The WebFOCUS Keysheet Quick Reference Guides are the indispensable tool for all serious WebFOCUS developers. They put information about commands, syntax and definitions at your fingertips and enable you to do things with WebFOCUS that you didn't even imagine possible before. The easy-reference format makes life easier by quickly allowing you to check changes across releases and platforms. Written by John W. Price and previously available from Aviter Inc. they are now exclusively available from Information Builders at a new low price of $25.00 each.

WebFOCUS Keysheet Quick Reference Guide – Updated through Release 7.1.4
This Keysheet Guide includes command reference information for WebFOCUS through Release 7.1.4. This manual complements the product documentation provided by Information Builders. It includes commands, syntax, and definitions. Preview a sample of the WebFOCUS Keysheet Quick Reference Guide.

(Almost) 1001 Ways to Work With Dates for WebFOCUS
This reference manual explains the date-related functions of WebFOCUS as well as the several, different types of dates supported by WebFOCUS. The specific functions and methods used vary depending on the type of date involved. Preview a sample of (Almost) 1001 Ways to Work With Dates for WebFOCUS.


These Keysheet manuals are only available from Information Builders. Order your copies today!

All questions may be sent to books_info@ibi.com.

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

Can we have an extract of these publications so we can try before we buy!

Great idea!

I'm currently arranging to have a sample of both books up by tomorrow.

Have a great day,
Jenn

I check Focal Point every few days, and posted messages are just about the same, but presented differently. It's about time a manual is put together. Great!

As requested, you can now preview a sample from both books. Simply click the URLs listed above in the orginal post or here:

Preview a sample of the WebFOCUS Keysheet Quick Reference Guide.

Preview a sample of 1001 Ways to Work With Dates for WebFOCUS.


Have a good day.

Regards,
Jennifer

Some questions.

Is getting a copy of these covered under Platinum Support?

Are they available on CD? PDF?

How often are they updated? Do you have to buy new ones for new releases?

Thanks

This is probably the same question asked a different way, but are these considered part of the "base" documentation -- such that they'll be available for free on-line (or on the doc CD)? In other words, are we simply ordering a printed copy of this documentation -- or is it literally a separate product that we are purchasing and is not available anywhere else?

They look promising, so my company will probably order regardless -- I'm just not sure if we would if they're part of the standard documentation that we can access online.

Thanks!!

Hi jgelona and Trav,

Sorry for the delay. Below are the answers to your questions.

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Jenn

jgelona--

Is getting a copy of these covered under Platinum Support?

No, these books are not offered as part of IBI’s Customer Support program. They are separate from the technical documentation that IBI produces and distributes with IBI products. These books complement and supplement IBI technical documentation, but are not part of the product documentation sets created by IBI.

Are they available on CD? PDF?
No. These books are not part of IBI’s product documentation offering and so they are not offered as our technical documentation is offered (in CD and PDF format). These books are not available in CD or PDF format—only in this print format.

How often are they updated? Do you have to buy new ones for new releases?

The plan is for the books to be updated as WebFOCUS products are updated. These two books cover up to and including Release 7.1.4. I have no information now on when the next edition of either book will be published, but I expect that the updates will be substantial enough for us to publish the new editions as separate sale items (not as addendums to these versions of the books). If I have more information on publish schedules, I will make it available to all.


Trav-
You’re right—these manuals are separate and unique products and are not part of the IBI product documentation set that we make available to customers “free of charge” with the purchase of IBI products. And, again, Yes—the Keysheet books are not available anywhere else except from Information Builders. IBI is the publisher of these Keysheet books, not the author of these Keysheet books. As a result, we cannot offer the books to users via our IBI product documentation CD or in downloadable doc format.

Each of these books is now available at a much lower purchase price than ever before ($25 instead of $85 or $95). We hope that this arrangement makes them more affordable for our users and we encourage each user to take advantage of the opportunity to add them to their IBI product toolkit.

Any other questions, please contact Frances Gambino (frances_gambino@ibi.com), Director Documentation Services for Information Builders.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <DocServices>,

A couple of comments:

Does the Keysheet tell you what's NOT available in the GUI? We all know that certain commands or features in the code are not available in the GUI - you add these via the editor and the GUI can't open the program.

Does it really take 350 pages to tell us how to use Dates? That sounds scary! Shouldn't it be simpler?

Hi Francis,

Why is an entire Keysheet book devoted to Dates? We asked the author, John W. Price. His reply appears below.

WebFOCUS supports three completely different types of date fields (legacy, SmartDate, and DateTime). Each type has a complete group of functions to accomplish all the usual tasks; the result is there are 59 different functions many with 5 or 6 variations and a few with more than that - 15 variations (see DATETRAN). This is compounded by the use of dates in MODIFY, Maintain, Master File, Rebuild, HOLD files, Joins, Reporting. and Dialogue Manager.

In addition to dates, a thorough discussion of TIME (hours, minutes etc.) calculations is provided in this book. This includes legacy time sources and DateTime fields.

This Keysheet book is designed as a reference guide; it includes an extensive index and explanations are designed to be "stand-alone" (explanations for an example do not reference or direct you to another example). These are two more factors that contribute to the size of the book. Chapters 2 and 3 in the book condense the essential syntax and tables from the entire book to less than 20 pages. Once you are familiar with all the functions and formats, these two chapters may be all you need.

