htg-call bpc data manager package from visual basic

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK scn.sap.com

© 2012 SAP AG 1

How to Call BPC Data Manager

Package from Visual Basic

Applies to:

SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation version 10 for NetWeaver

BPC 10 SP7 & Above

EPM Add-In 10.0 SP 12 Patch 1 for .NET

Summary

How to call BPC data manager package from Visual Basic

Author: Tristan Colgate, Amaury Gruyelle, Muthu Ranganathan

Company: Bluefin Solutions in collaboration with SAP

Created on: 31 August 2012

Author Bio

Tristan Colgate, EPM Lead at Bluefin Solutions, UK

Amaury Gruyelle, BPC Consultant at Bluefin Solutions, UK

Muthu Ranganathan, EPM Product Management at SAP.

How to Call BPC Data Manager Package from Visual Basic


© 2012 SAP AG 2

Table of Contents

Scenario .............................................................................................................................................................. 3

Details and Usage .............................................................................................................................................. 6

Step by Step Instructions .................................................................................................................................... 7

Create the PARAMETERS Excel Name Range ............................................................................................. 7

Create the PACKAGE Excel Name Range ................................................................................................... 12

Add the Visual Basic code ............................................................................................................................ 15

Create the User Interface to perform the Copy ............................................................................................. 18

Appendix ........................................................................................................................................................... 21

How to display the Developer tab in the Excel Ribbon ................................................................................. 21 MS Office Excel 2010 ................................................................................................................................................ 21

VBA Code ..................................................................................................................................................... 24

Example XML Prompt File ............................................................................................................................ 31

Related Content ................................................................................................................................................ 33

Copyright........................................................................................................................................................... 34



© 2012 SAP AG 3

Scenario

The Data Manager packages delivered as standard with BPC are sophisticated, having many different options. Consider the Copy DM Package.

Firstly, the user needs to specify how the records are handled during the copy.

Then the user specifies whether they want default logic to run after the copy is performed.



© 2012 SAP AG 4

Thirdly the user is asked whether they wish the copy to respect work status.

Fourthly, they must specify the source and destination data ranges.



© 2012 SAP AG 5

Finally, the user selects whether they want to run the copy immediately, or schedule it to run later.

These options can be confusing to an occasional user of BPC, such as a Cost Centre Manager preparing their annual budget. Many of the options are not relevant to what they are trying to achieve, and would actually cause errors in the way their data is processed if set incorrectly.

One solution is to copy the standard package and amend the Prompt script to default those options where appropriate and only present options that are pertinent to the user, in contextualised language that the user will understand.

This may, however, still leave the user navigating through a number of screens when they simply wish to perform a simple function, such as copying their data from one version to another. A common question from users in such a scenario is whether they can simply have drop-down boxes in two cells in the Excel spreadsheet where they can specify from and to Categories, and a button that executes the copy:



© 2012 SAP AG 6

This paper will describe how to achieve this.

Details and Usage

The solution involves the following components.

An Excel sheet where the user can specify from and to versions and click the button to execute the copy.

A Name range called PARAMETERS in the Excel Workbook that specifies all of the parameters that the function in question (in our case, the Copy function) expects, along with the values that will be passed to them.



© 2012 SAP AG 7

A Name range called PACKAGE in the Excel workbook that defines the details of the package we wish to execute.

We also specify here the name of the Prompt File that is generated during the process.

Visual Basic code that, upon being invoked, calls the Data Manager Package specified in the PACKAGE Name range, passing the parameters specified in the PARAMETERS Name range.

Step by Step Instructions

Create the PARAMETERS Excel Name Range

The standard Copy DM Package delivered in the EnvironmentShell BPC model expects the following parameters (as defined in the prompt script file).

TARGETMODE – contains a 0 or a 2 RUNLOGIC – contains a 0 or a 1

CHECKLCK – contains a 0 or a 1

SELECTION – Dimension/ Member pairs defining the source data range.

TOSELECTION – Dimension/ Member pairs defining the target data range.

This information can be gleaned by looking at the DM Package prompt script file, which is accessed as follows:

Navigate to the DataManager

tab on the Excel ribbon



© 2012 SAP AG 8

Select Organize-->Organize Package List

In the Organize Package List pop-up, find the Copy Package, right-click and choose Modify Package.

Click on Modify Script in the

subsequent pop-up:



© 2012 SAP AG 9

Click on Advanced in the

subsequent pop-up:

The final popup, Modify Script, shows the script used to pass parameters back to the DM Package Process Chain. Analyse this information to work out which parameters you need to include in the PARAMETERS Excel Name

Range.

Now we will create the PARAMETERS Name range in Excel.



© 2012 SAP AG 10

Create the cells containing the specification of parameters as per the screenshot. Note:

Prompt names should match those in the DM Prompt definition, with % before and after.

