The University of Toledo

Web Report Library

Organizing Objects

Selecting which objects are displayed

By default, BusinessObjects Enterprise shows you all the objects you have the rights to see in your view. If you want to temporarily limit the type to make searching easier, you can choose to display objects of a specific type. Object types include Crystal reports, Web Intelligence documents, Excel, PowerPoint, program objects, object packages, text files, and many others.

To select which objects are displayed

  1. In the objects area on any view, click the Filter list.
  2. Select the type of object you want to see.

To see all objects again, select All Types from the Filter list.

Sorting objects

By default, objects are sorted alphabetically by title. You can reverse this order, or you can sort the objects by last run date, type or owner.

 To sort objects

Click the heading for the column that you want to sort by.  For example, to sort the object by title, click the Title column heading. To sort objects by date run, click Last Run column heading.

When you click the column heading, the system sorts the objects in ascending order. When you click the column heading again, it sort the objects in descending order.

Searching for objects

You can do a structured search to find objects on BusinessObjects Enterprise. Type the exact phrase and select a search field, such as title or description.

The objects displayed depend on how your BusinessObjects Enterprise administrator has set up your account privileges. For example, users in Marketing may see objects that differ from those seen by the users in Human Resources. For more information, see the BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator’s Guide.

Note: A search includes all public folders you have rights to as well as your Favorites folder.

To search for an object

  1. In the Search box on the menu bar, type the words that you want to search for.
  2. Click the list next to the search box to select a search field. The available search fields are:
    • all fields
    • title
    • description
    • Keyword

  3. Click Execute Search.  A list of objects meeting your search parameters appears.
  4. To view the latest instance of the object, click the View Latest Instance link under the object name.  To view a older instance, click the History link, then click the link for the instance you want to view.

Adding objects to a folder

Use the following procedure to add existing objects to a folder. To add an object to a folder, you must have the right to access the folder. 

To add objects to a folder

  1. From the New list in the toolbar, select the type of object you want to add.  The add a document page is displayed.  For example, you can select Document from local computer and then select a Crystal Report
  2. If you want, type a title and description.  If you don’t enter a title, the file name for the object will appear in Title column instead. The description is also optional. You can view the description on the Properties page for the object.
  3. In the Keywords field, type any keywords you want to use for this object. Keywords can be used to search for an object.
  4. In the Filename field, type the name of the file, or click the Browse button to locate the file.
  5. In the Location field, specify the folder you want to add the object to, or click the Browse button to select a location.
  6. In the categories area, assign the object to one or more categories as needed. 
  7. Click OK. The object is added to folder

Assigning objects to a category

Like folders, categories can be used to organize documents. You can assign objects to one or more categories, and you can create subcategories within categories.

BusinessObjects Enterprise provides two types of categories:

  • Personal categories, which appear under My Categories in the navigation panel. You can create any number of personal categories to organize your documents and objects.
  • Administrative (or corporate) categories are created by the administrator, or other users who have been granted access to these categories. If you have the appropriate rights, you can create corporate categories.

To assign an object to a category

  1. Navigate to the folder or category containing the object you want to assign.
  2. Click the Properties link for the object.  The Properties page is displayed.
  3. In the Categories area, select the categories that you want to assign this objects to.  Click the plus icon beside the category names to expand the list of categories and navigate to the category you want.
  4. Click OK.

Creating dashboards for My InfoView

From InfoView you can access the Dashboard Manager, which allows you to create dashboards. A dashboard contains user defined settings and can include web sites and objects, such as reports or documents. You can create one or more dashboard and display them as needed. 

For example, you can create a dashboard that contains a website, or Crystal reports or Web Intelligence documents that you frequently access. To view the dashboard, you can either make the dashboard your default view, or you can click its link in the navigation panel. The default name for a dashboard is My InfoView, and its default location is your Favorites folder.

In your preferences, you can specify to have a dashboard displayed as the initial view when you start InfoView. For more information, see “Selecting your preferences” on page 16. For complete details, refer to the Dashboard Manager User’s Guide.

To create a dashboard for My InfoView

  1. Click My InfoView in the toolbar. The My InfoView page is displayed.
  2. Choose a template.  The templates include frames that determine the layout of the objects in your dashboard. Each box in the template frame can contain one object.
  3. Click Define Content. The dashboard properties dialog box appears.
  4. Select the items or objects you want to include.  For example, you can include a web address or an object. You can also specify a header and footer for each box in the dashboard.
  5. Click Save.

  1. 1. The system saves the dashboard as "My InfoView." The default location for My InfoView is your Favorites folders.  You can create multiple version of My InfoView by using the Save As button.
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  4. 4. To display a dashboard in the initial view

  1. In the toolbar in the InfoView window, click Preferences.
  2. In the “My initial view is” area, click the option corresponding to the view you’d like to begin with.  Select My InfoView to set the dashboard as your initial view. To associate a different dashboard with the “My InfoView” button, select the dashboard you want in the My InfoView area on the Preferences page.
  3. Click OK.

  1. 1. To display a dashboard at anytime

  1. Go the folder containing the My InfoView object.The default location is your Favorites folder.
  2. Click the link for the InfoView you want.