When will feeders be fired under these circumstances?

[David Lee]

Hi all,

I would like to clarify my understanding about feeders. Please take some time to help me. Much appreciated.

1. Let's say we have a sales assumption cube, A, and sales plan cube, B. In B we have the following rule calculating sales amount: [Sales Amount] = N:[Unit Price] * [Quantity]. In A we have the following feeder: [Unit Price] => DB(B, !Product, !Year, !Month, 'Unit Price'). As I know, when user input quantity in cube B to make the cells identified by [Quantity] changes from zero to other number, feeders will be fired. However, I am not sure if the feeders will still be fired if the values of quantity are copied/pasted from excel. Does it follow the same firing logic?

2. Even if a cube is fed properly, sometimes our users found that some cells became unfed later. The server has never been restarted or shutdown. Is there any possibility for a previous fed cell become unfed?

Thanks in advance for your kindly help!

[qml]

1. Let's say we have a sales assumption cube, A, and sales plan cube, B. In B we have the following rule calculating sales amount: [Sales Amount] = N:[Unit Price] * [Quantity]. In A we have the following feeder: [Unit Price] => DB(B, !Product, !Year, !Month, 'Unit Price').

This looks rather weird. Can you tell me why you didn't do it the "normal" way, e.g.:

Rules in B ONLY:

Code: Select all

SKIPCHECK;
['Sales Amount'] = N: DB('A', !Product, !Year, !Month, 'Unit Price') * ['Quantity'];
FEEDERS;
['Quantity'] => ['Sales Amount'];

I don't see a need for any intercube feeders as normally this is the quantity sold that determines if your sales amount is zero or not.

As I know, when user input quantity in cube B to make the cells identified by [Quantity] changes from zero to other number, feeders will be fired. However, I am not sure if the feeders will still be fired if the values of quantity are copied/pasted from excel. Does it follow the same firing logic?

Feeders get fired always when a feeding cell changes its value, or when the rule file is being processed, e.g. after a server restart or after a cube unload.

2. Even if a cube is fed properly, sometimes our users found that some cells became unfed later. The server has never been restarted or shutdown. Is there any possibility for a previous fed cell become unfed?

No, normally not, unless the cube has been unloaded AND the feeding cell no longer feeds.

[David Lee]

Hi qml,

Thanks for your prompt response. I may gave a bad example. The feeder should be [Quantity] => [Sales Amount].

My question is: Will the feeder firing logic be different when it comes to copy/paste values to cube viewer from MS Excel?

Thank you.

[qml]

My question is: Will the feeder firing logic be different when it comes to copy/paste values to cube viewer from MS Excel?

No, it won't be. Entering a value in a cell should fire a feeder based on that cell, full stop. The interface/mode used is irrelevant, can be TI, DBRW, or a Cube View copy-paste. If you have noticed a different behaviour than I would class it as a bug. Have you?

[David Lee]

My question is: Will the feeder firing logic be different when it comes to copy/paste values to cube viewer from MS Excel?

No, it won't be. Entering a value in a cell should fire a feeder based on that cell, full stop. The interface/mode used is irrelevant, can be TI, DBRW, or a Cube View copy-paste. If you have noticed a different behaviour than I would class it as a bug. Have you?

I will figure the detail steps to recreate this problem and discuss with IBM product support team to see if it's a product defect. Thanks again for your comments.

[garry cook]

Just a word of warning - if you're changing rules and feed cells then remove the feeder, the cells will remain fed until you clear them out.

Not that it sounds like this is your problem but it's something to bear in mind - ususally when developing it's a good idea to recycle the whole server at the end and check your feeders still work on the offchance you've managed to feed some cells inadvertantly and then removed the feeder statements afterwards.

[David Lee]

Just a word of warning - if you're changing rules and feed cells then remove the feeder, the cells will remain fed until you clear them out.

Not that it sounds like this is your problem but it's something to bear in mind - ususally when developing it's a good idea to recycle the whole server at the end and check your feeders still work on the offchance you've managed to feed some cells inadvertantly and then removed the feeder statements afterwards.

Yes. It is better to restart the server to let TM1 recalculate feeders. I always keep it in mind. Thanks for your reminder.