Support for Parent First Functions in the Form Designer

The form designer now supports Parent First (PF) functions, which place the parent members above the children in forms.

The following functions are available as type-in functions in the form designer: 

  • DescendantsPF
  • IDescendantsPF
  • IChildrenPF

PF functions are not yet available as selections in the member selector in the form designer or elsewhere in the application. You can only type them in on the Layout tab of the form designer.

Screen shot of the IDescendantsPF function used in Forms Designer

Screen shot of the IDescendantsPF function used in Forms Designer

The following examples illustrate how PF functions display on forms:

Examples of PF Functions on Forms

Function Without PF Function With PF Function
Descendants

Descendants(YearTotal)

Jan, Feb, Mar, Q1, Apr, May, Jun, Q2, Jul, Aug, Sep, Q3, Oct, Nov, Dec, Q4

DescendantsPF(YearTotal)

Q1, Jan, Feb, Mar, Q2, Apr, May, Jun, Q3, Jul, Aug, Sep, Q4, Oct, Nov, Dec
IDescendants

IDescendants(YearTotal)

Jan, Feb, Mar, Q1, Apr, May, Jun, Q2, Jul, Aug, Sep, Q3, Oct, Nov, Dec, Q4, YearTotal

IDescendantsPF(YearTotal)

YearTotal, Q1, Jan, Feb, Mar, Q2, Apr, May, Jun, Q3, Jul, Aug, Sep, Q4, Oct, Nov, Dec
IChildren

IChildren(YearTotal)

Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, YearTotal

IChildrenPF(YearTotal)

YearTotal, Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4

To create a PF function in the form designer:

  1. Open a form for editing or create a form, and then click the Layout tab.
  2. In a POV, Page, Column, or Row, find an already defined Descendants, IDescendants, or IChildren function or define one.
  3. Manually enter PF directly after Descendants, IDescendants, or IChildren; for example, DescendantsPF(YearTotal), IDescendantsPF(YearTotal), or IChildrenPF(YearTotal).
  4. Click Save and then view the form. The parent members will display first in the form's hierarchy.

Business Benefit: This feature enhances usability by providing users the option to display parents first in the form's hierarchy.

Key Resources