Application Main Menu

In the upper-left corner of the WebFOCUS InfoAssist interface, click the hamburger menu button to open the Application main menu.

You can run the following commands from the Application main menu:

New. Opens the WebFOCUS InfoAssist splash screen, where you can create a new report, chart, document, or visualization. The exact functionality of the New command depends on your current WebFOCUS InfoAssist session.
If you open a Reporting Object through WebFOCUS InfoAssist, and then click New, a new report is generated from the Reporting Object. You are prompted to choose the type of report you want to create from the Reporting Object.
When you open a new session of WebFOCUS InfoAssist and then click New, a new report is created. You are prompted to choose a data source.
Open. Opens an existing report, chart, document, or visualization.
Save. Saves a report, chart, document, or visualization.
Save As. Saves a report, chart, document, or visualization with a new name.
Note: When saving a read-only, non-writable procedure (.fex) in the Save As dialog box, the first writable folder will be selected, by default.
Run. Runs a report, chart, document, or visualization.
Run Deferred. Submits a report, chart, document, or visualization for processing in the background while you continue to work on other tasks.
Close. Closes the currently report, chart, document, or visualization.
Recent Items. Displays recent reports, charts, documents, or visualizations, and those items that have been pinned to the menu. The Recent Items area of the WebFOCUS InfoAssist Application main menu is shown in the following image.
Pinned reports, charts, documents, or visualizations are represented by a blue pinicon. Pinned items appear at the top of the list in alphabetical order.
Recent reports, charts, documents, and visualizations are represented by a sideways blue pinicon. Recent items appear below the separator bar in the order in which they were created, with the most recently created item at the top.
You can pin important reports, charts, documents, and visualizations to the top of the Recent Reports section of the Application main menu for quick and easy access. To promote a recent report to pinned report, click the sideways blue pin icon. The icon turns upright and the report is moved to the pinned report area of the Recent Items window, where it stays until it is unpinned.
To demote a pinned report, click the blue pin icon. The icon turns sideways and the report is moved below the separator bar.
A shortcut menu is available when right-clicking a recent item, as shown in the following image.
The options in the menu are:
- Open. Opens the selected report, chart, document, or visualization.
- Pin to list. Pins or unpins a recent report, chart, document, or visualization to the pinned reports list above the separator bar.
- Remove from list. Unpins a pinned report, chart, document, or visualization from the pinned reports list.
- Clear unpinned list. Clears all unpinned reports, charts, documents, or visualization from the Recent Items list.
Options. Opens the Options dialog box to customize your user preferences. For more information, see Changing ibi WebFOCUS InfoAssist User Preferences.
Exit. Exits the application.

Open Dialog Box

The Open dialog box displays when you launch WebFOCUS InfoAssist. It also displays when you join and blend data. You can use this dialog box to do the following:

Select data sources for creating reports, charts, visualizations, and documents.
Select data sources for joining and blending data.
Configure data adapters for connecting to an existing database and creating synonyms.
Upload user data.

The Open dialog box is shown in the following image.

The Open dialog box contains the following options:

Connect to Data

Opens the Metadata tool, where you can configure a Data Adapter to connect to an existing database and create synonyms.

Upload Data

Opens the Upload tool, where you can upload user data from a machine to which you have access. This data can be used with reporting.

Open

Opens the selected Master File.

Accessing ibi WebFOCUS InfoAssist Options

On the WebFOCUS InfoAssist application window, click the Application button to open the WebFOCUS InfoAssist Application main menu of procedure-related commands. When you click New, a splash screen that contains all available options opens, as shown in the following image.

The available options are grouped into Getting Started and Help.

Note: When you launch WebFOCUS InfoAssist, this splash screen indicates that the application is WebFOCUS InfoAssist Basic and displays the available options.

Getting Started

The following Getting Started options are available:

Build a Report. Opens the Open dialog box, where you can select a data source for your report.
Build a Chart. Opens the Open dialog box, where you can select a data source for your chart.
Build a Document. Opens the Open dialog box, where you can select a data source for your document.
Build a Visualization. Opens the Open dialog box, where you can select a data source for your visualization.
Open Existing Item. Opens the Open dialog box, where you can select an existing item.
Change Default Options. Opens the Options window, where you can change the default settings to reflect your preferences.
Close Application. Closes and exits the application.

Help

The Help options provide help for the new user. The following Help options are available when you open WebFOCUS InfoAssist.

WebFOCUS InfoAssist Help. Opens the online documentation window for WebFOCUS InfoAssist.
Online Forum. Opens the Focal Point website in a new browser window.

Selecting a Data Source

Selecting a data source is the first step when you create a new report or chart. When the Open dialog box appears, select the desired data source and click OK, which closes the dialog box. You can also double-click a data source to open it and close the dialog box in one step. If the desired data source is not in the default directory, select a different directory using the Look in drop-down list.

The Open dialog box is shown in the following image.

InfoAssist Open dialog box

WebFOCUS InfoAssist also displays the Open dialog box when you save a report, select a drill-down procedure, or open a StyleSheet, theme, or Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file.

Opening a New Procedure

When you open a new procedure, you are presented with the splash (start-up) screen. Selecting Build a Report, Build a Chart, or Build a Document displays the Open dialog box for selecting a data source. When you select a data source and click OK, the WebFOCUS InfoAssist application window opens, as shown in the following image.

Blank InfoAssist Canvas

Changing ibi WebFOCUS InfoAssist User Preferences

You can change the default user preferences to customize the way that WebFOCUS InfoAssist behaves when you create reports and generate output. The application theme, which is inherited from the BI Portal, customizes the WebFOCUS InfoAssist interface, including all menus and dialog boxes.

You can style your reports by selecting a document theme independent from the interface. On the WebFOCUS InfoAssist Application main menu, click Options.

The Options dialog box, as shown in the following image, opens to provide you with a user-friendly interface for customizing the WebFOCUS InfoAssist application.

Note: If you make changes to the default selections in the Options dialog box, changes will take effect the next time WebFOCUS InfoAssist launches.

If any of the options are unavailable, contact your administrator for assistance.

You can also select a document styling theme through the ribbon. On the Home tab, in the Report group, click Theme. For more information, see Home Tab.

Startup Options

Note: The Startup Options are disabled because in WebFOCUS 8, you can choose the mode of WebFOCUS InfoAssist directly from the Resource Tree in the BI Portal.

View

The View area provides settings for establishing the design view in which you will work, the type of data you will use when you preview your output, the limit you need to set on your record input, how your data and query panels will look, and the output target that you will use.

Design View. Values are Live Preview and Query. Select Live Preview to activate the Preview Method drop-down menu. The default value is Live Preview.
Preview Method. Values are Preview with Source Data and Preview with Sample Data. This menu becomes active when you select Live Preview from the Design View drop-down menu. The default value is Preview with Source Data.
Record Limit. Values are All records, 1, 10, 50, 500, or you can type a numeric value directly in the menu. The default value is 500.
Data Panel. Values are Logical, List, and Structured. The default value is Logical.
Query Panel. Values are 2x2 (2 columns by 2 rows), 1x4 (1 column by 4 rows), and Tree. The default value is Tree.
Output Target. Values are Single Tab, New Tab, Single Window, and New Window. The default value is Single Tab.

Layout

The Layout area provides settings for printing reports and charts.

Page Size. Values are A4, A3, A5, Letter, Tabloid, and Legal. The default value is Letter.
Orientation. Values are Portrait and Landscape. The default value is Portrait.

Format

The Format area provides settings for the output types for reports, charts, and documents.

Report output type. Values are HTML, PDF, PowerPoint (pptx), Excel (xlsx), Excel (xlsx Formula), Excel, Excel (Formula), Excel(csv), and . The default value is HTML.
Chart output type. Values are HTML, HTML5, PDF, PowerPoint (pptx), Excel (xlsx), Excel, and . The default value is HTML5.
Document output type. Values are HTML, PDF, PowerPoint (pptx), Excel (xlsx), Excel (xlsx Formula), Excel, Excel (Formula), and . The default value is .

Environment and Styling

The Environment and Styling area provides settings for styling reports and charts through the specification of a Document Theme. Click the Browse button to open the Templates - Browse predefined template files dialog box, in which you can search for an existing StyleSheet. The default StyleSheet is Warm.sty, but you can select from the other themes that are available (Dark.sty or Flat.sty).

Note: StyleSheets are stored in the following directory of your installation:

drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS82\IBI_HTML\ibi_themes

In addition, you can access a repository of additional themes by accessing the Legacy Templates, under Libraries, as shown in the following image.

The theme that you select determines the coloring and hues that display within WebFOCUS InfoAssist. The default templates in the Templates section apply to all languages, whereas some of those in the Legacy Templates sections are specific to just one language (for example, EN=English).

Note: If you switch themes when working in Report mode, all custom styling is removed from the procedure.

Accordion. Values for this option are: Autofit and Legacy. The enhanced Accordion report format is built to autofit and be adaptive within windows and portal page containers. The legacy Accordion report opens in a tree structure independent of the window or container. The default value is Autofit.
Freeze. The Freeze option allows you to define a scroll area within the data of your report. It locks column headings in place, as well as headings and footings, enabling you to scroll through the data within the container. The scroll area is defined to automatically fit within the size of the container where the report is run.

Changing Global Preferences

You can change global preferences for WebFOCUS InfoAssist through the Administration Console found on the WebFOCUS . For more information, see the ibi™ WebFOCUS® Security and Administration manual.

Note: If Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 are enabled in Global Preferences, the default selection for PowerPoint on the WebFOCUS InfoAssist Home tab is PowerPoint, as opposed to PowerPoint (pptx).

Changing Global Preferences

You can change global preferences for WebFOCUS InfoAssist through the Administration Console, which can be accessed from the BI Portal Administration Menu.

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