Configuring the Initial Column in SNP

Hi Folks,
Basically what I want to do is to limit the horizon of the initial column. Right now, the initial column is displaying data from Jan 1, 1970 up to yesterday. But I only want to see data in the last three months only. Can you guys help?

Hi,
Create a TB profile (/n/SAPAPO/TR30) for 3 months and assign it in the TB Profile History under the data view tab(/SAPAPO/SDP8B) and assign the value (L,R,C) in the initial column field just under that.
Regards,
Siva.

Similar Messages

SNP: How to "lock" initial column in SNP data view (SCM7.0 / SP8)

Hello experts,
after a change from SCM5.0 to SCM7.0 we are seeing a change in a tiny but very important capability and we are trying to re-establish it in SCM7.0. If somebody has an idea how to address this that would be of great help:
As of SCM5.0 users were able to lock the INITIAL column of an SNP DataView so that the column is the default start column and not the next future column. In SCM5.0 the solution had 2 elements
A) set a user parameter in SU01 called /SAPAPO/SDP_STARTCOL to value X
+
B) double-click the header of the initial column in the SNP data view
As of SCM7.0 this is not supported anymore. There is a certain user setting in an SNP data view (Settings --> Others --> "Period from last selection" ) but this is not behaving to our needs and SAP is saying what we want from SCM5.0 is a non-supported feature in SCM7.0.
So, does anybody have an idea how to solve this. I checked UserExits and BAdis in SPRO for interactive planning - there all kind of stuff but nothing having a method to allow / perform a "column locking" in an SNP Data view. Thanks for any tip or hint here.
Regards
Thomas

Hello jejeje,
thanks for your efforts - what you describe is something users have found out on our side too - a problem remains: you can save this setting "Period from last Selection" and it brings you to the INITIAL column but: once you have scrolled forward in the SNP data view (so that the INITIAL column has disappeared) and you leave the SNP data view or select another product ... it "remembers" that you last time left the data view NOT having INITIAL column as a start column.
So, my users say that they scroll back to INITIAL column before selecting another part or using another SelectionID or leaving the SNP data view ... and of course they hate this since they have to do this a few hundred times a day worse case.
We had a call open to SAP on this and I told them that is about productivity and usabaliity issue moving from SCM5.0 to SCM7.0 - but they have nothing more to say than "not supported anymore" - and the ultimate solution is / will be to modifiy SAP SCM standard coding - unless somebody from SAP is reading the discussioons here and is dedicated to help their customers which pay millions every year into SAP support fees.
Thanks for your responses and effort !
Regards
Thomas

Cannot generate dynamic alert for initial column in SNP.

Hello,
I have an SNP alert macro with a simple condition running from Initial column for 158 weeks. The alert is generated correctly for all other weeks but not for initial column.
The IF condition works correctly because a CELL_BG() in the same alert macro is correctly changing the color of the Initial column cell.
Is there some setting I need to make to generate alert for initial column?
Regards,
SS

Hello jejeje,
thanks for your efforts - what you describe is something users have found out on our side too - a problem remains: you can save this setting "Period from last Selection" and it brings you to the INITIAL column but: once you have scrolled forward in the SNP data view (so that the INITIAL column has disappeared) and you leave the SNP data view or select another product ... it "remembers" that you last time left the data view NOT having INITIAL column as a start column.
So, my users say that they scroll back to INITIAL column before selecting another part or using another SelectionID or leaving the SNP data view ... and of course they hate this since they have to do this a few hundred times a day worse case.
We had a call open to SAP on this and I told them that is about productivity and usabaliity issue moving from SCM5.0 to SCM7.0 - but they have nothing more to say than "not supported anymore" - and the ultimate solution is / will be to modifiy SAP SCM standard coding - unless somebody from SAP is reading the discussioons here and is dedicated to help their customers which pay millions every year into SAP support fees.
Thanks for your responses and effort !
Regards
Thomas

How configure the auditory columns for the user in Session?

I want to have my page of login to enter the application.
After validating to the login/password according to user table
create table usuario(
id number not null,
login varchar2(15) not null,
pasword varchar2(15) not null,
);..., set to user in HttpSession
I wish to configure in mys entities(bc4j) the audit columns (userCreation/userModification) similar to dateCreation and dateModification...For example for the following table
crate table Cliente(
id not null,
name varchar2(20),
userCreation varchar(15) not null,
userModification varchar(15),
dateCreation date not null,
dateModification date
...For the date columns I configure as history columns in the edition of the entity objects and works correctly...
thanks

Rigoberto
Take a look at this topic and see if it helps:
Re: User Authentication: prepareSession() vs. jbo.sessioncookie.JHS_USER
Kind regards,
Peter Ebell
JHeadstart Team

How to configure the Initial KM Content?

