Cognos content maintenance using XSLT script - find dependent objects

[Andrei I]

I would like to show how XSLT scripts can help with Cognos content maintenance.
Like many modern software tools Cognos stores its internal structures in XML format:

• Report Studio Report sources
• 
  Framework Manager Models
• 
  Export-Import content packages
• 
  LCM data
• 
  etc.

With little creativity you can use XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) Transformation or XSLT to extract useful information from Cognos XML or even modify it.
I used to be a software developer and when I started to mostly implement Cognos solutions I was always looking for automated ways to do different tasks.
Just a few examples from my own experience:

• Find all Cognos objects which are using a specific Cognos object
• 
  Extract SQL statements from Report Studio reports
• 
  Build advanced reporting from LCM internal data
• 
  Generate sections of FM models from existing Models (other BI tools) or Data mappings

Let's say you need to find all Cognos objects which are dependent on a specified Cognos object.
E.g. you have a data module and would like to know all reports, packages, datasets, shortcuts, report views, jobs, etc. dependent on this module.

The workflow is quite straightforward:

• Export all Cognos Content into non encrypted Cognos Export package
• 
  Unzip this package to get a list of XML files
• 
  Develop an XSLT script which parses the above files to find all Cognos objects using the specified module
• 
         For every found Cognos object recursively find other objects which referring to the first object

Please look at the attached archive which contains:

• cog_package.xsl -  XSLT code
• 
  package1.xml - an XML content extracted from Cognos 11 samples package
• 
  out_package1.xml - an XML output
• 
  out_package1.xls - an Excel with imported XML output
• 
  r.bat - batch script to run cog_package.xsl transformation

You would also need to download a free Java Saxon XSLT processor SaxonHE9-9-1-5J.zip from
https://sourceforge.net/projects/saxon/files/Saxon-HE/9.9/

[ukflix]

It says attachment not found

[Andrei I]

Let me check

[MFGF]

It says attachment not found

I think the site rules changed a while ago, and attachments to posts are no longer supported on Cognoise. If Andrei still has the original file, it could be shared using a third-party site and a URL link to it.

Cheers!

MF.

[Andrei I]

It says attachment not found

Unfortunately, I could not find that Zip file.