How to display a two-dimensional matrix

First of all greeting to everyone, I'm new here

.

Since I just got into designing reports with BIRT, I'm not sure how to solve the following problem. I would appreciate any help/suggestions.

I have to display a two-dimensional matrix of string values, with the data being read from a csv file. The dimension of the matrix varies, but it is always square.

Here is an illustration how it should look like (3x3 matrix for example). "User n" is static text, a label.

..............User 1..............User 2..............User 3

User 1.......str1 ................str2..................str3

User 2.......str4 ................str5..................str6

User 3.......str7 ................str8..................str9

What is the best way to show this data? And how exactly do I extract the matrix dimension from the file?

Thanks in advance!

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mwilliams

Hi Vex,

This looks like a crosstab type of setup, possibly. What does your data look like in your dataSet?

Vex

Yes, that's what I originally thought, but as I lack experience I'm not sure how to set it up.

I've uploaded a sample datasource file (it's a csv txt file) in the attachment. However, I have the option to modify it (I have access to the piece of code which generates the file), so the source doesn't need to be formatted this way.

I'm open to any suggestions

EDIT: I'm using the latest version of BIRT (2.3.2) and Eclipse (3.4.2)

mwilliams

Vex,

What should the output look like based on this data? What is the comparison made in the matrix?

mwilliams

Nevermind, you already have it in matrix form it seems. If this is how it's set up in your dataSet, all you'd have to do is drop the dataSet out as a table and you already have what you're looking for. Let me know.

Vex

Yes, this is what I ended up doing. Is there a better way to set up the datasets, since I can generate them on my own? It would probably be best if I adjusted them for displaying in a crosstab. Basically, the data I need to show is the similarity values (represented by a decimal number between 0 and 1) between different user profiles (that's the reason for a matrix). The "catch" is that I don't know the number of profiles (which is also the dimension of the matrix to be displayed) prior to reading the dataset. Also, the x and y axis are identical (the data in col 1 row 1 represents the similarity between the first profile with itself, i. e. 1.0; the data in col 2 row 1 represents the similarity between the second profile and the first; and so on).

I would appreciate any tips you have to offer, as I'm still learning what BIRT has to offer and I'm not yet very proficient with it

mwilliams

Vex,

What would the numbers be if you just had it listed like this?

profile | number
1 | num1
2 | num2
3 | num3

Vex

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this table with only 1 data column... I need to show the similarity value of each profile in relation to each other profile.

Example: let's say there are 3 user profiles. Similarity values are as follows:

Profile 1 and Profile 2 have a similarity of 0.321
Profile 1 and Profile 3 have a similarity of 0.659
Profile 2 and Profile 3 have a similarity of 0.987

So the matrix would look like this:

.......P. 1.....P. 2.....P 3
P1....1.0.....0.321...0.659
P2....0.321...1.0.....0.987
P3....0.659...0.987...1.0

Thanks for your effort mwilliams

mwilliams

Vex,

What I was wanting was what are the actual numbers for each person so that I could see if I could get BIRT to figure out the comparison values dynamically. However, if you're figuring that before you ever bring the data into BIRT, that shouldn't matter. If your data came in in the following format, a crosstab could be very easily set up:

Profile | Comparison Profile | Value
P1 | P3 | val
P1 | P2 | val
P1 | P1 | val
P2 | P3 | val
P2 | P2 | val
P2 | P1 | val
... | ... | ...
etc | etc | etc

Profile and Comparison Profile would be the dimensions and value would be the measure.

Hope this helps.

Vex

Good idea

. It's not a matrix, but then again it doesn't really need to be a matrix.

You were most helpful, thanks!

mwilliams

Once you put it into the crosstab, it'd look like a matrix.

Vex

I get it now, I misunderstood your proposal at first...

Yes indeed, this solves my problem. Thanks again!

mwilliams

No problem. Glad to help. Let us know whenever you have questions.