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- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
- From: thompson@isc.upenn.edu (Stephen W. Thompson)
- Newsgroups: comp.databases.olap,comp.databases.oracle,comp.databases.sybase,comp.answers,news.answers
- Subject: Business Objects FAQ, last modified 96/06/26
- Supersedes: <databases/bus-objects-faq_848196893@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Followup-To: poster
- Date: 17 Dec 1996 06:37:48 GMT
- Organization: University of Pennsylvania
- Lines: 1124
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Expires: 30 Jan 1997 06:26:40 GMT
- Message-ID: <databases/bus-objects-faq_850804000@rtfm.mit.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: bloom-picayune.mit.edu
- Summary: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the Business
- Objects query tool software, used to produce easier queries from
- relational databases.
- X-Last-Updated: 1996/06/26
- Originator: faqserv@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.databases.olap:7878 comp.databases.sybase:43391 comp.answers:23150 news.answers:89764
-
- Archive-name: databases/bus-objects-faq
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
- Last-modified: 1996/06/26
- URL: http://www.upenn.edu/da/bo/busob-faq.html
-
-
- BUSINESSOBJECTS FAQ
-
- This document was last changed June 26, 1996. Copyright 1995, 1996,
- by Stephen W. Thompson. Provided that no modification is made in the
- text and that this paragraph is retained, this document may be
- reproduced; the only exception is that employees of BusinessObjects
- must request permission for any reproduction.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- FAQ Contents
-
- FAQ Maintenance & Updates
-
- User Issues
-
- + Business Objects Overview
- + Installation on Windows
- + Installation on Macintoshes
- + Access
- + Performance
- + Training
- + Upcoming Versions
-
- Manager Issues
-
-
- The Questions
-
-
-
- FAQ MAINTENANCE & UPDATES
-
-
- F1.01
- What recent changes have been made to this list?
- F1.02
- Who contributed to this FAQ?
-
- USER ISSUES
- Business Objects Overview
-
- U0.01
- Could you briefly explain what BusinessObjects is?
- U0.02
- What are some resources to learn about BusinessObjects?
-
-
- Installation on Windows
-
- U1.01
- How much space does Business Objects require on the hard drive?
- U1.02
- Why would a message about the environment variable CONFIG being
- incorrectly set arise during installation?
- U1.03
- How do I test if a connection problem with Business Objects is
- with BusOb itself or with SQL*Net instead?
- U1.04
- What type of configuration problems have you seen that prevent
- NETTEST.EXE from being successful (that is, SQL*Net is
- unhappy)?
- U1.05
- What type of configuration problems have you seen that prevent
- Business Objects from working?
- U1.06
- Will Business Objects work on Windows 95?
- U1.07
- What is the latest patch to Windows, and which do I have?
-
- Installation on Macintoshes
-
- U2.01
- Why when I try to open a universe for the first time do I get
- the error "SYS-0331: Error Retrieving Parameters"?
- U2.02
- Does installation need to be done using the installation disks,
- or can the files simply be copied?
-
- Some installation pointers written to be specific to University of
- Pennsylvania may be found at
- http://pobox.upenn.edu/~thompson/busob-penn.html.
-
- Access
-
- U3.01
- (PENN SPECIFIC) Why am I having problems getting into Business
- Objects with my password?
- U3.02
- Can I get rid of old universes by deleting directories/folders?
- U3.03
- What are some possible approaches to solving connection
- problems?
-
- Performance
-
- U4.01
- Why is Mac performance so poor?
- U4.02
- Why does canceling a query sometimes work and sometimes hang my
- machine?
-
- User Interface
-
- U5.01
- How can one retrieve queries from the repository?
- U5.02
- How does one find templates that are in the repository, or even
- find the command to import them?
- U5.03
- How can a Mac user close one universe and open another
- universe, short of quitting and restarting BusOb?
- U5.04
- How can I get labels to print 3-up (in three columns)?
- U5.05
- When creating conditions based on queries (rather than
- Constant, Variable or Object), which queries does BusOb display
- as candidate subqueries?
- For example, if the condition is on SSN, are queries displayed
- in the dialog box only if their result object is SSN?
- U5.06
- How can I query for records based on lists of id's that I have
- from other data sources? Say I have a file of SSN's to look up?
- U5.07
- How can I get better control of how my headers and footers
- appear? I want top-of-page headers related to some objects,
- beginning-of-break footers related to others, and sometimes
- text that accompanies each occurrence of an object.
- U5.08
- Why do some help screens describe features I can't locate, such
- as the "complex query" button mentioned under "outer joins"?
- U5.09
- How can I have a query use an outer join?
- U5.10
- How do I input the pipe or or-bar character?
-
- Training
-
- U6.01
- How is the training provided by Business Objects?
- U6.02
- How is training provided by others?
-
- Upcoming Versions
-
- U7.01
- What can we expect from BusOb v4.0 (codenamed Mercury)?
- U7.02
- What are new features that we BusOb users and managers wish
- would be added to the tool?
