- If you have taken the time to create a query, but want to be able to save your work without running it, you have two options. The most convenient is to use click the "Save and Close" button in the Query Panel to simply save the structure of your report. If you do this, be sure to then use "Save As" to save it with a distinctive name, in the location you wish. You can then open the query and simply click the Refresh button to retrieve your data. Alternatively, once you've built your query, you can click the Options button at the bottom left of the Query Panel, and click the "Do Not Retrieve Data" checkbox, click OK, and then click Run. Again, only the structure of your report will be displayed, which you can then save. Keep in mind, though, that you must uncheck the Do Not Retrieve Data checkbox before you choose to run the query in the future.
- By default, Desktop Intelligence saves queries (.rep files) in \My Documents\My Business Objects Documents\userDocs. If you work with several universes, you may find it convenient to create subfolders within that directory to better organize your work.
- If you want to export the data you've retrieved for use in another application, you have a couple options: Save As: Desktop Intelligence allows you to use the "Save As" feature to save documents in Excel, Adobe Acrobat PDF or CSV formats. Once you've refreshed a report, click on the File menu and select Save As. Select the file format you'd like from the "Save as type" drop-down list. Desktop Intelligence will then save your file with the data as it appears on the screen. This means the output will be saved and reflect section breaks, filters, special formatting, etc. The results of any variables or calculations will be saved as text, not underlying formulae. If your report has multiple tabs, and you choose to save as Excel, each tab will appear as a separate worksheet within one workbook. Similarly, multiple tabs will be accessible indidually in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files. InfoView users can perform a similar action. If you experience undesired changes in Excel color formatting when overwritting a Excel file previoulsy saved from Deski, save it instead to different file name.
(Note: This feature was not available in Business Objects 5.1.4 - the work around was to use the Business Objects Edit menu and select "Copy All", then open a blank worksheet in Excel and choose "Paste Special" from the Excel Edit menu. Choose the "Unformatted Text" option and click Ok to paste your data into the worksheet.)
Export: You can also export the raw data retrieved in your query (retaining no Business Objects post-query formatting or calculations), in a variety of file formats. From the Data menu, select "View Data" to display the Data Manager window. Click the Export button at the bottom of the Results tab, and designate file name and path, and file format (options include text formats, and .xls for Excel). If you choose the All files (*.*) format, you can also control the field delimiters used. [A word of caution about using the .xls format: some versions of Excel object to the field names used in the Business Objects classes. If you encounter an error when exporting/importing using the Excel format, try it again with either the All Files or the Text Files format, and then use the Excel Import Wizard to bring the data into your speadsheet.]