Hi Experts,
How do I configure or activate the initial KM Content provided by SAP. I would like to implement the role "Every User"/ eu_role here.
Thanks,
Shobhit

Hi,
Has KMC been installed on your portal?
Anyways, once that is done or if already done; assign the role Content Manager to your user. Also assign System Admin and Content Admin so that you could configure settings for KM and create the necessary KM application iviews. And the eu_role has a page for "Documents" where you could get access to your KM documents.
Hope this help. If it did kindly consider rewarding points.
Regards
Prem
SAP.

APO Initial Column - How to load to BW

Hi Experts,
We are exporting SNP data to BW using a datasource.
SNP puts all previous data in the initial column, but BW has to source it from the start to do calculations in BW. There must be some workaround or a standard way to avoid the data build up in BW.
All ideas will be appreciated.

Hi Gersh,
Thank you for the reply.
I mapped Dimension ID to 0VERSION but still it is giving error.
In the validation it is saying as 0VERSION is empty but data is there in the BW system.
Please find the screen shot of the Transformation file and the error.
Thanks in advance
Venkat

Macro to paint initial column grey

Hello All,
I am trying to change the background color from the initial column in APO SNP, but I have no experience in writing macros.
I found out that I can Use CELL_BG() with X= 8 but now I am on the end. Could anybody give me a hint how to go on?
Regards
SK
Now i can change the color of the first cell in grey
but what can i do that the macro goes down all cells in the row to paint them grey
Here what I did:
step (paint cell: (38 Iterations: Initial; M05.2013)
Cell: RSFC (Initial) (Attributes) =
Operator: CELL_BG( 8 )
Can anybody help?
Edited by: Skanderbeg on Jun 9, 2011 4:18 PM

Hi SK,
The CELL_BG( X ) can be applied to a row or a cell.
To change background color of one cell follow the below process:
1.Create a step with one iteration
2.Assign the desired cell with CELL_BG ( X ) -X being the color code
To change the background color of n cells within one row just increase the number of iterations in that step to n.
For one column the only option I can think of is to assign each cell for that column with the desired color one by one i.e to follow first process and add the desired cells in step 2.
Let me know if this helps!!
Regards,
Jatin

How to set initial column widths for a table

What I'd like to do is to control the initial column widths for a table.
I'm building the table by using a class which extends AbstractTableModel. This class takes care of setting the headers and reading the data for the table.
If I do the following:
VarTableModel vtm = new VarTableModel(vi);
JTable jt = new JTable(vtm);
JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(jt);
frame.getContentPane().add(jsp);
frame.setVisible(true);
I will see a table in my window. The widths of the columns are equal and are a function of the horizontal dimension of the window.
I have tried to set the width of a column by doing the following:
TableColumn aColumn;
aColumn = jt.getColumn(vtm.getColumnName(0));
aColumn.setWidth(40);
But this has no effect on what gets displayed. I can force the widths that I want by using 'setMaxWidth' but this has the unfortunate side effect of not allowing the user to make the column wider if they want.
What I'd like is a way to specify the widths of the columns when initially displayed and then let the user adjust to their liking.
I'm sure that there is a way to do this, but I don't seem to understand where to intervene in the process to produce the effect that I want.
Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Table.setAutoResizeMode(JTable.AUTO_RESIZE_OFF);
add this line and try ur codeThanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to do the trick. Here is an abbreviated segment of my code:
vtm = new VarTableModel(vi);
JTable jt = new JTable(vtm);
// we want a horizontal scrollbar, so turn resizing off
// and we want to control column widths
jt.setAutoResizeMode(JTable.AUTO_RESIZE_OFF);
aColumn = jt.getColumn(vtm.getColumnName(0));
aColumn.setWidth(40);
. // same kind of thing for each column
aColumn = jt.getColumn(vtm.getColumnName(4));
aColumn.setWidth(400);
JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(jt);
frame.getContentPane().add(jsp);
frame.setVisible(true);
If I do the above, the table gets displayed with each of the five columns the exact same width. So, the sizing of the columns is happening somewhere else despite turning auto resizing off.
Where is that occurring and how can I intervene so that I can control the widths of the columns on initial display and still allow the user to adjust the widths if they so choose?

