Creating Metadata Files of the APP Format

You can use an APP-format metadata file to add metadata to an application. The metadata file sections can be arranged in any order; however, the system automatically processes sections in this order:

• Currencies

• Entity dimension

• Scenario dimension

• Custom dimensions

• Account dimension

• Value dimension

• Intercompany Partner dimension

• Application settings

• Consolidation methods

For each type of dimension-related metadata, sections are processed in this order:

• Members

• Hierarchies

Note:

For Custom dimensions, these sections must use the Custom dimension alias name.

Metadata for the Entity, Scenario, Account, and Custom dimensions is placed in the members and hierarchies sections. Custom dimensions may include the dimension section. The sections for each type of metadata can exist only once in a metadata file.

You can use these characters as a delimiter:

, ~ @ $ % ^ | : ; ? \

Note:

You must use a character that is not used in the file name or in any other way in the file. Delimiters are necessary only for ASCII files with the APP file extension. Delimiters are not necessary for extensible markup language (XML) files.

A line starting with an exclamation point (!) indicates the beginning of a new section in the metadata file and must be followed by a valid section name; for example, currencies, members, or hierarchies. True or false values are represented as Y for true or N for false. A line starting with an apostrophe (') is considered a comment line and is ignored by the system.

You can use these sections in a metadata file:

• File format

• Version

• Application settings

• Currencies

• Dimension

• Members

• Hierarchies

• Consolidation methods