Match Columns dialog box pops up when opening the analysis file based on Information Link.

Match Columns dialog box pops up when opening the analysis file based on Information Link.

Generally this dialog box pops up when the underlying column elements are changed/replaced with the ones with a different name which is understood. Sometimes there could be a scenario where you may see Match Columns dialog box while opening the analysis file based on Information Link for no modifications made on the Information Designer level. Refer to the image below to know how it looks.



This article briefly describes a scenario (possible cause) that could lead to this behavior. Suppose the dashboard is built using an Information Link and the columns in the dashboard are renamed as desired. In the Column Properties, the Name field contains column names from the dashboard. You can rename a column from here and it gets reflected. Whereas ExternalName is the saved column signatures and it comes from the Information Link column element (in this case) which does not change on renaming a column here.  When you rename a column here, ExternalName remains the same, only the Name field is changed (renamed). Refer to the image of the column properties below.



The reason is that there is a mismatch in the saved column signatures and the incoming data (Information Link column element) due to the change of analysis file structure. For example, consider the first column from Current data and New data. The Information Link has the NAME column element but the analysis file has 'Front NAME' as its saved column signature. 

We need to explicitly match the columns for the problematic analysis files and they cannot be matched automatically. To avoid this problem for other analysis files, one of the two things can be done.

1. Not to save the analysis file if the user sees the Information Link not found message box while opening the analysis file.
2. Do not rename the columns in the dashboard. So even if the above scenario occurs, the saved column signatures will be the same as the incoming data (IL column elements).