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jwhite
Quartz | Level 8

VA 7.3

 

Community, I've got a situation where I'm using some controls as 'hold variables' as it were holding lists of data if need be...which is why I use drop-downs.

 

The goal is for an individual to freely enter text for a course they're interested in, then the report produces all of the areas of study within the major that the desired course falls under.

 

Here's a sample source data:

Major_CIP_VA_XWalk.PNG

 

In the example below, a user is interested in Kinesiology courses, but may not recall that major, only that they are currently interested in 'Athletic Training/Trainer'.

 

The top input box accepts 'Athl', and when they hit 'enter', I use a parameter to basically scan all the 'CIP_Title' values for anything that contains the values from the input box. This works, and to proceed in this example, I've simply confirmed 'Athletic Training/Trainer' in the drop-down.

 

This first drop-down has an interaction on the second drop-down and is assigned Major as the category, so the value in drop-down 2 is dynamic depending on what is selected in drop-down 1. Drop-down 2 here also passes the Major value out to a major_parameter.

 

Drop-down 3 then has a filter of Major = Major_Parameter, so its list is all the CIP_Titles that equate to the same major. In this example, we see the three titles we would expect for the major 'Kinesiology'.

 

drop-down_ex.PNG

 

The above works fine. A user can input the name of a title they're aware of, then VA uses these drop-down controls to filter the data to output all the other titles within the same major.

 

However...this is no good for a user. I would like a way for the middle two controls to either be hidden or handled in another manner so they aren't seen. Ideally, a user would have the input box, then the last drop-down list.

 

Is there a way to do this? Are there 'hidden' data types available to store these dynamic lists in? Can a container 'hide' a control so it isn't accessible to a user, but is to the report? I would even be satisfied if I could 'collapse' the objects enough with the pane sliders as to not be seen in the viewer.

 

What options am I missing?

 

Thanks!

-Jeff

1 REPLY 1
FredrikE
Rhodochrosite | Level 12

It's hard to hide them completely...

I usually set size to 0 and all colors to the same as the background.

Also I place them in a corner where my users don't expect things to be places 🙂

 

I have also tried to hide them behind an object, like a text box or image.

 

None of these are perfect, but workes ok for me!

//Fredrik

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Tips for filtering data sources in SAS Visual Analytics

See how to use one filter for multiple data sources by mapping your data from SAS’ Alexandria McCall.

Find more tutorials on the SAS Users YouTube channel.

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