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BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.

0
User Guide

Business Objects Enterprise XI 3.0

Windows
Copyright © 2008 Business Objects. All rights reserved. Business Objects owns the following
U.S. patents, which may cover products that are offered and licensed by Business
Objects: 5,555,403; 5,857,205; 6,289,352; 6,247,008; 6,490,593; 6,578,027;
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notices, can be found at: http://www.businessobjects.com/thirdparty

2008-02-19
Contents
Chapter 1 About this document 9
Who should read this document ...............................................................10
How to use this document.........................................................................10

Chapter 2 Getting Started with Live Office 13


Overview....................................................................................................14
About Live Office content ..........................................................................14
Live Office concepts.............................................................................15
What's New in Live Office?........................................................................19
New Features.......................................................................................19
Feature enhancements........................................................................20
Live Office toolbar and Insert Wizard at a glance.................................20
Live Office toolbar ...............................................................................20
Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise................................................23
Logging on to secured databases.............................................................24

Chapter 3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office 25


Overview....................................................................................................26
About Crystal Reports content in Live Office.............................................26
The Wizard at a glance........................................................................26
Key terms and concepts.......................................................................28
Inserting Crystal Reports content..............................................................29
Inserting report parts............................................................................30
Inserting fields as a data set.................................................................36
Modifying Crystal Reports content.............................................................40
Adding more report parts......................................................................41

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 3


Contents

Viewing and modifying general object properties.................................41


Inserting rows or columns....................................................................42
Modifying parameter values.................................................................42
Modifying fields ....................................................................................43
Modifying filters....................................................................................44

Chapter 4 Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office 47


Overview....................................................................................................48
About Web Intelligence content.................................................................48
The Wizard at a glance........................................................................48
Key terms and concepts.......................................................................50
Inserting Web Intelligence content.............................................................52
Logging on and running the Live Office Wizard...................................52
Selecting a data source........................................................................53
Specifying a context.............................................................................54
To specify prompt values......................................................................54
To select report parts ...........................................................................55
Creating your Live Office objects.........................................................55
Configuring general object properties..................................................56
Configuring data refresh options..........................................................56
Configuring prompt binding options ....................................................58
Modifying Web Intelligence content...........................................................58
Viewing and modifying general object properties.................................58
Adding more Web Intelligence report parts..........................................59
Modifying prompt values......................................................................60
Upgrading content from the previous version......................................61

Chapter 5 Working with Queries in Live Office 63


Overview....................................................................................................64
Query fundamentals..................................................................................64

4 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Contents

What are universes?............................................................................65


What is a prompt?................................................................................66
What is a query context? .....................................................................66
About query building in Live Office............................................................66
Creating and running queries....................................................................68
Selecting a data source........................................................................69
Building your query...............................................................................69
Defining your data filters.......................................................................72
Specifying context for your query.........................................................74
Specifying prompt values.....................................................................74
Naming and inserting your Live Office query object ............................75
Configuring prompt binding options for your query..............................75
Configuring query options....................................................................77
Viewing query properties...........................................................................78
To view query properties for an existing query.....................................78
Editing queries...........................................................................................79
Changing the universe location............................................................79
Modifying the query definition...............................................................79
Modifying a query context....................................................................80

Chapter 6 Performing Common Tasks with Live Office Objects 81


Performing Common Tasks with Live Office..............................................82
Publishing and Viewing Files................................................................82
Saving your data locally and to the repository.....................................86
Copying and pasting Live Office Objects.............................................86
Distributing objects via Outlook............................................................88
Loading, updating, and refreshing existing content..............................89
Removing Live Office objects...............................................................90

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 5


Contents

Chapter 7 Performing Advanced Tasks 91


Performing Advanced Tasks......................................................................92
Managing prompt and parameter settings ................................................92
Managing time dependent variables (Key Date)..................................92
Managing global Live Office properties.....................................................95
Configuring the shortcut menu.............................................................96
Changing default layout, formatting, and refresh behavior..................98
Configuring default error message strings...........................................99
Configuring field display settings........................................................101
Changing the viewing locale ..............................................................101
Managing document security and access ..............................................102
Adding security to your documents....................................................102
Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise automatically..................103
Connecting to a different CMS...........................................................104
Relinking objects to Business Objects Enterprise..............................104
Working with Smart Tags in Live Office...................................................105

Chapter 8 Troubleshooting Live Office 107


Sample Live Office log files ....................................................................108
Enabling logging for Live Office...............................................................109
Troubleshooting Live Office components................................................109
Problem: LiveOffice menu disappeared.............................................110
Problem: document refresh failed......................................................110
Problem: context dialog box is not displayed on refresh even if the Reset
Context on Refresh option is checked...............................................111
Problem: report sorting and filtering lost when refreshing..................111
Problem: access denied to universe..................................................112

6 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Contents

Chapter 9 Reference 113


Live Office Insert Wizard..........................................................................114
Options dialog box..............................................................................115
Properties dialog box..........................................................................119
Backward compatibility............................................................................119
Deprecated features...........................................................................119
Unsupported features.........................................................................120
Live Office object size limitations.......................................................120

Appendix A Get More Help 123

Index 127

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 7


Contents

8 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


About this document

1
1 About this document
Who should read this document

Welcome to Business Objects Live Office User's Guide. Live Office lets
anyone, from business workers to experienced data analysts, easily retrieve
business information, create queries, perform calculations, and share answers
to business questions without having to understand complex database
languages and structures.

Live Office helps business workers like you easily embed accurate,
trustworthy up-to-date Crystal Reports or Web Intelligence information into
your Microsoft® Office documents, spreadsheets, emails, and presentations.
If you know how to create documents and spreadsheets, you'll have no
problem learning to use Live Office.

This guide provides comprehensive information and procedures to help you


to perform the following business tasks from within the Microsoft Office
application environment:
• Create simple queries and summary reports, based on verifiable,
up-to-date, real-time information, to analyze data, such as quarterly sales
figures, answer important business questions, and make informed
decisions.
• View, modify, and refresh existing queries quickly to suit your business
needs.
• Share the results with your colleagues securely over the web or intranet
for collaborative, strategic decision making.

Live Office, part of the BusinessObjects XI 3.0 Productivity Pack, is one of


a suite of query and analysis products provided by Business Objects.

Who should read this document


This document is intended for business users of Microsoft Office applications
who want to work with Business Objects data within the Microsoft Office
application environment. You must be familiar with Microsoft Office Excel,
Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Outlook, and Microsoft Office
PowerPoint, and you must have some familiarity with BusinessObjects
Enterprise to understand this guide.

How to use this document


This guide covers the following topics and tasks

10 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


About this document
How to use this document 1
To do this… Go to this section …

Understand key Live Office concepts About Live Office content on


and product enhancements. page 14

Create and modify Crystal Reports


About Crystal Reports content in Live
documents from within your Microsoft
Office on page 26
Office applications.

Create and modify Web Intelligence


About Web Intelligence content on
documents from within your Microsoft
page 48
Office applications.

Build, edit, and refresh universe


About query building in Live Office
queries from within your Microsoft
on page 66
Office applications.

Performing common tasks with Live


Performing Common Tasks with Live
Office objects such as saving docu-
Office on page 82
ments and removing objects.

Perform more complex Live Office


tasks such as managing prompts and Performing Advanced Tasks on
configuring Single Sign On authenti- page 92Overview on page 82
cation.

Enable Live Office logging and trou- Troubleshooting Live Office on


bleshoot common Live Office errors. page 107

Review reference material including


backward compatibility information
Reference on page 113
and a list of unsupported and depre-
cated features.

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 11


1 About this document
How to use this document

12 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Getting Started with Live
Office

2
2 Getting Started with Live Office
Overview

Overview
BusinessObjects™ Live Office (Live Office) gives you access to up-to-date
information you use everyday to do your job and make important business
decisions. It gives you real-time data that is verifiable and easily refreshed.

Live Office is built in to Microsoft Office applications you already use. The
information you need is at your finger tips and available in a familiar, easy
to use format. Live Office empowers business workers like you to easily
access corporate data from within Microsoft Office Excel, Word, Outlook,
and PowerPoint without depending on IT expertise to use complex business
intelligence tools.

Note: If you are not sure whether or not you have the appropriate rights,
contact your BusinessObjects Enterprise administrator.
You can format the imported data by using standard Microsoft Excel
functionality and the features of Live Office.

This document provides a high-level overview of Live Office concepts,


features, and functionality, and user interface to quickly familiarize you with
the product.

Related Topics
• New Features on page 19
• Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23
• Live Office toolbar on page 20
• Live Office content types on page 18
• Live Office concepts on page 15
• About Live Office content on page 14

About Live Office content


Before you start working with Crystal Reports or Web Intelligence content in
Live Office , you need to understand how Live Office content works.

Related Topics
• Live Office architecture on page 19
• Live Office concepts on page 15

14 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Getting Started with Live Office
About Live Office content 2
• What are report objects, instances, and parts? on page 15

Live Office concepts

To understand how Live Office data can answer your business questions
quickly and easily, you need to be familiar with the following key concepts:
• Report objects including instances and parts
• Universes
• Parameters
• Prompts

Related Topics
• What are report objects, instances, and parts? on page 15
• What are Universes? on page 17
• What are parameters and prompts? on page 18

What are report objects, instances, and parts?

When you use Live Office to insert data in a document, you can choose from
Crystal Reports or Web Intelligence content stored in the BusinessObjects
Enterprise repository. Reports stored in the BusinessObjects repository are
called report objects.

Report objects
A report is a document you create containing the information about your
business presented in tables, charts, and graphs. A report object is what
supplies the data to the report. In Live Office , you work with report objects
because they are connected to the most up-to-date content stored in
databases. So, when you create a report, you'll know it will contain the latest
information when people view it.

When a report is created with Crystal Reports or the Web Intelligence Report
Panel , its information may come from various databases. The source report
is called a report object, because it is a source data object and contains
information from various data sources. The report object returns data from
the underlying data source either on demand from the database or depending
on the other refresh option chosen.

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 15


2 Getting Started with Live Office
About Live Office content

Report instances
An instance is a version of that object created by BusinessObjects Enterprise
when users modify the source document or schedule reports. Each instance
contains data that is current at the time the source report is processed.
Essentially, a report instance is a report object that contains report data that
is retrieved from one or more databases. Typically, report objects are
designed such that users can schedule several instances with varying
characteristics. For example, if users run a report object containing
parameters, they can schedule one instance that contains report data from
a particular department, and schedule another instance that contains
information from another department, even though both instances originate
from the same report object.

Report parts
A part of section of a report displayed by itself—without the rest of the report
page—are referred to as report parts. More precisely, report parts are objects
that use hyperlinks to point from a source report object to a destination Live
Office object. Report parts include objects such as text or charts.

The following diagram shows the relationship between report objects, report
instances, and report parts in Live Office .

16 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Getting Started with Live Office
About Live Office content 2

Related Topics
• To configure refresh options for your Live Office objects on page 34
• Configuring data refresh options on page 34

What are Universes?

A Live Office universe is an abstraction of a data source that presents data


in non-technical terms for business users. Business users of Web Intelligence
and Crystal Reports can connect to a universe and through it run queries
against a database. They can perform data analysis and create reports using
the objects in the universe, without seeing, or having to know anything about,
the underlying data structures in the database.

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 17


2 Getting Started with Live Office
About Live Office content

What are parameters and prompts?

This section explains parameters and prompts in non-technical terms.

Parameters
Parameter is a Crystal Reports term. A parameter is a question that you
need to answer before generating your report. The information you enter, or
the way you respond, determines what appears in the report. For example,
in a report used by sales people, there might be a parameter that asks the
user to choose a sales region. The report would return the results for the
specific region, instead of returning the results for all of the regions.
Parameters may be either mandatory or optional.

Prompts
A prompt is similar to a parameter in Crystal Reports. This Web Intelligence
term refers to a dynamic filter that displays a question every time you refresh
the data in a report. You respond to prompts by typing or selecting the prompt
value(s) you want to view before you refresh the data. Prompts may be either
mandatory or optional.

Related Topics
• What is a query context? on page 66
• Specifying parameter values on page 32

Live Office content types

Support for different kinds of data objects has been enhanced in this version
of Live Office. The following table explains how support for fields and report
parts, such as charts and text, works in Live Office.

Live Office content


Fields Report parts
type

Crystal Reports Yes Yes

18 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Getting Started with Live Office
What's New in Live Office? 2

Live Office content


Fields Report parts
type

Web Intelligence NA Yes

Query Panel Yes NA

Note: Embeded Crystal Reports subreports are not supported.

Related Topics
• Live Office concepts on page 15

Live Office architecture

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 architecture, and the reliability of


BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.0, uses Web services to provide you with
enhanced performance, scalability, and deployment.

Related Topics
• New Features on page 19

What's New in Live Office?

New Features

New features for this version of Live Office include:


• Full support for Microsoft Office Outlook
• Support for Microsoft Office 2007
• Copy and paste objects across Microsoft Office applications

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 19


2 Getting Started with Live Office
What's New in Live Office?

Feature enhancements

Feature enhancements in this version of Live Office include:


• Support for suite-wide parameter and prompt enhancements
• Ability to view and access publication objects
• Integration of universe level security
• Business Objects Query Panel enhancements
• Support for user-specified preferred viewing locale (PVL)

Existing customers can build on the proven BusinessObjects XI release 2,.


They can make the power of business intelligence available to the business
user inside the common Microsoft Office applications environment, with a
minimum of disruption and down time, for optimized efficiency and
productivity.

Live Office toolbar and Insert Wizard at a glance

This section provides an overview of the improvements to the Live Office


toolbar and Insert Wizard.

Live Office toolbar

The BusinessObjects Live Office toolbar provides you with quick access to
some of the most common commands you will need to create and modify
reports or run queries to answer your business questions.

It provides you with quick access to the Live Office objects in your Microsoft
Office Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word documents. You can:
• Insert a report object
• Refresh all report objects
• Save an object to BusinessObjects Enterprise
• Navigate to the source report for your Live Office object

20 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Getting Started with Live Office
What's New in Live Office? 2
• Access the Online Help for Live Office

The toolbar contains the following options:

For more information


about the objects that
Insert Crystal Reports
you can insert, see In-
Content
serting Crystal Reports
content on page 29.

For more information


about the options you
Insert Web Intelligence
can use, see About Web
Content
Intelligence content on
page 48

For information about


the options that you can
Insert Universe Query use, see About query
building in Live Office on
page 66

Opens the Repository


Explorer and allows you
to select Crystal Reports
Open from Business
or Web Intelligence
Objects Enterprise
documents for insertion.
See Live Office Insert
Wizard on page 114.

For information about


the options that you can
Save To Business Ob- use, see Publishing a
jects Enterprise document to Busines-
sObjects Enterprise on
page 84.

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 21


2 Getting Started with Live Office
What's New in Live Office?

For information about


the options that you can
Save As New to Busi-
use, see .Publishing a
nessObjects Enter-
document to Busines-
prise
sObjects Enterprise on
page 84

Refreshes the data of


each View in the docu-
ment against the source
Refresh All Objects document For more in-
formation, see Configur-
ing data refresh options
on page 34.

Allows you to easily


navigate to a recently
accessed Live Office
Go to Object
object to insert more
content from the same
source.

Help Displays the Online


Help for Live Office.

Live Office ribbon menu

The BusinessObjects Live Office ribbon menu shown below, helps you create
and modify reports or run queries to answer your business questions when
using any Microsoft Office 2007 application.

22 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Getting Started with Live Office
Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise 2

To hide the BusinessObjects Live Office toolbar

• Right-click the Live Office toolbar and deselect.BusinessObjects Live


Office.

The toolbar appears or disappears.

Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise


If you have not already logged on, you are prompted to log on to
BusinessObjects Enterprise when you add or modify a Live Office object.
You must also log on before you can publish a document or open a published
document.

To log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise


1. Click Start > Programs > Microsoft Office, and select Microsoft Excel,
Word, or PowerPoint to launch the application.
2. Click LiveOffice, click Options, and then click Enterprise.
3. When the Options dialog box appears, enter your BusinessObjects
Enterprise credential in the following fields:
• User name
• Password

4. Verify the information in the Web Service URL and System fields to
ensure that the application is pointing to the correct Central Management
System (CMS).
For example, if the Web Intelligence document you want to insert is on
a CMS called businessobjects01, and the webservices server is running
on a server called businessobjects02, then the following information would
be accurate:

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 23


2 Getting Started with Live Office
Logging on to secured databases

System businessobjects01
Web Service URL http://businessobjects02:8080/dswsbobje/ser
vices/session

5. Select an authentication method from the drop-down list, click Log On


and then click OK.
Note: The information for the System field, the Web Services URL field,
and the Authentication drop-down list, will be provided by your system
administrator.

You can change your Live Office settings so that you are automatically logged
on to BusinessObjects Enterprise each time you start Microsoft Office Excel,
Word, or PowerPoint.

Related Topics
• Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise automatically on page 103

Logging on to secured databases


For security purposes, your system administrator may have password
protected certain documents and repositories. Therefore, you may be
prompted to log on credentials when accessing or refreshing certain
documents.

Performing a consolidated database log on operation


1. Log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise and launch the Live Office Wizard.
2. Navigate to the Crystal Reports or Web Intelligence document you want
to access.
3. When prompted, enter your log on information and password.

Related Topics
• Inserting Web Intelligence content on page 52
• Inserting Crystal Reports content on page 29
• Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23

24 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Working with Crystal
Reports Content in Live
Office

3
3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Overview

Overview
With BusinessObjects Live Office (Live Office), you can leverage the power,
convenience, and reliability of Crystal Reports functionality from within the
Microsoft Office applications you use everyday to make better business
decisions. With point and click ease, you can easily monitor regional sales
trends or analyze quarterly sales figures from within MIcrosoft Office Excel,
Word, Outlook, or PowerPoint, and share that analysis with your colleagues
for improved decision making.

With Live Office, you have the comfort of knowing that the data you are
accessing to make business decisions is reliable, up-to-date, and easily
refreshed on demand from the database. Data accuracy is no longer a
concern.

With an easy to use Live Office Insert Wizard, you can insert Crystal Reports
report parts or fields into your Microsoft Office documents.

About Crystal Reports content in Live


Office
This section contains the following topics to familiarize you with the wizard
interface in Live Office, terms you need to know, and sample data that will
be used in the examples:

The Wizard at a glance

To use Crystal Reports functionality in Live Office, you select a series of


options using the Live Office Insert Wizard. The Live Office Insert Wizard is
composed of five pages which are explained below

26 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
About Crystal Reports content in Live Office 3
Use this page in the wizard To do this task

• Browse available reports.


• Locate the data you want to use.

If the report you selected requires


database logon credentials, you
Choose Document are also prompted again to log on.

For more information, see


Choosing your data source on
page 30.

• Choose parameters from a pre-


selected list of values.
• Specify that you are to prompted
each time data is refreshed.

Specify Parameter Values For more information, see Specifying


parameter values on page 32
Note: This page only appears if your
report contains predefined parameters.
You cannot use Live Office to introduce
new parameters into a report.

Select the Crystal Reports document


you want to use from the Repository.

Choose Data For more information, see Choosing


and inserting data as report parts on
page 32 and Choosing fields as your
data set on page 38.

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 27


3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
About Crystal Reports content in Live Office

Use this page in the wizard To do this task

Select filters to apply to data that you


insert as fields in your Live Office
documents. For more information,
Set Filters see Applying filters on page 39.
Note: This page only displays if you
have selected to insert data as fields.

• Type the name of your Live Office


object.

Summary • Verify its path in the repository


before inserting it into your docu-
ment.

Key terms and concepts

To use Crystal Reports functionality within Live Office to retrieve live data
and answer your important business questions, you need to understand the
following concepts.

The following table defines each of these term for you.

Term or concept Definition

Report parts are objects, such as


images or tables, that point from a
source report object to a destination
Report parts
Live Office object. For more informa-
tion, see Choosing and inserting data
as report parts on page 32.

28 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content 3
Term or concept Definition

Parameter is a Crystal Reports term.


A parameter is a question that you
need to answer before generating
your report. The information you en-
ter, or the way you respond, deter-
mines what appears in the report. For
example, in a report used by sales
people, there might be a parameter
that asks the user to choose a sales
region. The report would return the
results for the specific region, instead
Parameters of returning the results for all of the
regions. Parameters can be either
mandatory or optional. For informa-
tion about working with parameters,
see Specifying parameter values on
page 32.
Note: Parameter is a Crystal Reports
term. Prompt is a Web Intelligence term
for a similar concept. For information
about prompts, see About Web Intelli-
gence content on page 48

Inserting Crystal Reports content


Using the Live Office Insert Wizard you can easily choose a report, select
Crystal Reports data objects, and insert them in your Microsoft Office Excel,
PowerPoint, Outlook or Word applications as Live Office objects to share
with your colleagues.

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 29


3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content

Inserting report parts

This topic shows you how to insert and refresh report parts in a MIcrosoft
Office Excel 2003 document.

Running the Live Office Insert Wizard

To run the Live Office Insert Wizard


1. Open a Microsoft Office document.
2. Log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise. For more information, see Logging
on to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23.
3. Select where you want to insert the Live Office object.
Note: Live Office inserts Live Office objects as Microsoft Word tables.

4. On the Insert menu, select Crystal Reports Content.


The Live Office Insert Wizard appears. If you have not already logged on
to BusinessObjects Enterprise, you are prompted to do so.

After you have successfully logged on to the BusinessObjects Enterprise


system, the Live Office Insert Wizard guides you through from choosing your
document, selecting report contents (fields or report parts), selecting
parameters if required, and inserting data into your Microsoft Office document.

Choosing your data source

The first page of the Live Office Insert Wizard displays the Repository Explorer
so that you can navigate easily to the report you want to use. The Repository
Explorer displays all crystal reports to which you have access, including
reports contained within publications.

Tip: You can also use the search functionality to search by title, keywords,
content or all fields to locate a specific report quickly. If you are importing to
an email in Outlook, the search dialog will default to a content search based
on the subject line of your email. The Recent folder also contains any reports
you have created or modified most recently for ease of access.

30 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content 3
To locate your document using the Repository Explorer
1. In the "Repository Explorer" page of the Live Office Insert Wizard, navigate
to and double-click the folder that contains the report you want to use.
For example, a regional sales manager might click a Demo subfolder in
the Public folder.
The folder hierarchy expands. If the report is contained within a displayed
publication, select the publication instance to reveal its contents.

Note: For a report instance to be imported, the instance must be stored


somewhere on the BusinessObjects Enterprise system. Instances sent
directly to Inboxes are not stored on the system, and cannot be imported
into Live Office.

2. In the right-hand pane of the "Repository Explorer", select the report you
want to use, and click Next.
For example, a regional sales manager might select a report
called“Activities by Location” to monitor regional sales figures.

Tip:
• Select a column name, for example, Name, Owner, or Type, to sort
available reports.
• You can search for a specific report or object by title or keywords using
the search dialog above the frameset.
• If you are importing to an Outlook email, a suggestion folder will also
be available. For your convenience, this folder will contain the results
of a content search based on the email's subject line.
Note:
• If the report you selected contains parameters, the Specify Parameter
Values page appears. See Specifying parameter values on page 32.
• If the report you selected does not contain parameters, the next page
of the Live Office Insert Wizard prompts you to select the parts of the
report you want to include and insert into your Microsoft Office
application. For more information, see Choosing and inserting data
as report parts on page 32.
• If the report you selected requires database logon credentials, you
are prompted again to log on. See Logging on to secured databases
on page 24.

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 31


3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content

Specifying parameter values

This section demonstrates the use of parameters to populate dynamic


picklists. For example, in the "Activities by Location" report object that a sales
manager might use to monitor regional sales activity, his report could have
one parameter called "Select Region" with a values list of “East” and “West”.
To specify parameter values from a list of values
1. In the Specify Parameter Values page, select the parameter values you
want to include from the available drop down list.
2. Click Next.
Note: You must select a value for every mandatory parameter. if the
parameter is optional you may leave the value as unspecified.

You can use this list of parameter values to later bind parameters to particular
cells in your Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet for easy updating For
information about how parameter binding works, see Configuring parameter
binding options on page 34

First, however, you must choose the data you want to include as report parts
and insert it as a Live Office object into your Microsoft Office document. See
Choosing and inserting data as report parts on page 32.

Choosing and inserting data as report parts

The next page of the Live Office Insert Wizard is the Choose Data page
which prompts you to select the parts of the report you want to include and
insert into your Microsoft Office document.
To select report parts
1. Choose your preferred options for viewing report data from the Live Office
Insert Wizard toolbar.

Select the Toggle Interactive Parameters icon to adjust the
parameter value in the Interactive Parameters pane. You can use the
pane to adjust the parameter values you selected in the Specify
Parameter Values page. Use the drop down list under each parameter
in the pane to adjust the parameter value. After you have completed
your parameter value selections click Apply.

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Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content 3
Note: The Toggle Interactive Parameters icon will not appear if your
report does not contain predefined parameters or if you click Switch
to Fields in the Choose Data page.


Select the Toggle Group Tree icon to switch document view. For
example, in a quarterly sales report, data could be grouped and sorted
by sales person and product in document tree view for quick access
• Select the right or left facing arrows in the toolbar to navigate to a
particular page in a report.
• Select the search icon to search on particular text strings in the report
such as a sales person's name.
• Choose a page magnification or zoom factor for the report from the
available drop-down list for optimal display.

2. In the document viewer, select the report parts or objects you want to
include. For example, for a quarterly sales report, you could include the
name of the sales person, their product class, and their sales total by
quarter.
Tip:
• You can use the cursor to select multiple objects at once.
• Click Switch to Fields to display the available objects as fields rather
than report parts.
3. Click Next.
The Summary page appears.

4. Name your report part and verify its location in the repository.
5. Click Finish to insert the Live Office object in your application.
6. To insert additional report parts from the same source, right-click the Live
Office object you just created and select New Object from Same Report.
Tip: You can select multiple report parts to insert into your office application
by using ALT + Click . For example, you could select all countries in a sales
report and insert them as a row set.

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3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content

Configuring parameter binding options

Parameter binding is a useful way to allow parameter values to be updated


automatically from within a Live Office object. For example, you may have
a cell that allows you to enter a Minimum Sales Value to allow you to see
only customers that have greater than a certain value. Or, in terms of our
“Activities by Location” report example, you could have “Select a Region”
parameter with two discrete values, East and West. With cell binding, from
within your Microsoft Office application, you can choose the parameter value
you want (East or West) and then dynamically retrieve the latest data from
the database.

Related Topics
• To bind a prompt to your Microsoft Office document on page 76

Configuring data refresh options

The data that is returned when you refresh an object depends on:
• The type of object that was used as the source object and the refresh
option you select.
• The data refresh option you select.

You can change the refresh behavior for the Live Office report objects and
instances to which you have access on the Live Office Object Properties
dialog box.
To configure refresh options for your Live Office objects
1. In your Microsoft Office document, right-click the Live Office object for
which you want to change the refresh properties.
2. Click Live Office and click Refresh Option.
The Refresh Options dialog box appears.

3. Select the refresh option you want and click OK

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Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content 3

Refresh Option Definition

Refresh the latest instance of the


selected Live Office object for a
specific user. The default user is
the current user.
Note: When refreshing from the
latest instance of a report contained
in a Publication, Live Office re-
Latest instance: From the latest in-
trieves the report content from the
stance scheduled by
latest Publication instance for the
current user. The publication in-
stance has to be published to an
Enterprise location in report format.
Instances set to be distributed di-
rectly to user Inbox cannot be ac-
cessed by Live Office.

Refresh the data from the


On demand
database. This is the default value.

Refresh the selected instance


based on data saved with a pub-
Use report saved data: From saved
lished report. This option is only
data report
valid after you have saved the re-
port.

Specific instance: From a specific Refresh the data for the selected
instance of the report instance only.

Note:

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3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content

• "On demand" is the default option, and it will be the only active value if
the report object does not have report instances or versions, and there
is no saved data with the report.
• If you choose to remove data when you save the document for security
reasons, anyone opening the document will see a message that data has
been removed. They must refresh the objects to view the imported Live
Office objects. To refresh the objects, users need to have Live Office
installed and have access to the source object in BusinessObjects
Enterprise. For more information about concealing data, see Managing
document security and access on page 102.

Saving your data locally and to the repository

After inserting and configuring your Live Office objects, you can save your
work locally and to the BusinessObjects Enterprise repository.
To save your file to a local drive
• Do one of the following to save your file locally:
• From the File menu click Save or Save As
• From the LiveOffice menu, click Create Snapshot

To save your file to the BusinessObjects Enterprise repository


For more information about publishing your data object to your Business
Objects Repository, see Publishing a document to BusinessObjects Enterprise
on page 84.

Inserting fields as a data set

Running the Live Office Wizard

This topic shows you how to insert field as a dataset in a Microsoft Office
2003 document.
To run the Live Office Insert Wizard
1. Open a Microsoft Office document.
2. Select where you want to insert the Live Office object.

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Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content 3
Note: Live Office inserts objects as tables. If you are inserting into
PowerPoint, ensure that you click outside a text placeholder. (A text
placeholder does not contain sufficient space for a Live Office object.
Blank slides usually provide the best background for a Live Office object.)

3. Click Live Office > Insert > Crystal Reports Content.


The Live Office Insert Wizard appears. If you have not already logged on
to BusinessObjects Enterprise, you are prompted to do so.

After you have successfully logged on to the BusinessObjects Enterprise


system, the Live Office Insert Wizard guides you through from choosing your
document, selecting report contents (fields or report parts), selecting
parameters if required, and inserting data into your Microsoft Office document.

Related Topics
• Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23

Choosing your data source

The first page of the Live Office Insert Wizard displays the Repository Explorer
so that you can navigate easily to the report you want to use. The Repository
Explorer displays all crystal reports to which you have access, including
reports contained within publications.

Tip: You can also use the search functionality to search by title and keyword
to locate a specific report quickly. The Recent folder also contains any reports
you have created or modified most recently for ease of access.

To locate your Crystal Reports document using the Repository Explorer


1. In the Repository Explorer page of the Live Office Insert Wizard, navigate
to and double-click the folder that contains the report you want to use.
For example, a regional sales manager might click a Demo subfolder in
the Public folder.
The folder hierarchy expands. If the report is contained within a displayed
publication, select the Publication to reveal its contents.

2. In the right-hand pane of the Repository Explorer, select the report you
want to use, and click Next.

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3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content

For example, a regional sales manager might select a report called


"Activities by Location" to monitor regional sales figures.

Tip: Select a column name, for example, Name, Owner, or Type, to sort
available reports.
Note:
• If the report you selected contains parameters, the Specify Parameter
Values page appears. See Specifying parameter values on page 32.
• If the report you selected does not contain parameters, the next page
of the Live Office Insert Wizard prompts you to select the parts of the
report you want to include and insert into your Microsoft Office
application. For more information, see Choosing and inserting data
as report parts on page 32.
• If the report you selected requires database logon credentials, you
are prompted again to log on. See Logging on to secured databases
on page 24.

The next page of the Live Office Insert Wizard prompts you to select the
report fields you want to include and insert into your Microsoft Office
application.

Choosing fields as your data set

This topic shows you how to insert field as a dataset in a MIcrosoft Office
2003 document.

Note: The Select Fields dialog box does not appear if you have chosen to
select parts of a crystal report.

To select fields
1. In the Choose Data page of the Live Office Insert Wizard, select the
Switch to Fields option.
2. In the Available Fields list, click a field that you want to include in the
Report object, and then click the right arrow (>).
The selected fields appear in the Selected Fields list.

3. Use the up and down arrows to change the order of the included fields,
as required.
4. Click Next.

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Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Inserting Crystal Reports content 3
You can now do one of the following:
• Filter the data in the report object. See Applying filters on page 39.
• Verify your selections, including the name and location of the report,
and insert your Live Office object in your Microsoft Office document.

Applying filters

You can apply filters to all available fields in your Crystal Reports documents
to restrict the data in your report, even if the fields do not appear in your
document.

Note: In Microsoft PowerPoint, the Live Office object can show only 50 rows
and 50 columns of data. If you insert a Report View that contains more data
than this, the data will be truncated. You can reduce the number of fields
shown in the report object or add filters to reduce the data to fewer than 50
rows and columns.

To filter the data


1. In the Set Filters page of the Live Office Insert Wizard, click the field that
you want to filter.
2. Select a suitable operator from the Operators drop-down list on the right.
There are many different types of operators that you can choose. You
can further qualify your operator with values from the Value lists. The
options that you are presented with depend on the selected operator.

Note:
• If you want to filter out null values, you can use the is nulland is not
null operators in combination with other operators. The is not equal
to operator also filters out null values.
• If you add a filter to a calculated field, you must type in the value,
rather than select from the lists. Live Office cannot retrieve the
calculated values from the underlying database.
3. Select a value from the drop-down list of values for the operator you
chose, and click Add Filter.
The filter and applicable value appear under the field to which they apply.
The filter is stored as a comment or bookmark on the field that contains
the filter.

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3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Modifying Crystal Reports content

4. Click Next and click Finish to verify your selections, including the name
and location of the report, and insert your Live Office object in your
Microsoft Office application.

Configuring object properties and saving the document

1. Configure cell and parameter binding options for your Live Office data
object. For more information, see Configuring parameter binding options
on page 34.
2. Configure refresh options for your Live Office data object. For more
information, see Configuring data refresh options on page 34.
3. From the File menu, click Save or Save As to save your document locally.
4. Save your work to your BusinessObjects Enterprise repository. For more
information about publishing your data object to your BusinessObjects
Repository, see Publishing and Viewing Files.

Modifying Crystal Reports content


There are many features in BusinessObjects Live Office (Live Office) that
allow you to easily modify your existing Live Office documents.

Click the appropriate link to jump to that section:

This section contains the following topics:


• Adding more report parts on page 41
• Viewing and modifying general object properties on page 41
• Inserting rows or columns on page 42
• Modifying parameter values on page 42
• Modifying fields on page 43
• Modifying filters on page 44
• Removing Live Office objects on page 90

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Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Modifying Crystal Reports content 3

Adding more report parts

You can quickly and easily add additional report parts to your Live Office
object embedded in a Microsoft Office document.
Note: The information in this section does not apply to Live Office objects
embedded in a recieved email.

To add report parts from the same source

1. Select the source Live Office object.


2. Right-click, point to Live Office, and click New Object from Same Report.
The source report relaunches in the Live Office Insert Wizard.

3. Select the additional report parts you want to add and insert them using
the Live Office Wizard.
Tip: You can select multiple report parts of the same type by using ALT +
Click. For example, you could select all countries in a sales report and insert
them as a row set in your Microsoft Office document.

Viewing and modifying general object properties

You can also display and modify the properties for your Crystal Reports Live
Office object.

To view the properties of a Crystal Reports object

1. From within your Microsoft Office application, right-click your Live Office
object and click Properties.
The Object Properties dialog box appears.

Note: The properties shown and tabs available depend on the type of
cell you selected.

2. Do any of the following:

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3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Modifying Crystal Reports content

• Click General to view and modify object properties such as location


and object name.
• Click Prompts to view and modify parameters values associated with
the Live Office object you selected.
• Click Refresh tab to view and modify refresh options associated with
this Live Office object.

Inserting rows or columns


1. Select the source Live Office object.
2. Right-click, point to Live Office, and click Insert Rows.
3. Repeat Step 2 depending on the number of rows or columns you want
to insert.

Modifying parameter values

If your Live Office object is based on a report object that contains parameters,
you can change the parameter values when you insert the object, or you can
change the values later. If you do not specify parameter values when you
insert Live Office objects into your Microsoft Office document, Live Office
uses the current values.
Note: If the report object contains mandatory parameters, you have to specify
a paramater value to insert the object.

You can modify the Live Office properties so that you are prompted for the
parameter values when you refresh the data. You can also use commands
on the shortcut menu and the Navigation Bar to modify the parameters.

To modify parameter binding options

1. Right-click the Live Office object that contains the parameter you want to
bind to a specific location in your Microsoft Officedocument, point to Live
Office, and click Properties.
2. From the Live Office Object Properties dialog, select the Prompts tab.

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Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Modifying Crystal Reports content 3
All the available parameters for the currently selected object are listed
under the Parameters heading.
3. Select the parameter you want and click Parameter Values.
The Specify Parameter Values dialog is displayed.
4. Select theAlways ask for value if you not want to specify a specific
parameter value.
Note: If you select this option, the Live Office object will automatically
prompt for a parameter value upon every data refresh.

5. Modify the parameter binding as required and click OK.

To automatically refresh the data when cell binding changes

This topic is relevant if you use Live Office objects with Microsoft Office Excel.
1. On the Live Office menu, click Options.
2. In the Options dialog box, click the General tab.
3. Select Refresh Live Office object when binding cell changes.
4. Click OK.
Note: When you refresh any single LiveOffice object, the Specify Parameter
Values dialog box opens and allows you to modify the parameter values.

Modifying fields

You can add or remove fields from a report object that is based on a Crystal
Reports document or document instance.

To add or remove fields

1. Click any cell in the Live Office object that you want to modify.
2. On the LiveOffice menu, click Modify and then click Add/Remove Fields
to open the Choose Data page of the Live Office Insert Wizard.
3. Do one of the following:
• To add a field, select it in the Available fields list; then click the right
arrow (>).

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3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Modifying Crystal Reports content

• To remove a field, select it in the Included fields list; then click the
left arrow (<).

4. To change the order of the included fields, use the up and down arrows.
5. Click OK to apply the changes.

Related Topics
• Choosing fields as your data set on page 38

Modifying filters

You can add, modify, and remove filters from your document. You can apply
filters to any field in the source Crystal Report document, even if the field is
not displayed.

To add or modify a filter

1. Click any cell in the report that you want to modify.


2. On the LiveOffice menu, click Modify,click Filter Setting, and then click
Add/Modify to open the Filter Settings page of the Live Office Insert
Wizard.
Tip: This command is also available on the LiveOffice shortcut menu.

3. In the Filter Settings page, click the field that you want to filter.
4. If you want to modify an existing filter, select the filter.
5. Select a suitable operator from the Operators list on the right.
There are many different types of operators that you can choose. You
can further qualify your operator using the values lists. The options that
you are given depend on the selected operator.

If you want to filter out null values, you can use the "is NULL" and "is NOT
NULL" operators in combination with other operators. The "is not equal
to" operator also filters out null values.

Note:
• If you add a filter to a calculated field, you must type in the values
rather than selecting from the lists. Live Office cannot retrieve the
calculated values from the underlying database.

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Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Modifying Crystal Reports content 3
• If you format individual cells in a report object and then change the
filters, the formatted cells may disappear.
6. Click Add Filter to add the filter to the field.
The filter appears under the field to which it applies.

7. Click OK to apply the changes.

To remove a filter

1. Select a cell in your document that contains the filter you want to remove.
2. On the LiveOffice menu, click Modify, click Filter Setting, and then click
Add/Modify to open the Filter Settings page of the Live Office Insert
Wizard.
Tip: You can also right-click the Live Office object, point to Live Office,
point to Filter Settings, and click Add/Remove.

3. In the Filter Settings page, select the filter that you want to delete, Remove
Filter, and click OK.

Choosing specific field values as filter settings

You can also focus on or filter on a particular set of field values. to narrow
down the data in your report. For example, if your report data contains
information on a range of bicycles, you might have three fields containing
the following information: Size, Color, and Price. The bicycles might come
in four colors: red, black, blue, and green. If you want your report to display
the size and price for the black bicycles only, you could use the Focus On
Value filter setting to return that information. Alternatively, you can use the
Exclude Value to exclude specific values.
To focus on a value
1. Click the cell containing the field value that you want to include as a filter.
For example, black bicycles.
2. On the LiveOffice menu, click Modify,click Filter Setting, and then click
Focus On Value.
Your report now displays size and price information for black bicycles.
To restore the default view, remove the filter.

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3 Working with Crystal Reports Content in Live Office
Modifying Crystal Reports content

To exclude a value
1. Click the cell containing the value that you want to exclude.
2. On the LiveOffice menu, click Modify, click Filter Setting, and then click
Exclude Value.
Live Office removes the rows in that field containing the selected value.
In this example, all red bicycles would disappear from the field. To restore
the default view, remove the filter.

46 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Working with Web
Intelligence Content in Live
Office

4
4 Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Overview

Overview
Web Intelligence provides access to business information over intranet and
extranets for powerful ad hoc queries and sophisticated, easy-to-use
interactive analysis.

With BusinessObjects Live Office (Live Office), you can easily and
conveniently manipulate Web Intelligence data from within the Microsoft
Office application environment.

