Adventures in Groovy – Part 50: Incredibly Awesome New Methods

Oracle has recently added 2 fantastic new methods that significantly improve our ability to minimize our scripts and reduce the effort to build and maintain them.  The first is a method in the EPMScript class called cscParams.  The second is in the cube class named executeEssbaseScript.

cscParams

This method accepts almost any parameter, whether it be a member, string, list, array, or map, and converts every one of them to a delimited, quoted list of strings primarily used in FIX statements.

This is far and away better than fixValues, as that only accepted certain objects.  It doesn’t accept strings, lists, or maps.  It is also better than building string concatenations using escapes for quotes.

executeEssbaseScript

This method, in the cube class, gives us the ability to execute strings as calculations scripts.  Yes, we have had this before, but not in this capacity.  This has significant improvements over previous methods.

1. This allows us to continue another process, unlike using return or just sending the last string as a calculation.
2. This method returns the Essbase calculation error back to groovy so it can be used to dynamically account for errors.
3. It also allows access to the @RETURN response, so that can be used to interact with calculations in a way we never had had before.

Examples And Use

Since I added these to the training offered at in2hyperion.podia.com, I thought it would benefit you all to have access.  I created a class that is free.  All you have to do is create an account and “purchase” a free class…for free!.  Each module is almost 10 minutes and goes through the use case.  I know many have concerns about investing in the classes, so this will provide a great sample of how the classes are constructed and facilitated.

That’s A Wrap

I am really happy/relieved/excited at the feedback I am getting.  Here are a few comments I have received.

• Wow!  I can’t tell you how happy I am with the course you put together.

• Module 10 is incredible.  This whole experience has changed my role in the organization.  I am the go-to person and asked to get involved in all of our projects.  The explanations are fantastic and delivered in a way that it just makes sense.  This is the best training I have ever taken.

• I just finished your Groovy training. I happened to start it just ahead of needing it on a new project. I’ve now written a few Groovy rules to do things not otherwise possible and am loving it.

I know you might be concerned about the effort to create an account, but it will take just a minute or two, and it protects the content from being shared and copied on YouTube.  You will also be notified of any updates to the classes that you have access to.  The class can be purchased here.

COVID-19

We are living in unprecedented times.  Every few days I learn something new about how people are impacted.  People are spending thousands to create home offices.  People are isolated from the ones they love the most.  My college roommate passed away last week and I couldn’t be there, I couldn’t help his parents, and the funeral is for 10 people.  I know people have it way worse than me.  Our medical peers are in harm’s way.  But I hope positive things come out of all of this.  Working from home will be more acceptable.  People will appreciate things they took for granted before.  We will all become better cooks.  I think services are stretched and it will create opportunities for new and improved offerings.

The stress we are all under is starting to show though.  I see it in meetings.  I see it in my family.  I see it in social media posts.  People are moving less and we all know that exercise helps stress. I know my family’s sleep patterns are messed up.  Please be kind to each other.  Please let snippy comments go.  Please bite your tongue when somebody says something they shouldn’t.  And if you don’t, take a breath, walk away, come back and show some compassion.  None of us are perfect and this is causing enormous amounts of stress that honestly, I am just realizing.