As with WebFOCUS Visual Discovery, you can use one input file, which is a flat file that contains all the fields used in the WebFOCUS Enable application. The flat file can contain detailed records (the lowest level of granularity, for example, records displayed using the command PRINT). The flat file can also be aggregated at a particular level, for example, summarized using a WebFOCUS aggregation function. For complex applications, you can use more than one input file.

You can bind an input file to an ibiDataGrid. You can then use that relationship to bind other components to create a subset of the fields or aggregations from the data in the ibiDataGrid. You can make the ibiDataGrid, like any other component, visible or invisible in the application by setting its visible property to true or false. You can hide the ibiDataGrid in your design when it is needed only to populate other components with data.

You can perform aggregation on any of the fields in the input file that is bound to the ibiDataGrid. This feature allows for efficient reuse of the data that is used in the WebFOCUS Enable application. For example, the data set may contain the following fields: REGION, STATE, CITY, CATEGORY, PRODUCT, DOLLARS, and UNITS. Once you include these fields in the ibiDataGrid, you can create another grid, based on the ibiDataGrid, in which you SUM DOLLARS BY REGION. The aggregation is performed by WebFOCUS Enable locally in the application instead of on the server.

If you are using more than one input file, you must bind each one to a separate ibiDataGrid and give each one a distinct Id.

To access the built-in aggregation and filtering capabilities of WebFOCUS Enable through the Properties pane for the Information Builders custom components, use the ibiCanvas custom component, which binds all components and contains the required functions. Alternatively, you can use the Flex Builder standard components and the API calls to WebFOCUS Enable to perform those functions. With the second approach, you write your own ActionScript function calls.