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String in Last Dimension

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:00 am
by jim wood
Somebody told me many moons ago why any text elements have to be in the last dimension within the cube but I have now forgotten. Can anybody remind me?

Re: String in Last Dimension

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:15 am
by Martin Ryan
The last dimension is used to determine whether an intersection is a string or numeric element. It makes sense to have just one dimension dictating whether a cell is numeric or string, because if you have half a dozen dimensions with a mixture of numeric and string elements, how would one know whether the user wants to store numeric or string data at a given intersection.

As an aside, I agree with the designers that one dimension should control the string/numeric setting, but I'd like to see some user control over WHICH of the cube's dimensions dictates the setting, but for the moment it's always the last dimension by Applix's convention.

Martin

Re: String in Last Dimension

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:21 am
by Steve Vincent
Indeed, and you'll find if you get it wrong that things like suppress zero will not work correctly, and its also why when reordering cubes that the last one is fixed, so care on cube creation is a key point. Not that you always get the full spec you need first time... ;)

Re: String in Last Dimension

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:14 am
by jim wood
Thanks guys. I never doubted the validaty of the reason, I just couldn't remember what it was. (Somebody in the office asked me)