Lesson 4: Apply a Filter to the Entire Report (Report Builder 1.0)

Filtering allows you to limit the data returned in your report to just the data that you are interested in viewing. A filter consists of one or more filter conditions that specify the criteria that Report Builder should use to determine whether the data is included in the report. To help refine the data returned, you can group filter conditions using logical operators and nest grouped conditions within other grouped filter conditions.

In previous lessons, you applied a filter to the underlying calculations within a formula. In this lesson, you will apply a filter to the entire report. You will create a filter, specify three filter conditions, and then save the filter. After you apply the filter to the report, you will run the report again to view the returned data.

To apply a filter to the entire report

  1. On the Report menu, click Filter.

    The Filter Data dialog box appears.

  2. In the Entities list, verify that Product is selected.

  3. In the Fields list, double-click Product Category.

  4. In the Filter area, click the drop-down box arrow and select Clothing.

    Of the product categories available, only clothing will be returned in the report.

  5. In the Fields list, select # Sales in Last 2 Years and the Total Qty in Last 2 Years fields and drag them to the Filter area.

  6. Click the equals for # Sales in Last 2 Years and select Greater Than.

  7. In the # Sales in Last 2 Years text box, type 100.

    This narrows the data returned to just clothing where there were a hundred or more sales per item.

  8. Click the equals for the Total Qty in Last 2 Years and select Greater Than.

  9. In the Total Qty in Last 2 Years text box, type 1000.

    This narrows the data returned to just clothing where there were a hundred or more sales per item and the number sold was greater than a thousand.

To create a grouped filter condition

  1. In the Filter area, click the And between the # Sales in Last 2 years and the Total Qty in Last 2 Years fields.

  2. Select Or.

    Note that the two fields are now grouped by an Any of clause. When the report is run, the only data returned will be clothing where there were a hundred or more sales per item or the number sold was greater than a thousand.

  3. To save the filter, click OK.

To run the report

  • On the View menu, click Run Report.

    A one page report displaying the data for clothing that meet the criteria specified in the filter is returned.

When you ran the report in Lesson 1, the report was 12 pages long and contained 504 rows of data. With the new calculated fields and filters that you applied to the report, the report is now one page long and contains 20 rows of data that meet your exact requirements. You have successfully completed the tutorial.