You can compile, analyze, and manipulate “live” Web Intelligence data from
within the Microsoft Office Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word documents
that you use everyday for improved collaborative decision making.

About Web Intelligence content


This section contains information to familiarize you with how to work with
Web Intelligence data in the Live Office Insert Wizard.

The Wizard at a glance

To insert Web Intelligence data into your Microsoft Office documents using
Live Office, you perform a series of tasks in the Live Office Insert Wizard.
The Live Office Insert Wizard has five pages which are explained in the
following table.

48 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
About Web Intelligence content 4
Use this page in the wizard To do this task

• Select the folder, publication or


category to retrieve the Web Intel-
ligence data from.
• Browse available reports.
• Locate the report you want to use.
Choose Document
Note: Using the icons from within the
wizard you can switch between folder
and category views of the available re-
ports.
See Logging on and running the Live
Office Wizard on page 52.

If more than one context exists for


the Web Intelligence data you have
selected, you must specify the con-
tent you want to use. For example,
Web Intelligence report parts that
Specify Context apply to either a Marketing or a Sales
context.

See Key terms and concepts on


page 50 and Specifying a context on
page 54

• Specify that you are to be


prompted each time data is re-
freshed.
• Choose a prompt value from a
Specify Prompt Values
pre-selected list of values.

See To specify prompt values on


page 54

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4 Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
About Web Intelligence content

Use this page in the wizard To do this task

Select the data that you want to use


to create your Live Office object.
Choose Data
See To select report parts on page
55

• Type the name of your Live Office


object.
• Verify its path in the repository
before inserting it into your docu-
Summary
ment.

See Creating your Live Office ob-


jects on page 55

Key terms and concepts

To insert Web Intelligence data into your Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets,
Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations, Outlook messages, or Microsoft
Office Word documents using Live Office you need to understand the
following key terms and concepts.

The table below defines these terms.

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Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
About Web Intelligence content 4
Term Definition

A universe context indicates what


types of business questions are an-
swered by the same universe objects.
For example, a universe might have
a universe context for Sales, one for
Marketing, and so on.

Because each type of business


question may share objects that use
the same database, a universe con-
text helps to ensure you retrieve the
right data. For example, data on ex-
penses from an employee expense
Context account may be stored in the same
database as data on expenses from
marketing a product. Choosing the
right universe context will ensure you
get the appropriate expense data.
Therefore, when you select a uni-
verse, you may have more than one
universe context to choose from.
Note: Contexts are defined by the
system administrator.
For more information, see Specifying
a context on page 54.

Report parts are objects in a Live


Report part Office document such as charts or
tables.

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4 Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Inserting Web Intelligence content

Term Definition

A prompt is similar to a parameter in


Crystal Reports. This Web Intelli-
gence term refers to a dynamic filter
that displays a question every time
Prompt you refresh the data in a report.
Prompts can be either mandatory or
optional

See To specify prompt values on


page 54.

Inserting Web Intelligence content


With this version of BusinessObjects Live Office the power and convenience
of Web Intelligence functionality has been extended to the Microsoft Office
application environment.

Using a convenient, easy-to-use wizard interface, business users can quickly


add Web Intelligence report parts to their Microsoft Office Excel, Word,
Outlook, and PowerPoint documents.

Related Topics
• Managing time dependent variables (Key Date) on page 92

Logging on and running the Live Office Wizard

To run the Live Office Insert Wizard

1. Open a Microsoft Office document.


2. Select where you want to insert the Live Office object.
Note: Live Office inserts objects as tables. If you are inserting into
PowerPoint, ensure that you click outside a text placeholder. (A text

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Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Inserting Web Intelligence content 4
placeholder does not contain sufficient space for a Live Office object.
Blank slides usually provide the best background for a Live Office object.)

3. Click Live Office > Insert > Web Intelligence Content.


The Live Office Insert Wizard appears. If you have not already logged on
to BusinessObjects Enterprise, you are prompted to do so.

Related Topics
• Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23

Selecting a data source

In the Live Office Insert Wizard, you select the Web Intelligence report that
contains the data you want to view.

To select a data source

The first page of the Live Office Insert Wizard displays the Repository Explorer
so that you can navigate easily to the report you want to use. The Repository
Explorer displays all the web intelligence data to which you have access,
including data contained within publications.

Tip: You can also use the search functionality to search by title, keywords,
content or all fields to locate a specific report quickly. If you are importing to
an email in Outlook, the search dialog will default to a content search based
on the subject line of your email. The Recent folder also contains any reports
you have created or modified most recently for ease of access.
Note: If you wish to use an instance of a report, that instance must be stored
somewhere on the BusinessObjects Enterprise system. Instances only sent
directly to Inboxes are not stored on the system and cannot be accessed.
1. Double-click the folder that contains the report you want to use. For
example, a regional sales manager might click the Demo subfolder in the
Public folder. If the report is contained within a displayed publication,
select the publication instance to reveal its contents.
The folder hierarchy expands.

2. From the right-hand pane of the Repository Explorer, select the report
you want to use, and click Next.

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4 Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Inserting Web Intelligence content

For example, a regional sales manager might navigate to a Web


Intelligence report detailing product line sales by detail to monitor regional
annual sales figures.

Tip: Select a column name, for example, Name, Owner, or Type, to sort
available reports. Click OK and click Next.

Related Topics
• To specify prompt values on page 54
• To specify context on page 54

Specifying a context

A context is a defined group of objects in a query that share a common


business purpose. If more than one context exists in the database for Web
Intelligence data you have selected, you must specify the content you want
to use.

To specify context

• From the Specify Context Page of the Live Office Insert Wizard, select a
context from the available queries, and click Next.
The Specify Prompts Values or the Summary page appears.

To specify prompt values

The Specify Prompt Values page will display only if prompts have been
specified for the report. Prompts are either mandatory or optional. If all the
prompts listed on this page are optional, you do not have to specify a prompt
value at this stage, click Next and specify the prompt values when refreshing
the object.
1. On the "Specify Prompt Values" page, do one of the following for each
prompt value you want to specify:
• Type a value in the search field, to search for a prompt value from a
pre-selected list of options. Click the to specify Ignore case or

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Inserting Web Intelligence content 4
Case sensitive for the search string. Click > to add it to your selected
values.
Note: If the list of available values is empty or needs to be updated,
click the Refresh List icon .

You can also double click on a displayed value to add it to the list of
selected values.
• Type a prompt value and click > to add the value to the list of values.

2. Click Next.
The Choose Data page appears.

To select report parts

The Choose Data page appears after either selecting a context or specifying
prompt values.
1. On the Choose Data page of the Live Office Insert Wizard, select the
Web Intelligence report parts you want to include.
2. Click Next.
The Summary page appears.

Creating your Live Office objects

The Summary page is the last screen in the Live Office Insert Wizard before
the current object is inserted into your Microsoft Office application. Follow
the instructions below to complete the process of creating your Live Office
object.
1. From the Summary Page, name your Live Office object and verify its path
in the BusinessObjects repository
2. Click Finish to insert your Live Office object into your Microsoft Office
document.
A progress bar appears as your Live Office object is inserted in your
Microsoft Office document.

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4 Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Inserting Web Intelligence content

You can now either save the inserted data or define specific object properties.

Related Topics
• Configuring data refresh options on page 56
• Saving your data locally and to the repository on page 86

Configuring general object properties

After inserting your Web intelligence object, you should configure Live Office
object properties which include general object properties, prompt configuration
options, refresh options, and formatting and display options.

To configure general object properties

1. Right-click your Live Office Web intelligence object, point to Live Office,
and click Properties.
2. From the General tab of Live Office Object Properties dialog, verify the
object name, the time the object was last refreshed, the name and path
to the source document, and the object definition.

Related Topics
• Managing global Live Office properties on page 95
• Managing prompt and parameter settings on page 92
• Managing global Live Office properties on page 95

Configuring data refresh options

The data that is returned when you refresh an object depends on:
• The type of object that was used as the source object and the refresh
option you select.
• The data refresh option you select.

You can easily configure or modify the refresh behavior for the Live Office
objects and instances using the Live Office shortcut menu.

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Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Inserting Web Intelligence content 4

To configure refresh options for your Live Office Web intelligence


objects

1. From within your Microsoft Office document, right-click the Live Office
object for which you want to change the refresh properties.
2. Click Live Office and click Refresh Option.
The Refresh Options dialog appears.

3. Select the refresh option you want and click OK. The refresh options are
explained in the following table.

Refresh Option Definition

Refresh the latest instance of the


Latest instance: From the latest in- selected Live Office object for a
stance scheduled by specific user. The default user is
the current user.

Refresh the data from the


On demand
database.

Refresh the selected instance


Use report saved data: From saved
based on data saved with a pub-
data report
lished report.

Specific instance: From a specified Refresh the data for the selected
instance of the report instance only.

Note: On demand is the default option, and it will be the only active value
if the report object does not have report instances or versions or there is no
saved data with the report.

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4 Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Modifying Web Intelligence content

Configuring prompt binding options

Prompt binding is a useful way to allow prompt values to be updated


automatically from within a Live Office object. For example, you may have
a cell that allows you to enter a Minimum Sales Value to allow you to see
only customers that have greater than a certain value. Or, in terms of our
“Activities by Location” report example, you could have “Select a Region”
prompt with two discrete values, “East” and “West”. With cell binding, from
within your Microsoft Office application, you can choose the prompt value
you want (East or West) and then dynamically retrieve the latest data from
the database.

Related Topics
• To bind a prompt to your Microsoft Office document on page 76

Modifying Web Intelligence content


You can also modify existing Web Intelligence data objects. This section
explains how to view and modify existing Live Office objects.

It contains the following topics:

Click the appropriate link to jump to the topic:


• Upgrading content from the previous version on page 61
• Viewing and modifying general object properties on page 58
• Adding more Web Intelligence report parts on page 59
• Modifying prompt values on page 60
• Removing Live Office objects on page 90

Viewing and modifying general object properties

You can also display and modify the properties for your Web Intelligence
Live Office object

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Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Modifying Web Intelligence content 4

To view the properties of a Web Intelligence object

1. From within your Microsoft Office application, right-click your Web


Intelligence Live Office object and click Properties.
The Object Properties dialog box appears.

Note: The properties shown and options available depend on the object.

2. Do one or more of the following:


• Click General to view and modify object properties such as location
and object name.
• Click Prompts to view and modify prompts and query contexts
associated with the Live Office object you selected.
• Click Refresh tab to view and modify refresh options associated with
this Live Office object.

Related Topics
• Managing prompt and parameter settings on page 92
• Configuring data refresh options on page 56
• Modifying prompt values on page 60

Adding more Web Intelligence report parts

You can quickly and easily add additional report parts to your Live Office
Web Intelligence document.

To add report parts from the same source

1. Select the source Live Office object in your Microsoft Office application.
2. Right-click, point to Live Office, and click Insert from Same Source.
3. Select the additional report parts you want to add and insert them using
the Live Office Wizard.

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4 Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Modifying Web Intelligence content

Modifying prompt values

You can change the prompt values when you insert the Web Intelligence
data object or you can change the values later. If you do not specify prompt
values when you insert the object, Live Office uses the current prompt values.

To modify prompt options using the shortcut menu

1. Right-click the Live Office object and click Properties.


The Live Office Object Properties dialog is displayed.
2. Click the Prompts tab.
All the available prompts and query contexts are listed in two separate
tables together with their current values.
3. From the list under the Prompts heading select the prompt you want
modify then click Prompt Values.
The Specify Prompt Values dialog is displayed.
4. Modify the prompt options as required according to the following table
and click OK

Prompt option Description

You will always be prompted for a


value. This prompt type is referred
Always ask for value
to as "unbound" as it is not linked
to a constant value.

This prompt type is always bound


or linked to a constant value. Click
Choose values from list
the browse button to modify the
value.

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Modifying Web Intelligence content 4

Prompt option Description

This prompt type is used to bind a


Excel data range value to a range of values in a Mi-
crosoft Excel spreadsheet only.

Related Topics
• Configuring prompt binding options on page 58
• Managing global Live Office properties on page 95
• Managing prompt and parameter settings on page 92

Upgrading content from the previous version

Earlier versions of Live Office only supported inserting Web Intelligence fields
into Microsoft Office documents. This version is backward compatible with
the earlier versions of Live Office and you can therefore upgrade Web
Intelligence content.

To upgrade a Web Intelligence document from the previous


version

1. Log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise and launch the Live Office Insert


Wizard.
2. Open the Web Intelligence document from the previous version. You will
be prompted to upgrade.
3. Click OK to convert the Web Intelligence document to this version of Live
Office.
4. After the upgrade process is complete, right click the object and select
Add/Remove Fields to modify the field list setting.

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4 Working with Web Intelligence Content in Live Office
Modifying Web Intelligence content

62 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Working with Queries in Live
Office

5
5 Working with Queries in Live Office
Overview

Overview
A query is used to answer a business question from data stored in one or
more databases. Traditionally, queries could only be designed by an expert
in IT or database languages. However, BusinessObjects Live Office (Live
Office) has a wizard that makes it easy to build queries. You do not need to
know complex programming languages.

With minimal effort, you can define queries and retrieve meaningful answers
to business queries such as the following:
• Get sales figures for the first three quarters of this year for all customers
in North America by region.
• Get a list of all customers worldwide who are partners.

The data is arranged in table format where you can access it from your
Microsoft Office Excel, Word, Outlook or PowerPoint documents. This
document contains information about creating, editing, and revising queries
in Live Office.

Related Topics
• Viewing query properties on page 78
• Creating and running queries on page 68
• About query building in Live Office on page 66
• Query fundamentals on page 64

Query fundamentals
A request can be simple, such as give me total sales in California for the first
quarter of last year. Or, it can be more complex, depending on your business
need.

