SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

2845593 - How to enter the variable values in Analysis Office using the input-string notation

Symptom

This document describes the syntax and how to enter the variable values in Analysis Office using the input-string notation.

Environment

SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office

Resolution

Consider the following syntax rules and examples when entering variable values in AO prompts dialog using input-string notation:

Single Member:

ABC123
ABC-123
Interval (lower bound - upper bound): ABC123 - XYZ789
Range (comparison operated and member): >ABC123
>=DEF-234
<GHI-345
<=KLM456
Hierarchy Node (+node name(node type name)): +ABC123(XYZ)
Multiple Components (separated by ;): ABC123; EFG456; MNO-789
Excluding (prefixing with !): !ABC123

In order for the InputString to be properly interpreted, there are a number of characters that have a special meaning (so-called reserved characters):

Reserved characters Description
Space
( Opening bracket
) Closing bracket
! Exclamation mark
* Asterix
[

Opening square bracket
]

Closing square bracket
+

Plus sign
; Semicolon
\ Backslash
= Equal sign
<

Less than sign
> Greater than sign

If any of these characters are part of the (display) key, then they need to be escaped by prefixing them with a backslash \

Examples:

Element to be selected  InputString to be entered Remarks
ABC DEF ABC\ DEF Spaces as part of the key need to be escaped
MNO - UVW MNO\ -\ UVW Spaces as part of the key need to be escaped. Dashes do not need to be escaped.
GHI(KLM) GHI\(KLM\) Brackets as part of the key need to be escaped
XYZ( XYZ\( Brackets need to be escaped even if they are not matching
ABC123! ABC123\! Exclamation marks as part of the key need to be escaped
*EFG456 \*EFG456 Asterixis as part of the key need to be escaped
ABC-DEF[4567] ABC-DEF\[4567\] Square brackets as part of the key need to be escaped
123XYZ] 123XYZ\] Square brackets as part of the key need to be escaped even if they are not matching
XYZ+000 XYZ\+000 Plus signs as part of the key need to be escaped
ABC;DEF ABC\;DEF Semicolons as part of the key need to be escaped
MNO\678 MNO\\678 Backslashes as part of the key need to be escaped
432=987 432\=987 Equal signs as part of the key need to be escaped
<XYZ> \<XYZ\> Less and greater signs as part of the key need to be escaped
 ABCDEFG \ ABCDEFG\ Leading or trailing spaces need to be escaped. It not recommended to use leading or trailing spaces in the key at all!

Note: Escaping characters that do not need to be escaped should not cause any problems (e.g. AB\C will be interpreted as ABC)

See Also

Keywords

variable screen, variables, prompts, var, dialog, rules, syntax, slash, display, variable, input, changing, adding, wildcard, pattern, CP, contains pattern , KBA , BI-RA-AO-XLA , Excel Addin , Problem

Product

SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office all versions