The Edit Slice Dialog Box

The Edit Slice dialog box contains various features for listing Members in the Member/Hierarchy list box on the left, in order to easily send them to the Slice Content list box on the right. In a Dimension with few Members and a simple Hierarchy, the selection of Members to view in a Slice is straightforward. However, you may use complex Hierarchies and Dimensions with hundreds, or even thousands, of Members. In this case, the toolbar in the Edit Slice dialog box will help you search for Members at a certain hierarchical level or as they are defined in a relationship (such as parent/child or sibling) in a large Member list.

In the Edit Slice dialog box, on the left, you can toggle between two tabs: Member and Hierarchy.

The Members tab contains four controls that can be used to define the contents of the list box.

• Subsets: combo-box containing Subsets (as demonstrated in the preceding pages). This is a quick way to pull a pre-determined set of Members into a Slice.
• Filter: an edit control for specifying a filter parameter. Thus, if the Member list included all months, typing in "j" and pressing Enter would return January, June and July in the list box.
• Sorting: combo-box specifying type of sorting. The Member list can be sorted in Natural, Ascending, and Descending orders, according to alphabetical and aggregate Member properties.
• Level: The combo-box specifying the level of Members to display. The combo box contains the word "Level" pre-pended to numbers from zero to the number of levels in the Dimension. This control allows multiple selections, enabling you to display Members of a specific level or levels, from highest in the Hierarchy to the lowest. After making a selection(s), click within the list box to get the results.

The Hierarchy tab contains six toolbar buttons that can be used to define the contents of the list box.

Hierarchy Tab
Icon Name	Icon	Description
Expand All Items		Expands the entire Dimension.
Collapse All Items		Collapses the entire Dimension.
Select Deepest Items		Selects the deepest Member (in the Hierarchy) "beneath" a selected Member.
Select Children		Selects the "children" of a selected Member.
Select Items at Focus Level		Selects Members at the same level as the selected Member.
Clear Selections		Clears the current selection in the Hierarchy.

The best way to understand these toolbar functions is to see them in action by playing with them in the Edit Slice dialog box. We recommend trying these buttons through the now familiar Month dimension. With the Month dimension expanded, select a Member in the Hierarchy and use the buttons on the toolbar to select other Members of the Hierarchy. In a large Dimension like Month, the buttons greatly simplify and accelerate selecting the Members you would like to see in your Slice.

Tip


The Dimension hierarchy is read-only in the Edit Slice dialog box, which means a Hierarchy cannot be permanently altered while creating Slice views. Setting up Hierarchies and editing their structure is a part of database design. See the section: Modeling with PowerOLAP®, and the topic Working with Dimensions, for more information on manipulating Hierarchies in a permanent way.

Toolbar buttons

Let us assume at this point that you have established a list of Members in the left-hand list box, and now you want to move this list to the Slice Content list box on the right. You can use the drag-and-drop method you demonstrated previously, or you can use the toolbar buttons above the Slice Content list box, as explained below.

Move selected Members (highlighted) to the Slice Content box on the right

Again, with multiple Members, the buttons become more useful.

On the upper right side within the Edit Slice dialog box, the following Toolbar buttons enable you to quickly move Members from the Member/Hierarchy list box to the Slice Content list box on the right, and manipulate them, ultimately determining what appears in the Slice. Recall that the appearance of Members in the Slice Content box—and the order in which they appear—reflect how the Members will show up in the Slice when you click OK and exit from the Edit Slice dialog box.

Slice Content list box toolbar
Icon Name	Icon	Description
Add Selected Members		Inserts Member selection from the left (Member list box) below the selected Member on the right (Slice Content list box). Procedure: Select Member(s) on the left side, select a Member on the right side, and click button. Further, if the Slice Content list box is empty, you can move selected Members by clicking on the button.
Add All Members		Inserts all Members (from the left side) below the selected Member (on the right side). Procedure: Select a Member on the right side, click button.
Replace current list with selected subset		All Members on the right side are overwritten with Subset selection on the left. Procedure: Select a Subset from the Subset drop-down, click button.
Clear All		Clears all the Members in the Subset (on the right). Procedure: Click button.
Drill Down		Expands an Aggregate member in the Slice Content list box. Procedure: Select an Aggregate member on the right side (defined by an aggregate icon); click button. The Aggregate member's children are displayed.
Set Page Member		Set the currently selected Member as the Page member (when working in a Page dimension only). When you have modeled the Members for the Slice, click OK button to make edits effective and return to the Slice Click on a Member in the Slice Content list box. Click button.
Select Display Group		Lists all the Alias and Property Groups for the Selected Dimension. By default, it displays the 'Members' group which is a list of all the Dimension members for the selected dimension arranged accordingly as it appears on the Member list. This option allows user to choose a display name for the Dimension members of the current slice. Procedure: Select one of the groups listed then go back to slice and recalculate for changes to take effect.
Invert Selection		Inverts the selection in the Slice Content list box. Procedure: Select a Member(s) on the right side, click on the button; the other Member(s) listed will now be selected. You can now click on the Delete button to remove selected members. Clicking OK will show the remaining Members in the Slice.
Help		Click on the Help button to bring up the the Help File for the Edit Slice dialog box.
OK		When you have modeled the Members for the Slice, click OK button to make edits effective and return to the Slice.