-
- MANAGER ISSUES
- M1.01
- What are some approaches to resolving loops in the joins?
- M1.02
- How can I have a context with no joins?
- M1.03
- Why can't I add new objects?
- M1.04
- Are there any "gotchas" with using the Advanced Login Strategy
- for managing security?
- M1.05
- What do I do if I lose my manager password?
- M1.06
- How can I programmatically modify object names?
- M1.07
- How can I modify the MANAGERx universe to allow reporting on
- aliases?
- M1.08
- How can I find the metamodel? for the repository files?
-
-
- The Answers
-
- FAQ MAINTENANCE & UPDATES
- F1.01
- What recent changes have been made to this list?
-
-
- 960611 Added info about BUSOB-L mailing list. Removed
- comp.databases.ingres from posting list since it is also
- received as an e-mail list.
-
-
- 960501 Revamped the HTML formatting so the FAQ looks better and
- is easier to use interactively.
-
-
- 960501 Moved the FAQ to it's new, more official location.
-
-
- Added a thumbnail explanation of what BusOb is for the
- uninitiated. Added two user interface questions, one on help
- text and one on outer joins.
-
- Added a paragraph for the "new versions" question concerning
- Object Query.
-
- F1.02
- Who contributed to this FAQ?
-
- Tad Davis: davist@isc.upenn.edu; Adam B. Greenfield:
- agreenfield@epsilon.com; Andy Mannhart:
- 100751.1012@compuserve.com; Susan Quant:
- squant@sas.upenn.edu; Lorraine Ratajczak:
- ratajcza@isc.upenn.edu; Carol Rice: carol.rice@octel.com; Ann
- Stockton: Ann.Stockton@wharton.upenn.edu .
-
- The document is very Oracle-specific right now; users of other
- RDBMS's are invited to contribute. Send your contribution to:
- thompson@isc.upenn.edu.
-
- USER ISSUES
- Business Objects Overview
-
- U0.01
- Could you briefly explain what Business Objects is?
-
- Business Objects is a query tool sold by a company by the same
- name which is used to create 'ad hoc' reports from data stored
- in databases in a client/server fashion. It provides facilities
- to retrieve data from relational databases and create reports
- and graphs, as well as to export the retrieved data to other
- applications. Tools with which it might compare include
- Impromptu from Cognos, GQL from Andyne, Browser from Oracle and
- Brio Query from Brio Technology. It is available on Windows,
- Macs and Motif.
-
- U0.02
- What are some resources to learn about Business Objects?
-
- To subscribe to a mailing list, send the line "subscribe
- busob-l Yourfirstname Yourlastname" to
- listserv@listserv.aol.com. This is a list started June 1996
- for discussion about both user and management issues.
- Subscribers only may submit messages by mailing to
- busob-l@listserv.aol.com. (Please remember: Text goes to
- busob-l; commands go to listserv.)
-
- The current copy of this FAQ is always available at
- http://www.upenn.edu/da/bo/busob-faq.html.
-
- A WWW site is maintained by Business Objects at
- http://www.businessobjects.com/.
-
- Although there is no perfect newsgroup that exists yet,
- comp.database.olap is perhaps the most appropriate.
-
- Installation on Windows
-
- U1.01
- How much space does Business Objects require on the hard drive?
-
-
- For version 3.1.1E I estimate about 6.5 Mb. Of course, once you
- start downloading Universe definitions and doing reports, that
- could grow enormously. Use the Query, Document and Template
- management menus to delete work once you're done with it in
- order to save disk space.
-
- U1.02
- Why would a message about the environment variable CONFIG being
- incorrectly set arise during installation?
-
-
- This has happened when SQL*Net was already installed on the
- machine and used with another query tool we were evaluating.
- Removing the entire ORAWIN directory and the
- \WINDOWS\ORACLE.INI file, removing any SET CONFIG or
- CONFIG_FILES line from the AUTOEXEC.BAT and starting the TCP/IP
- Adapter installation again was our fix.
-
- U1.03
- How do I test if a connection problem with Business Objects is
- with BusOb itself or with SQL*Net instead?
-
-
- SQL*Net for Windows (not Mac, unfortunately) comes with
- NETTEST.EXE in /ORAWIN/NETWORK/ADMIN. From FileManager, double
- click it, and enter an Oracle uid and password and a connection
- string, which at Penn is "warehouse". If you don't get a
- successful connection then the problem is with SQL*Net and not
- BusOb.
-
- U1.04
- What type of configuration problems have you seen that prevent
- NETTEST.EXE from being successful (that is, SQL*Net is
- unhappy)?
-
-
- SQL*Net was installed before TCP/IP Adapter, instead of TCP/IP
- Adapter first, as is required. (We surmise that the "Required
- Support Files", found with both packages, are bad somehow in
- the SQL*Net set of disks but okay with TCP/IP Adapter disks.)
-
- Problems also arise if you choose a "wrong" TCP/IP product when
- prompted during the TCP/IP Adapter installation. This is wrong
- as far as SQL*Net is concerned, not necessarily anything you
- have understood or done incorrectly. For instance, When using
- LAN Workplace for DOS v. 12, which uses WINSOCK, we found you
- must NOT select WINSOCK, but instead select LWP.
-
- U1.05
- What type of configuration problems have you seen that prevent
- Business Objects from working?
-
-
- The PATH in AUTOEXEC.BAT does not include \ORAWIN\BIN.
-
- The TCP/IP package or WINSOCK.DLL was not compatible with the
- JSB files that Business Objects installs. (A symptom of this is
- an error message that appears when every server access is made,
- after which Business Objects successfully continues working
- fine.)
-
- There's a bug in 3.1.1E (at least) when using SQL*Net 2.1. A
- difference between v. 2.0 and v. 2.1 is that what was
- ORA7WIN.DLL is now ORA71WIN.DLL. Business Objects is expecting
- to find ORA7WIN.DLL. We had success simply copying ORA71WIN.DLL
- to ORA7WIN.DLL, and keeping both files around. This info came
- direct from BusinessObjects themselves!
-
- U1.06
- Will Business Objects work on Windows 95?
-
-
- Yes, at least v. 3.1.1E. Similarly, a U.S. company reports
- using BusOb on Win95, with the added benefit that "In fact
- Windows 95 can handle the "lockup" problem with Oracle and
- SQL*net. You're still not able to cancel the query, but at
- least your entire system is not tied up waiting for the first
- row to be returned. Windows 95 allows the user to switch
- applications during this lock up period (I guess they really
- did build a true multitasking environment.?)" This was using
- SQL*Net v1.1 and specifying "the generic WINDOCK TCP stack that
- comes with Windows 95" as the vendor for installation of
- Oracle's TCP/IP Adapter product.
-
- A European company reports much success using Windows 95 on
- thousands of machines, using versions 1 and 2.1 of Oracle's
- SQL*Net over TCP/IP as middleware.
-
- As to which vendor to specify when configuring TCP/IP Adapter,
- this company reports that "this TCP_VENDOR, you nearly always
- have problems. That's why we don't use the Oracle-Routines any
- more. We just copy the most important files directly from CD or
- diskettes. We have SQL*NET 2.1.4.1.0 at the time and the
- generic Microsoft 32bit-TCP/IP. Here the most important files
- are:
-
-
- - C:\WINDOWS\WINSOCK.DLL 42080 bytes (came with Windows 95)
- this DLL-file is often overwritten by other installations
-
- - ...\ORAWIN\BIN:
- COREWIN.DLL 833856 bytes
- CORE3WIN.DLL 245136 bytes
- MSOCKLIB.DLL 42208 bytes
- MWINSOCK.DLL 7104 bytes
- ORA71WIN.DLL 321968 bytes
- ORA7WIN.DLL 272448 bytes
- SQLTNS.DLL 4848 bytes
- SQLTNS1.DLL 198080 bytes
- NL.DLL 137888 bytes
- NLS23WIN.DLL 749312 bytes
- NS.DLL 173600 bytes
- NT.DLL 26288 bytes
- NTT.DLL 42096 bytes
-
-
- I don't enclose the file date because this may vary (Oracle
- doesn't have the same versions in the USA and in Europe).
-
- U1.07
- What is the latest patch to Windows, and which do I have?
-
-
- The last patch known to me is Patch 9. Check the splash screen
- for your patch level. If if only has "3.1.1 E" (for the English
- version, anyway), you have no patches.
-
- Installation on Macintoshes
-
- U2.01
- Why when I try to open a universe for the first time do I get
- the error "SYS-0331: Error Retrieving Parameters"?
-
-
- This message occurs on a DuoDock Macintosh. Our latest theory
- is that the Duodock and the Powerbook 180 have only one port,
- so ethernet, Appletalk, modem, etc., need to share it.
- Apparently they don't do this well, and making a switch from
- non-MacTCP to MacTCP wipes out a settings files which SQL*Net
- uses. The problem is NOT a Business Objects problem, but is
- entirely at the Mac and Oracle level.
-
- U2.02
- Does installation need to be done using the installation disks,
- or can the files simply be copied?
-
-
- Copying the files, for instance over Appleshare network
- connections, has worked successfully. Copy everything from the
- old machine to the new one, including all the preference files,
- etc.
-
- For Oracle users, you then need to re-set the "home" directory
- for Oracle (using the "Set Oracle Home" application in the
- Oracle Applications folder), and everything works OK.
-
- (Note: This action should be fully documented in complience
- with your software license; document when BusOb is installed on
- a user's machine, when it is moved to a new machine and when it
- is removed from the old machine. The assumption in this FAQ is
- that software licenses are being followed.)
-
- Access
-
- U3.01
- (PENN SPECIFIC) Why am I having problems getting into Business
- Objects with my password?
-
-
- Initially we have everyone using Steve Thompson's Oracle
- account to access BusOb. This is controlled by the DICT.KEY
- file. We plan to change access so everyone uses their own
- Oracle account, which is important so access to data can be
- controlled by the Oracle built-in security scheme.