Although queries are usually sent to databases in a language called


Structured Query Language (SQL), you don't have to know SQL to query for
information in Live Office. The Live Office Insert Wizard presents the
information available in the database as objects that have familiar names
and meanings.

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Working with Queries in Live Office
Query fundamentals 5
Related Topics
• What are universes? on page 65
• What is a query context? on page 66

What are universes?

In Live Office, a universe is a representation of the information available in


a database and is made to answer certain types of business questions. For
example, you may see a universe for sales data, one for marketing data,
and one for customer service data. Universes are created by universe design
specialists.

The universe object appears on the Manager pane to the left of the Result
Objects and Filter Objects panes in Live Office.

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5 Working with Queries in Live Office
About query building in Live Office

Note: Business users of Live Office will most likely use an existing universe
to build their queries.
For existing universes, however, you may have to specify a query context
to avoid returning ambiguous data from the database.

What is a prompt?

A prompt is similar to a parameter in Crystal Reports. This term refers to a


dynamic filter that displays a question every time you refresh the data in a
report. You respond to prompts by typing or selecting the prompt value(s)
you want to view before you refresh the data. Prompts may be either
mandatory or optional and are used for creating queries that can used by
Live Office objects.

Related Topics
• To specify prompt values on page 54

What is a query context?

A context is a defined group of objects in a query that share a common


business purpose. Contexts are used in universes to avoid ambiguous
queries, queries that contain objects that return more than one kind of
information. It is possible, however, that the data you retrieve is linked to
more than one query. If you were querying annual sales figures for a particular
product, that information could be linked to both the Sales and Marketing
databases. If more than one context exists for your data, you must specify
the one you want to use.

About query building in Live Office


Below is an overview of how the Live Office Insert Wizard is used to build a
query. For more detailed instructions, see Creating and running queries on
page 68.

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About query building in Live Office 5
Use this page in the wizard To do this task

• Browse available universes


• Locate the universe you want to
use.
Choose Universe
See Selecting a data source on
page 69.

• Select Universe objects from the


Manager pane and drag them to
the Results Objects or Filter Ob-
ject pane.
• Specify a constant value for your
filter object
• Specify a list of values for your
Specify Query
filter object
• Specify a prompt for your filter
object

See Building your query on page


69 and Defining your data filters
on page 72.

Select a query context for existing,


previously defined queries.

A context is a defined group of ob-


Specify Query Context jects in a query that share a common
business purpose.

See Specifying context for your query


on page 74.

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5 Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries

Use this page in the wizard To do this task

• Specify that you are to be


prompted each time data is re-
freshed.
• Choose a prompt value from a
Specify Prompt Values
pre-selected list of values.

See To specify prompt values on


page 54.

Type the name of your Live Office


object and verify its path in the
Summary
repository before inserting the data
into your Microsoft Office document.

Creating and running queries


You build a query to answer a business question that requires data from a
database. From the Live Office Insert Wizard, you select the dimensions and
details that represent the information that you want to retrieve, and add them
to a work space called the Result Objects pane. You can add one or two
measure objects that represent the action that you want to perform on the
information.

Related Topics
• Naming and inserting your Live Office query object on page 75
• Naming and inserting your Live Office query object on page 75
• Building your query on page 69
• Defining your data filters on page 72
• Specifying context for your query on page 74
• To configure query options on page 77
• Managing time dependent variables (Key Date) on page 92

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Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries 5

Selecting a data source

To select your data source

1. Open the Microsoft Office document you want to use to insert and store
your new query.
2. From within your Microsoft Office document, click Insert and then click
New Query to run the Live Office Insert Wizard.
3. Log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise. For more information, see Logging
on to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23.
4. From the Choose Universe page of the Live Office Insert Wizard, expand
the Universe folder or subfolders to navigate to the universe you want to
use.
The Specify Query page appears.

Related Topics
• Query fundamentals on page 64
• Building your query on page 69

Building your query

To define the data to have it answer your business questions and be inserted
into your Microsoft Office Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or Word document,
you need to build a query. The manager pane of the Specify Query page
lists all the available objects defined for the selected universe.

To add Objects to your query

1. From the manager pane in the Specify Query page, select and drag
objects onto the Result Objects or Filter Objects pane.
Note: You can also remove objects from the Result Objects pane at any
time.
An icon is created for each object you drop onto a pane.

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5 Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries

2. Drag the dimension or detail object types that you want to use from the
manager pane to the Results Objects pane.
For example, a regional sales manager who monitors monthly and
quarterly sales figures regularly might build a query to include the
Customer Name and Opportunity ID dimensions.

3. From the manager pane drag your filter objects to the Filter Objects
pane.
For example, you could filter your query to include only sales activity from
a particular region.

You can make your business question more meaningful by ranking, sorting
or filtering the data set returned from the database.
You can now proceed to define any objects you dropped into the Filter
Objects pane. If your query does not have any objects in the Filter
Objects pane, click Next to continue.

Related Topics
• Defining your data filters on page 72
• Adding a ranking to a universe query on page 70
• Sorting query objects on page 71
• Configuring query options on page 77

Adding a ranking to a universe query

Ranking is a method of restricting the data returned by a query. In the Specify


Query page of the Live Office Insert Wizard, you can add a ranking to a
dimension or object based on a defined measure. For example you could
set a ranking to limit the “Customer Name”dimension to the top seven results
based on the “Sum of Last Year Sales”.

Note: Not all universe objects support ranking.


1. Click the Add a ranking icon above the manager pane.
A filter editor is displayed in a separate pane under the Result Objects
pane.
2. In the filter editor qualify the ranking by order by selecting from the
drop-down list next to the the Add a ranking icon. You choose one of the
following qualifiers:

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Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries 5
• Top
• Bottom
• % Top
• % Bottom
3. Provide a value in the box next to your selected qualifier.
Move the displayed value up or down using the corresponding control
buttons.
4. Drag and drop a dimension, measure, and object if required into the
designated fields within the filter editor .
You can drag objects directly from the manager pane, or move preselected
objects from the Result Objects pane.
5. Repeat Steps 1-4 to set up another ranking or continue building your
query.

Sorting query objects

You can apply a specific sorting order to the objects included in a query. The
sort order will be reflected in the retrieved results for your query. To specify
a sort you need to view the "Specify Query" page in the Live Office Insert
Wizard.
1.
In the Specify Query page click the Manage sort icon .
The Sort Dialog is displayed.
2. From the Available objects list select the object to which you want to
sort.
Expand the folders and subfolders to locate your objects.
Note: You cannot select an entire folder.

3. Use the > button to move a selected object to the Query sorts list.
To undo a selection, use the < button to return an object to the Available
objects list .
4. Select an object in the Query sorts list and do any of the following:
• Specify the order of the retrieved data for the object as either
Ascending or Descending by selecting the appropraite button. A
corresponding up (ascending) or down (descending) arrow is displayed
next to the object. Objects are by default specified as ascending.

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5 Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries

• Use the Move up or Move down button to move the object within the
Query sorts list . The query will reflect the order in the list.
5. Click OK.
The Sort Dialog is closed and you return to the Specify Query page in
the Live Office Insert Wizard.

Defining your data filters

When you build simple queries using the Live Office Insert Wizard, you can
choose to define three types of filters
• A constant value
• A list of values
• A prompt

The rest of this section provides step-by-step instructions for defining each
filter type.

To specify a constant value as a filter

When an object is dropped into the Filter Objects pane, a corresponding


filter editor is displayed.
1. In the filter editor, click the downward facing arrow on the right , and select
Constant.
2. Type a value in the text box provided.
The object will be set to value you enter in the text box.

Note: The value entered the in text box is the constant value for the object
when the query is run. Click the downward facing arrow on the left of the
text box to select a different relationship between the specified value and
the query object.

3. Click Next.
The Specify Query Contexts or Specify Prompt Values page appears.

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Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries 5

To specify a list of values as a filter

When an object is dropped into the Filter Objects pane, a corresponding


filter editor is displayed.
1. In the filter editor, click the downward facing arrow on the right , and select
List of Values.
2. From the List of Values dialog box, double-click the values you want to
include, and click OK.
For example, you could select the value Partners so that the results of
your query will return a list of customers in the SC region who are Partners.

The values you chose appear in the Filter Object pane.

3. Click Next.
The Specify Query Contexts or Specify Prompts Values page appears.

To specify a prompt as a filter

When an object is dropped into the Filter Objects pane, a corresponding


filter editor is displayed. You could for example add prompts for types of
customers or sales prospects, such as Partners or System Integrators, or
for different geographical regions.
1. In the filter editor, click the downward facing arrow on the right, and select
Prompt.
2.
Click the Define prompt icon to the right of the text box.
3. In the Define Prompts dialog box, select the prompt properties you want
and click OK. For example, you could choose Optional prompt to make
the prompt optional.
4. Click Next.
The Specify Query Contexts or Specify Prompts Values page appears.

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5 Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries

Specifying context for your query

A context is a defined group of objects in a query that share a common


business purpose. Contexts are used in universes to avoid ambiguous
queries, queries that contain objects that return more than one kind of
information. If more than one context exists for your query you must specify
the context you want to use in the Specify Query Contexts page of the Live
Office Insert Wizard.

Note: You can also set query context on the Prompt tab of the Properties
dialog or during a refresh operation.

To specify context

TheSpecify Query Contexts page displays when building a new query if


the query contains multiple contexts.
1. From the Available Contexts list select the context you want for your
query.
Tip: the current context is listed under the Selected Values heading.

2. Click Next to continue building your query


Either the Summary or Specify Prompt Value Page appears.

Related Topics
• Naming and inserting your Live Office query object on page 75
• Specifying prompt values on page 74

Specifying prompt values

The Specify Prompt Value page will display only if you specified prompts
for the query. Prompts are either mandatory or optional. If all the prompts
listed on the page are optional, you do not have to specify a prompt value
at this stage, click Next and specify the prompt values when refreshing the
query.
1. On the Specify Prompt Values page, do one of the following for each
prompt value you want to specify:

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Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries 5
• Type a value in the search field, to search for a prompt value from a
pre-selected list of options. Click the to specify Ignore case or
Case sensitive for the search string. Click > to add it to your selected
values.
Note: If the list of available values is empty or needs to be updated,
click the Refresh List icon .

You can also double click on a displayed value to add it to the list of
selected values.
• Type a prompt value and click > to add the value to the list of values.

2. Click Next.
The Summary page appears.

Naming and inserting your Live Office query object

The Summary page is the final screen of the Live Office Insert Wizard.
1. From the Summary page, provide a name for your query, and verify its
location.
2. Click Finish to insert the query.
The Live Office Insert Wizard closes and the query results are inserted
into your Microsoft Office document.

Configuring prompt binding options for your query

Prompt binding is a useful way to allow values to be updated automatically


from within a Live Office object. For example, you may have a cell that allows
you to enter a minimum sales value to allow you to see only customers that
have greater than a certain value. Or, in terms of our “Activities by Location”
report example, you could have “Select a Region” parameter with two discrete
values, East and West. With cell binding, from within your Microsoft Office
application, you can choose the value you want and then dynamically retrieve
the latest data from the database.

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5 Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries

To bind a prompt to your Microsoft Office document

1. In the Microsoft Office document, right-click the Live Office object


containing the prompt you want, then click Live Office > Properties.
The Live Office Object Properties dialog is displayed.
2. From the Live Office Object Properties dialog, select the Prompts tab.
All the available prompts for the currently selected object are listed under
the Prompts heading.
3. Select the prompts you want and click Prompt Values.
The Specify Prompt Values dialog is displayed.
4. Select from the following options:
• Select the Always ask for value if you not want to specify a specific
parameter value.
• Click OK and skip to Step 5.
Note: If you select this option, the Live Office object will automatically
prompt for a value every time your refresh it.
• Select the Choose values list option to bind the Live Office object to
specific prompt values. Click on the browse button to modify or add
prompt values.
The current prompt value is displayed below the "Parameters" headng
on the left. If you do not want to modify this value click OK on all the
open dialogs.
• Select the Excel data range if you want to bind the parameter to a
cell in an Excel spreadsheet.
Note: This option will only be available if you are using an Excel
spreadsheet.

Click the icon to the right of the drop-down list.
The "Bind Parameter" dialog is displayed.
• Select an available cell within your Excel spreadsheet and click
OK. Then skip ahead to Step 6.
Note: You can also manually specify the desired cell by entering
its address in the Bind Parameter dialog.

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Working with Queries in Live Office
Creating and running queries 5
5. Specify values in the "Specify Prompt Values" dialog by doing any of the
following:
• Type a search string in the search field, to search for a prompt value
from a pre-selected list of options. Click the to specify Ignore
case or Case sensitive for the search string. Click > to add it to your
selected values.
Note: If the list of available values is empty or needs to be updated,
click the Refresh List icon .

Tip: You can also double click on a displayed value to add it to the
list of selected values.
• Type a prompt value and click > to add the value to the list of values.

6. Click OK to close all the open dialogs and refresh the report data.

Configuring query options

You can configure your query options to do the following to improve


performance and data quality:
• Eliminate duplicate rows in the result set
• Set a limit for the time taken to run the query
• Set a limit to the number of rows returned in the query result set.
• Limit the returned data to a specified random sample set.

To configure query options

1.
Click the Show the option dialog icon .
The Options dialog appears.

2. From the Options dialog configure the available options as described in


the following table, and click OK

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5 Working with Queries in Live Office
Viewing query properties

Option Description

If the user does not select this op-


tion, the duplicate rows will be re-
moved from the query result. For
example, if you ask for Year object,
Duplicate rows
you'll get distinct years instead of
the possible duplicated year value
for each row returned by the query.
Default is false.