Impossible to make the initial configuration of Shared Services Database

Hello all
I am trying to install EPM 11.1.2 on a 64 bits environment (Shared Services, Essbase Plus , HFR)
The installation step is done.
Now I am trying to configure Shared Services through the EPM system configurator
but I am not able to choose the initial database configuration.
The option Connect to a previous configured database is already checked.
So i am stuck for the rest of the configuration
Any idea ?
Thanks in adance for your help

I had to take the files from another 11.1.2 base install, you wouldn't be able to take them from another version.
I had to copy the xml files from \common\config directory and the .ora.products file, I am not sure why I hit the issue though.
Cheers
John
http://john-goodwin.blogspot.com/

Calculating based on a previous value when initial column values differ from the rest

Let me preface this by saying I am new to the BO world. I'm trying to build a report/chart that tracks incoming loads. The first supply on hand value is pulled from the database and each successive supply on hand is based on the previous row's values.
In the supply arriving column below, the iniital value differs from the rest using the formula:
=If [Row Number]=1 Then [First Supply Arriving] Else [Supply Arriving]
The supply on hand uses the same idea, but is where I'm running into problems. The first column value should be [Supply On Hand], easy enough. Each successive column value needs to follow this equation:
Previous([Supply On Hand] (this won't always be [Supply On Hand] though, only for the second row essentially - problem 1) + Previous([Supply Arriving] (same as problem 1, where this is first supple arriving for the second row and then supply arriving moving forward) - [Usage Rate]
If someone could help me in getting the calculation to pull the previous values correctly without making a ton of variables, I'd greatly appreciate it. We just upgraded to 4.1

Yes, the supply on hand and the supply arriving from the previous row need added together. The usage rate, which is a constant is then subtracted from that. The result is the on hand total for the next day.
For example:
Date
On Hand
Arriving
Usage Rate
9/9/2014
100,000
250,000
100,000
9/10/2014
250,000
1,000,000
100,000
9/11/2014
1,150,000
0
100,000

[OCI] - Select statement on Clob doesn't return the full column's content.

Hi All,
I'm actually working on a application using OCI on an Oracle 11gr2. The Oracle client as the 11.2.0 version, was fully(admin) installed and configured with the same NLS_LANG variable as the DB.
In the Database, we are using CLOB to store long text files. The setup our application was writing the initial CLOB correctly, but we cant read it, we just a part of the text.
I checked it in SQLPlus and SQLDeveloper :
select sourcecode from script where name like 'callback';
result :
SOURCECODE
// #import "CallbackFctLib"
* Benutzerdefinierte Funktionen bei der
if I set the long to 1000 before the Select statement, then the full file is displayed.
set long 1000;
select sourcecode from script where name like 'callback';
So, this works for SQLPlus and SQLDeveloper but how can I set it for the whole System? is ist possible? does any parameters have to be pass to the "sourcecode" column to define any format?
thanks for reading...

Hi!
When you establish connection to database, try explicitly give instructions about what encoding use your DB, e.g.:
// connection properties
Properties connInfo = new Properties();
connInfo.put("user", username);
connInfo.put("password", password);
connInfo.put("charSet", "Cp1251"); // enter your codepage!!!
// getconnection
Connection db = DriverManager.getConnection(dataurl, connInfo);

ALV List in the same Column for the row CELL i need button or value

Hi,
In my ALV list for the same column I need Button or Value for the different rows (CELL) depending upon my condition.
as well as I have to make read only of 3 rd column CELL based on my first column dropdown value CELL for this Row Only.
Depends upon the value in column 1 / row 2   I have to read only the CELL of   column 5 / row 2   ie for the same row.
Depends upon the value in Column 1/ row 3    I have to   EDITABLE or   Button   the CELL of column 5 / row 3 ie for the same row
How to do the logic for this.
I tried and got it for the entire column only.
But my requirement is for the sepecific cell in the column.
Kindly help to proceed further.
Thanks in advance.
Dav