Prompt Type is either Parameter or StringListPairs

Dimension is only relevant for StringListPairs

Value is the value you want to set this parameter to – this can be hard coded (as is the case for the three Parameters), or can use an Excel formula, as is the case for the source and destination categories which look at the selection the user has made in the from and to version drop-downs.



© 2012 SAP AG 11

Select the cells (in our case, the range A1 to D20)

Enter PARAMETERS into the cell reference box to make the Name range.



© 2012 SAP AG 12

Create the PACKAGE Excel Name Range

Log on to the NetWeaver ABAP stack via SAPGUI.

Go to transaction SE16 (Data Browser)

Details about Data Packages are stored in table UJD_PACKAGES2. Enter this table name into the Table Name field and click on:



© 2012 SAP AG 13

Enter the BPC Environment and Model IDs into the APPSET_ID and APP_ID fields respectively.

Click on:

In the table returned, identify the row containing the DM Package we are interested in and select it.

Click on:

The resulting screen contains all of the details you will need to populate the PACKAGE name range.

The following table indicates how you should map the values found in the UJD_PACKAGE2 table with the fields you need to populate in the Excel Name Range you will shortly create.



© 2012 SAP AG 14

Field from table UJD_PACKAGES2 Field in Excel Name Range Example

CHAIN_ID Filename /CPMB/COPY

GROUP_ID GroupId Data Management

PACKAGE_ID PackageDesc Copy

PACKAGE_ID PackageId Copy

PACKAGE_TYPE PackageType Process Chain

TEAM_ID TeamID <blank>

USER_GROUP UserGroup* 0010

* Note that the number in the table must be entered with leading zeroes, as a four character field.

Additionally, field PromptFile will contain the name of a file that will be created as part of the process of launching the DM Package. Note that, if you are using this in an Enterprise environment, that you’ll need to decide on a file location that can be guaranteed to exist on all end users’ PCs. In our, example we use: C:\CopyDataManagerPromptFile.txt

Now we will create the Excel PACKAGE Name Range:

Create the cells containing the specification of parameters as per the screenshot.



© 2012 SAP AG 15

Select the cells in the data range (in our case cells F1:G9)

Enter PACKAGE into the cell

reference and hit <enter>.

Add the Visual Basic code

Note that you must have the “Developer” tab enabled in the Excel ribbon:



© 2012 SAP AG 16

If you cannot see this tab in your ribbon in Excel, then you need to enable it. Follow the instructions in the Appendix to do so before moving on.

Click on the button in the Developer ribbon tab to open the Visual Basic editor.

Navigate to Tools--> References from the Visual Basic menu bar.



© 2012 SAP AG 17

Check the boxes as per the screenshot to the right. Note – you may need to scroll down quite a long list to find some of these.

In the Project Explorer pane, right click on the VBAProject node for your Excel Workbook and choose:

Insert --> Module



© 2012 SAP AG 18

Copy and Paste the code in Appendix 4.x into the newly created Module.

Create the User Interface to perform the Copy

Create the following cells.



© 2012 SAP AG 19

Use Data Validation in order to provide a drop-down on the Category dimension fields.

In the Developer ribbon tab, choose

Insert-->Button Form Control

Use the lasso tool to draw out the rectangle for the button.



© 2012 SAP AG 20

The Assign Macro popup appears. Select existing Macro executeDmPackageWithParameters.

Click OK.

The button is now displayed. To test the solution, click on the button.

In the Data Manager ribbon tab,

click on:



© 2012 SAP AG 21

The Package Status popup should appear and show your job in progress (or perhaps already completed).

Appendix

How to display the Developer tab in the Excel Ribbon

MS Office Excel 2010

Here is the Excel 2010 Ribbon. Note that the Developer tab is not currently displayed.



© 2012 SAP AG 22

Select the File tab in the ribbon and click on Options.

The Options pop-up is

displayed:



© 2012 SAP AG 23

Select the Customize Ribbon option in the left pane.

In the right-hand panel, select the checkbox labelled Developer, and then click on OK.

The Developer tab is now displayed.



© 2012 SAP AG 24

VBA Code

Public Sub executeDmPackageWithParameters()

' Create the Answer Prompt file in the location

' specified in the Name Range "PACKAGE"

createAnswerPromptFile "PACKAGE", "PARAMETERS"

' Get the DM Automation class instance

Dim objDMautomation As EPMAddInDMAutomation

Set objDMautomation = New EPMAddInDMAutomation

' Run the package specified in Excel Name Range "PACKAGE",

' using the promtp file specified in Name Range "PACKAGE"

objDMautomation.RunPackage objPackageFromSheet("PACKAGE"), _

strFilename("PACKAGE")

