Specify Measure Formats

To improve the readability of the values reported, you can specify an alternative format string for any measure.

Define a UDA for the appropriate members in the Account dimension:

COGNOS_FORMAT=format_string

The format_string value can be any one of the predefined number formats listed in the table below. You can use a preset numeric format to show values as millions (M) or thousands (K). For example, 1,801,791 can be shown as 1.8M or 1,801.8K.

The predefined format strings are as follows:

Table 1. Oracle Essbase data source predefined strings

Format Option

Sample Value

Example

General

1000000

1000000

0

1000000

1000000

#,##0

1000000

1,000,000

$0

1000000

$1000000

$#,##0

1000000

$1,000,000

0%

1000000

100000000%

%0

1000000

%100000000

0E+000

1000000

1E+006

0K

1000000

1000K

#,##0K

1000000

1,000K

K0

1000000

K1000

K#,##0

1000000

K1,000

$0K

1000000

$1000K

$#,##0K

1000000

$1,000K

0M

1000000000

1000M

#,##0M

1000000000

1,000M

M0

1000000000

M1000

M#,##0

1000000000

M1,000

$0M

1000000000

$1000M

$#,##0M

1000000000

$1,000M

With the exception of the General format string, you can also preset the number of decimal places to show, using the format_string ~n, where n is the number of decimal places. For example, 1,801,791 can be shown as $1,801,791.00 using the format string $#,##0~2. If you do not want any decimal places, end the format string with ~0.

If your client application uses a different locale, you must replace the Currency ($), Thousands (,) and Decimal (.) symbols in the format_string value for the COGNOS_FORMAT UDA with the corresponding locale symbols in effect for the client application.

If you do not specify the number of decimal places to show, or if the format string does not match one of the predefined values (including locale symbols), the General format string is used by default.

You can apply a different format for each measure. The following illustrates some examples of how you can apply different formatting to different measures:

Table 2. Oracle Essbase data source formats for measures

Measure

Applied Format

Measures (Account dimension)

COGNOS_FORMAT=#,##0

Units

COGNOS_FORMAT=#,##K

Costs

COGNOS_FORMAT=$#,###

Profits

COGNOS_FORMAT=0%