1. Things You Can Use on Monday
Rob Palmer
Solution Director

2. Things You Can Use on Monday
Agenda
SET Parameters
Dialogue Manager
Reporting
Functions
Missing Data
App Commands
Troubleshooting

3. SET Parameters

4. SET Parameters A few of my favourite SET parameters CENT-ZERO CURRSYMB
COUNTWIDTH
DIRECTHOLD
DUPLICATECOL
BYDISPLAY
DMPRECISION
TARGETFRAME
ACROSSPRT
ASNAMES
HOLDLIST
HOLDATTR

5. SET Parameters – CENT-ZERO
Controls the display of the 0 to the left of the decimal
Options: ON, OFF
Default: OFF
SET CENT-ZERO = OFF
SET CENT-ZERO = ON

6. SET Parameters – CURRSYMB
Controls the currency symbol printed with M and N formats
Options: character, USD, GBP, JPY, EUR, NIS
Default: $
SET CURRSYMB = $
SET CURRSYMB = GBP
SET CURRSYMB = EUR

7. SET Parameters – COUNTWIDTH
Controls the format size of COUNT columns
Options: ON (9), OFF (5)
Default: OFF
SET COUNTWIDTH = OFF
SET COUNTWIDTH = ON

8. SET Parameters – DIRECTHOLD
Controls how HOLD FORMAT FOCUS files are loaded
Options: ON (directly), OFF (hold file and Modify)
Default: ON
SET DIRECTHOLD = OFF
READS = 108
SET DIRECTHOLD = ON
READS = 54

9. SET Parameters – DUPLICATECOL
Controls how outer verb totals are displayed
Options: ON (show as separate column OFF (show in same column)
Default: ON
SUM SALES
SUM SALES BY COUNTRY
SET DUPLICATECOL = ON
SET DUPLICATECOL = OFF

10. SET Parameters – BYDISPLAY
Controls how BY fields are printed
Options: ON, OFF
Default: OFF
SET BYDISPLAY = OFF
SET BYDISPLAY= ON

11. SET Parameters – BYDISPLAY
Controls how BY fields are printed
Options: ON, OFF
Default: OFF
SET BYDISPLAY = OFF
SET BYDISPLAY= ON
Excel rows

12. SET Parameters – DMPRECISION
Controls decimal precision of & variables
Options: OFF, n
Default: OFF
If OFF, everything is an integer
Otherwise, you decide
-SET &TEST = ;
-TYPE TEST = &TEST
SET DMPRECISION = OFF
TEST =
&TEST = 128
SET DMPRECISION = 1
&TEST = 128.9
SET DMPRECISION = 2
&TEST =

13. SET Parameters – TARGETFRAME
Controls target frame for drilldown display
Options: framename
Default: current framename
Explicit “TARGET=” in drilldown overrides this setting
No Setting

14. SET Parameters – TARGETFRAME
Controls target frame for drilldown display
Options: framename
Default: current framename
Explicit “TARGET=” in drilldown overrides this setting
No Setting
SET TARGETFRAME = _blank

15. SET Parameters – ACROSSPRT
Compress rows in report using PRINT and ACROSS
Options: NORMAL, COMPRESS
Default: NORMAL
SET ACROSSPRT= NORMAL
SET ACROSSPRT= COMPRESS

16. SET Parameters – ACROSSPRT (cont)
SET ACROSSPRT = NORMAL
4 rows
SET ACROSSPRT = COMPRESS
Compressed to 2 rows

17. SET Parameters – ASNAMES, HOLDLIST, HOLDATTR
Affect contents of hold files and MFDs
ASNAMES (enables AS names to be used as column names)
Options: ON, OFF, FOCUS
Default: FOCUS
HOLDLIST (keeps non-printed columns out of hold file)
Options: ALL, PRINTONLY, ALLKEYS
Default: ALL
HOLDATTR (carries field attributes into the hold file)
Options: ON, OFF
Default: OFF