-
- What that means is that you need to remember your Oracle
- account and password, because you'll need it when we make the
- change. But for now a BusOb account and password need to be
- created for you, currently by Lori or Steve.
-
- When we make the change, we'll make announcements about it by
- e-mail, then change Steve's Oracle account password so the old
- DICT.KEY no longer gives access to data. At the same time we'll
- make available a new DICT.KEY that requires you to login to
- BusOb using your ORACLE account and password. Hopefully there
- are few enough of us in the pilot group that we can minimize
- the confusion of this process.
-
- If your Oracle account is different from your Business Objects
- account, it is a good idea to contact Lori or Steve to change
- your BusOb account.
-
- U3.02
- Can I get rid of old universes by deleting directories/folders?
-
-
-
- Yes. From either Windows or Mac, delete the contents of the
- appropriate directories as you would any other directory or
- folder. For a universe called FRED, there is a directory/folder
- called DEF/FRED containing the "definition" of the FRED
- universe to Business Objects and STORAGE/FRED containing the
- queries and results of queries that you have run against FRED.
- Deleting the STORAGE/FRED directory will delete all queries
- you've done again FRED, also.
-
- You might wish to be more selective in your cleanup. Since
- results of queries and reports against those results are called
- *.ASC and *.E??, you may delete just those files in order to
- save space and still have the queries themselves (*.REQ) to run
- again later if you need to.
-
- U3.03
- What are some possible approaches to solving connection
- problems?
-
-
- Even after flawless installations of the middleware product
- such as SQL*Net from Oracle and of BusOb, there may still be
- connection problems. For example, you might get the error
- "UNI-0010: Invalid access code". Your problem then is to
- determine where the problem is -- with BusOb, with your
- desktop, with your network software (ie., TCP/IP), with your
- middleware, or with the server.
-
- BusOb provides a trace facility to aid in this detective work.
- In the OBJECTS.INI file, change "INTERNALTRACE=NO" to
- "INTERNALTRACE=YES". Then try to connect or do whatever you had
- tried before without success, and then quit BusOb.
-
- BusOb will have created TMP\SQLBO.LOG (TMP:SQLBO.LOG on Macs)
- which shows internal procedure calls and parameters passed to
- and returned from the middleware. Error codes and messages
- shown there may be very helpful in determining in what
- component of software the problem derives.
-
- Performance
-
- U4.01
- Why is Mac performance so poor?
-
-
- The standard release of version 3.1.1E for the Mac (internally
- known as Patch #4) experiences a long (10 - 30 second) lag time
- between double clicking on the "Result Objects" bar and when
- the list of available objects appears. There are apparently
- also long delays in notifying the user that the connection
- parameters fail to give a valid connection.
-
- In mid-September 1995, Patch #5 of version 3.1 was being
- delivered to customers. It makes performance 5 to 14 times
- faster, making the Mac and Windows comparable for most
- purposes. Congratulations, Business Objects!
-
- There are also recommendations from Business Objects has been
- to open the "Get Info" window for the BusOb application and
- give it the maximum "Minimum Memory" you can. While always wise
- for Mac applications, this doesn't make a noticeable
- difference.
-
- U4.02
- Why does canceling a query sometimes work and sometimes hang my
- machine?
-
-
- At Penn we use Oracle's SQL*Net to access data from Oracle,
- including for access by Business Objects. Apparently either
- SQL*Net or the TCP/IP package (NOT BusOB) restricts you to
- being able to cancel only after you've received the first row
- back in response to your query, not before. So waiting for the
- row counter to indicate at least one record has been retrieved
- means it's safe to cancel your query; otherwise your machine
- will probably hang.
-
- User Interface
-
- U5.01
- How can one retrieve queries from the repository?
-
-
- When a universe is open, use the "File->Import query from
- repository" menu item. Be sure to select "Import with
- associated documents" to get any reports and charts that
- accompany the query.
-
- U5.02
- How do you find templates that are in the repository, or even
- find the command to import them?
-
-
- The "Templates" menu only appears from within a report. So
- create a plain, vanilla report from your .ASC file by going to
- ReportAssist, choosing the first report-type icon, then "Ok."
- From the report screen, then, you can see the Templates menu.
- Use "Import Templates from Repository" if you have not yet
- retrieved the templates.
-
- U5.03
- How can a Mac user close one universe and open another
- universe, short of quitting and restarting BusOb?
-
-
- The problem in changing universes in the Mac is that the old
- universe stays selected when it is closed, so the menu pick
- remains "Open Universe". If you click in the Universe window on
- a blank area to deselect the old universe, then you will be
- able to choose "Open Universe..." (note the dots now) to open
- another universe, perhaps one you have not yet received from
- the repository.
-
- U5.04
- How can I get labels to print 3-up (in three columns)?
-
-
- Create a default report and use the "Report Editor" (accessed
- from the "Modify Document" icon or the "Modify Report" command
- from the Document menu) for most of this.
