Describing an FML Hierarchy

How to:

The Financial Modeling Language (FML) supports dynamic reporting against hierarchical data structures.

You can define the hierarchical relationships between fields in a Master File and automatically display these fields using FML. You can also provide descriptive captions to appear in reports in place of the specified hierarchy field values.

In the Master File, use the PROPERTY=PARENT_OF and REFERENCE=hierarchyfld attributes to define the hierarchical relationship between two fields.

The parent and child fields must have the same FORMAT or USAGE, and their relationship should be hierarchical. The formats of the parent and child fields must both be numeric or both alphanumeric.

Syntax: How to Specify a Hierarchy Between Fields in a Master File 

FIELD=parentfield,...,PROPERTY=PARENT_OF, REFERENCE=[seg.]hierarchyfld,$

where:

parentfield

Is the parent field in the hierarchy.

PROPERTY=PARENT_OF

Identifies this field as the parent of the referenced field in a hierarchy.

These attributes can be specified on every field. Therefore, multiple hierarchies can be defined in one Master File. However, an individual field can have only one parent. If multiple fields have PARENT_OF attributes for the same hierarchy field, the first parent found by traversing the structure in top-down, left-to-right order is used as the parent.

seg

Is the segment location of the hierarchy field. Required if more than one segment has a field named hierarchyfield.

hierarchyfld

Is the child field in the hierarchy.

PARENT_OF is also allowed on a virtual field in the Master File: 

DEFINE name/fmt=expression;,PROPERTY=PARENT_OF,REFERENCE=hierarchyfld,$

Syntax: How to Assign Descriptive Captions for Hierarchy Field Values

The following attributes specify a caption for a hierarchy field in a Master File 

FIELD=captionfield,..., PROPERTY=CAPTION, REFERENCE=[seg.]hierarchyfld,$

where:

captionfield

Is the name of the field that contains the descriptive text for the hierarchy field. For example, if the employee ID is the hierarchy field, the last name may be the descriptive text that appears on the report in place of the ID.

PROPERTY=CAPTION

Signifies that this field contains a descriptive caption that appears in place of the hierarchy field values.

A caption can be specified for every field, but an individual field can have only one caption. If multiple fields have CAPTION attributes for the same hierarchy field, the first parent found by traversing the structure in top-down, left-to-right order is used as the caption.

seg

Is the segment location of the hierarchy field. Required if more than one segment has a field named hierarchyfield.

hierarchyfld

Is the hierarchy field.

CAPTION is also allowed on a virtual field in the Master File: 

DEFINE name/format=expression;,PROPERTY=CAPTION,REFERENCE=hierarchyfld,$

Example: Defining a Hierarchy in a Master File

The CENTGL Master File contains a chart of accounts hierarchy. The field GL_ACCOUNT_PARENT is the parent field in the hierarchy. The field GL_ACCOUNT is the hierarchy field. The field GL_ACCOUNT_CAPTION can be used as the descriptive caption for the hierarchy field: 

FILE=CENTGL     ,SUFFIX=FOC
SEGNAME=ACCOUNTS,SEGTYPE=S01
FIELDNAME=GL_ACCOUNT,           ALIAS=GLACCT,  FORMAT=A7,
          TITLE='Ledger,Account', FIELDTYPE=I, $
FIELDNAME=GL_ACCOUNT_PARENT,    ALIAS=GLPAR,   FORMAT=A7,
          TITLE=Parent,
          PROPERTY=PARENT_OF, REFERENCE=GL_ACCOUNT, $
FIELDNAME=GL_ACCOUNT_TYPE,      ALIAS=GLTYPE,  FORMAT=A1,
          TITLE=Type,$
FIELDNAME=GL_ROLLUP_OP,         ALIAS=GLROLL,  FORMAT=A1,
          TITLE=Op, $
FIELDNAME=GL_ACCOUNT_LEVEL,     ALIAS=GLLEVEL, FORMAT=I3,
          TITLE=Lev, $
FIELDNAME=GL_ACCOUNT_CAPTION,   ALIAS=GLCAP,   FORMAT=A30,
          TITLE=Caption,
          PROPERTY=CAPTION,   REFERENCE=GL_ACCOUNT, $
FIELDNAME=SYS_ACCOUNT,          ALIAS=ALINE,   FORMAT=A6,
          TITLE='System,Account,Line', MISSING=ON, $