Report generation speed: PDF vs HTML

[NorthNone]

Has anyone noticed a significant report generation speed difference between PDF and HTML when generating reports in Cognos 8.x?
TIA
NorthNone

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see." --- Arthur Schopenhauer

 

[CognosProfessional]

Yes, and certain adobe versions don't print to certain printers from Cognos 8 generated pdf's. (good to know, because when you email someone a C8 generated pdf, and they want to print it on a specific printer, they can't depending on adobe 8 or adobe 7 that the pdf was generated on the PC that has adobe originally no matter which version the recipient has.

CP

 

[NorthNone]

Thanks for taking time to respond, CP. Maybe I'm missing something in your response, but which was faster - PDF or HTML?

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see." --- Arthur Schopenhauer

 

[CognosProfessional]

Definitely HTML is faster. At least in my case. The only reason you would need a pdf is usually for printing or emailing.

CP

 

[NorthNone]

Hmmm...I've found the PDF to be MUCH faster, especially as the volume of report data grows. PDF lets you search the report and seems to be much faster navigating through it on the screen. It's a funny world...

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see." --- Arthur Schopenhauer

 

[CognosProfessional]

I thought you meant the generation speed. For the record:

The generation of a pdf is slower than the generation of an html.
The navigation within a pdf is faster than navigating through an html.

CP

 

[NorthNone]

Thanks, CP. It is good to know that my observations on the navigation speed of PDF can be confirmed.

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see." --- Arthur Schopenhauer

 

[blom0344]

The generation of a pdf is slower than the generation of an html.
The navigation within a pdf is faster than navigating through an html.

The truth may be quite a bit more complex. Some of my reports are at least 5 times faster in the PDF than as HTML.

This seems to apply for some reason for those that holds complex crosstab structures.

Ties Blom

 

[NorthNone]

Ties, thanks for posting on this! Although we are not using crosstab structures, we have many prompts for additional fields and hence a lot of filters on the main query of the report. Maybe PDF is faster the more complex the data...?

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see." --- Arthur Schopenhauer

 

[CognosProfessional]

I do have a report that when I generate the report interactively to get an html it takes 15 seconds to return. When I submit the same report to run behind the scenes, meaning the blue arrow with options for xls, pdf, html outputs, it takes an hour. Exact same report! Extremely complex report.

Trying to find out why it is like this. We would like to be able to run the report and get a pdf in 15 seconds like we get the html. We have many reports, but this problem only exists with this one report. All others run xls and pdf just fine... (well, maybe a few seconds longer), but fine.

If there are any hints as to what this is caused by, please post. Thanks!

CP