Replacing a Dimension in a Variable

When you use a relation as the qualifier in the QDR, you replace a dimension of the variable with the dimension or dimensions of the relation. The relation must be related to the dimension that you are qualifying, and it must be dimensioned by the replacement dimension.

Example 2-1 Replacing a Dimension in a Variable

Suppose you have two variables, sales and quota, which are dimensioned by month, product, and district. A third variable, division.mgr, is dimensioned by month and division. You also have a relation between division and product, called division.product. These objects have the following definitions.

DEFINE sales VARIABLE DECIMAL <month product district>
LD Sales Revenue
DEFINE quota VARIABLE DECIMAL <month product district>
DEFINE division.mgr VARIABLE TEXT <month division>
DEFINE division.product RELATION division <product>
LD Division for each product

The following statement produces the report following it.

REPORT division.mgr

-------------------DIVISION.MGR----------------------
          ----------------------MONTH--------------------------
DIVISION  JAn02    Feb02    Mar02    Apr02    May02    Jun02   
--------  -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- --------
Camping   Hawley   Hawley   Jones    Jones    Jones    Jones   
Sporting  Carey    Carey    Carey    Carey    Carey    Musgrave
Clothing  Musgrave Musgrave Musgrave Musgrave Musgrave Wong

Suppose you want to obtain a report that shows the fraction by which sales have exceeded quota and you want to include the appropriate division manager for each product. You can show the division manager for each product by using the relation division.product, which is related to division and dimensioned by product, as the qualifier. The QDR replaces the division dimension with product, so that it has the same dimensions as the other expression in the report sales / quota. The following statement produces the report following it.

REPORT DOWN month sales W 6 sales/quota W 8 HEADING -
   'MANAGER' division.mgr(division division.product)

DISTRICT: BOSTON
        -----------------------------PRODUCT------------------------------------
        ----TEnts---- ---canoes---- --racquets---  --sportswear-- ---footwear---
        Sales/        Sales/        Sales/         Sales/         Sales/
Month   Quota Manager Quota Manager Quota Manager  Quota Manager  Quota  Manager
------  ----- ------- ----- ------- ----- -------  ----- -------- ----- --------
Jan02   1.00  Hawley  0.82  Hawley  1.02  Carey    0.91  Musgrave 0.92  Musgrave
Feb02   0.84  Hawley  0.96  Hawley  1.00  Carey    0.80  Musgrave 1.07  Musgrave
Mar02   0.87  Jones   0.95  Jones   0.87  Carey    0.88  Musgrave 0.91  Musgrave
Apr02   0.91  Jones   0.93  Jones   0.99  Carey    0.94  Musgrave 0.95  Musgrave
...