18. SET Parameters – ASNAMES etc. (cont)
All defaulted
SET ASNAMES = ON – AS ‘UTILIZATION’ becomes fieldname
SET HOLDLIST = PRINTONLY – non-printed columns excluded
SET HOLDATTR = ON – TITLEs from original MFD carried forward

19. SET Parameters – ASNAMES and ACROSS
Affects fieldnames of ACROSS columns
TABLE FILE CAR
SUM SALES
BY COUNTRY
ACROSS BODYTYPE
ON TABLE HOLD
END
SET ASNAMES = OFF
SET ASNAMES = ON

20. SET Parameters
We will look at a few other SET parameters but later in the context of how they are used
XRETRIEVAL
HOLDMISS
HNODATA
NODATA

21. Dialogue Manager

22. Dialogue Manager – ASIS
In a Dialogue Manager variable blank = 0 = ' 0' = ' 0000'
Dialogue Manager variables have no format
ASIS allows us to test the true value of the variable
-SET &VAR1 = ' ';
-SET &VAR2 = 0;
&VAR1 EQ &VAR 2 = TRUE
but
ASIS(&VAR1) EQ ASIS(&VAR 2) = FALSE
ASIS(&VAR1) EQ 0 = FALSE
ASIS(&VAR2) EQ ‘ ’ = FALSE

23. Dialogue Manager – Some system variables
&FOCMODE
Returns the operating system you are running in
Enables you to take action based on where you are
Values: WINNT, UNIX, etc.
&APPROOT
Returns the approot directory
You can test on it
You can also parse it apart
&FOCFEXNAME
Returns the name of the currently running Focexec
You can pass this along and know who called “me”

24. Dialogue Manager – Subscripted & variables
& variables can be numerically subscripted
If we have &TEST, no problem, we refer to &TEST
But what if we want &TEST1, &TEST2 … &TESTn
Maybe we are looping
We can create and use &TEST.&n where n is an integer
-REPEAT VAR_LOOP FOR &I FROM 1 TO 10
-SET &TEST.&I='This is variable ' | &I;
-VAR_LOOP
-? &

25. Reporting

26. Reporting
TABLEF and RDBMS
Conditional Joins
Dynamic Formatting

27. Reporting – TABLEF and RDBMS
WebFOCUS can sort and RDBMS can sort
Make sure one does and make sure both don’t
Verify that RDBMS is sorting
SQL TRACE
? STATS
AGGREGATION DONE …

28. Reporting – TABLEF and RDBMS (cont)
If RDBMS sorts your request, change TABLE to TABLEF
TABLEF
No sorting done by WebFOCUS
No Internal Matrix created
Report written faster
Some reporting commands require TABLE
Watch for errors and warnings
Use TABLEF whenever possible
May improve performance dramatically
Verify using traces and “? STAT”

29. Reporting – Conditional Joins
Joins do not have to be based on equality tests
All relational tests are available
JOIN … WHERE … NE
JOIN … WHERE … GT
JOIN … WHERE … LT
etc.

30. Reporting – Conditional Joins (cont)
In JOIN tool select the JOIN and “Create/Edit Selection”

31. Reporting – Conditional Joins (cont)
You will be presented with a familiar panel
The Where Expression Builder
The expression will be EQ by default
Amend as required
I changed it to GT

32. Reporting – Conditional Joins (cont)
We now JOIN based on a GT test
The WHERE clause will show up in your SQL
JOIN FILE PORTFOLIO_BASE AT PORTFOLIO_BASE.PORTFOLIO.SIC_CODE TO MULTIPLE
FILE INDUSTRY AT INDUSTRY.INDUSTRY.SIC_CODE TAG J0 AS J0
WHERE PORTFOLIO_BASE.PORTFOLIO.SIC_CODE GT J0.INDUSTRY.SIC_CODE;
END

33. Reporting – Dynamic Formatting
By default every value in a column is formatted the same
I5, D12.2, A10 …
But what if the rows require different formats
Some may be dollars, percents, units, etc.
Format each row’s value differently
Create a business rule to set each row’s format

