Issues faced in updating csv files through odbc connection

[abhishek2301]

Hello,

I am a newbie in Cognos10 trying with some basic stuffs. I have created a csv data source connection in framework manager and able to view a simple list report from report studio.
I have the following concerns:
1. I would like to dynamically update the data in the csv file. I have a program that append a few rows to the csv file and how will i configure to associate the changes. Currently the setting is pretty static and adding data to the csv file does not get reflected to the report in the report studio without restarting the IBM Congnos/IBM Cognos Content Database/ Framework Manager. Even after restarting and publishing packages in framework manager I fail to view the newly added data in the Report.
2. I would like to distribute the data to a user group and would like to give them a web links for each report. I do not wish the user to execute the report from report studio and viewing the templates. How to do this and what will be the web link for this?

Any help is highly appreciated.
Thanks!

[bdbits]

1. The issues with detecting the changes are likely tied to the ODBC text driver you (probably) used to connect to the CSV file. The restart probably works because the connection gets closed and when it is re-opened by Cognos the file gets re-read. I would strongly encourage you to use a database of some kind. If it is on your local machine under Windows you can get trial editions of SQL Server and I think Oracle.

2. Go into Cognos Connection. Find your report and click the icon for properties (should be the 1st one under Actions column). Click the link in the upper right that says "View the search path, ID and URL". In the dialog, the "Default action URL" is the link you want to use. Note that users who try to open the report by whatever means are still going to need permissions, even if that is only "anonymous" access. And licensing costs might be involved, depending on the type of Cognos license you have. Security and licensing are probably more than you want to explore right now, but just be aware.

[abhishek2301]

Thanks a lot for the reply. However, I have figured out a few of the things. #1 problem was there due to a primary key relationship which was taken by default in the data source connection setup. Later rows for addition were having the same entries for that column which is the reason for no update. When I made unique entries for that column in the csv file then the changes are properly reflected to the Cognos report.
But, I have run into another problem. I guess the Cognos services keeps the csv file locked and it is not getting updated. The scenario works when I stop the Cognos service, update the csv file and then again restart the Cognos service.
Any work around for the problem!
Can I get to make it work by changing some configs in Cognos or the ODBC text driver?
Your suggestion for using DB is definitely a better solution but I want to make it work with csv files for some other reasons.
And moreover there are no principal reasons for not supporting csv data source.

Thanks!

[bdbits]

You've already run into the principal reason for not using the csv data source - problems with concurrency/locking, which a database is designed to handle. :-)

I am guessing the file stays locked because Cognos keeps the connection open for a while, in case someone else comes along. You might try disabling, then re-enabling the data source in Cognos admin. I do not know if that will work but since I have no other bright ideas... I think it must be Monday or something.

Hope that works.