Understanding the Double Column Feature

Oracle BI EE provides a feature called double columns. When a repository is configured for the double column feature, column data includes a display column that has a code column mapped to it (that is, it has double columns). A display column contains the display values for the column data, for example, Excellent, Good, and Poor. A code column contains code values that uniquely identify display values and are consistent across users or locales, for example, the code values 1 (uniquely identifying Excellent), 2 (uniquely identifying Good), and 3 (uniquely identifying Poor).

When Oracle BI EE processes a double column, for example, as part of the criteria of an analysis or as the basis for a filter, it generates and issues SQL statements to the Oracle BI Server that use code values rather than display values, thereby making the filter language independent.

The double column feature lets you:

• Build internationalized analyses that are automatically filtered by language independent codes. (In previous releases (prior to 11g), filters were not language independent.) For example, you can build one filtered analysis that can be used by both French-language users and English-language users.

• Build common analyses that can be shared among groups even if the groups require different display values. For example, you can build a common analysis that displays for a Status field the values Excellent, Good, and Poor to one group, and Superb, Okay, and Bad to another group.

• Change display values without breaking existing analyses. For example, suppose that you have an analysis that is filtered on the display value Excellent. If it is a double column, then the filtering is performed on its code column with the code value for "Excellent" rather than the display value of "Excellent." This means that you can change the display value Excellent to Superb without breaking the existing analysis.

In addition, if your organization allows the display of code values within Oracle BI EE, you can use code values rather than the display values in some dialogs, such as the "New Filter dialog". This means, for example, when specifying the values to use when applying a filter, you can specify code values rather than display values.

Before you can take advantage of the double column feature, your administrator must configure your repository by mapping code columns to display columns. Check with the administrator to see if your repository is configured for double columns.