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WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE projects are based on data that typically resides in databases. This data must be available as a WebFOCUS procedure, a tab-delimited text file, Microsoft Access or Excel file, or reside in a supported data source. WebFOCUS can accept data from any supported data source and converts this data for use by Visual Discovery AE.
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When data is being created for integration with Visual Discovery AE using WebFOCUS, the Visual Discovery AE (VISDISAE) output format must be set. The procedures in this section describe how to create an Application Directory folder on the WebFOCUS Reporting Server and create data for WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE projects using WebFOCUS InfoAssist.
Note: Data can also be created using WebFOCUS Developer Studio. For more information, see the WebFOCUS Developer Studio documentation related to this topic.
Creating an application directory allows you to create a target location for data files that are generated by the VISDISAE output format, which are used by WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Workbench AE and WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE. This target location is recommended to be outside of the WebFOCUS installation folder structure, since WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE may not always be installed on the same machine as WebFOCUS.
C:/visdisproj
The Create New Application dialog box opens in the workspace area, as shown in the following image.
This directory can now be used to store the data file(s) generated with FORMAT VISDISAE. This is recommended since the data file generated by FORMAT VISDISAE will typically be stored on its own in a directory accessible from WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE.
For more information on creating application directories, see the Developing Reporting Applications documentation.
This section describes considerations that must be followed when data is being prepared for WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE projects.
Data containing localized (international) characters must be stored in a UTF-8/Unicode-based text file. Language sets must be independent of one another. For example, Japanese and Arabic characters cannot be in one set of data.
By default, WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Workbench AE uses the default localization setting that is currently used by the operating system to interpret dates and currency, as well as present dates, currency, numbers, and strings. In addition, WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE also references operating system localization settings.
Visual Discovery AE does not recognize date fields in integer form. In nearly all cases this is handled by the WebFOCUS Format Type for Visual Discovery AE, if it is not, then use the procedure described below.
You must normalize date fields to the MM/DD/YYYY format. The format of a date field can be changed in WebFOCUS Developer Studio using Dialog Manager commands. However, in InfoAssist, the command must be set in EDASPROF.
Perform the following steps to change the date format:
For example:
-*new file SET DBLOAD=ON DEFINE FILE EMPLOYEE DDATE/YMD=EMPLOYEE.EMPINFO.HIRE_DATE; NEWDATE/I8MDYY=DDATE; END TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE SUM EMPLOYEE.EMPINFO.CURR_SAL EMPLOYEE.PAYINFO.SALARY BY NEWDATE ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT VISDISAE END
The Continental Decimal Notation (CDN) parameter determines whether a numeric value displays with default notation, or Continental Decimal Notation. Although SET CDN statements are supported by the VISDISAE output format type, they are not recommended to be used. As stated in Localized Data, the presentation of currency values is handled by the default localization setting used by the operating system.
There are two ways to create WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE procedures:
In addition, you can pass amper variables to dynamically filter WebFOCUS procedures.
To use a WebFOCUS procedure as the live data source, follow this procedure until step 9. To continue and use the procedure for text file output, continue with step 10.
The Tool Setup dialog box opens, as shown in the following image.
WebFOCUS InfoAssist opens and displays the Select a data source dialog box opens, as shown in the following image.
Note: Data must be laid out as one set of column titles and the corresponding data values for each column. Therefore, ACROSS statements are not recommended and special consideration is required when using FOR, OVER, and other similar statements.
Set the destination for the output by performing the following steps:
The Select a location and format dialog box opens, as shown in the following image.
A corresponding text file for the procedure is now available. For example:
visdisproj\carvisdisae.txt
This is a tab-delimited text file where column titles are listed on the first row and data appears on every subsequent row.
Notice the output presented in the browser, which is representative of how Visual Discovery AE dashboards consume WebFOCUS-driven data.
The Properties dialog box for the selected WebFOCUS procedure opens, as shown in the following image.
Notice that this URL now includes the visdisae.ibfs extension.
You will be required to enter (paste) this URL in the Data Wizard of WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Workbench AE as you design a Visual Discovery AE Project.
Note: Data can also be created using WebFOCUS Developer Studio, using a similar procedure as the one described above. For more information, see the WebFOCUS Developer Studio documentation related to this topic.
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