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The Ribbon Bar provides access to the various menu items within the VDM Platform This article breaks down the functions available for each ribbon bar and what they do.

Ribbon Bar Display Options

Available Options:

• Auto-hide Ribbon: Hides the Ribbon. Click at the top of the application to show.
• Show Tabs: Shows the Ribbon tabs only. Click a tab to show the commands.
• Show Tabs and Commands: Shows Ribbon tabs and commands all the time.

Database Ribbon Bar

• New: Launches the Connection Wizard to create a new Connection Profile.
• Load All: Loads all Connection Profiles into Tables and Fields.
• Edit: Launches the Connection Wizard to edit and existing Connection Profile.
• Manage View Connections: Allows views with multiple Connection Profiles to mapped to other Connection Profiles.

WebReports Ribbon Bar

• Open: Opens views that have been uploaded to WebReports.
• Open Completed: Opens completed reports from WebReports in VDM without needing to be executed.
• Publish: Publish views to WebReports.
• Save and Upload: Saves any changes to the current view and uploads it directly to WebReports.

Home Ribbon

• New: Create a new View.
• Open: Open an existing View.
• Save: Save the View that is currently open.
• Save As: Save the View that is currently opened with a new name.
• Save with Data: Save the View file and embed the View’s data.
• Save Encrypted: Saves the View in an encrypted format so it cannot be accessed by anyone outside your organization and cannot be read/edited within a text editor.
• Recent: Displays recently opened Views.
• Run View: Runs the View that is currently open.
• Insights: Launches Insights, a single point of access for Grids, Charts, Finished Reports and Visualizations that allows you to access data from any date and time.
• Finished Reports: Launches Finished Reports, a professional report writing feature.
• Visualize Designer: Launches Visualize Designer, a profession data visualization feature.
• Calendar: Opens the Calendar section of the Scheduler allowing the creating and editing of scheduled jobs.
• Job: Opens the Job setup page allowing the creation/editing of jobs that can be leveraged on the Calendar or in a Master Job.
• Master Job: Launches the Master Job editor for creating batches of Views to run in queue and on demand.
• Abort Search: Aborts a View that is currently being executed.

View Options Ribbon

• Client Side Grouping: Applied at the View Level
  • Enabled: The View’s Grouping and Summaries items are aggregated in-app (on the local PC) and not on the database.
  • Disabled: the View’s Grouping and Summary items will be sent to the database for evaluation and processing.
• Client Side Sorting: Applied at the View Level
  • Enabled: The View’s Sorting items are performed in-app (on the local PC) and not on the database.
  • Disabled: The View’s Sorting items will be sent to the database for evaluation and processing.
• Select Distinct: Applied at the View Level
  • Enabled: VDM will only return unique rows of data and will ignore any duplicates.  For a row of data to be unique EVERY field in a given row would need to be an exact match of another.
  • Disabled: VDM will return all data delivered from the database for the current View.
• Summary Only: Applied at the View Level
  • Enabled: VDM will not deliver the Views detail data and will only return aggregated data to the Summary grid.  Enabling this feature will disable Client Side grouping.
  • Disabled: VDM will deliver the Views detail data as well as any aggregated data that is defined at the Group and Summary levels.
• View SQL Query: Displays the SQL query, based on the View’s configuration, that VDM is sending to the database.
• Select Top Records: Adds Top X syntax to the SQL query, limiting the number of records returned (not supported with all databases).
• Database Functions: Features for specific databases.
  • Native SQL - This makes it so VDM can leverage "native" SQL features that are not accessible in Universe otherwise.
• Use Table Alias: Allows a table alias defined inside the Linking to be used in the query in place of the actual table name.
• Embed Expressions: Applied at the View Level
  • Embedded Expressions allows an Expression, used within a View, to be saved and stored in the VDM View file. This greatly simplifies the sharing of Views, containing expressions, with your colleagues.
• Replace Numeric Nulls: Applied at the View Level
  • Enabled: VDM will replace null values with a numeric data type with 0.
  • Disabled: VDM will return null values for numeric data types.
• Expandable Excel Groups: Applied at the View Level
  • Enabled: VDM will show expandable grouping when a data grid is exported to Excel.
  • Disabled: VDM will not show expandable grouping when a data grid is exported to Excel.
• Default Control: Defines the default control that will receive focus once the View has returned results.
• Skins: Changes the look and feel of VDM.

Export/Print Ribbon

• No Preview: Exports the data directly to the selected output without a preview.
• Preview: Exports the data to VDM’s export preview feature.
• Multi-Sheet: Exports the Details, Summary, Basic Chart and Totals to a multi-sheet document.
  • Details: Exports the Details.
  • Summary: Exports the Summary.
  • Chart: Exports the Chart.

Community Ribbon 

• Forum: Direct link to the BridgeWorks forum. A place for Report Writers and Developers to share their ideas, techniques and ask questions.
• News: Get the latest updates on VDM.

Help Ribbon

• About: Shows the current version of VDM.
• View Release Notes: View the notes on each version of VDM.
• Register: Used to register VDM’s installation and license for the workstation.
• Support: Launches the VDM support website.
• Auto Updater: Launches VDM’s automated update/upgrade processes and is used to keep your VDM installation current.