Excel file in TM1Web

[Willi]

Hello,

for the Application in question we use TM1 10.2.2 on a windows-Server with TM1Web as the frontend. The whole app uses a couple of different Excel-Sheets with a Main-Menu from where the other Sheets are called. The user want to replace the current sheet with the called sheet.

So a couple of years ago an Excel-workbook with all the Sheets in questions are devloped and the Sheets where hidden and called with Actionbuttons.

That was a bit slow and I changed it to a Excel-Sheet standalone as a Application in TM1 in a different Folder and the Sheets are still called by the action-Buttons and replaces the current sheet.

Now the users don't want to see the extra Folder because they are getting cinfused what to call.

Now I had the idea to Change the Action Buttons so that they invoke Excel-files instead of TM1-Applications. Does this has any Impact on the Performance? Does this mean that the file is intereted every time? As far as I know TM1 uses a builtin Cache for the Applications?

Thx in adnace,
Willi

[tiagoblauth]

Hi, do you have Cognos BI? If yes you can use "Pages" to organize the objects. It does look very well.

[tomok]

Now I had the idea to Change the Action Buttons so that they invoke Excel-files instead of TM1-Applications. Does this has any Impact on the Performance? Does this mean that the file is intereted every time? As far as I know TM1 uses a builtin Cache for the Applications?

Why would you do this? What are you trying to accomplish? If you don't want clicking on the Action Button to open the new sheet in a new tab in TM1Web you simply tell the Action Button to replace the current sheet, not open a new tab.

[Willi]

@tiagoblauth:

No, not for this customer

@tomok

sorry, I may explained it not very well. The user has to click the button. That is not the issue. And the replacement of the current sheet is also no Problem.

The issue is that they don't want to see the Applications/Sheets in the Navigation-Tree. And to hide them in the Excel-Workbook as hidden Sheets has to much influence on the performance. So the only Thing wich came into my mind is to call them as plain Excel-Files.

[tomok]

So the only Thing wich came into my mind is to call them as plain Excel-Files.

I'm pretty sure this will not work. The web sheet will not be interpreted by TM1Web as a web sheet unless you publish it to an Applications folder. If you just call an Excel file from a hyperlink then it will be recognized as Excel by your browser and it will be opened in Excel. FWIW, that's a really stupid request by your client. Sometimes you just have to tell people that this is the way TM1 works. Get over it.

[Willi]

We tried it and it worked. It was interpreted as a TM1Web-Sheet. It was not a Hyperlink. The Actionbutton was configured to open a file instead of a TM1-Application.

[lotsaram]

The issue is that they don't want to see the Applications/Sheets in the Navigation-Tree. And to hide them in the Excel-Workbook as hidden Sheets has to much influence on the performance. So the only Thing wich came into my mind is to call them as plain Excel-Files.

If they don't wan't to see the navigation tree then surely the logical and sensible solution is to HIDE THE NAVIGATION TREE FORM THE USERS? This is very simple to do in the }ClientSettings cube. Then all you do is build a menu using either action buttons or hyperlinks with URL API so that the users can navigate to just the objects that they need and want without any confusion. (And the application also looks much more professional)

We tried it and it worked. It was interpreted as a TM1Web-Sheet. It was not a Hyperlink. The Actionbutton was configured to open a file instead of a TM1-Application.

It is quite easy to achieve opening Excel as Excel not Websheet you just need to provide a hyperlink to a location OUTSIDE of the TM1Web virtual directory.

[Willi]

If they don't wan't to see the navigation tree then surely the logical and sensible solution is to HIDE THE NAVIGATION TREE FORM THE USERS? This is very simple to do in the }ClientSettings cube. Then all you do is build a menu using either action buttons or hyperlinks with URL API so that the users can navigate to just the objects that they need and want without any confusion. (And the application also looks much more professional)

Thanks, but I cannot hide the Navigarion tre completly.

It is quite easy to achieve opening Excel as Excel not Websheet you just need to provide a hyperlink to a location OUTSIDE of the TM1Web virtual directory.

I don't want to open an Excel-File as Excel. I want to open an Excel-File as Websheet. I want to configure the Actionbutton to open a file C:\directory\file.xlsx wich resides on the Server as a TM1Web-Sheet. I know how to do it but I want to know if this has any Impact on preformance or so.

[paulsimon]

Will

You are taking an approach that a lot of people are advising you against taking. Therefore it is not that surprising that no one has answered the question as to whether it impacts performance because they have never used that approach so they don't know. I am not sure what approach you are trying. Are you using relative references or Object Ids. You can probably just run tests yourself to find out the affect on performance. There are a lot of things that can affect the performance of a web sheet.

There are options to hide the navigation tree completely or to hide parts of it, or to open a specific sheet when they go to the web site which can act as a menu so that they don't need to see the navigation tree. That is an approach that I have taken in the past - just a sheet with 4 big buttons for the common actions.

Another option, often the best, is a little user training so that they don't get confused. I have built various systems supporting several hundred users using TM1 Web and they seem to manage OK.

Regards

Paul Simon

[Willi]

Sorry to come back a Little late.

You are taking an approach that a lot of people are advising you against taking. Therefore it is not that surprising that no one has answered the question as to whether it impacts performance because they have never used that approach so they don't know. I am not sure what approach you are trying. Are you using relative references or Object Ids. You can probably just run tests yourself to find out the affect on performance. There are a lot of things that can affect the performance of a web sheet.

Hm, I didn't got the Feeling that a lot of People advised me against it. I got the Feeling that I wasn't understodd what I want to do. I don't blame anybody about this. Could be completly my fault. All I want to do is to define an Action button like this:

TM1_ActBut.JPG (56.9 KiB) Viewed 5573 times

So the tM1Web-Server doesn't read the file from its internal Application Folder instead reading it from the filesystem of the Server.

There are options to hide the navigation tree completely or to hide parts of it, or to open a specific sheet when they go to the web site which can act as a menu so that they don't need to see the navigation tree. That is an approach that I have taken in the past - just a sheet with 4 big buttons for the common actions.

Oh, that I can hide the Navigation-tree partly is a new Information foe me. Can you Point me to the correct part in the docs? But please remember that the Excel-Files I hide should be callable for the users.

Another option, often the best, is a little user training so that they don't get confused. I have built various systems supporting several hundred users using TM1 Web and they seem to manage OK.

Believe me: I tried.

Best regards,
Willi