P.S. The Dates book does not provide information about GUI tools. It documents "core" commands. Yes, the few commands that are not supported in the GUI (and there are very few) may be added via a text editor.

Many, many users, over the years, have purchased this book and have found this Keysheet reference guide helpful both as a standalone quick reference and as a supplement to the Dates-related information that is available throughout IBI's product documentation.

If you have further queries about these Keysheet books, please feel free to contact: Frances Gambino, Director of Documentation Services, at Frances_Gambino@ibi.com.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Jenn

Pre-ordered both books -- looking forward to getting them!

For what it's worth, dates were something that our company struggled mightily with when we first brought in WF. For someone like me who is used to working with dates in MSSQL or "traditional 4GLs", the date handling was VERY un-intuitive and confusing. It seemed like you had to jump through 6 hoops to get the date/datetime into the correct format. Although we're not WF experts yet, we still have struggles with this and I think that the handling is still much more complicated than it needs to be. That's still my #1 complaint about WF at this point.

Without question, the most valuable Summit presentation we went to, was Rene Tatro's datetime datatype presentation. Literally the day after we came back from Summit I had rewritting several routines and had increased overall performance on quite a few reports by 50% or more. I also came back with a better understanding of how dates worked, etc. My hope is that this book will supplement that knowledge and be a valuable reference tool.

Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is that if you're having to deal with several different date datatypes (especially datetimes on a SQL back-end), I think that reference material like this will be extremely valuable. I hope it is as good as it appears to be!

Thanks!!

I already own the KeySheet, which was sold at Aviter, I take it you now have the rights. Will there still be periodic updates sent to people who already own it?

Hi Prarie,

The Director of Documentation Services, Frances Gambino, replies:

Yes, IBI now holds exclusive publishing rights to the Keysheet books. In the past, I believe that Aviter provided addendums and erratas, free of charge, to customers who purchased their books. I believe that new editions of the Keysheet books were not offered free of charge to customers who purchased the previous editions. If you own the Dates book that was previously published by Aviter, there is no significant change between that one and this edition—just one new 7.6 feature that covers the DATETRAN function. Documentation for that feature can be found in our product documentation or can be obtained in Tech Memo format from Information Builders. This is not the case for the WebFOCUS Keysheet book, however. The WebFOCUS Keysheet book that John Price has prepared includes close to 500 updates. They include all WebFOCUS 7.1.x product release updates and all GRAPHTYPE commands – new since Aviter’s last printing. As such, it is considered a new edition of the WebFOCUS Keysheet book, not an addenda to the previous edition. Our current plan is to publish new versions of these Keysheet books only when new product release updates are significant enough to warrant a new edition (and a new print run). That is also part of the reasoning behind offering these books at a much lower price than they were sold before. Of course, errata information will be provided (free of charge) to customers who have previously purchased the books.

I will check my Aviter publishing facts and will communicate any changes in our publishing policies as they are developed.

If you have any other questions, please contact me, Frances Gambino, Director Documentation Services, Frances_Gambino@ibi.com.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Jenn

Greetings,

Are the quick reference guides available yet? I sent a "pre-order" a couple of days ago, and I was wondering the status.

Our institution needs the WF Keysheets, as apparently this is the only publication that fully documents the attributes and values available for WebFOCUS stylesheets

Any update on the availablilty would be most appreciated.

Regards,

Daniel Kenny
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Prod: WF 7.1.6 Linux Test: WF 7.6.0 Linux

Hi Dan,

Great timing! Both the (Almost) 1001 Ways to Work With Dates for WebFOCUS and the WebFOCUS Keysheet Quick Reference guides are now available to purchase on the i-Base: Technical Documentation Library.

Click the following URL to begin the order process: http://documentation.informationbuilders.com/masterindex/keysheet_manuals.asp

Please note: For orders outside the U.S., your order total will include shipping charges only. Packages may be subject to customs fees, import duties, and taxes, which are levied once a shipment reaches your country. Shipping charges are non-refundable in any case as we cannot reclaim these fees from our shippers. Customers are responsible to pay any duties, taxes, customs, and other clearance fees for orders shipped internationally.

Happy holidays to all!

Regards,
Jenn

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <DocServices>,

Hi,

i have access to TechSupport, how can i get the Soft Copy of this Manuals. iam in Outside US.

Thanks,
Kalyan

Hi Kaylan,

These books are not part of IBI’s product documentation offering and so they are not offered as our technical documentation in CD, HTML, and PDF formats. These books are not available in CD, HTML, or PDF format—only in print format.

We do accept international orders. You may purchase these books on i-Base, the Technical Documentation Library, at the following URL: http://documentation.informationbuilders.com/masterindex/keysheet_manuals.asp.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Jenn

I was trying to view the sample and either the URL is broken or the server is down.

Yes, our servers were down for a brief time. You should be able to access the sample files now.

Regards,
Jenn

Just bringing this topic back to the top as I think it would be very useful for our newer membership to know that these documents are available and urge them, if they are able, to obtain at least one copy for their department.

Another good resource is the "tips and techniques" section in the IB - Developer Center (link is the first one in the bread crums above).

T

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tony A,