So far in this discussion we have addressed those aspects of the API that are common to all programs. We have not addressed the operations that the program will be designed to accomplish. All programs require that you understand the nested programming model, pass arguments to and from the API functions in a consistent way, interpret the function's return codes, initialize the API, log in to a server, connect to a database, log out, and terminate. Now we need to address the real point of the program; the program needs to perform an operation of some kind.
This discussion covers the main functional groups of the C Main API. Some sections have references to the sample programs, but the sample programs do not include all areas of the API. The sample program loads data, reports the contents of the database, performs an update and a calculation, and then reports the new status of the data. Comments in the code show places where functions could be added in the future to perform additional operations.
To get some idea of the types of operations that the API can perform, take a look at the C Main API Function Categories and the Visual Basic Main API Function Categories. There are almost 200 functions in the C Main API divided into 20 functional groups. That means there is a wide variety of operations that the API can perform. The C Outline API (78 functions) and the Grid API (59 functions) represent additional possible complexity for an API program. The sample programs need to stay as simple as possible, so they only use a small number of functions from the C Main API, and they do not use the Outline API or the Grid API at all.
The sample programs use the Sample Basic database that is supplied with Essbase. The database is delivered empty and needs to be loaded with data. The data is delivered in a text file named CALCDAT.TXT. The sample program uses a prebuilt calc script and a prebuilt report script. The login information used by these programs (server name, application name, database name, user name, and password) are hardcoded into the program. The program displays the Login dialog box, but all the fields are filled in. The user needs only to click Okay in response to the dialog box. The server name is "LocalHost". The application name is "Sample". The database name is "Basic". The user name is "admin" and the password is "password".
Topics that discuss how to assemble a program: