Naming conventions

Reserved characters per component

The following characters are explicitly reserved for the following components and must never be used when you name objects in these contexts:

• TM1 Architect reserves the following characters:

  \ / : * ? " < > | } 

• TM1 Server reserves these characters in these objects: Cube, Dimension, Subset, View, Process, Chores.

  \ / : * ? " < > | ' ; ,

• For process variable names, the identifier cannot contain any special characters except for:

  AllowableChars[] = ".$%_`";

The curly brace in object names

It is a good practice to avoid the use of the right curly brace (}) as the first character in any user-created TM1 object name. TM1 control object names always begin with the right curly brace. If a user-created object name begins with a right curly brace, the object becomes hidden if the Display Control Objects parameter is turned off.

Member names and MDX expressions

Do not use + or - as the first character of a member name. Although only the first member in a set when slicing to active form cannot use + or - as the first character in the element name, it is a good practice to never use + or - as the first character of an member name.

Do not use a ^ in a member name. The ^ character can be used as the delimiter between the ancestor and multi-parent member's name but when a member name that contains this character is referenced in an MDX expression, it cannot be escaped.

Although all the other characters available for use in member names are technically not restricted, it is good practice to avoid the special characters that are listed in the previous table when you name members.

A member name can contain a right square bracket ( ] ) but when a member name that contains this character is referenced in an MDX expression, the character needs to be escaped by doubling it. For example, a member that is named Array[N] Elements, can be referred to in an MDX expression as [Array[N]] Elements].

Object names in TM1 rules

Although technically allowed, it is a good practice to avoid using these special characters in object names because they may conflict when used in a rules expression. This guideline protects you if the objects or members ever become part of a rule statement where those special characters are not permitted.

• For example, ) | ~ ; @ \ / : * ? " < > are all often found in rules statements and should not be used in object names.
• The @ is technically not restricted, however it is a good practice to avoid using the @ character in object names or member names because the @ character is also a string comparison operator in TM1 rules. If you reference any object with a name that contains the @ character in rules, the object name must be enclosed in single quotation marks. For example, a dimension named products@location must be referenced as 'products@location' in rules. Escaping the name with quotation marks does not work in all cases, so it is best to avoid the use of @ in all cases when naming objects.
• Escaping the special character using quotation marks does not work for ! or in certain rule expressions.
• The exclamation point ! character must not be used in object names because it is also used in rules expressions. For example:

  DB('MarketExchange',!market,!date)

Maximum string length for data directory and object names

The entire string that is represented by the combination of the TM1® Server data directory name and the object name is limited to 128 bytes. For example, if your data directory is C:\Financial data\TM1\ (22 bytes), object names are limited to 106 bytes, inclusive of a file extension such as .cub or .rux.

Some TM1 objects, such as views, subsets, and applications, are stored in subdirectories of the TM1 Server data directory. In this case, the 128-byte limit is applied to the combination of the TM1 Server data directory, the subdirectory, and the object name.

Case sensitivity

Object names are not case-sensitive. For example, the dimension name actvsbud is equivalent to ActVsBud.

Spaces in object names

Spaces are allowed in all object names, but spaces are ignored by the TM1 Server. The TM1 Server considers the dimension name Act Vs Bud to be equivalent to ActVsBud (or actvsbud).

User names

User names that include reserved characters cannot save private objects.