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Before you can do any development work in WebFOCUS Developer Studio, you must create a project. You can accomplish this by using the Project Wizard, which guides you through the project creation process by prompting you for all necessary information.

1. Launch Developer Studio. If the WebFOCUS Reporting Server is installed, it is activated at this time.
2. Right-click Projects on localhost in the Explorer and choose New Project.

   

   The Create a Project wizard opens at Step 1.

3. Name the Project OLAP and accept the default directory for the new project. Notice that the project name is registered as OLAP.gfa (Graphical FOCUS Application).

   Note: Project directories are created in lowercase.

   

4. Click Next.
5. The following message appears:

   Directory OLAP does not exist. Do you want to create it?

   Click Yes to confirm the creation of the physical directory for the new project.

6. In Step 2, you will specify a directory path to the data source from which the project must retrieve information.

   

   Click Add. The Browse for Folder dialog box opens.

   

7. Choose ibinccen. This is the directory in which the sample files for the fictional Century Corporation are stored. You will be using some of these files to create your income statement.
8. Click OK.
9. Click Add again.
10. Choose ibisamp.

    The Project Wizard displays your selections.

    

11. Click Finish. Your new project now appears in the Explorer tree.
12. Click the plus (+) sign to expand the OLAP folder. You will see subfolders: HTML Files, Maintain Files, Master Files, Procedures, and Other.

    

    Tip: These are virtual folders, categorized in this way for your convenience. They are called virtual folders because they apply a logical structure to the project but do not actually exist as physical directories. The files listed in these folders, along with the project GFA file, are actually stored on a WebFOCUS Reporting Server and a Web/Application Server. Nevertheless, you can identify and access the files associated with a project from a folder in the local projects development area of Developer Studio, without concern for where the files actually reside.

To complete the tutorial, you will use the Master Files and Procedures folders.

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Follow these steps to add master files to your OLAP project.

1. Click the Master Files folder under the OLAP project.

   You will see a list of all the Master Files in the paths you specified when you created the project:

   • ibi\localhost\apps\ibinccen
   • ibi\localhost\apps\ibisamp

   Notice that the icons are grayed out. This indicates that the files are available, but not active for your project.

2. To associate the Master Files you will need for the tutorial with the OLAP project, select the BROKERS.MAS, CENTORD.MAS, and TRADES.MAS Master Files and click the Add button on the toolbar (or right-click and select Add to Project).

   The icons for these Master Files are now active for your project.

3. Click the binoculars icon to limit the list to the active Master Files.

Tip: You can toggle back to the full list at any time.

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To see where the corresponding data is stored:

1. Expand the WebFOCUS Environments icon. The WebFOCUS Environments area of the Explorer shows the actual files that reside on the WebFOCUS Reporting Server and the Web/Application server.
2. Double-click localhost under WebFOCUS Environments. This is the Reporting Server installed on your local machine.
3. Open Data Servers, followed by EDASERVE, then Applications.
4. Expand the folder labeled ibinccen (the directory you cited earlier as the location in which the data for your project is stored).
5. Organize the list by Type. Scroll down to see the full list of Master Files available on the path you identified, including the ones you added to the project: BROKERS.MAS, CENTORD.MAS, and TRADES.MAS. Then scroll back up to see the corresponding data sources: BROKERS.MAS, CENTORD.MAS, and TRADES.MAS.

   The Master File is visible in the virtual folder in the local Projects development area, but the data source file is only visible on the server itself.

When you run a report later in this exercise, WebFOCUS will identify, locate, and read the active Master File (.MAS) for the data source (.FOC) named in the request. It will then interpret the contents of the data source based on the information in the Master File. You do not have to make the data source files active.

Notice that the ibinccen folder also contains some sample procedures (.FEX files). You will not be using these procedures. They have been created for use in demos and other exercises. For this tutorial, you will create your own OLAP-enabled procedure.

Close WebFOCUS Environments. You will create the procedure in the local projects development area.

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Behind any WebFOCUS OLAP report is a hierarchical data structure. For example, a typical hierarchy of sales regions might contain a GEOGRAPHY category including the fields Region, State, and City (in descending order). Region, the highest level in this hierarchy, would contain a list of all available regions within GEOGRAPHY. State, the second highest level in the hierarchy, would contain a list of all available states within those regions, and others.

In WebFOCUS, the hierarchical structure is generally built into the Master File for a data source, where it becomes active for any report that uses that data source. Developers or administrators who are responsible for describing data in a Master File can use WebFOCUS language. The keyword WITHIN defines the elements in each dimension in the hierarchy. For details about WITHIN syntax, see the Describing Data With WebFOCUS Language manual.

In addition, those working in WebFOCUS Developer Studio have access to a variety of graphical tools that make it easy to drag and drop fields into position to form a hierarchy. The hierarchy may be global to all procedures or local to one procedure:

• To define a global hierarchy in a Master File for use with multiple procedures, use the Dimension Builder.
• To define a local hierarchy as a component of a particular procedure, use the Dimension tool. The hierarchy you define with this tool does not affect the source Master File.

For details about these related tools, see the Describing Data With Graphical Tools manual.