Setting YSL User Options

The YSL user options determine the default settings for your YSL reports, including:

c	How reports are saved

c	Where the YSL Design Helper (YSLDesignHelper.xml) resides: YSL.Net

c	Whether YSL remains live or disconnects from your database when you generate a YSL report: YSL Classic

c	How calculations are maintained inside Excel: YSL Classic

c	YSL row and column filter parameters: YSL Classic

c	Auditing tools options

Yardi recommends specific settings for each of the user options. However, you should make your choices based on your organization's needs.

To set YSL user options: YSL Classic

The following procedure is illustrated using Excel 2000-2003. If you use a version of Excel other than 2000-2003, the commands and screens may be different from those described in this procedure.

1	From the Excel top menu, select Tools > Set YSL Options. The Yardi Spreadsheet Link User Options screen appears.

2	Select the user options, as needed. For more information, see “Yardi Spreadsheet Link User Options Screen Reference”.

3	Click Save.

Yardi Spreadsheet Link User Options Screen Reference

• Lower Part of Screen

Warn me if my older YSL Spreadsheet may not use these options properly.	Sends a warning for older YSL reports that are not compatible with the latest YSL Classic technology.
Help for older YSL workbooks	Shows information about how to work with older YSL reports.
Help for Conductor users	Shows information about Conductor.

• Save Options Tab

Yardi recommends the following settings:

c	Only save if explicitly saved

c	When closing after a YSL report has rendered

c	Ask me about saving changes

c	Discard rendered YSL report worksheets

• Calculation Options Tab

Yardi recommends the following settings:

c	On closing, revert to the calculation

c	Perform full Excel recalculation

If you have custom add-ins or Excel add-ins (other than Yardi_DBLink.xla) whose functions are included in your YSL report, select the Activate all my installed Add-Ins check box. Some users add customized, encapsulated computations to their Excel add-ins, and selecting this check box includes the results of those computations in YSL reports. Yardi strongly recommends that you clear this check box unless you require these types of add-ins. The performance of YSL might drop significantly if you generate a YSL report where all add-ins are loaded and initialized.

• Database Connection Options Tab

Yardi recommends the following setting. For more information about database connections, see “Connecting to a Database at Design Time: YSL Classic”.

c	Disconnect from the database

• Filtering Tab

This advanced feature is very useful when debugging a YSL report. It helps you determine which procedures are taking extended periods of time. For more information, see “Viewing the Performance Monitor Report: YSL Classic”.

Yardi recommends the following settings:

c	Hide filtered rows by Excel

c	Hide filtered columns by Excel

c	Write timing information to Message sheet

• Auditing Tools Tab

Yardi recommends the following setting:

c	Just the active YSL workbook

Click the Check button to perform an audit on the reports that you have open. As noted in the caption on the Auditing Tools tab, the purpose of this error locating tool is to minimize the number of errors in a production YSL report. An excessive number of errors (>255) can cause Excel to freeze.

To set YSL user options: YSL.Net

The following procedure is illustrated using Excel 2010. If you use a version of Excel other than 2010, the commands and screens may be different from those described in this procedure.

1	From the Excel top menu, select Add-Ins > Set YSL Options. The Yardi Spreadsheet Link User Options screen appears.

2	Click the Voyager YSL Design Helper tab.

3	Select specific user options, as needed. For more information, see ““Yardi Spreadsheet Link User Options Screen Reference”.

Yardi Spreadsheet Link User Options Screen Reference

• Lower Part of Screen

Warn me if my older YSL Spreadsheet may not use these options properly.	Sends a warning for older YSL reports that are not compatible with YSL.Net.
Help for older YSL workbooks	Shows information about how to work with older YSL reports.

• Save Options Tab

Yardi recommends the following setting:

c	Ask me about saving changes as YSL report closes

• Voyager YSL Design Helper Tab

When the YSLDesignHelper.xml file is present, drop-down lists of general ledger (G/L) accounts, performance tables and fields, and other database information make it easier to design a YSL report. This simplifies the design process and limits the possibilities of typographical errors. For more information, see “Downloading YSL Design Helper: YSL.Net” and “Entering YSL Functions”.

Yardi recommends that you click the Set YSL Design Helper file location button, and then select the YSLDesignHelper.xml file on your computer.

• Auditing Tools Tab

YSL.Net auditing tools help designers identify issues with their YSL report before submitting them for generation.

To start a specific auditing tool, select it from the drop-down list, and then click Check. YSL tabulates cells that fail the audit procedure on the Message sheet, along with the location of the errors and an advisory message.

Yardi recommends the following setting:

c	Just the active YSL Workbook

The auditing tools that are available in the drop-down list are described in the following sections.

1	Check for #REF Errors

YSL reports perform best if they are free of Excel #REF, #Value, and other types of errors. Yardi strongly recommends that you audit all YSL reports, and correct all sources of errors before generating the report.

2	Verify Correct Account sCodes in Column A

This activity requires a connection to the YSL Design Helper. For more information, see “Downloading YSL Design Helper: YSL.Net”.

YSL accounts specified in Column A of a YSL report are sometimes prone to typos and inexact definitions. When the report generating engine encounters accounts that do not exactly match the Acct.sCodes in the Acct table in your Voyager database, the engine returns a default value of 0, and fails to alert the rendering report to the error. To avoid this issue, Yardi recommends that you verify account sCodes in Column A prior to generating a YSL report.

The audit procedure checks for inexact matches in Column A across all worksheets within a YSL report, for single accounts, account ranges, and expansions of accounts, to verify that the accounts referenced in the YSL report exist in the general ledger. Cells that fail the audit procedure are tabulated on the Message sheet, along with the location of the errors and an advisory message.

3	Search for YSL Classic Legacy functions

The underlying XLA in YSL Classic (YSL 2.8 and earlier) contained a number of rarely used YSL functions that cannot be correctly generated on the server in YSL.Net. Furthermore, the XLA in YSL.Net (YSL 3.x or later), operating under the Reporting Tools Plug-In series, is not fully implemented with complete functional support for all the existing YSL Classic functions.

This audit procedure checks your YSL reports for instances of such functions. Cells that fail the audit procedure are tabulated on the Message sheet, along with the location of the errors and an advisory message.

The Voyager and Reporting Tools Plug-In versions are noted at the bottom of the Auditing Tools tab

4	Check for ETL Parser Consistency

This audit procedure has no connection with YSL, and is not useful to purely YSL report designers. It is used with Yardi Voyager Extract, Transform and Load (ETL), which employs the YSL Design Helper .xml file. For more information, see the “Yardi Voyager ETL User's Guide”.