String in Last Dimension

[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?

[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

[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...

[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)