managing reports designer pro

Managing and Using Reports in Actuatee.Report Designer Professional

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Examples provided are fictitious. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of Actuate Corporation.© 1995 - 2005 by Actuate Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.Contains information proprietary to:

Actuate Corporation701 Gateway Boulevard, South San Francisco, CA 94080http://www.actuate.com

The software described in this manual is provided by Actuate Corporation under an Actuate License agreement. The software may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Actuate software products are covered by certain U.S. patents and patents pending. Actuate Corporation trademarks and registered trademarks:Actuate, the Actuate logo, BIRT, Correlink, Correlink Framework, e.Analysis, e.Report, e.Reporting, e.Spreadsheet, Encyclopedia, Formula One, Internet Spreadsheet, Lens, Lens Builder, Live Report Document, Nimble, the Nimble logo, Nimble Technology, Pace, ReportCast, Report Encyclopedia, ReportingEngines, the ReportingEngines logo, Reportlet, Spreadsheets Everywhere, Tidestone Technologies, and XML reports.This product may contain third-party products or technologies. Third-party trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners, companies, or organizations:Adobe Corporation: Acrobat Reader. Adrian Dinu, Alex Fitzpatrick, and Richard Clark (http://sourceforge.net/projects/jseditor/): JavaScript Editor PlugIn for Eclipse, licensed under the Common Public License (CPL). Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/): Axis, Batik, Commons Command Line Interface (CLI), Commons Codec, Crimson, Formatting Object Processor (FOP), Jakarta-ORO, Log4j, Tomcat, Xalan, Xerces, and XML4C. Apple Computer, Inc.: Mac OS, Macintosh, TrueType. BEA Systems, Inc.: BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic, BEA WebLogic Portal, BEA WebLogic Portal Server, BEA WebLogic Server, BEA WebLogic Workshop. Bits Per Second, Ltd. and Graphics Server Technologies, L.P.: Graphics Server. Borland Software Corporation: JBuilder. Bruno Lowagie and Paulo Soares: iText, licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL). Codejock Software: Xtreme Toolkit. Component One, LLC.: VSFlexGrid Pro. DataDirect Technologies Corp: DataDirect Connect. Eclipse Foundation, Inc. (http://www.eclipse.org): Eclipse, Eclipse Platform, Graphics Editor Framework, and EclipseModeling Framework, licensed under the Eclipse Public License (EPL). Erich Gamma and Kent Beck (http://JUnit.org): JUnit, licensed under the Common Public License (CPL). Fernando Lozano (http://sourceforge.net/projects/hsqldb-plugin/): HSQLDB Plug-In, licensed under the Common Public License (CPL). Fred L. Drake, Jr. (http://sourceforge.net/projects/expat): Expat XML parser, created by James Clark, licensed under the MIT License. Hewlett-Packard Company: HP-UX. IBM Corporation: 1-2-3, AIX, DB2, Informix-ESQL/C, ICU, Lotus, and WebSphere. Indiana University Extreme! Lab (http://www.extreme.indiana.edu): XML Pull Parser and XPP. InstallShield Corporation: InstallShield. InterNetivity Inc.: Databeacon. JDBM Project (http://jdbm.sourceforge.net): JDBM. LEAD Technologies, Inc.: LEADTOOLS. Linus Torvalds: Linux. Lucent Technologies, Inc.: FPDTOA, created by David M. Gay. Microsoft Corporation: ActiveX, Excel, Microsoft, MSN, Windows. Nanode LLC: OpenJNLP, licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL). Netscape Communications Corporation, Inc.: Netscape, Netscape Communications, Netscape Communicator, Netscape Enterprise Server, Netscape Navigator; and Rhino, licensed under the Netscape Public License (NPL). The OpenSSL Project (http://www.openssl.org/): Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, OpenSSL Toolkit. Oracle Corporation: Oracle Call Interface. Progress Software Corporation: Progress. Quadralay Corporation: WebWorks. Rogue Wave Software, Inc.: NobleNet RPC and Rogue Wave SourcePro. SAP AG: SAP, SAP BW, SAP R/3. Sun Microsystems, Inc.: 100% Pure Java, iPlanet, J2EE, Java and all Java-based marks, JavaServer Pages, ONC, Solaris, SPARC, Sun, Sun Microsystems, and Sun ONE. Sybase, Inc.: CT-Library. Symantec Corporation: Visual Cafe. Unicode, Inc.: Unicode. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): HTML Tidy, JTidy, and tidy.c. X/Open Company, Ltd.: UNIX. Zero G Software, Inc.: InstallAnywhere. Zope Corporation: DCLC and Digital Creations.All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners, companies or organizations. Document No. 050620-2-130364 May 29, 2005

i

ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiExploring Actuate 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Addressing diverse customer profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiiAddressing customer requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixSupporting international information delivery requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixProviding a scalable, high-performance server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixProviding a complete information delivery solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

Introducing the Actuate 8 and ReportingEngines product suites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiOnline documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi

Using online manuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviUsing online help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi

Using context-sensitive online help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviUsing the Actuate online help system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviiUsing report-specific online help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

Typographical conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xixSyntax conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xx

About Managing and Using Reports in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional . . . . . . . . . . . .xx

Chapter 1Introducing Actuate e.Report Designer Professional . . . . . . . . . . 1About business reporting using Actuate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2About Encyclopedia volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2About Actuate Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator . . . . . . . . . . 5Connecting to an Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Solving log on problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Using multiple Navigator windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8About the Navigator window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Navigating in the Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Displaying items in the Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Changing the appearance and order of items in an Encyclopedia volume folder . . . . . . .11Searching for an item in the Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12Getting information about an Encyclopedia volume item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Changing folder properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Deleting an item from an Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

About volume security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

ii

About user accounts and passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19About privileges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Planning assignment of privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19About root folder privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25About home folder privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

About security roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26About privilege templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29About file and folder access types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Working with folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32About the Printers folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33About the Requests folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Creating a folder in the Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Working with files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35About Actuate open server reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Understanding the types of open server files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35About file versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Copying files to the Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Copying and moving files within the Encyclopedia volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Copying files from the Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Importing open server files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37About SQRIBE open server files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39About file dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

About Encyclopedia volume autoarchive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Displaying Encyclopedia volume autoarchive rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42About folder and file autoarchive rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Setting folder autoarchive rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Setting file-specific autoarchive rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

About online backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Setting user preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Changing your password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Changing your e-mail address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Choosing notification options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Specifying the default locale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Specifying search paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chapter 3Viewing a report using Actuate Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Opening and viewing a report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Opening and viewing a report in a file system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Viewing a report in an Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Viewing third-party reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Moving around in a report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

iii

Using the paging commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Using Go To . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Using hyperlinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56Using the table of contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Using links to other Windows applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60About linked and embedded objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61Editing linked and embedded objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61About OLE automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61About linked and embedded objects in a report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

About zooming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62Personalizing the application window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Moving, minimizing, and stacking windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64Moving, hiding, and changing toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Restoring a perspective to its default layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

Using screen arrangement options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Using New Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66Using Cascade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67Using Tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Using online help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68Using context menus while you view a report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Chapter 4Running a report using Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71About running a report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72Running a report on your desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

Monitoring report generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74Viewing pages during report generation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Understanding checkpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75Refreshing the report in the Actuate Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Running a report in an Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76Creating a run request in an Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76Specifying a report parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Understanding the types of report parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78About optional parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78About required parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79About ad hoc parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79About Boolean parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Providing parameter values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80Specifying a value for an ad hoc parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Using a date in a QBE expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83Using a wildcard or a literal character in a QBE string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84Understanding how Actuate compares a string ending in blank spaces with a QBE

expression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

iv

Matching an exact string value in a QBE expression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Specifying a null value in a QBE expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Using a special character in a QBE string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

About structure and table parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Specifying a value for a structure parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Specifying a value for a table parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Saving parameter values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Scheduling the time to run the executable file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Creating complex report generation schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Setting the priority at which to run the executable file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101About retry options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Distributing a report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Using date and time expressions for a document or a version name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Using a predefined format keyword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Creating a custom date format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Creating a custom time format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Notifying users of the completed report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Printing the completed report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Setting a run request autoarchive rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Viewing the completed report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Checking the status of a run request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Understanding how Actuate iServer System manages a report request . . . . . . . . . . . 113Getting detailed information about a request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

About contents in the Scheduled folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113About contents in the Active folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115About contents in the Completed folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Chapter 5Searching for and exporting report data using Actuate Viewer 119About the search feature in Actuate reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

About searchable report fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Identifying a searchable report field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Searching for report data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Understanding how a multifield search works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Creating search criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Using a search expression in the search criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Using operators in a search expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Using a wildcard character in a search expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Using a pattern in a search expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Searching for the ?, *, #, and [ ] characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Searching for a string that contains a special character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Using a nonprinting ASCII character in a search expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

v

Using search results to navigate through the report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Specifying data to display in Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Saving a search definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Using search definition files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Opening and running a search definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Exporting report data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Exporting all of the search results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Exporting a portion of the search results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Exporting search results to an external application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Exporting search results to BrioQuery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Exporting search results to Microsoft Excel 97 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Exporting search results to file output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Copying report data to another document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Chapter 6Printing and distributing a report using Actuate Viewer and Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Printing a report from your desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150About command line options for printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Saving reports in HTML format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Printing a report in an Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Setting printer properties in the Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Setting default properties for a printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Setting properties for a specific print request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Running a report before printing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Distributing an Actuate Basic report from your desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Distributing a report stored in an Encyclopedia volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

I n t r o d u c t i o n vii

I n t r o d u c t i o n

Exploring Actuate 8Actuate® Corporation is the world leader in providing enterprise reporting application development platforms for Global 9000 companies. Actuate offers a full suite of content-development tools that pull divergent types of data from multiple sources and bring that data together in presentation-quality reports. Applications that are built on Actuate technology ensure that 100% of corporate users incorporate standard, accurate, decision-making information in their day-by-day activities.

The Actuate product suite provides:

■ A flexible and advanced reporting model

■ A robust security model

■ Outstanding server scalability

■ A leading analytics solution for decision support

■ Automated production reporting for multiple output formats

■ Unparalleled support for multilingual reporting

■ Highly customizable appearance

■ The ability to leverage existing data warehouses and operational data sources

■ Simplified access to complex data sources

Actuate’s scalable business intelligence solutions support working with a large volume of transactional data and a challenging data model. Actuate’s increasingly powerful design products reduce the overall cost of report development. Actuate iServer and its options provide scalable performance, a robust integration model using APIs, a web-capable enterprise server application, and a broad range of output options.

viii M a n a g i n g a n d U s i n g R e p o r t s i n A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o f e s s i o n a l

In the current business climate, Actuate’s enterprise customers need to meet the demand for increasingly complex and customized information. Using the capabilities of Actuate’s sophisticated security model, users in different parts of an organization can access different parts of the same report. The ability to develop fewer, more powerful reports that meet the needs of many levels and types of users addresses the workload challenges facing IT organizations.

Streamlining the reporting process reconciles reduced staffing and the ever-present backlog of IT requests with the complex reporting needs of diverse users within an enterprise. With Actuate products, such as Actuate e.Spreadsheet Designer, Actuate Analytics Cube Designer, and Actuate Analytics Cube Viewer, a business user can leverage information that the IT staff develops to meet his additional, and perhaps unique, needs.

Actuate technology ensures that 100% of users have business agility: access to the right information in the right form to take the right action. Today’s information manager needs increased visibility into what business users are doing because of internal requirements for greater accountability. For example, new SEC regulations add to the demand on the corporate information management infrastructure. Actuate customers also need tools that ensure that IT organizations maintain the appropriate level of control over corporate information assets. To meet these requirements, Actuate’s information application platform includes three key elements:

■ An information server

■ An information application development environment

■ User empowerment tools

Addressing diverse customer profilesActuate’s customer list continues to include leaders in aerospace, commercial banking, defense, entertainment, federal government, financial services, health care, high technology, insurance, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, retail, securities, and telecommunications.

Infrastructure software from Actuate provides the foundation for applications that support budget variance, business analysis, customer relationship management, customized interactive reporting, e.billing, e.procurement, executive dashboards, human resources, information portals, key performance indicators, service automation, spreadsheet reporting, supply-chain management, and systems management. In the e.business environment, Actuate’s structured content technology seamlessly integrates into corporate web sites and packaged applications.

I n t r o d u c t i o n ix

Addressing customer requirementsCapturing, validating, refreshing, and delivering corporate information remain critical customer requirements. Customers need an information application that takes corporate data and delivers it as interactive web pages, data cubes, and Excel spreadsheets that their customers, partners, and employees can use.

Actuate customers need to:

■ Combine data from multiple data sources associated with multiple transaction applications.

■ Have confidence in the consistency and maintainability of the Excel spreadsheets on their business users’ desktops and their customers’ web pages.

■ Readily access current information over the web without overloading internal networks.

■ Use data cubes to perform multidimensional analysis.

■ Achieve high performance and high scalability with enterprise reporting applications.

Supporting international information delivery requirementsTo meet the growing international needs of Actuate’s customer base, Actuate products continue to provide an unprecedented level of support for multilingual reporting, including full Unicode support and an extensive list of supported locales. Some Actuate customers integrate Actuate reporting in their own applications and provide information to thousands of customers, amounting to millions of users in as many as fifty countries. Some Actuate customers also deliver hundreds of reports that are translated into eighteen or more languages.

Providing a scalable, high-performance serverIndependent analysis confirms that Actuate iServer is a highly scalable, highly available, high-performance server that further extends Actuate’s lead in implementing enterprise-class information delivery systems. Enhanced integration capabilities support personalized and customizable portal development, web services, and spreadsheet reporting.

x M a n a g i n g a n d U s i n g R e p o r t s i n A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o f e s s i o n a l

Providing a complete information delivery solutionThe following table summarizes the three types of e.business applications for which Actuate provides seamless integration through its reporting application platform.

Actuate products continue to offer core solutions for fundamental enterprise reporting and information delivery challenges, as described in the following table.

Infrastructure element Function Actuate role

Databases, data warehouses, and operational data sources

Organize data. Actuate’s design tools support accessing, managing, and presenting formatted data.

Content management systems

Manage structured content.

Actuate iServer supports publishing, distributing, and versioning structured content.

Application servers Deploy online applications.

Actuate web applications, including Actuate Active Portal and Management Console, support conducting complex transactions, managing supply chains, and interacting with customers.

Challenge Actuate solution

Deliver high-resolution information.

Solve complex data access and presentation problems across a broad range of data sources.

View structured content.

Support viewing cubes, DHTML, information objects, and spreadsheet reports in standard browsers to eliminate plug-in installation for millions of users.

Meet varied information display requirements.

Provide:■ Template-based design and display■ Complex formatting capabilities■ Spreadsheet reporting■ Multidimensional cubes

I n t r o d u c t i o n xi

Introducing the Actuate 8 and ReportingEngines product suites

The following section describes the broad suite of tools that Actuate Corporation developed to meet the needs of users throughout an enterprise.

Actuate Analytics Cube Designer

An application that content developers use to define and design the structure of a multi-dimensional, On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) cube. Running a cube profile using Actuate iServer generates a cube.

Actuate Analytics Cube Viewer

An application that supports end users who need to create and view cube reports.

Actuate End User Desktop

An application that supports end users who need to request, generate, view, and print report documents. The ReportQuery capabilities enable seamless transfer of data from an Actuate report to any productivity or analysis tool.

Meet increasing requirements for web-based content delivery.

Provide:■ Support for well over one million hits each day

on a single CPU.■ Reduced development and maintenance costs.

Deliver personalized, secure information.

Provide open security directory integration and page-level security.

Reuse existing integrated content.

Provide access to content from other applications using open server technology.

Maintain data integrity between online and hard copy.

Provide high-resolution printed copy from PostScript and PDF files.

Transfer information among applications.

Provide XML output to support access to data across applications.

Meet increasing requirements for server-based reporting.

Support clustering and fail-over.

Challenge Actuate solution

xii M a n a g i n g a n d U s i n g R e p o r t s i n A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o f e s s i o n a l

Actuate e.Report Designer

An application that complements e.Report Designer Professional and supports business users who need to design and distribute a wide variety of reports. Using this application requires no programming skills. A business user can modify complex reports that an IT developer creates and use sophisticated components from libraries.

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional

An object-oriented application that professional developers of structured content use to design, build, and distribute information objects and report object instances. The Actuate Basic Language and Actuate Foundation Class Library support extensive customization capabilities.

Actuate Client Integration Technology extends the capabilities of Actuate e.Report Designer Professional and includes the following products:

■ Actuate ActiveX Controls embed Actuate reporting functionality in custom applications.

■ Actuate Requester API accesses attributes and values of report parameters, changes the values of report parameters, controls how and when a report generates, displays and prints reports, and configures report printing. Users access the Requester API using Actuate Basic, Visual Basic, C, or C++.

■ Actuate Search Extension API supports developing search extensions to transfer data to any third-party productivity or analysis tool.

■ Actuate Open Data Access Framework supports the development of custom data source drivers.

Actuate e.Spreadsheet Designer

An application that supports end users who design, create, and distribute automated spreadsheet reports over the web. Users can dynamically generate richly formatted spreadsheet reports in Excel format from Actuate iServer System with the e.Spreadsheet Option. The spreadsheet reports can be part of an application, an applet, or a JavaBean.

Actuate Information Object Designer

An application that data architects use to build information objects and publish them to an Encyclopedia volume. An information object contains a SQL query that accesses one or more data sources. Data architects create information objects to specify SQL queries while hiding any underlying data complexity from users of the information object. A business user can use an information object to access data using Actuate Query. A report developer can use an information object to access data using the Information Object Query

I n t r o d u c t i o n xiii

Builder in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional or Actuate e.Spreadsheet Designer.

Actuate iServer System

A server application that generates cubes, information objects, report documents, and spreadsheet reports. Actuate iServer provides single or multiple Encyclopedia™ volumes in which it makes many different types of content available to users. Actuate iServer supports managing a cluster of multiple Actuate iServer machines. Actuate iServer System includes the following products:

■ Actuate Active Portal for JSP, Actuate Active Portal for .NET, and Actuate ReportCast™ transform the Encyclopedia volume into a dynamic, secure web site. They provide the foundation for channels and seamless integration with other web sites.

■ Actuate Management Console is an application that system and network administrators use to manage and control one or more Actuate Encyclopedia volumes.

■ Actuate iServer Integration Technology includes the following features:■ Actuate Information Delivery API integrates Actuate web services into

existing corporate applications, automates routine or time-consuming Actuate iServer integration tasks, and implements new feature groupings for custom business processes. The Actuate Information Delivery API is based on XML and supports simple object access protocol (SOAP) messaging.

■ Actuate Report Server Security Extension supports the use of third-party security tools.

■ The Actuate archive driver supports the use of third-party archiving software and hardware.

■ Actuate Report Server API implements common Encyclopedia volume functionality using C++.

In addition to the underlying server technology, Actuate 8 supports several Actuate iServer System options. These options are licensed separately.

■ Actuate Additional Volume Option

An option that supports using more than one Encyclopedia volume in Actuate iServer System. In Actuate 7 and earlier, this option was Actuate Multi-Application Option.

■ Actuate Analytics Option

An application that supports the analysis of multidimensional data cubes. A developer creates the cubes using Actuate Analytics Cube Designer.

xiv M a n a g i n g a n d U s i n g R e p o r t s i n A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o f e s s i o n a l

■ Actuate Data Connector Option

An option that supports running or viewing Actuate content sources from a specific type of data source. Each data connector must be separately licensed. Currently available Data Connector Options include: ■ Data Connector for PeopleSoft Option■ Data Connector for SAP BW Option■ Data Connector for SAP R/3 Option

■ Actuate Data Integration Option

An option that supports using information objects to combine data from two or more disparate sources. This option is required where data joining is not supported through separately licensed third-party databases or other separately licensed technology.

■ Actuate e.Analysis Option

An application that supports the transformation of data from an Actuate report into a format that users can view and analyze to determine relationships and trends.

■ Actuate e.Report Option

An option that provides Encyclopedia volume functionality for e.Report Designer and e.Report Designer Professional.

■ Actuate e.Spreadsheet Option

An open server application that generates Excel spreadsheets from e.Spreadsheet Designer files. Using this product, customers can manage spreadsheet reports and analysis within Actuate iServer System and save reports as richly formatted Excel spreadsheets.

■ Formula One e.Report Engine Option

An option that provides Encyclopedia volume functionality for Formula One e.Report Engine.

■ Actuate Information Object Caching Option

An option that provides the ability to cache data from an information object in a third-party database. This option requires separate licensing of a third party database server for data storage. This option is not available for information objects based on Actuate Basic technology.

■ Actuate Online Archive Option

An option that supports hosting more than one Encyclopedia volume where the additional volume is an archive.

I n t r o d u c t i o n xv

■ Actuate Page Level Security Option

An option that supports personalizing viewing privileges at the user level for reports and parts of reports.

■ Progress Option

A server application that supports working exclusively with Progress databases to generate Live Report Documents, manage them in the Encyclopedia volume, and make them available to users.

■ Actuate Query Option

A web-based tool that supports performing ad hoc queries based on predefined data streams.

Actuate Viewer

An application that end users can use to find, view, and print report documents.

Formula One e.Report Engine

A flexible Java tool for extracting, formatting, and delivering data from a variety of data sources, including databases, Enterprise JavaBeans, Java objects inside applications, XML files, Liquid Data for BEA WebLogic, and text files. Users can deploy completed reports from any J2EE application, WebLogic, WebSphere, or a web server in CVS, formatted, actionable DHTML, e-mail, HTML, PDF, RTF, and XML formats. The application data handler supports accessing Java objects inside applications. The reporting capabilities include extensive support for XML data sources and output.

Formula One e.Report Engine includes a report designer, Formula One e.Report Designer, which Java developers can use to design a variety of reports. This designer is available only with Formula One e.Report Engine. Written entirely in Java, Formula One e.Report Designer supports charts, cross tabulations, grouping levels, multiple sections, and parameters.

Formula One e.Spreadsheet Engine

An application that Java developers use to create, design, and distribute custom spreadsheet reports over the web. Spreadsheet reports can be part of an application, an applet, or a JavaBean. Formula One e.Spreadsheet Engine also includes a rich spreadsheet report designer, Actuate e.Spreadsheet Designer.

Formula One e.Spreadsheet Engine supports:

■ Reading and writing fully-formatted Excel files that include charts, formulas, merged cells, multiple worksheets, outlining, and other formatting options

xvi M a n a g i n g a n d U s i n g R e p o r t s i n A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o f e s s i o n a l

■ A scalable calculation engine for fast calculations and data analysis

■ Standard spreadsheet formulas and functions

■ Risk modeling, online calculators, and simulations

■ Dynamic generation of spreadsheet-driven charts with drill-down capabilities

■ A spreadsheet interface that developers can embed in custom Java desktop applications and browser-based applets

■ Accessing data from JDBC databases, SAP BW, SAP R/3, XML data files using a standard interface to any other data source

Online documentationThe information in the printed manuals is also available as Adobe Acrobat PDF files and in the online help system for Actuate products. For products without a Windows interface, such as Actuate Active Portal, Actuate provides HTML help files. You can view these files using a standard web browser. To use the PDF files or online help, you must install the files from the Documentation CD, which ships with your Actuate software.

Using online manualsThe online manuals install with the product in the Manuals directory. The items in the table of contents and the page numbers in the index both contain links to the corresponding topics in the text. In the index, you access the link by positioning the pointer over the page number, not the topic.

Using online helpActuate products provide both context-sensitive online help about the product and report-specific online help about a report you are viewing. In Actuate 8, developers can also create customized, report-specific online help.

Using context-sensitive online helpSections from the printed manuals link directly to the software interface to make relevant information available while you work. Dialog boxes that require additional explanation about how to use them have a Help button. To access online help for other items, use the Help menu or press F1.

I n t r o d u c t i o n xvii

Using the Actuate online help systemIn the Actuate online help system, two panes support accessing and viewing information. The left pane displays the table of contents or the index. The right pane displays the contents of an online help topic.

The tabs at the top of the left pane access different views. Use these tabs to switch views among Contents, Index, Search, and Favorites.

xviii M a n a g i n g a n d U s i n g R e p o r t s i n A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o f e s s i o n a l

The following illustration shows an example of the index and the result of an index search.

The following illustration shows the result of a search. The topics that contain the search word appear in the left pane. Choose a topic in the left pane to display the topic contents in the right pane.

Type the keyword for which to search the index

Choose Index to view the topics

Select a topic in the list and choose Display to view its contents

Type the word for which to search

Select a topic in the list and choose Display to view its contents

Choose Search

I n t r o d u c t i o n xix

Using report-specific online helpDuring the design phase, report developers have the option to include report-specific online help. For example, a report developer can add comments to provide details about specific report objects or to explain calculations.

For detailed information about report-specific online help, see Chapter 3, “Viewing a report using Actuate Viewer,” in Using Actuate End User Desktop.

Typographical conventionsThe following table describes the typographical conventions in this guide.

Report-specific online help

Item Convention Example

Code examples Sans serif Dim Text1 As String

File names Initial capital letter, except where file names are case-sensitive

Detail.roi

Key combination A + sign between keys means to press both keys at the same time

Ctrl+Shift

Menu items Capitalized, no bold File

Submenu items Separated from the main menu item with a small arrow

File➛New

User input or user response

Sans serif M*16*

User input in XML and Java code

Italics chkjava.exe cab_name.cab

xx M a n a g i n g a n d U s i n g R e p o r t s i n A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o f e s s i o n a l

Syntax conventionsThe following table describes the symbols used to present syntax.

About Managing and Using Reports in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional

Managing and Using Reports in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional describes the tasks you can perform with Actuate Basic reports that have been designed, compiled, and generated:

■ Working with reports in an Encyclopedia volume

■ Viewing reports

■ Running reports

■ Searching for and exporting report data

■ Printing reports

Managing and Using Reports in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional includes the following chapters:

Symbol Description Example

[ ] Optional item [Alias<alias name>]

Array subscript matrix[ ]

< > Argument you must supply

<expression to format>

Delimiter in XML <xsd:sequence>

{ } Groups two or more mutually exclusive options or arguments, when used with a pipe

{While | Until}

Defines array contents {0, 1, 2, 3}

Delimiter of code block public ACJDesigner( ){}

| Separates mutually exclusive options or arguments in a group

Exit {Do | For | Function | Sub}

Java OR operator int length |4

I n t r o d u c t i o n xxi

■ Introduction. This chapter provides an overview of this guide, the Actuate and ReportingEngines product suite, and the typographical conventions used.

■ Chapter 1. Introducing Actuate e.Report Designer Professional. This chapter describes Actuate iServer System, Encyclopedia volumes, and Actuate Navigator.

■ Chapter 2. Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator. This chapter describes how to use Actuate Navigator and explains how to work with files and folders in an Encyclopedia volume.

■ Chapter 3. Viewing a report using Actuate Viewer. This chapter discusses opening, viewing, and navigating a report. This chapter also describes how Actuate Basic reports link to other Windows applications.

■ Chapter 4. Running a report using Navigator. This chapter discusses running report executable files to generate new report documents. This chapter explains how to work with report parameters and how to use standard and ad hoc parameters.

■ Chapter 5. Searching for and exporting report data using Actuate Viewer. This chapter describes how to search for specific data in a report and provides examples of how to use complex search criteria. This chapter also describes how to export report data to other documents.

■ Chapter 6. Printing and distributing a report using Actuate Viewer and Navigator. This chapter discusses printing and distributing reports.

xxii M a n a g i n g a n d U s i n g R e p o r t s i n A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o f e s s i o n a l

C h a p t e r 1 , I n t r o d u c i n g A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o fe s s i o n a l 1

C h a p t e r

1Chapter 1Introducing Actuate

e.Report DesignerProfessional

This chapter contains the following topics:

■ About business reporting using Actuate

■ About Encyclopedia volumes

■ About Actuate Navigator

2 M a n a g i n g a n d U s i n g R e p o r t s i n A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o f e s s i o n a l

About business reporting using ActuateA diverse and global business enterprise needs a way to create, publish, and distribute reports on a regular basis. To meet this need, the creation, storage, and viewing of reports is moving to distributed, networked environments, such as the internet, intranets, and extranets. Using Actuate Basic reports provides an efficient, scalable, highly searchable, and easily updated alternative to static web pages or traditional, paper-based reporting.

You can generate, store, view, and print Actuate Basic reports through a server running Actuate iServer. You can access Actuate iServer using Actuate e.Report Designer Professional. This book describes how you use Actuate e.Report Designer Professional to access, view, run, and print reports from an Encyclopedia volume or on a network file system.

The following illustration shows a high-level view of how Actuate iServer System components and Actuate e.Report Designer Professional interact. For simplicity, the illustration does not show the data tier, which consists of a database server.

About Encyclopedia volumesAn Encyclopedia volume is a shared repository that contains all items that a single Actuate iServer machine or a cluster of server machines manages. Actuate iServer System can support multiple Encyclopedia volumes. An Actuate iServer System administrator can create multiple Encyclopedia volumes to organize data into manageable and logical parts. Each volume contains items such as folders, report files, and user profiles. Users in an enterprise environment distribute and share report files by storing them in an Encyclopedia volume.

Server

Actuate iServer

Encyclopedia volume

e.Report Designer

Professional

Desktop

C h a p t e r 1 , I n t r o d u c i n g A c t u a t e e . R e p o r t D e s i g n e r P r o fe s s i o n a l 3

The following table describes the features that an Encyclopedia volume provides.

About Actuate NavigatorIn Actuate e.Report Designer Professional, Actuate Navigator is a tool for Encyclopedia volume navigation and management. Actuate Management Console is a more recent and recommended Encyclopedia volume management tool. For more information about Actuate Management Console, see Using Actuate Management Console.

The Actuate iServer System administrator sets up an Encyclopedia volume and assigns privileges to its users. For information about accessing a volume, see Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.” Using

Feature Function

Familiar file management system

Working with hierarchical folders to organize report files.

Multilevel security Limiting report generation and viewing to authorized users. The administrator can assign different privileges on a file or user basis.For more information about Encyclopedia volume security, see “About volume security” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

Autoversioning Grouping related report files to maintain different versions of reports that run on a regular schedule.

Flexible scheduling Generating new reports at specified times. You can set a report to run once or on a regular basis.

Automatic notification and distribution

Placing completed reports in specified folders and sending notices to users.

Automatic archiving Deleting and archiving Encyclopedia volume files based on a date, the age of the file, or the number of versions of a file.

Open server report generation

Running or printing third-party report requests. From within the Encyclopedia volume, run or print a third-party report in the same way that you run or print an Actuate report.

Actuate Report Server Security Extension (RSSE)

Providing the ability to extend Actuate iServer System security.


Navigator, depending on the privileges that the administrator assigns to you, you can:

■ View reports. For more information about viewing reports, see Chapter 3, “Viewing a report using Actuate Viewer.”

■ Create report requests to generate or print reports. For more information about creating report requests, see “Creating a run request in an Encyclopedia volume” in Chapter 4, “Running a report using Navigator.”

■ Print reports. For more information about printing reports, see Chapter 6, “Printing and distributing a report using Actuate Viewer and Navigator.”

■ Add, delete, or move folders and other items in an Encyclopedia volume. For more information about managing items in an Encyclopedia volume, see “Working with folders” and “Working with files” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

■ Change privileges for users and security roles on folders and other items in an Encyclopedia volume. For more information about Encyclopedia volume privileges and security, see “About volume security” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

■ Specify autoarchive rules. For more information about autoarchiving reports, see “About Encyclopedia volume autoarchive” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

C h a p t e r 2 , A c c e s s i n g a n E n c y c l o p e d i a v o l u m e u s i n g N a v i g a t o r 5

C h a p t e r

2Chapter 2Accessing an

Encyclopedia volumeusing Navigator


■ Connecting to an Encyclopedia volume

■ Navigating in the Encyclopedia volume

■ About volume security

■ Working with folders

■ Working with files

■ About Encyclopedia volume autoarchive

■ About online backup

■ Setting user preferences

■ Specifying search paths


Connecting to an Encyclopedia volumeTo connect to and explore an Encyclopedia volume, use Actuate Navigator. To use Actuate Navigator, you start Actuate e.Report Designer Professional then start Navigator.

Using Navigator, you connect to an Encyclopedia volume by specifying the Actuate iServer that manages the volume in which you want to access items. You have access to a volume if the following two requirements are met:

■ Your machine is connected to Actuate iServer System.

■ You have an assigned user name and password for the volume. The user name and password are set up by the Encyclopedia volume administrator.

Using Navigator, you can log on to only one volume at a time. You can open multiple Navigator windows to log on to different Encyclopedia volumes.

How to connect to an Encyclopedia volume with Navigator

1 From Actuate e.Report Designer Professional, choose File➛Navigator.

If the Navigator command does not appear on the File menu, you must set an option to display it:

1 Choose Tools➛Options.

Options—Design Editor appears.

2 Choose General.

Options—General appears.

3 Select Enable navigator menu item and toolbar.


4 Choose OK.

Encyclopedia Login appears.

2 Complete the following tasks:■ Type your user name as assigned by the Encyclopedia volume

administrator.■ Type your password as assigned by the Encyclopedia volume

administrator.■ Type the name of the Actuate iServer machine that manages the

Encyclopedia volume.

Select to display the Navigator command in the File menu


Choose OK.

Navigator appears, displaying the contents of the default Encyclopedia volume for the Actuate iServer you selected, as shown in the following illustration.

The items you see in the volume are those for which you have been granted read or visible privilege. For more information about privileges, see “About volume security,” later in this chapter.

Solving log on problemsIf you get the message Log in Failed when connecting to the Encyclopedia volume, contact your Actuate iServer System administrator to verify the following information:

1 Confirm that you are using the correct user name, password, and iServer information. If you are, go to step 2.

2 Check that Actuate iServer System is running. If it is, go to step 3.

3 Check that your computer has network access to the server.

Using multiple Navigator windowsYou can log on to multiple volumes by opening multiple Navigator windows. Another useful strategy is to open multiple Navigator windows to have multiple views of the same volume.


The following illustration shows items for two different users on the same volume.

About the Navigator windowYou use Navigator to access and work with items in the Encyclopedia volume. Navigator resembles Windows Explorer.

Like the Explorer window, the Navigator window has two panes. The left pane displays the hierarchy of items in an Encyclopedia volume. The right pane displays the contents of an item selected in the left pane. You can change the size of either pane by moving the splitter bar that divides the window.


The following illustration shows the Navigator window.

Depending on the Encyclopedia volume configuration, Navigator’s user interface may appear different from the illustrations in this chapter. Some features, such as buttons or menu items, may appear gray and not available for use, because the Actuate iServer System administrator made changes to the product configuration. For more information about the unavailable features, contact your Actuate iServer System administrator.

Navigating in the Encyclopedia volumeAfter you connect to the Encyclopedia volume using Actuate Navigator, you can view and search for items in the Encyclopedia volume.

Displaying items in the Encyclopedia volumeWhen you first start Navigator, the window displays the top-level folders in the Encyclopedia volume. To expand and collapse the levels, choose the plus (+) and minus (-) signs.

How to view the hierarchy of items in the Encyclopedia volume

1 Choose an item on the left side of the window to display its contents on the right.

Left pane shows hierarchy of Encyclopedia items

Right pane shows contents of an item selected in the left pane

Volume


2 Choose the plus (+) sign to display more levels.

Changing the appearance and order of items in an Encyclopedia volume folderBy default, all contents of a selected folder appear in the right pane of the Navigator window and appear in alphabetical order. You can, however, choose the file types and sort the items in several ways.

How to change the order of items in a folder

1 Choose View➛Sort By.

2 Choose one of the sort options.

The following illustration shows all files sorted by name.

How to change the appearance of items in a folder

1 Choose View➛Show.

2 Select the types of files you want to view.

Choose one of the sort options. By default, files are sorted by name


The following illustration shows selected file types that appear in the right pane.

Searching for an item in the Encyclopedia volumeYou can search for Encyclopedia volume folders or files using any combination of the following criteria:

■ File or folder name, including wildcard characters

■ Location, including or excluding subfolders

■ Creator of the file or folder

■ Date of creation

■ Users who modified the file or folder

■ Date of modification

■ Item type, for example, folder or any report file type

■ File version

■ Content of comments

■ File or folder size

Select the file types to view


How to find a file or folder in the Encyclopedia volume

1 Choose File➛Find Item.

Search appears.

2 In Named, type all or part of the folder or file’s name.

You can use any of the standard wildcard characters. If you do not know the name of a file or want to refine the search, choose Users and Dates or Advanced.

3 In Look in, type the location or select an item in Navigator the search starts.

To search the entire Encyclopedia volume, type / (forward slash) or select the Encyclopedia or volume icon in the left pane of the Navigator window.

4 Choose Find Now to start the search.

The search results appear in the bottom section of Search. From the results section, you can view report documents and use the file’s context menu to perform other operations.

Type the name of the item to find. You can include wildcard characters.

Specify the location to search. In this example, the entire volume is searched.

Display other options for refining the search.

Selecting an item in this pane when Search is open specifies the location to search.


Getting information about an Encyclopedia volume itemThe Encyclopedia volume maintains information about each item it contains. For example, for any given file, you can check its version name, its owner, the files it depends on, users with privileges on the file, and so on. Using this information, you can better manage your personal folder and analyze information in other folders.

Information about an item appears in two ways. An abbreviated version appears in the right pane of Navigator for any item selected in the left pane, or you can use the context menu to open Properties.

How to inspect the properties of an Encyclopedia volume item

1 Select the item with the properties you want to see.

2 Right-click the item and choose Properties from the context menu.

Properties for the item appears. Properties displays different information depending on the type of item. The Requests folders, for example, are managed by Actuate iServer System, so you see only general information. If files are highly customized by users, you see more information about them.


The following illustration shows Properties for a report document.

Changing folder propertiesAfter logging in, you can view and change folder properties.

How to change folder properties

1 Right-click a folder in the Encyclopedia volume.

Shows the privileges different users have for this file

Shows the files on which this file depends

Shows general information about this file

Shows the archive policy for this file


2 From the context menu, choose Properties, as shown in the following illustration.

Properties—General appears.

3 Depending on your privileges, you can change the following settings in the General, Privileges, and Auto Archive pages of Properties, as shown in the preceding illustration:

Properties


■ In General, you can view information about the selected folder and add comments.

■ In Privileges, you can view the privileges that users and roles have on the folder. For more information about privileges, see “About volume security,” later in this chapter.

■ In Auto Archive, you can assign an archive policy for the selected folder. For more information about autoarchive rules, see “About folder and file autoarchive rules,” later in this chapter.

Choose OK.

Deleting an item from an Encyclopedia volumeYou can only delete folders and files you create or for which you have the delete and visible privileges. The administrator or another user assigns privileges. Typically, the only folders and files you delete are in your personal folder.

How to delete an Encyclopedia volume folder or file

You need delete and visible privileges to the selected item. If you delete a folder, items in the folder are deleted as well. You must have delete privilege on the items in the folder.

To delete a folder or file, right-click the folder or file and choose Delete from the context menu.

If you delete a file, Navigator removes the file unless another file depends on the file you want to delete. If there is a dependent file, Navigator displays a dialog that specifies the files that are dependent on the file to delete, and asks if you want to delete the file and remove the dependencies. For more information about file dependencies, see “About file dependencies,” later in this chapter.

About volume securityActuate iServer System provides the following Encyclopedia volume security features:

■ User accounts and passwords

Using user accounts and passwords, the Encyclopedia volume administrator controls access to an Encyclopedia volume.

■ Privileges

Privileges provide security for data in the Encyclopedia volume by specifying the operations that user can perform on files and folders. The


Encyclopedia volume administrator can grant privileges on files and folders. Users can set privileges on files and folders that they own. Users can also set privileges on a file or folder owned by another user if given grant privilege on the item.

■ Roles

An administrator can create roles to simplify granting privileges. The administrator can grant a set of privileges to a role and then assign the role to all appropriate users.

■ Privilege templates

You can create a privilege template to automatically grant privileges on new objects to another user, such as the owner’s assistant, teammate, or supervisor.

■ File and folder access types

Files and folders can have either shared or private access type. If a file or folder is shared, a user with grant privilege on the item can grant privileges on the item to other users. If file or folder is private, only the owner and the Encyclopedia volume administrator can access it.

■ Report Server Security Extension

Developers can create applications that extend or partially replace the security provided for Encyclopedia volumes. For example, an external security application can be accessed to validate user names and passwords.

For more information about the individual features, refer to the following sections:

■ For more information about user accounts, see “About user accounts and passwords,” later in this chapter.

■ For more information about privileges, see “About privileges,” later in this chapter.

■ For a list of privileges needed for each action, see “Planning assignment of privileges,” later in this chapter.

■ For more information about root folder privileges, see “About root folder privileges,” later in this chapter.

■ For more information about home folder privileges, see “About home folder privileges,” later in this chapter.

■ For more information about roles, see “About security roles,” later in this chapter.

■ For more information about privilege templates, see “About privilege templates,” later in this chapter.


■ For more information about access types, see “About file and folder access types,” later in this chapter.

About user accounts and passwordsAn Encyclopedia volume administrator sets up Encyclopedia volume user IDs. When a user logs into an Encyclopedia volume, the user types a user ID and a password, unless the password is null. If Actuate iServer System does not use RSSE, a user can change the password after logging in to the Encyclopedia volume. Some RSSE applications do not support a user changing a password.

For information about how to do this, see “Changing your password,” later in this chapter.

About privilegesEach privilege permits a user to perform certain actions on a folder, file, or channel in an Encyclopedia volume. For example, if a user has read privilege on a file, the user can view or print the file. If a user attempts to perform an operation without the necessary privileges, a message appears to indicate the nature of the problem.

By default, the user who creates a file or folder in the Encyclopedia volume is the owner of that item and has full privileges for the item. An Encyclopedia volume administrator can use the Information Delivery API (IDAPI) to change the ownership of an item to another user. Alternatively, a user with read privilege on the item can copy the original item and become the owner of the new item. If an administrator deletes a user, the administrator becomes the owner of all items that the deleted user owned. An Encyclopedia volume administrator always has full privileges on all items in the Encyclopedia volume.

For more information about privileges, see the following topics:




Planning assignment of privilegesThe following list describes the Encyclopedia volume privileges, the types of items to which the privileges apply, and other characteristics of the privileges.


The order of the privileges in the list indicates a generally increasing ability to use items, modify items, and set access to items.

■ Visible (V)

With visible privilege on a file or folder, a user can see the file or folder in the list of Encyclopedia volume items. A user must have visible privilege on a file or folder for any other privilege to be effective. A user with read and execute privilege for a ROX or DOX file also has visible privilege for that file. A user with read or secure read privilege for any other type of file also has visible privilege for it. An Encyclopedia volume administrator cannot remove visible privilege from the owner of a file or folder. This privilege does not apply to channels.

■ Secure Read (S)

A user with secure read privilege on a file can read that file. Grant this privilege instead of the read privilege to permit a user to read a file but not copy or download the file. If your Actuate iServer System license enables the Actuate Page Level Security and Actuate e.Report options, you can set page-level security on an Actuate Basic report object instance (.roi) file. A user with secure read privilege, but not read privilege, on a file with page-level security can read only specified parts of that file.

■ Read (R)

With read privilege on a file, a user can read, copy, and download the contents of the file. Read privilege and visible privilege are the same for a folder. A user with read privilege on a channel can view the channel. To read a notice on a channel, a user also needs to have read or secure read privilege on the report document to which the notice refers.

■ Trusted execute (T)

With trusted execute privilege, a user can execute an information object without having execute privilege for the information object’s underlying data sources. This privilege only applies to an Actuate information object (.iob) file or data source map (.sma) file. Only a user with the Administrator role can set the trusted execute privilege on an item for a user or security role.

■ Execute (E)

With execute privilege on an executable file, a user can execute the file. For example, a user with execute privilege on an Actuate Basic report object executable (.rox) file can run the report. With the execute privilege, the Actuate iServer Factory service can read the file. To execute an Actuate information object (.iob) file or data source map (.sma) file, a user also must have the privileges required to execute all underlying data sources that the file uses. The execute privilege does not apply to folders, channels, or document files. A list of executable file types follows this list of privileges.


■ Write (W)

With write privilege on a file, a user can replace a file. With write privilege on a folder, a user can create items in that folder, including new versions of existing files. During report execution, a user with write privilege on a channel can indicate whether to post a notice about the job’s success or failure to the channel. That user also can choose to set the read or secure read privilege on the resulting document for any user with read privilege for the channel.

■ Delete (D)

With delete privilege on a file or folder, a user can remove an item from an Encyclopedia volume. This privilege does not apply to channels.

■ Grant (G)

With grant privilege on a file or folder, a user can set and revoke any privileges that other users and security roles have for the item. To set a privilege for a user or security role on a file or folder, the item must have a shared access type. For the grant privilege to be effective, a user also must have visible privilege for the file or folder. To set or revoke privileges from Actuate Active Portal, a user also must have the Actuate Active Portal Advanced or Actuate Active Portal Administrator security role.An Encyclopedia volume administrator has grant privilege on all files and folders in an Encyclopedia volume. A volume administrator cannot remove the grant privilege from the owner of a file or folder. The grant privilege does not apply to channels.

Executable file types include files with the following extensions: .dcd, .dox, .dp4, .icd, .iob, .jod, .joi, .jox, .rox, .rpx, .sma, .sqt, .vtf, .vtx, and .xrd. Document files include files with the following extensions: .bas, .cb4, .cvw, .doi, .dop, .dov, .htm, .html, .iob, .odp, .pdf, .rod, .roi, .rop, .ros, .rov, .row, .rpt, .rpw, .rtf, .spf, .sqw, .txt, and .xls.

The rest of this section contains tables that provide information about the privileges a user must have to perform specific actions on Encyclopedia volume items. Each table provides information about one of the following categories of required privileges:

■ Privileges for the item that the action involves

All actions require that a user have the necessary privileges for the Encyclopedia volume item that the action uses. For example, downloading an item requires that the user have read privilege for that item.

■ Privileges for other files or a channel that the action involves

Some actions involve use of another file or channel and require that a user have the necessary privileges for that other item. For example, to view a cube (.cb4) file, a user must have read privilege for the cube (.cb4) file and read privilege for the associated cube profile (.dp4) file.


■ Privileges for folders that contain the item

Other actions require that a user have the necessary privileges for the source or destination folder of an item. For example, copying an item to another folder requires that the user have visible and write privileges for the destination folder.

The following table lists the privileges that a user must have to complete the specified type of action on a relevant Encyclopedia volume item. The first letter of its name corresponds to each of the privileges: V (visible), S (secure read), R (read), E (execute), T (trusted execute), W (write), D (delete) and G (grant).

Privileges required on item

Action Type of item V S R E T W D G

Browsing the item listing in the Encyclopedia file list and viewing its properties and access control list if the item is not the user’s home folder

Any V

Copying Any R

Creating a query definition (.dov) file

Actuate information object (.iob) file or data source map (.sma) file

R (E or T)

Deleting Any V D

Downloading Any R

Executing Actuate information object (.iob) file or data source map (.sma) file

V (E or T)

Executing Any executable file other than an Actuate information object (.iob) file or data source map (.sma) file

V E

Granting or revoking privileges Any V G

Moving Any V W


The following table lists actions that also require privileges for other files that the requested action requires.

Printing Any (S or R)

Renaming Any V W

Replacing the latest version of a document

Any document file

V D

Update the contents of a channel Channel W

Viewing an item’s contents Any (S or R)

Privileges required on item

Action Type of item V S R E T W D G

Action Type of item Privileges required on other files

Creating a query definition (.dov) file

Actuate information object (.iob) file or data source map (.sma) file

■ Read privilege on the data object executable (.dox) file

■ The privileges that a user must have to execute all Actuate information object (.iob) files, data source map (.sma) files, and data connection definition (.dcd) files that the file uses

Deleting Folder Visible and delete privileges for all files in the deleted folder

Executing Any executable file

■ Visible and delete privileges for the existing document file if execution will replace that file

■ Write permission on the channel if the execution options include adding the output document file to a channel

Executing Actuate information object (.iob) file or data source map (.sma) file

The privileges that a user must have to execute all Actuate information object (.iob) files, data source map (.sma) files, and data connection definition (.dcd) files that the file uses


The following table lists actions that require privileges on a source or destination folder.

For more information about types of privileges, see the following topics:


Executing Data object value (.dov) file

Read and execute privileges for the corresponding Actuate information object (.iob) file, data source map (.sma) file, or data object executable (.dox) file

Updating Channel Execute and visible privileges on the executable file that generates the report document and on the notice that appears in the channel

Viewing Cube (.cb4) file Read privilege for the corresponding cube profile (.dp4) file

Viewing Document file ■ Execute privilege on the executable file if the user executes the executable file at the same time

■ Read privilege on the executable file if the user views the document file using Actuate Viewer

■ Read privilege on the channel if the user views the document file through a channel in Actuate Active Portal or Actuate Management Console

Action Type of item Privileges required on other files

Action Type of folders Privileges required on folders

Copying an item from one folder to another folder

Destination Visible and write privileges

Creating a new item in a folder or replacing the latest version of an item

Destination Visible and write privileges

Moving an item Destination and source

Visible and write privileges




About root folder privilegesAll users can view an Encyclopedia volume’s root folder. The items the user sees in the root folder are those for which the user has visible privilege. A user can have the privilege directly or through a security role that has visible privilege.

An Encyclopedia volume administrator can set write and grant privileges on the root folder to users and security roles. The administrator can also remove these privileges. The following list describes the privileges that the administrator can set on an Encyclopedia volume’s root folder:

■ To allow a user to set privileges on the root folder to other users and security roles, an administrator must set the grant privilege for the root folder to the user or a security role to which the user is assigned.

■ To allow a user to create folders in the root folder, the administrator must set the write privilege for the root folder to the user or a security role to which the user is assigned.

If an administrator does not want to set the write privilege for the root folder to users and security roles, the administrator can create one or more shared folders in an Encyclopedia volume’s root folder. The administrator can then assign write privilege on the shared folders to specific users and security roles. This option gives users the ability to create folders and files within the shared folders but not in the root folder itself.


■ For more information about privileges, see “About privileges,” earlier in this chapter.

■ For a list of privileges needed for each action, see “Planning assignment of privileges,” earlier in this chapter.


About home folder privilegesAn administrator can specify a home folder for a user. A user’s home folder is the location that the user sees when the user logs into an Encyclopedia volume. A user’s home folder is also the default location for the output of jobs that the user runs. By default, a user’s home folder is the root folder of the Encyclopedia volume. For example, if a user executes a report object


executable (.rox) file, the default location for the resulting report object instance (.roi) file is that user’s home folder. If an administrator does not specify a home folder for a user, the user’s home folder is the Encyclopedia volume’s root folder.

When an administrator specifies a home folder for a user, the user automatically has visible, read, and write privileges for the folder. Users cannot modify their own home folder settings. If an administrator changes the location of the home folder, the user’s privileges do not change for the folder that was the user’s previous home folder.


■ For more information about privileges, see “About privileges,” later in this chapter.




■ For information about folders and files, see “Working with folders” and “Working with files,” later in this chapter.

