Changing the Definition of an Object

When can you change the definition of an object?

The definition of the last object you have defined in your analytic workspace is the current definition. You can append characteristics, such as a description, property, or permission to the current definition. If you want to append a characteristic to a definition that is not current, then you can use the CONSIDER command to make it the current definition.

Commands that you can use to make changes to an object definition

The following table lists the OLAP DML commands that you can use to append characteristics to an object definition.

Command	Description
EQ	Allows you to specify the expression to be calculated for a formula that has already been defined
EXTARGS	Assigns arguments to the definition of an EXTCALL object
LD	Assigns a long description to an object definition
MODEL	Allows you to enter completely new contents into a new or existing model
PERMIT	Assigns access permission to an object definition
PROGRAM	Allows you to enter completely new contents into a new or existing program
PROPERTY	Assigns a property to an object definition
VNF	Assigns a value name format to the definition of a time dimension

Example: Changing the definition of a variable

Suppose that you have defined a Boolean variable named ONPLAN. Later, you want to add a description to the variable's definition.

As shown below, to change the definition of the ONPLAN variable, you first make ONPLAN the current definition, and then you append a description to the definition.

consider onplan
ld Are these districts being tracked on a special plan?

Example: Changing the storage type of a variable

You can redefine the access mode of a variable by using the CHGDFN command, which is shown below.

CHGDFN varname INPLACE
               PERMANENT 

For more information on the DEFINE and CHGDFN commands, see the topic for the command in the OLAP DML Reference.