Format Dimensional Data

Format data in a report to improve readability. For example, you can show all date values in the order year, month, and day. If you do not specify any formatting, data is formatted according to the properties set in the model. If the properties were not set in the model, data is formatted according to the International Components for Unicode (ICU) formats.

You can also format data based on a condition.

When using an IBM® Cognos® cube or a SAP BW as a data source, mixed currency values use the asterisk character (*) as the unit of measure. Mixed currency values occur when you calculate values with different currencies.

Data formats are not applied in delimited text (CSV) and XML report outputs.

Procedure

In the work area, right-click a data item and click Style, Data Format.
Tip: You can also use the data format button in the style toolbar.
In the Format type box, click a format type.
The properties that you can set for the selected format type appear in the Properties box.
Set the properties that you want.
For properties in which you type meta-characters that represent certain types of information, such as YYYY-MM-DD for dates, the meta-characters required depend on the authoring language specified for the report.

If you specify a value for the Pattern property, all other formatting properties are ignored, with the following exceptions:
- Missing Value Characters
- Zero Value Characters
- Negative Pattern
Some properties are locale-sensitive and should only be changed with caution.

Results

The data formatting properties are applied. If a data item contains values in multiple currencies, but only a subset of those currencies have defined formats, the default format for the locale you are working in is applied to values for which no format is specified.