About security rolesAn Encyclopedia volume administrator creates security roles to simplify privilege assignment and maintenance. A security role is a name for a set of users. Administrators and other users can set privileges on specific files, folders, or channels for a security role. Setting privileges for a security role provides those privileges to all users in the security role.

A user can belong to several security roles. Security roles also can belong to other security roles. Assigning a security role to another security role supports the creation of a hierarchy of security roles. Using security roles helps ensure consistency in how an administrator sets privileges on various items for users that require the same privileges on those items.

For example, to allow the marketing personnel and sales representatives to view a sales report, an administrator can assign those personnel to security roles. The administrator wants to ensure that only the sales representatives can run the associated report executable file. Both sales representatives and marketing personnel must have the read privilege for the report document. Only the sales representatives need the execute privilege for the associated report executable file. Instead of assigning these privileges on these items directly to each user, an administrator can create a security role called sales to


group all users who are sales representatives and a security role called marketing to group all users who are marketing personnel. The following illustration shows an example of creating and adding users to these security roles. As supervisor of both groups, EHom is part of both security roles.

When a user needs to assign privileges to all sales representatives or all marketing personnel, the user can use the sales or marketing security roles to simplify the task. The following illustration shows the steps involved in assigning privileges to security roles for this example.

Using security roles to group users reduces the complexity of administering privileges in two ways:

■ An Encyclopedia volume administrator can set privileges on many items for a single security role and add all users who need those privileges to that security role.

Removing a privilege on a file, folder, or channel for a security role removes that privilege for all users that have the privilege only through that security role. Typically, if an administrator or other user removes a privilege on an item for a security role, a user in that security role loses that

Marketing Sales1. Create a

security role

2. Add user to security role

LThompson

DAdams

JSalinger

BCarter

EFitz

SHorn

EHom EHom

Marketing Sales1. Select each

security role

For each item…

2. Assign privileges ReadRead

Sales Report document

(ROI)

Sales Report executable

(ROX)

Marketing

Read

Execute


privilege. If a user has a privilege through multiple security roles, removing a privilege on an item for one security role does not remove the privilege for the user. Similarly, removing a privilege on an item for a security role does not remove the privilege for a user who also has the privilege directly.

■ An Encyclopedia volume administrator can set up a hierarchy of security roles. If an administrator adds a security role to another security role, the added role becomes a child role and inherits the privileges of its parent role. A security role can be a child role of multiple parent roles. The final set of privileges for a security role is the union of all privileges of its parent roles and its direct privileges.

When an administrator removes a privilege from a security role, the administrator must remove the privilege from the security role that has the privilege. If a role inherits the privilege from a parent security role, the administrator must remove the privilege from the parent role.

Adding a privilege to a parent role means that all child roles of that parent role inherit the privilege. Removing a privilege on a file, folder, or channel from a parent role removes that privilege for all child roles that only have the privilege through that parent role. Typically, if an administrator or other user removes a privilege on an item from a parent role, all child roles of that security role lose that privilege. If a child role has a privilege on an item through several parent roles, removing a privilege on an item from one parent role does not remove the privilege from the user. Similarly, removing a privilege on an item from a parent role does not remove the privilege for a child role that also has the privilege directly.

If a user can assign privileges, the user can assign privileges to a security role. Only an administrator can create or modify the definition of a security role. Also, only an administrator can see which users belong to each security role so use descriptive names for security roles.

There are special Actuate security roles, called the Administrator security role, the All security role, and the Operator security role. The All security role contains all users. A member of the Operator security role can perform special backup operations. You cannot delete or rename these roles.

There are also three security roles that correspond to Actuate Active Portal user levels: Active Portal Administrator, Active Portal Advanced, and Active Portal Intermediate. These security roles control the features available to Encyclopedia volume users when they use Actuate Active Portal.





About privilege templatesBy default, the owner of a file or folder and the Encyclopedia volume administrator have all privileges on an Encyclopedia volume item. By default, other users have no privileges on an item. Each user also has a privilege template that specifies the privileges that other users have to items that he or she creates. The default privilege template does not set any privileges on new items for other users and security roles. The specifications in a privilege template affect only items that have the shared access type.

By modifying a user’s privilege template, an administrator can change the default privileges that other users receive on the files and folders that user creates. For example, an administrator can change a user’s privilege template so that the user’s manager always has read and execute privileges on items that user creates. Users can modify their own template in the Navigator, which is accessible from Actuate e.Report Designer Professional, Actuate e.Report Designer, Actuate End User Desktop, and Actuate Viewer unless the Encyclopedia volume uses the RSSE application that ships with Actuate iServer.

The following illustration shows an example of a privilege template for a user, LThompson. In the example, the privilege template assigns all privileges to the user’s assistant, DAdams. The privilege template also assigns read and write privileges to a colleague, BCarter, and read privilege to the Sales role. When LThompson creates a shared item, the template specifies these privileges for the new item.





How to assign privileges for a folder or file

1 Right-click the folder or file for which you want to set privileges, then choose Properties from the context menu.

Properties for the item appears.

2 Choose Privileges.

Properties—Privileges displays the list of users and security roles from which you can select to assign file or folder privileges, as shown in the following illustration.

DAdams Sales

Grant

User User’s privilege template

BCarter

ReadDelete

Write

LThompson

Read

Secure Read

Trusted Execute

Execute

Read

Visible

Write


The administrator creates users and security roles.

3 In Privileges, to show users, roles, or both, do one of the following:■ Select Show only roles. ■ Select Show only users. ■ Select Show both roles and users.

4 Move a user or role from Name to Access Privileges.

5 In Access Privileges, select a user or security role. To select multiple users or security roles, press Ctrl as you choose each name.

6 Select the privileges to assign to the selected users or security roles.

7 Choose Apply to save the setting.

8 Repeat steps 5 through 7 until you assign privileges to all the users or security roles to whom you want to give file or folder access.

9 When you finish assigning privileges on the folder or file, choose OK.

Display users, roles, or users and roles.

Select one or multiple users or security roles

Select the privileges

Choose Apply


About file and folder access typesAs described in the following table, a file or folder in an Encyclopedia volume can be private or shared.

The owner of a file or folder can set its access type. The volume administrator can set the access type for any file or folder.




■ For more information about privilege templates, see “About privilege templates,” earlier in this chapter.

Working with foldersYou can access the following types of folders:

■ Encyclopedia volume root folder, which all users can access

■ Item folders, which contain report files and/or other item folders

■ Printers folder, which lists the Actuate iServer System printers you can use

■ Requests folder, which contains information about report requests you submit

Access type Description

Private Only the owner and an Encyclopedia volume administrator can access a file or folder with the private access type. The owner and the administrator cannot set privileges on the file or folder for any other user or security role.

Shared Any Encyclopedia volume user can access a file or folder with the shared access type if that user has the appropriate privileges on that item. For a user to set privileges for other users on a file or folder in an Encyclopedia volume, the file or folder must have the shared access type.


The following illustration shows the Encyclopedia volume root folder and the types of folders you work with in the Encyclopedia volume.

About the Printers folderIn the Encyclopedia volume, the Printers folder lists the Actuate iServer System printers available to Encyclopedia volume users. You can inspect and change the properties of each printer to suit your printing requirements. For information about setting printer properties, see “Setting printer properties in the Encyclopedia volume” in Chapter 6, “Printing and distributing a report using Actuate Viewer and Navigator.”

About the Requests folderIn the Encyclopedia volume, the Requests folder is an Actuate iServer System folder, which you access to find the status of report generation requests. Using Actuate e.Report Designer Professional, you can view scheduled requests and create requests. For information about creating report requests, see “Creating a run request in an Encyclopedia volume” in Chapter 4, “Running a report using Navigator.”

The Requests folder contains three subfolders, Scheduled, Active, and Completed:

■ The Scheduled folder shows requests you scheduled to run at a later date and time.

■ The Active folder shows requests you scheduled that are currently in the process queue.

■ The Completed folder shows processed requests. These requests are requests you submitted, or requests for reports that other users asked to be sent to you.

Item folders

Requests folder


The following illustration shows the Scheduled folder containing one scheduled report request.

Creating a folder in the Encyclopedia volumeYou can create folders in your personal folder and in other folders for which the Encyclopedia administrator granted you the write privilege. For a folder, the administrator or other users with grant privilege can assign the write privilege. For information about privileges, see “About privileges,” earlier in this chapter.

How to create a folder in the Encyclopedia volume

1 Right-click the folder in which you want to place the new folder and choose New Folder, as shown in the following illustration.

A new folder appears. The default name is New Folder.

2 Enter the name of the new folder.

Contents of the Scheduled folder

New Folder


You cannot use the following characters in folder or file names:

; * ? < > "

3 To make the folder available to other users or roles, assign privileges to these users or roles.

For information about assigning privileges on items you create, see “About privileges,” earlier in this chapter.

If you do not assign privileges, users have the default privileges the Encyclopedia volume administrator assigned in your privilege template. For information about assigning privileges and privilege templates, see “About root folder privileges,” earlier in this chapter.

Working with filesAs you browse the contents of folders in the Encyclopedia volume, you are likely to see a variety of file types, each with a specific function. You can view the following file types:

■ Actuate Basic report object instance (.roi) file■ Crystal report■ SQRIBE report

For more information about file types, see Actuate 8 Glossary.

About Actuate open server reportsYou can view Actuate Basic reports and other types of files from the Encyclopedia volume. Actuate iServer System can extend the Encyclopedia volume to generate and print reports from third-party vendors. Actuate calls these third-party reports open server reports.

Understanding the types of open server filesBy default, Actuate iServer System defines the following open server file types.

■ Crystal report files (Windows platforms only):■ RPX, defined as Crystal executable .rpt file■ RPW, defined as Crystal web report .rpw file ■ RPT, defined as Crystal report .rpt file

■ SQRIBE report files (Windows platforms only):■ SPF, defined as SQRIBE report .spf file


■ SQW, defined as SQRIBE web report .sqw file■ SQT, defined as SQRIBE report .sqt file

■ PostScript PDF (.pdf)

■ Text files (.txt files)

Administrators can add additional open server file types. To use the Actuate iServer System open server functionality, the Encyclopedia volume must be configured to recognize the report file types used by open server reports.

About file versionsThe Encyclopedia volume provides an autoversioning feature used to maintain different versions of a report. You can, for example, generate multiple reports from a report object executable (.rox) or report object value (.rov) file, and save each report as a different version. This capability is useful if you generate reports regularly and want to retain previous copies of the report. You set the versioning feature when you run an ROX.

Copying files to the Encyclopedia volumeYou can copy files into your personal folder or any folder for which the Encyclopedia volume administrator or another user granted you the write and read privileges. You can copy files from a local machine, a network file server, or from another Encyclopedia folder. The Navigator supports copying multiple files to an Encyclopedia volume.

How to copy a file from a local or server machine to the Encyclopedia volume

The following steps describe how to copy a file to a folder using context menu commands:

1 Right-click the folder and choose Add.

Save To Volume appears.

2 Select one or more files to copy. Choose Save.

The copied file or files appear in the right pane of the Navigator.

3 After you copy a file to the Encyclopedia volume, do the following:■ Set the file dependencies, if appropriate. For information about setting

file dependencies, see “About file dependencies,” later in this chapter.■ Assign privileges to users, if you want others to access the file. If you

ignore this option, users have the default privileges assigned to them in your privilege template. For information about assigning privileges on


items you create, see “About root folder privileges,” earlier in this chapter.

Copying and moving files within the Encyclopedia volumeWhen you copy or move a file from one Encyclopedia volume folder to another, all the original file’s properties—including privileges—apply to the file that is copied or moved. To copy or move files, you must have privileges that enable those actions. For information about privileges, see “About privileges,” earlier in this chapter.

How to copy a file from one folder to another in the Encyclopedia volume

Press Ctrl and drag the file to the destination folder.

How to move a file from one folder to another in the Encyclopedia volume

Drag the file to the destination folder.

Copying files from the Encyclopedia volumeYou can copy files from the Encyclopedia volume to a local machine or network file server. If you copy a report object instance (.roi) file and you plan to open it on your local machine, make sure you copy the associated report object executable (.rox) file as well. To copy files, you must have privileges that enable that action. If you have secure read privilege on an ROI, you cannot copy it from the Encyclopedia volume. For information about privileges, see “About privileges,” earlier in this chapter.

How to copy files from the Encyclopedia volume to a local system or network file server

1 Open Windows Explorer or File Manager.

2 Drag the file from Navigator to the destination folder in Explorer or File Manager.

Importing open server filesAfter the Actuate iServer System administrator defines an open server file type, you can import non-Actuate report files into the Encyclopedia volume and use the Actuate iServer System’s open server functionality to create report requests.


When you add an open server file to an Encyclopedia volume, the following dialog might appear if there are multiple open server file types defined with the same file extension. Using the dialog, you can select the Encyclopedia volume file type to assign to the file. In this example, the .rpt file extension can be either an RPT or RPX Encyclopedia volume file type.

When you import a non-Actuate report file, Actuate iServer System displays Add or Change Parameters. The developer of the open server report must provide you with the parameters and other information needed to import the file.

Either choose Add to define parameters and default values individually or choose Open to specify a report object value (.rov) file that contains a list of parameter and default values.

When users specify parameters, they cannot override hidden open server parameters. If a user specifies a parameter that attempts to override a hidden parameter, the report generation fails.


When creating a parameter that overrides an existing parameter, the new parameter must be the same type as the existing parameter. For example, you can create a string parameter for the report that overrides the string parameter specified by the file type. If there is a mismatch between parameter format types, any open server report generations fail.

About SQRIBE open server files The Actuate SQRIBE report open server driver handles only SQRIBE compiled, executable file type SQT. Actuate’s SQRIBE open server driver does not support SQRIBE SQR report files.

The SQRIBE open server driver can generate the following output file types from a SQRIBE SQT report:

■ Output file type .spf proprietary SQRIBE output.

■ Output file type .sqw web format output. This output is not printable.

■ Output file type .txt. A plain text file.

Because SQRIBE reports are compiled, SQRIBE ask directives are not processed, and required input directives are processed.

For SQRIBE reports that use images, the images are not part of the compiled .sqt file. They must be loaded and incorporated into web output. When importing the images used with SQRIBE reports, you must create a dependency between the .sqt and the image file.

Images are not supported for proprietary SQRIBE .sqw file downloads.

About file dependenciesSome report files depend on the existence of others. In order for certain operations to execute successfully, files must be able to access the files they depend on. The most common example is the association between a report object instance (.roi) file and a report object executable (.rox) file. When you open a report for viewing or printing, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional runs the ROX that generated the report.

If you try to delete an ROX from the Encyclopedia volume, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional displays a dialog that specifies the files that are dependent on the ROX, and asks if you want to delete the ROX and the dependencies.


The following table lists the dependencies among file types.

The dependency between an ROI and an ROX is set when you run an ROX in the Encyclopedia volume. Similarly, the dependency between a report object value (.rov) file and an ROX is set when you create and save an ROV in the Encyclopedia volume.

If you copy an ROI from a local system to the Encyclopedia volume, you must set file dependencies. For example, the example reports that install with e.Report Designer Professional are not bundled, so you must set the dependencies.

To set dependencies, complete the following tasks in this order:

■ Copy the report object instance (.roi) file to the Encyclopedia volume.

■ Copy the associated report object executable (.rox) file.

■ Set the dependency between the files. For instructions, see “How to set file dependencies,” later in this chapter.

If you omit steps 2 and 3, you cannot open the report. The alternative is to bundle the ROX with the report. Then, all you need to do is copy the report to the Encyclopedia volume. For information about bundling an ROX with a report, see “Distributing an Actuate Basic report from your desktop” in Chapter 6, “Printing and distributing a report using Actuate Viewer and Navigator.”

How to set file dependencies

1 Locate the file whose dependencies you want to set, for example, a report object instance (.roi) file.

2 Right-click the file and choose Properties.


3 Choose Dependency

File Depends on

Report object instance (.roi) report object executable (.rox) file

Report object value (.rov) report object executable (.rox) file


Properties—Dependency appears, as shown in the following illustration.

4 Choose Add.

Encyclopedia Browser appears.

5 Find and select the file that the file requires, then choose OK.

The selected file appears in File depends on.

6 If the file depends on additional files, repeat steps 4 and 5 until you select all the files.

7 Choose OK.

About Encyclopedia volume autoarchiveUsing the Encyclopedia volume autoarchive features, Encyclopedia volume administrators specify parameters to delete files such as Actuate reports, open server reports, and other documents stored in the Encyclopedia volume. Actuate iServer System can delete Encyclopedia volume files based on the age

List of files that the file requires

Choose Add to select a file that the file requires


of the file, a specific date, or the number of versions of a file. As part of autoarchive, users can specify that a file is archived before deletion.

The Encyclopedia volume autoarchive rules are overridden by setting autoarchive rules on a folder, file, or report generation request. For information about autoarchive settings for requests, see “Setting a run request autoarchive rule” in Chapter 4, “Running a report using Navigator.”

Encyclopedia volume administrators can set the autoarchive policy for files in the Encyclopedia volume. Encyclopedia volume administrators can:

■ Set the rule for all the files in the Encyclopedia volume.

■ Set a rule for a specific file type.

If you have the appropriate privileges, you can override the Encyclopedia volume administrator’s default settings for folders and files. For information about overriding the default settings, see “About folder and file autoarchive rules,” later in this chapter.

Displaying Encyclopedia volume autoarchive rulesOnly an Encyclopedia volume administrator can set the Encyclopedia volume autoarchive rules. You can view the autoarchive rules in Server Properties.

1 To display Server Properties, select the Encyclopedia volume root folder and choose File➛Properties.


2 Choose Auto Archive.

About folder and file autoarchive rulesThe autoarchive rules for folders or files override Encyclopedia volume settings. You can see the autoarchive rule for a folder or file in Properties—Auto Archive. If the autoarchive rules are inherited from another folder or the Encyclopedia volume, the rules appear in the dialog but the controls are disabled. The dialog also displays the folder that the Encyclopedia volume uses for the default rule.

If you have read and write privileges, you can override the default. If you specify autoarchive rules for a folder, the rules become the default rules for folders and files contained in the folder and in any subfolder within the starting folder. If the Encyclopedia volume administrator enabled archiving, you can specify whether to archive files as part of setting the autoarchive rules.

The archive information for reports and other files shows the projected expiration date.


Setting folder autoarchive rulesIf you have delete privilege on the folder, you can set a folder’s autoarchive rules from Properties. This overrides rules set higher in the folder hierarchy.

How to set folder autoarchive rules

1 To display Properties, select the folder and choose File➛Properties.

2 Choose Auto Archive.

3 In Auto Archive, select a file type from the File Type list.

The File Type list displays the default file type for the Encyclopedia volume and open server file types. The default for this Folder item defines the default autoarchive rule for the folders and files in the current folder. For information about open server file types, see “About Actuate open server reports,” earlier in this chapter.

4 Select the Override option to enable the Archive Policy items.

5 Enter the autoarchive rule for the selected file type.

If archiving is available, you can choose to archive files before they are deleted.


6 Select file types and set autoarchive rules as necessary.

7 Choose OK to save the rules.

Setting file-specific autoarchive rulesIf you have delete privilege on a file, you can set a file’s autoarchive rules from Properties. This overrides any rules set in the file’s folder hierarchy.

How to set file-specific autoarchive rules

1 To display Properties, select the file and choose File➛Properties.

2 Select Auto Archive.

3 In Auto Archive, select the Override option and enter the auto-archive rule.

If archiving is available, you can choose to archive files before they are deleted.

4 Choose OK to save the rule.

Expiration date


About online backupOnline backup creates a snapshot of the contents of an Encyclopedia volume while the volume is online. The Encyclopedia volume administrator or operator sets the online backup schedule. You can use the following procedure to view the online backup status of an Encyclopedia volume.

How to view the online backup status of an Encyclopedia volume

1 Select the Encyclopedia volume.

2 Choose File➛Properties.

The current online backup mode appears on Server Properties—General.

Setting user preferencesOnce you connect to an Encyclopedia volume, you can change some user and display settings. You can:

■ Change your password

■ Change your e-mail address

■ Choose notification options

■ Specify the default locale

Changing your passwordThe Encyclopedia volume administrator sets the user name and password that you use to log on to a volume. Once you log on to a volume, you can change your password at any time, if this option is available to you.

How to change your password

1 Choose Edit➛User Options.


2 In Password, type your new password.

3 In Confirm password, type the password again and choose OK.


Changing your e-mail addressIf you want e-mail notification of requests that succeed or requests that fail, set an e-mail address.

How to set your e-mail address



2 In E-mail address, type your e-mail address.

3 Choose Apply or OK to apply the change.

Choosing notification optionsThe Encyclopedia volume administrator sets up your initial notification options. Once you log on to a volume, you can change these settings at any time.

The notification options you select determine if and how you are notified of successful and failed jobs that you submitted. The notification options also apply to jobs that the Encyclopedia volume administrator or other users submitted and to which you have access. You can choose to receive notices through e-mail. For more information about notification options, see “Notifying users of the completed report” in Chapter 4, “Running a report using Navigator.”

How to set notification options



2 Choose Notification.

3 In Notification, make your selections.

4 Choose Apply or OK to apply the selections.

Specifying the default localeThe default locale determines the formats for dates and times in the Created and Modified columns in Navigator.

How to specify the default locale




2 In Default locale, select a locale from the list. Choose OK.

Specifying search pathsThe global search path specifies the directories to search for a file, such as an image used in a report.

In Actuate e.Report Designer Professional, the configuration file provides database connections and data sources.

How to specify a global search path



2 Choose Global Search Path.

Options—Global Search Path appears.


3 In Global Search Path, choose New.

4 Type the directory name or choose the Browse button to find the directory. Choose OK.

The directory you chose is added at the bottom of the list.

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional searches the directories in the order they appear in the list. To change the order in which the directories are searched, select the directory and choose the up or down arrow.

To remove a directory from the global search path, select the directory and choose Delete.

How to specify the configuration file setting




2 Choose the Browse button and navigate to the folder that contains the configuration file.

3 Select the configuration file and choose Open.

4 Choose Refresh.

5 Choose OK.

C h a p t e r 3 , V i e w i n g a r e p o r t u s i n g A c t u a t e V i e w e r 51

C h a p t e r

3Chapter 3Viewing a report using

Actuate ViewerThis chapter contains the following topics:

■ Opening and viewing a report

■ Moving around in a report

■ Using links to other Windows applications

■ About zooming

■ Personalizing the application window

■ Using screen arrangement options

■ Using online help

■ Using context menus while you view a report


Opening and viewing a reportActuate Viewer is a tool that you use to view an Actuate Basic report object instance (.roi) file. Opening and viewing a report that is stored in a file system, such as on a stand-alone machine or a network file server, or in the Encyclopedia volume involves a somewhat different sequence of tasks. The following sections describe opening and viewing a report stored in a file system then in the Encyclopedia volume.

Once the report is open, the viewing features are the same whether you view a report stored in the file system or in the Encyclopedia volume. Actuate e.Report Designer Professional uses the last zoom setting you set as the default magnification when you open a report. For information about using the Zoom feature, see “About zooming,” later in this chapter.

Opening and viewing a report in a file systemTo help you get started, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional includes sample reports. We use Detail.roi as an example in this chapter.

How to open a report from a file system

1 Choose File➛Open.

Open appears.

2 In Files of Type, choose Report Document (*.roi) to find the sample report, Detail.roi. Navigate to the examples directory that contains Detail.roi.

For example, the default Examples directory that contains Detail.roi for Actuate e.Report Designer Professional is \Program Files\Actuate8\eRDPro\Examples\DesignAndLayout\Detail.

3 Select Detail.roi. Choose Open.

Detail.roi opens.


The following illustration shows the first page of Detail.roi in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional. With this sample report, you can explore many of the viewing capabilities.

Use the split box at the top of the vertical scroll bar or the left of the horizontal scroll bar to create a split window. View different parts of the report simultaneously with a split window. To remove splits from a window, double-click the split bar.

Go to a specific page of the report

Page through the report

Traverse the report using its table of contents

Print the report

Search for report data

Zoom in and out of the report

Close or restore all visible windows

Split the window horizontally

Split the window vertically


Viewing a report in an Encyclopedia volumeYou can view a report stored in an Encyclopedia volume if you have access to the Encyclopedia volume and if you have read privilege for the report. For more information about privileges, see “About privileges” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

How to open a report in an Encyclopedia volume for viewing

1 Log in to the Encyclopedia volume if you have not already done so.

Navigator appears.

2 Navigate to and right-click a report object instance (.roi) file. Choose Open from the context menu, as shown in the following illustration.

The report appears.

Viewing third-party reportsYou can view third-party reports, called open server reports, as you would any other report in the Encyclopedia volume. If the report requires special software to view, that software must be installed on the local machine. For example, to view a Crystal or SQR report in the native format, you must install the appropriate viewing software on your machine. The Encyclopedia volume does not support demand paging when viewing open server reports. The entire report transfers to the local machine for viewing.

Moving around in a reportThere are a number of ways to move around in an Actuate Basic report. You can:

Open


■ Page through the report sequentially, or go to the first or last page using the paging commands.

■ Go to a specific page by specifying a page number.

■ Use hyperlinks, if provided by the report developer, to go from one part of the report to another part in the same or different report.

■ Use the report’s table of contents to traverse the content hierarchy.

■ Use the search feature to find and go to specified report data.

This section describes all the techniques for moving around in a report except the search feature. For more information about searching for report data, see Chapter 5, “Searching for and exporting report data using Actuate Viewer.”

Using the paging commandsThe View menu includes various paging commands, first page, previous page, next page, and last page. Actuate Basic reports store data in a highly compressed form. It is possible to move very quickly through large reports. Paging sequentially through the report is an option, but it is more convenient and faster to choose specific paging commands. Use either toolbar buttons or menu items to access the paging commands.

