{"id":1774,"date":"2011-04-17T13:24:40","date_gmt":"2011-04-17T07:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sendyoursmiles.com\/articles\/usage-of-flex"},"modified":"2014-12-05T08:22:18","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T08:22:18","slug":"flex-in-concurrent-program-parameter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erpschools.com\/erps\/sysadmin-and-aol\/flex-in-concurrent-program-parameter","title":{"rendered":"Usage of $FLEX$ and $PROFILE$ In concurrent program parameters"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article illustrates the usage of $FLEX$ and $PROFILE$ with an example.<\/p>\n

$FLEX$<\/strong> is a special bind variable that can be used to base a parameter value on the other parameters (dependent parameters)<\/p>\n

Syntax<\/span> —\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 :$FLEX$.Value_ Set_Name<\/p>\n

Value_Set_Name is the name of value set for a prior parameter in the same parameter window that you want your parameter to depend on.<\/p>\n

Some scenarios where $FLEX$ can be used:<\/p>\n

Example1<\/span>:<\/p>\n

Say you have a concurrent program with the below 2 parameters which are valuesets :<\/p>\n

Parameter1 is Deparment<\/p>\n

Parameter2 is Employee name<\/p>\n

Let’s say there are 100 deparments and each deparment has 200 employees. \u00a0Therefore we have 2000 employees altogether.<\/p>\n

If we \u00a0display all department names in the valueset of parameter1 and all employee names in parameter2 \u00a0value set \u00a0then it might kill lot of performance and also it will be hard for a user to select an employee from the list of 2000 entries.<\/p>\n

Better Solution is to let user select the department from the Department Valuset first. Based on the department selected, you can display only the employees in parameter2 that belong to the selected department in parameter1 valueset.<\/p>\n

Example2:<\/span><\/p>\n

Say you have a concurrent program with the below 2 parameters:<\/p>\n

parameter1: directory path<\/p>\n

parameter2: filename<\/p>\n

Parameter1 and parameter2 are dependent on each other. If the user doesn’t enter\u00a0 directory path, there is no point in enabling the parameter2\u00a0 i.e filename. In such a case, parameter should be disabled.This can be achieved using $FLEX$.<\/p>\n

Working Example of how to use $FLEX$:<\/p>\n

Let’s take the standard concurrent program \u00a0“AP Withholding Tax Extract” to explain how to use $FLEX$.<\/p>\n

This program has 7 parameters\u00a0 like “Date From”, “Date To”, “Supplier From”, “Supplier To” etc<\/p>\n

The requirement is to add an additional parameter called “File Name” \u00a0where the user will give a name to the flat file where the tax extract will be written to, as a parameter. Instead of typing in the name of the file everytime you run the program, the file name should \u00a0be defaulted with the value that the user provides for the parameter “Date From” plus \u00a0“.csv” which is the file extension. Let us now see how this can be achieved using $FLEX$.<\/p>\n

Navigation:\u00a0Application Developer responsibility > Concurrent > Program<\/p>\n

Query up the Concurrent<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Click “Parameters” Button<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Add the parameter “File<\/p>\n