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Working with Elements in the Hierarchy Views |
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Working with Elements in the Hierarchy Views |
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Working with Elements in the Hierarchy Views
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Working with Elements in the Hierarchy Views |
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Working with Elements in the Hierarchy Views |
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Add an Existing Element from Another Scorecard
Pop-up Menus
The Hierarchy View has two pop-up menus, one for adjusting the view (View Pop-up Menu) and one for elements (Element Pop-up Menu).
Right-clicking the background of the Hierarchy View opens the view pop-up menu, which allows you to define and use several display and background properties. To learn more about the menu, see the Hierarchy Views Pop-up Menu section.
Right-clicking an element opens the element pop-up menu, which allows you to configure the element and add new elements, among other things. The contents of the menu varies according to element you have clicked. To learn more about the menu, see the Element Pop-up Menu of the Hierarchy Views section.
Create New Elements
To create a new element, do the following:
| 1. | In the case the Tool Palette is visible, select the desired element from the Elements section and drag-and-drop it over the desired parent element. The new element appears as its child element. |
or
| 1. | Right-click a scorecard symbol or an element symbol. A pop-up menu opens. |
| 2. | In the pop-up menu, select Create Element...  New [element type] (e.g. Measure). |
| 3. | A new element symbol is created, and linked below the symbol you selected in step 1. The default name of the element is the name of the element type. |
Add an Existing Element from Another Scorecard
In the Hierarchy Views, you can add an existing element from any other scorecard in the model to the scorecard you are working with. The concept of linking scorecards is an important feature of QPR Metrics, as it is an excellent way to cross-link scorecards.
To add an existing element:
| 1. | Right-click the element to which you want to link the element you are adding. A pop-up menu opens. |
| 2. | On the pop-up menu, select Create Element Copy. The Copies window opens. |
| 3. | From the Scorecards list, select the scorecard that contains the element you wish to copy. |
| 4. | The Elements in selected scorecard list displays the element hierarchy of the selected scorecard. Here you can open sub-hierarchies by selecting the "+". |
| 5. | Select the element that you wish to copy and add it to the Copies list by clicking the right arrow button  . It will now appear in the Copies list. It can be taken off this list by selecting the left arrow button  . |
| 6. | Once the Copies list is complete with the elements to be copied, click OK. |
Note: When an element is copied, all of its sub-elements are copied along with it. Therefore, the sub-hierarchy below the element is always preserved.
Copy or Reference Elements
For information on copying or referencing elements, see the Copying and Referencing Elements section.
Edit Element Names
To change the name of an element: Select the desired element and press F2. Input the modified name and press Enter. For more information about editing texts included in elements and shapes, see the Symbol Layout Window section.
Delete Elements
To delete any element displayed in the Hierarchy Views, do the following:
| 1. | Select the element to be deleted. |
| 2. | Press the Delete key or right-click and select Delete Element from the pop-up menu. A confirmation window opens, asking you if you really want to delete the selected element. |
| 3. | Click Yes. The element symbol is removed from the Hierarchy View. If the element was originally created in the scorecard you are working with, the element itself and all its sub-elements are permanently deleted from the model. |
This procedure can also be used to delete the scorecard itself from the model. Remember that all information associated with the scorecard is also deleted.
If the element symbol that you delete is owned by another scorecard, it is removed from the active scorecard, but still remains in its scorecard of origin.
Hide or Show Elements
If a scorecard is complex, containing many elements and sub-elements, it can be useful to hide the elements that are located below an element.
To hide (or show) elements, right-click any element and select Hide Sub-elements (or Show Sub-elements) from the pop-up menu. All of the elements located under the element you have selected will now disappear (or appear). In the case an element has hidden subelements, the element's shadow is black instead of gray.
Rearrange Elements
You can easily move all elements within the window to give a clear view of the scorecard.
•To move an element: Select the element and drag it to the destination location. If the element has child elements, they are also moved accordingly, but the top element remains in its original position. Moving elements with the Alt key held down frees the elements from the grid.
•To move an element and maintain its position in relation to other elements in the same level: Hold down the Shift key while dragging the element to the destination location. With this method all the elements on the same level and all their child elements are moved and their relative positions are preserved. However, the top element remains in its original position.
•To select multiple elements one by one and move them: Hold down the Ctrl key while selecting individual elements. The selected elements can be moved by dragging them to the destination location. If any of the elements has child elements, they are also moved accordingly. You can also click the left mouse button on an empty area in the view, hold the button down and drag a rectangle over the desired elements to select them.
•To arrange elements automatically: You can take advantage of the automatic arrangement possibilities in QPR Metrics. You can either define all elements in a scorecard to be arranged automatically by right-clicking on an empty area in the view and selecting the Arrange Automatically option from the pop-up menu, or you can arrange a certain element's sub-elements by right-clicking on the desired element and selecting the Arrange Sub-elements function from the pop-up menu. Note that the Arrange Sub-elements function is not available if the Arrange Automatically option has been set for the scorecard. Note also that you have to save the view for automatically arranged elements if you want the arranged order to be shown in QPR Portal. In addition, automatic arrangement will have no effect in QPR Portal if sub-elements are opened there dynamically.
While moving the elements, QPR Metrics redraws the links automatically. This ensures that the elements are always grouped in a way that logically mirrors the information flow in the scorecard.
Resize Elements
You can resize elements in the Hierarchy Views similarly as in many other Windows applications. Whenever you click an element, eight resize handles appear around the element. When you move your mouse cursor over the resize handles, the cursor changes to an arrow indicating the directions where you can resize the element. When the cursor is visible, hold down the left mouse button and drag the element to the desired size. Resizing the element from the corners changes both the width and the height of the element simultaneously. Note that you can resize elements over other elements, i.e. other elements are not moved when resizing elements. An exception is a situation where you resize an element with child elements so that the width changes, and the child elements move to maintain their positions relative to the top element's horizontal middle point.