Example: Use of Variables

In a form with two axes, you want the rows to contain four fiscal years and the columns to contain revenues and a revenue value taking inflation into account, based on fiscal 2001:

The form contains variables for characteristic values, text variables and formula variables:

For this you enter local variable &$FY in the first line of the dialog box for characteristic values. You then enter &$FY+1 , &$FY+2 and &$FY+3 in the second, third and fourth lines, respectively. You cannot see the variables in the rows of the form.

The text variable is to be replaced automatically in the report by the value of the fiscal year in the row. To do this, choose or the menu option  Extras Variables Variables definition . Set the variable $FYT to be replaced automatically with the value in the From field of the characteristic ‘fiscal year’ (beginning in position 1 with a length of 4 characters).

X001 / ( 1 + &$INFL) ** ( &$FYN - 2000)

where X001 is the revenue column. You specify the inflation rate &$INFL. The variable &$FYN is replaced automatically by the fiscal year for the row.

Nothing more needs to be specified for the formula variable &$INFL . You define the formula variable &$FYN to be replaced automatically by the value in the From field of the characteristic Fiscal year (beginning in the first position with a length of 4 characters).

If you run the report with the value 0.04 for &$INFL and 1998 for &$FY, you will thus receive the following detail list: