Adding Variable Criteria

You insert PS/nVision variables into the layout to display heading information that might change from report to report, or between report runs. For example, you could use a variable to automatically insert the report ID you specify in the Report Request dialog box, so you do not restrict this layout to a single purpose. Remember that your layout may be used with a scope that changes its contents, which could make a hard-coded title misleading.

You can define variable criteria at the cell level only—one variable per cell—and the variable must be the only element in that cell.

When inserting a variable into a cell, you select it from the Variable tab of the PeopleSoft nVision Layout Definition dialog box. Because there are many different variables to select from, the dialog box displays them by category. Tables describing the variables in each category follow.

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the PeopleSoft nVision Layout Definition dialog box: Variable tab.

To define variable criteria in nVision:

1. Open any existing layout or create a new one.

2. Select nVision > Layout Definition from the menu.

3. In the PeopleSoft nVision Layout Definition dialog box, select the cell to which you want to apply variable criteria.

4. Select the Variable tab.

5. Select the appropriate category, and then select a variable.

6. If you selected one of the Date and Time Periods variables, specify a ledger.

   When you select the Date and Time Periods option and you click a variable in the Variables list, the Ledger field appears.

7. If you selected one of the Scope-Related variables, fill in the Scope Field field, if necessary.

   When you select any Scope Related variable except SCN or SCD, the Scope Field text box appears to the right of the Variables field.

   If the layout uses a scope that has multiple fields, use the Scope Field option to specify the scope field on which to base the variable you want to insert. For example, if you defined a scope using the Department and Product fields, and wanted a descriptive field from the Department table to appear on your report, you would enter DEPTID as the scope field.

   Note: If you do not specify a scope field, the default value is the first field defined in the scope.

8. If you selected the DES variable, indicate where to retrieve the descriptive information.

   The Descriptive Field (DES) variable is user-defined and retrieves text information from either the tree node table or detail value table associated with a field in the scope. For example, if your scope is based on DEPTID, and creates an instance for each tree node at the Division level, you can use variables to identify each instance with the division name and related information from the tree node.

   Use the Field on Detail Value Table field to retrieve descriptive information from any text field on the detail values table that is associated with the scope field. For example, if you were generating instances of a report using a scope based on detail values of the Department field, you could enter the name of any descriptive field, such as the Manager_Name field, on the Department table, and the text contained in that field would appear on each department’s instance of the report.

   Use the Field on Tree Node Table field to retrieve descriptive information from any text field on the tree node table (usually named TREE_NODE_TBL) when using a tree-based scope. For example, if you added a field for the manager responsible for each node in your tree, you could retrieve this information by specifying the field name, such as Mgr_Name, from the tree node table.

9. Click the Apply button to save your changes and define filter criteria for a different cell.

   Alternatively, click the OK button to save your changes and close the dialog box.