Scheduled Active Report not working

[NiceCube]

Hi,

I'm a relative novice with active reports, having only been looking at them the last couple of days.  However, I've set one up which works fine.  It has one data drop down list that selects the year.  Once selected the list and chart show the specific year's data.  The drop down has a default of 2016.  The format chosen within the schedule is HTML.

When the report is scheduled and emailed, then opened from the email, the 'active' component fails to work, i.e. selecting a year from the drop down list has no effect - the list shows the full range of values; the graph just shows one year.

Can active reports be scheduled to run as HTML?

Thanks in advance.....

[MFGF]

Hi,

I'm a relative novice with active reports, having only been looking at them the last couple of days.  However, I've set one up which works fine.  It has one data drop down list that selects the year.  Once selected the list and chart show the specific year's data.  The drop down has a default of 2016.  The format chosen within the schedule is HTML.

When the report is scheduled and emailed, then opened from the email, the 'active' component fails to work, i.e. selecting a year from the drop down list has no effect - the list shows the full range of values; the graph just shows one year.

Can active reports be scheduled to run as HTML?

Thanks in advance.....

Hi,

Active reports render MHT files when emailing. The ability to interact is then dependent on the application you use to consume the MHT. Usually opening the attachment using Internet Explorer works fine - is this what you are doing?

Cheers!

MF.

[NiceCube]

Hi MF,

Thanks for your swift response.  Yes, the email attachment opens in IE automatically.  Even when I save the file locally then open from IE (v11), I get the same non-active report.

Cheers,

Richard

[NiceCube]

I should add that when I download directly from Cognos Connection, then open with IE, it all works fine.

[MFGF]

I should add that when I download directly from Cognos Connection, then open with IE, it all works fine.

Hi,

That doesn't sound right. Can you replicate the issue using the samples? If so, you could share your report spec so we could see...

MF.

[NiceCube]

Hi,

No, it's certainly not the behaviour I was expecting.  I'm new to the role and the samples aren't available currently, so can't report back I'm afraid.  Also, we're upgrading to V11 (Analytics) in a couple of weeks so I may leave it until then.  I was really just trying to prove a concept - and to move the business away from using Excel (and the horrors therein!).

If anything else springs to mind I'll update the thread.

Cheers,

Richard

[MFGF]

Hi,

No, it's certainly not the behaviour I was expecting.  I'm new to the role and the samples aren't available currently, so can't report back I'm afraid.  Also, we're upgrading to V11 (Analytics) in a couple of weeks so I may leave it until then.  I was really just trying to prove a concept - and to move the business away from using Excel (and the horrors therein!).

If anything else springs to mind I'll update the thread.

Cheers,

Richard

Hi,

What version of Cognos are you running currently? Might be an issue with your specific build/fix pack version, perhaps? It's not something I've seen before, though.

You'll see huge differences in the user interface when you upgrade to Cognos Analytics, so it might be as well to learn the new UI rather than start learning Active Reports in Report Studio 10 then have to re-learn where everything is :)

The other thought is that there's a free trial version of Cognos Analytics you can sign up to use - is it possible to build a report with the same mechanism in that (using the samples) and see if you get the same issue? Or just share the report you build so we can try it locally in CA?

Cheers!

MF.

[NiceCube]

Hi,

We're running Cognos Express v10.2.1.  Yes, could well be the version.

I've attached the report (downloaded from Cognos Connection).  It should work (and I'm sure you already know this, but anyway) with IE, or other browsers with the plug-in.

Cheers,

Richard

[MFGF]

Hi,

We're running Cognos Express v10.2.1.  Yes, could well be the version.

I've attached the report (downloaded from Cognos Connection).  It should work (and I'm sure you already know this, but anyway) with IE, or other browsers with the plug-in.

Cheers,

Richard

That works fine for me in IE. Do you have an example of the same report run via schedule and emailed? Is it possible to save the attachment from the email and include it here? Could your email system be interfering somehow, I wonder?

MF.

[NiceCube]

Yes, very impressed with active reports and their potential within my current organisation.  I have attached the emailed version (1k smaller for some reason).  You might well be correct about the email system interfering - though I'm not sure how I'd diagnose any issue.

Also, thanks for your help so far!