Using Go ToIf you are familiar with the page layout of the report, or you are working from a printout to find particular report pages, use View➛Go To or the Go To Page button to access a specific page by number.

First, Previous, Next, and Last page toolbar buttons

Paging buttons in the toolbar

Go To Page button in the toolbar

Go To Page


Go to Page brings up a dialog where you type the number of the page to display.

Using hyperlinksDuring the design process, the report developer has the option to provide hyperlinks in an Actuate Basic report. Hyperlinks make it easy to move from information in one part of a report to related information in another part of the same or a different report. Not all reports include hyperlinks.

When you choose a hyperlink in a report that links to another report, the linked report uses the zoom setting of the report containing the hyperlink. For information on using the Zoom feature, see “About zooming,” later in this chapter.

How to use a hyperlink

1 Pass the mouse over a hyperlinked field. The cursor changes to a small hand to show that the field contains a hyperlink.

In the following illustration, the hyperlink for Boston Office is active. Look on page 2 of Detail.roi to find this example. Double-clicking the hyperlink takes you directly to the main entry for the Boston Office.

Hyperlink for Boston Office


2 Double-click the hyperlinked field to go directly to the related field. The following illustration shows the field to which the hyperlink connects.

Other hyperlink techniques exist in some reports. For example, each section on a summary page in a report can be linked by a More button to a detailed section of the report. In the more detailed report, the developer can insert More and Back buttons to facilitate navigating through the pages of that part of the report.

The following illustration shows a page of Forecast.roi with More and Back buttons.

Buttons with programmed hyperlinks


To see several examples of hyperlinks, open Forecast.roi and work with the hyperlinks provided on pages 1 and 2 of that report.

Some of the hyperlinks in Forecast.roi go to the sample report Detail.roi. If you select a hyperlink that goes to Detail.roi and it is not available, you see messages saying Detail.roi cannot be opened.

Using the table of contentsReports typically contain a generated table of contents. You can view the table of contents with sections collapsed or expanded depending upon what level of detail you want to see.

The following illustration shows the table of contents, partially expanded, for the sample report, Detail.roi.

As the table of contents for Detail.roi shows, the Eastern Region Sales Forecast includes three offices. Each office includes a group of sales representatives and each of those representatives has a group of customers. Each customer, in turn, has one or more orders.

In some cases, the report has a table of contents with additional items to highlight particularly important sections.


How to access the report’s table of contents

Choose View➛Table of Contents, or choose the Table of Contents icon.

The table of contents for the report appears. The following illustration shows the table of contents for the sample report, Detail.roi.

How to use the report’s table of contents

1 To expand the table of contents to show more levels of information, choose the plus icon . The following illustration shows the Boston Office folder expanded to display sales representatives in that office.

2 To collapse the table of contents to show fewer levels of information, choose the minus icon .


How to go to an item appearing in the table of contents

Double-click the item in the table of contents.

The report displays the chosen item.

Using links to other Windows applicationsActuate Basic reports can display and manipulate data from Windows applications that support Object Linking and Embedding (OLE). For example, report developers can use OLE to link a Word document, an Excel graph, a spreadsheet, or a Paintbrush picture to an Actuate Basic report. What you see depends to some degree on the particular OLE object and the applications installed on your computer. For example, if a report contains a link to an Excel


graph, the graph appears only if Excel is installed on your computer. Otherwise, a grey box appears in place of the graph.

About linked and embedded objectsDuring the report design phase, the report developer has the option to link or embed objects such as Excel spreadsheets or Paintbrush pictures in the report design. If the data is in the form of a linked OLE object, the data remains in a file maintained by the application that created it. In that case, the Actuate Basic report contains a reference to that file. If the object is embedded, the data itself is in the Actuate Basic report.

Editing linked and embedded objectsDepending upon the application used to create the original object, it is possible to manipulate the linked object in the report. For example, if the linked object is an Excel bar graph, printing or viewing the data in a variety of ways, such as a pie chart or a ribbon graph, is an option.

Any change in the view is for that session only. The change is not stored or saved in the original document, nor can you save this variation in the Actuate Basic report.

About OLE automationReport developers use OLE automation to make it possible for you to run another application from within an Actuate Basic report. Typically, accessing the other application is transparent. For example, the developer can provide a button on a report that accesses Microsoft Excel and transfers data to the report.

About linked and embedded objects in a reportReport developers can use bitmaps, spreadsheets, or other files as part of a report design. If these external objects are linked to the report, the report searches the path to find them. If it cannot find the path, the linked object does not appear in the report.

If you see an X in your report, a necessary file might not have been included when the report was distributed. Embedded objects, on the other hand, are part of the report. If you distribute a report that you designed, it is best to embed objects in the report design.


The following illustration shows a report that lost a link to an external object.

About zoomingZooming in and out of a report makes it easier to view specific sections. The scaling range is from 25% to 400%.

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional uses the last zoom setting you set as the default magnification when opening a report. When you change the zoom scale of a report, you change the default zoom setting.

When you choose a hyperlink in a report that links to another report, the linked report uses the zoom setting of the report containing the hyperlink.

Indicates missing linked file


The following illustrations show a report at 50% and at 200%.

Personalizing the application windowYou can change or rearrange the set of windows that appear in the work area. For example, if you work mostly with the Actuate Viewer window, you can close or hide the table of contents and search windows when you are not using them. Actuate e.Report Designer Professional saves the current perspective when you exit the program. The next time you start Actuate e.Report Designer

Set scaling size


Professional, the window layout appears the way it did the previous time. You can, at any time, restore a window layout to its default state.

You can also hide or rearrange toolbars or create a new toolbar to meet your needs.

Moving, minimizing, and stacking windowsYou can manipulate windows in the work area using any of the standard methods, including opening, closing, and resizing them. In addition, you can:

■ Move windows from their default positions and place them anywhere you choose, inside or outside the application window. To move a window, click its title bar and drag it to the desired location. An outline of the window appears as you move the window. As you drag a window close to the borders of the work area or other windows, the window snaps into position. To prevent the window from snapping to the edge of another window or the work area, press Ctrl as you drag the window.

■ Minimize, or hide, a window by choosing the thumbtack icon.

■ Stack one window on top of another so that the two windows appear as a single window with tabbed pages. To unstack windows, click a tab and drag the window to another location.

The following illustration shows how to rearrange the positions of two windows.

Outline of Search appears as you drag the window to its new location

Search in its new location, above Table of Contents


The following illustration shows how to minimize a window so that only the title bar appears at the edge of the work area.

The following illustration shows how to stack two windows so they appear as one window with tabbed pages.

Choose the thumbtack to minimize a window

The minimized window hides, and its title bar appears at the edge of the work area

Outline of Table of Contents appears as you drag the window on top of Search. Notice the outline of the tab.

The windows become one window with tabbed pages


Moving, hiding, and changing toolbarsYou can change how and where toolbars appear:

■ Display or hide individual toolbars using View➛Toolbars.

■ Display or hide individual buttons on each toolbar by choosing the arrow on the right side of the toolbar and choosing Add or Remove Buttons.

■ Move a toolbar from its default position by dragging the gray bar on the left side of the toolbar and placing it elsewhere. If you move a toolbar away from the top of the screen, it becomes its own window.

Restoring a perspective to its default layoutIf you rearrange the windows in a perspective and do not like the way you position them, you can rearrange the windows or reset them to their default positions.

To restore the current perspective to its default layout, choose Tools➛Reset Workspace➛Active Perspective Only. To restore all the perspectives, choose All Perspectives.

The windows in the perspective appear in their original positions. Restoring a perspective has no effect on changes you make to toolbars, only to windows.

Using screen arrangement optionsThe Window menu provides the option to cascade or tile windows. The windows can contain different reports or different views of a single report.

Using New WindowNew Window lets you add report windows. Use this feature if you need multiple views of the same report. Depending upon how you used the Window menu options, the windows appear one on top of another until you use Cascade or Tile to arrange them.

Drag this gray bar to move a toolbar

Choose this arrow to display the Add or Remove Buttons command


Using CascadeThe Cascade command cascades existing windows and any subsequent windows you open. In the following illustration, some windows cascade and some do not to permit comparison.

Using TileSelect Tile to arrange file windows you have open. The first three windows tile horizontally. The fourth window divides the main window into four report windows. Subsequent windows continue to subdivide the screen.


The following illustration shows two tiled windows.

Using online helpDuring the design phase, report developers have the option to include report specific online help. For example, the report developer can add comments to give further detail about specific report items or to explain how specific calculations were created.

This section provides instructions for accessing online help specific to a report. The sample report, Detail.roi, is used to demonstrate the procedure.

How to access report online help

1 Right-click the item in the report for which you want online information. In this example, right-click one of the dates, 2/3/04 or 2/15/04, on page 2 of Detail.roi.

The context menu displays options provided by the report developer.


2 Choose Help. The help text explains what Needed/ Forecast means.

If your cursor hovers over a control that has balloon help available, you see online help information provided by the developer.

Using context menus while you view a reportContext menus are an option the developer can choose to provide. If the developer provided a context menu, right-click to access the context menu items. By default, Actuate Basic reports provide the context menu items Default Action and Help. If, however, the report developer does not write code for these context menu items, they do not do anything.

The report developer can add other context menu items. For example, the following illustration shows a context menu that appears when you right-click the number 1855 in the sample report Detail.roi. Here the developer chose to provide the option Evaluate Discount.


It is important to remember that context menu items are an option provided by the developer. Although you see them in the examples shown here, they are not available in every report.

C h a p t e r 4 , R u n n i n g a r e p o r t u s i n g N a v i g a t o r 71

C h a p t e r

4Chapter 4Running a report using

NavigatorThis chapter contains the following topics:

■ About running a report

■ Running a report on your desktop

■ Running a report in an Encyclopedia volume

■ Creating a run request in an Encyclopedia volume

■ Specifying a report parameter

■ About structure and table parameters

■ Saving parameter values

■ Scheduling the time to run the executable file

■ Distributing a report

■ Notifying users of the completed report

■ Printing the completed report

■ Setting a run request autoarchive rule

■ Viewing the completed report

■ Checking the status of a run request


About running a reportYou run a report when you want Actuate e.Report Designer Professional to generate a report object instance (.roi) file with the most current data. A report object executable (.rox) file contains compiled code that specifies how Actuate e.Report Designer Professional generates a report and what data it retrieves for the report.

When you run a report, you can use the default execution settings or set properties, such as report parameters to filter report data, the name of the generated report object instance (.roi) file, and the file versioning method to use. These options are collectively called a run request.

You cannot run open server reports locally. You can run open server reports from the Encyclopedia volume if your system administrator configured Actuate iServer System to run open server reports. You can run Actuate Basic reports, as well as third-party reports, such as Crystal and SQRIBE reports. For information about open server reports and importing open server reports, see Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

On Windows platforms, the Actuate SQRIBE report open server driver handles only SQRIBE compiled, executable file type SQT.

The SQRIBE open server driver can generate the following output file types from a SQRIBE SQT report:

■ Output file type .spf proprietary SQRIBE output.

■ Output file type .sqw web format output. This output is not printable.

■ Output file type .txt. A plain text file.

Running a report on your desktop Running a report that is stored on your local system provides different options and, therefore, involves different tasks from running a report in an Encyclopedia volume. When you run a report from your desktop, the report generates immediately. When you run a report in an Encyclopedia volume, you can schedule the time and day to generate the report. You can also specify if the report should be generated regularly. For information about running a report in an Encyclopedia volume, see “Running a report in an Encyclopedia volume,” later in this chapter.

How to run a report executable file on your desktop

1 Choose File➛Open.


Open appears.

2 From Files of type, choose Report Executable (*.rox).

3 Select the report object executable (.rox) file you want to run and choose Open.

The Factory window appears.

4 Choose Run to start the report generation process.

Requester appears.

5 Choose OK to accept the default parameter values, or enter parameter values to narrow the range of data Actuate e.Report Designer Professional retrieves. For information about how to use Requester, see “Specifying a report parameter,” later in this chapter.

The Factory begins generating the report.

6 To stop report generation at any time, choose Halt.


7 Choose Close after the report finishes running.

The report object instance (.roi) file appears in Actuate Viewer.

Monitoring report generationThe Factory window displays the status of the generation process and the number of the page being generated. The Actuate e.Report Designer Professional title bar displays the name of the report. The viewer title bar displays (In Progress) while the report generates. When the Factory finishes generating the report, only the file name appears.

Viewing pages during report generationTypically, when you run a report object executable (.rox) file, the viewer starts and displays the report as soon as the first page generates. There is one exception. If you set the Bundle Rox in Roi output parameter in Requester to True, the viewer displays the report only when the Factory completes generating. For information about using parameters, see “Specifying a report parameter,” later in this chapter.

As the report generates, you can use all the viewer features except for the Table of Contents and Search features. These features are unavailable because they rely on all the data in a completed report.

The following illustration shows the viewer as a report generates in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional.


Understanding checkpointsAs the Factory generates the pages of the report, it writes the completed pages to the report at designated checkpoints. The checkpoints occur after the completion of the 1st, 5th, 10th, 25th, and 50th pages, and every 50 pages after the 50th.

The viewer displays the portions of the report that were written to a file when you manually refresh the report. For information about refreshing the report, see “Refreshing the report in the Actuate Viewer,” later in this section.

Refreshing the report in the Actuate ViewerTo refresh a report in the viewer as the Factory generates the report, choose any of the paging commands—First Page, Previous Page, Next Page, or Last Page—from the toolbar or the View menu. Sometimes when you choose a paging command, the report in the viewer does not immediately refresh. The delay occurs when the Factory did not reach a new checkpoint since the last refresh. For example, if the last page of the displayed report is 50, the report does not refresh until the Factory finishes processing the 100th page.

Title in viewer indicates the report is being generated

Factory window shows page being generated


Use the Page information in the Factory window to refresh the report. For optimal results, choose a paging command immediately after a checkpoint.

Running a report in an Encyclopedia volumeRunning a report object executable (.rox) file in an Encyclopedia volume gives you more options than running it from your desktop. These options are collectively called a run request, described in the next section.

Creating a run request in an Encyclopedia volumeThe following list summarizes the options you can set for a run request. For each option in this list, there is a corresponding section with detailed information:

■ Specify parameter values to filter the data to retrieve, set formatting options, processing options, and so on, during report generation.

■ Save the parameter values to a report object value (.rov) file to reuse whenever you want to run the report object executable (.rox) file with the same values.

■ Schedule the ROX to run immediately, on a regular basis, or on selected dates.

■ Assign an archive policy for the items created by the run request.

■ Distribute the completed report to a folder in the Encyclopedia volume and set privileges.

■ Request that Actuate iServer System send notification messages, including e-mail notification, to selected users or user groups when the report is completed.

■ Request that Actuate iServer System print the report when it is completed.

■ View the completed report.

■ Check the status of run requests.

How to create a new run request

1 Locate the report object executable (.rox) file in the Encyclopedia volume.

2 Right-click the ROX and choose New Request.


Requester appears, as shown in the following illustration. Each tab corresponds to options you can specify with the run request.

Specifying a report parameterReport parameters specify criteria when you run a report. These parameters, defined by the report developer in the report design, control aspects of report generation such as:

■ Records retrieved

■ Sort sequence of data

■ Output format

You set parameter values when you create a run request. If you do not specify any parameter values, Actuate iServer System uses the default values defined by the report developer.


Understanding the types of report parametersThere are four types of parameters:

■ Optional

■ Required

■ Ad hoc

■ Boolean

About optional parametersOptional parameters do not require that values be entered. Most report parameters are optional. They are a convenient way for a user to narrow the scope of a report, if desired. If you do not specify any values, default values are used.

Optional parameters appear in the parameter list without a trailing asterisk, as the following illustration shows.

Optional parameters


About required parametersCertain parameters must have a value supplied in order for the report to run. For instance, accessing a database requires a user name and password. The Requester indicates a parameter is required by displaying an asterisk after the parameter name.

A required parameter typically has a default value supplied by the developer. In the following illustration, two output parameters are required, but default values are supplied so that the report runs.

If you change the Output File Name parameter from the default, this output file name overrides the output name specified in Distribution.

About ad hoc parametersAd hoc parameters narrow the scope of the data retrieved by a SQL query. A report developer designs a SQL query to retrieve data from a database. By entering values for ad hoc parameters in Requester, you modify the WHERE clause of the SQL statement to retrieve data that meet certain criteria.

An ad hoc parameter is indicated in Requester by a small A next to the parameter name. Ad hoc parameters can be either optional or required.

The following illustration shows the values for the Credit Rank and Purchase Volume ad hoc parameters.

Asterisk indicates a required parameter

Default values


For more information and examples of syntax to use for ad hoc parameter values, see “Specifying a value for an ad hoc parameter,” later in this chapter.

About Boolean parametersBoolean parameters support only True and False values. The report developer can create labels for Boolean True and False values to customize their appearance in Requester, as shown in the following illustration.

In this example, Order did not ship implies False, and Order shipped implies True.

Providing parameter values The way you enter parameter values depends on how the report developer designed the parameter. The following illustration shows the various ways to enter parameter values.

Select customers whose credit rank is C or D

…and whose purchase quantity is in this range


Use one of the following methods to enter parameter values:

■ If the report supports using text boxes, enter parameter values next to the parameter names. Use the ad hoc parameter builder to enter parameter values.

■ If the report supports using radio buttons, choose one of the options listed.

■ If the report supports using a drop-down list, choose one of the options available in the drop-down list.

■ If the report developer enabled typing a custom value in the list, you can type a custom value besides choosing from the options available in the drop-down list. Use the ad hoc parameter builder to enter parameter values.

■ If the report uses date parameters, enter a date or use the date picker to enter the parameter value.

The application does not support using thousand separators while entering values for report parameters.

Drop-down lists

Text boxes

Radio buttons for Boolean parameter

Radio buttons for ranges of values


Specifying a value for an ad hoc parameterThe value you specify for an ad hoc parameter modifies the WHERE clause of a SQL query the report developer designed. You can specify a single value or an expression. Using an expression enables you to specify a list or range of values.

When you provide an expression, you use Query by Example (QBE) syntax to write an expression that the application translates into SQL. Using QBE syntax, you can build the following types of expressions:

■ A single value, such as 10

■ A relational expression, such as >10

■ A range of values, such as 10-20

■ A list of values, ranges, or expressions separated by a pipe sign, such as 10|20-30|>50

Some locales also accept a comma as a list separator.

■ A group of values, such as (abc|xyz)&bbb

The following table lists examples of QBE expressions, including the expression type, the column to which the expression applies, and the associated SQL syntax.

Type of expression

Database column QBE expression SQL

Single value

quantity 0 quantity = 0

custState CA custState LIKE 'CA%'

Relational quantity >50 quantity > 50

custState !CA custState NOT LIKE 'CA%'

custState !'CA' custState <> 'CA'

custName >P custName > 'P'

custName D&'%Corp%' custName LIKE 'D%' AND custName LIKE '%Corp%'

Range price 10-20 price BETWEEN 10 AND 20

orderDate 1/1/1994- 5/31/1994

orderDate BETWEEN {d '1994-01-01'} AND {d '1994-05-31'}

custName Ed-Kl custName BETWEEN 'Ed' AND 'Kl'


A value in a QBE expression must match the data type of the database column to which it applies. For example, you must use a numeric value in a QBE expression that filters a numeric column. Do not apply formatting to a report parameter value.

How to use the ad hoc parameter builder

1 Choose the builder to the right of the parameter value field drop-down list.

2 Select an operator, an expression, or a function from the list.

Using a date in a QBE expressionWhen you use a date in a QBE expression, use four-digit years rather than two-digit years. For example, to supply January 1, 1999, type 01/01/1999 rather than 01/01/99.

List custState CA|CT|NV custState LIKE 'CA%' OR custState LIKE 'CT%' OR custState LIKE 'NV%'

custState 'CA'|'CT'|'NV' custState = 'CA' ORcustState = 'CT' ORcustState = 'NV'

empCode 1|6-8 empCode = 1 OR empCode BETWEEN 6 AND 8

Type of expression

Database column QBE expression SQL


To supply a date in the short date format, use the locale specific date separator. The following table lists examples of correct dates in different locale settings.

If you use two-digit years in a QBE expression, the application supplies the first two digits according to the following rules:

■ The two-digit years 00 through 29 are interpreted as 2000 through 2029.

■ The two-digit years 30 through 99 are interpreted as 1930 through 1999.

The date 01/01/29 is interpreted as 2029-01-01, and the date 01/01/30 is interpreted as 1930-01-01. You can control how the application interprets two-digit years by changing the value of the Microsoft Windows registry key AC_CENTURY_BREAK, which is located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ACTUATE. The default value is 30.

The application uses these same rules when it operates on dates with two-digit years retrieved from a database. For example, if the column orders.shipByDate contains dates with two-digit years, the query:

SELECT orders.shipByDateFROM ordersWHERE orders.shipByDate >= {d '2000-01-01'}

returns values of orders.shipByDate with two-digit years from 00 through 29, and the query:

SELECT orders.shipByDateFROM ordersWHERE orders.shipByDate < {d '2000-01-01'}

returns values of orders.shipByDate with two-digit years from 30 through 99.

Using a wildcard or a literal character in a QBE stringThe following table lists characters that have special meanings in a string in a QBE expression.

Locale setting Correct format

US English 01/15/2003

French (France) 15/01/2003

Russian 15.01.2003

Character Meaning in QBE

_ Match any single character.

% Match any character, group of characters, or no character.


The following table lists examples of QBE expressions that use the wildcard and literal characters.

A data source that supports brackets, [ ], as special characters treats a special character enclosed in brackets as a literal character, not a special character. In the preceding table, for example, the QBE syntax, ab[%]c, encloses the special character, %, in brackets to treat it literally. That QBE syntax translates to the following SQL:

LIKE 'ab[%]c'

Not all data sources support using all the wildcard characters. For example, Oracle databases do not support using brackets, [ ], as wildcard characters. For an Oracle database, brackets do not have special meaning. For an Oracle database, the example QBE syntax, Sm[aeiou]th, translates to the following SQL:

LIKE 'Sm[aeiou]th'

[ ] Match any one of the characters within brackets. Not supported by all data sources.

\ Treat the next character literally, rather than treating it as a special character. For more information about using this character, see “Using a special character in a QBE string,” later in this chapter.

Character Meaning in QBE

Example QBE syntax Matches Does not match

Sm_th 'Smith''Smoth'

'Smooth''Smth'

Smith% 'Smith''Smithsonian''Smith '

'Smit'

Sm[aeiou]th 'Smith''Smath'

'Smooth''Smth'

Sm\[aeiou\]th 'Sm[aeiou]th' 'Smith'

ab%c 'abac' 'ab%c'

ab[%]c 'ab%c' 'abac' 'ab[%]c'


This SQL matches the string, 'Sm[aeiou]th', because an Oracle database matches the brackets literally. This SQL does not match the string, 'Smith' or 'Smath'.

Because an Oracle database does not support brackets, you can only use an escape character to match a percent sign, %, or underscore, _, special character. For more information about matching a special character in a QBE string, see “Using a special character in a QBE string,” later in this chapter.

For more information about data source support for wildcard characters, see your data source documentation.

Understanding how Actuate compares a string ending in blank spaces with a QBE expressionThe application adds a percent character, %, to a string entered as a QBE expression when all of the following conditions are true:

■ The database column is of type string.

■ The input parameter value is not enclosed in single quotes and is not a range.

■ The string does not contain a percent character, such as Sm%th.

The application adds a percent character to ensure blank characters at the end of strings in the database do not interfere with the matching process. The following table illustrates why the application adds the percent character.

To match values ending in a space character when the QBE expression contains a percent character, append a percent character to the QBE expression. For example:

Sm%th%

The application does not add a percent character to a BETWEEN clause, because this syntax is only valid for LIKE. For example, if the database column custName is of type string and the report user enters A-D as the ad hoc parameter value, the application generates the following WHERE clause:

WHERE custName BETWEEN 'A' AND 'D'

This query does not match customer records where custName is Design Boards. If a user enters D as the value of the ad hoc parameter, the query

SQL syntax Matches Does not match

custName LIKE 'Smith' 'Smith' 'Smith '

custName LIKE 'Smith%' 'Smith''Smith '


retrieves the data row that contains Design Boards. Other ad hoc parameter values a user can enter to retrieve values starting with A through D include:

A,B,C,DA-E>A&<E

Matching an exact string value in a QBE expressionIf you do not want the application to add the percent character, %, to the end of a string, enclose the string in single quotes in the QBE expression. Returned data must exactly match the enclosed string. The following table lists the values that example QBE expressions return.

In the preceding table, a comma appears as a list separator for Smith, Jane. To specify a list separator that is locale independent, use the pipe sign, |.

Specifying a null value in a QBE expressionTo specify an empty field in the database, use the keyword Null. Null is not case sensitive. The following table shows examples of QBE expressions using Null.

Example QBE syntax Matches Does not match

Smith 'Smith'

'Smith '

'Smithson'

'Smith' 'Smith' 'Smith '

'Smithson'

Red|Green|Blue 'Green'

'Red|Green|Blue'

'Red|Green|Blue' 'Red|Green|Blue' 'Green'

Smith, Jane 'Smith, Jane'

'Smith, John'

'Janesson, Per'

'Smith, Jane' 'Smith, Jane' 'Smith, John'

Database column QBE syntax SQL

orderDate Null orderDate IS NULL

custID !Null custID IS NOT NULL


Using a special character in a QBE stringIf a QBE string contains one or more special characters, you can type a backslash (\) before each special character or you can enclose the string in single quotes, which exactly matches the string value. For more information about matching an exact string value, see “Matching an exact string value in a QBE expression,” earlier in this chapter.

