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Introduction

Welcome to the Essbase API Reference. This introduction provides the following information:

What you'll find in this document, what it intends to accomplish and how it's organized.
What you won't find in this document and where you might find what you're looking for in other books or help files.
What you should know before you start using this document.
The formatting conventions used.

Who Should Read This Document

This document is designed for programmers who develop custom front-end programs that access the Essbase server.

What's in This Document

The online API Reference is a comprehensive reference to the functions and libraries you can use to develop custom front-end programs that access Essbase application servers. The document provides:

General information about installing and using the API
Specific reference material for programmers in C, Java, and Visual Basic development environments

What's Not in This Document

This document describes the Essbase API. If you need information on other topics, see the following manuals.

For an introduction to Essbase, data retrieval, application design, report construction, and for more advanced topics including security and database administration, see the Database Administrator's Guide.
For information about using C, Visual Basic, Java, or any other computer language, see your program documentation.

What You Should Know Before You Start

To use this book, you need the following:

A working knowledge of the operating system your server and clients use.
An understanding of Essbase.
Knowledge of programming in Windows or UNIX.
Familiarity with C, Visual Basic, or Java.

Conventions Used in This Guide

To make the Essbase API Reference easier to use, it uses the syntax and text conventions described in this section.

Text Conventions

The following text conventions are used throughout this guide:

Convention	Purpose
1, 2, 3	Procedures or steps that you follow in order.
( )	Bulleted lists provide information, not procedural steps.
This Font	Member names and the names of other Essbase artifacts.
italics	Titles of books, important terms and special emphasis.
\|	Vertical bar separator between pop-up menu items and top-level menu items (shown in the menu bar). For example, Essbase\|FlashBack means the FlashBack command on the Essbase menu in the Spreadsheet Add-in
enter	Type characters, then press the Enter key.

Syntax and Text Formatting Conventions

To make code and examples easier to understand, this guide uses the following conventions.

Convention	Purpose	Example
monospace font	Function, structure, file, directory, and environment variables names in text	ESS_STS_T, ESSAPIW.LIB
italic	Anything you replace with a value in syntax	EsbOtlCloseOutline (hOutline)
" "	Double quotes enclose text parameters or parameters that include a space	"appName" SETDEFAULTCALC "CALC ALL";
()	Parentheses enclose function parameters, show order of execution for operations	EsbOtlDeleteMember (hOutline, hMember); (a + b) * c
//	Comment marker indicates text from // to end of line should be ignored in processing	// Gets results
;	Statement terminator marks end of command	EXIT;

Using Function Reference Entries

API function entries supply the following kinds of information:

Function Name

Description	Brief description of the function.
Syntax	Function syntax. Function name and required keywords: bold. Parameters: italics.
Parameters	Definitions of the parameters of the function.
Return Value	Value returned by the function.
Notes	Bulleted notes on using the function.
Access	Level of security or other access required to use the function.
Example	How to use the function.
See Also	Related functions