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1. 2 Doctor makes a diagnosis and enters the diagnosis and treatment using a mobile device Patient diagnosis and treatment is now in the database 3 Nurse receives alert from her mobile device to dis pense patient medication according to data in the database Adds informa tion on treatment using mobile device Medication already given and schedule is now in database 4 New nurse comes on shift and uses mobile device to read data on patient regarding medication and treatment schedule And so on Figure 1 From an operations and workflow perspective this solution looks too good to be true but is it really possible There are some technical considerations when developing a mobile solution Here are two expand If change the application or data how are users updated With WebFOCUS PDA Sync a user s content on the handheld device is updated at every synchronization to the computer Any changes made to the application will be updated to the users automatically with no need to send out new files or refreshes to the user base This is important because if you are taking your first steps into using mobile tech nology for patient care you need to be able to make changes to your application as your hospital and patient needs demand Development of the WebFOCUS Mobile applications requires only basic HTML unlike most mobile applications coded in Java Therefore you can make those application
2. Where and when isthis problem occurring Is the problem throughout the organization or just in certain functions Even if the prob lem isin aspecific department it could affect the entire organization In this case the root of the problem is occurring with bedside care Because of the number of doctors and nurses who see an individual patient patient records can be incomplete hard to read and even wrong This is obviously critical because it could result in the wrong medication or treat ment It could also result in false patient information entered into the database Who owns the problem Whose actions must change to remedy the problem and who will benefit from a solu tion Though not always easy to determine in this case it is clear that the nurses and doc tors treating the patients are the doers whose actions must change to benefit the patient Why does the problem occur This may already be clear after answering the previous questions As numerous doctors and nurses visit a patient the only central point of information is a paper chart updated by hand at the bedside of the patient The data may be illegible and is not updated in real time with the hospital s mainframe The abil ity to cross check data updated in real time could prevent administering the wrong med ication or in the worst case a serious illness Disasters could occur when information is not This is where mobile devices or PDAs com
3. ORIENTATION PORTRAIT TYPE REPORT GRID OFF FONT TIMES SIZE 10 COLOR BLACK BACKCOLOR NONE STYLE NORMAL EW ROMAN ENDSTYLE This default p ea A ee for d To apply the BY TOTAL command to a report gns page Oe ree Nan TONE Type Size an right click an aggregate SUM numeric column and select Order Report By You can apply only You can control the style sheet from the Style One aggregate sort column to a report tab on the Report Options dialog box You access this dialog box from the Report Options button on the main toolbar or by selecting Style from color the Report menu The Style tab contains two setings for style sheets source and destination The source setting indicates the name of the style sheet embedded in the report The default setting is Embedded f whieh indicates tha thie default ie shied is The code that the Report Painter writes is embedded in the report You can change this style sheet by choosing a different style sheet from the Source pull down menu Information Builders Inc The Painter saves this style sheet i ibi Desktop436 home bin directory Creating a Custom Style Sheet default style sheet or one of the predefined style the report Finally access the Style tab and typea i name for your custom style sheet in the and to add font controls to the interface The new interface while an important adva
4. WebFOCUS is installed Port is the port number being used by the server Solution 2 Send the 17 JSP files in binary form via FTP to an ASCII platform such as Windows or UNIX and modify each member to contain the correct values for AGENT_NODE and AGENT_PORT Here s how you modify the JSPs by editing each i file February 2002 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Java Report Running JSPs continued Move the following 17 files in binary format via FTP from ibi WebFOCUS436 ibi_html continued broker to an ASCII supported environment l J ava R e p 0 rt aaa ReportCaster API Self service Savvy by Cheryl Hilton e rcaster_clist jsp e rcaster_copy jsp e rcaster_create jsp e rcaster_delete jsp e rcaster_detail jsp e rcaster_list jsp e rcaster_logdelete jsp e rcaster_loglist jsp e rcaster_logpdeaete jsp e rcaster_logplist jsp e rcaster_newschedule jsp e rcaster_property jsp e rcaster_run jsp e rcaster_runnowlog jsp e rcaster_runonce jsp e rcaster_setrun jsp e rcaster_update jsp In each file find the following code lt jsp setProperty name auth proper ty agentProperty value local host 8200 gt Update the code as follows lt jsp setProperty name auth ty agentProperty value AgentNode AgentPort gt proper AgentNode is the name of the machine in which the distribution server is installed AgentPort is the port number used by the dis tribution serv
5. following BY TOTAL aggregate_column NOPRINT continued on page 19 Enhancing the WebFOCUS Business Intelligence Dashboard by Jim Simon Fis available in WebFOCUS 4 3 5 the Information Builders HTML based thin client that allows customers to create customized user interfaces for access to WebFOCUS reporting applications tal interface The administrator can now make domain lists banner links and the message of the day optional The administrator can also password These options are all made from the Dashboard s View Builder of links for particular user groups enhancements Dashboard Incorporated in Installation Dashboard is incorporated license code during the installation This will automatically add Dashboard The Information Builders contact to determine which license code to use Output Displayed in One Defined Location Buttons or Bars for Scrolling blocks a domain list and a Role Tree WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Information Builders gave the administrator these scrolling options because many users are more familiar with scroll bars and find them easier to use than scroll buttons Another reason for the scrolling options is that while scroll buttons let the user navigate the content block domain list or Role Tree scroll bars make it easier to access content outside the view of the displayed win WebFOCUS Business Intelligence Dashboard is dow In addition the
6. As you can see separating the application logic from presentation logic can save an organization time and effort to develop and implement a sys tem A recent example involves Chase Manhattan Bank In this scenario ReportCaster capabilities i were plugged into existing self service applica Developers can easily and quickly customize their own applications by concentrating their efforts on whatever look and feel presentation logic they feel is appropriate by using Information Builder s JavaBean functionality application logic See Figure 1 WebFOCUS 4 3 6 implements business logic using rules that adhere to the JavaBean API specifica tion Why is this important Well standardiza tion enables portability Developers can create re usable software which can be used in a plugand play fashion to create their own applications on various platforms Therefore as Sun Microsystems promised you write once and run anywhere For example ReportCaster JavaBeans implement these guide lines to build Beans that are responsible for spe cific tasks such as obtaining log information schedule properties and Two Way Email template properties The presentation logic can be implemented in various ways but Sun Microsystem s JavaServer Pages offers strong benefits when developing applications using technology like JavaBeans JavaServer Pages enables you to control the con tent and look of