Special characters include the following:

■ Ampersand, &

■ Backslash, \

■ Caret, ^

■ Comma, ,

■ Equal sign, =

■ Exclamation point, !

■ Greater than sign, >

■ Hyphen, -

■ Less than sign, <

■ Open bracket, [

■ Close bracket, ]

■ Open parenthesis, (

■ Close parenthesis, )

■ Percent sign, %

■ Pipe sign, |

■ Single quote, '

■ Underscore, _

For example, the following QBE expression uses a backslash before the comma. The application interprets the comma literally:

16M x 1 Dynamic Ram\, 3.3 volts

Without the backslash, depending on your locale setting, the application interprets the comma as an OR in SQL, as in the following SQL expression:

WHERE items.itemcode LIKE '16M x 1 Dynamic Ram%' OR items.itemcode LIKE '3.3 volts%'

To specify a list separator that is locale independent, use the pipe sign, |.


For another example, to match the percent sign, %, literally in a string, you can use the following QBE expression:

'ab\%c'

which translates to the following SQL:

= 'ab%c'

This SQL matches 'ab%c'. Some data sources support matching a literal percent sign, %, using LIKE functionality. For more information about matching a literal percent sign, see “Using a wildcard or a literal character in a QBE string,” earlier in this chapter.

About structure and table parametersA report that uses an SAP R/3 data stream supports structure and table parameter types. To run a report, you must supply values for required parameters. An asterisk following a parameter name indicates a required parameter.

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional automatically assigns the Null keyword as the default value for a structure field or table column. This implies that a table or structure parameter can contain a row of null values for all its columns.

If you specify the keyword Null as a parameter value, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional treats the keyword Null as a null input value for that


field. In order to specify the literal string Null as a value for a table or structure parameter, enclose it within single quotation marks, for example, 'Null'.

Specifying a value for a structure parameterA structure parameter consists of a number of descendant elements that have their own data types. These elements appear as a group of parameters on Requester—Parameters. Expand the structure parameter to see the descendant elements.

Use one of the following methods to supply values for a structure parameter:

■ If the report supports text boxes, type a value next to the parameter name.

■ If the report supports drop-down lists, select one of the options available in the drop-down list.

■ If the report supports typing a custom value in the list, type a custom value.

■ If the report uses date parameters, type a date or use the date picker to specify a value.

Table parameter

Descendant elements

Structure parameter


Specifying a value for a table parameterA table parameter contains one or more columns. Unlike other report parameters, you cannot specify a value for a table parameter on Requester—Parameters. To display Table Parameter Editor, choose Table Editor beside a table parameter on Requester—Parameters.

How to add a row

1 In Add row, type a value for the column depending on the data type of the column.

2 In Table Parameter Editor—Add row, choose Add.


The new row appears under Table Parameter Editor—Table rows.

3 Choose the appropriate option:■ To return to Requester—Parameters without saving your changes to the

table, choose Cancel.■ To save your changes, choose OK.


How to edit a row

You can edit the value of each row in a table.

1 In Table Parameter Editor—Table rows, select the row you want to edit and choose Edit.

2 In Table Parameter Editor—Edit row, specify a value for the row you want to modify and choose Update.

The modified row appears in Table Parameter Editor—Table rows.

3 To return to Requester—Parameters, choose OK.

How to delete a row

Choose the appropriate deletion option:

■ In Table Parameter Editor—Table rows, select the row you want to edit and choose Delete.

■ To delete multiple rows, press Ctrl and select the columns to delete. Choose Delete.


Saving parameter valuesWhen you run a report with parameters, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional writes the parameter values to a report object value (.rov) file and stores that file in a temporary folder. When the report generates, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional deletes the temporary ROV.

After you set the parameter values in Requester—Parameters, you can save them to an ROV to reuse whenever you want to run the report object executable (.rox) file with the same values. To do so, modify the settings in Requester—Values, as shown in the following illustration.

When you save parameter values to an ROV, you can choose to create a new ROV or replace a previous version. The first option is useful for creating different ROVs for different sets of parameter values. For example, if you regularly generate two sales reports from a single report object executable (.rox) file—one that reports sales in Boston, and the other, sales in New York—create an ROV for each report.

If you save different versions of the ROV, successive files created from the same ROX are saved with the same name with incrementing version names. With this autoversioning capability, you can maintain a chronologically ordered set of versions of the same report items.

Check this option to create a report object value (.rov) file

Specify the name of the ROV and the location to save the file

If a ROV with the same name exists, create a new version or overwrite it


The following illustration shows how the Encyclopedia volume maintains different versions of report items.

Scheduling the time to run the executable fileUse Requester—Schedule to schedule when a run request should run. You can schedule the report object executable (.rox) file to run immediately, once at a specified time, on a recurring basis, or on any specified schedule. If you do not specify a schedule, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional runs the ROX immediately.

For scheduled run requests that cannot run because Actuate iServer System is down, Actuate iServer System does the following when it restarts:

■ Actuate iServer System runs the reports.

Two versions of report object instance (.roi) files were generated from two ROVs associated with a single ROX


■ If multiple run requests exist for a ROX, only one scheduled request instance runs.

The following sections contain examples of report scheduling:

■ How to schedule a report to run once

■ How to schedule a report to run hourly for a week

■ How to schedule a report to run on a weekday for a specified period, excluding holidays

Run the ROX immediately (default)

Run the ROX once at a specified time

Run the ROX at a specified time regularly

Run the ROX on a more complex schedule

Specify the priority at which to run the ROX


How to schedule a report to run once

Suppose you want a report on this week’s new accounts after close of business Friday. In Requester—Schedule, do the following:

1 In When, to set a schedule, choose Once.

Today’s date and the time appear.

2 To display the calendar, choose the arrow next to the date.

3 To enter the date, choose Friday’s date on the calendar or type the date.

4 Enter the time as shown in the following illustration. Choose OK.


How to schedule a report to run hourly for a week

Suppose you want an hourly report on new account activity every day during the fourth week of April at a sales conference. The first report runs at 8:00 A.M. on Monday and the last at 5:00 P.M. on Friday.

1 To set this schedule, in When, select Schedule, then choose Edit Schedule.

Edit Schedule appears.

2 Enter the settings as shown in the following illustration and choose OK.

How to schedule a report to run on a weekday for a specified period, excluding holidays

You want a weekly report that generates once every Friday during the first quarter, except on holidays. To set this schedule, set up a weekly run for the specified duration, then exclude the Fridays that are holidays. In this example, March 25 falls on a Friday and is a company holiday, so you must exclude this day from the schedule.

To set the schedule, use the following steps:

1 In When, select Schedule, then choose Edit Schedule.


2 Enter the settings as shown in the following illustration.

3 Choose Add to save the schedule information.

The text box displays the schedule information you set, that is, how often the report runs and the start and end dates and times.

Now that you finished setting up the recurring schedule, you can exclude March 25 from it.


4 To exclude this day from the schedule, do the following:

1 Click the right arrow button next to the calendar until March appears. The following illustration shows the schedule information.

2 Select March 25 on the calendar, then choose Delete.

The schedule excludes the date. The date is included in the information in the text box, which contains the following additional clause:

[except 25-Mar-05]

Creating complex report generation schedulesThe previous scheduling examples are just two examples of how you can use Edit Schedule to create complex schedules.

You can create even more complex schedules by adding more conditions. For example, you can select a date from the calendar, select the 1 Day option, then specify time and frequency values for a run request on that particular day. The

Information about the schedule you set

To exclude a date from a schedule, select it on the calendar, then choose Delete


text box in Edit Schedule reflects your choices, so you can always keep track of the schedule.

Setting the priority at which to run the executable fileReports can be run at three priority levels, high, medium, or low. These priorities represent the order in which reports run if there are many requests in the queue.

The priority levels you can specify depend on what the Encyclopedia volume administrator assigned as the maximum priority you can set for requests. If, for example, the Encyclopedia volume administrator set your maximum request priority at medium, you can run reports only at the medium and low priorities. You can also specify a numeric priority level, such as 500.

About retry optionsUsers who can schedule run requests can override Encyclopedia volume defaults for retrying requests.

When you schedule a run request, you can override the Encyclopedia volume defaults by changing the settings on Requester—Schedule.

On Requester—Schedule, under Scheduled Request Retry, select Number of times to retry failed requests, and enter the number of attempts and the interval between retry attempts. The Scheduled Request Retry settings are active only when you create a scheduled run request. The settings are inactive when you select the Right Now option.


The following illustration shows retry options.

Distributing a reportUse Requester—Distribution to specify where and how to distribute reports generated in the Encyclopedia volume. You can specify the following:

■ A different name for the report object instance (.roi) file. By default, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional uses the same root name as the report object executable (.rox) file used to generate the report. Changing the default report name in Requester—Parameters overrides the name specified in this page.

■ A folder in the Encyclopedia volume in which to place the report. By default Actuate e.Report Designer Professional stores the ROI in your personal folder. If you do not have a personal folder, the ROI is stored in the folder where the ROX resides. To override the default, choose Current Folder to store the ROI where the ROX resides or choose Absolute Folder and specify the new directory and name for the ROI.

■ Whether the ROI should be a new version or should replace an existing ROI with the same name. By default, a new version is created.


■ A version name for the ROI. By default, a version number is used, for example, Version001 or Version002.

If you choose to save version results, successive ROIs created from the same run request are saved under the same name with incrementing version numbers. Versioning keeps a chronologically ordered set of versions of the same ROI. If you choose to replace previous results, all previous versions of the ROI are deleted.

■ A version name that contains date and time parameters for identification. For more information about parameters in file names, see “Using date and time expressions for a document or a version name,” later in this chapter.

■ Assign privileges to different users and security roles. If you do not assign privileges, users have the default privileges specified in your privilege template. For information about privileges, see “About privileges” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

Specify a full path name for the completed report

Create a new version of a report or replace previous results

Assign a version name if you are maintaining versions of the report

Grant privileges on the report to other users or roles


Using date and time expressions for a document or a version name

When you submit a run request, you can specify a document name and a version name for the generated report object instance (.roi) file, if you do not want to use the default names. When supplying a document or version name, you can use date and time expressions to add the report generation date and time to the name. For example:

Sales Report {mm-dd-yy}

evaluates to:

Sales Report 02-28-02

This feature is useful if, for example, you schedule a report to run on a recurring basis. Adding a date and time expression that evaluates to the generation date gives you unique document or version names.

To create date and time expressions, use one of the following methods:

■ Use the pre-defined date and time formats

■ Create your own date and time formats.

Using a predefined format keywordThe following table lists the predefined date and time format keywords you can use, and what each evaluates to when the report generates. The examples and results that have an .roi extension are document names. The examples and results without an .roi extension are version names.

Commas and colons in the expression can create unexpected results. Actuate recommends you use General Date, Long Date, Long Time, Medium Time, and Short Time for building only the date and time expression for the version name.

Keyword Description Example Result

General Date Returns a date and time in the Short Date Long Time format as defined in the user’s Control Panel/Locale Map file

{General Date} 01/23/20018:53:03PM

Long Date Returns a Long Date as defined in the user’s Locale Map file

{Long Date} Tuesday, January 23,2001


Creating a custom date formatThe following table lists the date format symbols you can use to construct your own date formats, and what each evaluates to when the report generates. The examples and results that have an .roi extension are document names. The examples and results without an .roi extension are version names.

Medium Date Returns a date with the month name abbreviated to 3 letters: dd-mm-yy

{Medium Date}.roi

23-Jan-01.roi

Short Date Returns a Short Date as defined in the user’s Control Panel/Locale Map File

{Short Date}.roi 01-23-2001.roi

Long Time Returns a Long Time as defined in the user’s Control Panel/Locale Map file

{Long Time} 8:45:00 PM

Medium Time Returns hours and minutes in 12-hour format, including AM/PM designation (hh:nn AM/PM)

{Medium Time} 8:45 PM

Short Time Returns hours and minutes in 24-hour format (hh:nn)

{Short Time} 20:45

Symbol Description Example Result

d Returns day of the month without leading zero (1-31)

Day{d}.roi Day3.roi

dd Returns day of the month with leading zero (01-31)

Day{dd}.roi Day03.roi

ddd Returns three-letter abbreviation for day of the week

{ddd}.roi Tue.roi

dddd Returns full name of day of the week

{dddd} Tuesday

Keyword Description Example Result


Using certain unescaped literal characters or strings in the date expression along with user-defined date and time formats gives you a syntax error.

dddd Returns Short Date string as defined in the user’s Control Panel/Locale Map file

{dddd} 01/23/2002

dddddd Returns Long Date string as defined in the user’s Control Panel/Locale Map file

{dddddd}.roi Tuesday, January23,2002.roi

w Returns day of the week as a number (Sunday = 1. Saturday = 7.)

Weekday {w}.roi Weekday 3.roi

ww Returns week of the year as a number (1-53)

Week {ww}.roi Week 4.roi

m Returns number of the month without the leading zero

Month {m}.roi Month1.roi

mm Returns number of the month with the leading zero

Month {mm}.roi Month 01.roi

mmm Returns three letter abbreviation for month name

{mmm}.roi Jan.roi

mmmm Returns full name of the month

{mmmm}.roi January.roi

q Returns number of the quarter (1-4)

Quarter {q}.roi Quarter 1.roi

y Returns number of the day of the year (1-365)

Day {y}.roi Day 23.roi

yy Returns last two digits of the year (00-99)

Year {yy}.roi Year 01.roi

yyy or yyyy

Returns all four digits of the year (100-9999)

Year {yyy}.roi Year 2002.roi

c Returns date variant as dddd

for {dddd} for 01/23/2002 or for 01-23-2002



For example, the following expression:

Sales Report for MMM company as of {Date - mm/dd/yy}

results in the following syntax error:

"Bad fomat specification in token - {Date - mm/dd/yy}."

Creating a custom time formatThe following table lists the time format symbols you can use to construct your own time formats, and what each evaluates to when the report is generated. The examples and results that have an .roi extension are document names. The examples and results without an .roi extension are version names.


h Returns hour of the day without the leading zero (0-23)

Hour {h}.roi Hour 9.roi

hh Returns hour of the day with the leading zero (00-23)

Hour {hh}.roi Hour 09.roi

n Returns minute without the leading zero (0-59)

Minute {n}.roi Minute 5.roi

nn Returns minute with the leading zero(00-59)

Minute {nn}.roi Minute 05.roi

s Returns second without the leading zero (0-59)

Second {s}.roi Second 1.roi

ss Returns second with the leading zero (00-59)

Second {ss}.roi Second 01.roi

AM/PM Returns designation AM/am for any hour before noon and PM/pm for any hour after. This is case-sensitive.

{hh:nn:ss am/pm}

08:45:03 pm

A/P or a/p Returns designation A/a for any hour before noon and P/p for any hour after noon. This is case-sensitive.

{h:n:s a/p} 8:45:3 p


Times returned are in 24-hour format unless you use one of the A.M./P.M. format symbols. Note that the symbol for minute is n, not m, which is the symbol for month.

Using unescaped literal characters within the expression that are not intended to be evaluated as date and time components might give you an unexpected value for the name. For example, the following expression:

{MMM&MMM Rep - mm/dd/yy}

generates the following result:

Jan&Jan Rep - 01/23/2002

Notifying users of the completed reportUse Requester—Notification to choose users and notification groups to notify when the report finishes. By default, only you and the Encyclopedia volume administrator are notified when the report generates.

The left pane of Requestor—Notification displays the available users and notification groups for the Encyclopedia volume. Users and notification groups are set up by the Encyclopedia volume administrator.

AMPM Uses formats set by s1159 and s2359 as defined in the user’s Control Panel/Locale Map file. Default is AM/PM

{h:n:s AMPM} 8:45:3 PM

tttt Uses format set by sTime as defined in the user’s Control Panel/Locale Map file

{tttt} 8:45:00 PM



Ask the Encyclopedia volume administrator to set up a notification group that contains users to whom you regularly send a particular report.

There are two types of notification:

■ Actuate iServer System notification

When Actuate iServer System notification is in effect, reports appear in the Completed folder as soon as they generate. Actuate e.Report Designer Professional uses the Actuate iServer System notification when the user’s notification preference is set to Generate completed request notice.

■ E-mail notification

Users receive e-mail notification of a completed report if their notification preference is set to Generate email notification.

The type of notification a user gets depends on the user’s notification preference. Users can change their notification preferences from Properties. For more information about setting user properties, see “Changing folder properties” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

Printing the completed reportUse Requester—Print to specify where and how to print the completed report. By default, Actuate iServer System does not print the report.

Select users or notification groups to notify by selecting names from the left and moving them to the right


You can specify the following printing options:

■ The file name if Print To File is selected.

■ The Actuate iServer System printer to use to print the report.

■ Printer properties, such as paper size, paper orientation, duplex, number of copies, and so on. By default, the printer uses the properties the Encyclopedia volume administrator sets for the selected printer. If the Encyclopedia volume administrator did not set default properties for the printer, the printer uses the system-level defaults set by the system administrator. For more information about setting printer properties, see “Setting printer properties in the Encyclopedia volume” in Chapter 6, “Printing and distributing a report using Actuate Viewer and Navigator.”

■ The pages to print. You can print a single page, a range of pages, or all the pages.

Choose Properties to change print settings for this print request

Specify the pages to print

Select a printer to send the print request to

Check these options to print the report when it is finished


Setting a run request autoarchive ruleYou can set autoarchive rules for generated files such as Actuate Basic report documents, or third-party reports generated using Actuate open server technology. These settings override the Encyclopedia volume default settings.

For more information about the autoarchive rules set by the Encyclopedia volume administrator, see “About Encyclopedia volume autoarchive” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

When you generate a run request, you can set an autoarchive rule from Requester—Auto Archive. You must have both delete and write privileges on a file to modify its autoarchive settings.

How to set an autoarchive rule for a run request

1 In Requester, choose Auto Archive.

2 Select Override the policy assigned at the distribution folder.

3 In Archive Policy, select the appropriate options.

4 If the Actuate iServer System administrator enabled archiving, you can select Archive items before deletion.


Viewing the completed reportAfter you receive notification of a run request completion, you can view the report from its notification in the Completed folder by choosing View Report from its context menu. You can also view the report directly from the report document in the destination folder you specified when you created the request.

To view the report in the destination folder, choose Open from its context menu.

For information about viewing a report, see Chapter 3, “Viewing a report using Actuate Viewer.”

Checking the status of a run requestThe Encyclopedia volume stores status information about run requests in the Requests folder. You can view this information at any time by opening the Requests folder and the folders it contains.

Using Navigator in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional, you can see active, completed, and scheduled requests.


Understanding how Actuate iServer System manages a report requestRun requests can be in one of three states, in the following order, scheduled, active, or completed. Corresponding to each state is a folder. As a run request progresses from one state to the next, it moves to the corresponding folder.

A request appears in the Scheduled folder once it is submitted. That request moves to the Active folder when it is time for the report to run. Once the request processes, the request moves to the Completed folder, where it remains until you delete it.

For example, if you schedule a report to be run at 12:01 am on August 15, 2002, the request appears in the Scheduled folder until 12:01 am on August 15, 2002, at which time the request moves to the Active folder. The request stays in the Active folder until Actuate iServer System finishes processing it, at which time the request moves to the Completed folder.

A report does not always run at the scheduled time. The time it actually runs depends on several factors, for example, the priority level of the request, the availability of server processes, and the number of requests in the queue. You can specify the priority of your request, but only the Encyclopedia volume administrator can control the number and schedules of concurrent Actuate iServer processes.

Getting detailed information about a requestUsing Navigator, you can get detailed information about requests in the Requests folder, which contains the following folders:

■ Active

■ Completed

■ Scheduled

Checking the contents of the Scheduled, Active, and Completed folders tells you the status of requests you scheduled. Requests scheduled by other users are not visible to you, just as your requests are not visible to others. The Completed folder contains requests you submitted and requests that other users submitted and notified you about. Only the administrator can monitor all requests managed by the Encyclopedia volume.

About contents in the Scheduled folderThe Scheduled folder contains the requests you scheduled to run at a later date and time. You can view the following information about the scheduled request in the right pane of Navigator:

■ Name of the report object executable (.rox) file to run


■ User who submitted the request

■ Date and time the ROX is next scheduled to run

■ The priority of the request. By default, the priority levels are indicated as follows: 200 = low, 500 = medium, 800 = high.

The following illustration shows the contents in a user’s Scheduled folder, and the context menu associated with scheduled requests.

Getting more details about a scheduled request

To get more details about a request in the Scheduled folder, right-click the scheduled request icon or the report name, then choose Properties. Properties displays the information you specified when you created the request, the parameter values used to run the report and the schedule, distribution, notification, and printing information.

Editing a scheduled request

You can edit a request in the Scheduled folder at any time. You can change the parameter values and schedule, distribution, notification, and print options. To do so, right-click the scheduled request icon or the report name, and choose Properties. Then edit the information in Properties.

Printing scheduled request information

You can print scheduled request information from Properties—Summary.

Deleting requests in the Scheduled folder

You can delete requests any time before the request is processed. To do so, right-click the scheduled request icon or the report name, then choose Delete. You cannot recover a deleted request.

Shows more details about the scheduled request

Only requests submitted by the user appear in the user’s Scheduled folder


About contents in the Active folderThe Active folder contains the requests that are ready to be processed or are currently being processed. You can view the following information about the active request in the right pane of Navigator:

■ Job number as maintained by Actuate iServer System. Navigator numbers each active request consecutively.

■ Name of the report object executable (.rox) file that is ready for processing or is currently being processed.

■ User who submitted the request.

■ Date and time the generation process started, if it started.

■ Priority of the request. By default, the priority levels are indicated as follows: 200 = low, 500 = medium, 800 = high.

■ Name of the generated report.

The following illustration shows the contents in a user’s Active folder.

Getting more details about an active request

To get more details about a request in the Active folder, right-click the active request icon or the number of the job, then choose Properties. Properties displays additional general information about the request.

Printing active request information

You can print active request information from Properties—Summary.

Deleting requests in the Active folder

You can delete requests while they are in the queue. To do so, right-click the active request icon or the number of the job, then choose Delete. You cannot recover a deleted request.

Only requests submitted by the user appear in the user’s Active folder


About contents in the Completed folderThe Completed folder contains the processed requests. You can view the following information about the completed request in the right pane of Navigator:

■ Job number as maintained by Actuate iServer System.

■ Name of the report object executable (.rox) file that ran.

■ Name of the generated report.

■ User who submitted the request.

■ Date and time the report completed.

■ Number of pages in the report.

The following illustration shows the contents in a user’s Completed folder, and the context menu associated with successful completed requests.

The Completed folder contains processed requests, including those that failed to generate a report.

Requests submitted by or distributed to user appear in user’s Completed folder


To get information about why the request failed, right-click the failed request icon, then choose Properties.

Viewing reports in the Completed folder

To view a report in the Completed folder, right-click the successful request icon or the number of the job, then choose View Report. The report opens in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional.

Creating requests in the Completed folder

To create a request to run a report from the Completed folder, right-click the failed request icon or the number of the job, then choose New Request. Properties—General appears. You can set the properties for the run request and choose OK to run the report.

To create a request that uses the same properties as the completed request, right-click the request icon or the number of the job, then choose Retry. A confirmation dialog appears. Choose Yes to resubmit the request.

Getting more details about a failed request

To get more details about a failed request in the Completed folder, right-click the failed request icon or the number of the job, then choose Properties. Properties displays additional information, including the time the report ran, the scheduled priority, and the full path names of the report object executable (.rox) and report files.


Printing failed request information

You can print failed request information from Properties—Summary.

Deleting requests in the Completed folder

Requests remain in the Completed folder until you delete them. To do so, right-click the request icon or the number of the job, then choose Delete. A confirmation dialog appears. Choose Yes to delete the request. You cannot recover a deleted request.

To delete all the requests in the Completed folder, use the Completed folder’s context menu. Right-click the Completed folder and choose Delete All Completed Notices.

You can delete completed requests after a specified amount of time. The setting is a user property. For information about user properties, see “Changing folder properties” in Chapter 4, “Running a report using Navigator.”

C h a p t e r 5 , S e a r c h i n g fo r a n d e x p o r t i n g r e p o r t d a t a u s i n g A c t u a t e V i ew e r 119

C h a p t e r

5Chapter 5Searching for and

exporting report datausing Actuate Viewer


■ About the search feature in Actuate reports

■ Searching for report data

■ Using a search expression in the search criteria

■ Using search results to navigate through the report

■ Specifying data to display in Results

■ Saving a search definition

■ Using search definition files

■ Opening and running a search definition

■ Exporting report data

■ Copying report data to another document


About the search feature in Actuate reports Using the search feature you can:

■ Find data that match a specified criteria

■ Display some or all of the search results

■ Save the search results to a file

If you run a report object executable (.rox) file for immediate viewing, and the resulting report document is long, pages appear as the Actuate iServer Server generates them. Because searching requires complete data, you can search a report only when it finishes loading in the report window.

About searchable report fieldsUnlike searching capabilities in word processors or text editors, where searches are on a single text value, the search feature looks for user-specified values in one or more report fields.

For example, you can find all customers that begin with M by searching on a customer name field. A more complex multifield search could, for example, find all customers in a particular region with purchases over a certain amount. In this example, you would search for certain values in a customer name field, a region field, and a purchase amount field.

The report fields you can search on depend on which fields the report developer has designated as searchable.

Identifying a searchable report fieldYou begin a search by selecting a searchable object in a report. Then, you add the selected object to the Search dialog and specify the value to find.

How to find searchable objects

As you move the cursor around the report, you notice the cursor shape changes to an arrow with an active symbol at the tip. The change in cursor shape indicates that an object is searchable.

