Websheet Best Practices

[George Regateiro]

Encountered something today that I forget about every 6 months or so and thought i would see how others handle the situation.

In our development area we set up temporary servers (dev1,dev2 kind of thing) to work in segregated areas. But because of things like SUBNM not liking cell references the server name is hardcoded into the websheet, so when I copy over from prod to a dev area I have to remember to do a find and replace on all the templates. Is there anyway that I can setup the websheets to be more modular in their nature? I have kicked around having a master config sheet, but once again the SUBNM issue comes into play. I know my major problem is that I expect TM1 functionality to keep pace with development methodologies of other languages and I really should not, but I can't seem to put aside my coding background.

Is there a good way to create websheets for maximum portability?

[Eric]

See attached.

Is this kind of what you are looking for? (FYI this does not work on web due to a unsupported function, RANK(), but gives you an idea of how I have dealt with the server issue). Also I am not using the SUBNM, but I think a simple cell reference should do the trick. I have not tried. I am not aware of a way to have the file know which server you are on/want? I foresee problems if your are connected to 2 servers, a toggle seems good enough for most of my purposes.

[George Regateiro]

Thanks Eric. I was thinking of going down a similar path that you have headed down. As far as being connected to more then one server I really dont have that problem since we are exclusively web (Not my decision) so I dont have to deal with multiple logins. So far the biggest hurdle in my case is the SUBNM, since reading their docs

TIP: Do not use cell references as arguments with the SUBNM function. Cell references prevent the function from correctly calling and launching the Subset Editor when you double-click the cell that contains the SUBNM function.

and in testing I noticed there is strange behavior as to what actually opens up after double clicking when there is a cell reference.

[Eric]

TIP: Do not use cell references as arguments with the SUBNM function. Cell references prevent the function from correctly calling and launching the Subset Editor when you double-click the cell that contains the SUBNM function.

Well doesn't that stink! With that little tidbit, I got noth'n

[Eric]

Not ideal, but could work on some of your worksheets. Whack* SUBNM and use the excel validation tool? Once again not ideal, but if the elements rarly change, it could work. Example Year (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, etc) or Scenario (Actual, Budget, Prior Year, Prior Period,Etc)


*Whack another Chicago term, similar from Rub Out from the Al Capone era.

[ScottW]

TIP: Do not use cell references as arguments with the SUBNM function. Cell references prevent the function from correctly calling and launching the Subset Editor when you double-click the cell that contains the SUBNM function.

This applies only in Excel. in TM1 web the subset editor will still launch if the 1st (server and dimension) argument is a cell reference rather than a string. As all end user access seems to be via web then a single cell reference for server name should do the trick for you nice and easy.

[Mike L]

Regarding this frequently asked question, see also this thread.

[George Regateiro]

Thanks I will try uploading my samples to web. I had done some samples in excel and the SUBNM did not work properly so I never uploaded because I expect things to break when I upload them to the web and not actualy gain functionality.