Overview
A Dimension is built as a tree of nodes — for example, an Organization Dimension with Company at the top, Department below it, and Team below that. Reports, Charts, and Filters in the same Workbook reference Dimensions to provide consistent grouping and drill-down across the Workbook’s content.
Dimensions are authored in the Dimension Designer, reached from Lens → Design by clicking Add New and selecting the Dimension icon. They live inside a Workbook as one of the five Lens artifact types (Reports, Charts, Custom Scripts, Dimensions, Filters), per the Project framework’s three-tier containment model.
When to use it
- A set of Reports needs to group data consistently across a hierarchy — geography, organization, product, time.
- Multiple Filters across a Workbook should share the same category definition rather than being defined independently per Filter.
- A reusable category hierarchy is needed for a Workbook’s reporting and should be maintained in one place.
Structure
| Dimension | The named top-level container. Created via the + icon in the Dimension Designer; saved with a name through the Save Dimension pop-up. |
| Node | A category within the Dimension’s hierarchy. Each node has Node Text (display name) and additional binding fields. Nodes are added through right-click → Add Node. |
| Parent-child relationship | Each node sits under exactly one parent node and can have any number of children. The structure forms a tree. |
Dimension Designer toolbar
| Save | Saves the Dimension. First save prompts for the Dimension name; subsequent saves persist to the same name. A success alert confirms the save. |
| Save As | Saves the current state under a new name. Used to fork an existing Dimension before making invasive changes. |
| Reset | Discards all unsaved changes. |
| Refresh | Re-renders the Dimension canvas with the saved state. Used after an external change or to recover from stale UI state. |
| + (add Dimension) | Creates a new Untitled dimension entry to which nodes can be added. |
Node operations
| Add Node | Right-click a Dimension or an existing node → Add Node. | Opens the Add Node pop-up for entering Node Text and required fields. The new node attaches as a child of the right-clicked target. |
| Edit Node | Right-click a node → Edit Node. | Opens the Edit Node pop-up. Allows renaming and updating the node’s fields. |
| Delete Node | Right-click a node → Delete Node. | Removes the node from the Dimension. |
List actions
From the Design list (reached by clicking the add icon at the bottom-right of the Design canvas), saved Dimensions expose the standard artifact actions.
| Edit | Opens the Dimension in the Dimension Designer for changes. |
| Delete | Removes the Dimension after a warning prompt and a completion confirmation. |
| Share | Opens the Share to User dialog. Select a user and a user role, then click Share. |
Key behaviors
Dimensions are Workbook artifacts. Dimensions sit inside a Workbook alongside Reports, Charts, Custom Scripts, and Filters. They are referenced by other artifacts in the same Workbook.
Reset is irreversible at the working-state level. Reset discards every change made since the last save. There is no per-action undo. Save As before risky edits is the recommended pattern for preserving a known-good Dimension.