Writing A "Custom" Prompt Page

[Cognos_Jan2017]

I have written "Custom" Prompt Pages on another Project for 23-months utilizing a Vendor App running 10.2.2 thru CA 11.0.11.

The Vendor had complete control over the App's Packages and Framework Manager.

I was always able to Define Parameters then utilize them in a "Custom" Prompt Page.
======================================================
I am on another assignment for another Vendor's App running Cognos 10.2.2.
That Vendor's Framework Manager includes Queries for "Prompts Only."

I can try writing a "Custom" Prompt Page utilizing my Defined Parameters.  That Prompt Page will run, but is followed by another "Prompt Page" running Parameters from the "Prompt Only" Queries.

Is there a way to "ignore" the "Prompts Only" Queries so I can control Prompting thru my "Custom" Prompt Page?

TIA, Bob

[MFGF]

I have written "Custom" Prompt Pages on another Project for 23-months utilizing a Vendor App running 10.2.2 thru CA 11.0.11.

The Vendor had complete control over the App's Packages and Framework Manager.

I was always able to Define Parameters then utilize them in a "Custom" Prompt Page.
======================================================
I am on another assignment for another Vendor's App running Cognos 10.2.2.
That Vendor's Framework Manager includes Queries for "Prompts Only."

I can try writing a "Custom" Prompt Page utilizing my Defined Parameters.  That Prompt Page will run, but is followed by another "Prompt Page" running Parameters from the "Prompt Only" Queries.

Is there a way to "ignore" the "Prompts Only" Queries so I can control Prompting thru my "Custom" Prompt Page?

TIA, Bob

Hi,

I assume the second page is an automatically generated prompt page? You only get these if there are parameters in the report that are not being prompted for elsewhere. Assuming the report requires these parameters to be set, the easy answer is to include prompts for these on your own prompt page.

Cheers!

MF.

[Cognos_Jan2017]

hank you MFGF.

I assume the second page is an automatically generated prompt page? You only get these if there are parameters in the report that are not being prompted for elsewhere. Assuming the report requires these parameters to be set, the easy answer is to include prompts for these on your own prompt page.

The second page has to be an automatically generated Prompt Page.  The parameters appearing (not being prompted for elsewhere) are many, and Query Items not needed for the Report.

The only Query for the Report I wrote did NOT originally have any parameters defined by me.

When I add "Service Date" (AND change Filtering to "BeginDate" and "EndDate" as defined in their "Prompts Only"), the automatically generated prompt page still prompts for other Query Items NOT in my Query.

May have to ask the Vendor why.

Back to my original question, any way to disable automatically generated prompt page if I want to write a "Custom" prompt page with only my defined parameters?

[MFGF]

hank you MFGF.

The second page has to be an automatically generated Prompt Page.  The parameters appearing (not being prompted for elsewhere) are many, and Query Items not needed for the Report.

The only Query for the Report I wrote did NOT originally have any parameters defined by me.

When I add "Service Date" (AND change Filtering to "BeginDate" and "EndDate" as defined in their "Prompts Only"), the automatically generated prompt page still prompts for other Query Items NOT in my Query.

May have to ask the Vendor why.

Back to my original question, any way to disable automatically generated prompt page if I want to write a "Custom" prompt page with only my defined parameters?

Hi,

You only get an automatically generated prompt page appearing if there are parameter values that have not been set elsewhere. The only ways to prevent it from appearing are either:
a) Make sure you set all the parameter values elsewhere, eg in your own prompt page, or
b) Remove the unneeded parameters from the report if possible.

The approach you take will depend entirely on how and where the parameters are defined. If they are hard-coded in the framework (and therefore the package), then you're not going to be able to remove them, which rules out option b. However, if they are defined within the report (possibly brought in via the template you used) then you should be able to find them and remove them. I would be looking for filters and/or calculations in the report that you didn't create yourself.

But to answer your question directly, no - there isn't a way to disable the automatically generated prompt page. The only way to get rid of it is if the parameters it's prompting for are either removed or set elsewhere. One option is to add prompts to your prompt page, define default values to set the parameters, then hide those prompts.

Cheers!

MF.

[Cognos_Jan2017]

That is information we need.

That is merits an Applaud.

Thank you MFGF.

[ukflix]

Hello

This is good advice from MFGF but I may be able to add a little extra.  Sometimes the data source can have built in parameters that will display a prompt page in Cognos if you just use a field from the same source view.  You won't necessarily know from the report what is causing the prompt unless you know how the data source has been developed.  You can program defaults for these in Framework manager by going into the Query Subject Definition and going to the parameters tab.  You can supply Argument Name, Mode etc...  and you can also supply a default value in the format ##.  For example, we have a Yes/No prompt and we supply #Y# as the default.  A more complex date one (just needs today) is #timestampMask($current_timestamp, 'yyyy-mm-dd')#.  May not be relevant to your case but thought this completes the thread.

[Cognos_Jan2017]

Thank ukflix.

You can program defaults for these in Framework manager by going into the Query Subject Definition and going to the parameters tab.  You can supply Argument Name, Mode etc...  and you can also supply a default value in the format ##.  For example, we have a Yes/No prompt and we supply #Y# as the default.  A more complex date one (just needs today) is #timestampMask($current_timestamp, 'yyyy-mm-dd')#.  May not be relevant to your case but thought this completes the thread.

We cannot modify the Vendor's Framework Manager, but this is helpful to complete the thread.