Code Formatting for TM1 with Arc

We’ve all faced the struggles that can come with trying to read and make sense of someone else’s code. Perhaps you’ve had to spend tons of time cleaning someone else’s code in order to make it usable.  Or even worse, many of us have had to do that for our code… The truth is that formatting code takes time and if your development software does not do it for you, it is very unlikely that developers will apply a standard practice across all their development.  This creates unnecessary bottlenecks and gets in the way of efficient development processes.

Clean code is quite simply: much easier to read and quicker to troubleshoot.

If you look at the below code, you might be surprised to find out that it actually will work in IBM Planning Analytics (TM1). Contrary to popular belief, not every statement needs to be on a single row. As long as there is a “;” to separate them, it will work.

This doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be formatted though. Even if this code is working, anyone looking at it is going to struggle to understand very quickly what it does. And that makes it more challenging to work with across the board.

But who cares about code formatting anyway? Humans, of course! You and me. We like to tell ourselves that we don’t mind writing ‘dirty’ code as long as it works. But when you eventually have to come back to your code in a few months, you will be very annoyed at the time and effort it takes just to read and understand what the code is doing.

The benefits of good code formatting are highly valuable:

• It’s easier to read.

• It’s faster to understand.

• You can improve consistency across your team.

• It makes your work look professional.

It requires a lot of discipline to keep your code formatting consistent. Everyone has their own unique coding habits and it can be difficult to force people to apply consistent code formatting manually. This problem compounds as the size of your development team grows. Almost without fail, you can be sure that if you open two different processes, they will have two different formats.

Arc makes code formatting a breeze with a powerful new feature that allows you to apply your code best practices in an instant. Just open a process, click the ‘Format Code’ button and watch the magic happen…

Arc comes with a set of predefined standards to get you started, but this feature is highly customizable to fit any standard practices that you want to implement. For example, if you prefer your functions in upper or lower case, you can easily update it in the formatter options:

You can learn more about how to define your standard coding practice here.

Every programming language has its own code formatter. If you’re using Python, Java, or something else – most IDE software will come by default with a code formatter. For the first time in the history of IBM Planning Analytics (TM1), Arc introduces this feature to the TM1 community.

Arc is not just a nice process editor. It comes with many hidden easter eggs that will bring you joy when you find them! You can see the full list of features here.

There’s never been a better time to try Arc, so why don’t you try it today!

It is absolutely free to download and comes with a 3-month no-strings-attached trial license.

Simply download the software, double-click on the .exe file, and enjoy the magic happening when hitting the Format code button.

What are you waiting for?

Download Arc

• Save time testing security with impersonation

• Deep Dive into the Arc Process Editor

• Debugging TM1 processes with Arc