7. InfoResponse Online Pages the site to fail To correct your bookmarks edit your bookmark properties and add the tech the EDA iWay Product page changes from http techsupport ibi com manuals eda_manuals_toc html to http techsupport ibi com tech manuals eda_ manuals _toc html This change was made to provide additional fea tures and enhancements on the site Courses Overhauled to Reflect New Releases Registered InfoResponse Online users were recent ly notified of a change to Information Builder s Tech Support web site at http techsupporti ibi com why Customer Education at Information Builders which may cause existing bookmarks to pages on Applications with WebFOCUS Developer Studio and course 352 Basic Reporting Language with directory to the path For example a bookmark to WebFOCUS Developer Studio We overhauled the courses to incorporate information about all the New products require new knowledge That is revamped Course 351 Building Reporting enhanced functionality in The WebFOCUS Newsletter is intended to disseminate a wide variety of technical information to the entire WebFOCUS community To submit an article send it via email to Pedro Pereira at pedro_ pera ra ibi com If you would like to be on our mailing list send an email to wfn_response ibi com Editor Pedro Pereira Art Director Paul Lin Contributors Mona Baker Richard Kwiatkowski Brian Carter Kristin Murphy Mar
8. new features for Managed Reporting Environment MRE Administrators One allows a new level of control over what domain administrators can do and the other gives broad new control over the files created by users in the MRE These customer driven features demonstrate the company s commitment to making the MRE install base successful Restricting Domain Administrators This feature came about while working with a customer that was planning a deployment of several thousand MRE users and 80 domain administrators can best explain the feature with this more simplified example Consider a scenario where Sarah Black is a domain admin istrator for the Sales Domain but also needs to run reports in the Customer Analysis Domain She needs to be assigned to a pair of groups in order to have access to the three domains as shown in Figure 1 on page 14 Prior to 4 3 6 Sarah would have create edit and delete access to all three domains in Domain Builder which was undesirable The only way around this was to give her two MRE user accounts one for the Customer Analysis Domain for which she was a regular user and one for the Sales Reporting Domains for which she is a developer Of course this is impractical In such cases these users were on their honor not to disrupt domains that they were not responsible for Now in 4 3 6 an MRE Administrator has a way to solve this issue From User Administrator on the yellow toolbar an administrator
9. In my experiments selecting either The entire page or Only the tables should work just fine You cannot specify a particular table in the report because there is no way to identify individual tables in a WebFOCUS HTML report Yet The third step is important if you want a styled report You should select Full HTML formatting to ensure that all the styling transfers to the spread sheet At this point you can click OK or if you want to save the query as a separate file you can select Save Query Now let s look at the WebFOCUS side of this The cne example request webq fex is listed in the following February 2002 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Under the Covers continued 1 TABLE FILE CENTORD 2 SUM LINEPRICE AS Sales 3 BY PRODCAT 4 BY PRODNAME 5 ON TABLE SET HTMLCSS ON 6 ON TABLE SET BYDISPLAY ON 7 ON TABLE SET PAGE NUM TOP 8 ON TABLE SET STYLE 9 TYPE REPORT FONT ARIAL GRID OFF BACKCOLOR YELLOW 0 TYPE TITLE STYLE BOLD 1 TYPE DATA COLOR RED WHEN LINEPRICE LT 5000000 2 ENDSTYLE 3 END This is a simple sales report against a Century Corp sample data source Let s take a look at the code and highlight some key points to keep in mind when developing your report Lines 1 through 4 are straightforward so let s start with Line 5 This turns on a new feature in WebFOCUS release 4 3 6 that generates all styling as Cascading
10. and we re holding up rather nice ly through this one as well As a customer you can t easily find that kind of long term stability and viability It greatly enhances the value of any solution you implement It also extends the benefits you can gain by giving us feedback about what we can improve in the product It s worth it to spend sometime on a solution that will be there through thick and thin As an example just got off the telephone with a bank near our nation s capital The talented folks there have created a WebFOCUS application that does things in Microsoft Excel that would cause most of us to run screaming from the room We had a long discussion about what they d like to see added to our Excel interface and guess what Each of you will be able to reap the benefitsin the contribute E mail me at larry_eiss ibi com From where sit it makes good business sense February 2002 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER A Matter of Choice Deployment Wizard Development on Server FrontPage and MRE Integration by Maria Garcia and a new feature called Development on Server Support for FrontPage is intended to spare you the frustration of running into problems when copy ing HTML to an MRE Repository from a local applications environment because they use differ ent application logic The Development on Server feature allows you to develop and test your appli from the cations directly on the serve
11. changes on the fly with no extra cost for Java programmers or developers How will my applications support all the different mobile devices in the market The WebFOCUS PDA Sync solution uses a mobile content server that transforms all WebFOCUS reports into a handheld friendly format optimized to each device A thin client that acts like a web browser on the device reads that content As devices in the market evolve the content server and clients evolve with them making the solution device inde pendent Your user base can have a myriad of different devices and you will still only need to develop and code one application for all of them Security is also a significant advantage of the WebFOCUS PDA Sync solution Patient informa i tion isvery sensitive and the WebFOCUS solution guarantees Triple DES security on all transactions a Web industry standard as well as the ability to plug into your industry s own security module on the backend WebFOCUS is also one of the only solutions out l there able to bring your backend legacy data to a RIM Blackberry device which guarantees security on all wireless transmissions via RIM s secure pro prietary network For more information on any of these solutions please contact your Information Builders Sales Representative or Kristin M urphy at of the biggest issues and how the WebFOCUSPDA Sync solution can solve them by meeting the kristin murphy ibi com n
12. local Education Account Manager visit www informationbuilders com education email us at Education_ Mailbag ibi com or call 1 800 969 INFO February 2002
13. query Two for l mulas outside of the query range sum and average Since you can easily construct a URL that calls the WebFOCUS engine you can use this URL as the source of your query Now instead of following the typical reporting path of executing a request S gran Seer eae ee First open a blank spreadsheet or an existing 4 ae 4 spreadsheet and select Data on the Menu Bar request froma query inside ar already existing Then select Get External Data and finally New spreadsheet that returns HTML Turning the FORE i 5 Web Query This pops up the Web Query menu tables like this provides a great workaround to the See Figure 2 on page 16 problem of embedding a WebFOCUS report into Now all you have to do is follow the three steps on this menu First specify a URL that points to the WebFOCUS server The URL needs to be con structed as a call to the WebFOCUS CGI or servlet and it must contain any appropriate parameters that need to be passed What you see in Figure 1 is the end result of a customized spreadsheet that includes logos images a report formulas and an Excel graph the data brought back by the query The graph is also based on the results of this query Each time the query is refreshed the formulas and the graph will update as well Let s see how to set this up continued on page 16 February 2002 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER What You Need To Know Before Installing S
14. 00 969 A new Advanced Search is designed to make 4636 212 736 4433 outside the United States and searching easier and more productive You can now search for all words any words an exact phrase or exclude words in the full text or only in i titles abstracts or keywords Pull down options allow you to restrict searches to specific document types products operating systems symptoms functional areas and modify dates Search results A new Case Management feature provides the car bene by document type A Search Within ability to access multiple site codes or serial num Current Results feature allows you to narrow bers from a single InfoResponse Online login name your search especially wne too many Uocu and password You no longer have to maintain ments are returned eco th name ana passwords to acces ar Search results from the Knowledge Base include more descriptive abstracts This makes it easier to To add additional site codes or serial numbers to Amine ie document a appropriate Tor your needs without following the link The new abstract includes a summary of the text and the WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Bulletin Board continued 22 primary product release and operating system that it applies to Note that this information may apply to more than one product release or oper ating system although the document was written for the specific environment identified Updating Bookmarks to
15. Authenticate object e Specifying connection and configuration information to the DSTAuthenticate object e Specifying user ID and password information to the DSTAuthenticate object e Validating the information specified to the DSTAuthenticate object e Creating an object for the bean you want to access e g DSTLogFactory or DSTSchedFactory e Setting the DSTAuthenticate object in the object created earlier e Setting data for the function needed e Getting a handler for the function needed e Executing the request e Examining the results see how this is done i lt ay app getAPIStatus i lt i amp gt put jsp gt i lt i lt Revision Ted 385 282 lt page language java import ibi bro i ker beans gt lt jsp useBean id auth scope session class ibi broker beans DSTAuthenticate gt i lt jsp useBean id factory scope session class ibi broker beans DSTSchedFactory gt factory setAuthenticate auth factory clear auth setRequest request y lt jsp setProperty name auth The ReportCaster API also consists of the property agentProperty value local i host 8200 gt beans and many others These fully documented beans contain methods for creating schedule jobs reports maintain schedules and view and main ty gt lt jsp setProperty name factory proper i lt String weekdays f weekd
16. Camcorder 40 X 650DL Digital Camcorder 150 X O750SL Digital Camcorder 300 X m330DX Digital Camera 1024K P DAR2 35MM Camera 8 X OARS 35MM Camera 10 X O Combo Player 4 Hd YCR DYD m DYD Upgrade Unit for Cent YCR BRS Micro Digital Tape Recorder ZC Digital PDA Standard 1 m ZT Digital PDA Commercial Product Name POWERED 8Y WebFOCUS a Figure 1 1 Enter the address for the Web page that contains the data you want IF browsing switch back to Excel once you have located the Web page in your browser 2 2 Choose the part of the Web page that contains the data you want Note that pre formatted sections are treated as tables The entire page Only the tables One or more specific tables on the page Enter table name s or number s separated by commas 3 Choose how much formatting from the Web page you want your data to keep None Rich text Formatting only Full HTML formatting Save Query Advanced Figure 2 16 i In the Figure 2 example am calling the WebFOCUS CGI and requesting a FOCUS proce dure called webq fex Keep in mind that you may also need to enter a user ID and password to get to a secure server The second step specifies if the Browse Web i should be extracted from the requested file Since WebFOCUS HTML reports are generated using HTML Tables this works out perfectly entire page only the tables or an individual table
17. FOCUS436 ibi_html broker to an ASCIl supported environment such as Windows NT or Unix i e rcaster_clist jsp e rcaster_copy jsp e rcaster_create jsp e rcaster_delete jsp e rcaster_detail jsp e rcaster_list jsp e rcaster_logdelete jsp e rcaster_loglist jsp e rcaster_logpdaete jsp e rcaster_logplist jsp e rcaster_newschedule jsp e rcaster_property jsp e rcaster_run jsp e rcaster_runnowlog jsp e rcaster_runonce jsp e rcaster_setrun jsp e rcaster_update jsp In each file find the following code lt jsp setProperty name auth proper ty agentProperty value local host 8200 gt Replace the code as follows lt include file rcaster_distport jsp gt Move all the files 17 via FTP in binary for mat back to your OS 390 platform to ibi WebFOCUS436 ibi_html broker e rcaster_dispport jsp e rcaster_clist jsp e rcaster_copy jsp e rcaster_create jsp e rcaster_delete jsp e rcaster_detail jsp e rcaster_list jsp e rcaster_logdelete jsp e rcaster_loglist jsp e rcaster_logpdeaete jsp e rcaster_logplist jsp e rcaster_newschedule jsp e rcaster_property jsp e rcaster_run jsp e rcaster_runnowlog jsp e rcaster_runonce jsp e rcaster_setrun jsp e rcaster_update jsp Access the JSPs by typing the following address in your browser s URL field http hostname port ibi_html bro ker rbalogon htm Hostname is the name of the machine on which
18. Style Sheets This is a must when for matting HTML reports as it increases efficiency and the overall styling capabilities know we re talking about Excel here but as indicated before you ll need to generate HTML for this technique to work Line 6 turns on a feature that has been around since release 4 3 5 and comes in very handy for Excel reports Setting BYDISPLAY to ON ensures repeated sort values in the report will be populat ed with data This allows an alternative to the default behavior where repeated sort valuesin ver tical columns or BY fields are suppressed and leave desirable for Excel reports As any experienced sorting data Information Builders Inc including drill downs In this case a background color conditional styling and some other miscel laneous styling have been designated As mentioned before the report should be in HTML format and not EXL2K This is because Query imports fully formatted HTML pages or i individual HTML tables into a spreadsheet Executing an EXL2K request from a query actual ly will not return any data to the spreadsheet Once the query is created and executed you can Customize your spreadsheet as much as you want Aslong as you are connected to your network the Internet or whatever the case may be for your application you can open your local spreadsheet and get the latest information delivered directly into your ow
19. WEBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Volume 3 Number 1 Information Builders Inc February 2002 THIS ISSUE Java Report Running JSPs on 0S 390 1 Helping Administrators Manage the Reporting Environment 1 From Where Sit 2 A Matter of Choice Deployment Wizard Development on Server FrontPage and MRE Integration 3 Under the Covers Reverse Engineer WebFOCUS for a Customized Excel Spreadsheet 4 What You Need to Know Before Installing ServietExec with WebFOCUS 4 3 6 5 From the Maintain Wizard Adding Records to a List 6 Report Painter Overhaul Produces New Features 7 Enhancing the WebFOCUS Business Intelligence Dashboard 8 M Patient A Mobile Solution for Health Care 9 ReportCaster API Selfservice Sawy 11 Java Technology and WebFOCUS It s About Standards 13 Bulletin Board 21 Register for Summit 2002 by April 19th and save 200 This year s event will be held May 19 23 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Information Builders Inc Java Report Running J SPs on OS 390 by Mona Baker n WebFOCUS Version 4 Release 3 6 ReportCaster has been enhanced to take advan tage of JavaBean technology The ReportCaster API for JavaBeans now includes the ability to maintain log and scheduling information a sig nificant enhancement from the static servlets included in the 4 3 5 release Related Stories on pages 11 and 13 ReportCaster includes sample JavaServerPages JSPs which access t
