Business Objects FAQ, last modified 96/03/11

Archive-name: databases/bus-objects-faq Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: 1996/03/11 URL: http://pobox.upenn.edu/~thompson/busob-faq.html BUSINESS OBJECTS FAQ This document was last changed March 10, 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, except that employees of Business Objects must request permission for any reproduction. I have a hand-maintained mailing list to notify people about major changes to this FAQ. Send requests to be added to me at thompson@pobox.upenn.edu. The document is very Oracle-specific right now; users of other RDBMS's are invited to contribute to round it out. See end for contributor list. THE QUESTIONS Administrivia 1. A1.01 What recent changes recent changes have been made to this list? 2. A1.02 Could you briefly explain what Business Objects is? 3. A1.03 What are some resources to learn about Business Objects? User Issues 1. 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? 2. 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. 3. 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? 4. Performance + U4.01 Why is Mac performance so poor? + U4.02 Why does canceling a query sometimes work and sometimes hang my machine? 5. 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? 6. Training + U6.01 How is the training provided by Business Objects? + U6.02 How is training provided by others? 7. 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 Administrivia A1.01 What recent changes have been made to this list? Added mention of new BusOb WWW site. Moved the contributor list to the bottom. I 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. I added a paragraph for the "new versions" question concerning Object Query. I gave the address to request being added to the update notification mailing list. I updated questions on Windows 95 and Manager passwords. I added questions on recent changes, new versions and requested enhancements, and Mac installation. I added an administrivia section for information about the FAQ itself. I changed the question numbering. Instead of each question numbered with Q, a number and a decimal, they now have a letter, a number and a decimal to allow easier insertions within a subsection. Letters are currently A (Administrivia), U (User) and M (Manager). A1.02 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. A1.03 What are some resources to learn about Business