Not displaying Prompt Page

[dfite]

I have a very simple letter that doesn't need any database data, as it is a standardized form.  But, the form need to display conditional text so I set up a parameter on a prompt page.  Cognos just skips it, though, and just generates the report without prompting.  What must I do to force the prompt to work?

[COGNOiSe administrator]

Fake it ... Meaning, put in an invisible single row list and make a prompt required.

[dfite]

I thought about that, but didn't want to hinder performance.  Is that just a 1.1 thing that is fixed later?  I see so many flaws and things that simply don't work that I wonder if its just that I'm at 1.1 with no MR patches installed - or - is it just that Cognos is just so crappy?  Here's two quick examples off the top of my head -

1. I have a report that displays perfectly in html, but in PDF it repeats the conditional blocks again at the end of the page and has "ERROR" infront of each!?!

2. Date fields display as integers (i.e. 35647) in excel output (I think I saw this as an MR3 fix).

Bah - just so frustrating not knowing what is my own lack of knowlegde, what is a defect, and what is just... Cognos.

[dfite]

Thanks, but that doesnt seem to work.  I get an error that says that the query is illegal because it doesn't access the database (I had just put a fact that pointed to the 1 user prompt I have).

Any other ideas on how I can force cognos to show the prompt page?

[dfite]

Well, I got it jury-rigged to work.  Here's what I did :
1. created a query and set the page to page break on it.
2. selected a primary key field from a query subject (my person table)
3. set a filter for a specific key value in that table, so my query always has 1 row.
4. added a data item and set it to point to my parameter.

whew.  Now, I guess my question is - is that normal to have to jury-rig things like that?  Why didn't cognos recognize my prompt on the prompt page in the first place?  Does anyone know of any technical reason for that?

[COGNOiSe administrator]

Ouch, Cognos crappy? One of, if not the most open reporting environment ever concieved by a carbon based life form?

Anyhow, if it is just a static page that you need to include in a prtal, why don't you design it in FrontPage, Word or Adobe, upload with DAV to a folder of your choice, and create a link inside Cognos Connection portal. ReportNet was created for ... well, reporting purposes. If you need mostly static documents, there are well designed content management systems out there.

Alright, alright, not to leave you out there hanging, here is an example based on the GOSAR package, which runs fast, and gets you desired result

Code Select Expand



<report xml:lang="en-us" xmlns="http://developer.cognos.com/schemas/report/1/"><!--RS:1.1-->
<layoutList>
<layout>

<promptPageList><page name="Prompt Page1">
<pageHeader>
<block class="reportTitle">
<textItem class="reportTitleText">
<text>Fancy Schmancy Prompt Page</text>
</textItem>
</block>
<style>
<CSS value="padding-bottom:10px"/>
</style>
</pageHeader>
<pageBody>
<style>
<CSS value="padding:12px"/>
</style>
<selectValue parameter="parFake" multiSelect="false" range="false" required="true" selectUI="radioGroup"><selectOptions><selectOption useValue="FV1"><displayValue value="Fake Value One"/></selectOption><selectOption useValue="FV2"><displayValue value="Fake Value 2"/></selectOption><selectOption useValue="FV3"><displayValue value="Fake Value Three"/></selectOption></selectOptions></selectValue>
</pageBody>
<pageFooter>
<style>
<CSS value="padding:12px;border-top:1pt solid #999999"/>
</style>
<promptButton type="cancel">
<style>
<CSS value="margin-right:7px"/>
</style>
</promptButton>
<promptButton type="back">
<style>
<CSS value="margin-right:7px"/>
</style>
</promptButton>
<promptButton type="next">
<style>
<CSS value="margin-right:7px"/>
</style>
</promptButton>
<promptButton type="finish"/>
</pageFooter>
</page>
</promptPageList><pageSet>