20. Web pages via dynamically gen erated servlets and its code can be embedded in HTML pages Information Builders Inc tions Our JavaBeans business logic enabled the customer to plug ReportCaster into its sophisti cated application and create the presentation layer without knowing a great deal about Java Chase is able to perform asynchronous requests for data to be sent into their WebFOCUS reporting environment using our ReportCaster API The request infrastructure is fully integrated into its own in house developed User Interface Views Requests on this system run anywhere from hun dreds to many thousands of records involving a user population of more than 3 000 says Bob Ferrante Technical Director of Mobile Solutions With ReportCaster the users get the information they need for reporting delivered quickly with minimal downtime and no locking up of browsers No competing product could deliver the solution they were able to accomplish using WebFOCUS he says Presentation Application Request Logic Logic Processing JSP JavaBeans Dynamic Servlets Figure 1 13 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER 14 Figure 1 Helping Administrators continued from page 1 User Domains Report Lo Administrator Caster Domain Builder Groups Users Domains E Users A G Black Sarah domain admin BA Groups E Customer Users BY a Domains i Gy Customer Analysis 5 Sal
21. administrator can set up i external links within Dashboard launch blocks and scroll bars not scroll buttons make it possi ble for users to get to these external links With Dashboard Release 4 3 6 the administrator Extensive Tracing has more control over the contents of the BI por In thereal world things go wrong Software as far as Information Builders is concerned is the real world and if something goes wrong Information Builders wants to make it easy to locate and define a public user s WebFOCUS user ID and resolve the issue Thus Dashboard has been enhanced to include its own extensive tracing facility which allows for tracking down and The Dashboard s functionality is also improved by debugging program errors supporting an all in one Dashboard WebFOCUS f 3 installation procedure a new Output block an Easier to Use List extensive tracing facility a choice of buttons or and Folder Block Enhancements bars for scrolling easier to use list and folder When alist or folder block is displayed in Release blocks enlarged scroll buttons multiple public 4 3 6 an icon prefixes each report Since a major views and the addition of role trees defined lists purpose of an icon is to represent graphically something abstract in this case for example con Let s take a closer look at some of these Dashboard tents of a report Information Builders deter mined that icons wo
22. alan jar and xerces jar were not dis l tributed with the initial WebFOCUS NT Release They are distributed with WebFOCUS 4 3 6 Java Gen 2 5 1 WebFOCUS 4 3 6 Java Gen 2 5 1 is Information Builders Inc Eile Edit View Favorites Tools Help i 4 ServletE xec Administration Microsoft Internet Explorer es 0 A a2 a 3 Back Forward Stop Refresh Home Search Favorites History Mail Address http localhost servlet admin Go Links gt al Java Virtual Machine VM Classpath ServletExec 4 1 ISAPI General support license amp security view logs Java YM Classpath C Program Files New Atlanta ServietExec ISAPI classes Dp ibi WebFOCUS436 ibi_htmi javaassist DSTSerlets jar Virtual Machine settings classpath options optional packages Dp ibi WebFOCUS 436 ibi_htmi javaassist WFSenletjar Dp ibi WVebFOCUS 436 ibi_htmi javaassistitdg jar DAbAWebFOCUS436 ibi_himijavacssist BIRPASSTBeanjar DNbiWwebFOCUS436ibi_htm javaassistxalan jar DNibiWwebFOCUS436ibi_htm javaassistxerces jar DNibAWebFOCUS436 ibi_himijavacssistxmbapisjar DiibiWebFOCUS436 bi_himijavaassist BIGetDDMAPSenletjar Server Side Includes SSI counters file cache Web Applications manage users roles role mapping Servlets manage aliases response filters session tracking manage logs loaded Submit Reset Al Data Sources manage X A Z Eg Loca
23. ation process of passing in the user ID and password and obtaining configuration information This is illustrated in the following example of code Move all the files via FTP in binary format Specifying the User ID and Password OS 390 platform to Get the values for user and pass that i were posted to a JSP request object via an HTML file request getParameter user String Pass request getParameter pass gt Now pass the String values to DSTAuthenticate information on the WebFOCUS IT ReportCaster APIs see the ReportCaster API i lt auth setUser User auth setPass Pass gt WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER 2 Java Report ReportCaster API continued Obtaining Configuration Information lt 4 This Authentication technique speci fies the agentProperty method which uses Agent_Node Agent_Port to connect to Distribution Server and obtain configura tion information gt lt jsp setProperty name auth property agentProperty value local host 8200 gt DSTSchedFactory DSTAPIStatus and DSTLogFactory tain log information You can use these methods either by building request getParameterValues IBIB_week your own JSP or by customizing the JSP samples gays we provide when ReportCaster is installed Each JSP sample illustrates the logic a user should incorporate when writing a JSP to access our beans This includes the following e Creating a DST
24. ays null weekdays new String 0 factory setIBIB_weekdays weekdays StringL dates request getParameterValues IBIB_dates f dates null dates new String 0 factory setIBIB_dates dates DSTBeanHandler app factory getCreateScheduleHandler app processRequest DSTAPIStatus status int code status getErrorCode if code DSTAPIStatus NO_ERROR String back request getParameter CASTER_backlink2 i gt lt jsp forward page lt back gt gt else lt jsp forward page rcaster_out lt jsp param name CASTER_errormessage value lt sta tus getErrorMessage gt gt lt jsp forward gt Many more JSP samples are included with the installation disk for ReportCaster which further Ilustrate the maintenance capabilities described i in this article All of the JSP samples are neatly packaged in a sample application that illustrates L amp S takea look af one of Our savy Samiple JSPsto how you might build a production application of your own February 2002 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Java Report continues l With JavaServer Pages ReportCaster no longer requires static servlets because it creates servlets on the fly In this way servlets can be changed dynamically as the JSP is compiled For example Java Technology and WebFOCUS It s About Standards by Nancy Silva you can choose what methods or func
25. can access the user s properties and optionally restrict their scope This is done via the new Domains button which brings up the dialog shown in Figure 2 on page 14 continued on page 14 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Larry Eiss From Where I Sit New Year s Resolutions That Make Sense D o you have a consuming passion have sev eral and they re all competing for my time There are not enough hours in the day or days in the weekend to give each the time would like In fact have been so consumed by two of my pas sions recently that barely noticed the passing of another year As a consequence found that had paid no attention to plans and improvements for rejecting a job offer Under the second panel is the coming year do it l Il listen to your pain and relish in your vic tories At the end of it all will use what learn to improve WebFOCUS havea cartoon on the door of my office that has two identical panels showing a job seeker sitting in front of the desk of an interviewer Under the first panel is the caption Last year s reason for This year s reason for accepting a Don t get me wrong I m not the kind of person who makes grandiose resolutions only to have them fall by the wayside after a few weeks am the kind of person who resolves not to resolve and fails at that instead This year I ve planned improvements in the area of each of my pas
26. cept list and a variable or amper field Developer Studio opens an input box for any amper variable that is not provided with a value during report processing l The user then must supply a valid value for the l select a country M aster File used to create the report variable for the report to continue processing Adding amper variables gives users the flexibility to view only the data they are interested in ana lyzing With amper variable flexibility however l comes certain pitfalls Users may not know the data well enough to enter a valid value or a user may incorrectly type a data value To avoid these pitfalls you can provide a list of acceptable values i ease select an option from which a user can select a valid value Information Builders Inc If you access the Expression Builder from either the aggregate column is evaluated first then the report is sorted by the aggregate column By default the aggregate sort order is lowest to high est You can change this sort order by right click ing the BY TOTAL column and selecting Sort i The Assist button opens the Variable Editor dia log box All options available to a BY column are also avail From the Variable Editor dialog box you can do i the following Creating an Accept List for an Amper l the Where or If tab from the Report Options dialog box or from the When dialog box and then select Parameter amp Var
