Selecting Columns by Name in the Metric Builder
When selecting a value series, Grow refers to the selection by column name
(report1!”column name”). If a new column is added to the report from the data source (for instance, if someone adds data to a saved report in Salesforce or an API is updated and adds new columns within a report) Grow will still be able to recognize which column to use for your charts.
You also have the option to select a specific number of cells in a column (F2:F6), but that will remain fixed to the column (Column F) and not the column name.
If you have selected a column that no longer appears in the data (for example, if you are showing MTD sales, but it is the beginning of the month with no sales yet), the value series will still show the selection and will still show up in the legend, but it will not show any data. It will appear in the metric builder with a dotted line border (see below).
Referencing Columns by Name in Spreadsheet Functions
In spreadsheet functions, you can reference both positional (column C) or the actual name (“forecast”) to refer to specific cells. If you are using the column name, remember that it is case sensitive, and make sure to surround the name with quotes.
If you want to use the Pivot Table transform to separate out different values and chart each one, skip the pivot transform on the data tab of the builder and instead go to the chart tab and select the column where you want to slice the data (the equivalent to selecting the column source in a pivot table transform).
Items to Consider:
- If the name of the column is changed, it will break the metric, so be careful when using data from a spreadsheet or other source that can be changed easily, or using the Rename Columns transform after selecting your data.
- If you are using the pivot table transform to group some of the data into columns to chart, then see if there's a way you can skip using the pivot table and use the Slice option in the enhanced metric builder to break out the data as well.
- If your column headers are based on dates that will change, then the metric will likely break when the dates change. You might try using the Calculated Columns transform to do something like getting the day of the week or the month name that will be more standard as a column header.
- The selection is case-sensitive, so changing any capitalization will break the selection.
- Do not use quotation marks in the column headers themselves.