Working with APIs for Dummies

Question

All,
So I want to get into working with HFM and FDM APIs and am not sure the best place to start. I have great knowledge of VBA, C++, and javascript coding, but haven't dabbled too much into VB. The other day I was messing around with the FDM API example using Excel's Visual Basic editor and was able to get logged into the application based on building a form and referencing some DLLs. The errors began when trying to pull menus from the app through Excel.
Some questions for you pros:
1) Are there any reference documents available for those beginners wishing to use the API in HFM? (I have found a decent starter document for FDM)
2) Do you need Visual Studio to write the code, or can you accomplish everything in the Excel editor (or is there some alternative which is less costly)?
3) Would anyone be willing to share a simple example of code they've written and the issue it resolved? For example, I think it shouldn't be too difficult to create a program to Export FDM data for a certain location at a certain time if the data is in the Validate stage. Or, post all approved JVs in HFM for a certain period. Really just anything. As you know, once you have a little starter code it is much easier to get going.
Thanks!

Answer 1

You should be able to use excel's VBA, you just need to add references to the appropriate .DLL files from the server. The drawback being that it will only work on your computer. A true VB program will work on the machine of anyone who has the client installed.
As for documentation, there is an HFM Object Guide that you can find somewhere on oracle's site. I forget where exactly, but it's probably in the same place you found the FDM API guide.
I will say this though, FDM and HFM operate very differently when it comes to using VB. FDM involves directly calling data from the tables to get what you want. HFM has pre-built functions that accomplish almost everything for you(Retreiving journals, opening periods, pulling security, etc).
The best advice I can give you is start with something simple. My first HFM program was more or less an attempt to replicate the functionality in the HFM Utilities Program only with a sorted user list box(drove me crazy since all our user ID's are numbers).
Start simple, learn the basics, and from there you'd be amazed what you can do.