27. d add ampersand variables to WHERE and WHEN expressions in the Report Painter A new feature now allows you to add amper variables as a field in the report The Report l Painter treats an Amper Field as any other amper variable a valid value must be supplied for the To create a list of acceptable values click the Add button in the Variable Editor dialog box You can add an amper field to a report in one of l creating alist of acceptable values amper field for correct report evaluation two ways e Right click in the Fields tab located on the Object Inspector and select New Amper Variable Field e Select Variable Field from the Insert menu The Variable Editor window opens where you can type a name for the amper field required pro l vide a prompt message and create an accept list more on this later Once you specify a name for the amper field and click OK the Report Painter adds the amper field to the Fields tab You can i now add the amper field to your report as any col umn type BY ACROSS SUM DETAIL Unlike typical amper variables which require i valid data values amper fields require a valid fieldname to produce meaningful report output This specified fiddname must be listed in the i The following example shows the code that the Report Painter writes for a WHERE clause that When a user runs a report that contains an amper contains an amper variable ac
28. e in PDAs bring patient information directly and elec tronically to the bedside Often used by mobile workers who are not constantly connected to a 2 computer mobile devices allow a user to be con Following is a step by step discussion of how to p putea ceva op a neath care P n even on backend databases An added benefit is esigned to improve return on Investment work that many doctors already have these devices for personal use stantly connected to data on their computer and continued on page 20 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Java Report continued from page 1 Create anew member on an ASCII platform called rcaster_dispport jsp using the follow ing code i lt This Authentication technique specifies the agentProperty method which uses Agent_Node Agent_Port to connect to Distribution Server and obtain configuration information gt lt jsp setProperty name auth proper ty agentProperty value AgentNode AgentPort gt AgentNode is the name of the machine in which the distribution server is installed AgentPort is the port number used by the dis tribution server For example lt jsp setProperty name auth proper ty agentProperty value IBIMVS 12285 gt Note We will FTP this member in binary format to the ibi WebFOCUS436 ibi_html broker directory after it is created i Move the following 17 files via FTP in binary format from ibi Web
29. e opment on Sever gives YOU the penerit or and MRE integration Development on Server and the existing Deployment features compare with lacatin lication files in th ver envifon one another This will hep you make a better g app Icato ay papa ENVIO ia i ment instead of in both the server environment decision on which feature to use and when to useit alte and your desktop It also gives several application Development on Server as the name indicates gives you the ability to develop and test ai WebFOCUS application directly on the server platform In other words you can now create and test your applications directly on a Web server and WebFOCUS Reporting server in the Windows NT Unix and 05 390 Unix environments This feature is especially useful for people who develop accelerating the creation process by omitting the deployment phase and simplifying your work by developers the benefit of collaborating because application files can be shared on the server One of the drawbacks is that although Development on Server enables you to use many of Developer Studio s powerful application devel opment tools directly on files residing in the serv er environment there are some devedopment tools that do not yet support working with files in charge of the administration of a WebFOCUS a server environment for example the Publish i utility the Layout tool and the Compound Report One of the main si
30. e threatening caus es of the aforementioned problems Availability security accuracy and timeliness of such informa tion as medical and treatment histories are cru cial in health care And from the standpoint of the greater good of the population accurate and timely record keep ing also is important in cases involving the Centers for Disease Control family services and i even police records i asinine sae sae ae The fallout from all this is that a small number of mobile applications for health care WebFOCUS patients might receiver INEorTect treatment Mobile Products are clearly superior because they correctly entered or crosschecked with medical databases e Allow rapid development e Work with any device reducing the need for custom code easing deployment e Report against any data source available flow and day to day operations Before eae on a mobile real i aen A scenario of how doctors and nurses would use a ee ni p ee a F n l 5 i mobile devices to update patient records and esas E ee a ee Cea eRe input treatment is illustrated in Figure 1 on page 20 tion Consider the following Information Builders Inc What is the Number 1 problem you face The highest priority should be to solve any problems that directly impede your ability to perform your primary business goal which in this case is to treat patients Do you need more current and accurate patient records
31. eeds of hospital applications as they develop and pGr February 2002 Bulletin Board WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Register Now for Summit The Information Builders annual user conference is scheduled for May 19 to 23 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Attendees who register by April 19 will save 200 off the 1 499 price of reg istration WebFOCUS FOCUS and iWay Software Who Should Attend e CIO and IT decision makers e Project leaders e Business managers and analysts e Developers e Frontline business users e Government information technologists e Higher education information technologists e Consultants and integrators real time information delivery and integration technologies that make business quicker and more cost effective Canada or e mail summit ibi com Recent Enhancements to InfoResponse Online ferent site codes or serial numbers your profile Information Builders Inc a Log in to InfoResponse Online with your pre ferred login name b Select the new option Add Delete Site Codes from the Case Management menu c Enter the new site code or serial number and customer name l Current maintenance is required for each site Summit 2002 is the only event at which you can get hands on comprehensive education on i f Some Case Management options were revised The Open Update View Cases and Upload Share Files on the Case Management menu replaces three previous selec
32. eferred Help Figure 3 internal Dialogue Manager commands inside Changes can be made to the procedure and it can be saved We recommend you save it to another name so the user can compare them February 2002 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Helping Aministrators continued The Administrator can also run the report though l Development on Server is that some of the aspects of WebFOCUS integration with FrontPage includ resulting report or graph might look different or ing the ability to create a frameset page that would run in the server without any manual cus changed for example the report can be un tomizations are not supported when you devedop on a server That is also true for when you devel In addition to report procedures there is also fin op n your local envirofiment and th r move ished report output available to the administrator YOU EET E form to the server Finished report output comes from saved deferred i The problem is that when creating HTML formsin your local applications or on the server the appli cation logic used is slightly different Develop on Server and Deployment use similar application logic which is based on the context of the appli cation it will run with the MRE Administrator s Server ID If this ID is different from that of the user the show different data The properties can also be shared jobs or from a distributed ReportCaster report The administra
