We are using Developer Studio 7.1.4 to build dashboard launch pages using the HTML layout painter. The requirement is to have dropdowns selectively populated directly from the data source. The suggestion is to create copies of the master file description (.mas or .mfd) with different filters.

I've looked extensively through the online sources and cannot find cases where a filter is created in the synonym other than in 7.6 where the GUI creates the filter. What is the correct coding to create column filter directly in the synonym?

Thanks again for your help, FOCUS Nation!

How about using a FILTER? It's been around since 5.3.2.

Take a look at the documentation:

Assigning Screening Conditions to a File > Creating Reports With WebFOCUS Language > Selecting Records for Your Report > Assigning Screening Conditions to a File

Francis - Its not clear from that doc where the filters can be placed. It doesn't say they can be placed in the mfd. It implies that they need to be in the fex - which isn't that useful.
I found the same result as S.J. Kadish when I looked through all the help documentation, and so thought it was a new 7.6 feature.
I'll test in my version to see if it works.

You could create the filter as a fex that is included in a profile or included in EDASPROF.PRF - in that way, it's applied to every fex request.

I don't know anything about the MFD filter. If the filter can be applied by the GUI, take a look at the Master in the text editor after the GUI has done its job.

Sorry I can't be of any more help.

Clarification - upon further review:

In an MFD it is possible to restrict access to users based on fields, values, etc. An example appears below that is not passing the CHECK FILE test. I don't want to restrict any users and we don't really have a DBA per se. All we want are three versions of the MFD that point to the same table and limit the data that will populate the dropdown.


FILE=cm_report_def, SUFFIX=SQLORA
SEGNAME=CM_REPORT_DEF, SEGTYPE=S0, $
FIELD=ACTION_TITLE, ALIAS=ACTION_TITLE, USAGE=A28V, ACTUAL=A28V, MISSING=ON, $
FIELD=ACTION_SUBTITLE, ALIAS=ACTION_SUBTITLE, USAGE=A15V, ACTUAL=A15V, MISSING=ON, $
FIELD=FLAG_MAP, ALIAS=FLAG_MAP, USAGE=D20.2, ACTUAL=D8, MISSING=ON, $
FIELD=ATTENTION_MAP, ALIAS=ATTENTION_MAP, USAGE=D20.2, ACTUAL=D8, MISSING=ON, $
FIELD=TOUCHED_BY_MAP, ALIAS=TOUCHED_BY_MAP, USAGE=D20.2, ACTUAL=D8, MISSING=ON, $
FIELD=DIVISION_MAP, ALIAS=DIVISION_MAP, USAGE=D20.2, ACTUAL=D8, MISSING=ON, $
DEFINE REPORT_CAT/I1 = IF ACTION_TITLE CONTAINS 'CM Review' THEN 1
ELSE IF ACTION_TITLE CONTAINS 'Action Required' THEN 2
ELSE IF ACTION_TITLE CONTAINS 'Change GANT' THEN 3
ELSE 4; DESCRIPTION='Report Category Version', $
END
DBA=ALL,$
USER=ALL, ACCESS=R, RESTRICT=VALUE, NAME=REPORT_CAT,
VALUE=REPORT_CAT EQ 1, $

Sandy, You do not have to use a MFD. You can also pick a procedure. You can then develop fexes that you the filtering. They can be used in multiple places as well.

Fernando

Running a fex to populate the dropdown opens up a different issue: to populate the dropdown the fex needs
"ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT XML". There is a fex in place that correctly generates the appropriate output. However, somehow the dropdown only shows every other line from the .xml output. Additionally, if you click on one of the selection the output is generated for the next group in the list. If we can get that problem solved there is no reason for the filter directly in the MFD.

And thanks to everybody who has given this a short so far!

Sandy,

It sounds to me that the XML being generated is at fault.

Within the ibirls.js module there is a section that is responsible for loading the XML output whether the "sourcetype" attribute is "typeFex" or "typeMas". It uses a pattern match for the "colnum" attribute of the TD element where it is equal to "c0" or "c1".

If you could post a couple of the lines of XML output we might be able to identify a problem with it, hopefully.

Failing that, and if you still want to go down the unique MFD route then I would suggest that you go one step backwards as you have a SQL source. Use different views for each "filtered" source and then create a synonym for each one.

Good luck.

T