Here is how you can make a particular cell in the row read-only based on certain conditions.
In my example I am displaying the flight details in an ALV. Here I am checking the airline id and if it is "AA' I am making the cell in the column airline id as readonly. In my example I am putting a check and readonly on the same column. However you can do this for different columns as well.
In order to achieve this you need to add a new context attribute 'READONLY' of type abap_bool to the context node which is bound to data node of ALV.
The method where I populate the node has the following code to populate the data.
data: lr_input_node type ref to if_wd_context_node,
        lr_flight_node type ref to if_wd_context_node,
        lv_cityfrom   type s_from_cit,
        lv_cityto     type s_to_city,
        ls_from       type bapisfldst,
        ls_to         type bapisfldst,
        lt_flights    type table of bapisfldat,
        ls_flights    type bapisfldat.
data: lt_final type if_mainview=>elements_node_flighttab,
        ls_final type if_mainview=>element_node_flighttab.
* Instantiate the variable lr_input_note to the node NODE_FLIGHT
lr_input_node = wd_context->get_child_node( name = 'NODE_FLIGHT' ).
* Instantiate the variable lr_flight_note to the node NODE_FLIGHTTAB
lr_flight_node = wd_context->get_child_node( name = 'NODE_FLIGHTTAB' )
* Get the attributes CityFrom und CityTo
lr_input_node->get_attribute( exporting name = 'CITYFROM'
                                importing value = lv_cityfrom ).
lr_input_node->get_attribute( exporting name = 'CITYTO'
                                importing value = lv_cityto ).
* Fill the stuctures ls_from and ls_to
ls_from-city = lv_cityfrom.
ls_to-city   = lv_cityto.
* Call the function BAPI_FLIGHT_GETLIST
call function 'BAPI_FLIGHT_GETLIST'
   exporting
     destination_from       = ls_from
     destination_to         = ls_to
   tables
     flight_list            = lt_flights.
Now I am going to check if the airline id is 'AA' and based on that I will fill the readonly context attribute.
loop at lt_flights into ls_flights.
    MOVE-CORRESPONDING ls_flights to ls_final.
    if ls_flights-airlineid = 'AA'.
      ls_final-readonly = abap_true.
    else.
      ls_final-readonly = abap_false.
    endif.
    append ls_final to lt_final.
endloop.
Finally bind the data to the context node.
* Bind the data to the node NODE_FLIGHTTAB
lr_flight_node->bind_elements( lt_final ).
Now you need to do the ALV configuration settings.
* create an instance of ALV component
DATA:
    lr_salv_wd_table_usage TYPE REF TO if_wd_component_usage.
lr_salv_wd_table_usage = wd_this->wd_cpuse_alv( ).
IF lr_salv_wd_table_usage->has_active_component( ) IS INITIAL.
    lr_salv_wd_table_usage->create_component( ).
ENDIF.
* get ALV component
DATA:
    lr_salv_wd_table TYPE REF TO iwci_salv_wd_table.
lr_salv_wd_table = wd_this->wd_cpifc_alv( ).
wd_this->alv_config_table = lr_salv_wd_table->get_model( ).
CALL METHOD wd_this->alv_config_table->if_salv_wd_table_settings~set_read_only
    EXPORTING
      VALUE = ABAP_FALSE
* set visible row count
DATA:
    lr_table_settings TYPE REF TO if_salv_wd_table_settings.
lr_table_settings ?= wd_this->alv_config_table.
lr_table_settings->set_visible_row_count( '10' ).
DATA:
    lr_column_settings TYPE REF TO if_salv_wd_column_settings,
    lr_column          TYPE REF TO cl_salv_wd_column.
lr_column_settings ?= wd_this->alv_config_table.
DATA: lr_input_field TYPE REF TO cl_salv_wd_uie_input_field.
lr_column = lr_column_settings->get_column( 'AIRLINEID' ).
CREATE OBJECT lr_input_field EXPORTING value_fieldname = 'AIRLINEID'.
lr_column->set_cell_editor( lr_input_field ).
lr_input_field->set_read_only_fieldname( value = 'READONLY' ).
CALL METHOD lr_column_settings->delete_column
    EXPORTING
      id     = 'READONLY'

In MM03, can you configure the display layout of the "document data" tab?

In MM03 on the document data tab, we would like to shorten the length of the "document" column so that the Status field can be viewed on initial screen without scrolling to the right. Is it possible to reconfigure this view?

