...