-
- First, stack the lines of the label. Delete the column labels,
- then stack the lines by dragging and dropping name, then
- street1, then street2, etc. Create a variable ("Tools" menu)
- which concatenates city, state, zip and country with blanks and
- commas as needed into one string, and insert that variable
- *instead of* the individual components. If street2 is often
- blank, you might create two other variables: one which returns
- street2 is non-blank, otherwise cityStateZip; and another which
- returns cityStateZip if street2 is non-blank, otherwise blank.
-
- Then, make each cell narrow enough so that 3 columns will be
- accommodated.
-
- Remove all headers, footers and other non-essential cells.
- Click on the 'G' symbol, and uncheck the "Break footers" box.
- This will make the report contents and the Global contents the
- same height.
-
- Close the Report Editor with the File->Generate Total Report
- menu selection. Then use page setup to choose number of columns
- (3 in this case). The columns will only appear side-by-side in
- Page Preview.
-
- U5.05
- When creating conditions based on queries (rather than
- Constant, Variable or Object), which queries does BusOb display
- as candidate subqueries? For example, if the condition is on
- SSN, are queries displayed in the dialog box only if their
- result object is SSN?
-
-
- BusOb is none too intelligent here. If there is only a single
- result object in a query, that query is displayed as a
- candidate, even if the objects are of different data types.
-
- For instance, if you've started a condition such as "Employee
- SSN is in list", a query BIGDEPT might be listed as a possible
- subquery since it has only one result object, say "Department
- of Manager" even though that comparison doesn't make sense
- based on the data.
-
- U5.06
- How can I query for records based on lists of id's that I have
- from other data sources? Say I have a file of SSN's to look up?
-
-
-
- The idea is to create an "in list" condition, then coerce your
- file to show up when you click the "List of Values" button
- instead of querying the database. (A disaster for something
- like SSN!)
-
- This approach works because the normal behavior is for BusOb to
- query the database only the 'first time', then to use those
- results again until the "Refresh" button is pressed. The
- results are stored in an .ASC file (as for normal query raw
- results), with a name prefaced by an ampersand, such as
- "&SSN__3.ASC". If you put your data in that file instead, then
- when you create the "in list" condition and click the "List of
- Values" button your data will be displayed and may be
- highlighted to select as usual.
-
- The two gotchas are knowing what .ASC file to manipulate and
- using the correct field delimeter. Identifying the .ASC file
- name is easy when the BusOb manager has given all users access
- to the MANAGERx universe. This universe holds data *about* the
- other universes, listing class names, Select SQL strings,
- object names, and, helpful in the current situation, the List
- of Values Name. (Care should be taken when exporting this
- universe, since it contains an object for "User Password".
- Rather than exporting the generic MANAGERO universe for Oracle,
- at Penn we have duplicated that universe and then removed the
- password object (and named it UNIVRSES). Then it's usable by
- all, and a query for Class Name, Object Name and List of Value
- Name for the universe in question will show you the .ASC file
- to use. The delimiter, which can be difficult to create, is
- best copied from an existing query and pasted into the new
- file.
-
- Each line of the .ASC file will look like this (for SSN's):
- 123456789|
-
-
- (The final character is the 'pipe' or OR-bar character.)
-
- Make all lines the same line length; crashes have been seen
- when variable-length lines are not padded prior to the pipe
- character. A few lines for a variable-length object might
- appear like this:
-
-
- POTATO |
- CARROT |
- ONION |
- RUTABAGA |
-
-
- U5.07
- How can I get better control of how my headers and footers
- appear? I want top-of-page headers related to some objects,
- beginning-of-break footers related to others, and sometimes
- text that accompanies each occurrence of an object.
-
-
- There are two kinds of headers and footers. We'll call them
- document headers/footers and break headers/footers. (These are
- my terms.)
-
- Document headers/footers are akin to those in Excel; default
- ones are created for you with basic info about the current
- document and page, you can edit them more or less by hand, and
- what you see of the header or footer is basically what you'll
- see in the finished document. They are only visible in
- formatted form using "File->Print Preview" (or use the toolbar
- button -- look for the magnifying glass). Edit them by using
- "Document->Modify Report" (hint text labels it "Modify
- Document", since it's also used for modifying charts). By
- default (when using QuickReport or ReportAssistant) you'll find
- the variables QueryName, QueryDate and QueryTime in the
- document header, and Page centered in the document footer.
- These may be replaced with anything that you would like.
-
- Break headers/footers are printed every time the value of the
- break variable(s) change. For example, if a "Month" result
- object were in a document and there was a break header on it,
- then a new header would appear when a previous row was
- "November" and the current row is "December".
-
- Break headers/footers are visible from the regular document
- viewing window, EXCEPT THAT using "Repeat Header on New Page"
- (from the "Tools->Breaks" window) is only visible on the FIRST
- page. Use PagePreview to see these headers on following pages.
- Note that though there are several places to get this dialog
- box, clicking the break icon in BusinessAnalyzer gives you a
- break editor which leaves out certain options that you'll want
- sometimes.
-
- But first you need to be sure you have these headers and
- footers populated with text or variables, or else nothing will
- show up because there was nothing TO show up! (Did you follow
- that?)