Hi Heidi,
to change the layout of the linked documents in transaction MM03 please go to the additional data tab and then please use the small configurations button (small table icon on the right side) and follow the below instructions:
1. Configure the table control as you want it.
2. Click the settings button at the top of the table control.
3. Enter a name and chhose "Create".
4. If you want this variant to appear whenever the table control appears, set the "Use as default setting" option.
5. Choose "Copy" to close the dialog box.
If you want to change how existing variants are used, or want to reactivate the basic setting, choose the corresponding settings from the list boxes and choose 'Copy' to close the dialog box.
Best regards,
Christoph
P.S.: Please reward points for useful information.

Can any one help me to configure the mysql table to enable user expiration to function, I have tryed most things, but not dates are being passed back to the data base from the form

Im trying to build user expiration into my registration form, but I cant get the form to send back the date registering.
in my data base i have tried every thing from timestamp to datetime. I can get a timestamp but it is not functioning with the expiration?

just have a look at my tutorial Login tables: installation & configuration where the required column attributes are explained and where you can obtain a fully functional SQL dump for a typical ADDT "login" and (optionally) "login_stats" table.
BTW, "expiration" will have to be an "int" column.
Cheers,
Günter

Configuring the iPhone and your environment for wireless corporate email

I'm posting this as a top level thread, because I'm certain that there are others out there, who like me, are trying to figure this out.
Configuring the iPhone for Enterprise Use
With Apple’s release of the iPhone, IT organizations are presented with an interesting challenge. Senior execs, gadget heads, and technoratti are all flocking to this device, heralded as the be all and end all of smartphone telecommunications technology. As these devices begin to flood into our organizations, we are met with the challenge to ‘make it work’.
After much explaining that the iPhone is not intended for Enterprise integration, and many discussions surrounding the technical feasibility of bringing said devices into the fold, and being the resident Mac and Linux head with an iPhone in hand, I decided to embark on the mission of making one ‘work’. I succeeded in part, however it’s not the kind of ‘work’ that is going to be viable for most end users.
First of all, it’s important to understand that the email client for the iPhone is a modified version of Mac’s Mail program. Not the best client in the world, but it does support Exchange integration. It also does external email sources, such as Yahoo and gMail, very well. For my interest though, I’m focusing on the Exchange integration functionality, as that is just about everyone’s corporate standard.
Bringing this task to fruition requires some understanding about the limitations of the iPhone, as well as some of its current quirks. Wireless802.11x, EDGE, VPN and Mail are all components necessary to provide a serviceable solution for mobile email access, and each of these things has some peculiarities that don’t appear to be fully worked out by Apple at this time.
For instance, within my organization, we have a secured wireless connectivity option available within our building; however, the SSID of this network is not broadcast, for the obvious reasons. SO, connecting the iPhone to it is a manual process of defining the network, and automatic reconnection seems to be very hit or miss, so it becomes far less of an option for any form of direct network access to your Exchange environment. (As an example, I had to redefine that network, on the iPhone, at least half a dozen times during this process.)
The other components have equally quirky issues, and I will discuss the how’s to get around them below.
In coordinating this into a cohesive plan however, I will break this into three sections;
1. Wireless and EDGE connectivity
2. VPN access to your network
3. Connecting to Exchange
So, without further ado;
Wireless and EDGE Connectivity
The wireless capabilities of the iPhone are, on the surface at least, excellent. It connects seamlessly to unsecured networks, offers the option of prompted or unprompted automatic connectivity, and is capable of 802.11G performance. Not bad for such a small package. However, it is very limited in the forms of secure network access it supports. These are, to quote Apple’s website; (and my iPhone)
WEP Password
WEP hex or ASCII
WPA (personal)
WPA2 (personal)
Now, due to the obvious security problems in implementing WEP security, it’s likely that any network you run into is going to be WPA or WPA2. The iPhone ONLY supports the personal versions of these protocols, so be aware of this going into the situation. If you’re not connecting to your work or school wireless, and you’re entering the information correctly, then it’s probably because they have the Enterprise version of one of the protocols enabled. If that is the case, then you’re either hunting for unsecured hotspots, or else depending on EDGE.
In my case, I did have access to a WPA2 (Personal) enabled wireless signal to connect to my internal network. I thought my problem was half solved! I defined the connection, the wireless capability of the phone worked perfectly, and I was connected. I was wrong. Apparently, and judging from the Mac forums I’m not alone in this, the iPhone does not do a very good job of RE-connecting to a secured wireless network. It does an even worse job, when this is coupled with the fact that it doesn’t do a very good job reconnecting to a wireless network with an unpublished SSID.
