SOLVED - Does PageNumber() not work in PDFs and/or XLS?

[squish88]

Hey guys,
   I put a render variable on a conditional block in a bunch of my reports to show a "report description" the users requested at the top of the first page of output only.  That variable was a simple PageNumber() = 1.  Though it doesn't seem to want to work for PDF's, and Excel outputs...  (ie. no description is coming out on the first page when output to those formats).  It works great in HTML though.   Am I missing something?  Is this just a rookie mistake?  Should I be using something else to accomplish this, or is it possibly a Cognos (10.2.0 FP1) bug?
  Thanks in advance for the help!!

[MFGF]

What happens if you include a layout calculation in the page header with an expression of Pagenumber() - does it display the expected number when you render as html / pdf / excel? Showing this might give you a clue as to whether or not it's returning what you expect while you figure out what the issue is.

MF.

[squish88]

Yes, it does.

[navissar]

Hi,
This is a really weird behaviour, I was able to recreate it and do some further testing on 10.2. It seems that Cognos doesn't calculate the variable value when exporting the report.
It may be worth while to involve IBM support. Maybe there's a defect logged in deep in the stomach of IBM systems, or they can open one if there isn't.
In the meantime, here's a workaround: Since the report expression "PageNumber()" does work, you can set the description text like this:
create a layout calculation and in it put the following expression:
if(PageNumber ()=1) then ('This is a description text') else ('')
Replace 'This is a description text' with your description. This will actually work.

[squish88]

That's an excellent workaround!!   Thank you very much for the help!!!

[pirx]

Hey!

I am facing the same problem, just I have to show a list in the header only the first page. The list is different is than the list which is in the page body and the layout calculation does not work for me. The report contains page set with along some id-s, thats why does not work for me tha pagination settings, because the list repeat every new pagebreak...
But maybe I am just missing some point.
Do you have any idea?

Thanks!

[Lynn]

If you can create a query calculation that resolves to the first value your page set will deliver then you can conditionally render based on that.

For example, let's say your page set is based on product name and sorted alphabetically. Your products are called 'Alpha', 'Bravo', and 'Charlie'.

Create a query calculation called 'First Product Name' and find the first one:

Code Select Expand


minimum ( [Product Name] for report )


Now you can use [First Product Name] compared to [Product Name] and only render your object when they match, which is only going to be true for the first page.