Briefly |
Choose Collection from the Insert menu or drag one off the shelf. Double-click to inspect. Add cases using the Data menu. Define attributes and measures. |
First, make an empty collection by choosing Collection from the Insert menu or by dragging one off the tool shelf.
This new collection has no cases and no attributes. It is truly empty.
The inspector is a good tool for defining attributes. Here's how to use it.
You can add cases to the collection using the Data menu. (The collection must be selected.)
You can enter data for the case directly in the inspector or you can make a case table for the collection and use that. Generally, if you have a lot of attributes and just a few cases, the inspector is a good data entry tool, but if you have a few attributes and lots of cases, the case table works better.)
Select the collection and drag its lower-right corner to open the collection so you can see its cases (as shown at left). They appear as gold balls with the caption, "a case," but you can change that.
You can copy cases from one collection (use the Copy Cases command in the Edit menu) and paste in another; or you can drag them directly from on to another if both collections are in the same document.
Once you have some data you may want to define measures, make graphs, and make a summary table.