I'll check on the case ticket as I can but wanted to get you a quick reply, particularly since I've been rebooked and won't be able to answer you live in next week's AMA.
It's true that PA for Excel does not yet support the alias option for TM1ElList functions, that's a current documented limitation. In terms of the outlook for it operating that argument, always interested to further the conversation but I would say it is not a shoe-in. Our hope would be that we are now offering and will offer better ways to service this particular class of need. Example: for a 'make a set from an expression with no unnecessary cube dependency' type workloads, TM1Set (in addition to being hierarchy-aware) can do this.
TM1ElList as a function has some intractable issues because it originated as a TM1Web-only function first, and the expectation was that you would blind write it in Perspectives, and the publish to the web to actually use it. When PA for Excel onboarded the function into desktop Excel, it became apparent that the consumption story for the plural outputs (as TM1Web did it) was not viable. So, PA for Excel's implementation has done it in the necessary way for it to function in Excel, but it requires considerable sophistication to write a single workbook using TM1ElList that works in both UIs. We don't consider this to be an acceptable outcome, nor would it be appropriate to break any Websheets that were written in the past. Given that it's also not in line with our other go-forwards spreadsheet formula concepts (hierarchies support, parameterized datasources, etc) I believe we would all be better served by accelerating delivery of the new stuff.
I'd like to hear more about how you're using TM1ElList, to make sure our sense of the use cases and consumption techniques in the field are solid.
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I'd need to get back to you on the spill referencing question, but I think that has less to do with TM1ElList being spillable, and more to do with our custom functions taking dynamic array references as input. A sample would be helpful, but I don't think we've declared much yet about dynamic arrays and our consumption story. Part of the struggle there is that formulas like DBRA were designed decades ago when there was no such thing, and that PA for Excel is still expected to operate across a broad range of Excel versions (including those that do not have such features). That doesn't mean no/never, but it does mean it's not as easy as having a lowest common denominator conversation where we can rely on dynamic arrays for consumption 100% of the time.
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Ted Phillips
IBM
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Original Message:
Sent: Wed November 30, 2022 08:31 AM
From: George Tonkin
Subject: Ask-Me-Anything: Planning Analytics - Dec. Edition
HI Mike and team, probably one for @Ted Phillips.
In PAfE, we are trying to use TM1ELLIST to return a list of members per a given set.
The list is returned using principal names even though the set is saved with an alias.
Apparently supplying an alias using the AliasOverride argument is not support in PAfE (for a PAfE function??)
Apparently this is a known defect and will not be fixed, rather the documentation will be aligned. Guessing it will say something like TM1ELLIST always returns the principal name...
This does not sound right imo, has someone got it wrong? Case TS011393302
Assuming they are correct, TM1ELLIST created the array of values but you then need to couple a DBRA to it to yield the alias. Referencing the TM1ELLIST as an array with the hash suffix to address the spill range does not work. Only the first element is referenced. Is this going to be reviewed/addressed, for all similar functions?
Thank you.
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George Tonkin
Business Partner
MCI Consultants
Johannesburg
Original Message:
Sent: Thu October 20, 2022 04:36 PM
From: Michael McGeein
Subject: Ask-Me-Anything: Planning Analytics - Dec. Edition
Summary
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Join us live for our monthly "Ask me Anything" session, designed to answer all of your burning IBM Planning Analytics questions from product roadmap to upgrades, hosted by a member of our Product Management team. Each month we'll feature different members of the IBM Planning Analytics team from development, to quality assurance, to lab services.
Please join us on Thursday, December 8th at11:00 AM EST. Share your questions below and register to join here.
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Michael McGeein
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