Hiding a UDR Column

Summary

The information in this article applies to LIMS 1.x/2.x.

When creating a user-defined report (UDR) it is often necessary to display a value that is derived from one or more analysis results. This article describes a simple technique used to hide a column whose value need not be displayed but is required for another column’s calculation.

More Information

Hiding a column is a simple technique to ensure a column does not display any data. If the column falls within the limits of the report’s template, it will occupy the template space assigned to the column. Such a column could be used, for example, to add report white space between logical column groups. More frequently, a hidden column is used to supply a value for another column’s forumula or expression.

For example, to display the sum of two distinct analyses, hidden columns could be created to obtain the result values for each analysis and the displayed column would include a formula to sum the values of the hidden columns.

A hidden column’s value can be obtained from either an analysis or formula. When using a formula, UDR dependency rules impose some restrictions. See knowledge base article UDR Formula and Expression Dependency Rules for more information. Follow these steps to create a hidden column:

1. Add a new column following the displayed columns;
2. Select the appropriate analysis or enter a formula (omit for a white space column;
3. Delete the contents of the Label and Units fields to remove the column’s header;
4. Enter =”” (equal sign followed by two double quotes) in the column’s expression field to change the displayed value to an empty string.

While creating a column that is beyond the maximum columns defined for a template effectively “hides” a column, the technique described above is a better solution since it is not dependent on any single template.