Creating and Editing a Widget Formula

The Data Browser enables you to use formulas (freeform expressions) to determine the values and filters of a widget. A rich variety of functions is provided for your use in formulas, empowering you to achieve:

  • Speed to Insight: Analyses which previously required nightly builds can be done here in seconds.

  • Self-Service Autonomy: Analysts are able to answer follow-up questions during meetings rather than taking "action items for the data modelers."

  • Cleaner Governance: Keeps the core data model clean and performance-optimized, while allowing endless flexibility at the analytics layer.

To create or edit a formula:

  1. Open the formula editor in the Data Browser:
    • For a new widget, click Select Data, and then .
    • For an existing widget, click the edit formula button .

      The Data Browser then changes to display the Formula Editor, which has the following tabs:

    • Shared Formulas: Displays the existing shared formulas that can be used. See Shared Formulas.
    • Data Browser: Provides selectable fields from the data model.
    • Functions: Lists the functions that can be selected for your formula. Hovering over a function in the list displays a tooltip that describes that function.
  2. Compose the formula as follows:
    • From the Shared Formulas tab, select the relevant shared formula to use, on its own or as part of a larger formula being created.
    • From the Data Browser tab, select one or more fields.
    • From the Functions tab, select the required functions.

  3. Type in the required parts of the formula. To see examples, see Creating Formulas Based on Criteria and Conditions (Filters), and Dashboard Functions Reference.
  4. Click OK.

    If you hover over a formula and right-click, you have the following options:

    • Rename - Renames the formula. For example, give it a name that represents a real-life task or expected result from the formula, or include in the name filters that you have added to the formula.
    • Delete - Deletes the formula item.
    • Filter - Adds filters to the formula.
    • Type - Changes the default aggregation method, for example, from Sum to Average.
    • Group By (Days) - Determines the time buckets into which to group the values.

    The right-click options for a filtered formula are:

Expected Behavior and Limitations

  • Formulas in “Categories“ type of panels are not supported and will be ignored by the system if they are added manually in the dashboard file.

  • The list of functions available for use may vary when used inside a metric type of axis, or a dimension one. The same applies to the returned value expected - for metrics it must be a number, while for dimensions it must result in a string value.

  • Calculated dimensions (Beta) is a capability available in Sisense version 2026.1.1 and newer. It allows the creation of formulas within the dimension axis, with some limitations during its Beta stage:

    • “Concat”, “Left”, and “Right” are the only functions currently supported, with future plans for further expansion.

    • Calculated dimensions only work when executed over the Analytical Engine.

    • The Left and Right functions only support positive integers. Providing negative values may result in unexpected behavior.

    • When viewing a widget’s SQL (via “Analyze SQL Query”) - If the source is an ElastiCube, Oracle, or Athena, the Left and Right functions are replaced natively with SUBSTR, as these providers do not natively support Left and Right functions.

    • ElastiCubes may result in unexpected behavior when the index value for Left/Right is larger than the string length.

    • String constants are limited to a maximum of 50 characters.

    • The Concat function is limited to a maximum of 10 parameters.

    • Calculated dimension formulas must reference at least one column from the model. For example: CONCAT(‘abc’, ‘def’) or LEFT(‘abc’, 2) are not supported.

    • In order to use single or double quotes in a string constant, you must wrap the text with the other quotes (single for double; double for single). For example: “haven’t” or ‘Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson’.

    • Widget filters for Live providers are supported only when the calculated dimension fields are using the same source table.

    • Widget filters for ElastiCubes, B2D, and ElastiCube Cloud are not currently supported by calculated dimensions at all.

    • When using the Left and Right functions on columns of type FLOAT, REAL, and DECIMAL containing long numbers (with many digits), the results may sometimes lose accuracy. In such cases (when handling long numbers), it is recommended to use the functions on TEXT, INT, and BIGINT columns.

    • When using a model field inside string constants (for example: “Concat([SSI],’[SSI]’)“ ), hash codes may sometimes be returned for the model fields instead of the provided text (e.g., “[1E039-0AD]” instead of “[SSI]”).