End Sub

Private Function strFilename(strRange As String) As String

' Get the range in which the DM package paramteres is set

Dim rngPackageRange As Range

Set rngPackageRange = Application.Names(strRange).RefersToRange

' Loop through the rows

For i = 1 To rngPackageRange.Rows.Count

If rngPackageRange(i, 1).Value = "PromptFile" Then

strFilename = rngPackageRange(i, 2).Value

Exit Function

End If

Next

End Function

Private Function strPackageDescription(strRange As String) As String






© 2012 SAP AG 25



If rngPackageRange(i, 1).Value = "PackageId" Then

strPackageDescription = rngPackageRange(i, 2).Value

Exit Function

End If

Next

End Function

Private Function objPackageFromSheet(strRange As String) As ADMPackage




' Create the ADM Package object

Set objPackageFromSheet = New ADMPackage



Select Case rngPackageRange(i, 1).Value

Case "Filename"

objPackageFromSheet.Filename = rngPackageRange(i, 2).Value

Case "GroupId"

objPackageFromSheet.GroupId = rngPackageRange(i, 2).Value

Case "PackageDesc"

objPackageFromSheet.PackageDesc = rngPackageRange(i, 2).Value

Case "PackageId"

objPackageFromSheet.PackageId = rngPackageRange(i, 2).Value

Case "PackageType"

objPackageFromSheet.PackageType = rngPackageRange(i, 2).Value

Case "TeamId"

objPackageFromSheet.TeamId = rngPackageRange(i, 2).Value

Case "UserGroup"

objPackageFromSheet.UserGroup = rngPackageRange(i, 2).Value

End Select



© 2012 SAP AG 26

Next

End Function

Private Sub createAnswerPromptFile(strPackageName As String, _

strParametersName As String)

' Create a new XML document

Dim objDOM As DOMDocument

Set objDOM = New DOMDocument

' Set the processing instruction of the XML document

Dim objProcessingInstruction As IXMLDOMProcessingInstruction

Set objProcessingInstruction = _

objDOM.createProcessingInstruction("xml", _

" version='1.0' encoding='utf-16'")

objDOM.appendChild objProcessingInstruction

' Create root element

Dim objRootElem As IXMLDOMElement

Set objRootElem = objDOM.createElement("ArrayOfAnswerPromptPersistingFormat")

objDOM.appendChild objRootElem

' XSI Attribute

Dim objMemberRel As IXMLDOMAttribute

Set objMemberRel = objDOM.createAttribute("xmlns:xsi")

objMemberRel.NodeValue = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

objRootElem.setAttributeNode objMemberRel

' XSD Attribute

Set objMemberRel = objDOM.createAttribute("xmlns:xsd")

objMemberRel.NodeValue = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"

objRootElem.setAttributeNode objMemberRel

' Get the range of cells containing the parameters

Dim rngParameters As Range

Set rngParameters = ThisWorkbook.Names(strParametersName).RefersToRange

'Excel.Names(strParametersName).RefersToRange

'

Dim objCurrentStringPairParent As IXMLDOMElement



© 2012 SAP AG 27

' Loop through each row

For i = 1 To rngParameters.Rows.Count

' See which type of parameter is being passed

Select Case rngParameters(i, 2).Value

' If it is a single Parameter, then add a parameter node to the root node

Case "Parameter"

addSingleSelectionParameterToXML rngParameters(i, 1).Value, _

rngParameters(i, 4).Value, _

objRootElem, _

objDOM

' If it is a list of values

Case "StringListPairs"

' If it's a new set of String List Pairs, then create a new parent

If rngParameters(i, 1).Value <> strCurrentStringPair Then

strCurrentStringPair = rngParameters(i, 1).Value

Set objCurrentStringPairParent = _

getStringListPairParent(rngParameters(i, 1).Value, _

objRootElem, _

objDOM)

End If

' Add the Dimension Name and Value to the parent

addStringListPair rngParameters(i, 3).Value, _

rngParameters(i, 4).Value, _

objCurrentStringPairParent, _

objDOM

End Select

Next

' Create the File object

Dim objFile As FileSystemObject

Set objFile = New FileSystemObject

' Create a stream to create and write to the file

Dim objStream As TextStream

Set objStream = objFile.OpenTextFile(strFilename(strPackageName), _

ForWriting, True)



© 2012 SAP AG 28

' Write the name of the DM package first and then the XML output

objStream.WriteLine strPackageDescription(strPackageName) & _

"{param_separator}" & _

objDOM.XML

' Close the file

objStream.Close

End Sub

Private Function addStringListPair(strVariableName As String, _

strValue As String, _

objParent As IXMLDOMElement, _

objDOM As DOMDocument)