-
- From "ModifyDocument", you'll see something like this (pardon
- poor text-based illustration):
-
-
- +---------
- | hg
- | +-------
- | | h1
- | | +-----
- | | | h2
- | | |
- G 1 2 Object names appear here
- | | |
- | | | f2
- | | +-----
- | | f1
- | +-------
- | fg
- +---------
-
-
-
- The areas in which you place headers at the global (document),
- first break and second break levels are labeled hg, h1 and h2
- respectively. Likewise, fg, f1 and f2 label where labels for
- global, first level and second level breaks are placed. If
- there are not empty cells ready to be filled in, use
- "Edit->Insert..." (or tool bar buttons with arrows) to add new
- cells or rows above (for headers) or below (for footers) the
- appropriate break-level cell.
-
- Then, when leaving the ModifyDocument window, use
- "File->Generate Total Report" (or Partial).
-
- U5.08
- Why do some help screens describe features I can't locate, such
- as the "complex query" button mentioned under "outer joins"?
-
-
- SADLY, the help for the User version of BusOb is the same help
- as for the Manager version, and it doesn't indicate which help
- is for which version. The "complex query" button that is
- mentioned is only available to Managers, for use when creating
- automatic joins between tables, not to users, unfortunately.
- (Already called in as an enhancement request.)
-
- U5.09
- How can I have a query use an outer join?
-
-
- You have to modify the SQL (with "Generate SQL" and "View SQL"
- from the File menu). There is no way to do so from the "Modify
- Query" screen.
-
- To explain this more, imagine a universe with several joined
- tables and another table used to lookup values. For instance,
- to find department names that match department codes. Say there
- are a number of objects which contain department codes. If you
- wanted to create a Condition "ManagingDepartmentCode equals
- LookupDeptCode", it is not presently possible to have that
- Condition be an outer join. (Already called in as an
- enhancement request.)
-
- U5.10
- How do I input the pipe or or-bar character?
-
-
- The delimiter looks like a solid pipe (|), or perhaps a broken
- pipe (either is OK), but *do not* use the pipe key on the
- keyboard, regardless of whether you're using a DOS platform or
- a Mac.
-
- On DOS platforms, use the DOS editor to edit the .SQL or .ASC
- file. Go to the spot where you want the delimiter. Press and
- hold down the Alt key while using the *numeric key pad* to type
- 179 and then release the Alt key. *Do not* use the number keys
- that are above the letter keys.
-
- On a Mac, use cut and paste to copy the delimiter from an
- existing LoV file.
-
- Training
-
- U6.01
- How is the training provided by Business Objects?
-
-
- The only reports I am aware of currently are for the 1-day user
- training. Based on two reports only, this training has not been
- praised. Ours, for instance, had complaints of quick movement
- thru slides despite students not having understood the material
- and inexperienced teachers.
-
- Dennis Broderick, dbroderi@goliath.brauntech.com, reports that
- "the Business Objects training enrollment coordinator is Darla
- at 408-864-2084."
-
- U6.02
- How is the training provided by others?
-
-
- According to mail from Dennis Broderick
- (dbroderi@goliath.brauntech.com), "Business Objects has a
- certification/authorization process that 'authorized' training
- facilities must complete. The process involves learning and
- 'student teaching' activities under BusObj supervision plus an
- audit by BusObj. Contact Carla Parone, the BusObj training
- manager, at 408 864-2010."
-
-
- Some of these authorized trainers are:
- + Braun Technology Group (BTG) (Chicago, 312-443-1317). Dennis
- Broderick, dbroderi@goliath.brauntech.com, reports that:
-
- "Braun Technology Group (BTG) is the authorized training
- center for Business Objects in the Midwest. BTG teaches both
- the 1-day user course and the 3-day Universe Manager course.
- Both courses are offered monthly in Chicago. BTG also
- customizes and teaches Business Objects courses at client
- sites. Also, BTG provides implementation consulting and
- assistance for the Business Objects products. For enrollment
- information contact Allen Rice, 312 443-1317x168 or
- krice@brauntech.com.
-
- + Context Integration (New York City, 212-785-6100),
- http://www.context.com.
- Regan Coleman reports:
-
- "Yes, we are certified training partners, and we have three
- facilities: one in New York, one in Austin, TX, and one in
- South San Francicso,CA." They also offer customized end-user
- and manager training, both on-site and off-site.
-
- I took the manager training from them and found it excellent,
- and two other people have given me strong reviews for them
- for both the 3-day manager training and the user training.
-
- They were expecting to have Advanced Users training beginning
- the summer of 1995, and at that time were developing an
- Advanced Managers training.
-
- + Recon Corp. Saratoga (San Jose) CA., 408-866-8676,
- recon@netcom.com. "Based in the Silicon Valley, Recon
- provides database development, consulting and training
- solutions. As a certified training and consulting partner to
- Business Objects we conduct the standard user and manager
- training. Additionally we prepare customized user training
- which has been very well received by our clients."
