PowerPlay Client and PDF

[datawrangler]

So, we went to PowerPlay Web. As it turns out, most of the reports I do are far too complicated for PowerPlay Web. So, I'm back to client. Issue: Now that we have web, we want to publish these reports. I guess that I am stuck with saving reports as .pdf files and publishing. However, how do I get the report to format properly as a PDF. It's only saving the visible portion of the report. Even if I choose "Save entire report". I must be missing something very basic here.

Thanks

 

[mfgf]

Hi datawrangler,

In PowerPlay Client, save the reports as .ppx reports, then you can publish them via PowerPlay Enterprise Server to make them available on the web. This should be much easier than saving as pdf and figuring out how to publish your PDF documents.

Best regards,

MF.

 

[datawrangler]

Thanks for the response. However, the reports I am publishing are too complex to be viewed with the Web cube. For instance, the reports you can design for the web, are basically "Explorer" type reports. To get the results we are looking for, most of our reports have to be designed in "Reporter" mode. Reporter reports designed and published to the web seem lose most of their data. Any ideas?

 

[datawrangler]

To give more information about my situation: I am mixing date dimensions, Daily, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly Grouped in one report. PP Client "Explorer" mode just doesn't seem to allow that. "Reporter" mode will allow it, but when the report is saved as a ppx and published, it ends up displaying one date dimension.. if that.

Maybe I am doing something wrong? But from what I've read, that's pretty much a limitation of the web. Perhaps when we get into ReportNet, this will all work. But I need a temporary fix until then.

 

[drlex]

datawrangler
If you publish the 'Reporter' versions from PPClient to Upfront, you can set them to be viewed as pdf, not as PPWeb versions. It's in the settings of the report in Upfront.

soi la, soi carré

 

[datawrangler]

Well, we do not have Upfront activated. However, I did do this in the report settings under on PowerPlay Admistraion Server. The report opens in PDF, however, it still looks the same as if I had saved it as a PDF. It doesn't show the entire report... only what's visible on the PPClient screen. Like I said, I even checked the box for "Save entire report". I have been fiddling with this for a week. I just need to know that it can be done, and that the entire report can be viewed as a PDF. I'll go back to the settings of the PPX and see if I can figure anything else out. Thanks.

 

[drlex]

datawrangler,
sounds curious.
I'm using 7.3 (but it worked on 7.1) and save a report as a pdf link for some users and update the cube for higher users, who view a report with the Web Viewer (rather than Explorer) setting.
The Macro I use for saving the pdf link has this code; perhaps the setting of layers and rows is essential.

 Set objPPRep = CreateObject("CognosPowerPlay.Report")
 objPPRep.open "K:\Reports\SalesReportMAjorGroups.ppr"
 Set objPDF = objPPRep.PDFFile( "K:\branches\Major Groups.pdf", True )
    With objPDF
         .SaveEntireReport = True
         .SetListOfLayersToSave objPPRep.Layers
         .SetListOfRowsToSave objPPRep.Rows
    End With
 objPDF.Save
..etc

soi la, soi carré

 

[datawrangler]

Hmmm... gotta say, haven't really started using macros yet. i'll investigate that procedure. it seems very basic, all i need to do is save a report designed in client (reporter mode) as a 1 page pdf file and then publish it to the web. or a ppx that's viewed as a pdf once it's been published. i just need it to be 1 page. and it's not a huge report... maybe i'm just a dork. thanks for the tip, i'll look into the macro thing.