Adding ReportCaster Schedule Capability to HTML Composer

How to:

Reference:

You may create a control that adds a schedule button in HTML Composer. A schedule button enables you to schedule a report, or graph, using ReportCaster. Once you have created the schedule, you can access the ReportCaster HTML User Interface to edit and maintain information about the schedule.

Note: The Schedule option is only available in HTML Composer if your WebFOCUS environment is licensed to use ReportCaster.

Only procedures referenced in HTML Composer are able to be scheduled.

When referencing an existing procedure with parameters in HTML Composer, the schedule button is automatically added. You may also manually create schedule buttons for your report or graph.


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Procedure: How to Add or Disable the Schedule Button for Controls

Controls appear when you reference a report or graph with parameters. HTML Composer automatically adds a control, Run button, Reset button, and Schedule button for the parameters in your layout, if your WebFOCUS environment is licensed to use ReportCaster.

The Form settings dialog box sets when the schedule button appears with the controls.

The Schedule button is selected by default.

To change the default behavior:

  1. Select Options from the Window menu.

    The Developer Studio Options dialog box opens.

  2. Select the HTML Page tab.
  3. Click the Form Settings button.

    The Form settings dialog box opens.

  4. Deselect the Add schedule button.

Note: If you deselect this option, you have the ability to manually add a schedule button. For more information, see How to Manually Add a Schedule Button.


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Procedure: How to Add a Schedule Button to a Referenced Existing Procedure With Parameters

This procedure provides instructions on how to automatically add a schedule button to an HTML page for a referenced procedure in the layout.

  1. From HTML Composer, select New Report or New Graph from the Insert menu.

    The cursor changes into a crosshair.

  2. Drag the crosshair to create a report (or graph) object and adjust it to the size you want.
  3. Right-click the object and select Reference existing procedure from the context menu.

    The Get source file dialog box opens.

  4. Select an existing report or graph with parameters and click Open.

    The New Parameters dialog box appears, as shown in the following image.

  5. Click OK to add the new parameters and the controls to the HTML page.

    The Run, Reset, and Schedule buttons appear with the parameters on the HTML page.

  6. Optionally, select the schedule button on the HTML page to view or edit the properties. The properties appear in the HTML Composer Properties window.
  7. Double-click in the Title properties value field to set the title of the schedule page window.

    The default title for the schedule page window is domain\standard reports\folder\foldername. You may change this to the text of your choice.

  8. Optionally, you may launch the Hyperlink properties for the schedule button to change the template for the schedule page.

    For more information about changing the template for the schedule page, see How to Change the Default Template for the Schedule Page.


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Procedure: How to Manually Add a Schedule Button

This procedure provides instructions on how to manually add a schedule button to a HTML page. This is useful for adding new, or additional, schedule buttons to a report or graph that has already been referenced to the HTML page, or if you are referencing a report or graph without parameters.

  1. From HTML Composer, select a control from the Controls or Components submenu of the Insert menu. You may insert a push button, image, or hyperlink as a schedule button.
    1. If inserting a push button as a schedule button:
      • From the Insert menu, select Controls, then click Push Button.

        The cursor changes into a crosshair.

      • Drag the crosshair to add the push button object and adjust it to the size you want.
      • Right-click the push button object from the HTML page and select Create hyperlink from the context menu.

        The Hyperlink Properties dialog box opens.

      • You may change the name of the push button in the Display Text field.
    2. If inserting an image as a schedule button:
      • From the Insert menu, select Components, then click Image.

        The cursor changes into a crosshair.

      • Drag the crosshair to add the image object.

        The Get source file dialog box opens.

      • Select an image and click Open.

        The image is added to the HTML page. You may adjust the image object to the size you want.

      • Right-click the image object from the HTML page and select Create hyperlink from the context menu.

        The Hyperlink Properties dialog box opens.

    3. If inserting a hyperlink as the schedule button:
      • From the Insert menu, select Components, then click Hyperlink.

        The cursor changes into a crosshair.

      • Drag the crosshair to create a hyperlink object and adjust it to the size you want.

        The Hyperlink Properties dialog box opens.

      • You may change the name of the hyperlink in the Display Text field.
  2. From the Hyperlink Properties dialog box, select the New button to add a request to execute.

    Note: The Display Text field on the Hyperlink Properties dialog box is only available when inserting a push button or hyperlink as a schedule button.

  3. Select the Action, Source, and Target/Template Name:
    • Select Schedule Report from the Action drop-down list.
    • Select the Source drop-down list to select the source of your Schedule Report.

      The Source drop-down will only list the referenced procedures in the layout.

    • The Target Type option is disabled and defaults to ReportCaster when the Schedule Report action is selected.
    • The Target/Template Name defaults to Email Library FTP when the Schedule Report action is selected.

      For more information on changing the template for the schedule page, see How to Change the Default Template for the Schedule Page.

  4. Click OK to close the Hyperlink Properties dialog box.

    The schedule button, image, or hyperlink is added to the HTML page.

  5. Optionally, select the schedule object to view or edit the properties. The properties appear in the Properties window of HTML Composer.
  6. Double-click in the Title properties value field to set the title of the schedule page window.

    The default title for the schedule page window is domain\standard reports\folder\foldername. You may change this to the text of your choice.


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Procedure: How to Change the Default Template for the Schedule Page

This procedure provides instructions on how to change the template for the schedule page by using the Hyperlink Properties dialog box. This is the template that appears when the schedule page is run from the report output.

  1. Right-click a schedule button, image, or hyperlink from the HTML page and select Hyperlink properties from the context menu

    The Hyperlink Properties dialog box opens.

  2. Select the Target/Template Name drop-down list to change the default template for the schedule.

    The options are:

    • Email Library FTP - This is the default template.
    • All
    • Email
    • Library
    • FTP
    • Printer
    • Report Library
    • Managed Reporting

    Note: The template names represent the type of distribution option for the schedule in ReportCaster.

  3. Click OK to close the Hyperlink Properties dialog box.

    The selected template appears when the schedule page is run from your report output.


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Reference: ReportCaster Schedule Page

When you run your report, select the parameters (if applicable), and click the schedule button. The ReportCaster schedule page appears.

Tip: To change the schedule template that appears at run time, use the Hyperlink Properties dialog box to change the Target/Template Name.

The report and the selected parameters are scheduled to ReportCaster. From ReportCaster, the values entered or selected are stored with the schedule information.

You must have the Schedule user privilege to submit the schedule.

For more information about scheduling and distributing report output, see the ReportCaster manual.


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