I was given a CD that made me start over from the very beginning every time I used it. If I had to stop or got interrupted then it would not let me go back to where I was. I have downloaded the documentation. I have created some of the reports and they work! But I really need the user friendly, Idiots Guide to Web Focus. For Instance: the Shell of the report how should it be laid out

Table File (Table Name)
Print File (Enter the Column Names you want to Print)

Where (Enter your Criteria)

It would be nice to know what the rule is on how to lay it out because if there is a field you have to "define" where should it go in this shell? How can you learn the correct way to rename these things? What is the Hold App all about?

I am used to Crystal Reports and Access and basic SQL Language such as selecting. My work is obviously not going to get me the training other than sending me to the Summit here in Nashville but that is not until June! Is there anyway to put together some sort of Beginners guide that can address some of these issues? WebFocus is a lot different than other languages. Please let me know looks like anything I get may have to be out of pocket or through these forums. Suggestions?

I always knew I should have finished my FOCUS for Dummies book.

Well that is great you are getting go to Summit...a world of knowlege and training there...lucky you. There is a book called WebFocus Keysheet that IBI sells...also if you will look at the top of this page on the Forum - there are some Virtual User Forum Archives...that might help you. I was programming in Focus years before I ever had a class...and this wonderful forum was not around back then. Yes it can be frustrating. You can learn a lot here...and just do your research and ask questions when you can't figure it out.. Good Luck

Take a look at subject "Table Syntax Summary" in Appendix C of the "Creating Reports With WebFOCUS Language, Version 7 Release 6" PDF documentation.

It presents on two pages the complete syntax for TABLE FILE. It's a good starting point to understanding the "shell" of a WebFOCUS report.

say, Leah, that's a great title for a presentation next year at summit!! Work it up!

I Remember that I had this kind of remarks towards Stéphane Chabrel who was, at the time, a perfect Focus Virtuoso -and a great Guy-
I told him all the evil I thought of Focus ( Error NEAR or AT,
somewhere AND and OR are the same, somewhere not
sometimes ';' is compulsory, sometimes Focus takes this ';' as a character .../...

First he told me Focus was schizo, sometimes he tries to satisfy the End-User and is not very precise (Table and If) sometimes he tries to satisfy the professional ( Define and Where )
Then he has many layers : SET, LET System Variables etc ...
And 2 Space-Times running,
the one of DM -xxx : The Space-Time of the boss that treat &Variables and stacks What the employee will have to do
The Other : The Space-Time of the Employee who come from time to time (-RUN) to read his stack and do the Job -That the Boss do not understand, at all. They are not leaving on same planet-
We used to say that the Bible (User's Manual of this time) had to be dump with sweat and tears before you had a chance to understand something in Focus ...
We are in the 3rd Millenium and things are much softer. What you need is
1) (little) pain
2) A good meeting with one of these guys who help in the forum (I'm too old to be the right guy)

The Define is (for me) the greatest point in Focus (Virtual Fields or Computed Fields : Real great)
The Universal Join (Some pain to foresee regards to SET ALL = ON, OFF, PASS) and to understand that "Unique" (0,1 cardinality) is treated differently : Differences between JOIN TO and JOIN TO ALL

And MoreOver, Focus is a kind of dream : Have a Universal Langage to Data and Process + a great sense of humor (Never say I can't, he always try something, sometimes frightfully insane, and that is where he laughs more)

With proper help, you'll do great things with Focus, and it won't be at all as frightful as I say.

Focusly yours

I'll have a pint of that please

T

Try to get both of these small books by IBI:
- "FOCUS Quick Reference Reporting Handbook", 27 pages, copyright 2002, IBI Pub# DN10000900.1002.
- "FOCUS Quick Reference Dialogue Manager Handbook", 27 pages, copyright 1994, IBI Pub# DN1000041.129.

They will give you the full syntax of all 'TABLE ...' statements and all D/M '- ...' statements.

They don't tell how to build a house, they just describe all the stuff you can by at the lumber yard.

Are those small books available on the website? Thanks for all the responses. This forum has been my greatest help in learning the ways of WF!

LOgle,

Focus has everything and the kitchen sink available, and a myriad of user interfaces to generate a report (core language, developer studio, report assistant, etc etc). It can be quite overwhelming, even for seasoned programmers.