33. eful not to corrupt the Another new feature has to do with managing the l files that users create The initial purpose of this feature was to give MRE Administrators a way to directly access a user s My Reports for the purpos over MRE Administrators a more straightforward way to interact with their view of MRE See chapter 28 in MRE Administrator guide when it becomes avail able User Management es of debugging and fixing them However some additional capabilities have been added and the feature has been implemented in a way that allows us to add more benefits in the future This feature is not supported with the MRE Exits at this time so check with customer support for patch information if you use the exits This feature was implemented as a new tree object in Domain Builder Management you get a list of all the active and inactive users in the MRE You cannot alter the user s properties here that is still done from User Administration on the yellow toolbar But as you Open each user you have access to the My Reports and report output that user has created These i files are organized by domain as shown in Figure 3 When you open User 9 Acme Manufacturing H 0 Deferred Reports Output LJ Inventory Data Be a Sales Data J orders by month a B a Thu 27 E Open O turi aker Kathy Edit Source avis Norman Delete Brault user Properties Run Run D
34. er back to your ibi WebFOCUS436 ibi_html broker Access the JSPs by typing the following lt String User address in your browser s URL field http hostname port ibi_html bro ker rbalogon htm Hostname is the name of the machine in which WebFOCUS is installed Port is the port number being used by the web server For more manual Information Builders Inc Ey i J ava is not a fad While other technologies have come and gone Java and its sidekicks JavaBeans and JavaServer Pages JSP have proved their met tle You might call them the newest savvy clas i SICS With that in mind Information Builders is taking full advantage of this savvy technology to improve the quality of our products and deliver ing it to you in our ReportCaster API self service product Why is this so much better than anything that s come before Aside from Java s inherent benefits of being a ReportCaster API Beans give the customer the option to use Java code for authenticating users and obtaining configuration information run anywhere language our Prior to theinclusion of ReportCaster API Beans in WebFOCUS 4 3 6 you had to use a cookie to authenticate a user The CGI would then kick into gear to obtain configuration information With Release 4 3 6 the DSTAuthenticate bean writ i ten by Information Builders specifies the Java code in a JSP to perform the authentic
35. ervietEx ec with WebFOCUS 4 3 6 by Susan Trommer W esrocus 4 3 6 on Windows 2000 and Windows NT distributes New Atlanta ServletExec 4 1 ISAPI for use as a servlet engine with the Microsoft Internet Information Services IIS serv er The purpose of this article is to alert you to New Atlanta ServletExec product installation and configuration issues The first issue affects the successful installation of WebFOCUS The WebFOCUS installation and configuration manual instructs you to stop the IS Admin Service prior to installing WebFOCUS so that there are no WebFOCUS components in use by the web server What you probably don t know uninstalling ServletExec ServletExec starts the IIS Admin Service So before you start your WebFOCUS installation double check that the Admin Service i WAIPA installed in a different directory drive ibi WebFOCUS436_R to differentiate it from the ini Failure to disable the Admin Service causes miss tial WebFOCUS 436 NT Release ing jar files in the ibi_html javaassist directory of the WebFOCUS installation To confirm f you have not rebooted since you installed whether the WebFOCUS jar files configured for WebFOCUS reboot and repeat Step 3 There are confirmed cases in which the system cannot i delete files from an uninstall request because the Follow the instructions in the WebFOCUS files arein use Rebooting the mach
36. es USR_ lt server name gt the user cre ated by IIS for processing requests for anonymous i users The IUSER_ lt server name gt ID is used when con figuring your web server with Allow Anonymous Access See Figure 2 i On Windows NT and systems upgraded from Windows NT to Windows 2000 the default direc tory permissions in the Program Files folder is Everyone Full Control On Windows 2000 systems the default directory permissions are different for the Program Files i folder see Figure 3 Note that the IUSER_ lt server name gt is not included on this list i Therefore if your web server is configured to Allow Anonymous Access as shown on Figure 2 you must manually add the USER_ lt server name gt with Full Control permissions i The information in this article should help you avoid several problems using New Atlanta i ServietExec 4 1 ISAPI and WebFOCUS Products Please report any issue you are unable to resolve or have resolved with the help of colleagues to Information Builders Customer Support to be researched resolved and documented The WebFOCUS 4 3 6 NT Installation and Configuration Guide is being updated to contain the information included in this article February 2002 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Report Painter continued from page 7 When you run a report that contains this code Descending able to a BY TOTAL column Variable As you know you coul
37. es Developers B a Domains i iv Sales Reporting i i Sales Reporting development a 2G default user H E Html User 1 cai Java User 2 nS 4 Java User 3 no share H Thorstad Jim rraromy i User Administration Domain Admin Properties C Administrator Domain Admin Domain Admin Sales Reporting Java User Customer Analysis Server ains Management bermathy Adam i User s Reports Domains Sales Reporting development lt lt Add OK Cance Remove gt gt Figure 2 In this window the administrator can select which domains Sarah has administration access to and which ones she can only create My Reports in Now when Sarah logs into the MRE she will see only the two sales related domains under Domain Builder However when she selects Domains from the yellow toolbar she will have the ability to create My Reports for all three domains This feature gives Administrators more control resources while giving Domain All kinds of files show up here There are report procedures which were built from Reporting Objects Some of these might be Shared to other the Summary of New Features guide or the new users On these files the Administrator can Open them into either Report Assistant or Graph Assistant depending on how they were created They can also be edited with the Java Editor though you need to be car
38. ete moviecode from movstk Currec if currec ne movstk foccount then begin stack copy from movstk currectl movstk currec compute movstk foccount foccount 1 endbegin else begin compute movstk focindex movstk into ovstk focindex 1 compute movstk foccount movstk foccount 1 This case deletes the record from the database If you give your users the ability to add recordsto and then removes it from the display If the the database or delete records you are going to need to alter the display Going back to the data selected record is the last one on the list we just remove that line from the stack If the record is somewhere else we move all of the rows of the stack up onto itself and that removes the desired row When users press the Add New button a new form is displayed and they can enter data see Figure 2 Moviecode pon Tite New Record Test Category Drama Director De Rating Pe Reldate pon Wholesalepr fio Listpr jo Copies e Figure 2 Return Clicking the Include button does the following Case Addnew Include Moviecode from newstk Clicking on the moviecode field triggers the Copy from Newstk into Movstk Movstk foc count 1 Stack sort movstk by Moviecode Endcase The record is first added to the database It is then added to the bottom of the display stack and sort ed into the correct spot When this