Richard

[MFGF]

Yes, very impressed with active reports and their potential within my current organisation.  I have attached the emailed version (1k smaller for some reason).  You might well be correct about the email system interfering - though I'm not sure how I'd diagnose any issue.

Also, thanks for your help so far!

Richard

There's something definitely screwy about that second attachment. You can get into Debug mode when running an active report by entering <ctrl><shift>D, then right-clicking in the report. From the menu you can choose 'Show Variables'. This lets you see and modify the variable values (CreateYear in your case). In the first attachment you can see the variable values being set by the dropdown, and you can manually enter year values and see the report react. In the second, you see no variable values are set by the dropdown, and if you manually enter one it doesn't seem to trigger any response.

Sorry to ask (but I just want to make absolutely sure we're covering all the bases here), but are you absolutely sure the same report is being used in both instances? It's not possible that you have two versions of the report, is it?

Cheers!

MF.

[NiceCube]

Hi MF,

It's a fair question, given the seemingly different output, however it's definitely the same report - I have only one version and I'm the only Cognos developer, currently.

The debugging you mention something I hadn't tried.

Cheers,

Richard

[MFGF]

Hi MF,

It's a fair question, given the seemingly different output, however it's definitely the same report - I have only one version and I'm the only Cognos developer, currently.

The debugging you mention something I hadn't tried.

Cheers,

Richard

So, let's try a process of elimination. What are the results if you:

a) Schedule the report and have it save the output rather than emailing. Does the saved output work correctly when you download it?
b) Use the 'Run with options' button and choose the "Send me the report by email" option. Does the output work correctly when you save it from the email?

I'm hoping this will help us eliminate either the scheduler or email delivery as an issue. If a) works, the problem can't be the scheduler (ie the batch report service). If b) works it can't be your email server messing things up.

If I was a betting man, I'd put my tuppence on b) being the culprit... :)

MF.

[NiceCube]

Hi MF,

Sorry to report; a) is the culprit.

I ran the schedule, saved the file and opened the output - the same problem occurs.  Could it be that the format is XHTML?

Cheers,

Richard

[MFGF]

Hi MF,

Sorry to report; a) is the culprit.

I ran the schedule, saved the file and opened the output - the same problem occurs.  Could it be that the format is XHTML?

Cheers,

Richard

So, just to be clear, when the schedule was complete, you navigated to the report in Cognos Connection, clicked the button for saved output versions, clicked the Download link in the Actions column, and saved the output that way?

What do you see if you just click the report name after the schedule is complete? Does the report work properly when launched from within Cognos Connection?

MF.

[NiceCube]

Hi,

Yes, that's exactly what I did.

If I click the report name (to run the most recent version) I get the same non-working report.

To summarise; the report only seems to work when I run directly from Cognos Connection (blue arrow and view report now) or from the report design view (either a run or download).  As soon as the scheduler get's involved the interactivity corrupted (for wont of a better word).

I've no idea where to go from here, other than to reproduce in V11, when it's up and running.

Cheers,

Richard

[MFGF]

Hi,

Yes, that's exactly what I did.

If I click the report name (to run the most recent version) I get the same non-working report.

To summarise; the report only seems to work when I run directly from Cognos Connection (blue arrow and view report now) or from the report design view (either a run or download).  As soon as the scheduler get's involved the interactivity corrupted (for wont of a better word).

I've no idea where to go from here, other than to reproduce in V11, when it's up and running.

Cheers,

Richard

Well, although we don't have a solution, at least we know more about what's causing the issue. If I was you I'd log a PMR with IBM, and/or download and install the latest fixpack for Express 10.2.1 from the Fixcentral site to see if that resolves your issue.

In the meantime, IBM have a free trial of Cognos Analytics in the cloud. You could sign up for that and try your example on there? You can either connect it directly to your current data source, or you could export the relevant data as xls from Cognos Express and use the new file upload capabilities in Cognos Analytics to upload it to the free trial...

Good luck!!

MF.

[NiceCube]

Cheers MF, and thanks again for your input.

[MFGF]

Cheers MF, and thanks again for your input.

You're welcome! Hope you find a solution :)

MF.

[NiceCube]

I didn't find a solution, MF, however I created another active report today - and the problem didn't recur.  This seems to indicate that I did something unorthodox when setting up the schedule yesterday.