-
-
-
- (Standard disclaimer here. I have no connection other than as a
- customer with any organization other than my employer. As
- additional information is offered for this FAQ, it will be
- added without prejudice.)
-
- Upcoming Versions
-
- U7.01
- What can we expect from BubOb v4.0 (codenamed Mercury)?
-
-
- Concerning the weakened security of storing the manager
- password on the desktop where it may be copied to other
- machines, a contributor reports: "I've seen the Alpha Version
- of BO Version 4.0 and it seemed to me that they replaced the
- OBJECTS.USE through a role concept which is stored somewhere in
- the repository. I think they know at BO why they do that."
-
- Carol Rice, carol.rice@octel.com, reports:
-
- "I called Business Objects tech support relative to Business
- Query 1.1 and its ability to run on Excel 7, and the official
- word is that BizQuery 1.1 does not support Excel 7. The support
- guy I spoke to was very vague as to when it WILL be supported,
- and I'm expecting a call back from a more senior manager
- regarding timing on this issue. Perhaps if someone other than
- me called them about getting Business Query updated for Excel 7
- (it's only an add-in, for heaven's sake), they might push
- development forward."
-
- Tech Support reported in a phone call in early March that
- Mercury is "on schedule" for the end of Q196 or early April,
- but that it will be a "controlled release" only. For more
- information about what that means, I was referred to my
- salesperson. Mercury's beta version was out December 1995, and
- is currently at the beta-2 level.
-
- Does anyone know anything else that we are able to publicize?
-
- U7.02
- What are new features that we BusOb users and managers wish
- would be added to the tool?
-
-
- I am aware that Business Objects staff are aware of this FAQ.
- Lacking a mail list or a newsgroup to communicate with them,
- here are some features that have been frequently requested:
-
- + Allow objects of the same name in one universe, as long as
- object names are unique within the class.
-
-
- Please contact the maintainer of this list with additions.
-
- MANAGER ISSUES
- M1.01
- What are some approaches to resolving loops in the joins?
-
-
- A loop is at least two tables which have two or more sets of
- joins between them, so an entity relationship diagram of the
- tables would have an enclosed area composed of the tables and
- their joins. An example from my subject area might involve the
- tables STUDENT and INSTRUCTOR. A STUDENT is taught by an
- INSTRUCTOR and is advised by an INSTRUCTOR. The tables can be
- joined from STUDENT.INSTRUCTOR_ID to INSTRUCTOR.ID and also
- from STUDENT.ADVISOR_ID to INSTRUCTOR.ID. Rarely will the
- teacher be the same person as the advisor, so applying both
- joins at the same time is rarely desired.
-
- One approach is to use contexts, always at least two. A context
- is a set of joins that should be applied at one time. If
- objects from classes are selected which involve tables from a
- loop, the user is asked to decide which of the contexts to use.
- Present experience, both within and not within BusOb, suggests
- that creating and naming contexts so as to give the user a
- clear idea of which to pick is hard.
-
- Another approach is to use aliases (available starting with
- version 3.1, I believe). Aliases are alternate names for
- tables. Joins and objects are then based on the alias for a
- table instead of the table itself, and thus only the joins
- which correspond to the alias are in effect for a join. This
- sounds clearer, but it still requires decision on the part of
- the user. Ought they select this object, or that object? It may
- also require creating duplicate classes, one for each table or
- alias name.
-
- M1.02
- How can I have a context with no joins?
-
-
- Create a join from one table to the same table, specify complex
- join, then type in "1=1". This places a harmless condition on a
- table. Then, create a new context for which only that 1=1 join
- is selected. The only joins, then, will be user-created joins
- by means of conditions. We have found some situations where
- experienced users needed a clean slate environment to
- experiment with new joins.
-
- M1.03
- Why can't I add new objects?
-
-
- Three possibilities come to mind: you've exceeded the value for
- NBOBJ in OBJECTS.INI (which defaults to 2000 for ver. 3.0.1E);
- you've exceeded the maximum for the individual "hashing file"
- that your intended object would belong to; or your _OBJECTS.ASC
- isn't a subset of your _STRUCT.ASC.
- 1. NBOBJ exceeded. Entries in memory are reserved for the number
- of objects specified by NBOBJ in OBJECTS.INI, and you are
- trying to add yet another object. You may need to divide the
- objects between two or more universes, or increase NBOBJ.
- Note that increasing NBOBJ on one manager's machine means
- increasing NBOBJ on every machine (user and manager) that
- will need to use that universe, and BusOb will be using more
- RAM while running on each of those machines.
- 2. Filled hashing file. BusOb divides a universe's objects
- between 8 files in the DEF directory, each of which is
- assigned to store a portion of all of the objects. For
- instance, for a universe XYZZY, the file XYZZY.ID2 stores all
- objects beginning with 'D' up to 'F' (inclusive), and
- XYZZY.ID8 has objects starting with W-Z, plus all numbers and
- symbols. Each of these files has a maximum number of objects,
- which may be ( NBOBJ / 8 ). If all of your objects are named
- starting, say, with "Data containing ...", then XYZZY.ID2 may
- be full even though the other hashing files are empty.