<page name="Page1">
<pageBody><table><tableRow><tableCell><table><tableRow><tableCell><table><tableRow><tableCell><textItem><text>Fake Parameter Use Value:</text></textItem><style><CSS value="text-align:right"/></style></tableCell><tableCell><textItem><expression>ParamValue("parFake")</expression></textItem></tableCell></tableRow><style><CSS value="border-collapse:collapse;width:100%"/></style></table></tableCell><tableCell><table><tableRow><tableCell><textItem><text>Fake Parameter Display Value:</text></textItem><style><CSS value="text-align:right"/></style></tableCell><tableCell><textItem><expression>ParamDisplayValue("parFake")</expression></textItem></tableCell></tableRow><style><CSS value="border-collapse:collapse;width:100%"/></style></table></tableCell></tableRow><style><CSS value="border-collapse:collapse;width:100%"/></style></table></tableCell></tableRow><tableRow><tableCell><textItem><text>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Praesent posuere metus faucibus nibh. Vestibulum tempus adipiscing odio. Donec vehicula. Fusce turpis augue, commodo eget, tristique ut, tristique id, eros. Ut enim dui, pellentesque quis, egestas ac, euismod aliquet, metus. Praesent ultrices pulvinar dui. Nunc ut purus ac erat rhoncus aliquet. Sed ligula nibh, sagittis at, cursus quis, egestas vel, lorem. Quisque augue libero, sodales non, sollicitudin a, nonummy et, enim. Vestibulum eu nibh. Donec odio nulla, cursus sed, viverra at, tincidunt nec, massa. Sed id tellus. Aenean risus odio, semper tincidunt, adipiscing ut, aliquam sit amet, diam. Curabitur orci risus, commodo eu, fringilla quis, egestas non, erat. Nulla facilisi. Nullam vel sem nec lorem faucibus nonummy. Proin lacus arcu, varius vitae, molestie at, elementum cursus, urna. Cras ut purus non nulla bibendum eleifend. Nulla eu urna. Curabitur a nisi. Cras vestibulum elit eget purus consequat vestibulum. Morbi sed ligula ac libero ullamcorper dignissim. Praesent quis velit a massa varius imperdiet. Donec orci ipsum, sodales a, adipiscing sit amet, sodales eget, turpis. Nunc aliquet. Curabitur ac urna. Morbi tempor urna non dui. Integer tempor massa sed eros mattis ultricies. Donec arcu massa, luctus id, posuere eu, ultrices at, ipsum. Maecenas nec tellus quis enim dapibus sodales. Fusce rhoncus tristique quam. Nam tortor. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Sed pellentesque nunc quis sapien. Ut non diam vel ligula vehicula iaculis. Nam et mauris eu risus adipiscing luctus. Cras viverra, mi eget semper pulvinar, massa justo mollis leo, sed posuere massa diam vel lorem. Donec lorem sem, nonummy ut, placerat ac, posuere at, dui. Cras venenatis fringilla est. Suspendisse vitae pede id mauris pellentesque malesuada. Vivamus augue. Suspendisse porttitor pede. Maecenas tellus. Donec tincidunt pharetra leo. Morbi ut nulla. Vestibulum iaculis, dolor id congue mollis, tortor metus dapibus urna, ac aliquam justo nunc eget ante. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Donec consectetuer est in tortor. Suspendisse consequat dolor a pede. Donec eu nulla. Ut nec lacus. Pellentesque sed quam. Duis lectus dui, gravida vel, dapibus ac, aliquet ac, quam. Fusce velit pede, tristique non, rhoncus a, interdum non, eros. Mauris a arcu et metus aliquet ultricies. Suspendisse augue urna, fringilla sed, tincidunt sit amet, congue vitae, erat. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Ut laoreet libero nec nisl. Sed nec mauris. Ut odio est, dictum consequat, aliquet euismod, auctor ut, metus. Praesent rutrum. Phasellus enim. Aenean ipsum. Etiam a purus eu nisl tempor euismod. Nam vulputate. Proin hendrerit nisi quis arcu. Pellentesque sagittis purus nec metus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed tortor arcu, sodales vel, accumsan quis, euismod non, enim. Integer id augue nec neque mattis porttitor. Curabitur vitae orci eu metus viverra viverra. Cras venenatis pharetra turpis. Praesent nibh. </text></textItem></tableCell></tableRow><tableRow><tableCell><list refQuery="FakeQuery">
<listColumnTitles><listColumnTitle><textItem><queryItemRef refItem="Product line" content="label"/></textItem></listColumnTitle></listColumnTitles>
<listColumns><listColumn><textItem><queryItemRef refItem="Product line"/></textItem></listColumn></listColumns>
<style>
<CSS value="border-collapse:collapse"/>
</style>
<XMLAttribute name="RS_ListGroupInfo" value=""/></list>
<style><CSS value="display:none"/></style></tableCell></tableRow><style><CSS value="border-collapse:collapse;width:100%"/></style></table></pageBody>
<pageHeader><textItem><text>Sample static page header</text></textItem></pageHeader><pageFooter><textItem><text>Sample static page footer</text></textItem></pageFooter></page></pageSet></layout>
</layoutList>
<modelConnection name="/content/package[@name='GO Sales and Retailers']/model[@name='model']"/><querySet xml:lang="en-us"><BIQuery name="FakeQuery"><cube><factList><item refItem="Product line" aggregate="none"/></factList></cube><tabularModel><dataItem name="Product line" aggregate="none"><expression>[gosales_goretailers].[Products].[Product line]</expression></dataItem><filter><condition>1=1 or ?parFake?=[Product line]</condition></filter></tabularModel></BIQuery></querySet></report>



[COGNOiSe administrator]

Oh, the way it was done, there is a hidden table cell, which contains a list, based on a product line query with filter like this:

1=1 or ?parFake?=[Product line]

[MFGF]

Fabulous technique!  So simple yet so clever.  I'm not jealous (Much!)  ;D

MF.