34. Reporting – Dynamic Formatting (cont)
Calculate the format with a COMPUTE
Reformat the measure referencing the computed column
TABLE FILE METRICS
SUM
COMPUTE FLDFMT/A8 = DECODE METRIC
('Revenue' 'D12Mb
'Units' 'D12.2'
'Margin' 'D12.1%'
'Bonus' 'D12.2M'); NOPRINT
VALUE/FLDFMT
BY METRIC
END

35. Reporting – Dynamic Formatting (cont)
Run the report
Every row gets the appropriate format
COMPUTE FLDFMT/A8 = DECODE METRIC
('Revenue' 'D12M'
'Units' 'D12.2'
'Margin' 'D12.1%'
'Bonus' 'D12.2M'); NOPRINT
VALUE/FLDFMT

36. Functions

37. Functions A few of my favourite functions STRIP STRREP DB_LOOKUP
PUTDDREC

38. Functions - STRIP Removes a character from a string
STRIP(length, string, char, outfield)
PHONE_DIGITS/A10 = STRIP(12, PHONE, '-', 'A10');

39. Functions - STRREP
Replace all instances of a string with another string
STRREP (inlength, instring, searchlength, searchstring, replength,   repstring, outlength, outstring)
CITY_SHORT/A35 = STRREP (35, CITY, 13, 'United States', 2, 'US', 35, 'A35');

40. Functions – DB_LOOKUP
Lookup a value in one data source while reading another
No JOIN required
Not a replacement for JOIN – use when appropriate
DB_LOOKUP(look_mf, srcfld1, lookfld1, srcfld2, lookfld2, ..., returnfld)
MANAGER/A10 = DB_LOOKUP (FINANCE, REGION, REGION, SALES_MANAGER);

41. Functions – PUTDDREC Write data to a flat file
Executed as part of a calculation
PUTDDREC(ddname, dd_len, record_string, record_len, outfield)
APP FI WRITEOUT DISK summit_work/writeout.txt
TABLE FILE CAR
SUM SALES
COMPUTE TEXT/A52='Sales for ' | CAR | ' in ' | COUNTRY | ' were ' | EDIT(SALES);
COMPUTE WRITE_TEXT/I1=PUTDDREC('WRITEOUT', 8, TEXT, 52, 'I1'); NOPRINT
BY COUNTRY
BY CAR
END

42. Functions – PUTDDREC (cont)
COMPUTE WRITE_TEXT/I1=PUTDDREC('WRITEOUT', 8, TEXT, 52, 'I1'); NOPRINT

43. Functions – DB_LOOKUP and PUTDDREC
Both functions are executed as part of a calculation
Can be conditionally execute based on IF–THEN–ELSE logic
You decide exactly when and what is done
Based on your test and your data at run time
MANAGER/A10 = IF SALES LT THEN
DB_LOOKUP(FINANCE, REGION, REGION, SALES_MANAGER) ELSE ' ';
COMPUTE WRITE_TEXT/I1=IF REGION EQ 'HR' THEN PUTDDREC('Sales Data N/A', 8, TEXT, 52, 'I1') ELSE
PUTDDREC('WRITEOUT', 8, TEXT, 52, 'I1'); NOPRINT

44. Missing Data

45. Missing Data Missing data in WebFOCUS can refer to:
Missing data values or nulls
Missing data segments
We will be looking at ways to handle missing values
In calculations
In HOLD files
On report output

46. Missing Data – In calculations
Example:
Sales in HR is missing but treated like 0 in the calculation
Is this right?
Results of calculations can be made “missing” based on availability of components
PROFIT/D12 = SALES – COSTS;
Department
Sales
Costs
Profit
East
100 90 10 HR .
-90
West

