Format Measures | Analytics Extended Metadata (XMD) Developer Guide

Formatting a Measure

In this example lens, the values in the Sales column don’t include decimals or currency symbols.

The values table shows the Sales field values without any formatting.

To relabel the Sales field and format its values, modify the XMD as indicated in the bold text.

1"measures" : [
2    {
3      "field": "Sales",
4      "format": {
5        "customFormat": "[\"$#,###,###.##\",1]"
6      }, 
7      "label": "Sales (USD)",
8      "showInExplorer": true
9    }
10],

The field now has the label “Sales (USD)” and its values include a currency symbol and two decimal places.

The values table shows the Sales field with the new label and formatted values.

Formatting a Derived Measure

The following SAQL query contains a derived measure that calculates the average revenue per employee. As shown, the values in this derived field aren’t formatted.

The values table shows the RevPerEmployee derived field values with no formatting.

To relabel the RevPerEmployee field and format its values, modify the XMD as indicated in the bold text.

1"derivedMeasures": [
2  {
3    "field": "RevPerEmployee",
4    "format": {
5      "customFormat": "[\"$#,###.##\",1]"
6    },
7    "label": "Revenue Per Employee",
8    "showInExplorer": true
9  }
10],

The field now has the label “Revenue Per Employee” and its values include a currency symbol and a grouping separator.

The values table shows the RevPerEmployee field with the new label and formatted values.

More Formatting Examples

Check out these examples that illustrate how to use symbols to format measures and derived measures.

For information about using symbols in the customFormat field, see Measures and Derived Measures in XMD.

Goal	XMD
Display 500000 as $500,000 (prefix with "$")	See Example 1 below
Display 500000 as $500,000 (prefix with "$", include grouping separator)	See Example 2 below
Display 500000 as $500,000.00 (prefix with "$", include grouping separator, apply 2 decimal places)	See Example 3 below
Display 500000 as –$500,000.00USD (prefix with "–$", include grouping separator, apply 2 decimal places, suffix with "USD")	See Example 4 below
Display Canadian currency code as a suffix (include grouping separator, apply 2 decimal places, suffix with "CAD")	See Example 5 below
Display -1,234.56 as `–$1,234.56` (use a semi-colon delimiter for negatives, `pos;neg`)	See Example 6 below
Display -1,234.56 as `($1,234.56)` (Optional. Use a semi-colon delimiter, parenthesis for negatives, `pos;(neg)`)	See Example 7 below

Example 1: Display 500000 as $500,000 (prefix with "$")

1"measures": [
2  {
3  "description" : "Amount",
4  "field" : "Amount",
5  "format" : {
6  "customFormat": "[\"$###0\",1]"
7  },
8  "label" : "Amount",
9  "showInExplorer" : true
10  }
11  ],

Example 2: Display 500000 as $500,000 (prefix with "$", include grouping separator)

1"derivedMeasures": [
2  {
3  "description" : "Amount",
4  "field" : "Amount",
5  "format" : {
6  "customFormat": "[\"$###,#00\",1]"
7  },
8  "label" : "Amount",
9  "showInExplorer" : true
10  }
11  ],

Example 3: Display 500000 as $500,000.00 (prefix with "$", include grouping separator, apply 2 decimal places)

1"measures": [
2  {
3  "description" : "Amount",
4  "field" : "Amount",
5  "format" : {
6  "customFormat": "[\"$###,#00.00\",1]"
7  },
8  "label" : "Amount",
9  "showInExplorer" : true
10  }
11  ],

Example 4: Display 500000 as -$500,000.00USD (prefix with "-$", include grouping separator, apply 2 decimal places, suffix with "USD")

1"measures": [
2  {
3  "description" : "Negative dollar amount",
4  "field" : "Amount",
5  "format" : {
6  "customFormat": "[\"-$###,#00.00USD\",1]"
7  },
8  "label" : "Amount",
9  "showInExplorer" : true
10  }
11  ],

Example 5: Display Canadian currency code as a suffix (include grouping separator, apply 2 decimal places, suffix with "CAD")

1"measures": [
2  {
3  "description" : "Amount",
4  "field" : "Amount",
5  "format" : {
6  "customFormat": "[\"#,##0.00CAD\",1]"
7  },
8  "label" : "Amount",
9  "showInExplorer" : true
10  }
11  ],

Example 6: Display -1,234.56 as -$1,234.56

(Use a semi-colon delimiter for negatives, pos;neg)

1"measures": [
2  {
3  "description" : "Amount",
4  "field" : "Amount",
5  "format" : {
6  "customFormat": "[\"$#,###.##;-$#,###.##\",1]"
7  },
8  "label" : "Amount",
9  "showInExplorer" : true
10  }
11  ],

Example 7: Display -1,234.56 as ($1,234.56)

(Optional. Use a semi-colon delimiter, parenthesis for negatives, pos;(neg))

1"measures": [
2  {
3  "description" : "Amount",
4  "field" : "Amount",
5  "format" : {
6  "customFormat": "[\"$#,###.##;($#,###.##)\",1]"
7  },
8  "label" : "Amount",
9  "showInExplorer" : true
10  }
11  ],

Example 8: Display -1,234.56 as $1,234.56-

(Optional. Use a semi-colon delimiter, '-' after the second delimiter, pos;neg;zero)

1"measures": [
2  {
3  "description" : "Amount",
4  "field" : "Amount",
5  "format" : {
6  "customFormat": "[\"$#,###.##;$#,###.##;-\",1]"
7  },
8  "label" : "Amount",
9  "showInExplorer" : true
10  }
11  ],