The following illustration shows a searchable object in the sample report, Detail.roi.

C h a p t e r 5 , S e a r c h i n g fo r a n d ex p o r t i n g r e p o r t d a t a u s i n g A c t u a t e V i ew e r 121

Searching for report dataTo search for specific report data, you select one or more report fields to search, and specify the value to search for each selected field. Searching on one field is straightforward. When searching on multiple fields, however, it helps to understand the effect of selecting multiple fields for a search. Sometimes, it also helps to understand the structure of the report.

Understanding how a multifield search worksIn a multifield search, each field you add to the search criteria adds an And logical operation. For example, if you select three fields and specify values for each, the search criteria, in effect, is condition1 And condition2 And condition3. There is a match only if all conditions are true.

The fields you select for a search must relate to each other. This is where it helps to understand the structure of a report. As you add each field to the search list, the search feature analyzes the relationships among the fields. If a field does not match a supported relationship, the search feature displays an error message. The search feature supports one-to-one and one-to-many relationships among fields.

Here’s another way to look at this relationship concept: For a successful search, you can add any fields that are contained within a selected parent field. For example, if a report lists all sales representatives by region, the parent field is the region, and the child field is the sales representative. In this scenario, you can create a search that finds the Western region (region field = Western) and sales representatives whose last names start with T (sales rep = T*). You can apply this parent-child principle when creating a search criteria no matter how many hierarchical levels the report contains.

The best way to see the structure of a report is to view its table of contents, if one exists. To do so, choose Table of Contents from the Actuate Viewer toolbar. If the report has a hierarchical structure, you can view the table of contents with sections collapsed or expanded, depending on the level of detail you want to see.


Creating search criteriaYou create search criteria through the Search dialog. You can modify your search conditions by removing fields or changing field values. You can cancel a search any time before you execute the search process.

How to create search criteria

The following steps assume you already have a report open for viewing.

1 Choose Search from the toolbar.

The Search dialog appears.

2 Use a single mouse-click to highlight or select a searchable object. In this example, select a company name such as Brittan Design Inc.


The search cursor lets you select only one object at a time.

3 To use the selection as a criterion for your search, choose Add Selection, as shown in the following illustration.

4 In Search, in the Value column, specify the value to search. In this example, type:

Advanced*

The asterisk (*) is a wildcard that specifies you want to find all values that contain Advanced in the first part of the string and any number of characters after that.

For information about search expressions, see “Using a search expression in the search criteria,” later in this chapter.

The object to search

Open

Save

Save As

Delete

Add Clear All

Search

Search Export Options

Stop


The following illustration shows the object and value in a search expression.

5 For a multifield search, repeat steps 2 to 4.

6 Choose Search to start the search process.

Matches to the search target(s) appear in Results in order of their occurrence in the report.

How to modify search criteria

You can change your search criteria any time before you choose Search, which starts the search process.

1 To remove a field from the search, in Search, select a search field entry and choose Delete Entry.

The object to search

The value to search

The search results in eight companies whose names start with Advanced and whose CustomerForecastControl value is greater than 100000.


2 To remove all the fields from the search, choose Clear All.

3 To stop searching altogether, choose the X option at the top of the Search window to close it.

Using a search expression in the search criteriaWhen you specify the value to search for in a report field, you can specify a literal value, such as Leslie Thompson, to search for one match. Typically, though, you specify a search expression to find a set of matches. For example, you can specify the expression, "*Thompson" to find all names that end with Thompson.

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional supports several operators and wildcard characters that you can use in search expressions. You can create complex expressions that use a combination of operators and wildcard characters.

Using operators in a search expressionThe following table lists and describes the operators you can use in search expressions specified in the Value column in the search window.

Operator Description Examples Matches

= Equals. By default, the = operator is implied.

=MR1500MR 1500

MR1500MR1500

> Greater than or alphabetically after

>100>Ace

101, 115, 200Acer, Adobe

< Less than or alphabetically before

<100<Ace

10, 50, 99Aamco, Abel

>= Greater than or equal to >=100>=Ace

100, 101, 200Ace, Adobe

<= Less than or equal to <=100<=Ace

10, 50, 100Ace, Aamco


Using a wildcard character in a search expressionUse wildcard characters to do pattern matching on text objects. The following table lists and describes the wildcard characters you can use in search expressions specified in the Value column in the search window.

Using a pattern in a search expressionUse patterns in a search expression to qualify a search. Patterns let you search for characters in a range, or select only certain characters for searching. Use the brackets ([ ]) to place a pattern inside a search expression.

- Range. Hyphen separates upper and lower limits of the range.For strings, - can mean the following:■ b- is equivalent to >=b■ -b is equivalent to <=b■ - is equivalent to * (match

all values)

10 - 20A - C

-AceAce-

10, 15, 20Ace, Bell, Core

Ace, AamcoAce, Adobe

, Or. Comma separates two values.

1,2Ace,Ford

1, 2Ace, Ford

! Not !1000!MA

998, 999, 1001CA, NJ, OH

Wildcard Description Example Matches

? Find any one character M?1680 MR1680, MS1680

* Find any number of characters 3M* 3M A1000, 3M B2000

# Find any one ASCII numeric character (0 - 9)

MS##90 MS0490, MS3290

Operator Description Examples Matches


The following table lists and describes examples of patterns you can use.

Searching for the ?, *, #, and [ ] charactersBecause the characters ?, *, #, and [ ] have special meanings in search expressions, you must indicate when you want to search for the characters themselves. To search for a special character itself, you can do one of the following:

■ Place the character inside brackets.

■ Use the backslash (\) before any special character, and enclose both the backslash and the character in quotation marks.

The following table lists and describes examples of how to search for special characters.

Pattern Description Example Matches

[character list] Match any one character inside the brackets

M[PRS]16 MP16, MR16, MS16

[a-z] Match any lowercase character m[a-f]1800 ma1800, mc1800

[0-9] Match any ASCII numeric character

MX150[1-5] MX1502, MX1503, MX1505

[a-z0-9] Match any lowercase character and ASCII numeric character

m[a-c1-3] ma1, ma3, mb2, mc3

[a-z-] Match any character or hyphen

m[a-z-] ma, mb, m-

[^] Match one caret *[^]1650 a^1650, b^1650

Specialcharacters Description Examples Matches

[?] or "\?" Match one question mark M[?]1600M"\?"1600

M?1600

[#] or "\#" Match one pound sign M[#]1600M"\#"1600

M#1600

[*] or "\*" Match one asterisk M[*] 1600M"\*"1600

M*1600


Searching for a string that contains a special characterIf a search text string contains one or more special characters, you must type a backslash (\) before each special character. Special characters include characters that are operators in a search expression:

■ Comma (,)

■ Hyphen (-)

■ Exclamation point (!)

■ Less than sign (<)

■ Greater than sign (>)

■ Equal sign (=)

■ Backslash (\)

For example, the string:

16M x 1 Dynamic Ram, 3.3 volts

must contain a backslash (\) before the comma:

16M x 1 Dynamic Ram\, 3.3 volts

If you do not type a backslash (\) before the comma, the comma is interpreted as an OR in SQL, as follows:

WHERE items.itemcode LIKE '16M x 1 Dynamic Ram%' OR items.itemcode LIKE '3.3 volts%

[[] or "\[" Match one open bracket M[[]A[]]6M"\["A"\]"6

M[A]6

[]] or "\]" Match one close bracket M[[]A[]]6M"\["A"\]"6

M[A]6

["\["-"\]"] Match any ASCII character between [ and ]

M["\["-"\]"] M[A]M[b]

Specialcharacters Description Examples Matches


Using a nonprinting ASCII character in a search expressionTabs, line feeds, and carriage returns are examples of nonprinting ASCII characters. With the backslash as an escape character, use the following nonprinting ASCII codes in search expressions.

Using search results to navigate through the reportThe search results are linked to the report. You can select an item displayed in Results to go to the report page that contains the corresponding data. Items are listed in the order in which they appear in the report.

How to use Results to go to a specific match in the report

Results displays the matches found in the report. The following example shows the matches retrieved from a search for all company names that begin with Advanced, and how to use the results to go to specific matches in the report.

Special characters Definition

\ Escape next character (one- or two-byte character)

\a Match one alarm (0x07)

\b Match one backspace (0x08)

\t Match one tab (0x09)

\n Match one new line (0x0a)

\f Match one form feed (0x0c)

\r Match one carriage return (0x0d)

\\ Match one backslash (\)

[\1-\377] Match any one-byte character excluding NUL (0x00)

[\x100-xffff] Match any two-byte character


1 Select the match you wish to see.

2 Choose Go To or double-click the selection.

The report becomes active and displays the matching value. If you selected Advanced MicroSystems Co. as shown in the previous illustration, the page containing the company name, Advanced MicroSystems Co., appears. The company name is highlighted.

The following illustration shows the match from the search value.

3 To go to another match in the report, use the Next, Previous, or Go To button in Results.

To go to a match in the report, select the company name, then choose Go To

Previous

Go To

Next


Specifying data to display in Results Besides displaying the results of a search, Results can display data from other objects in a report. If, for example, you search for companies by state, Results displays, by default, only the company names that match the search criteria. You might, however, also want to display the full company address and credit rank next to the company name, as shown in the following illustration.

Text fields displayed in Results have a limit of 255 characters. For example, each field under CompanyName can have 255 characters in length. If a text field in a report contains more than 255 characters, the first 255 characters are used. For more information about exporting all the characters from a text field, see “Exporting report data,” later in this chapter.

The following illustration shows results with multiple fields of data for each result.

You can specify any number of object values to display in Results. This capability is useful for creating a quick view of particular data in a report.

The data in Results usually appears as described in the preceding example and in the following procedure, however, in a search of a report designed using a hierarchy of data groups, unexpected results can appear. For more information about avoiding unexpected search results, see “Understanding how a multifield search works,” earlier in this chapter.

Search by state

Show company name and address


How to specify object data to display in Results

The instructions in this section assume you already specified the search criteria. For more information about specifying search criteria, see “Searching for report data,” earlier in this chapter.

1 Choose Select in Search.

Select appears. By default, the name of the object or objects you selected as criteria for the search appears in the Name column. The values of these objects, in turn, appear in Results after you execute the search.

The following illustration shows how to select various criteria.

2 If you want Results to display only some of the objects, select each object to exclude. Then choose Delete Entry. To exclude all objects, choose Clear All.

3 To specify additional objects, select each object you want to add. Then choose Add Selection on Select.

The names of the objects you select appear in the Name list.


Clear all items from the Name list

Items in this list appear in the Results page when the search is complete

Options for sending results to different locations

Add selected report item to the Name list

Delete selected item from the Name list


The search results appear in Results.

Saving a search definitionAfter you set up a search, you can save the search criteria and options in a search definition (.ros) file. Actuate e.Report Designer Professional saves the following information in an ROS:

■ Search criteria in Search

■ Data to display in Select

■ Options in Search Export Options

■ Report document structure information

To save the ROS, choose Save in the Search dialog. The ROS is saved in the Actuate search definition directory. If you use the default installation directory, the ROSs are saved in:

C:\Program Files\Actuate8\Srchdef

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional uses the report document structure information when it runs the search on a report document.

Using search definition filesYou can use search definition (.ros) files with different report object instance (.roi) files if they are generated from the same report object executable (.rox) file. For example, if you have an ROX that you use to create weekly reports, you can create an ROS that searches for and extracts data from the report object instance (.roi) file. You can use the same ROS with any weekly report as long as the ROX did not change.


You can run an ROS from either the Search dialog or from the toolbar. For more information about opening and running an ROS see “Opening and running a search definition,” later in this chapter.

For information about the options available for exporting data, see “Exporting report data,” later in this chapter.

Opening and running a search definition You can open and run a search definition (.ros) file from either the Search dialog or from the toolbar. You can open and use an ROS only from your local computer. The report object instance (.roi) file can be in the Encyclopedia volume or on a system to which you have access. The ROS must be on your system or another system that you have access to outside the Encyclopedia volume. Actuate e.Report Designer Professional searches for the search definition (.ros) files in the report document’s directory and the Actuate search definition directory. If you use the default installation directory, the search definition directory is:

C:\Program Files\Actuate8\Srchdef

If the ROS cannot be used with the current report, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional displays a message when you try to use it.

From the Search dialog, choose Open to open a search without running it. Choose Search to run the search.

From the toolbar, select an ROS from the list of files and select the Export data button to open the search and run it.

In the toolbar, the list of search definitions lists the search definition (.ros) files that are in the same directory as the report object instance (.roi) file and the search definition directory. If you choose the Export data button after selecting a search from the list, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional opens and runs the search. If you have an ROS that exports data to an application, choosing Export data from the toolbar runs the search, exports the data, and starts the application.

Export data and stop export

Search definitions


Exporting report dataWhen you use Actuate’s search feature to locate and display report object values that meet specified criteria, you can copy the search results to the Clipboard, or export them to an ASCII file or an application. You can choose to export the entire result set or only a portion of it. Only 32-bit Windows systems such as Windows 2000 support exporting report data to an application.

If you export search results from Results, each text field exported is limited to the first 255 characters. If you export search results directly as part of the search, the entire text field is exported.

You can also use the exported file as the data source for another report. For information about using data from a flat file, such as an ASCII file, as a data source, see Chapter 11, “Accessing a comma-separated values (CSV) text file,” in Accessing Data using e.Report Designer Professional, which is part of the Actuate e.Report Designer Professional documentation.

Using Actuate search extensions, a part of Actuate Transporter technology, you can export all or part of the results of a search to other applications.

For information about the Actuate search extensions, see “Exporting search results to an external application,” later in this chapter.

For information about installing and using custom search extensions, and information about DLLs that Actuate e.Report Designer Professional uses to export data directly to other applications, see the documentation for the custom search extension. If you use the default Actuate search extension directory, save the search extension files in it.

Exporting all of the search resultsThe instructions in this section assume you already specified search criteria and selected the objects whose values you want to appear in the result set. For information about specifying search criteria, see “Searching for report data” and “Specifying data to display in Results,” earlier in this chapter.

How to export all of the search results

1 To export the search results to a file or Clipboard, do one of the following:■ In Search or Select, choose Options.■ Choose Search. Then, in Results, choose Export.

If you export search results from Results, each text field exported is limited to the first 255 characters. If you export search results directly as part of the search from Search or Select, the entire text field is exported.


The Search Export Options dialog appears. The options differ slightly, depending on whether you access the dialog from Search, Select, or Results.

The following illustration shows the Search Export Options dialog accessed from Results.

2 Select the location or locations to which to send the search results. Portions of the dialog are enabled or disabled, depending on the export locations you select: ■ If the location is a file, you can select Save As Unicode.■ If the location is a file or the Clipboard, select the delimiter to use

between values if the result set contains values from multiple fields. You can select a tab, comma, or space.

Select Column Header to include the names of the objects as column headings when exporting data.

■ If the location is a file, specify a file name or use the default file name.■ If the location is an external application, select the application from the

list and choose Options to set the options. For information about the options, see “Exporting search results to an external application,” later in this chapter.

3 When you finish selecting the desired options, choose OK.

If you accessed the Search Export Options dialog from Select, Select reappears.

Select the location or locations to which to extract the search results

Select the delimiter to use between values

Select Column Header to display the object names

If exporting data to a file, specify the file name or choose Browse to select an existing file

If exporting data to an application, select the application, and choose Options to configure extract options


If you accessed the dialog from Results, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional sends the data to the locations specified in step 2.

4 If you are at Select, choose Search to start the search process.

The search results appear in the locations specified in step 2. If you used the settings as shown in the previous illustration, the results are written to Search.txt. The following illustration shows the contents of the file opened in WordPad.

Exporting a portion of the search resultsThe instructions in this section assume you already specified search criteria and selected the objects whose values you want to appear in the result set. For information about specifying search criteria, see “Searching for report data” and “Specifying data to display in Results,” earlier in this chapter.

How to export a portion of the search results


The search results appear in Results.

Column header

A comma is used as the delimiter between values


2 Select the matches you want to export.

3 Choose Export.

The Search Export Options dialog appears.

4 Select the location or locations to which to send the search results. Portions of the dialog are enabled or disabled, depending on the export locations you select:

To select multiple items to export, hold the Ctrl key while choosing the desired items

Select the location or locations to which to extract the search results

Select the delimiter to use between values

Select Column Header to display the object names

If exporting data to a file, specify the file name or choose Browse to select an existing file

If exporting data to an application, select the application, and choose Options to configure extract options

Select Selection Only to export only the selected items


■ If the location is a file, you can select Save As Unicode.■ If the location is a file or the Clipboard, select the delimiter to use

between values if the result set contains values from multiple fields. You can select a tab, comma, or space.

Select Column Header to display the names of the objects in the result set.

■ If the location is a file, specify a file name or use the default file name.■ If the location is an external application, select the application from the

list and choose Options to set the options. For information about the options, see “Exporting search results to an external application,” later in this chapter.

5 Select Selection Only to export only the items you selected in step 2.

6 When you finish selecting the desired options, choose OK.

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional sends the data to the locations specified in step 4. If you used the settings as shown in the previous illustration, the results are written to Search.txt.

The following illustration shows the contents of the file opened in WordPad.

Exporting search results to an external applicationIf Actuate search extensions are available to you, you can export all or part of the search results to:

■ Brio Technology BrioQuery documents

■ Microsoft Excel spreadsheets

■ Text files

Column header

A comma is used as the delimiter between values


Exporting search results to BrioQueryTo export search results to BrioQuery, you specify the BrioQuery document and temporary data file name in BrioQuery Options.

How to export search results to BrioQuery

1 In Search or Select, choose Options.

If you export search results directly as part of the search from Search or Select, the entire text field is exported. If you export search results from Results, each text field exported is limited to the first 255 characters.

2 In Search Export Options, do the following, as shown in the illustration:■ In Extract Data To, select External Application.■ In External Application, select BrioQuery 5.5 - 6.0.

3 Choose Options.

BrioQuery Options appears.


4 Enter the following or choose Browse to select a file:■ BrioQuery document specifies the destination BrioQuery document

when the data is exported.■ Data file specifies the file name of the temporary data file used for

transferring the data to BrioQuery. BrioQuery reads the data from this file. This field is required.

5 In BrioQuery Options, choose OK.

6 In Search Export Options, choose OK.

7 In Search, choose Search.

The search results are exported to BrioQuery.

The configuration requirements for the BrioQuery search extensions are described in the following section, “About configuration requirements for the BrioQuery search extension.”

If you use BrioQuery 6.0 and change data stored in the temporary data file, choose the BrioQuery Process button in the BrioQuery web page to process the updated data. For example, you create an Actuate search that sends data to BrioQuery and then run the same search with different search criteria that updates the data in the temporary data file. Next you select the temporary data file in BrioQuery and choose the Process button to process the updated data.

About configuration requirements for the BrioQuery search extension

The search extension for BrioQuery versions 5.5 and 6.0 uses a BrioQuery document startup script to import data from a temporary data file created by Actuate e.Report Designer Professional. To use the BrioQuery search extension, you need to:

■ Add the Brio executable directory installation directory to your system’s PATH environment variable.

■ Create a BrioQuery document containing a startup script that specifies the name of the file containing search data from Actuate e.Report Designer Professional.

■ Set Actuate BrioQuery search extension options to specify a file containing Actuate data and a BrioQuery document.

To find the Brio executable directory, see your Brio documentation. To view and change your system’s PATH environment variable, see your system documentation.


To create a BrioQuery document with the required document startup script, start BrioQuery. From the main menu, select FileDocument ScriptsStartup tab and add the following to the startup script:

■ For BrioQuery 5.5, add the following two lines:

import doc root, '<file name>', 'csv'process doc root

■ For BrioQuery 6.0, add the following single line:

ExecuteBScript("import doc root, '<file name>', 'csv'; process doc root")

The <file name> is the full path and file name of the temporary data file created by Actuate e.Report Designer Professional. The following is a BrioQuery 5.5 example:

import doc root, 'C:\Temp\briodata.csv', 'csv'process doc root

The following is a BrioQuery 6.0 example:

ExecuteBScript("import doc root, 'C:\\Temp\\briodata.csv', 'csv'; process doc root")

After you add the information, choose OK and save the BrioQuery document.

When using the Actuate BrioQuery search extension you need to specify the BrioQuery document containing the startup script and the file Actuate e.Report Designer Professional uses to temporarily store the Actuate data. In the Actuate Search Export Options dialog, select BrioQuery 5.5 - 6.0 as the external application and choose the Options button to display the BrioQuery Options dialog:

■ In the BrioQuery Document field, enter the name of the BrioQuery document you created.

■ In the Temporary Data File Name field, enter the file name specified in the BrioQuery startup script.

After choosing OK, you can use the BrioQuery search extension to export Actuate search results to BrioQuery.

Exporting search results to Microsoft Excel 97To export search results to Microsoft Excel 97, you specify the Excel document options in Microsoft Excel Options.

How to export search results to Microsoft Excel 97




2 In Search Export Options, do the following:■ In Extract Data To, select External Application.■ In External Application, select Microsoft Excel 97.

3 Choose Options.

Microsoft Excel Options appears.

4 Enter the following selections:■ New File specifies that the data transfers into a new, blank Excel

workbook.


■ Existing File specifies that the data transfers into the workbook specified in the Workbook field.

■ Workbook specifies the name of the destination Excel workbook or document. This field is required if you select Existing File.

■ Sheet specifies the destination sheet within the specified workbook. This field is optional.

■ Row specifies the row number of the top left cell of the workbook sheet where the exported data is placed. This field is optional.

■ Column specifies the column letter or letters of the top left cell of the workbook sheet where the exported data is placed. This field is optional.

■ Include Column Headers specifies if column headings are written to the workbook. The default value is Enabled.

■ Macro specifies a macro that executes after the data transfers to the Excel workbook. This field is optional.

5 In Microsoft Excel Options, choose OK.



The search results are exported to Excel.

Excel has a limit to how much data you can import. See the Microsoft Excel documentation for limitations.

Exporting search results to file outputTo export search results to a file, you specify the file options in Search Export Options.

How to export search results to file output



2 In Search Export Options, do the following:■ In Extract Data To, select External Application.


■ In External Application, select File.

3 Choose Options.

File Output Options appears.

4 Enter the following selections:■ Temporary Data File Name specifies the name of the output text data

file. This field is required.■ Command line specifies a command line string that executes after the

data is written to the file. This field is optional.

■ Include Column Header check box specifies if the column headers are included in the data file. The default value is Enabled.

■ Column Delimiter specifies the delimiter between data fields. The default value is Comma.

5 In File Output Options, choose OK.




The search results are exported to the file you specified.

Copying report data to another documentYou can copy data in the form of numbers, images, or text from an Actuate report document and paste the data into another document. As with the standard Windows copy-and-paste operation, the report data you copy is stored in the Clipboard. You can then paste the data into any other document.

How to copy report data

1 Select text or images within a report. You can drag the mouse to enclose the area of interest, or hold the Shift key down and use the left mouse button to select multiple fields.

The following illustration shows a selected area in page 2 of Detail.roi.

2 Choose the copy button on the toolbar.

3 Move to the destination document in an external application.

4 Use Edit➛Paste in the destination document to insert the copy into the destination document.


The following illustration shows the report data pasted into a WordPad document.

Chapter 6 , Pr int ing and d is tr ibut ing a repor t us ing Actuate Viewer and Navigator 149

C h a p t e r

6Chapter 6Printing and distributing

a report using ActuateViewer and Navigator


■ Printing a report from your desktop

■ About command line options for printing

■ Saving reports in HTML format

■ Printing a report in an Encyclopedia volume

■ Setting printer properties in the Encyclopedia volume

■ Running a report before printing

■ Distributing an Actuate Basic report from your desktop

■ Distributing a report stored in an Encyclopedia volume


Printing a report from your desktopTo print an Actuate Basic report, you use the standard Windows procedure to select a printer and set printer properties. In addition, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional provides printing options specific to Actuate Basic reports.

How to print a report from your desktop

1 Open the report you want to print.

2 Choose File➛Print.

Print appears. The options available from this dialog enable you to select the printer and report printing options such as page range and number of copies.

3 Select the desired printing options, the printer, the pages to print, the order in which to print the pages, the number of copies to print.■ To select the paper size that matches the page size defined in the report

design, select Use paper size set in report design. For example, if the report design specifies a page size of 8.5" by 14", selecting this option prints the report on 8.5" by 14" paper, if the printer supports this paper size.

■ To specify that large report pages print properly onto multiple sheets of paper, select the Split oversize pages.

4 To specify a printer’s other properties, or to change the printer’s default settings, choose Properties.

Select the pages to print and other options

Choose Properties to change the printer’s settings

Select a printer

Options specific to Actuate Basic reports


Document Properties appears. The following illustration shows the Layout tab of the dialog for an HP LaserJet 5Si Mopier PS printer driver. Options and defaults are different for different printers.

5 Set the options in this dialog to specify layout-related settings such as orientation, duplex printing, page order, and the number of pages per sheet to print.

The layout of the report when the report is designed determines the printed report’s page orientation.

6 To set advanced options, choose Advanced.


Advanced Options appears. The following illustration shows HP LaserJet 5Si Mopier PS Advanced Options. Options and defaults are slightly different for different printers.

Specify the advanced options. Choose OK.

7 To view and change other printer settings, choose Paper and Quality.

The following illustration shows Paper and Quality for an HP LaserJet 5Si Mopier PS printer. Options and defaults are slightly different for different printers.


Specify the paper and quality options. Choose OK.

Print appears.

8 Choose OK to start printing.

How to preview a report before printing

1 Choose File➛Print Preview to preview the report before printing it.

Previewing gives you an opportunity to review and change the printing options you selected.

2 Use Next Page, Prev Page, Two Page, Zoom In, and Zoom Out to see different pages and to see different levels of detail.