47. Missing Data – In calculations (cont)
Supports a result of MISSING (MISSING ON)
Demands that all components be present (NEEDS ALL)
Now HR has profit of MISSING because SALES is MISSING
NEEDS ALL could also be NEEDS SOME
Supported in Dev Studio
PROFIT/D12 MISSING ON NEEDS ALL = SALES – COSTS;
Department
Sales
Costs
Profit
East
100 90 10 HR .
West
-90

48. Missing Data – In HOLD files
If source data contains nulls, nulls will move to HOLD files
Common with RDBMS data
What happens if MISSING data created by the report
TABLE FILE CAR
SUM SALES
BY COUNTRY
ACROSS BODYTYPE
ON TABLE HOLD
END

49. Missing Data – In HOLD files (cont)
HOLDMISS
Enables created MISSING data to be held as missing
Options: ON, OFF
Default: OFF
TABLE FILE CAR
ACROSS BODYTYPE
ON TABLE HOLD
END
SET HOLDMISS = ON

50. Missing Data – HNODATA vs. NODATA
Controls characters printed for missing values
Options: character string
Default: .
HNODATA
Controls characters held for missing alpha values
Note: If set, numeric missing values held as blank

51. Missing Data – HNODATA vs. NODATA (cont)
SET NODATA = ‘N/A’
Report
Hold File
SET HNODATA = ‘N/A’

52. APP Commands

53. APP Commands
APP commands enable us to work with the application namespace
Control the use of files in the path
Manipulate the path
Interrogate the path
Interrogate the application folders
Operating System agnostic
Works the same everywhere

54. APP Commands – Control and use files
APP HOLD appname
Directs all hold files to a specific app directory
APP HOLD summit_work
All hold files and their MFDs go to summit_work
APP HOLDMETA appname
Directs only the hold file MFDs to a specific app directory
APP HOLDMETA summit_work
MFDs go to summit_work, data goes to temp
APP HOLDDATA appname
Directs only the hold data file to a specific app directory
APP HOLDDATA summit_work
Data goes to summit_work, MFDs go to temp

55. APP Commands – Control and use files (cont)
If the files exists, you may need to filedef it
FILEDEF and DYNAM are operating system specific
APP FI is operating system agnostic
APP FI holdname DISK appname/filename.ext
Works on all platforms
Can also be used in Master Files to specify the data file
DATASET=‘appname/filename.ext’
APP FI WRITEOUT DISK summit_work/writeout.txt
FILE=GLACCOUNT ,SUFFIX=FIX ,DATASET='ibisamp/glaccount.ftm'

56. APP Commands – Manipulate the Path
Change the path on the fly
APP PREPENDPATH adds your app to the front of the path
APP APPENDPATH adds your app to the end of the path
Applies to the current process only
Allows you to bring app folders into the path temporarily
summit_work is now the first app folder in the path
summit_work is now the last app folder in the path
APP PREPENDPATH summit_work
APP APPENDPATH summit_work

57. APP Commands – Manipulate the Path (cont)
By default APP folders are subdirectories of APPROOT
APP MAP allows you to assign a logical app name to any available physical directory
Can be placed in the profiles or dynamic in a Focexec
APP MAP appname physicalname
Can be used like any other available APP folder
Hold to it, put it in the path, etc.
APP MAP share \\robpalmer\share
APP MAP summit_temp c:\temp\summit_temp

58. APP Commands – Interrogate the Path
APP SHOW PATH
Shows you the path
Notice the two we just APP MAPped
You see it, but you can’t act on it
Let’s act on it

59. APP Commands – Interrogate the app folders
APP LIST [HOLD]
Lists all real and mapped application folders
HOLD option creates focappl
APP LIST HOLD
TABLE FILE focappl
PRINT *
END

60. APP Commands – Interrogate the app folders (cont)
APP QUERY appname [HOLD]
Lists contents of selected application
HOLD option creates focappq
APP QUERY summit_work HOLD
TABLE FILE focappq
PRINT *
END