- 3. _OBJECTS not subset of _STRUCT. The .PRM files allow
- different 'strategy files', with SQL other than the default
- SQL to create different sets of candidate objects from your
- data dictionary or other source. This may be useful, for
- example, if you use Oracle, since the default SQL requires
- that each user have private SYNONYMs created for each table
- that will be accessed. A different strategy file will vary
- the contents of _OBJECTS.ASC which represents the candidate
- objects. Unfortunately, _OBJECTS.ASC must be the same or a
- subset of _STRUCT.ASC, and _STRUCT.ASC is not affected by the
- strategy files. You also, then, must modify your ST*.SQL file
- (for Oracle 7, it's STORA7.SQL) to include tables for all
- possible objects in the _STRUCT.ASC.
-
-
- M1.04
- Are there any "gotchas" with using the Advanced Login Strategy
- for managing security?
-
-
- The Advanced Login Strategy allows the BusOb user to use their
- RDBMS userid and password to login to BusOb. The BusOb userid
- must match the RDBMS userid. The password, however, may be any
- value, since the strategy ignores the BusOb password entirely.
- All security restrictions are imposed by the RDBMS itself.
- Advanced Login is activated by installing a replacement .BUR
- for LIBRARY/DEFAULT.BUR, available from BusOb.
-
- Therefore, the user doesn't need to keep their BusOb password
- synchronized with their RDBMS password (as for Same Login), and
- all users don't access the RDBMS using only one userid/password
- with only one set of security privileges (as for Separate
- Login).
-
- At least one site (U. Penn.) has successfully tested .BUR files
- both for Windows 3.1 and Macintosh platforms.
-
- M1.05
- What do I do if I lose my manager password?
-
-
- Two options: Reinstall BusOb from the original disks, so that
- the defaults of USER/PASS are restored, or get another copy of
- OBJECTS.USE (*not* DICT.KEY as was previously stated here!) for
- which you *do* know the userid/password (from a co-manager?).
- Either way, change the userid/password to be the desired new
- password (that you can remember :-).
-
- A contributer to this FAQ rightly points out that publicizing
- this use of OBJECTS.USE may be a potential security hole. The
- contributor's policy is to require reinstallation of the
- Manager option. While I agree that public knowledge of it gives
- the potential cracker a key piece of information, they still do
- not have the password. We can hope that the encryption that
- BusOb uses for the password in this file is strong. To leave
- out the use of OBJECTS.USE to improve security, however, makes
- life harder for those who might benefit from knowing about it,
- and I assume a cracker could learn of it from other sources.
- Additional input on this choice is welcome. (See also the
- question on BusOb v4.0.)
-
- M1.06
- How can I programmatically modify object names?
-
-
- While the details of this task will vary based on your RDBMS,
- modifying several features of a universe consists of UPDATE sql
- commands sent to the RDBMS. First, Export the universe to be
- sure the "freshest" version is reflected in the repository. The
- repository tables are nicely normalized, so changing OBJ_NAME,
- for instance, from the OBJECTS table changes the object in the
- particular table while keeping integrity.
-
- For example, SQL might appear as follows:
-
- prompt MY_CLASS, MY_OBJ
- update objects
- set obj_name = 'New Object Name'
- where uni_id = 3
- and cla_id = 12
- and obj_id = 74 ;
- assuming, of course, that one had already determined that the object
- was in universe number 3 and class number 12 and object number
- is 74. Use joins in MANAGERx (exact name depends on your RDBMS)
- universe to determine these values correctly to correspond to
- the names of universe, class and object you wish to modify.
- Perl and SQL scripts already exist to help automate some of
- these steps; contact Steve Thompson at thompson@isc.upenn.edu.
-
- M1.07
- How can I modify the MANAGERx universe to allow reporting on
- aliases?
-
-
- Evidently when BusOb released v. 3.1.1E, they did not update
- the MANAGERx universe (x is 'O' for Oracle, 'S' for Sybase,
- others might exist) to reflect that aliases were now possible
- in universes. To modify MANAGERx, add the following classes and
- joins:
-
- + BO_ALIAS (table)
- + TABLES2 (alias for TABLES table)
- + TABLES.UNI_ID = BO_ALIAS.UNI_ID (+) AND TABLES.TAB_ID =
- BO_ALIAS.ALI_ID (+)
- + BO_ALIAS.UNI_ID = TABLES2.UNI_ID (+) AND BO_ALIAS.TAB_ID =
- TABLES2.TAB_ID (+)
-
-
- These joins assume Oracle, with Oracle outer joins indicated by
- "(+)" where nulls are permitted.
-
- M1.08
- How can I find the metamodel for the repository files?
-
-
- See the URL http://www.upenn.edu/da/bo/busob-model.gif for a
- reverse-engineered version. (Caveat! Caveat! No warrantees!)
-
-
-
-
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Thanks to the contributors to this FAQ. This FAQ is maintained by
- thompson@isc.upenn.edu
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-