Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
•
@CONCATENATE()
and
@SUBSTRING()
:
These functions are used to manipulate
the string values in member names as the calculation script is running.
°
@CONCATENATE()
: This is used to concatenate to two given
strings. These strings can also be member names.
Syntax:
@CONCATENATE(STRING1, STRING2)
Example:
@CONCATENATE("a","West");
This example returns a string value of
aWest
which can be used elsewhere
for testing member names.
@SUBSTRING()
: This is used to return string characters from
the specified string from given starting and ending positions.
Syntax:
@SUBSTRING(STRING, STARTING POSITION, ENDING POSITION)
°
STRING
: Can be a String or a member name.
°
STARTING POSITION
: The position from where you want to select
the first character of the substring. The first position in the string
is zero (0).
°
ENDING POSITION
: The last position you wish to select for your
substring. If omitted,
@SUBSTRING()
will stop at the last character
in the string being evaluated.
Example:
@SUBSTRING("TOTAL MARKET",0,4);
In this example, the function returns the string value of
TOTAL
.
Order of calculation
By now, you have a good understanding of what an Essbase calculation is. You
have learned about a head-spinning number of database calculation functions and
commands. We now need to describe for you another one of those conceptual ideas
that Essbase is famous for.
As we've said many times before, Essbase is an art, not a science! The idea of how
to determine the order of calculation is made up of equal parts of scientific blah,
blah, blah about, "Well this is how Essbase is written so this is how it works",
and generous portions of, "I kept tweaking the script or the outline until I got
the results I needed."
