So when I go to dashboard via cognos connection, I have the option to refresh any of the portlets. If I add the dashboard as a tab, I no longer have this option. Any idea why?
I was trying to allow the user to just click 'refresh' to reprompt instead of adding an actual reprompt button. It works if you open the dashboard from Cognos Connection...just not when it's a tab. :-\
It sounds like you might have a saved output version of the dashboard, and the default setting in the report viewer on your port let is set to display the saved output version. When this happens, you lose all interactivity. Edit the report viewer on the portal page, and set the report to run instead of display the saved output.
Did you figure this out? I see the same thing. The refresh button is there in the portlet title bar when I click on the page, but not there when I view the page as a tab.