I fixed the cosmetic bug in ESD, which affected filtered with Meta-Read assignments.

I've also uploaded an updated OtlComp.exe, which compares two outlines for differences and now allows command line arguments.  Not much checking is done on the arguments, so until I beef that part of the logic up, it's considered a definite "beta" feature.

I haven't played Entropia Universe all weekend long, so I'm going to do a quick check on the forum and then go spend some PED.  If this sounds like greek to you, visit www.entropiauniverse.com, it's not a cheap game to play (even though it's technically free), but as a hobby it's a lot of fun, although definitely not for everyone.

I took a detour in my update priorities because something was bugging me.  I was experiencing strange behavior in some applications and needed to track it down.  It turns out that my conversion of the Essbase Version 7 API was flawed and some of the length constants were set wrong.  The behavior caused for loops to execute once and move on, so it didn't look like any kind of API issue at all.

Anyway, I finally resolved the issue and ESD will be ready for download shortly.  So what is ESD?

Essbase Security Dumper -- it's a stand alone security dump that takes a snapshot of all the users, groups, applications, databases, and filters.  It also highlights key details and allows uploading the file back to a server (yes, I said "a", not "the" -- think about it).  So what kind of key details does it include?  Here are some outtakes of the file:

Server: Ess_Prod.SomeWhere.Com
   Date Made: 7/5/2008 10:20:08 PM
   Security: Yes
   Logins: Yes
   Default Access: None
   Validity: 90 Days
   MinLength: 6 Characters
   TimeOut: 1500 Seconds
   Check Frequency: 300 Seconds

Group: Accounting_Dept
   Access: None
   Users: 00_Accounting_User, JoeBlow, ...

User: 00_Accounting_User * Account Disabled * Password Expired * Inactive *
   Access: None
   Last Login: <Unknown>
   Groups: Accounting_Dept, Balance_ReadOnly, ...

User: JoeBlow
   Access: None
   Last Login: Monday, June 23, 2008
   Groups: Balance_ReadOnly, HR_Dept, ...

Application: BalFY07
   Description: Balance Archive
   Loadable: Yes
   Autoload: No
   Default Access: None
   Connects: Yes
   Commands: Yes
   Updates: Yes
   Security: Yes

Database: Balance
   Description:
   Loadable: Yes
   Autoload: No
   Default Access: None

Filter: AndersonM
   Active: Yes
   Default Access: None
   Read: @IDESCENDANTS(Organization)
   Filtered: Actual,@IDESCENDANTS(AndersonM)
   * Filter is not used by any users/groups *
   *** Filter failed to verify (ref=1054012, msg='Invalid syntax in filter line 2')

Filter: Budget
   Active: Yes
   Default Access: None
   Read: @IDESCENDANTS("Scenario")
   Read: Forecast
   Write: Plan
   Read: Budget00
   Read: Budget01
   Users: PL_Budget

I've owned the DougWare.com domain for more than 15 Years, and I've never really done anything with it except use it for email.  I'm trying to change that, and today I've decided to put the website together with some basics.

I hope get some downloads available from the numerous utilities I've created over the past years (most -- but not all -- are essbase administration tools).  I also hope to post blog entries for the Kaleidoscope conference and upcoming events.

While I've been known to go on (and on) at times, I find that blogging isn't much my style, I'm too busy sniping on the two or three forums that I haunt daily (more on that later).  So, I think this is about all for today (I have too many programs to update and an entire web site to publish, or you'll never get to see this).


-Doug.