Hello all.

I am currently working on a reporting object which is built off of 5 SQL views. These views are joined in the reporting object by an ID number. Does anyone out there know how I can leave the ID fields in the master field for the join, yet hide them in the reporting object's available fields?

Thanks.
Steve

Steve,

As far as I know all fields will still be available in the Reporting Object and this is something you cannot change in WebFOCUS.

The method I would probably use to overcome this would be to build the joined view within your SQL source DBMS and limit it to the columns that you want the End User to be able to select. One added advantage of this could be efficiency of the join.

Steve,

try adding DESCRIPTION='ZZZZ' to the field you want to hide.

Maybe "RESTRICT" keyword can help there.


....it limits access to data source.

yes, Steve. see technical memo 4550; it will explain it. you make a small fex that contains statements that will cause certain fields with certain naming conventions to be hidden; i call mine excludef.fex and it has only 3 lines:
WHERE NAME OMITS 'x'
WHERE NAME OMITS 'KEY'
WHERE NAME OMITS 'key'
so..any field with the work KEY or key in its name will be hidden.
Any field with a lowercase x in its name will be hidden.
you empower the feature by making an entry in your server site.wfs
-SET &&IBI_IF_FLDS='d:\ibi\....excludef.fex';
giving the path location of your little fex.
and then recycle your server.
that's it.
Note, its the server site.wfs, NOT the client site.wfs; the tech memo doesn't make this clear.
(This technique works in 527+; in 525 you have to get a special little extra help file from ibi.what version are you in? your profile doesn't say)
The way i use it:
if i want to keep a key field, for use in a join, but hide also it from view
it might be named:
CUSTOMERID, E01, A20, A20,$
i change it to
xCUSTOMERID, CUSTOMERID, A20,A20,$
so the important name goes in to the alias field, so all the RepObject joins work.
but the field name itself contains an x so it will be hidden from view.
Pretty swell. works great.

I also use this technique to make a Reporting Object copy of a production master, and just hide whatever fields i want to hide.
I may have 3 or 4 different masters for a production file, and i call them RO1....mas, RO2...mas, R03...mas, this way i can use the prodcution files, with no extra work to make them into separate narrower files for end-users. I let the reporting object masters do all the hidding for various user groups. i change the name of fields as well. also, i change the name of key fields (zut alors!) using the technique above, keeping the indexed name as the alias and presenting the fieldname in some nice, clear , user-friendly nomenclature.
I would like to figure out a way to change the name of each segment, so that in the Outline View, the segnames would be informative.
But it doesn't work. anybody know how?

"I would like to figure out a way to change the name of each segment, so that in the Outline View, the segnames would be informative.
But it doesn't work. anybody know how?"

For RDBMS tables (or any SUFFIX that uses an Access file to map the segnames to underlying structures) the Focus segnames are arbitrary, and you should be able to change them as long as you keep all references in the mfd and acx files consistent.

For Focus (and XFOCUS) files, the segnames are physically imbedded in the underlying datafile's FDT, so there's no way without rebuilding.