Sharing an Ad Hoc Analysis Job Aid

Overview

In computing, Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. The Cal Answers Ad Hoc Editor provides the XML on the Advanced tab so you can share with others who have access to the subject area. To share an ad hoc analysis, you need to copy the XML to a document. The person creating the ad hoc analysis can then copy the XML into a new analysis.

Copy XML from an Ad Hoc Analysis

  1. Open the ad hoc analysis you want to share.
  2. Select the Advanced tab.

    Ad Hoc menu with Advanced tab highlighted 

  3. Select all of the XML code in the Analysis XML box. An easy way to do this is to click inside the box and press [Ctrl + A].

    Ad Hoc Advanced tab with Analysis XML text selected

  4. Copy the data to the clipboard. (Press [Ctrl + C] or right-click and select Copy.)
  5. Open a Word, Notepad or Google document and paste the code. (Press [Ctrl +V] or right-click and select Paste.)
  6. Save the document.

You can now share the XML by emailing the saved document to anyone who has access to Ad Hoc and to the same subject area. Follow these steps to create an ad hoc analysis from the XML.

Create an Ad Hoc Analysis from XML

  1. From the Cal Answers menu, open the New menu and select Analysis.

    Cal Answers menu with New / Analysis highlighted

  2. Select the Subject Area of the ad hoc from which the XML was created. You can tell from the second line of the XML that says “subjectArea=”"[subject area name]"”.

    Subject areas for creating an ad hoc

  3. Select the Advanced tab.

    Ad Hoc Editor with Advanced tab highlighted

  4. Delete all of the code in the Analysis XML text box. An easy way to do this is to click inside the box, press [Ctrl + A], then press [Backspace] or [Delete].

    Ad Hoc Editor with no text in Analysis XML text box

  5. Copy the XML from the document and paste it into the Analysis XML text box.

    Ad Hoc Editor with text pasted into Analysis XML text box

  6. Click the Apply XML button. If you get an error message, see Why doesn't me XML load?

    Ad Hoc Editor with Apply XML button highlighted

  7. Select the Results tab to view the data generated by the XML code.

    Ad Hoc Editor with Results tab highlighted

  8. Select the Save or Save As button to save the analysis.

    Ad Hoc Editor with Save and Save As buttons highlighted

  9. (Optional) Select the Criteria tab to update columns and filters. You can also update formatting in the Results tab.