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Custom Metrics Editor

This applies to: Visual Data Discovery


Symphony provides a Custom Metrics Editor to help you create and test custom metrics for a data source.

To define custom metrics for a data source, you must have:

  • Read permission for the data source and the Edit Calculation privilege, or
  • Write permission for the data source.

The Custom Metrics Editor is shown below. For every source added, the custom metric Volume, using a Count(*) expression is created.

Use this work area to build, test, and preview custom metrics

The numbered regions are:

  1. Custom Metric Label: Mandatory, fewer than 255 characters long.
  2. Editing space: Build your expression in this space. Syntax highlighting improves the readability of your expression.
  3. Expression Builder work area: Includes a Function Library, Row Level Functions, and Fields to help you build your custom metric.
  4. Preview space: Shows a preview of the results of your expression.
  5. Calculation Help: Provides more detailed information about the types of metrics Symphony supports.

Create a custom metric by defining a formula composed of metrics and attributes that include row level functions and aggregation functions. You can include existing custom metrics in your new custom metric formula, and control the visibility of each metric.

Note the following things about the Custom Metrics Editor:

  • Syntax highlighting is used to improve the readability of expressions and provide visual clues about the items being used and their validity.

    The following parts of an expression are highlighted in different colors or with different text treatments: function names, both row level and aggregate; fields and metrics; keywords such as CASE and IN; example parameters; date period constants such as year; values such as numbers and true or false; strings; arithmetic operators such as +.

    References to fields that do not exist in the data source or are otherwise not usable in an expression are interpreted as values and show up in black, alerting you to possible typos or other issues.

  • Limit the number of records shown in Preview by adjusting the Rows per Page.
  • The Function Library, Row Level Functions and Fields sections always appear in the Expression Builder.

  • Autocomplete functionality is supported in the editor. After typing two letters, a list of possible auto-completions appears.

    1. Function completions provide the type of function, the name of the function, the description of the function, and an example of how the function is used, including parameters.
    2. Field completions are available by typing either the field ID or the field label. The field ID appears in square brackets next to the field label when the two are different. Field completions provide the type of the field, the field label and ID.
    3. Metric completions provide the metric label and the expression that will be inserted into the editor when the metric is selected.
  • Syntax and validation errors are shown in the Preview area.
  • When you're creating or editing an expression, select Cancel to return your expression to the initial state.
  • Symphony disables the Save button, preventing you from saving a custom metric unless it has a successfully run expression.
  • When you close the editor with unsaved changes, Symphony displays a confirmation message.
    • Select Cancel to continue editing or changing the text of the label for your custom metric.
    • Select Discard to discard your changes. If you are editing an existing item, your last saved version remains in Symphony.
    • If you select Discard while creating a new expression, Symphony returns you to the source work area.

You can access the Custom Metrics Editor in the following ways:

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