Running Multiple reports in a dashboard screen

[nfldbunker]

Hi

I have been asked to dveleop a couple of reports for a dashboard's which update every minute automatically which works very well. Now is there a way to push these reports out to a big TV monitor for viewing. I want 2 reports to run lets say every 4 minutes almost like using power point slide show setup but with 2 different cognos reports in one dashboard   

[Olivier]

Hello,

did you think about using Pagelet/Portlet to display multiple reports in one page ?

[nfldbunker]

HI

I do have dashboards created using the porlets and there are 2 reports which run in 2 different portletts which i want to show on the screen at the entrace to our building..]

so basically what i want to achieve - on this big 46 inch screen similar to using power point to run a show.....report 1 runs automatically(30 seconds) and then report 2 displays for 30 seconds etc. If at other times i want to add extra reports it would also run in que.

bunker

[bdbits]

You can run reports and pass parameters to them through a URL. So create a web page with an iframe. In the parent page, set up a javascript timer. Store the URLs in an array and cycle through them on each timer event, setting the content of the iframe with the URL.

Display your new web page on the entrance tv/monitor. You may need/want to tweak the layout to accomodate the resolution of this display.

[nfldbunker]

HI Thanks for the feed. So technically i could push out multiple reports even through our public  internet or intranet portals? i will test and let you know if it resolves our issue

regards

bunker

[MFGF]

HI Thanks for the feed. So technically i could push out multiple reports even through our public  internet or intranet portals? i will test and let you know if it resolves our issue

regards

bunker

Technically, yes. Do look carefully at the licensing implications in doing this, though. If you are on a named-user based licensing model you will probably not be able to do this. PVU based licensing will probably make this ok, though.

Cheers!

MF.

[nfldbunker]

Thanks for the information MFGF. I think our licenses are per user but if i use a consumer license to push out the 2 reports in question would that be an issue? B Basically i want a dahsboard available on this TV monitor for senior staff to look at 2 reports rotating every 2 minutes.

I tested the iframe solution on our corportae intarnet and it works but i have some questions:
1. The current report in cognos dahsboard refreshes every 5 minutes to show the new data, how will i get this to refresh in the iframe
2. I will still have to log into the cognos portal through the iframe... is there a way to prevent this from looking for the username/password.... set it in cognos etc

have anyone else done a similar setup and if so please share some experiences good or bad.

regards   

[MFGF]

Hi,

If you're using a named-user license model, you will need a consumer license to cover this, yes. Check this with your IBM account manager to make sure though - I'm not any sort of authority on licensing :)

Addressing your questions:

1. I would guess a whiff of javascript might be needed to force a refresh of the iFrame? I can barely spell javascript, though - so hopefully an expert might confirm this and be able to provide an example?
2. If your iFrame is accessing your report via URL, you can add the credentials into the URL to prevent a login dialog appearing:
http://Hostname:80/ibmcognos/cgi-bin/cognosisapi.dll?CAMUsername=YourLoginIDGoesHere&CAMPassword=YourPasswordGoesHere&b_action=xts.run...

Cheers!

MF.

[CognosPaul]

Maybe something like:

<script>
window.setInterval(
function() {document.getElementById('frame1').location.reload();document.getElementById('frame2').location.reload();}
, 30000);
</script>

If I wrote it correctly (can't actually test that now) it should reload two iframes, with the id frame1 and frame2, every 30 seconds.

[bdbits]

I am not in a place to test it right now, but PaulM has you pointed in the right direction.

Including the user name and password in the URL may of course be a security concern, as anyone who can access the dashboard could see it in the embedded javascript. Can you enable single sign-on so credentials pass through and you are not prompted?

On licensing, do check with your account rep. I think a single consumer license covers it, as MFGF said.