Deferred Report Status Interface

In this section:

The following topics provide an overview of the Deferred Report Status Interface including a detailed description of its appearance and functions. Specific procedures guide you through viewing, saving and deleting reports, deleting deferred reports that are being processed but are not yet complete, and reviewing parameters for reports containing amper variables.

The Deferred Report Status Interface enables you to obtain information about deferred reports. From this Interface, you can perform the following actions on a deferred report:

You can access the Deferred Status Report Interface from:


Top of page

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Deferred Report Status Interface Features

In this section:

The Deferred Report Status Interface includes:



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Sort Controls for the Deferred Report Status Interface

The sorting feature pertains to the entire report. When the default sort value (Date/Time Submitted) is changed, the new primary sort becomes your choice, but the secondary sort is always fixed as Date/Time Submitted. To resort the list, select the Sort by option:

You can optionally change the sort order (ascending or descending) by clicking the Reverse Sort Order Sort Order button button, which toggles between A to Z and Z to A.

Note: When the sort value is Date, the sort order option A to Z means from new to old and not alphabetical from A to Z.

To see the results of the new sort options, click Refresh.



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Deferred Report Status

The status of deferred requests are organized under the following sections within the Interface:

The following image shows a sample Deferred Report Status window with one completed report and two queued reports.

Deferred Report Status window

Column headings provide information about the published content including the date and time the published content was submitted, the domain of origin, a description of the report (the report name), an expiration indicator, and an Options heading for options within the Deferred Report Status Interface.

When you select the Deferred Status option, the status for all the deferred requests submitted by your Managed Reporting user ID is retrieved. Depending on how Managed Reporting is configured, deferred status may be coming from multiple WebFOCUS Reporting Servers on various platforms. If credentials are required for the connections, you are prompted by the WebFOCUS Dynamic Server System Signon feature. You can view the status of all the deferred requests submitted by your Managed Reporting user ID, but can only delete, view, save, stop, or review parameters for deferred requests submitted with an identical WebFOCUS Reporting Server user ID.

Caution: Sharing Managed Reporting user IDs is not recommended.

The options available in the Deferred Report Status Interface are based upon the status of the report request and security validation. You can perform various functions by clicking the buttons under the following options.

For more information on configuring Deferred Report Status options and buttons, see Technical Memo 4719: Managed Reporting - Deferred Status Interface How to Hide Deferred Report Options (Buttons).

Under certain circumstances, WebFOCUS is unable to submit the request to run in deferred mode. This can occur, for example, when the WebFOCUS Reporting Server is unavailable. When WebFOCUS is unable to submit a deferred request, a Deferred Receipt Notification window opens, notifying you of the failure.



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Deferred Report Expiration Setting

The number of days until expiration appears next to each report. On the last day, the value Today appears.

The following image shows the results of a deferred status request, run on the afternoon of Friday, April 27. (The current date appears in the status bar at the top of the page.) Each report is listed with the time remaining before it is deleted from the WebFOCUS Reporting Server. The time remaining is based on 24-hour intervals (rather than whole days), beginning with the time that the report was submitted. For example, the last report shown on the list will be deleted shortly after 1:10 pm on April 28, not at midnight on April 27.

Deferred Report Status window

If a deferred report is not saved or deleted prior to its expiration, the output is automatically deleted from the WebFOCUS Reporting Server dfm_dir directory and the deferred report is moved to the Unknown status tab in the Deferred Report Status Interface. From here, you can only delete the orphaned report.

If deferred output expiration is not configured on your WebFOCUS Reporting Server, then the value Never appears next to each report under the Expires In column.

Note: This setting does not affect deferred output saved to your private content area.



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Saved Deferred Output Subject to Temporary Expiration

Saved Deferred Reports that utilize WebFOCUS features that create temporary files, such as OLAP, On-demand paging, and redirected formats are subject to expiration as defined by the WebFOCUS Client parameter, EXPIRE_REPORTS (located in cgivars.wfs). See the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual for information on the EXPIRE_REPORTS parameter that controls temporary file expiration and the mime.wfs file that defines reports formats and whether they use redirection.



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Special Behavior for Sorting by WebFOCUS Reporting Server User ID

Sorting by WebFOCUS Reporting Server user ID enables you to bring deferred reports you want to interact with to the top of the list. At the same time, the deferred reports that you cannot interact with are pushed to the bottom of the list and sorted alphabetically.

This is a special sort. Regardless of the setting for A to Z or Z to A when the sort value is Server ID, deferred reports for the current ID appear at the top. These are followed, in sort order, by deferred reports for other Server IDs, if any exist. The Server ID automatically appears in the Options column.



Example: Sorting by Server ID

You may see deferred reports listed that you are not allowed to interact with if they:

The following image shows a sample Deferred Report Status window with three reports that have no options for interaction.

Deferred Report Status window



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Setting the Automatic Refresh Interval

You can set the automatic refresh interval to any value. The default is 5 seconds and there is no maximum value.



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Procedure: How to Set the Automatic Refresh Interval
  1. Enter a time interval (in seconds) in the input box below the gray toolbar.

    The default value is 5 seconds. There is no maximum value.

  2. Check the box to enable automatic refresh.


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Viewing Deferred Reports

You must access the Deferred Report Status Interface to view deferred reports.



