About extended layout objects

Extended layout objects allow you to roll up data across one or more columns in a result set.

Extended layout objects are different from standard layout objects in that they allow for a visual, client-side OLAP roll up of data across one or more columns in the associated query result set. This enables visual designers to create visual representations of data that are more organized and easy to use. Users can drill down into specific data symbols to obtain only the data they need, without having to view the entire result set at once. For example, the Q.STAFF table included in the sample repository has thirty-five rows, one for each employee in the company. A pie chart displaying the salary of all thirty-five employees would be visually cluttered and confusing. Rather than do this, the Extended option allows you to roll up salary data across one or more columns in the result set, providing on-demand drilldown to the underlying data. In the case of the Q.STAFF table, we can elect to roll the salary across department, followed by job type. Under this mode, the pie chart will display a slice for each department, with plus signs that let you expand each wedge to display each job type in that specific department. Expanding each job type slice then presents individual salary information for the specific department and specific job type. You can add as many drilldown operations to your layout objects as you want by specifying one or more columns to be moved to the side group in the query results or layout wizard.