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Hi all, after switching from 2.1.0 to 2.1.1 the Report Designer behaves differently when adding ad "Data" element to table cells. The previous version presented a table of currently existing resultSetColumns and allowed changing and adding to them with table cell editors. The new version forces the user to define a new column, so the only way of adding an existing column to a cell is by adding it in the xml. Imho the old behavoiur is more reasonable as it allows both, adding new and existing columns. Best regards Alexander Bieber
the context menu on the data item allows switching to an existing column. so the stp could be DnD a new data item to the cell without define a new column, then use the context menu to select an existing resultSetcolumn. Another way is to DnD the field from the data explorer to the table cell in stead of cteating a new data item. Will continue to review this UI, any suggestion is welcome.
Thanks for the hint with the context menu, I didn't know that. However, there is imho no intuitive way of adding resultSetColumns that do not appear in the data explorer (e.g. aggregations) without creating them on the fly. Maybe DnD support for the "Binding" tab in the "Property Editor" View would be a good idea. This way one could drag all existing columns into a table cell.
1) Based on UI feedback and comments the behavior was changed in BIRT 2.1.1 2) About your latest comments that there is not easy way to defining aggregations - In BIRT 2.2, the new aggregation builder has been added. User can drag aggregation item from paletter to report item and define a new aggregation. I will mark this bug as resolved. Please review the feature and re-open the bug if you have comments.
Sorry for the late reply. I've reviewed the feature and I still think the workflow is strange somehow: After you've created a table with column bindings you want to add one of these bindings to the table: 1. Select 'Data' item in the palette 2. Click in the table at the place you want to place it 3. Now, in order not to add a new binding you have to cancel the dialog, which seems strange to me 4. Now use the context menu to change the column binding Maybe a switch in the dialog would be reasonable where the user can choose between: 'Add a new column binding' or 'Select from an existing binding' Best regards Alex
move to 2.3.0 to further consider this UI improvement.
Based on usability feedback, we removed the switch as the feedback we got was showing the two choices was confusing. There is another way you can add a new data item which refers to an existing resultset column - DND a data item to layout view - Click on the expression button to show the expression builder - In the expression builder select the result set column under 'Available column bindings'
Request to move this bug to 2.3.1. We can look into it along with other data binding usability issues. Thanks
st to future until there is more concrete UI mockup. Add plan key word.
