Consider the following table:

This view of the table is hierarchical. At the 1st level we have A1 through A3. Each of A(x) contains B1 through B3. Suppose we want to sort the values in the Measure column so that the column as a whole is sorted in numerical order. This is impossible if we want to keep the hierarchical view of the table. In order to do this, we must present the table as a flat view.

The above table in flat view will appear as follows:

Note that the measure values in the flat view are still being aggregated just as in the hierarchical view. The purpose of the flat view is simply just to break up the hierarchy so that the measure values can be sorted as a whole.

After we sort the table by Measure values, the result is the following:

This issue is to add a flat view in order to allow this type of sorting.

Requirements:

1. This flat view should be supported in both Table and Chart modes.
2. Both the Row and Column hierarchy are flatten in flat view mode.
3. In flat view mode, sorting on dimension fields in the Rows and Columns decks are not allowed.
4. In flat view mode, both row level and column level sorting are allowed.