After much fiddling and research into this, I determined that this simply was not the way to go, and I abandoned the idea. I wasn’t about to compromise my network security in order to get this silly phone working! So, that left me with either unsecured WiFi, or EDGE.
Either one of these connects pretty seamlessly, and gives me a relatively decent Internet connection. There are some issues being reported of the iPhone swapping between EDGE and WiFi for not apparent reason, but that said, it can still be made to work.
Now that I had this connection outside of my network, I obviously had to consider options for getting a secured connection into my network, which of course leads us to;
VPN Access Into Your Network
Being that this device was touted as the ‘real internet’ I was very excited to see if I could achieve this connection through my SSL VPN appliance. To make a long story short, I could not. Because Apple’s idea of the ‘Real Internet’ apparently does not include those wacky concepts like Java support, this proved to be impossible. My Apple cohorts will scream that it does support JavaScript, but we all know that that and 2 bucks will get you a small coffee at Starbucks… and not much more.
(The iPhone also does not support Flash, but that’s a topic for another conversation. I know, how could they leave that out? I’m amazed too, but then Steve Jobs always has been a bit too arrogant for his own good… I mean what does he expect, we’re all going to rewrite everything into QuickTime??? Please.)
Since that option didn’t work, I was left with the wide selection of two possibilities provided within the iPhone software. Either, a PPTP or L2TP VPN tunnel.
We went ahead and configured a PPTP connection on one of our Cisco routers in order to test this. It didn’t work. I couldn’t connect to it. Tried and tried. Nada. SOOOO, we said OK, and configured a L2TP connection on one of our Cisco routers, with similar results.
Figuring that this was something in the config, we called Cisco, and did the technical support dance with them for several days, trying one thing after another to get this connection to actually work. Nothing helped, and it never worked using either protocol. Then, I noticed an obscure article somewhere on some website that said something to the effect that getting one of these tunnels to work from the iPhone to Cisco was nigh on impossible.
About the same time, my senior network guy said screw it, let’s put this on a Microsoft server. And so we did. Now, this is interesting in it’s own right, because configuring out of the box L2TP or PPTP on a Microsoft server results in a default authentication method of Windows Authentication. This does not work for the iPhone, because it has no idea what to do with the Windows security token it receives. So, you authenticate, and then are immediately dropped due to an inability to communicate with the PPP server.
Fortunately, we (as do most organizations) have a Radius server. We selected Radius authentication, configured both sides of the Radius authentication setup properly, and launched the PPTP tunnel…. AND…. EUREKA!!! The iPhone’s VPN software connected, authenticated, got an IP, and I was on the network! Well, no.
After about 2 seconds, I realized that while I did indeed have a connection, I couldn’t do anything with it. Couldn’t even browse to an internal site via IP address. The connection was up, the connection was working, the connection was useless.
So, we decided to give L2TP a shot. Configured it pretty much identically to the PPTP setup, used Radius, launched the iPhone client, and finally, after many days of screwing around, it worked. Now all I needed was to get my email working, so I started working on;
Connecting to Exchange
In the Mail program on the iPhone, the first time you launch it, you’re presented with the ability to configure an email source. However on subsequent or additional accounts, you must go under Settings, Mail to get to this functionality.
Going into the Mail configuration, I selected an additional account, the account type is, of course, Exchange. The configuration components are pretty obvious, however some things of note are;
Do NOT include your domain information in the User Name field
For all Host Names, use the fully qualified domain name of the server, or else IP
You WILL need to have SMTP enabled somewhere in order to send email
Anyway, I set all this up, and nothing happened. It said that my server was not responding. Did a little research, and it turns out that the only way to connect to Exchange is through an IMAP4 connection, and just in case you didn’t know, IMAP4 is disabled by default, so you have to enable and configure it.
Went onto the Exchange server, set the service to Auto, Started the listener, and finally, at long last, EUREKA! I finally had Corporate email on my iPhone, connecting securely, and not sending anything plain text anywhere. Hooray!
Now for the problems with this solution;
First of all, it depends upon VPN access into your environment, something that you may or may not be comfortable with. One good thing is that the iPhone does prompt for password to reconnect, and will tie the continuity of the VPN connection into the general phone lock security, such that an inability to provide the appropriate access code to a locked phone results in the VPN not being accessible.
