TM1 Forum

Hi all,
I'd like to embed some descriptions of what each cube does, which are visible when users go to view>properties in server explorer to assist them in navigating... now I know this can be done for }DimensionAttributes , but am having some trouble figuring it out for cubes. So far I've tried:

1. adding a 'desc' attribute to the }Cubes dimension - however this doesnt appear in the Properties window

2. adding a new 'desc' element to }CubeProperties - however the system does not allow me to edit this dimension

...does anyone have any ideas on how best to do this?

cheers =)

Matt

P.S. the next step is adding a description next to Application shortcuts...

1. adding a 'desc' attribute to the }Cubes dimension - however this doesnt appear in the Properties window
quote]

Hi Mate,

Are you sure you are not doing something wrong here? Because I have no issues adding text attributes in }Cubes dim and displaying them in the property window...

fleaster wrote:Hi all,
I'd like to embed some descriptions of what each cube does, which are visible when users go to view>properties in server explorer to assist them in navigating... now I know this can be done for }DimensionAttributes , but am having some trouble figuring it out for cubes. So far I've tried:

You may use }CubeAttributes cube and update caption_default for each cube that you wish to embed descriptions. Hope this helps.

Sukumar.

Strangely enough I cannot see the attribute I created or even a }CubeAttributes cube (under Admin access)... I only have:
}CubeProperties
}CubeSecurity

...maybe needs a server bounce to make it reflect??

EvgenyT wrote:

1. adding a 'desc' attribute to the }Cubes dimension - however this doesnt appear in the Properties window
quote]

Hi Mate,

Are you sure you are not doing something wrong here? Because I have no issues adding text attributes in }Cubes dim and displaying them in the property window...

By "properties window" do you mean the edit attributes dialog? I am pretty sure the OP is talking about a way to add custom content to the properties pane of the main server explorer window itself when "Cubes" is selected from the server tree. Most of the content displayed comes from the CubeProperties cube. You can add additional properties with TI but I'm not aware of any way to make these display in the server explorer properties pane. I think the suggestion to use the caption_default measure from the CubeAttributes cube is a good one and should work for versions 10.1 and up where this control cube exists. If you do know a way of displaying custom content in the properties pane please share as I think that would be pretty useful.

Ok, so it's starting to make sense... I assume }CubeAttributes exists in v10.1 but not in v9.5.2 ...I should probably have mentioned I am using v9.5.2 , hence am looking for a workaround. Now I did try adding a new element to }CubeProperties, but it still doesnt show up in the properties pane

Next option - any way to edit the Application properties so it appears in the properties pane...?

cheers,

Matt

P.S. just to clarify the screen I'm talking about - it is the properties window that appears in the right pane:

fleaster wrote: P.S. just to clarify the screen I'm talking about - it is the properties window that appears in the right pane:

Fleaster, as far as I am aware there is no "out of the box" way to add custom columns into the properties pane of server explorer... I have once seen a company that did a custom version of server explorer (sort of) basically they had created some sort of web portal that showed them all the info they need/want and allowed them to open up Cubes, Dims, TIs etc I never got much detail about how they'd actually done it as it was only something I saw in passing and to be honest seemed a lot of effort for not much gain.

Out of interest if we go back to basics; what is the reason for this request?

If it's for end users to see more detail about cubes and objects could you not just create them a nice websheet? (or excel sheet if they really need perspectives)

If it's for developers to see more detail about cubes can you not just make them open a control cube to see that detail? A double click shouldn't be too taxing for them.


EDIT - To second lotsa's point if there is a way you find to display custom content in there I would love to know!

declanr wrote:Out of interest if we go back to basics; what is the reason for this request?

Essentially to give the users guidance as to what each cube does (so they don't have to ask us!). And yes - we have done writeups for "cheat sheets" etc, but I thought it would be more ideal to have all the info within TM1 up-to-date in the one place... (as documents have a tendency to get lost, go out of date etc)

M.

fleaster wrote:but I thought it would be more ideal to have all the info within TM1 up-to-date in the one place... (as documents have a tendency to get lost, go out of date etc)

Why would an electronic document, stored in an Application folder become "out of date" or get "lost" while an attribute displayed in the Server Explorer main window would not????? Wouldn't both of them require human intervention to update? I'm sorry, I just don't see the need for this other than as a novelty. Just put your documentation, Word, PDF, whatever, in an Application folder called "Help", or something like that. That's what I do and it works great.

tomok wrote:Why would an electronic document, stored in an Application folder become "out of date" or get "lost" while an attribute displayed in the Server Explorer main window would not????? Wouldn't both of them require human intervention to update? I'm sorry, I just don't see the need for this other than as a novelty. Just put your documentation, Word, PDF, whatever, in an Application folder called "Help", or something like that. That's what I do and it works great

Hi tomok,
I'm not saying this is a "must have feature" - I agree viewable cube properties is a "nice to have". What I'm saying is that if users need to find something (say a new function), they will usually :

1. search what they can see on the screen OR
2. ask someone (namely us) OR
3. look for documentation to read OR
4. don't bother (ie put it in the "too hard basket" and do the function manually/offline)

...and in our experience, users rarely go for #3 :p Hence, it is much more preferrable and intuitive if users can see the properties of cubes while they are browsing (particularly if they are new users)

Anyway, like I said it's a nice to have

Procedure:

1) Create a new TurboIntegrator process.
2) On the Prolog tab, create the Caption attribute.
Note: When defining the Caption attributes, it is advantageous to define the Caption attribute as an Alias type. In websheets, dimensions can be set to display only an alias. In addition, when defining a SUBNM for display in a web sheet, it can take only an alias as an argument. Similarly, in IBM Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel, SUBNM takes an alias as an argument.

3) To create Caption as an alias attribute, enter CubeAttrInsert( '', 'Caption', 'A'); To create Caption as a string attribute, enter CubeAttrInsert( '', 'Caption', 'S'); This creates a cube: }LocalizedCubeAttributes dimensioned by }Cubes, }Cultures, }CubeAttributes.

For each cube that you want to translate, insert a CubeAttrPutS function for each language that you want to make available on your TM1 server.
For example, if you want to display the Sales cube and Price cube in French and German, your process would include the following four functions:

CubeAttrPutS( 'Ventes', 'Sales', 'Caption', 'fr' );
CubeAttrPutS( 'Vertrieb', 'Sales', 'Caption', 'de' );
CubeAttrPutS( 'Prix', 'Price', 'Caption', 'fr' );
CubeAttrPutS( 'Preis', 'Price', 'Caption', 'de' );

4) Save and run the TurboIntegrator process.

Source: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/planning-an ... cube-names