Creating Measure Item Captions

Examples of measure item captions that use different combinations of variables and static text are shown below. Examples are shown for all types of measure items -- regular with time ranges, regular without time ranges, and calculated. Captions can include a combination of the following elements or just one of these elements, whatever your preference:

Measure Items with Time Ranges

Here are the properties for a measure item with a time range. The measure item is based on the Daily Sales Daily Sales Amount measure from the Daily Sales category.

Here are some examples of caption expressions that were set up for the measure item and what each executed caption looked like in the view. In these examples, the current year is 2014 and the current month is September. The time elements in the evaluated captions reflect that current state of the data. Variables are the parts of the expressions that have brackets [ ] around them.

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Example Expression & Caption

Variables for measure, short description of periods, and short format for year (separated by spaces and static text)

Expression

[Measure] [From Period Short Desc] [From Year YY] to [To Period Short Desc] [To Year YY]

Caption in View

Variables for measure, long description of periods, and long format for years (separated by spaces and static text)

Expression

[Measure] [From Period Long Desc] [From Year YYYY] to [To Period Long Desc] [To Year YYYY]

Caption in View

Variable for category and measures (separated by spaces and static text)

Expression

[Category] - YTD [Measure]

Caption in View

Static text, line breaks, and variable for measure

Expression

Current YTD
Months
[Measure]

Caption in View

Measure Items without Time Ranges

Here are the properties for a measure item without time ranges. This measure item also is based on the Daily Sales Daily Sales Amount measure from the Daily Sales category.

Next are some examples of caption expressions that were set up for the measure item and what each executed caption looked like in the view. Variables are the parts of the expressions that have brackets [ ] around them.

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Example Expression & Caption

Variable for measure

Expression

[Measure]

Caption in View

Variable for category and static text

Expression

[Category] Amount $

Caption in View

Variable for category, line break, and static text

Expression

[Category]
Amount $

Caption in View

Calculated Measure Items

Here is an expression for a calculated measure item that uses two other measure items in a view to perform its calculation. In the examples that follow, caption variables from a sales amount and budget amount measure item in the view will be used to generate the caption for the calculated measure item.

Here is the view before the caption for the calculated measure item is customized. The caption is currently the default, which is the name of the calculated measure item – in this case Data3.

Next are two examples of caption expressions that were set up for the measure item and what each evaluated caption looked like in the view. Both examples that follow include static text and the captions of the sales amount and budget amount measure items that comprise the calculation. The caption for the calculated measure item will reflect the current period details from the sale amount and budget amount measure items. That caption will automatically adjust as the time period and data used in the calculation changes. The first example does not use line breaks in the caption expression. The second example includes line breaks.

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Example Expression & Caption

Static text, ‘Caption’ variables from two other measure items, without line break

Expression

Caption in View

Static text, ‘Caption’ variables from two other measure items, with line breaks

Expression

Caption in View

Next is the same calculated measure item with a conditional format applied to it. The conditional format is named Track Below 10 million and it displays a yellow arrow when the variance is below $10,000,000. The next example shows the grid after the caption expression was edited to include the Conditional Format Name variable in the expression.

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Example Expression & Caption

Variable for conditional format name

Expression

Caption in View