Advanced HFM Rules

HFM rules drive the business flow of an application. FM uses VB scripts for writing rules.

HFM supports some built in functions. FM comes with a rule editor which validates your code and saves it for future use.

In HFM while writing a rules remember all the 12 dimensions represent a view.

In the course of writing a rule we will need to either retrieve data contained in a cell (HS.GetCell) from the database or save a data in the database (HS.Expression).

HS is an acronym of Hyperion Systems.

A rule in HFM is a clubbing of subroutines. These subroutines are designed to meet a specific purpose.

Sub calculate and sub Dynamic are two expected sub routines in a HFM rule. I will be illustrating how it works.

Let’s have a discussion on the basics of writing a HFM rule.

1.     Comment lines –an apostrophe in front of the chunk of code that needs to be commented out.

2.     The LHS part can only use any member from Account,ICP and custom dimensions and the RHS of any expression can use members from any of the dimensions.

3.     We refer to any dimensional member using the below syntax

Dim annotation # Member Name.

HFM defines annotation names for every dimensions

e.g Accounts A, custom dimensions C1-C4,Entity E, Intercompany Partner I,Period P,View W,Scenario S,Year Y and Period P.

            E.g  HS.Exp “A#NetCapital = A#CurrentAssets – A#CurrentLiabilities”

4.     HFM uses period (.) to connect different dimensions for navigating to a data point.

5.     Underscore ( _) signals the HFM calc manager that the expression will be continued in the next line.

6.     Colon( :) combines two lines in the script.

7.     Variants used in HFM rules can have the below data types.

Data Type	Description
Empty	Value is 0 for numeric variables or a zero-length string ("").
String	A variable-length string that can be up to approximately 2 billion characters in length.
Boolean	True or False.
Byte	Integer in the range 0 to 255.
Integer	Integer in the range -32,768 to 32,767.
Currency	A value from -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807.
Long	An integer in the range -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647.
Single	A single-precision, floating-point number
Double	A double-precision, floating-point number
Date (Time)	A number that represents a date between January 1, 100 to December 31, 9999.
Object	Contains an object.
Error	Contains an error number.
Null	Variant intentionally contains no valid data.

Examples to define varians for dimensions

var_Entity = HS.Entity.Member    signifies    'current entity

Var_parent = HS.Parent.Member   signifies    'parent of current entity

Var_scenario = HS.Scenario.Member     signifies   'current scenario

Var_value = HS.Value.Member        signifies       'current value

Var_year = HS.Year.Member      signifies            'current year

nbrPov_period = HS.Period.Number       signifies   'This is the number not the name

is_parent_cur = HS.Value.IsTransCur     signifies   'are we at Parent Currency

is_parent_cur_adj = HS.Value.IsTransCurAdj     signifies    'are we at Parent Currency Adjust

is_base_ent = HS.Entity.IsBase("", "")         'is this a base level entity

HFM supports default members for every dimensions designated as None(can be customized)

There are two types of variables fin HFM substitution and Execution varables.

The variables which change value depending upon the view point are termed as execution variables.

Note: While writing rules in calc manager keep the variable in braces {}.

The header section of a HFM rule defines Variants and constants which will be used later.The variants declared within a subroutine have local scope.

STRINGS

HFM uses ampersand operator  & to concatenate two strings.

Mid,Len,Ucase,Lcase,Left,Right are some of the known String functions.

ARRAY

Syntax: Dim V_array(10)

V_array(0) = “Avik”

V_array(1) = “Sandy”

HFM also supports multidimensional arrays.

There are two types of subroutines in HFM

1.     Sub Procedure – May or maynot return a value

2.     Function Procedure – Must return a value

       

If any argument is passed on using call by Ref its value persist even after the control moves out of the Procedure or function but the variant passed using ByVal decays after the control moves out .

Conditional statements control in HFM

If statement executes a set of rules when a condition is met

Syntax:

If x=10 Then

    Var= "A#ACC_010"

End If

Select CASE statement in HFM

Example:

Dim Var

  Var = Hs.Entity.Member("")

  Select Case Var

  Case "India"

        ... Execute statement

  Case "AUS"

        ... Execute statement

  Case "Rus"

        ... Execute statement

  End Select

Looping Statements in HFM:

Types of looping statemennts:

·        For…Next

·        For Each…Next

·        Do…Loop

·        While…Wend

·        Do…Loop

Examples

For x = LBound(Arr) to UBound (Arr)

       some rules

Next

  For Each  var  In  ArrayList

       Codes ...

  Next

 Do Until x=10

  x = x+1

        If x<5 Then

               Exit Do

        End If

Loop

Do

  Codes….

Loop Until x=10