Maximum time in seconds allowed


Max. Fetched Time for the query to run. The value -1
means that there is no time limit.

Maximum number of rows to be


fetched when the query is run. The
Max. Row Fetched
value . -1 means that there is no
limit.

Returns the specified number of


Sample Result Set rows as random data within the
current selection criteria.

Viewing query properties

To view query properties for an existing query


1. From within your Microsoft Office document, right-click your existing query,
point to Live Office, and click Properties.
The Live Office Object properties page appears.

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Working with Queries in Live Office
Editing queries 5
2. Do one of the following:
• Click the General tab to view the object definition and set location
properties
• Click Prompts and click Prompt Values to open the Specify Prompt
Values dialog box.
• Click the Refresh tab to configure object refresh behavior.

3. Make the changes you want and click OK.

Editing queries

Changing the universe location

To change the universe location for an existing query

1. From within your Microsoft Office document, right-click your existing query,
click LiveOffice > Properties.
The Live Office Object properties page appears.

2. Click the General tab to display the object definition and set universe
location properties
3. Click Choose to open the Universe Location dialog box.
4. Make the changes you want and click OK.

Modifying the query definition

To modify a query definition

1. From within your Microsoft Office document, right-click your existing query.
2. Select LiveOffice and click Edit Universe Query to run the Live Office
Insert Wizard.
The Specify Query page appears.

3. Make the changes you want to the definition of your query, and click OK.

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5 Working with Queries in Live Office
Editing queries

Modifying a query context

You can modify the context of an existing query from the Prompt tab of the
Live Office Properties dialog box or during a refresh operation.

To modify a query context

1. From within your Microsoft Office document, right-click your existing query,
point to Live Office, and click Properties.
The Live Office Object Properties dialog box appears.

2. Click the Prompt tab to display the option to display the current query
contexts.
3. Make the change you want, and click OK.
4. Click Query Context to modify the current query context.
The Specify Query Contexts screen is displayed.
5. Select the context you want from the list under Available Contexts.
6. Click OK to submit your change .
The Live Office Object Properties dialog box is displayed again.
7. Click OK .
The Live Office object is refreshed and reflects the new query context.

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Performing Common Tasks
with Live Office Objects

6
6 Performing Common Tasks with Live Office Objects
Performing Common Tasks with Live Office

Performing Common Tasks with Live


Office
After inserting a Live Office object into your Microsoft Office document, you
can perform a set of common tasks.

Related Topics
• Removing Live Office objects on page 90
• Loading, updating, and refreshing existing content on page 89
• Distributing objects via Outlook on page 88
• Copying and pasting Live Office Objects on page 86
• Connecting to a different system on page 84
• Opening a document on a local drive on page 83
• Viewing a published document on page 82
• Publishing a document to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 84

Publishing and Viewing Files

Overview

You can use BusinessObjects Live Office (Live Office) to publish documents
to BusinessObjects Enterprise. To publish a document to BusinessObjects
Enterprise, you must have publishing rights. To view the document, users
must have viewing rights for the document.

Related Topics
• Publishing a document to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 84
• Viewing a published document on page 82

Viewing a published document

You can open a published document if you have viewing rights for that
document in BusinessObjects Enterprise.

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Performing Common Tasks with Live Office Objects
Performing Common Tasks with Live Office 6
To view the document, you must have the Microsoft Office Word, Excel,
Outlook and PowerPoint installed on your computer.
To view a published document
1. On the LiveOffice menu, point to Publish to BusinessObjects
Enterprise, and click Open From BusinessObjects Enterprise
Note: If you are not already logged on BusinessObjects Enterprise, you
are prompted to log on. For more information, see Logging on to
BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23.

2. In the Open dialog box, select the document that you want to view.
Note: If an object in the document was originally based on a Crystal
Reports document or Web Intelligence document published to a different
BusinessObjects Enterprise system, you will see a message informing
you that the source cannot be found on the current system.

3. Click Open to display the file.


Your ability to modify the document depends on the Microsoft Office security
applied to the document and on the rights applied to the document in
BusinessObjects Enterprise.

Related Topics
• Publishing a document to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 84

Opening a document on a local drive

You can open a document on your local computer without connecting to


BusinessObjects Enterprise. For example, you can open a document that
contains objects and choose not to connect to BusinessObjects Enterprise
when prompted. However, if you do not connect to BusinessObjects
Enterprise, you cannot use Live Office functionality to modify the object or
refresh the data.

Note: If you conceal the data when you save the document, anyone opening
the document must refresh the objects to view the imported data. To refresh
the objects, users need to have Live Office installed and have access to the
source object in BusinessObjects Enterprise.

Related Topics
• Publishing a document to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 84

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6 Performing Common Tasks with Live Office Objects
Performing Common Tasks with Live Office

• Viewing a published document on page 82

Publishing a document to BusinessObjects Enterprise

When you have completed a document, you can publish it to BusinessObjects


Enterprise for other users to view. You can use BusinessObjects Enterprise
to manage any Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Outlook and Microsoft
PowerPoint documents; they do not have to contain any imported data.
To publish a document
1. On the LiveOffice menu, point to Publish to BusinessObjects
Enterprise, and click Save To BusinessObjects Enterprise or Save
As New to BusinessObjects Enterprise.
Note: If you are not already logged on to BusinessObjects Enterprise,
you are prompted to log on. For more information, see Logging on to
BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23.

2. In the Save As dialog box, select the folder where you want to save the
document.
3. Enter a name for the document in the File name field.
4. Click Save to publish the document.

Related Topics
• Viewing a published document on page 82

Connecting to a different system

If there is more than one BusinessObjects Enterprise system at your site,


your administrator can move the Crystal Reports or Web Intelligence data
to a different CMS. If you open a document that contains objects that are
connected to source objects that are located in a different BusinessObjects
Enterprise system, you will see a message that informs you that the source
object(s) cannot be found on your current system.

To connect the objects to the appropriate Crystal Report or Web Intelligence


object on your current system, you must ensure that the objects on the current
system have the same field or dimension names and table names as the
original object.

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Performing Common Tasks with Live Office Objects
Performing Common Tasks with Live Office 6
For example, suppose that the New York Sales team has a document with
an object that uses a Crystal report called Global Sales, and the report is
published to the USA BusinessObjects Enterprise system. The London Sales
team also has a version of the "Global Sales" Crystal Report, which they've
named "World Sales" and have published it to the UK BusinessObjects
Enterprise system. If members of the London Sales team want to use the
New York Sales team's document, they must manually connect the object
to the "World Sales" Report on their system.
To reconnect an object
1. Open the document that contains the object you want to access.
2. Log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise.
3. Right-click on the Live Office object you want to reconnect.
A context menu will appear.
4. Click Live Office > Properties.
The "Live Office Object Properties" window will open.
5. Click the Choose button.
A document location window will open.
6. Locate the report object that you want to connect to, then click OK.
7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 for each object that you want to connect.
When you save the document, the links to the new object instance are saved
in the document.

To connect to a different CMS


1. On the LiveOffice menu, click Options.
The Options dialog box opens.

2. Click the Enterprise tab.


3. Edit the System and Web Service URL so that it points to the correct
Central Management System (CMS).
For example, if the Web Intelligence document you want to insert is on
a CMS called businessobjects01, the Web Service URL should be as
follows:

http://businessobjects01:8080/dswsbobje/services/session

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6 Performing Common Tasks with Live Office Objects
Performing Common Tasks with Live Office

You can change your Live Office settings so that you are automatically logged
on to BusinessObjects Enterprise each time you start Microsoft Office Excel,
Word, Outlook or PowerPoint.

Related Topics
• Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23
• Publishing a document to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 84
• Viewing a published document on page 82

Saving your data locally and to the repository

After inserting and configuring your Live Office objects, you can save your
work locally and to the BusinessObjects Enterprise repository.

To save your file to a local drive

• Do one of the following to save your file locally:


• From the File menu click Save or Save As
• From the LiveOffice menu, click Create Snapshot

To save your file to the BusinessObjects Enterprise repository

For more information about publishing your data object to your Business
Objects Repository, see Publishing a document to BusinessObjects Enterprise
on page 84.

Copying and pasting Live Office Objects

Once you have embedded a Live Office object in your MS Office application,
you can copy and paste the object to another location within the same
document, or move it to a completely different MS Office application. For
example, after inserting and configuring part of a sales report within your
PowerPoint presentation, you can embed the same object within an email
message or a spreadsheet.

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Performing Common Tasks with Live Office 6
Before copying and pasting Live Office objects across applications you should
consider the following.
• Parameter binding options are modified if the target application does not
support the same options as the source application. For example, object
parameters bound to a specific Microsoft Office Excel cell will revert to
by default change their binding setting to Always ask for value.
• By default when you paste a Live Office object, the connectivity with the
database is maintained. This raises data access and security concerns
especially if you plan to distribute documents with embedded Live Office
objects.

Related Topics
• Disconnecting Live Office objects from Enterprise on page 103
• To modify parameter binding options on page 42

To copy and paste Live Office objects

After inserting content into your Microsoft Office document, use the procedure
below to copy and paste any object into another Microsoft Office application.
1. Select the entire Live Object that you want to copy, right-click to Copy.
Tip: Use the Go to Object navigator on the Live Office tollbar.
Live Officemenu if your document contains multiple Live Office objects.
You should now ensure that the target MS Office application is open.
2. Right click in your target MS Office application and then click Paste.
The Live Office object is inserted in the new document.
3. Repeat steps 1-2 if you want to copy and paste more objects from the
source content.

Disconnecting Live Office objects from Enterprise

By default when you paste a Live Office object, the connectivity with
Enterprise is maintained. This raises data access and security concerns
especially if you plan to distribute documents with embedded Live Office
objects. Follow the instructions below to disconnect Enterprise connectivity
to objects embeded in your Microsoft Office applications.

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6 Performing Common Tasks with Live Office Objects
Performing Common Tasks with Live Office

1. Point to Live Office, and click Options.


The Options dialog is displayed.
2. In the General tab uncheck the Copy and paste with Live Office
connectivity option.
3. Click OK.
All copied objects will be disconnected from the data in Enterprise. Pasted
objects will not be able to establish connectivity through Live Office, so the
information presented will no longer be updated.

Distributing objects via Outlook

You can insert Live Office objects into Microsoft Office Outlook for distribution
within your organization . All recipients will be able to view the data contained
within the sent email message.You cannot edit or refresh an object when
viewing a received mail. You must switch to design mode by either forwarding
or replying to the mail containing the Live Office object. Once in design mode,
you can refresh or modify the object after logging into BusinessObjects
Enterprise.

Note: Live Office does not support plain text mail format.
Tip:
• When you open the "Repository Explorer" directly from Outlook, a
Suggestion folder is available. This folder contains the results of a content
search automatically performed using your email's subject line.
• Outlook users with Live Office clients installed on their computers can
use the Go to Object menu to navigate to each object embedded in a
received mail.

Related Topics
• Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23
• Creating and running queries on page 68
• Inserting Web Intelligence content on page 52
• Inserting Crystal Reports content on page 29
• Copying and pasting Live Office Objects on page 86

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Performing Common Tasks with Live Office Objects
Performing Common Tasks with Live Office 6

Loading, updating, and refreshing existing content

In their everyday work, business users can make recurring updates to the
same document in Live Office and distribute it colleagues.

For example, you can use Live Office to:


• Compare financial results for a particular product line by quarter in
Microsoft Office Excel
• Update a monthly management review graph in Microsoft Office
PowerPoint

In each case, you are making updates to an existing document. Using Live
Office, you can easily refresh your content against the data source to ensure
your data always reflects the latest changes. You can also configure refresh
options so that your documents are updated automatically when you exit the
application.

To refresh Live Office objects in an existing document

1. Open your Microsoft Office document.


2. Log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise. For more information, see Logging
on to BusinessObjects Enterprise on page 23.
3. Do one of the following to view object properties:
• From the LiveOffice menu, click Properties for All Objects.
• Right click a single Live Office object, point to LiveOffice, and click
Properties.

The Live Office properties dialog box is displayed.

4. Ensure that Refresh data on exit is selected to configure automatic


refresh behavior for the Live Office objects in your document, then Click
OK.
5. Make any changes you require to your document, and do one of the
following to refresh it:
• On the Live Office toolbar, click Refresh All.
• On the LiveOffice menu, click Refresh Object to refresh a single object
or Refresh All Objects to refresh multiple objects simultaneously.

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6 Performing Common Tasks with Live Office Objects
Performing Common Tasks with Live Office

Note: If an error occurs during the refresh operation, click Detail on the
refresh dialog box to troubleshoot the error.
Tip: You will have to reapply Microsoft Office Excel filter and sort operations
as well as other formatting operations after refreshing your Live Office object.

Related Topics
• Managing global Live Office properties on page 95
• Managing prompt and parameter settings on page 92

Removing Live Office objects

You can remove a report object from your MS Office document. Note that
you cannot undo this action.

Note: Once you have removed a content object, you have to insert a new
object to view the data again.

To remove a Live Office object from the document

1. Right click any cell in the Live Office object that you want to remove, and
then click LiveOffice.
2. On the LiveOffice shortcup menu, click Remove Object.
3. Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the object.
The object has been removed from your document.

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7
7 Performing Advanced Tasks
Performing Advanced Tasks

Performing Advanced Tasks


One of the most common Live Office usage scenarios is to have multiple
Live Office objects in one Microsoft Office document. Therefore advanced
Live Office users can, for example, consolidate prompts, set document
appearance and format options, configure authentication and document
security options, and change a document's location in the repository.

Managing prompt and parameter settings


For Live Office documents that contain multiple Live Office objects and
associated prompts or parameters, you can consolidate prompts of the same
type for easy updating.