' Create the "StringListPair" node

Dim objStringListPairElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objStringListPairElement = _

objDOM.createElement("StringListPair")

objParent.appendChild objStringListPairElement

' Create the "Str" element containing the variable name

Dim objStrElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objStrElement = objDOM.createElement("str")

objStringListPairElement.appendChild objStrElement

objStrElement.Text = strVariableName

' Create the "lst" element

Dim objLstElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objLstElement = objDOM.createElement("lst")

objStringListPairElement.appendChild objLstElement

' Create the "string" element containing the variable value

Dim objStringElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objStringElement = objDOM.createElement("string")

objLstElement.appendChild objStringElement

objStringElement.Text = strValue

End Function

Private Function getStringListPairParent(strVariableName As String, _


objDOM As DOMDocument) As IXMLDOMElement



© 2012 SAP AG 29

' Create the "AnswerPromptPersistingFormat" node

Dim objAnswerPromptPersistingFormatElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objAnswerPromptPersistingFormatElement = _

objDOM.createElement("AnswerPromptPersistingFormat")

objParent.appendChild objAnswerPromptPersistingFormatElement

' Create the "_ap" node

Dim objApElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objApElement = objDOM.createElement("_ap")

objAnswerPromptPersistingFormatElement.appendChild objApElement

' Create the parameter name element

Dim objParameterElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objParameterElement = objDOM.createElement("Name")

objApElement.appendChild objParameterElement

objParameterElement.Text = strVariableName

' Create the values element

Dim objValuesElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objValuesElement = objDOM.createElement("Values")

objApElement.appendChild objValuesElement

' Create the "_apc" node

Set getStringListPairParent = objDOM.createElement("_apc")

objAnswerPromptPersistingFormatElement.appendChild getStringListPairParent

End Function

Private Function addSingleSelectionParameterToXML(strVariableName As String, _

strValue As String, _


objDOM As DOMDocument)

' Create the "AnswerPromptPersistingFormat" node

Dim objAnswerPromptPersistingFormatElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objAnswerPromptPersistingFormatElement = _

objDOM.createElement("AnswerPromptPersistingFormat")

objParent.appendChild objAnswerPromptPersistingFormatElement

' Create the "_ap" node

Dim objApElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objApElement = objDOM.createElement("_ap")

objAnswerPromptPersistingFormatElement.appendChild objApElement



© 2012 SAP AG 30

' Create the parameter name element

Dim objParameterElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objParameterElement = objDOM.createElement("Name")

objApElement.appendChild objParameterElement

objParameterElement.Text = strVariableName

' Create the values element

Dim objValuesElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objValuesElement = objDOM.createElement("Values")

objApElement.appendChild objValuesElement

' Create the string element with the value passed to the parameter

Dim objStringElement As IXMLDOMElement

Set objStringElement = objDOM.createElement("string")

objValuesElement.appendChild objStringElement

objStringElement.Text = strValue

End Function



© 2012 SAP AG 33

Related Content

Enterprise Performance Management Community

Financial Excellence Community

http://scn.sap.com/community/epm

http://scn.sap.com/community/epm/financial-excellence



© 2012 SAP AG 34

Copyright

© Copyright 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP AG. The information contained herein may be changed without prior notice.

Some software products marketed by SAP AG and its distributors contain proprietary software components of other software vendors.

Microsoft, Windows, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

IBM, DB2, DB2 Universal Database, System i, System i5, System p, System p5, System x, System z, System z10, System z9, z10, z9, iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, zSeries, eServer, z/VM, z/OS, i5/OS, S/390, OS/390, OS/400, AS/400, S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server, PowerVM, Power Architecture, POWER6+, POWER6, POWER5+, POWER5, POWER, OpenPower, PowerPC, BatchPipes, BladeCenter, System Storage, GPFS, HACMP, RETAIN, DB2 Connect, RACF, Redbooks, OS/2, Parallel Sysplex, MVS/ESA, AIX, Intelligent Miner, WebSphere, Netfinity, Tivoli and Informix are trademarks or registered trademarks of IBM Corporation.

Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, PostScript, and Reader are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation.

UNIX, X/Open, OSF/1, and Motif are registered trademarks of the Open Group.

Citrix, ICA, Program Neighborhood, MetaFrame, WinFrame, VideoFrame, and MultiWin are trademarks or registered trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc.

HTML, XML, XHTML and W3C are trademarks or registered trademarks of W3C®, World Wide Web Consortium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Java is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation.

JavaScript is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation, used under license for technology invented and implemented by Netscape.

SAP, R/3, SAP NetWeaver, Duet, PartnerEdge, ByDesign, SAP Business ByDesign, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and other countries.

Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, Crystal Decisions, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, and other Business Objects products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects S.A. in the United States and in other countries. Business Objects is an SAP company.

All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.

These materials are subject to change without notice. These materials are provided by SAP AG and its affiliated companies ("SAP Group") for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and SAP Group shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP Group products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.

htg-call bpc data manager package from visual basic

Documents