39. form is closed the new record is displayed in the table These are two ways where resources can be saved l by simple stack manipulation as opposed to retrieving the data from the database every time records change Commands like Stack Copy can greatly reduce your I O the amount of code need ed for an application February 2002 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER The style sheets listed in this pull down menu are predefined style sheets that are installed with the product You can select one of these style sheets or create your own customized style sheet that you can save separately and use in other Report Painter sessions Report Painter Overhaul Produces New Features by Richard Kwiatkowski f you ve seen the Report Painter lately chances are you did not recognize it That s because it underwent a major overhaul in the WebFOCUS To create a custom style sheet you can use the 4 3 6 Developer Studio the most striking feature sheets as your starting point Then simply apply your desired styling and formatting attributes to The interface was redesigned to take advantage of being the new interface dockable tool bars to show different report views not evident from looking at the interface Using Style Sheets following default style sheet ON TABLE SET STYLE UNITS IN PAGESIZE SCREEN LEFTMARGIN 0 000000 RIGHTMARGIN 0 000000 TOPMARGIN 0 000000 BOTTOMMARGIN 0 000000 SQUEEZE ON
40. he ReportCaster API Beans Agent Node and Agent Port are the parameters required for the authentication process when connecting to the distribution server The JSP samples contain the default values of local host 8200 for these parameters If these defaults do not conform to your particular installation you must modify the values to suit your environment before you use the JSPs The sample JSPs are stored in the ibi WebFOCUS436 ibi_html broker directory IBM WebSphere 3 5 requires that JSPs be stored in ASCII mode on the OS 390 platform Because the OS 390 platform can edit only EBCDIC files the JSPs must be edited on an ASCII plat form Windows or Unix You have two choices to address this problem Solution 1 Create a new member rcaster_dispport jsp and use include to include this member in each JSP with default values AGENT_NODE and AGENT_PORT Thissetup will be easier to main tain since it entails modifying and moving only one file So if these values change again you need to edit and FTP only one file The first time though each member must be mod ified to remove the default values and add the include for the new member Here s how you modify the JSPs by creating a new member continued on page 10 Helping Administrator s Manage the Reporting Enviroment by Jim Thorstad W hile a major emphasis of WebFOCUS Version 4 Release 3 6 was on the Developer Studio product there were also some important
41. iable as the Compare Type the Report Painter activates the Assist button below the Parameter input box e Change the name of the amper variable e Supply a message prompt that is displayed on the variable selection dialog box e Create a list of acceptable values for the amper variable The Variable Editor gives you three options for e Constant Type a value into the Constant input box and click OK This value is added to the accept list You can repeat this proce dure to add more acceptable values e Fidd Select from the list of fieldnames This list contains the fieldnames specified in the Master File used to create the reports Use this option to provide an acceptable list of values for an amper field e Value Select the fiddname contained in a Where If or When clause that contains an amper variable Once you select a fieldname Developer Studio updates the value list box to show the actual data values associated with the selected fieldname Syntax Examples prompt WHERE COUNTRY EQ amp PLACE ENGLAND FRANCE ITALY Please This example shows the code that the Report Painter writes for an amper field that contains an accept list and a prompt SUM amp COST ACCEL FUEL_CAP HEIGHT LENGTH MPG P1 19 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER 20 Mobile Solution continued from page 9 1 Patient is admitted and entered into database Patient history and insurance is now in the database
42. ine allows the system to complete the deletion ning the ServietExec Configuration Utility seconfig bat located in the utilities directo l If you determine you are missing one or more WebFOCUS jar files you need to reinstall WebFOCUS is that when installing or is stopped use with ServletExec are installed 4 3 6 Windows NT Installation Guide for run ry of the WebFOCUS installation You do not need to rerun the utility if you already com pleted this step while installing WebFOCUS Invoke the New Atlanta ServletExec 4 1 ISAPI ServletExec Admin Console via the following l tures This may sound familiar because it was the subject of a CTSS Advisory distributed on Dec 12 2001 which is available at http techsupport i ibi com ibi internal_docs wbf_i wbf_dia_048_i html In the ServietExec Admin Console under Ce Steps to Take You may have experienced one or all of the fol i lowing problems when using New Atlanta ServietExec 4 1 ISAPI with WebFOCUS drive ibi WebFOCUS436 ibi_html javaas sist where drive is the location on your machine where WebFOCUS is installed See Windows Start menu navigation Programs gt New Atlanta gt ServletExec 4 1 ISAPI gt ServletExec Admin Virtual Machine section select Classpath option The following should be displayed for WebFOCUS 4 3 6 Verify that each jar file resides in the path to Figure 1 on the next column Note The x
43. k Derwin Nancy Silva Larry Eiss Jim Simon Maria Garcia Jim Thorstad Cheryl Hilton Susan Trommer The WebFOCUS Newsletter is published by Information Builders Inc Two Penn Plaza New York NY 10121 2898 Opinions expressed in the WebFOCUS Newsletter are solely those of the authors Information Builders Inc assumes no responsibility or liability for damages resulting from errors or misuse of information contained herein Vendor names and products in this issue are trade marked by their providers All published WebFOCUS Newslette material is copyrighted by Information Builders Inc All rights reserved DN 7503250 0202 WebFOCUS 4 3 6 Developer Studio Course 351 which centers on how to use an integrated development environment for building web reporting applications deals with everything from creating applica tion shells to preparing for web deployment Course 352 addresses basic skills to interpret and manipu late the code inherent in WebFOCUS reporting procedures including discussions on control ling the order of date changing the way the data is displayed and adding flexibility to report requests Both are two day courses designed for developers MRE administrators and power users of WebFOCUS for Windows who wish to create reports and graphs Courses are held in our 18 Education Centers conveniently located in areas such as Los Angeles New York Chicago and Toronto For more information contact your
44. l intranet Figure 1 The second issue affects the ability to change the ServletExec configuration and use WebFOCUS fea e Receiving an error message when entering a ServletExec license code in New Atlanta ServletExec Admin Console e While changing a configuration setting for ServletExec using the New Atlanta ServletExec Admin Console receiving an error message when trying to save apply the changes continued on page 18 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER From the Maintain Wizard Mark Derwin qu Adding Records to a List W hen creating an application with Maintain you may wish to display a list of records on a Winform This list may be in an HTML table a grid a list box or a combo box All of these objects engbegin can be populated from a stack In most cases the EndCase stack will come from a database base usually is not efficient Describe here is an easy way to add and remove records from both the database and the display In this example we load up Movstk from the movies database and display it in a form see Figure 1 E Display Records _ Moviecode Title 1 001MCA JAWS a Exit 2loo5wAn EAST OF EDEN 2 3 020TUR CITIZEN KANE Add New 4 024WAR DOG DAY AFTERNOON 5 O31KK SMURFS THE 6 035CBS CABARET x Figure 1 The stack was loaded from the command For all next Moviecode into Movstk Delmovie case Case DelMovie Compute currec i2 Forml HtmlTablel clickrow Del