To consolidate prompts for easy updating


1. Right-click a Live Office object in your Microsoft Office document, point
to Live Office, and click Properties.
2. From the Live Office Object Properties dialog, click Prompt.
3. From the Prompts tab, click Prompt Values.
4. Choose from the available list of options, and click OK. For example, for
the parameter "Country," you could choose the prompt "France" from a
pre-selected list of values.
5. If your Microsoft Office document contains several prompts, at the
document level in the hierarchy, the Live Office Object Properties dialog
displays a prompt consolidation option.
Select Consolidate prompts for each document type to configure this
global option for all LiveOffice objects in your document.

Managing time dependent variables (Key Date)

The data you access from a Web Intelligence document or a query may be
time dependent. Time-dependent attributes and hierarchies are evaluated
in certain databases through a key date (Key Date) variable. Examples of
Key Date variables include the date certain financial results are posted or

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Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing prompt and parameter settings 7
the start of a new fiscal year. You can use Live Office to insert and update
data containing Key Date settings. The Key Date is treated as a prompt
setting in Live Office.

Related Topics
• Modifying Key Date values in queries on page 95
• Creating queries with Key Date settings on page 93

Inserting content containing Key Date settings

The Key Date is available in Live Office if the database accessed by a


universe uses the Key Date to retrieve data. Like all other prompts in Live
Office, the Key Date setting can be viewed when creating queries or inserting
Web intelligence content.

Related Topics
• What are parameters and prompts? on page 18
Creating queries with Key Date settings
Key Date setting is displayed in the Specify Query page of the Live Office
Insert Wizard.
1. In your Microsoft Office application, select where you want to insert the
Live Office object containting the Key Date.
2. From the LiveOffice Insert menu, select New Query.
The Live Office Insert Wizard appears. If you have not already logged on
to BusinessObjects Enterprise, you are prompted to do so.
The Choose Universe page is displayed.
3. From the Choose Universe page of the Live Office Insert Wizard, expand
the Universe folder or subfolders to navigate to the universe you want to
use.
The Specify Query page appears.
The [KEYDATE] prompt and its current value are displayed on the right
above the Result Objects pane.
4. Click Next to continue building the query.

Related Topics
• Modifying Key Date values in queries on page 95

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7 Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing prompt and parameter settings

• Specifying prompt values on page 74


• Naming and inserting your Live Office query object on page 75
• Specifying context for your query on page 74
• Defining your data filters on page 72
• Building your query on page 69

Inserting Web Intelligence content with Key Date settings


Key Date setting for Web Intelligence content is displayed in the Specify
Keydates page of the Live Office Insert Wizard.
1. In your Microsoft Office application, select where you want to insert the
Live Office object containting the Key Date.
2. From the LiveOffice Insert menu, select Web Intelligence Content.
The Live Office Insert Wizard appears. If you have not already logged on
to BusinessObjects Enterprise, you are prompted to do so.
The Choose Document page is displayed.
3. From the Choose Document page of the Live Office Insert Wizard,
expand the Universe folder or subfolders to navigate to the Web
Intelligence document you want to use.
The Specify Keydates page appears.

4. Choose one of the three options in the Specify Keydates page.


• Use the default date for all queries
• Set date for all queries
• Set a date for each query
5. Click Next to continue defining the Web Intelligence content you want to
insert from the selected report.

Related Topics
• Creating your Live Office objects on page 55
• To specify prompt values on page 54
• Specifying a context on page 54

Modifying Key Date settings

You can easily reset the Key Date value or setting for an Live Office object
after it is inserted into a Microsoft Office document.

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Managing global Live Office properties 7
Modifying Key Date values in queries
To reset a Key Date value in a query, you need to edit your query.
1. From within your Microsoft Office document, right-click your existing query.
2. Select LiveOffice and click Edit Universe Query to run the Live Office
Insert Wizard.
The Specify Query page appears.

3.
Click the Keydate Properties icon to display the Keydate Properties
dialog.
4. In Keydate Properties dialog use the options provided to modify the Key
Date settings.
• Use the default date
• Set date
5. Click OK to save your new Key Date value.
6. Click OK to close the Specify Query page and refresh the query.
Modifying Key Date values in Web Intelligence content
Afer you insert a Live Office object based on Web Intelligence content, you
modify the Key Date setting and value like any other prompt.
1. Right-click the Live Office object and click Properties.
The Live Office Object Properties dialog is displayed.
2. Click the Prompts tab.
All the available prompts, contexts, and keydates are listed in up to three
separate tables together with their current values.
3. From the list under the Prompts heading select the keydate you want
modify then click Keydate.
The Specify keydates dialog is displayed.
4. Choose one of the three options in the Specify Keydates page.
5. Click Next to continue editing the Web Intelligence content.

Managing global Live Office properties


Using the Live Office Options dialog box, you can configure certain aspects
of Live Office functionality at the application-wide level. For example, you

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7 Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing global Live Office properties

can configure the short cut menu options that appear as well as aspects of
the default layout, formatting, and refresh behavior for all Live Office objects.

Related Topics
• Configuring the shortcut menu on page 96
• Changing default layout, formatting, and refresh behavior on page 98
• Configuring default error message strings on page 99
• Configuring field display settings on page 101

Configuring the shortcut menu

You can specify the shortcut menu that appears in Microsoft Office Excel,
Word, Outlook or PowerPoint.

To change the shortcut menu

The procedure below specifies the shortcut menu for Microsoft Office Excel.
The same options apply to Microsoft Office Word, Outlook or PowerPoint.
1. On the LiveOffice menu, click Options.
2. On the General tab, select one of the following options:

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Managing global Live Office properties 7

• Replace Excel menu

Replaces the Microsoft Excel shortcut menu with the LiveOffice


shortcut menu.
• Add to Excel menu

Produces a combined shortcut menu that contains Microsoft Office


Excel and Live Office options. This is the default.
• Use Excel menu only

No Live Office options are available on the shortcut menu.

3. Click OK.

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7 Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing global Live Office properties

Changing default layout, formatting, and refresh


behavior

On the General tab, you can configure default layout and refresh options.

To change the default object formatting and refresh behavior

1. On the LiveOffice menu, click Options.


The Options dialog box appears.

2. Click the General tab.

3. Select from the following options:


• Prompt before overwriting Live Office cell

Automatically prompts warning before you overwrite a Live Office cell


in a Microsoft Office document .

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Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing global Live Office properties 7
• Refresh Live Office object when binding cell changes

Automatically refreshes and updates an object when the cell binding


for that object changes.
• Refresh Live Office object on document open

Automatically refreshes and updates an object when the Microsoft


Office document is opened.
• Copy and paste with Live Office connectivity

Automatically maintains server connectivity to a copied Live Office


object.

Note: On the View tab, the default setting is to insert report parts with
report formatting and to show filters as comments.

4. Click OK.

Configuring default error message strings

You can change the default strings that appear in the cells of your document
when there is no available data (for example, if a cell has no data, if there is
an error, or if the data is concealed).

To change the default strings

1. On the LiveOffice menu, click Options.


The Options dialog box appears.

2. Click the View tab.

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7 Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing global Live Office properties

3. Set the required defaults:


• No data

Enter the text string that you want to appear when a cell has no data.
The default string is blank.
• Data Error

Enter the text string that you want to appear when a cell has an error.
The default string is #DataError.
• Concealed Data

Enter the text string that you want to appear in place of concealed
data. The default string is #Concealed.

4. Click OK.

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Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing global Live Office properties 7

Configuring field display settings

You can choose to display the field names, field descriptions, or both in the
inserted objects.
1. On the LiveOffice menu, click Options.

The Options dialog box appears.


2. Click the View tab.
3. Under Field display, select Name, Description, or Both.
4. Click OK.

Related Topics
• Configuring the shortcut menu on page 96
• Changing default layout, formatting, and refresh behavior on page 98
• Configuring default error message strings on page 99

Changing the viewing locale

You can modify the display settings for certain types of fields displayed by
Live Office objects by specifying a viewing locale. The viewing locale setting
affects the display format for date, time, and number type data.
Note: The viewing locale setting is not available on Crystal Reports field
objects.

Related Topics
• Options dialog box on page 115

To change the preferred viewing locale

1. On the LiveOffice menu, click Options.


The Options dialog box appears.

2. Click the Enterprise tab.


The Enterprise tab settings are displayed.

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7 Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing document security and access

3. Select an option from the select preferred viewing locale drop-down


list.
4. Click OK to save the new setting.

Managing document security and access


When you work with Live Office objects in your everyday Microsoft Office
applications, you might frequently have to conceal data in your documents
for security reasons, retrieve data from different databases, or store your
data in a different location. Live Office enables you to do that conveniently.

Related Topics
• Adding security to your documents on page 102
• Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise automatically on page 103
• Connecting to a different CMS on page 104
• Relinking objects to Business Objects Enterprise on page 104

Adding security to your documents

If you save the imported data with the document, other users can potentially
view the data that they are not authorized to view. To ensure that the data
in your document is secure, conceal the data in the document, and then
publish the document to BusinessObjects Enterprise. By publishing your
document to BusinessObjects Enterprise, you ensure that only authorized
users can view the document.

To view the concealed data in the document, users must refresh the data.
Users can refresh the data only if they have installed BusinessObjects Live
Office (Live Office) and if they log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise.

To conceal data when saving a document

1. Right click your Live Office object and click Properties.


2. Click the Refresh tab.
3. Select Conceal data on saving; refresh to redisplay and then click
OK.

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Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing document security and access 7
When you save the document, a text string replaces the data in the object.
The default text string is #Concealed , but you can change this.

4. To restore the data, click Refresh.

Disconnecting Live Office objects from Enterprise

By default when you paste a Live Office object, the connectivity with
Enterprise is maintained. This raises data access and security concerns
especially if you plan to distribute documents with embedded Live Office
objects. Follow the instructions below to disconnect Enterprise connectivity
to objects embeded in your Microsoft Office applications.
1. Point to Live Office, and click Options.
The Options dialog is displayed.
2. In the General tab uncheck the Copy and paste with Live Office
connectivity option.
3. Click OK.
All copied objects will be disconnected from the data in Enterprise. Pasted
objects will not be able to establish connectivity through Live Office, so the
information presented will no longer be updated.

Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise


automatically

Using Single Sign On (SSO), you can access multiple applications or systems
simultaneously while providing log-on credentials only once, enabling you
to do your work more easily and efficiently.

You can configure Live Office to connect to BusinessObjects Enterprise


automatically each time Microsoft Office Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook or Word
is loaded.

Live Office has the ability to take advantage of Single Sign-on to


BusinessObjects Enterprise if it has been configured. You can configure Live
Office to connect to BusinessObjects Enterprise automatically each time the
Microsoft Office applications that support Live Office are loaded. In this way,
users will not be prompted to log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise once
they have logged on to the authentication tool being used at their organization.

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7 Performing Advanced Tasks
Managing document security and access

To set an automatic connection

1. On the LiveOffice menu, click Options.


The Options dialog box appears.

2. Click the Enterprise tab.


Note: If you have already logged on to BusinessObjects Enterprise, your
logon details appear in the appropriate fields.

3. Select Use specified logon criteria.


4. Click OK.

Connecting to a different CMS

The Crystal Reports or Web Intelligence data you need to access, might be
stored in different repositories. Using the Enterprise tab of the Live Office
Options dialog box, you can easily adjust your Live Office setting to connect
to a different Central Management System (CMS).

Related Topics
• To connect to a different CMS on page 85

Relinking objects to Business Objects Enterprise

If the location of a report or other content source in Enterprise changes, you


may need to re-link the Live Office object.

To relink a Live Office object

1. Right click the Live Office object for which you want to change the location,
and click Live Office > Properties.
2. In the Live Office Object Properties dialog box, click Choose.
3. In the Document Location dialog box, navigate to the new location for
your document, and click OK.
An warning messagr appears.

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Performing Advanced Tasks
Working with Smart Tags in Live Office 7
4. Click Yes.
The new document path is displayed.

Working with Smart Tags in Live Office


You can save time by using Live Office smart tags in Microsoft Office Excel,
Word, Outlook or PowerPoint. Live Office smart tags make it easier for you
to work with Live Office objects in your Microsoft Office applications, and
provide you with more control over automatic features.

When Live Office data is recognized in Microsoft Office Excel, Word, or


PowerPoint, Outlook applications, the data is marked with a smart tag
indicator, a small red triangle.

To find out what actions you can perform with a Live


Office smart tag
1. Select your Live Office object where the smart tag indicator appears.
2. Move the insertion point over the highlighted text until the Smart Tag
Actions button appears.
3. Click the Smart Tag Actions button to see a list of Live Office actions you
can perform.
When you save a document, the smart tags are embedded so that they are
available to anyone who opens the document. You can, however, choose
not to embed smart tags when you save a document.

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7 Performing Advanced Tasks
Working with Smart Tags in Live Office

106 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Troubleshooting Live Office

8
8 Troubleshooting Live Office
Sample Live Office log files

Sample Live Office log files


This section contains both a sample config.xml file and a sample log.txt
output file.