61. Troubleshooting

62. Troubleshooting Leave a trail SQL Traces, XRETRIEVAL &ECHO, &STACK
WHENCE
IB Tech Support as a Search Engine

63. Troubleshooting – Leave a trail
Hansel and Gretel
When debugging, leave a trail
Can find your changes later and remove them

64. Troubleshooting – SQL Traces
Have a Focexec handy to quickly turn on SQL traces
-INCLUDE trace
trace.fex
SET TRACEOFF=ALL
SET TRACEON=SQLAGGR//CLIENT
SET TRACEON=STMTRACE//CLIENT
SET TRACEUSER=CLIENT

65. Troubleshooting – XRETRIEVAL
Controls whether WebFOCUS communicates with the database
Options: ON, OFF
Default: ON
SET XRETRIEVAL = ON
-INCLUDE trace
TABLE FILE PORTFOLIO
SUM AUTHORIZED
BY MONTH
ON TABLE HOLD
END
SET XRETRIEVAL = OFF

66. Troubleshooting - &ECHO, &STACK
Traces WebFOCUS commands
Options: ON, ALL, OFF
Default: OFF
&STACK
Controls whether FOCSTACK is executed or not
FOCSTACK is the command execution stack
FOCSTACK does not contain Dialogue Manager commands
Options: ON, OFF
Default: ON

67. Troubleshooting - &ECHO, &STACK (cont)
Used together they provide a valuable technique
Use &ECHO to see WebFOCUS traces
Use &STACK to disable execution of the command stack
Enables troubleshooting of:
Dialogue manager logic
Execution flow
Variable resolution
Does not incur cost of report execution
Traces available in HTML source

68. Troubleshooting - &ECHO, &STACK (cont)
To trace the command stack only
Show all WebFOCUS commands
TABLE, GRAPH, MATCH, JOIN etc.,
Show the resolved values of all & variables
Does not show any Dialogue Manager commands
Does not execute the command stack
-SET &ECHO = ON;
-SET &STACK = OFF;

69. Troubleshooting - &ECHO, &STACK (cont)
To trace Dialogue Manager and the command stack
Show all WebFOCUS commands
TABLE, GRAPH, MATCH, JOIN etc.,
Show the resolved values of all & variables
Shows all Dialogue Manager commands
Shows navigation and process flow
Does not execute the command stack
-SET &ECHO = ALL;
-SET &STACK = OFF;

70. Troubleshooting – WHENCE
Shows where a selected module is being pulled from
Can search for Focexecs, Master Files and Access Files
WHENCE focexec FOCEXEC
WHENCE masterfile MASTER
WHENCE accessfile ACCESS
Returns physical location of the module
Verify you are accessing and using the one you think you are
WHENCE controlchart FOCEXEC
WHENCE car MASTER
WHENCE portfolio ACCESS

71. IB Tech Support as a Search Engine
Set up Tech Support as Search Engine for your browser
In IE8, click Search Options dropdown (upper right)
Select Find More Providers…

72. IB Tech Support as a Search Engine
Scroll to the bottom and select “Create your own Search Provider”
You will be presented with the following form

73. IB Tech Support as a Search Engine
To find the required URL:
Open a new browser window or tab
Access the IB Enterprise Content Library
Search for TEST (upper case)
Copy the URL in the address bar
Paste the URL into the form

74. IB Tech Support as a Search Engine
Press Install Search Provider
Press Add on the confirmation panel

75. IB Tech Support as a Search Engine
Your all set
Click on the Search Providers drop down
IB Tech Support is now listed
Select it and enter search criteria

76. IB Tech Support as a Search Engine
Your search results are presented using Magnify
A maximum of 1000 results will be returned
Category tree on the left enable further filtering
Select Tabular View to see results as an Active Report

77. IB Tech Support as a Search Engine
Select Tabular View to see results as an Active Report

78. Come back next year for:
Thank You!
Come back next year for:
More Things You Can Use on Monday or
Things You Can Use on Tuesday
I haven’t decided yet!!