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Procedure: How to View a Deferred Status Report
  1. Open the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  2. To view the output of a deferred report:
    1. Locate the report description under the Completed tab.
    2. Click View, under the Options column, to view the report.

      The output appears in a new window.

  3. The Deferred Report Status Interface remains open until closed.
    1. To return to the Deferred Report Status Interface, close or minimize the report output window.
    2. To return to your reporting environment, close or minimize the report output window, then close the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  4. Click Refresh to obtain the most current status of deferred requests.


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Reviewing Deferred Report Parameters

The Deferred Report Status Interface enables you to retrieve parameters submitted with a deferred request. You access parameters by opening the Deferred Report Status Interface and clicking the parameters button for the report of your choice. The parameters button is not available when the deferred request is submitted from within a report development tool, such as InfoAssist.

You can also change the parameters associated with a report and submit the report to run deferred with the new parameters you specified. WebFOCUS generates your report again using the new parameters and does not overwrite your original report request.



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Procedure: How to Retrieve Deferred Request Parameters
  1. Open the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  2. In the Completed or Unknown tabs, identify the report containing the parameters to review.
  3. Click Parameter under the Options column heading.

    An intermediate window (HTML form) opens.

    1. To review and accept the original parameters, close the browser window.
    2. To change the parameters, enter a new value in the input box.

      The original request runs in addition to the newly submitted request.

  4. Click Submit.

    The Deferred Report Notification window opens.

  5. Close the Deferred Report Notification window to return to the Deferred Report Status Interface.


Example: Using Deferred Report Status Interface Options

In the following example, you will manipulate a report called Current Salary Report that has been submitted as a deferred request. This example is based on a report developed using the Employee Master File and is intended to offer a practical demonstration of some of the options available in the Deferred Report Status Interface. You should note that an Administrator can develop a similar file for training purposes.

  1. Open the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  2. Under the Completed tab, locate Current Salary Report, as shown in the following image.

    Deferred Report Status window

  3. Under the Options column heading, click Parameters.

    An intermediate window (HTML form) opens.

  4. In the input box, enter the value A17, and click Submit.

    The Deferred Report Notification window opens confirming receipt of your request.

  5. Close the Deferred Report Notification window to return to the Deferred Report Status Interface.

To view Current Salary Report:

  1. Under the Completed tab, locate Current Salary Report again.
  2. Click View.

    WebFOCUS displays Current Salary Report in a separate browser window, as shown in the following image.

    Current Salary Report

  3. Close the window to return to the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  4. Under the Options column, click Save.

    WebFOCUS saves Current Salary Report to the Managed Reporting Repository as private content.

  5. Close the Deferred Report Status Interface to return to your reporting environment.


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Saving Deferred Reports

You can save Deferred Receipt reports to the WebFOCUS Repository, if your administrator has authorized you to save deferred reports. You can save the report output to your My Content folder or a folder you are authorized to create content in and write to. When your deferred report is saved to the WebFOCUS Repository, it is removed from the Deferred Report Status Interface. For more information on security privileges, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.



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Procedure: How to Save a Deferred Report
  1. Open the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  2. Under the Completed tab, locate the report you want to save.
  3. Under the Options column, click Save, which is located to the right of the deferred report description.

    Note: Only users authorized to save deferred reports will see the Save button.

    The Save File Content dialog box opens.

  4. Navigate to your My Content folder or another folder you are permitted to create content in and write to.
  5. Click Save to save the deferred report results.

To return to your reporting environment, close the Deferred Report Status Interface.



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Deleting Tickets for All Report Status Types

From the Deferred Status Interface, you can delete tickets for all report status types using the Delete drop-down list located in the toolbar at the top of the Interface. The drop-down list provides options to delete All, All Completed, All Running, All Queued, All Expired, and All Unknown reports, but only when one or more reports exist for that status type in the Deferred Status Interface. If a report status type is not displayed in the Interface, the corresponding status option does not appear in the Delete drop-down list.

You can also delete individual tickets using the Delete button, located in the Options column next to each report.

The following image shows the Deferred Status Interface with the Delete drop-down list expanded showing the available options.

Deferred Status Interface

For unknown tickets, the status column shows:



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Procedure: How to Delete Tickets for All Report Status Types
  1. Open the Deferred Status Interface.
  2. Click the down-arrow next to Delete and select one of the following from the drop-down list that opens:
    • All
    • All Completed
    • All Running
    • All Queued
    • All Expired
    • All Unknown

    You are prompted to confirm the deletion.

  3. Click OK to delete all tickets for the selected status type or click Cancel to cancel the request.


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Deferred Status Delete Confirmation Messages

The Deferred Status Interface presents the user with a delete confirmation message before deleting a deferred report that is in Completed, Running, or Queued states. (A confirmation message is already displayed for deferred reports in Unknown status.)

When you click the delete button from the Deferred Status page, you are prompted to confirm the delete before the deferred report is actually deleted. A similar confirmation message is used for all deferred reports, but the message varies depending on the conditions.

The following are the confirmation messages and the associated conditions:

Each of the deletion confirmation messages also displays the date and time the deferred report was submitted, and the description that is displayed in the Deferred Status Interface.


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