Is there a way to do this in Planning Analyst with date selection?

[jimicron2]

Here's the scoop. I run the following macro, which looks at 5 cubes, but 4 of those, it looks at twice. I use two different date ranges depending on if I want Actuals only in my export, or Actuals & Forecast. I am using @AddLocalPreSelection to "hardcode" the date for both Actuals and Actual & Forecast. I do not want to do a @DCubeOpenSelect because I would have to move over date ranges 9 times and that really increases the chance for an error and then the macro will have to be run again, etc. etc. All cubes use a "4 Months" d-list, however, one cube from the PLCA library uses it's own "4 Month" d-list and the rest of the cubes use the "4 Month" d-list from the Baseline library. Therefore, when using @AddLocalPreSelection, I have to use it before each library. Unfortunately, I cannot change the D-list, otherwise, I would just change it, but they differ in number of months.

What I am wondering is… is there a way to eliminate my end user having to go in and manually change the dates in the macro prior to running it? Ideally, I'd like her to be able to just click on Run Macro and let it fly. Or is there a way to do the same sort of function as a DCubeOpenSelect for the AddLocalPreSelection? Meaning, when the macro is run, it would ask for the date range, but then would just use that date range from then on until it hit another AddLocalPreSelection.

OR, someone suggested, if it was possible, to create something in the macro that made Cognos look at the PC's date. And then in the macro tell it to choose the last complete month per the computers date. Therefore, if it is May 30th, the macro would give me months from a selected start date through the end of April. This would be sweet! The Actual date ranges change on a monthly basis, however, the Actual & Forecast range only changes once per year or when the forecast is changed.

Does this make sense? I am really hoping someone can provide some help on this. It's odd that Cognos Planning-Analyst doesn't provide something like this that appears like a simple request. I am new to Cognos and do not know Java or anything. If anyone knows of a simple fix in Java or the like, could you provide exactly what I would need so I can give it a try? Thanks a ton!!

JIM




@DCubeOpen({Selection from D-Cube PLCA.Lookup - Design})
@DCubeExport("G:\Dashboard download samples\Design Roll Groups Test.csv"; {Selection from D-Cube PLCA.Lookup - Design}; ["Clipboard=No"
@Close("Y")
@Rem("")
@Rem("**************** Edit D-List Selection in the line below (MONTHLY) to select only ACTUALS dates: SEP 05 to CURRENT ******************
@AddLocalPreSelection("Preselect"; {Selection from D-List PLCA.4 Months})
@DCubeOpen({Selection from D-Cube PLCA.OPERATING INCOME})
@DCubeExport("G:\Dashboard download samples\Operating Income Actuals Test.csv"; {Selection from D-Cube PLCA.OPERATING INCOME}; ["Clipboard=No"
@Close("Y")
@Rem("")
@Rem("***************** Edit D-List Selection in the line below (MONTHLY) to select only ACTUALS dates: SEP 05 to CURRENT ******************
@AddLocalPreSelection("Preselect"; {Selection from D-List Baseline.4 Months})
@DCubeOpen({Selection from D-Cube Baseline.Executive Summary})
@DCubeExport("G:\Dashboard download samples\Executive Summary Actuals Test.csv"; {Selection from D-Cube Baseline.Executive Summary}; ["Clipboard=No"
@Close("Y")
@DCubeOpen({Selection from D-Cube Baseline.FG Inv})
@DCubeExport("G:\Dashboard download samples\FG Inv Actuals Test.csv"; {Selection from D-Cube Baseline.FG Inv}; ["Clipboard=No"
@Close("Y")
@DCubeOpen({Selection from D-Cube Baseline.Ramp Fab Monthly})
@DCubeExport("G:\Dashboard download samples\Ramp Fab Monthly Actuals Test.csv"; {Selection from D-Cube Baseline.Ramp Fab Monthly}; ["Clipboard=No"
@Close("Y")
@Rem("")
@Rem("*************** Edit D-List Selection in the line below (AS NEEDED) to select ACTUALS & FORECAST dates: SEP 05 to AUG 08 ***************
@AddLocalPreSelection("Preselect"; {Selection from D-List PLCA.4 Months})
@DCubeOpen({Selection from D-Cube PLCA.OPERATING INCOME})
@DCubeExport("G:\Dashboard download samples\Operating Income Last Published Test.csv"; {Selection from D-Cube PLCA.OPERATING INCOME}; ["Clipboard=No"
@Close("Y")
@Rem("")
@Rem("*************** Edit D-List Selection in the line below (AS NEEDED) to select ACTUALS & FORECAST dates: SEP 05 to AUG 08 ***************
@AddLocalPreSelection("Preselect"; {Selection from D-List Baseline.4 Months})
@DCubeOpen({Selection from D-Cube Baseline.Executive Summary})
@DCubeExport("G:\Dashboard download samples\Executive Summary Last Published Test.csv"; {Selection from D-Cube Baseline.Executive Summary}; ["Clipboard=No"
@Close("Y")
@DCubeOpen({Selection from D-Cube Baseline.FG Inv})
@DCubeExport("G:\Dashboard download samples\FG Inv Last Published Test.csv"; {Selection from D-Cube Baseline.FG Inv}; ["Clipboard=No"
@Close("Y")
@DCubeOpen({Selection from D-Cube Baseline.Ramp Fab Monthly})
@DCubeExport("G:\Dashboard download samples\Ramp Fab Monthly Last Published Test.csv"; {Selection from D-Cube Baseline.Ramp Fab Monthly}; ["Clipboard=No"
@Close("Y")