Clear in cube viewer using "c"

[Dave]

One of our users accidentally discovered that entering a "c" in a cube viewer has the same effect as the dataspread "clear" function. Except for the interface menu asking you which direction to clear.

Just simply put "c" in any given cell (even consolidated one) and press enter, and all data underneath are cleared to zero.

I never read or heard about any such "shortcut" keys. Are there any other such key combinations in cube viewer for data spreading ? I quickly scanned through the manuals but found no reference to any such functions.

Regards,

Dave

[Alan Kirk]

One of our users accidentally discovered that entering a "c" in a cube viewer has the same effect as the dataspread "clear" function. Except for the interface menu asking you which direction to clear.

Just simply put "c" in any given cell (even consolidated one) and press enter, and all data underneath are cleared to zero.

I never read or heard about any such "shortcut" keys. Are there any other such key combinations in cube viewer for data spreading ? I quickly scanned through the manuals but found no reference to any such functions.

Yes, there's a bunch of them. Thankfully there's an undo function.

Oh, wait, that's PALO.

The shortcuts are in the help topic "Data Spreading Syntax".

In the example given there, you can enter
s+<>100

to do an equal spread, adding 100 to the cells to the left and right.

R is for repeat, P is for Proportional, and so on.

In the case of the clear function, you could clear everything to the right by c> or everything down by c| and so on.

c by itself, as you've found, clears everything followed by a lamenting wail of "TM1 ADMIN, HELP MEEEEEEE!!!!"

These will work both in the cube viewer and on a slice.

[Michel Zijlema]

Hi Dave,

The commands are listed in the on-line help (http://www.applix.com/doc_lib/ENG/wwhel ... wwhelp.htm) under "TM1 Users Guide/5 Using Data Spreading/Data Spreading Syntax".

Michel

[Alan Kirk]

Hi Dave,
The commands are listed in the on-line help (http://www.applix.com/doc_lib/ENG/wwhel ... wwhelp.htm) under "TM1 Users Guide/5 Using Data Spreading/Data Spreading Syntax".
Michel

Beat ya to it by just one lousy minute.

[John Hobson]

And you will be surprised to hear that an enhancement was submitted some time last century for this single key nuclear explosion generator to be changed.

Guess what?

.......

[Michel Zijlema]

Beat ya to it by just one lousy minute.

And that while putting in more text...
I wonder whether you logged in as Dave (AKA AK) to post the question and logged in as Alan again to post the answer...

[Alan Kirk]

And you will be surprised to hear that an enhancement was submitted some time last century for this single key nuclear explosion generator to be changed.

Guess what?

.......

But it would be less entertaining that way.

After all, the expression "So what does THIS button do?" has been the precursor to many a wacky highjink in many a Hollywood movie.

[Alan Kirk]

Beat ya to it by just one lousy minute.

And that while putting in more text...
I wonder whether you logged in as Dave (AKA AK) to post the question and logged in as Alan again to post the answer...

No, if I was going to post THAT question, I'd wait until John's "Online" banner was visible in the top right corner.

[Steve Rowe]

Just a tip for anyone who wants to disable this type of top down spreading functionality.

If you have cell level security cube and set all the C levels in the cube to be read only this prevents the spreading from working without any other impact on the users.

[]=S:IF((ISLEAF=1),stet, 'READ');

You can of course get more refined if you want to disable it only on certain dimensions. I don't think this has to go in the cell level security cube. You could put similar in a dimension security cube this would apply across all the cubes that uses the dimension.

I've not used this since earlier 8.4 so things may have moved on. If any one tests in a more current release let the forum know how you get on please.

HTH with someones pain and fear....

Cheers,

[Eric]

Just a tip for anyone who wants to disable this type of top down spreading functionality.

If you have cell level security cube and set all the C levels in the cube to be read only this prevents the spreading from working without any other impact on the users.

[]=S:IF((ISLEAF=1),stet, 'READ');

You can of course get more refined if you want to disable it only on certain dimensions. I don't think this has to go in the cell level security cube. You could put similar in a dimension security cube this would apply across all the cubes that uses the dimension.

I've not used this since earlier 8.4 so things may have moved on. If any one tests in a more current release let the forum know how you get on please.

HTH with someones pain and fear....

Cheers,

Interesting approach. Don't need that now, but consider it filed for future use.

[Dave]

Thanks all for the replies. Seems like there's a lot more fun stuff for the users still left to discover.

So Alan, what was it again you wanted me to post as the next question ? Which answer had you already typed in ?

No really thanks. It's good to see the Applix-forum hasn't died.

[Steve Vincent]

I like that plan Steve, although it has one major flaw. What if that person typing 'c' was an admin?

Yes it's happened to us before, and yes i'd like the option to turn the flippin' thing off!!

[Alan Kirk]

i'd like the option to turn the flippin' thing off!!

Yabbut... has anyone actually SUBMITTED any of these requests?

Steve R had an interesting idea, but to be honest I don't WANT to disable spreading; it's too useful, and this includes the Clear function. I just want it to be safer.

I've logged a request that I think will meet all of our needs this morning. Feel free to suggest modifications, and I'll modify accordingly if necessary. Note that I've detailed this request down to the Nth degree, because I've seldom seen a company that handles these matters in such a ham-fisted way.

For example, when I asked for the accursed "You don't have access to all elements" dialog to STAY OFF when the user selects "Don't display this dialog again", what I had in mind was for it to be implemented in the way that it is in Photoshop, or Dreamweaver, or most Office products, or most other applications which have been written in the last 20 years; a preferences dialog which allows the user to switch it on or off at will. I mean come ON, it's just one naffing form with half a dozen check boxes. What do we get instead? Flags in an .ini file.

Everybody out into the purple rain now (fires up the disco ball, puts on pencil thin moustache):
"So I guess we're gonna U.I.
like it's nine-teen-eiiiighty-nine!"

Or take the display or otherwise of the three "nodes" in Web (cubes, applications etcetera). Smart way: Make this admin-definable just as the home page is so that you can regulate this by user, or at the very least by security group. Iboglix way: You have to modify the naffing web config file which affects ALL users, not just the ones that you want to block from having access to the cubes. I swear, there are times when Iboglix is to UI design what The Incredible Hulk is to the more delicate forms of Bonsai.

OK, so here's the request that I logged (11-80083781). I considered also adding one limiting it to N level (no spreading on consolidations), but that may over-complicate things.

Data spreading is an extremely powerful and useful tool, but it's also a potentially dangerous one. In particular, the C command can obliterate vast amounts of data without the user even being aware that they're doing that. (In the event of them pressing the key accidentally, for example.)

This has been a cause of concern within the TM1 user community from some time as you can see from posts in past Forums.

Could you please look into the following modifications:
(a) A flag in the TM1 Server .cfg file which allows the Admins to disable spreading completely or, better still, multiple flags which allow different spreading commands (in particular "Clear" and the other forms) to be enabled or disabled.
(b) If the user presses "C", a dialog should appear asking them to confirm that they want to clear the data. This dialog should be capable of being turned off by the user. The option to turn the dialog on and off should be accessible through the Server Explorer GUI rather than being embedded in the user's .ini file. No such dialog would be needed for OTHER keyboard commands since it's highly unlikely that anyone is going to type S+100> in error.
(c) An Undo feature should be implemented to reverse spreads. You may be aware that one of your freeware competitors already has this; it's disconcerting that we still lack it in an application which is sold at market rates.

[Steve Vincent]

Yes we did, a very very long time ago, in a land far far away (v8.1.8). But it got ignored like all the rest of them. In fact i think it even got mentioned in one of the workshop/presentations in a Q&A session. It really can't be that hard to turn off and it's so damn dangerous. For instance, a user is used to CTRL-C / CTRL-V for copy and paste. They are doing a load of this and accidentally miss the CTRL key - BOOM! there goes all your data.

I agree its very usefull too, but just the option to enable / disable would make the users less likely to stuff up a cube and admins slightly less grey

[John Hobson]

A small point maybe these days, but things that rely on the .cfg file don't work in Standalone Perspectives, so I'd rather see any changes in the main GUI.

[Dave]

Wouldn't it be preferrable to only allow data spreading with mouse commands (or at least for the clear function) and turn off data spreading with the letter combinations ?

[Alan Kirk]

A small point maybe these days, but things that rely on the .cfg file don't work in Standalone Perspectives, so I'd rather see any changes in the main GUI.

I'm guessing that you're referring to a Local server? Yeah, I suppose that an ability for the user to turn off spreading wouldn't be a bad idea, though the .cfg request was relating to remote servers; specifically Mr. V's desire to be able to disable the functionality for all of his users.

I'll add that in.

In the meantime Iboglix has advised that the "C" command will be replaced by a multi-key command in one of the later releases of 9.Fword. (It won't be in the original release which may appear some time this month, but a later patch.)

[Alan Kirk]

Wouldn't it be preferrable to only allow data spreading with mouse commands (or at least for the clear function) and turn off data spreading with the letter combinations ?

I see where you're coming from, but I'm afraid I'd have to disagree. To spread /clear a single number, there's probably not much difference. But when you have to update 50 or 60 line items for a budget, believe me for I speak from expreience, moving your hand to the mouse, click, click, enter the number, move back to the mouse, click, click... it gets old REALLY fast. I did only about 5 before I pulled out my keyboard shortcut cheat sheet. Once I had the keyboard syntax I did the rest of the lines in around the time it took me to do the first 5.

[Steve Vincent]

In the meantime Iboglix has advised that the "C" command will be replaced by a multi-key command in one of the later releases of 9.Fword. (It won't be in the original release which may appear some time this month, but a later patch.)

Good news, just as long as they are not stupid enough to pick CTRL+C!

[Alan Kirk]

In the meantime Iboglix has advised that the "C" command will be replaced by a multi-key command in one of the later releases of 9.Fword. (It won't be in the original release which may appear some time this month, but a later patch.)

Good news, just as long as they are not stupid enough to pick CTRL+C!

Aw c'mon, they'd neve....

{Puts face into hands and utters in a low moan} Oooooohhhhh gods....