Hi all
I would like to start this thread with an intention - if this discussion is conclusive, we might have a ticket raised for IBI to get this feature included in their next release OR as a patch to the existing ones.
I have often wondered and have even got stuck up with, about the fact that WebFOCUS doesn't provide a typical tree-like drilldown capability, where the users get to drill down vertically rather than horizontally (as with accordion reports). Microstrategy has it, Microsoft Analytics has it, so why can't WebFOCUS have the same feature which is not only requested by most clients but is also a highly useful tool for analytics!

I have had several discussions with people from a WebFOCUS background and they have all nodded in agreement with my point of view on this. I'd also like to highlight some of the posts on this forum - Post1 and Post2. Both resonate the same dilemma in question.

Agreed that we can build the same feature by using Javascript within the WebFOCUS code - we have done that in the past and developed several reports with this approach. However, the fact remains that the resultant code is not the best example of an easily maintainable code. Moreveover the effort required to integrate/build Javascrip with WebFOCUS always turns out to be a pain in the neck!

We could also have several workarounds as suggested in above posts. But yet again, we have not achieved what we wanted, as rightly pointed out by Trav in Post2 above.

I had a discussion on this with a guy from IBI yesterday and guess what - he too agreed with me and said that this feature could be added if need be!
I would like to get some thoughts on this and whether or not others feel the same way? If yes, can we do something about this? I'm willing to take the lead if we have a conclusive discussion on this thread.

Thanks much for your time! I'd be most thankful for your participation in this discussion.

Regards
Syed

from one of your linked posts...

quote:

Am I the only one that saw this feature and said "COOL!" and then actually ran it and said "oh..." ??

Rest assured, you're not the only one. I'd love to see IBI put a little extra effort into some of these core features. I'd love to see the Focal Point community take a break from their support duties and offer bigger picture opinions on the product as well

Thanks for your response Baltes.
59 vews and just one response!! I thought others also share my dilemma

If you could, please respond with your thoughts, so that I may get pointers regarding how to get a ticket opened with IBI and what is the lead time they take to respond to such tickets?

Thanks again
Syed

I share your dilemma. We were heavy Excel pivot table users and bought WebFOCUS as a relacement but are still having to port back to pivots to get this feature (if I understand your post correctly).

quote:

Originally posted by Syed:
Thanks for your response Baltes.
59 vews and just one response!! I thought others also share my dilemma

If you could, please respond with your thoughts, so that I may get pointers regarding how to get a ticket opened with IBI and what is the lead time they take to respond to such tickets?

Thanks again
Syed

I've only opened tickets to fix specific issues at our location. Any time a new feature or a request to fix an old one has come up with someone at IBI, they usually suggest bringing them up at our local user group meetings.