The VPN of course is dependant upon a reliable network connection. I’ve noticed that it’s somewhat graceful in switching between WiFi and EDGE, however it’s not totally graceful, and you can experience some hinky things, like being able to send and not receive, or the mail client saying ‘Connecting’ for about 5 minutes before it figures things out.
The best cure for this is to simply stop and restart the VPN connection. Note that when you reconnect, the first attempt will prompt you for a numeric password, this is meaningless unless you have the device lock turned on. Just enter anything. (I think this is another bug) THEN it will re-prompt you for your real VPN password.
This solution for email delivery is obviously dependant upon the VPN connection being active. I’ve noticed that at times the iPhone will disconnect the VPN (probably when service switching) and not bother to mention it. When that happens, of course the VPN must be restarted.
For the lazy, this is an inconvenient solution because while it would appear that the iPhone will cache the VPN password, in fact it will not. That means that each re-launch requires that you re-enter your password. Not terrible for me, but I could see it being very tedious for the average corporate user.
The OSX Mail client has several little deficiencies, which may or may not impact your use of the device in this manner. For instance, if you have subfolders defined for your inbox, and server side rules to move mail into them, then you will not see any synchronization of that mail until you actually select the subfolder. Also, since there is such poor management of attachments and downloads, moving anything around via email on this device is nigh on impossible.
EDGE access to your corporate email, via a VPN, is a bit sloooooow. It works, it’s certainly fast enough for my purposes, but it’s not the slick quick access that we’ve all become accustomed to with Blackberry and Good devices. The lack of 3G support becomes a very noticeable shortcoming here.
(Why Apply didn’t simply partner with Good Technologies to crank out a client for this thing, I’ll never understand, but I guess you can refer to my comment above about certain people’s arrogance.)
The biggest problem of all of course is that it’s simply klugey. I hate klugey. But, with the capabilities at this device’s disposal, and given Apple’s ambitious, if a bit idiotic, stance that no third party will develop software for the iPhone, then this is about as good as it’s going to get for now.
It is my understanding that overseas there is some initiative underway to provide a more seamless Visto or Synchronica integration for enterprise email. However, given Apple’s unbelievably restrictive agreement with ATT regarding this device and the OTA necessity of delivering the client, I seriously doubt if we’ll see this in the near future in the US.
But I digress, so…
In Conclusion
This solution is not for the faint of heart, it doesn’t work all that well, and it has way too many moving parts that are subject to failure. However, I would say that this solution is serviceable for the corporate technology professional who needs email, and really, REALLY wants the other features of the iPhone. (ie, phone whores such as me.) It requires patience, it requires an understanding that this is not a 100% thing, and there definitely needs to be a prebuilt expectation that this device will not serve your email in anything approaching the manner to which you’ve become accustomed.
As long as all of that is okay though, then go right ahead, set it up, and enjoy!
The Short Version;
(I put this at the end because I want everyone to feel my pain!)
Wireless:
Use unsecured wireless or EDGE. Secured wireless may be serviceable as long as the SSID is broadcast, but there are known issues with this.
VPN:
L2TP, shared secret, running on Microsoft server, with Radius. (May work elsewhere, but doesn’t seem to run on Cisco at all) Accounts enabled for external access.
Exchange:
Configure IMAP4 Virtual Server on your Exchange environment, ensure that you have some SMTP resource for outbound email, use fully qualified domain names for all servers (or IP) in the mail config and do not include any domain prefix or suffix for user accounts.
The BIG Disclaimer at the End
Please note that all of this is provided ‘as is’. It worked for me, and I hope it works for you. To my knowledge, it’s not endorsed by Apple, and I’m not in the business of providing support for this thing. If it breaks something, if it doesn’t work, or if you simply don’t like it or me, I don’t care. However, if you have a question, and I’m not busy, and I feel like answering, I may lend a hand. You can email me at
Matthew dot Yotko at mac dot com
Don’t be surprised or offended if I don’t answer. Also, understand that I don’t check this address every day… Maybe a couple times a week.
Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.10) iphone

Thanks, now I understand why the wifi keeps dropping. On my personal wireless network, it also seems the distance from the access point is not good compared to my laptop. At work our network & exchange teams don't seem to have the desire to struggle with this "toy" until customers start forcing its adoption. I am using OWA and it works fine over EDGE. I will share your posting with them.
Thank you again.
Dell Windows XP Pro

Configuring the Initial Column in SNP

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