3 When you finish previewing the report, choose Close to close the preview window or choose Print to print the report.

About command line options for printingYou can print an Actuate report object instance (.roi) file from the command line.


Following is the command line syntax for printing a report from Actuate e.Report Designer Professional:

runview -p <file>.roi [-rox <filename>.rox] -rspn <printer> [ -h]

For example, the following command uses Actuate e.Report Designer Professional to print a report that is in the C:\Program Files\Actuate8\Erdpro\Bin directory to a printer on the network:

runview –p forecast.roi –rox forecast.rox –rspn \\actuate\printer3 -h

The following table lists the parameters and descriptions for command line printing options.

Saving reports in HTML formatTo save an Actuate Basic report object instance (.roi) file in HTML format, use a standard Windows Save dialog to specify a location and name for the HTML file. Actuate e.Report Designer Professional converts the ROI to HTML format and attempts to preserve Actuate Basic report document formatting by using HTML tables and text formatting.

Parameter Description

runview Required for Actuate e.Report Designer Professional.

-p <filename>.roi Required. Specifies the name of the report object instance (.roi) file. The .roi extension is required.

-rox <filename>.rox An optional parameter, which is the name of the report object executable (.rox) file used with the report object instance (.roi) file. Use this parameter if the ROX name stored within the ROI is not sufficient to locate the ROX.

-rspn <printer> Required. Specifies the printer name. Use the UNC name for the printer. For example, \\myserver\printer3 is the printer named printer3 on the machine myserver.

-h Optional. Enables silent (hidden) mode. If you use the -h option, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional does not open a window and error messages appear on the command line. If you do not use the -h option, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional opens a window and the startup splash screen appears.


How to save a report in HTML format

1 Open the report object instance (.roi) file you want to save.

2 Choose File➛Save As➛HTML.

New HTML File appears. Use the items in the dialog to navigate to a directory. Specify the file name in File Name and choose Save to save the report in HTML format.

Printing a report in an Encyclopedia volumeWhen you create a report request in an Encyclopedia volume, Requester—Print enables you specify the Actuate iServer System printer to which a completed report is sent. For information about creating report requests, see “Creating a run request in an Encyclopedia volume” in Chapter 4, “Running a report using Navigator.”

When you print a report from a UNIX iServer to a UNIX printer, the printout might appear different from the displayed report or the report printed on a local Windows printer. This might be due to the UNIX printer configuration or the iServer printing configuration. Contact your Actuate iServer System administrator if this occurs.

Setting printer properties in the Encyclopedia volume

When you print a report in an Encyclopedia volume, the Actuate iServer System printer gets its printing options from four sources, in the following order:

1 The printer properties you set for the print job.

2 Your default printer settings in User Print Properties.

3 The printer properties the Encyclopedia volume administrator sets as the default settings for a specific printer.

4 The printer’s system level properties, set by the system administrator.


The following conceptual diagram illustrates how a printer determines what printer properties to use for a print job.

If you do not specify any printer properties, the printer uses the Encyclopedia volume or system level defaults, which only the administrator can change. Some printer properties, such as duplexing and color, are available only if the printer supports them.

Setting default properties for a printerIf you print reports on the server frequently, it is best if you set default printer properties for each of the printers you use often. By doing so, you can print reports without having to set properties for each print request, and you always get the same format. If your print requirements change, you can modify the default settings easily. Or, if you need a different format for one print request only, you can specify property settings that apply only to the print request.

When you set the default printer properties, they associate with your user account. In other words, your printer settings apply only to your print requests, and do not affect the settings for other users.

Yes

YesProperties set for the print job?

Volume default properties set for

the printer?

System defaults

Printer uses these settings

= Set by user

= Set by volume administrator

User’s default properties for the

printer

No

No

No

Yes

Yes


How to set default properties for a printer

1 Choose Printers from the left pane of Navigator.

A list of Actuate iServer System printers appears in the right window of Navigator.

2 Right-click a printer whose properties you want to set and choose Properties.

User Print Properties—General appears, as shown in the following illustration. This page displays read only information, specified by the system administrator, about the printer.

3 If you want to set this Actuate iServer System printer as the default, check the Set As Default option.

Future print requests you submit use the default printer unless you specify a different one at that time.

4 Choose Paper to set paper properties, such as size, paper tray, and duplex mode.

The layout of the report when the report is designed determines a printed report’s page orientation.

Select this option to set this printer as the default


The following illustration shows User Print Properties—Paper and describes the properties.

5 Choose User Print Properties—Option to set other properties, such as number of copies, image size, and print resolution.

Set the paper size. The options available depend on what the printer supports.

Specify the tray to use if one tray contains special paper you want to usePage orientation is determined by the report’s layout

Specify if the printer prints on one side or both sides of the paper.

Specify if the printer prints one complete copy before starting the next

Specify the number of copies to print

Specify the percentage of the original size at which to print

Specify the print resolution

Specify black and white, or color printing


Setting properties for a specific print requestSet printer properties for a print request if your requirements are different from the defaults you set previously for a specific printer, and if you do not want to use the Encyclopedia volume or system level defaults established by the Encyclopedia volume or system administrator.

How to set properties for a specific print request

1 Right-click the report you want to print and choose Print.

Print Request appears.

2 Select the Actuate iServer System printer, priority, and print range.

The priority levels you can specify depend on what the Encyclopedia volume administrator assigned as the maximum priority you can set for requests. If, for example, the Encyclopedia volume administrator set your maximum request priority at medium, you can print reports only at the medium and low priorities.

If you select Print to file, the file is printed to the file you specify on the local file system.

3 Choose Properties to specify printing options.

Select a printer

Select the priority at which to send this print request

Select the pages to print

Option to print to a file rather than to a printer

Choose Properties to display Request Print Options


Request Print Options appears.

4 Set the desired properties. For information about each property, see “How to set default properties for a printer,” earlier in this chapter.

Running a report before printingIf a report object executable (.rox) file is available, you can generate a new report to print. There are several reasons for running a report just before printing:

■ To use the most current data

■ To specify parameter values that are more useful than the default values

Distributing an Actuate Basic report from your desktop

There are several ways to distribute an Actuate Basic report from your desktop to users throughout an organization:

■ Send the report through e-mail.

■ Send the report through fax software.

■ Copy the report to an Encyclopedia volume and inform the users of the report’s location. You can use this method only if you and the recipients of


the report work in a distributed reporting environment, and have access to the Encyclopedia volume.

To distribute a report, you provide the appropriate report files and Actuate Viewer, if required. The viewer is required if a recipient does not have an Actuate Basic application, such as Actuate e.Report Designer Professional or Actuate End User Desktop.

When a user opens a report for viewing or printing, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional, Actuate End User Desktop, or Actuate Viewer runs the report object executable (.rox) file from which the report was generated. Therefore, when you distribute a report to other users, you must include the ROX. To simplify the distribution process, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional provides the option of bundling the ROX with the report so you need to send only one file.

How to distribute a report from your desktop using e-mail

You must have appropriate privileges on all the files you want to distribute or an error message appears when you try to send the files.

1 Open the report object instance (.roi) file you want to distribute. You can use Actuate e.Report Designer Professional to open the ROI.

If you attempt to open an ROI in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional and it cannot find the report object executable (.rox) file for that ROI, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional displays the message, could not find related ROX. Then complete the following tasks:

1 To locate the related ROX, choose OK to close the message.

Load Executable appears.

2 In Look in, navigate to and select the ROX. Choose Open.

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional displays the ROI.

2 Choose File➛Send.

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional displays a message prompting you to bundle the report object executable (.rox) file with the report.

3 Choose Yes to start the bundling process.


Choose Profile appears. This dialog provides the option of distributing a report through various services. The default choice is Microsoft Exchange. You can, however, choose other mail services.

4 Choose the service to distribute the report, then choose OK.

A mail dialog appears, prompting you to enter your mail user name and password.

5 Type the required information in the mail dialog, then choose OK.

A mail window appears with the report as an attachment.

6 Address the mail message and send it.

The recipients receive the report as a mail attachment.

How to distribute a report from your desktop using an Encyclopedia volume

The instructions in this section assume you and the recipients have access to an Encyclopedia volume. Ensure that both the report object instance (.roi) file and the report object executable (.rox) file are on your local machine.

1 Prepare the report for distribution by performing the following steps:

1 In Actuate e.Report Designer Professional, open the report you want to distribute.

If you attempt to open an ROI in Actuate e.Report Designer Professional and it cannot find the report object executable (.rox) file for that ROI, Actuate e.Report Designer Professional displays the message, could not find related ROX. Complete the following tasks in this order:- To locate the related ROX, choose OK to close the message.


Load Executable appears. - In Look in, navigate to and select the ROX. Choose Open.

Actuate e.Report Designer Professional displays the ROI.

2 Choose File➛Save As➛Bundled.

New Report File with ROX appears.

3 Type a new file name for the report with the bundled ROX.

You must specify a new name. Actuate e.Report Designer Professional does not allow you to overwrite the original report because it is open.

4 Select the folder in which to save the new report file.

5 Choose Save to save the new report file.

2 Log in to the Encyclopedia volume. For instructions about logging in to the Encyclopedia volume, see “Connecting to an Encyclopedia volume” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

3 Copy the file from your local machine to the Encyclopedia volume. For instructions about copying files to the Encyclopedia volume, see “Copying files to the Encyclopedia volume” in Chapter 2, “Accessing an Encyclopedia volume using Navigator.”

4 Inform the recipients of the report’s availability and location.


How to distribute Actuate Viewer

Actuate Viewer is a royalty free tool for viewing Actuate Basic reports. You can distribute copies of Actuate Viewer freely. Use one of the following methods to distribute Actuate Viewer:

■ Download the Actuate Viewer installation file from the Actuate web sitehttp://www.actuate.com (the Resource Center) to a location all users have access to and let the users download and install Actuate Viewer.

■ Allow users to download the Actuate Viewer installation file from the Actuate web site.

■ Copy the Actuate Viewer installation files from an Actuate CD-ROM to a location all users have access to and let the users install Actuate Viewer. If the Actuate CD-ROM contains the Actuate Viewer installation files, the files are located in the Viewer directory. For the Actuate Viewer install to work, you must copy all the files and maintain the directory structure in the Viewer directory

Distributing a report stored in an Encyclopedia volume

Storing files in an Encyclopedia volume makes physical distribution of files unnecessary. Users with access to the Encyclopedia volume can log in at any time and find reports for which they were granted appropriate file privileges.

If you were granted the privilege to run Actuate Basic report object executable (.rox) files, you can specify the users or notification groups to whom you want to distribute a report object instance (.roi) file. You can also specify different file privileges for different users and groups. You specify the distribution list and the file privileges as part of issuing a run request. For instructions about issuing a report request, see “Creating a run request in an Encyclopedia volume” in Chapter 4, “Running a report using Navigator.”

I n d e x 165

IndexSymbols! (exclamation point) character 88, 128! operator 126# wildcard 126% (percent sign) character

as literal value 88in query statements 84in text strings 86, 87

& (ampersand) character 88( ) (parentheses) characters

as literal values 88* (asterisk) symbol in Requester 79* wildcard 126, (comma) character

as literal value 88as OR operator 88finding 128in date expressions 104in search expressions 126

, operator 126/ (forward slash) character 13: (colon) character 104< (less than) character 88, 128< operator 125<= operator 125= (equal sign) character 88, 128= operator 125> (greater than) character 88, 128> operator 125>= operator 125? wildcard 126[ ] (brackets) characters

as literal values 88in query statements 85in search expressions 126, 127

\ (backslash) characteras escape character 129as literal value 88finding 129in query statements 85, 88in search expressions 127, 128

^ (caret) character

as literal value 88_ (underscore) character

as literal value 88in query statements 84

| (pipe sign) characteras list separator 87, 88as literal value 88in query statements 82

– (hyphen) characteras literal value 88finding 128in search expressions 126

– operator 126’ (single quote) character 88

AAbsolute Folder setting 102AC_CENTURY_BREAK registry key 84access permissions. See privilegesaccess types 32access types (files and folders) 18accessing

Actuate Navigator 6ad hoc parameter builder 83databases 79Encyclopedia volumes 6iServer 2online documentation xvionline help xvireports 3, 54sample reports 52Search dialog 122specific parts of a report 56, 58table of contents 59

accountsas security feature 17setting up user 19

Active folder 33, 113, 115Active Perspective Only command 66Active Portal xiii

accessing documentation for xviassigning privileges and 21


default security roles for 28Active Portal Administrator role 28Active Portal Advanced role 28Active Portal for .NET xiiiActive Portal for JSP xiiiActive Portal Intermediate role 28active request 33, 112, 115active request icon 115ActiveX controls xiiActuate Basic

developing with xiie.reporting tasks for xx

Actuate Client Integration Technology xiiActuate customer profiles viii, ixActuate e.reporting solutions ix, xActuate Foundation Class Library xiiActuate iServer Integration Technology xiiiActuate licensing options xiiiActuate Navigator

changing privilege templates with 29connecting to Encyclopedia from 6copying files from 37dimmed or grayed items in 10displaying available printers from 157displaying requests with 112expanding and collapsing items in 10file or folder access types in 32opening multiple windows for 6, 8opening reports with 54overview 3, 9removing Encyclopedia items from 17resizing 9searching from 12–13selecting file types for 11sorting with 11starting 6viewing Encyclopedia items with 10viewing requests in 113, 115, 116viewing volume information in 14

Actuate product suite vii, xiActuate reporting solutions 2Actuate technology viiiActuate Viewer. See Viewerad hoc parameter builder 81, 83ad hoc parameters 79, 82–83ad hoc queries xvAdd/Change Parameters dialog 38adding

ad hoc parameters 82autoarchive rules 44, 45, 111context menus 69–70date or timestamps 104folders 34OLE objects 61open server reports 38report-specific online help xix, 68–69security applications 18security roles 26, 31

Additional Volume Option xiiiaddressing e-mail 47Administrator security role 28administrators

assigning privileges and 20, 21, 25, 26changing privileges and 29creating Encyclopedia volumes and 2defining security roles and 28management tools for xiiiopen server file types and 36, 37ownership and 19, 21printer defaults and 156, 159printer properties and 110revoking privileges and 27setting archival policies and 42, 43setting home folders as 26

Advanced page (Document Properties) 151All Perspectives command 66All security role 28alphanumeric searches 125, 126, 127ampersand, (&) character 88analysis tools xiiAnalytics Cube Designer xiAnalytics Cube Viewer xiAnalytics Option xiiianalyzing data xivAnd operations 121application data handler xvapplication servers

e.reporting solutions for xapplication window

personalizing 63–66applications

creating security 18customizing xiideploying from xve.reporting solutions for viii, xexporting to 134, 135, 139–144

I n d e x 167

linking to OLE objects in 60–62running external 61

archive driver xiiiarchive policies 17archives xivarchiving 3, 41–45, 111archiving tools xiiiarguments. See parametersASCII characters 128, 129ASCII text files. See text filesask directives (SCRIBE reports) 39assigning privileges 19, 21, 25, 26, 30asterisk (*) symbol in Requester 79attachments 161Auto Archive page 111Auto Archive page (Properties) 17, 43Auto Archive page (Requester) 111autoarchiving 3, 41–45autoarchiving rules

displaying 42setting file-specific 45setting for requests 111setting on specific folders 44

autoversioning 3, 36, 94

BBack button 57backing up Encyclopedia volumes 46backslash (\) character

as escape character 129as literal value 88finding 129in query statements 85, 88in search expressions 127, 128

backup mode 46balloon help 69Basic. See Actuate BasicBETWEEN operator 86bitmaps 61blank spaces in strings 86Boolean parameters 80brackets ([ ]) characters

as literal values 88in query statements 85in search expressions 126, 127

BrioQuery documents 140–142

BrioQuery Options dialog 140, 142BrioQuery web page 141Bundle Rox in Roi parameter 74Bundled command 163bundling executable files 40, 74bundling report files 161, 163business reporting 2buttons

as hyperlinks 57disabled or grayed 10entering parameters with 81hiding toolbar 66

Ccalendar 97caret (^) character

as literal value 88carriage return characters 129Cascade command 67cascading windows 67changing

e-mail addresses 47file names 102folder properties 15–17home folder locations 26notification preferences 109OLE objects 61owner 19passwords 19, 46printer defaults 156printing options 153privilege templates 29privileges 29report generation schedules 98report parameters 79scheduled requests 114search criteria 124security roles 28

channelsassigning privileges for 20, 21, 26removing privileges 27

character matching 84, 126, 127character searches 126, 127, 128

limits for 131character strings. See stringscharacters


defining literal 85entering wildcard 13, 84exporting 135file or folder names and 35QBE expressions and 84, 88searching for special 127, 128

checkpoints (report generation) 75Choose Profile dialog 162choosing data 146Client Integration Technology xiiClipboard

copying data to 146exporting search results to 135, 139

clock 108closing preview windows 153collapsing

Navigator items 10table of contents 59

colon (:) character 104color printing 156, 158column headings 136columns

export delimiters for 136retrieving empty 87searching on 120, 121, 122

comma (,) characteras literal value 88as OR operator 88finding 128in date expressions 104in search expressions 126

command line options 154comments xixCompleted folder

described 33overview 116removing items in 118running reports from 117viewing items in 112, 113, 117

completed requestsdeleting 118displaying information about 116setting notification preferences for 108–109viewing 33, 112

conditionssearch criteria and 121

configuration files 49configurations

BrioQuery search extensions and 141open server file types and 36

connecting to Encyclopedia 6–8connections

required parameters and 79troubleshooting 8

content management systems xcontext menus

adding to reports 69–70completed requests and 116displaying 69scheduled requests and 114

context-sensitive help xviCopy button 146copying

data 146–147files 36–37, 40images 146reports 160, 163search results 135

creatingad hoc parameters 82autoarchive rules 44, 45, 111data cubes xifolders 34–35open server parameters 39report-specific online help xix, 68–69run requests 76–77, 117search expressions 125–129security applications 18security roles 26, 31

criteria. See parameters; search criteriacross-platform reporting solutions xiCrystal report file types 35Crystal reports

displaying 35, 54running 72

Cube Designer. See Analytics Cube Designercube reports xi

See also data cubesCube Viewer. See Analytics Cube Viewercubes. See data cubescurrent backup mode 46Current Folder setting 102cursor (hyperlinked fields) 56cursor (searchable objects) 120, 123customer profiles viiicustomizing

I n d e x 169

applications xiidate formats 105e.Spreadsheet reports xvreport views 131reports xiitime formats 107

Ddaily reports 98data

See also valuesanalyzing xivcopying 146–147e.reporting solutions for xexporting 134, 135managing 2retrieving 79searching for 121–125, 131selecting 146updating 72zooming in on 62

Data Connector Option xivdata connectors xivdata cubes

See also cube reportsdesigning xigenerating xiiilicensing option for xiii

Data Integration Option xivdata models viidata object executable files

assigning privileges 20data source map files 20data sources

developing for xve.reporting solutions for xexported files as 135licensing data connectors for xivquerying date values in 83returning null values from 87, 90returning string values from 86

data streamsparameter types for SAP 89

data typescreating parameters and 39QBE expressions and 83SAP data streams and 90

data warehouses xdatabases

accessing 79developing for xve.reporting solutions for xlicensing options for xiv, xvquerying date values in 83retrieving data from 79returning null values from 87returning string values from 86

date expressions 83, 104–108date format symbols 105date formats

customizing 105predefined keywords for 104

date picker 81date separators 84dates 81, 83datestamps 103, 104default autoarchive rule 44default file names 104default file types 35default locale 47default printer 157default privilege template 29default privileges 35, 103default settings 62, 72, 151, 156

overriding 42, 101, 102, 111default values 38, 78, 79defaults, restoring 64, 66delays (refreshes) 75Delete All Completed Notices 118Delete command 17delete privilege 17, 21deleting

active requests 115completed requests 118executable files 39folders 17report files 17, 41scheduled requests 114security roles 28

delimiters. See export delimitersdemand paging 54Dependency page (Properties) 40dependent files. See file dependenciesdeploying reports xv


descendant elements (structure parameters) 90

design tools xi, xii, xvdesigning e.Spreadsheet reports xiidesigning information objects xiidesigns

adding help topics to 68defining parameters in 77embedding OLE objects in 61

desktop reporting 2, 72Detail sample report

displaying online help for 68hyperlinked fields in 56opening 52searchable objects in 120viewing table of contents for 59

Detail.roi 52developers

adding context menus and 69creating online help topics and 68extending Encyclopedia security and 18open server reports and 38report parameters and 77, 79, 80searching reports and 120SQL queries and 79

developing e.Spreadsheet reports xvdeveloping reports xii, xvdevelopment languages xiidevelopment tools xii, xiii, xvdialog boxes xvidimmed components 10directories

entering as search paths 49disabled features (Navigator) 10displaying

active requests 113, 115autoarchive rules 42, 43available printers 157backup information 46completed requests 113, 116context menus 69Encyclopedia items 8, 9, 10file dependencies 17, 39, 41folder information 17multiple Navigator windows 8notification groups 108online documentation xvi

online help topics xvi, xviiparameter values 114privileges 17related information 57report files 35report generation requests 33, 74, 112, 113reports 9, 52–54, 112, 117sample reports 52scheduled requests 113search results 13, 124, 129, 131security roles 31specific file types 11specific parts of a report 56, 57, 58specific report pages 55subfolders 10system printers 33table of contents 59third-party reports 54toolbars 66users 31

distributing reports 3, 61, 102–103, 160–164See also deploying reports

distribution options 162Distribution page (Requester) 102, 103document names 104Document Properties dialog 151documentation xvidocuments

archiving 41, 111copying data to 146creating BrioQuery 142generating xiii, xvlinking to Word 60saving structures of 133

downloadingActuate Viewer 164SCRIBE reports 39

driversdeveloping ODA xiiopen server reports and 39, 72

drop-down lists 81duplex mode 158duplex printing 151, 156, 158

Ee.Analysis Option xiv

I n d e x 171

e.business applications xe.Report Designer

licensing option for xivoverview xii

e.Report Designer Professionaldisabled items in 10licensing option for xivmanaging reports with 3overview xiipersonalizing 66restoring defaults 66

e.Report Option xive.Reporting Server. See iServere.reporting solutions ix, x, 2e.Reporting Suite. See ReportingEngines suitee.Reporting System. See iServer Systeme.reporting tasks xxe.Spreadsheet Designer

licensing option for xivoverview xii

e.Spreadsheet Engine. See Formula One e.Spreadsheet Engine

e.Spreadsheet Option xive.Spreadsheet reports

customizing xvdesigning xiiOLE objects in 60, 61

Edit Schedule dialog 98, 99, 100editing. See changingEJBs xve-mail

changing addresses 47distributing reports with 160, 161sending notifications with 47, 109

embedding OLE objects 61Enable navigator option 6Encyclopedia Login dialog 7Encyclopedia volumes

access types for 32accessing 6accessing items in 3, 9, 32, 54adding open server reports to 38archiving items in 41–45assigning privileges for 19, 21, 25, 30autoversioning feature for 36backing up 46changing folder properties 15

connecting to 6–8copying items in 37, 40copying multiple files to 36copying reports to 160, 163creating folders for 34–35creating security roles for 26, 28, 31displaying items in 8, 9, 10, 35displaying reports in 54displaying specific file types in 11displaying user information for 31distributing reports in 102–103, 162, 164extending functionality of 35file types for 35generating documents for xiiigetting information about 14importing files to 37–39inspecting properties for 14licensing options for xivlogging in to 6, 7managing xiiimoving files in 37multiple report versions and 95navigating through 3, 10opening items in 52opening multiple views for 8overriding archiving rules for 43, 44, 45overriding defaults for 101, 111overview 2printing reports in 155removing items from 17, 39, 41reordering items in 11running multiple xiiirunning open server reports from 72running reports in 72, 76searching 12–13securing 17setting file dependencies for 39, 40setting home folder for 25setting printer properties for 155–160setting up user accounts for 19status information for 112troubleshooting connections to 8

End User Desktop xientering literal characters 84entering special characters 88Enterprise JavaBeans. See EJBsenterprise reporting vii, x, 2


equal sign (=) character 88, 128equals operator 125example reports. See sample reportsExcel formats xiiExcel spreadsheets

embedding in reports 61exporting to 142–144linking to objects in 60, 61

exclamation point (!) character 88, 128executable file types 21executable files

assigning privileges 20bundling with reports 40, 74copying 37deleting 39distributing 161, 163file dependencies and 40generating reports from 36, 72, 94opening 73rerunning 94running 39, 72, 74, 76search definition files and 133setting up run requests for 76setting up schedules for 95–102SQRIBE reports and 39

execute privilege 20executing external applications 61executing reports 72, 76, 117, 160executing third-party reports 3, 72expanding

Navigator items 10table of contents 59

expiration dates 43Export data button 134export delimiters 136export options (search) 133, 136, 139

external applications 140, 143, 145exporting

data 134, 135search results 135–146

expressionsadding nonprinting ASCII codes to 129creating custom formats for 105, 107creating date 83, 104creating search 125–129creating time 104defining ad hoc parameters with 82

file names and 104format keywords in 104returning unexpected results 104, 108unescaped literal characters in 106, 108

Extensible Markup Language. See XMLexternal applications xi

copying data to 146exporting to 135, 139–144running 61setting export options for 136, 139

external files 61external security applications 18extranets 2

FFactory window 73, 74, 75failed request icon 116, 117failed requests 101, 116, 117, 118faxing reports 160fields

export delimiters for 136removing from search criteria 124retrieving empty 87searching on 120, 121, 122

file dependencies 17, 36, 39, 40file management system 3file names

adding date or timestamps to 104bundled reports and 163changing 102exporting data and 136overriding default 79restrictions for 35