You message indicates that you are looking for guidance on core language syntax. Francis gave a good pointer to the documentation for Table Syntax, and Prarie mentioned that a Keysheet reference guide is available. That is a good long-term investment for syntax reference.

Another resource is a gentle quickstart to Focus that user Grzegorz posted on Focalpoint in 2005. It is so good, we use it as a quickstart reference for our core language users. Please check it out, the message is:

Programming Language

Scroll down a couple of responses and you'll see Grzegorz's post.

Hope that helps,

-- Dan

P.S. The DEFINE block is placed before the TABLE request.

University of Nebraska at Omaha

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rigel7,

While reading all of these replies, my memory went back-back-back to a little book that you might find useful. It was called the "FOCUS Report Writing Primer". So I went to Advanced Search and typed in 'focus primer'. Lo and behold, the first available entry took me to an electronic version of this little gem.

While it is old (last pub in 1992), the language hasn't changed that much and I think it would be a great way for all newbies on this forum to start. Would answer a lot of basic questions about syntax and structure. And it uses demo files for the examples/tutorials. I'm sure it is similar to what is in Grzegorz's article.

Thank you Thank you Thank you! I am printing off what I can and ordering what I can't. I am going to start converting some of our more simple reports today using this information and see how I do. If I need help in the words of the famous Teminator "I'll be back"!

Thanks Again!

Sorry the excitement got to me Terminator!

Here's the FOCUS Quick Reference manual. It's perfect, just what you need:

http://documentation.informationbuilders.com/masterinde...ickref_reporting.pdf

There is an old book out there called 'Focus made Easy' that was written a long time ago that is very good. Look on halfoff.com for in or click on the link below.

http://www.coalbucket.com/cgi-bin/apf4/amazon_products_...SY&SearchIndex=Books

I also have the Focus Made Easy book and recommend it. Like Ginny said, the language hasn't changed much so even the 'old' books are great for getting started. If you can spend a little money, there is also a website of CBT's that has a whole section on FOCUS. Go to www.e-learningcenter.com click on Our Courses, then General IT. I've not taken the FOCUS courses but took some of the others. I found them helpful.

When I first started using FOCUS (80's-90's) the company I was at had CBT/IBT online (mainframe) training that was especially good for newbies. You could probably get the same out of a book, but my fuzzy memory recalls it tested you on what you read.

Not sure if there's anything like that anymore.

say, Rigel7,come to think of it, whatever happened to Grzegorz ? and to Rubenibi ? Guys, if you've got your ears on, you are sorely missed.

Jessica, that's a great site, thanks .

I printed the Quick Referernce Reporting and when I get paid I am going to purchase the Focus Made Easy book and the CBT's on the site Jessica recommended I think they are $69, Hopefully these will help.

I will also keep coming back to this question to see if anyone else has training recommendations.

Thanks!

I feel your pain LOgle! I too have not been afforded the opportunity for formal training so I know how frustrating learning this product can be. Also, at my shop we were asked to use the GUI tools which seems to be almost a no-no. I can tell you a couple of things that I, as someone who is in your boat, have learned the hard way. The fastest way to learn is to DO for me. Don't use the GUI and then go straight to the code and then expect to be able to go back to the GUI without having issues. The GUI does not encompass all of the options available to you if you are in the raw code. And one last point I will make is that using the FORUM has been a lifesaver for me. I haven't posted much on here but I can assure you that I am an AVID FAN!!!! I will come here first every time when I get stumped, even if it's to find out which document to go read to get the answers I need. Because even the way the documentation is laid out is sometimes difficult to find the right place for what you are needing to know. Good luck to you - and it really is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it.

Tony - thanks so much for the laugh, I really needed that!

Jessica - thanks for the tip on E-learning center. I have used it before quite a while back and thought it was a good learning tool then. It's nice to know that you can get FOCUS there and I'll be sure to go check it out.

Thanks all of you who make this FOCUS world a little brighter!

Brenda

Brenda,

Glad someone is catching some of the briefest posts

Plano, eh? I regularly visit the Colony, Plano and surrounding area to see my wifes sister and her family.

One New years eve I even had the opportunity to "salute" EDS head quarters

T

Tony - you are just too funny! I'll bet that was some "salute"!!!

Brenda, I was contracting for EDS in the north of England at the time. There are two white towers and I'll leave it to you to decide how I saluted

T