Sample LOLogger.config xml file format


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="log4net" type="log4net.Con
fig.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net-net-1.0"
/>
</configSections>
<log4net>
<root>
<level value="Debug" />
<appender-ref ref="LogFileAppender" />
</root>
<appender name="LogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAp
pender" >
<param name="File" value="log-file.txt" />
<param name="AppendToFile" value="true" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d [%t] %-5p %m%n"
/>
</layout>
</appender>
</log4net>
</configuration>

Sample log file format


When Live Office runs, it will generate the log-file.txt. A sample .txt file is
shown below.
|Date----|-------Time-----|PID |Loglevel|Log message----
2006-11-03 09:19:34,877 [3084] DEBUG Enter populateAuthComboTh
readHelper
2006-11-03 09:19:34,908 [3084] DEBUG --- WebServiceURL =
http://machine name: 8080/dsws/services/session
2006-11-03 09:19:35,424 [3084] DEBUG ---- get Session = Busi
nessObjects.DSWS.Session.Session

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Troubleshooting Live Office
Enabling logging for Live Office 8
Note: You can change the name of the logging ouput file in the
LOLogger.config.xml using the <param name="File" value="log-file.txt"/>
parameter.

Related Topics
• Enabling logging for Live Office on page 109

Enabling logging for Live Office


Logging for Live Office is disabled by default at installation. This sections
contains information on how to configure and enable registry-based logging.

Note: This section contains information about modifying the registry. Before
you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you
understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. If you use Registry
Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to
reinstall your operating system. Business Objects cannot guarantee that you
can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use
Registry Editor at your own risk.

Troubleshooting Live Office components


This section describes problems that you might encounter when installing
or using BusinessObjects XI 3.0. To view troubleshooting information, click
any of the following links.

Note: If this document does not list a solution for the problem you are having,
contact Customer Support.

Related Topics
• Problem: LiveOffice menu disappeared on page 110
• Problem: document refresh failed on page 110
• Problem: context dialog box is not displayed on refresh even if the Reset
Context on Refresh option is checked on page 111
• Problem: report sorting and filtering lost when refreshing on page 111

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8 Troubleshooting Live Office
Troubleshooting Live Office components

Problem: LiveOffice menu disappeared

Cause:
The Live Office add in is not properly enabled.

Solution:
You need to run the enable_addin.exe located at C:\Program Files\Business
Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\Live Office 12.0

For more information, see the BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 Installation
Guideon your product CD.

Problem: document refresh failed

Cause:
By design, there are known cases where refreshing your Live Office object
will fail. The most common cause for these refresh errors is that the underlying
structure of the source report has changed since the Live Office object was
last refreshed. By design refresh failures could occur because of any of the
following.
• The type of report part has changed. For example, from a table to a chart.
• The source Web Intelligence or Crystal Reports file has been deleted
from BusinessObjects Enterprise.
• The source Universe has been changed or deleted
• SQL database table fields or restrictions have been changed or deleted.
For example, the database field type or restriction specified is invalid or
unavailable.
• No instance is available
• Table structure

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Troubleshooting Live Office
Troubleshooting Live Office components 8
Solution:
An error message should appear and indicate the source of the problem. If
it does not or is not helpful, check the log file, and then check to see if there
have been amy recent changes in report structure.

Problem: context dialog box is not displayed on


refresh even if the Reset Context on Refresh option
is checked

Cause:
This is by-design for Live Office. We stored context value with LO object and
use it when refreshing.

Solution:
You can change context in the Live Office Properties dialog box

Problem: report sorting and filtering lost when


refreshing

Cause:
Microsoft Office Excel is based sort and filter operations are not fully
supported by Live Office.

Solution:
Reapply these operations after refreshing the Live Office object. Other report
formatting is retained.

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 111


8 Troubleshooting Live Office
Troubleshooting Live Office components

Problem: access denied to universe

Cause:
You do not have sufficient access rights for the universe. An error message
is displayed when you try to refresh a query or you cannot view objects in a
displayed Universe.

Solution:
Contact your system administrator to provide you with sufficient rights to
access the Universe.

112 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Reference

9
9 Reference
Live Office Insert Wizard

This document provides references on the following topics:


• Live Office Insert Wizard
• Options dialog box
• Properties dialog box.

Live Office Insert Wizard


The Live Office Insert Wizard appears when you select Insert from the
LiveOffice menu. The wizard helps you to select a source Crystal Report
object or instance, a Web Intelligence object or instance, or a query to insert
into your Microsoft Office document as a LiveOffice object.

114 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Reference
Live Office Insert Wizard 9

Options dialog box

The Options dialog box enables you to set the options for BusinessObjects
Live Office (Live Office). These options affect all documents, not just the
current document. Click Default to return to the default options.

Note: Live Office options apply only to the Microsoft Office product that you
are using. You can set different options for Microsoft Excel, Microsoft
PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Word.
The Options dialog box has three tabs:
• General tab
• View tab
• Enterprise tab

Related Topics
• General tab on page 115
• View tab on page 116
• Enterprise tab on page 117

General tab

The General tab contains the options for customizing the shortcut menu and
the general display options.The options that you can specify in this tab vary
depending on the Microsoft Office program that you are using.

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9 Reference
Live Office Insert Wizard

Related Topics
• Changing default layout, formatting, and refresh behavior on page 98
• To change the shortcut menu on page 96

View tab

The View tab contains the options for displaying fields.

116 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Reference
Live Office Insert Wizard 9

Related Topics
• Configuring field display settings on page 101
• Configuring default error message strings on page 99

Enterprise tab

The Enterprise tab contains the options for connecting to BusinessObjects


Enterprise and for setting the preferred viewing locale.

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9 Reference
Live Office Insert Wizard

Use the drop down list for Select preferred viewing locale to modify the
display settings for Live Office objects. Currently the viewing locale setting
affects the display format for date, time, and number type data. The viewing
local is only reflected on report part objects.

Related Topics
• What are report objects, instances, and parts? on page 15
• Logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise automatically on page 103
• Configuring field display settings on page 101
• Configuring default error message strings on page 99

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Reference
Backward compatibility 9

Properties dialog box

The Properties dialog box displays the properties for the selected object.
Live Office allows you to view and modify the appearance and refresh options
of your Live Office object.

Note: The settings in this dialog apply only to the current Live Office object.
There are various settings:
• On the General tab you can view the refresh status, the object location,
and the object definition including type of object such as a chart.
• On the Refresh tab you have three editable options:
• Apply formatting when refreshing
• Remove data on saving; refresh to redisplay
• Refresh options such as "on demand" and "last instance by user"

Related Topics
• Options dialog box on page 115

Backward compatibility
The following sections contain backward compatibility information for Live
Office XI 3.0 components. This content includes information about deprecated
features, unsupported features, support for previous versions of Live Office
and other Business Objects products, and Live Office behavior changes
between versions.

Related Topics
• Deprecated features on page 119
• Unsupported features on page 120

Deprecated features

A deprecated feature is a feature that still ships with the product and is still
supported, but for which notification has been made that the feature will be

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 119


9 Reference
Backward compatibility

unsupported in a future version. The following Live Office functionality is


deprecated for this version of Live Office.
• Inserting and modifying Live Office objects based off of Business
Views. As a workaround for more advanced users, there is still the ability
to insert from a Crystal Reports document based off a Business View.
• Creating a Crystal Reports report from an Excel range. Users can
create reports off an Excel range in the Crystal Reports Designer. This
provides more comprehensive reporting functionality.
• Inserting a rowset from a Web Intelligence data provider. Web
Intelligence report part support, introduced in this release, provides a
significantly better user interface and overall result. Users can insert a
table from an existing Web Intelligence report to get the same rowset.

Unsupported features

An unsupported feature is a feature that may or may not ship with the product
but for which support is no longer provided. This means that technical support
calls and enhancement requests relating to this feature will no longer be
accepted. The following Live Office functionality is unsupported for this version
of Live Office.
• In place drill functionality for both Web Intelligence and Crystal
Reports rowset and report part. Live Office object refresh behavior will
reflect the last saved drill state.
• Windows NT authentication. Microsoft Corporation has replaced
Windows NT authentication with Windows Active Directory.
• OLAP Intelligence functionality. OLAP Intelligent functionality will not
be supported in this release. The OLAP Live Office objects of previous
releases will not be recognized this Live Office release.

Live Office object size limitations

For each Microsoft Office application that Live Office supports, there is a
maximum number of rows and columns that can exist in a table or worksheet.
This affects how much data you can insert into a object because Live Office
inserts the data in the form of a table or as rows and columns in a worksheet.

120 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Reference
Backward compatibility 9
These limits are set by the Microsoft Office applications so it is helpful to
know these limits when you plan what data you are going to create a object
from.

Microsoft Word
• Maximum rows = 32767
• Maximum columns = 63

Microsoft Excel

Note: If you are using MS Excel 2007 then the following limitations will not
apply.
• Maximum rows = 65536
• Maximum columns = 256

PowerPoint
• Maximum rows = 50
• Maximum columns = 25

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9 Reference
Backward compatibility

122 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Get More Help

A
A Get More Help

Online documentation library


Business Objects offers a full documentation set covering all products and
their deployment. The online documentation library has the most up-to-date
version of the Business Objects product documentation. You can browse
the library contents, do full-text searches, read guides on line, and download
PDF versions. The library is updated regularly with new content as it becomes
available.

http://support.businessobjects.com/documentation/product_guides/

Additional developer resources


http://devlibrary.businessobjects.com

Online customer support


The Business Objects Customer Support web site contains information about
Customer Support programs and services. It also has links to a wide range
of technical information including knowledgebase articles, downloads, and
support forums.

http://www.businessobjects.com/support/

Looking for the best deployment solution for your company?


Business Objects consultants can accompany you from the initial analysis
stage to the delivery of your deployment project. Expertise is available in
relational and multidimensional databases, in connectivities, database design
tools, customized embedding technology, and more.

For more information, contact your local sales office, or contact us at:

http://www.businessobjects.com/services/consulting/

Looking for training options?


From traditional classroom learning to targeted e-learning seminars, we can
offer a training package to suit your learning needs and preferred learning
style. Find more information on the Business Objects Education web site:

http://www.businessobjects.com/services/training

124 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Get More Help
A
Send us your feedback
Do you have a suggestion on how we can improve our documentation? Is
there something you particularly like or have found useful? Drop us a line,
and we will do our best to ensure that your suggestion is included in the next
release of our documentation:

mailto:documentation@businessobjects.com

Note: If your issue concerns a Business Objects product and not the
documentation, please contact our Customer Support experts. For information
about Customer Support visit: http://www.businessobjects.com/support/.

Business Objects product information


For information about the full range of Business Objects products, visit:
http://www.businessobjects.com.

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 125


A Get More Help

126 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Index
A Crystal Reports content (continued)
modifying fields 43
architecture 19 modifying parameters 42
object properties 41
wizard options 26
B
BusinessObjects Enterprise D
connecting automatically to 104
logging on to 23 data 102
publishing to 84 concealing 102
saving to 84 defaults, changing 99
data filters 72
definitions 15
C instances 15
CMS, connecting to a different 85 parameters 18
columns 98 prompts 18
autofitting 98 refresh options 24
inserting 42 report objects 15
concealing data when saving 92 report parts 24, 28
configuring 56 universes 65
general object properties 56 disconnecting objects 87, 103
global Live Office properties 95 displaying 101
object properties 56 field names 101
parameter binding 34, 58 general properties 58
refresh options 56 document, adding security to 83
context, specifying 54
Crystal Reports content 95 E
configuring global properties 95
content types support 10 excluding field categories 45
inserting
data as report parts 32
report parts 30
F
rows and columns 42 features 119
steps for 26 deprecated vs. unsupported 119
key concepts 28 new 19

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 127


Index

fields 45 Live Office (continued)


excluding 45 global properties 95
focussing on 45 object size limitations 120
modifying 43 refresh options, configuring 34
selecting 38 removing objects 90
filters 45 ribbon menu 22
adding 45 toolbar 20
applying 39 troubleshooting tips 109
choosing field categories as filter settings working with Smart Tags 105
45 logging 109
excluding field categories 45 enabling in Live Office 109
modifying 44 sample files 108
removing 45
formatting, autofit columns 98
M
I modifying 99
data defaults 99
inserting field display 101
Crystal Reports content 29 filters 44
Web Intelligence content 52 prompt values 60
instances, defined 15
O
K
objects, reconnecting 85
key concepts 15 Options dialog box 115
Key Date 92 Changing viewing locale 101
creating queries with 93
Inserting content containing 93
modifying 94
P
parameter values 34, 58
L configuring binding 34, 58
consolidating 92
Live Office 119 prompting for 98
architecture 19 refreshing 43
backward compatibility 119 specifying 32
concepts 15 parameters, defined 18
configuring object properties 56 presentations, publishing 109
distributing via email 88 prompts 92
enabling logging 109 consolidating 92
formatting 98 defined 18
formatting, autofitting columns 98 modifying 60

128 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide


Index

prompts (continued) secured databases, logging on to 24


query binding options 75 security
specifying values 74 adding to document 83, 92
Properties dialog box 119 document security and access 92
published documents, viewing 82 managing 102
publishing, documents 109 workbook 92
setting report parameters 58
shortcut menu, configuring 96
Q Smart Tags 105
queries 66
adding ranking to 70 U
building 66
configuring options 77 universes, defined 65
context 66 user interface
creating and running 68 Options dialog box 115
data filters 72 Properties dialog box 119
overview 64
prompt binding options 75
sorting 71
V
with Key Date settings 93 viewing 58
Query Panel, content types supported 10 general object properties 58
global properties 95
R published documents 82
Viewing locale, changing 101
refresh options 98
automatic updating with binding changes
98
W
configuring 34, 56 Web Intelligence content
defined 24 configuring
parameter values 98 global properties 95
report objects, defined 15 properties 56
report parts 59 refresh options 56
adding additional 59 content types support 10
defined 24, 28 modifying 58, 59, 60
inserting 32 refreshing 89
specifying context 54
S specifying prompts 54
steps for inserting 52
saving upgrading 61
to Enterprise repository 36, 86 viewing general properties 58
to local drive 36, 86

BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide 129


Index

130 BusinessObjects Live Office XI 3.0 User Guide

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