Why does Bi4 have hidden fields?
In Bi4 we found when setting up reports in admin some of the field would come in as Operation [Max] and not Operation [Group By] and so when the users selected that report and then, using Edit, deleted all the fields except for the one they wanted if that one didn’t have a Operation [Group by] the system would throw an error - The end-user would not know to set the property Operation to [Group By] and be bewildered and so create a service event. Our “fix” was to set a hidden field in a report that had a [Group By] and the user wouldn’t delete it.
It seems in the current release when selecting field to include in a report that it is preset as Operation [Group By] and so all the field are [Group By] and user’s can’t stuff up. It would be a useful Technical Note so mapping builders can revisit old mapping a retire technical debt. I have created this technical note in our KB.
Here is shots of an previously setup “report” see the element has Operation [Max]
and when you add a new field it’s default is Operation [Group By]
These are the examples of quick fix removing the hidden field.