Building An If-Then-Else Calculated Expression; Functions - IBM Cognos User Manual

Building an If-Then-Else Calculated Expression

Your models can include calculated measures that use if-then-else expressions.
For example, you can define the following conditional expression:
if ("Net Income"<100000) then ("Gross Profit"*1.25) else
NULL
You can also define an if-then-else calculation to avoid division by zero:
if ("Revenue" != 0) then ("Quantity"
/ "Revenue") else NULL
Procedure
1. In the Expression Editor, begin your calculated measure definition by clicking
2. Enter the rest of the expression as follows:
3. If an error appears, try again, using a mathematically correct form.
4. Build the cube, open it in your reporting application, and confirm that the

Functions

A function is a subroutine that returns a single value. You can use functions to
create calculations and conditions to filter data. Functions are similar to operators
in that they manipulate data items and return a result.
Functions differ from operators in the format in which they appear with their
arguments. This format allows them to operate with zero, one, two, or more
arguments:
function (argument, argument, ...)
Functions are of these general types:
the if operator.
An opening parenthesis is inserted next.
v Type a conditional expression that resolves to True or False.
v Double-click a closing parenthesis.
v After the automatically inserted expression "then (", type the result to show
if the boolean expression is True.
v Double-click a closing parenthesis.
v After the automatically inserted expression "else (", type the result to show
if the boolean expression is False.
v Double-click a closing parenthesis and click OK.
If your expression is valid, the definition is saved for that measure.
Tip: Unlike calculated columns, calculated measures support isnull(
)expressions that resolve to True, which is the condition that arises with a
missing value. You can use this capability to avoid divide-by-zero overflow
errors.
results correctly reflect the if-then-else condition you were trying to model.
Function Description
Date Functions Accepts numeric input and returns a value that is a date.
Appendix F. IBM Cognos Transformer Expression Editor
357