Hi
Can anyone suggest the learning curve for the person who is totally new to WEBFocus.

But have some hands on experience on web tech like ASP,JSP,JavaScript and Crystal reports.

Hi Kasi:

Learning curve depends on what you want to do with the technology (and what role you'll play). Overall, WebFOCUS tools are fairly intuitive for an experienced developer and they make sense to people familiar with other reporting technologies. This leads to a short learning curve.

Some rough estimates based on my experience to get reasonably proficient:
1. End-user run pre-built reports - 0 days
2. End-user Web Ad-hoc tool use - 1/2 day
3. Write reports in the FOCUS language
Simple reports - 1 day
Moderate complexity - 5 days
4. Dev Studio
GUI Tools Development - 1-5 days
Full Application Dev/Admin - 15 days

There are various administrative tasks that you can learn in a day to get yourself to a productive level of knowledge, but months to become deeply aware of the WebFOCUS Architecture, features, optimization, user management, and integration options.

From the web standpoint, WebFOCUS Reports and technologies integrate with standards based technologies such as ASP, HTML, JSP with simple URLs. Nothing to be afraid of there. Figuring out how to optimize WebFOCUS integration various environments can take much more time.

As with most anything, the best way to shorten your learning curve is to take some of the beginner training courses which help you get out of the gate the quickest.

Good luck!
-Sean

Thanks very much Sean.
Now am able to work with Report Assistant and Painter.And able to create simple sample reports using script with tools.Able to format them into various MIME types.(PDF EXCEL PS DOC HTML)
Current role might be a a report developer but in the future, may need to take up the administrator level.
Wanted to know how to integrate a report into a report caster.
Went through the IBI site for training programs. But almost all the training will be in the US. Is there any other books to read for webfocus apart from the documentation.

From your comment I take it that going to the workshops are not an option for you..... I've attended a few of the workshops and they provide course workbooks that I refer to often. You might try contacting the training department and see if there is a way you could get the course workbooks. Members of my development team who have not gone to class have also used these with success.

And posting your questions on the forum is always an option that we all benefit from.....

Good Luck.....

Thanks very much.
I went through the site but all the documents or training manuals are not a freeware or shareware.

And another question,
I am trying to display my output in the excel format.The code looks like as follows

table file titleauthor
SUM CNT.TITLE
BY AU_ID
END
TABLE FILE HOLD
HEADING CENTER
"TEST MERGE REPORT"
PRINT *
ON TABLE SET STYLE *
TYPE=DATA,BACKCOLOR=('SILVER' 'WHITE'),$
ENDSTYLE
ON TABLE SET PAGE-NUM OFF
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT EXL97
END

The output displays in the Excel but the column B which shows the count is not visible.The output shows COLUMNA COLUMNC but the COLUMNB is hiding. i need to explicitly make it visible using the mouse.

I tried your example with the car table....

TABLE FILE CAR
SUM CNT.MODEL
BY CAR
ON TABLE HOLD
END
TABLE FILE HOLD
HEADING CENTER
"TEST MERGE REPORT"
PRINT *
ON TABLE SET STYLE *
TYPE=DATA,BACKCOLOR=('SILVER' 'WHITE'),$
ENDSTYLE
ON TABLE SET PAGE-NUM OFF
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT EXCEL
END

I didn't have the problem, all my columns showed.... I'm still using Excel 97.... you might try just FORMAT EXCEL......

you might also want to count the distinctly different elements.
SUM CNT.DST.MODEL

Your manuals are all free and downloadable if you're a licensed user. if you sign up on the tech support website with your site code.
You should have gotten one set of manuals with your installation.