File Output Options dialog 145file systems 52file types 21, 35, 39files

See also specific typeaccess types for 18archiving 41–45, 111assigning privileges 20, 22, 26, 30attaching to e-mail 161autoversioning feature for 36bundling 161, 163changing ownership of 19changing privileges for 29copying 36–37, 40

I n d e x 173

deleting 17, 41displaying 35displaying specific type 11distributing with reports 161getting information about 14importing 37–39linking to external 61moving 37opening report 52, 54overview 35overwriting 102, 103printing to 110, 159removing privileges 27renaming 102searching for 12, 13setting access types for 32setting autoarchiving rules for 42, 43, 44,

45, 111setting dependencies for 39–41setting search paths for 48shared repository for 2sorting 11SQRIBE reports and 39

Find Item command 13finding

data. See searchingsearchable report fields 120

foldersaccessing 18adding comments to 17assigning privileges 20, 22, 25, 26, 30changing location of 26changing privileges for 29changing properties for 15–17copying files to 36copying items in 37creating 34–35deleting 17displaying information about 17displaying specific file types in 11expanding and collapsing 10managing items in 14managing requests and 113moving items among 37naming 35overview 32recovering deleted items in 114, 115, 118removing items in 114, 118

removing privileges 27resorting items in 11searching for 12, 13setting access types for 32setting archive policies for 17setting autoarchiving rules for 42, 43, 44specifying for distributed reports 102specifying home 25

Forecast sample reporthyperlinks in 57

Forecast.roi 58format symbols 105, 107formats

customizing 105, 107date expressions and 84HTML conversions and 154predefined keywords for 104report parameters and 83

formattingdates 104, 105time 104, 107

Formula One e.Report Designer xvFormula One e.Report Engine xvFormula One e.Report Engine Option xivFormula One e.Spreadsheet Engine xvforward slash (/) character 13

GGeneral Date format 104General page (Properties) 17generating

data cubes xiiie.Spreadsheet reports xiiHTML reports 154open server reports 3report object instance files 72reports 72, 75

generation options 74, 76generation requests

changing properties of 114creating 76–77, 117getting details about 113, 114, 115, 117printing information about 114, 115, 118removing from folders 114, 115, 118retrying 101saving scheduling information for 99scheduling 95–102setting archiving rules for 111


setting parameters for 77, 81, 82setting priorities for 101setting properties for 117specifying document names for 104states described 113viewing properties of 114, 115, 117viewing status 33, 74, 112

global reporting solutions ixGlobal Search Path page 48global search paths 48, 49Go To command 55Go To icon 130Go To Page button 55Go To Page dialog 56grant privilege 21, 25granting privileges. See privilegesgraphical user interface. See e.Report

Designer Professional; GUIsgraphics. See imagesgrayed components 10greater than character (>) 88, 128greater than operator 125greater than or equal to operator 125group of values 82groups

assigning privileges to 26, 27displaying notification 108distributing reports and 164unexpected search results and 131

GUIs 10

Hhand cursor 56help

accessing online xvi–xviiicreating report-specific xix, 68–69

Help button xviHelp command 69Help menu xvihelp topics xviihidden mode (printing) 154hidden parameters 38hiding

application windows 64toolbars 66

home folder 25

HTML documentation xviHTML formats 154hyperlink buttons 57hyperlinked fields 56hyperlinks

moving through reports with 56–58selecting 62

Hypertext Markup Language. See HTMLhyphen (–) character

as literal value 88finding 128in search expressions 126

Iillustrations (documentation) 10images

copying 146importing 39OLE objects and 60, 61printing 158SQRIBE reports and 39

import dialogs 38importing

images 39open server reports 37–39

In Progress status 74index (online documentation) xvi, xviiinformation. See datainformation application platform viiiInformation Delivery API xiiiinformation delivery solutions xinformation delivery systems ixInformation Object Caching Option xivInformation Object Designer

overview xiiinformation object files 20information objects

assigning privileges 20designing xiigenerating xiiilicensing options for xiv

inheriting autoarchive rules 43input directives (SCRIBE reports) 39input parameters 86inspecting Encyclopedia properties 14installation

I n d e x 175

Actuate Viewer 164custom search extensions 135online documentation xvithird-party reports and 54

integers. See numbers; numeric searchesinterfaces 10international reporting solutions ixInternet 2intranets 2.iob files 20iServer

accessing 2overview ixrunning multiple xiiisetting up Encyclopedia connections for 6,

7shared repository for 2volume names and 7

iServer Integration Technology xiiiiServer System

autoarchiving feature for 41autoversioning feature for 36completed requests and 109importing files and 38licensing options for xiiimultiple Encyclopedia volumes and 2open server file types for 35overview xiii, 2running open server reports and 72security features for 17viewing available printers for 33

JJ2EE applications xvJava objects xvJava tools xvJavaBeans xvjobs 47

See also requests

Kkeywords 104

Llarge reports 55, 150less than character (<) 88, 128less than operator 125less than or equal to operator 125licensing options xiiiLIKE operator 86line feed characters 129linking to external files 61linking to OLE objects 60–62linking to parts of a report 56links

See also hyperlinksas navigational tool 56in online documentation xvi

Liquid Data data sources xvlist separators 87, 88lists 81, 82literal characters

in date expressions 106in query statements 84, 88in search expressions 125in time expressions 108

literal strings 87, 90Live Report Documents xvLoad Executable dialog 161local reports 72locales

date expressions and 84defining ad hoc parameters for specific 84,

87, 88e.reporting solutions for ixsetting default 47

locatingdata. See searchingsearchable report fields 120

Log in Failed message 8logging in to Encyclopedia volumes 6, 7Long Date format 104long reports 120Long Time format 105lowercase characters 127LRX documents xv


Mmail services 162mail. See e-mailManagement Console xiiimanagement tools 3managing data 2Manuals directory xvimatching exact string values 87matching specific characters 84, 125, 126, 127Medium Date format 105Medium Time format 105menus

adding context 69–70disabled items on 10displaying context 69

Microsoft Excel Options dialog 143Microsoft Excel. See Excel spreadsheetsMicrosoft Exchange 162Microsoft Windows. See Windows systemsmilitary time 108minimizing windows 64, 65mismatched types 39modifying. See changingmonitoring report generation 74, 75, 112, 113More button 57moving

application windows 64toolbars 66

moving report files 37moving through Encyclopedia volumes 3, 10moving through reports 54–60, 129Multi-Application Option xiiimultifield searches 120, 121, 124, 125multilingual reporting ix

See also localesmulti-object searches 132multiple views 8, 66

Nnames

adding date or timestamps to 104predefined format keywords for 104restrictions for characters in 35

naming conventions 35navigating through Encyclopedia volumes 3,

10

navigating through reports 54–60, 129Navigator command 6Navigator. See Actuate Navigatornetwork file servers 52

See also serversnetworked environments 2New Folder command 34New HTML File dialog 155New Object dialog 38New Report File with ROX dialog 163New Request command 76, 117New Window command 66nonprinting ASCII characters 129not operand 126notification groups 108, 164notification options 47Notification page (Properties) 47Notification page (Requester) 108notifications

Encyclopedia support for 3secured channels and 20sending 47setting preferences for 47, 109setting up 108–109types of 109

Null keyword 87, 89NULL operator (SQL) 87null values 87, 89number of copies setting 158numbers 146numeric searches 126, 127

OObject Linking and Embedding. See OLEobjects

as grey boxes 60changing ownership of 19developing for Java xvlinking to OLE 60–62searching for 131, 132selecting searchable 120, 122

ODA drivers xiiOLE automation 61OLE objects 60–62on-demand paging 54Online Archive Option xiv

I n d e x 177

online backups 46online documentation xvionline help

accessing xvi–xviiicreating report-specific xix, 68–69

Open command 54, 72Open Data Access Framework xiiOpen dialog 52, 73open server driver 39, 72open server file types 35open server reports

adding to Encyclopedia 38archiving 41defining parameters for 39displaying 54generating 3importing 37–39overview 35paging through 54running 72

open server technology xi, 35opening

configuration files 49executable files 73multiple Navigator windows 6, 8multiple Viewer windows 66Options dialog 6report object instance files 52, 54reports 52–54sample reports 52search definition files 134Search dialog 13table of contents 59

Operator security role 28operators 125, 128Option page (User Print) 158optional parameters 78, 79optional values 78options xiiiOptions command 6Options dialog

enabling navigator from 6opening 6setting default locale from 48setting search paths from 48

or operand 126OR operator 88

orientation 151, 158output

default location for 25e.reporting solutions for xiSQRIBE reports and 39

Output File Name parameter 79output file names 79, 102output file types 39output files 79, 144overriding

autoarchiving rules 42, 43, 44, 45default settings 42, 101, 102, 111hidden parameters 38output file names 79

overwriting report files 102, 103owner (defined) 19

PPage Level Security Option xvpage orientation 151, 158page ranges 110, 150page-level security

assigning privileges and 20paging buttons (toolbar) 55paging commands 55, 75paging through reports 54, 55Paintbrush images 60, 61Paper page (User Print) 157, 158paper size 150, 158paper trays 158parameter values files. See report object value

filesparameters

See also specific typeapplying formats to 83changing 79choosing custom values for 81defining ad hoc 82–83deleting files and 41entering values for 80–81, 82, 89open server reports and 38, 39overriding 38overview 77reusing 94, 117saving 94–95types described 78, 89viewing values of 114


Parameters page (Requester) 90, 91parentheses ( ) characters

as literal values 88passwords

as required parameters 79as security feature 17changing 19, 46Encyclopedia connections and 6validating 18

Paste command 146pattern matching

in query statements 84with search expressions 126

PDF documentation xviPDF files 36percent sign (%) character

as literal value 88in query statements 84in text strings 86, 87

permissions. See privilegespersonal folders 17, 102perspectives

restoring defaults for 64, 66saving 63

pipe sign (|) characteras list separator 87, 88as literal value 88in query statements 82

pop-up menus. See context menusPostScript files 36predefined formats 104preferences 46–48, 109previewing reports 153Print command 150Print dialog 150print jobs. See print requestsPrint page (Requester) 109, 155Print Preview command 153Print Request dialog 159print requests 156, 157, 159print resolution 158Print To File check box 110printers

default properties for 110displaying available 33, 157displaying information about 157printing to 110

selecting 150, 159setting defaults for 156–158setting printing options for 151, 152, 155setting properties for 156, 159

Printers folder 33, 157printing

command line options for 153–154images 158multiple copies 158reports 109, 150, 155request information 114, 115, 118third-party reports 3to files 110, 159

printing options 110, 150, 159priority levels (print) 159priority levels (scheduling) 101private access type 32private files 18, 32private folders 18, 32privilege templates 18, 29privileges

accessing reports and 3as security feature 17assigning to Encyclopedia items 30assigning to Encyclopedia volumes 21, 32assigning to groups 26, 27copying files and 36, 37creating folders and 25, 35defaults for 29displaying reports and 54distributing reports and 103, 161, 164granting automatically 18home folders and 26inheriting 28overriding defaults and 42overview 19revoking 21, 27setting autoarchive rules and 43, 45, 111types described 19viewing 17

Privileges page (Properties) 17, 30product suite (Actuate) vii, xiprogrammers

adding context menus and 69creating online help topics and 68extending Encyclopedia security and 18open server reports and 38

I n d e x 179

report parameters and 77, 79, 80searching reports and 120SQL queries and 79

programming languages xiiprogramming tools xii, xiii, xvProgress databases xvProgress Option xvproperties

changing folder 15–17changing request 114copy operations and 37displaying request 114, 115, 117inspecting Encyclopedia 14setting print request 159setting printer 156, 159setting report 72setting run request 117

Properties command 14Properties page

changing e-mail addresses on 47changing passwords on 46opening 14printing request information from 114,

115, 118setting archiving rules from 44, 45setting notification options from 47viewing request information in 114, 115,

117

QQBE expressions 82, 85, 87QBE syntax 82queries

adding date expressions to 83defining ad hoc parameters for 82entering special characters in 84, 88handling blank spaces returned by 86licensing options for xvnarrowing scope of 79returning exact strings from 87returning null values with 87

Query Option xv

Rradio buttons 81range of values 82

range operator 126read privilege 19, 20recovering deleted requests 114, 115, 118recurring reports 98, 104refresh delays 75refreshes 75relational expressions 82relationships xivrenaming

report files 102security roles 28

report designsSee also design toolsadding help topics to 68defining parameters in 77embedding OLE objects in 61

Report Encyclopedia. See Encyclopedia volumes

report executables. See report object executable files

report execution requests. See run requestsreport files

See also specific typeaccess types for 18archiving 41–45, 111assigning privileges 20, 22, 26, 30attaching to e-mail 161autoversioning feature for 36bundling 161, 163changing ownership of 19changing privileges for 29copying 36–37, 40deleting 17, 41displaying 11, 35distributing 161getting information about 14importing 37–39moving 37opening 52, 54overview 35overwriting 102, 103removing privileges 27renaming 102searching for 12, 13setting access types for 32setting dependencies for 39–41setting search paths for 48


shared repository for 2sorting 11SQRIBE reports and 39

report generation requests. See generation requests

report object executable filesassigning privileges 20bundling with reports 40, 74copying 37deleting 39distributing 161, 163file dependencies and 40generating reports from 36, 72, 94opening 73rerunning 94running 39, 72, 74, 76search definition files and 133setting up run requests for 76setting up schedules for 95–102

report object instance filesSee also documentsadding date or timestamps to 104bundling with executables 74copying 37, 40default output location for 26displaying 35extracting data from 133, 134file dependencies for 40generating 72locating dependent executable for 161opening 52, 54overwriting 102, 103renaming 102saving 154specifying folders for 102

report object search files. See search definition files; search extensions

report object value filescreating 94file dependencies for 40generating multiple reports from 36importing files and 38saving 94

report parameters. See parametersReport Server API xiiiReport Server Security Extension xiii, 3

See also RSSE applications

ReportCast xiiireporting servers. See iServer; serversreporting solutions ix, xreporting system. See iServer Systemreporting tasks xxReportingEngines suite xiReportQuery technology xireports

accessing in Encyclopedia 3, 54accessing sample 52adding context menus to 69–70bundling executable files with 40, 74copying 160, 163customizing xiidefining optional parameters for 78, 79defining required parameters for 79deploying xvdisplaying 9, 52–54, 112, 117distributing 3, 61, 102–103, 160–164embedding OLE objects in 61generating 72, 75linking to parts of 56monitoring generation status of 74, 75,

112, 113moving through 54–60, 129moving to specific pages in 55moving to specific parts of 56, 57, 58, 129narrowing scope of 78opening 52–54opening multiple windows for 66–68overview 2paging through 54, 55previewing 153providing online help for xix, 68–69refreshing 75removing from Encyclopedia 41retaining previous versions of 36running 72, 76, 117, 160running external applications from 61saving 154searching 120, 121setting autoarchiving rules for 44, 45, 111setting properties for 72setting up run requests for 76–77, 117updating data for 72viewing expiration dates for 43viewing notification groups for 108

I n d e x 181

viewing specific pages 55viewing structure of 121zooming in on 62

repository 2Request Print Options dialog 160Requester API xiiRequester dialog

changing files names in 102creating run requests from 77, 101displaying SAP parameters in 90, 91distributing reports from 102entering ad hoc parameters to 79opening ad hoc parameter builder from 83printing from 109, 155running reports from 73saving parameters from 94scheduling run requests in 95, 97, 98setting archiving rules from 111setting notification preferences from 108setting parameter values in 81viewing parameters in 78, 79

requestschanging properties of 114changing scheduled 114getting details about 113, 114, 115, 117managing 113not running 95printing information about 114, 115, 118removing from folders 114, 115, 118retrying 101saving scheduling information for 99scheduling report generation 95–102setting autoarchiving rules for 42, 111setting notification preferences for 108–109setting parameters for 77, 81, 82setting priorities for 101setting properties for 117setting up print 159–160setting up run 76–77, 117specifying document names for 104viewing properties of 114, 115, 117viewing status of 33, 74, 112

Requests folder 33, 112, 113required parameters 79required values 79reserved words 104Reset Workspace command 66

resizing Navigator windows 9resolution (print) 158restoring defaults 64, 66Results page (Search) 124, 129, 131, 135

exporting from 135, 136retrieving data 79Retry command 117retry options (run requests) 101retrying run requests 101.roi files. See report object instance filesroles

as security feature 18changing 28creating 26, 31displaying 31removing privileges from 28setting privileges for 21, 25, 27, 28

root folders 25.ros files 133.rov files. See report object value files.rox files. See report object executable filesRSSE applications

See also Report Server Security Extensionchanging passwords from 19changing privileges and 29

rules (autoarchiving) 42run requests

changing properties of 114creating 76–77, 117defined 72getting details about 113, 114, 115, 117printing information about 114, 115, 118removing from folders 114, 115, 118retrying 101saving scheduling information for 99scheduling 95–102setting archiving rules for 111setting parameters for 77, 81, 82setting priorities for 101setting properties for 117specifying document names for 104states described 113viewing properties of 114, 115, 117viewing status of 112

running executable files 39, 72, 74, 76running external applications 61running reports 72, 76, 117, 160


running search definition files 134running third-party reports 3, 72

Ssample reports

hyperlinks in 56, 57opening 52setting file dependencies for 40viewing table of contents for 59

SAP data sources 89–93SAP R/3 data streams 89Save as HTML command 155Save As Unicode option 136, 139Save dialog 154Save to Volume dialog 36saving

report generation schedules 99report object value files 94report parameters 94–95reports 154search criteria 133

scaling range (printers) 158scaling range (zoom) 62Schedule page (Requester) 95, 101Scheduled folder 33, 113, 113–114scheduled request icon 114Scheduled Request Retry settings 101scheduled requests

changing 114displaying information about 113, 114failed systems and 95printing information about 114retrying 101viewing 33, 112

scheduleschanging 98saving 99

scheduling online backups 46scheduling report generation 3, 95, 97, 98,

101search criteria

adding multiple fields to 121, 124adding search expressions to 125–129changing 124entering 13, 122–124saving 133

search definition files 133–134Search dialog

accessing 122adding multiple fields to 124adding search criteria to 122, 123, 126, 132adding searchable objects to 120, 122changing search criteria in 124displaying search results from 129, 131exporting from 135, 137opening 13running search definition files from 134saving search criteria for 133

search export options 133, 136, 139external applications 140, 143, 145

Search Export Options dialog 136, 138search expressions

adding nonprinting ASCII codes to 129adding pattern operators to 126adding to search criteria 125–129adding wildcard characters to 123, 126locating special characters with 127, 128operators in 125wildcard characters in 13

Search Extension API xiisearch extensions 135, 139, 141Search icon 122search paths

external objects and 61search definition files and 134setting 48–49

search resultsas navigational tool 129containing multiple fields 136copying 135displaying 13, 124, 129, 131exporting 135–146

Search.txt 137, 139searchable report fields 120, 121searching

Encyclopedia 12–13for nonprinting characters 129for single text values 120for special characters 127, 128for specific data 121–125, 131from search definition files 133–134on literal values 125on multiple fields 120, 121, 124, 125

I n d e x 183

reports 120, 121with conditions 122

secure read privilege 20security

e.reporting solutions for xienabling page-level xvEncyclopedia volumes and 3overview 17–19

security applications 18security extensions 3security roles

changing 28creating 31displaying 31overview 26removing privileges from 28setting privileges for 21, 25, 27, 28

security tools xiiiSelect page (Search) 132, 136selecting data 146selection criteria. See search criteriaselection formulas. See parametersSend command 161sending notifications 47Server Properties dialog 42, 46server-based reporting xiservers

See also iServercopying to 37deploying from xve.reporting solutions for x, ximanaging clusters for xiiisetting default printer properties for 156

setting autoarchive rules 44, 45, 111setting default locale 47setting default printer 157setting file dependencies 40setting notification options 47setting preferences 46–48setting up user accounts 19settings. See propertiesshared access type 32shared files 18, 32shared folders 18, 25, 32shared repositories 2Short Date format 84, 105Short Time format 105

shortcut menus. See context menusShow command 11silent mode (printing) 154simple object access protocol xiiisingle quote (’) character 88single value expressions 82.sma files 20small hand cursor 56SOAP messaging xiiiSort By command 11sort options 11sorting report files 11special characters 84, 88, 127, 128split box 53splitter bars 9splitting windows 53spreadsheet engine. See Formula One

e.Spreadsheet Enginespreadsheets

customizing xvdesigning for xiideveloping for xvexporting to 142–144linking to 60, 61

SQL statementsSee also queriesdata types and 83defining ad hoc parameters with 82entering dates in 83entering literal characters in 84entering literal strings in 87entering null values in 87entering special characters in 88entering wildcards in 84handling blank spaces returned by 86limiting data returned by 79

SQR file types 39SQRIBE open server driver 39, 72SQRIBE reports

displaying 35, 54file types for 35output file types for 39overview 39running 72

SQT file types 39Srchdef directory 133, 134stacking application windows 64, 65


stand-alone file systems 52Standard Object Access Protocol. See SOAP

messagingstarting Actuate Navigator 6status information

active requests 115completed requests 116online backups 46report generation requests 33, 74, 112, 113scheduled requests 113

stopping report generation 73storage 2strings

blank spaces in 86date expressions and 106defining as literal 87entering special characters in 88locating special characters in 128matching exact 87returning null values with 90searching 126

structure parameters (SAP) 89, 90structured content technology viii, xsubfolders

See also foldersarchiving items in 43copying files from 36creating 34deleting 17displaying 10moving files to 37resorting items in 11

successful request icon 117Summary page (Properties) 114, 115, 118syntax conventions (documentation) xxsystem printers 33, 110, 155

Ttab characters 129tabbed pages 64table of contents

accessing 59expanding or collapsing items in 59moving through reports from 58, 60searching reports and 121

Table of Contents command 59

Table of Contents icon 59, 121Table Parameter Editor 91table parameters (SAP) 89, 91templates 18temporary files 94text 120, 146text boxes 81text fields 131, 135, 144text files

accessing data in xvexport delimiters for 136exporting to 135, 144–146open server reports as 36SCRIBE reports and 39setting export options for 136, 139

text searches 125, 126, 128text strings. See stringsthird-party databases xivthird-party reports

See also open server reportsarchiving 111displaying 54printing 3running 3, 72

third-party tools xii, xiiithousand separators 81thumbtack icon 64Tile command 67tiling windows 67time expressions 104–108time format symbols 107time formats

customizing 107predefined keywords for 104

timestamps 103, 104toolbar buttons 66toolbars

paging buttons on 55personalizing 66search definitions in 134search icons on 123Table of Contents icon on 121

Toolbars command 66Tools menu 47transactional data viitransient files 94Transporter technology 135

I n d e x 185

Transporter technology. See search extensionstrends xivTrue and False values 80trusted execute privilege 20typographic conventions (documentation)

xix

Uunavailable features 10underscore (_) character

as literal value 88in query statements 84

unescaped literal characters 106, 108unexpected search results 131UNIX systems

printing from 155unstacking application windows 64updating data 72user accounts

as security feature 17user interfaces 10user names

as required parameters 79Encyclopedia connections and 6validating 18

User Options command 46, 47User Print Properties page 157user-defined formats 106user-defined parameters 39users

assigning privileges for 20, 22, 25assigning privileges to 31changing passwords for 19, 46changing privileges for 29creating security roles for 26, 28displaying 31displaying notification groups for 108setting home folders for 25setting notification preferences for 109setting preferences for 46–48setting up accounts for 19

Vvalidating user names and passwords 18values

Boolean parameters and 80

creating lists of 82defining range of 82displaying parameter 114entering literal characters for 84entering report parameter 80–81, 82, 89entering special characters for 88importing files and 38saving parameter 94searching for single 120searching on literal 125specifying as null 87specifying optional 78specifying required 79

Values page (Requester) 94version control 3, 36version names 103, 104version numbers 103View menu 55View Report command 112, 117Viewer xv

displaying reports with 52–54, 74, 75distributing with reports 161, 164downloading 164generating reports for 73, 75refreshing reports for 75unavailable features in 74viewing report generation status in 74

viewingactive requests 113, 115autoarchive rules 42, 43available printers 157backup information 46completed requests 113, 116context menus 69Encyclopedia items 8, 9, 10file dependencies 17, 39, 41folder information 17multiple Navigator windows 8notification groups 108online documentation xvionline help topics xvi, xviiparameter values 114privileges 17related information 57report files 35report generation requests 33, 74, 112, 113reports 9, 52–54, 112, 117


sample reports 52scheduled requests 113search results 13, 124, 129, 131security roles 31specific file types 11specific parts of a report 56, 57, 58specific report pages 55subfolders 10system printers 33table of contents 59third-party reports 54toolbars 66users 31

viewscreating multiple 53customizing 131displaying multiple 8, 66editing OLE objects and 61

visible privilege 17, 20, 25volumes. See Encyclopedia volumes

Wweb pages

importing SCRIBE reports for 39web servers xvweb services xiiiweb sites

e.reporting solutions for xisecuring xiii

WebLogic servers xvWebSphere servers xvweekly reports 97, 98, 133WHERE clause 79

See also SQL statementswhitespace in strings 86wildcard characters

in query statements 84in search expressions 13, 123, 126

Window menu 66windows

cascading 67closing preview 153dimmed or grayed items in 10expanding and collapsing items in 10opening multiple 6, 8, 66–68personalizing 63, 64

resizing Navigator 9restoring defaults for 66splitting 53tiling 67

Windows systemscopying files with 37linking to applications on 60–62running SQRIBE reports from 72

Word documents 60WordPad 137, 139, 147write privilege 21, 25

XXML development tool xiiiXML files xv

Yyear formats in date expressions 83

Zzoom settings 52, 56, 62zooming 62