45. milarities of the Development EONS on Server and Deployment features is that the l requirements to configure the WebFOCUS Reporting Server and the web server are identical 4S cation development tools to create your applica tion files and deploy these files to any of the tar You need to configure the WebFOCUS Reporting Server to authenticate application users for write access to the server and you also need to define the server s search path for application files You also need to configure your Web server to set the APPROOT variable to define the path for HTML files This APPROOT variable is used as a base directory to build the fully qualified application With the Deployment Wizard however you can take advantage of all the Developer Studio appli geted servers you have added to the WebFOCUS folder in the Develop Studio Explorer Thus with these two features you can do the following e Develop and test your applications entirely on a server platform such as a web server and a WebFOCUS Reporting Server e Do initial development of your applications in Developer Studio on your desktop deploy your files on the server platform and then continue developing testing and editing your applications on the server platform continued on page 15 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Under the Covers Brian Carter G h Reverse Engineer WebFOCUS for a Customized Excel Spreadsheet t s a common reque
46. ministrator enable either scroll but Beatles VESON a PESE 3 0 DN 4500430 0301 tons or scroll bars Previously the administrator ea details on the Dashboard see the could enable only scroll buttons with content Eei A Manu l blocks launch blocks list blocks and folder Business Intelligence Dashboard Use s Manual Business Intelligence Dashboard and the WebFOCUS February 2002 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER M Patient A Mobile Solution for Health Care by Kristin Murphy A sk any doctor what her hospital s top 10 needs are and guarantee one of them is better organization of patient records Likewise ask any l patient in a hospital what he is lacking and he probably will say faster service and more person alized attention These are just some of the needs that the Information Builders Mobile Solutions team wants to address with the newly developed M Patient solution based on our WebFOCUS prod uct M Patient is one of a series of vertical mobile solutions we are developing to help our customers be more efficient save money and better service their own customers Other hospital needs that M Patient tackles include understaffing limited access to medical information and poor coordination with other hospitals doctors and medical facilities While the needs vary they have one common thread information Lacking delayed or inaccu rate information are critical lif
47. n customized spreadsheet Just sit i back and let WebFOCUS take care of the work With a little creative thinking and a slight reverse of procedure you can have your data and eat it too mean you can put your WebFOCUS report inside of your own customized spread sheet This technique could also be used to take advan tage of spreadsheets that contain macros and blank fields in the report This is definitely not other customized functions The best thing is that you control the contents of your spreadsheet Excel user knows Excel features are designed to work with data that has no breaks A blank col hope this technique offers a workaround to a umn or row can lead to disastrous results when common feature requested of our product assure all of you Excel gurus out there that Information Builders will work hard to get this Line 7 turns off page numbering and removes any typeof functionality into the WebFOCUS product extra lines generated above the column titles Lines 8 through 12 designate styling in the report All styling should carry over into the report l line in the near future Good luck in all of your reporting endeavors and stay tuned for more Under the Covers 17 WeBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Installing ServletExec continued from page 5 Web Site Performance ISAPI Filters Home Directory Documents Directory Security l HTTP Headers Custom Errors Server Exte
48. nce is just the surface of additional powerful features that are Destination input line Once you click OK the Painter removes the default Embedded style sheet saves the custom style sheet and applies the custom style sheet to your report The Report Painter references the cus The new Report Painter allows you to style a report and save the style sheet component for use in other reports Each time a user creates a new report in the Report Painter the Painter adds the ON TABLE SET STYLE stylesheet_name tom style sheet meaning that the Painter removes all explicit style sheet code and replaces that code with the following in the To apply this style sheet to another report in the Report Painter access the Style tab and choose the style sheet name from the Source drop down list You can always apply the default style sheet to a report by selecting Default from the list Sorting a Report by an Aggregate Column A powerful command in the FOCUS language is the ability to aggregate a numeric column and then sort the report by that aggregated data This command BY TOTAL has been available on the OLAP Control Panel for some time and is now available on the Report Painter Once you select this action the Report Painter performs the following actions e Adds another instance of the selected aggre gate column as the first BY column e Applies NOPRINT to the BY TOTAL column
49. nsions f Authentication Methods x m Select one or more Authentication Methods for this resource itacessuvesseunsseensssettesonsesevecsousteouectaceavecses No User Name Password required to access this resource En b i Account used for Anonymous Access Edit I Basic Authentication Password is sent in Clear Text User Name and Password required when Allow Anonymous is disabled Access is restricted using NTFS Access Control Lists Default domain for basic Authentication Edit M Windows NT Challenge Response User Name and Password required when Allow Anonymous is disabled Access is restricted using NTFS Access Control Lists Cancel Help Figure 2 x General Web Sharing Sharing Security Name Add Administrators MKTLAD1 Administrators fi CREATOR OWNER __Bemove Internet Guest Account MKTLADIMIUSR_17NSI g Power Users MKTLAD1 Power Users me b Permissions Allow Deny Full Control o Modify o Read amp Execute o List Folder Contents o Read o Write o f Advanced Figure 3 ae a 3 Vv Allow inheritable permissions from parent to propagate to this object e The configuration settings for WebFOCUS disappearing after you run the WebFOCUS ServletExec configuration utility in drive ibi WebFOCUS436 utilities seconfig bat fol lowed by recycling the IIS Admin Service e Receiving an error when trying
50. oduct using FrontPage directly in your MRE repository Which feature you use and when depends on which one better satisfies your needs 15 WEBFOCUS NEWSLETTER Under the Covers continued from page 4 El Microsoft Excel webq xls File Edit Yiew Insert Format Tools Data Window Help Sales Product Category Product Name 8 CD Players 9 Camcorders QX Portable CD Player 110 VH8 C Camcorder 20 X Camcorders 120 VHS C Camcorder 40 X Camcorders 150 8MM Camcorder 20 X Camcorders 250 8MM Camcorder 40 Camcorders 650DL Digital Camcorder 150 X 50S1 ligita nm Al Came a IDX Digita amera 1024K P 4 88 64 156 935 44 146 231 547 29 172 327 452 94 59 703 998 47 300000000 13 6 03 5 166 296 168 74 12 076 467 47 350000000 250000000 amcorder 300 X 200000000 E Cameras AD3 25MM Camera 10 1643 911 65 150000000 DYD Combo Player 4 Hd VCR DVD 48 901 979 68 DYD DVD Upgrade Unit for Cent VCR 37 044 974 03 Digital Tape Recorders R5 Micro Digital Tape Recorder 62 707 175 37 PDA Devices ZC Digital PDA Standard 50 769 498 24 IPDA Devices ZT Digital PDA Commercial 328 703 053 10 o VCRs 2 Hd VCR LCD Menu 47 901 559 14 100000000 50000000 1 230 549 883 89 144 770 574 58 l Product Sales Report Sales Chart o mQX Portable CD Player 0110 VHS C Camcorder 20 X 0120 VHS C Camcorder 40 X 150 8MM Camcorder 20 X 0 250 SMM
51. owever in the server environment the HTML Forms folder with HTML forms created with FrontPage reside in the Web Server folder under your WebFOCUS application folder The Procedures folder with all the procedures that i reside in the server is under the WebFOCUS Reporting Server folder which is under your WebFOCUS application folder When creating HTML forms using FrontPage in MRE the MRE application logic is used and it is based on the context of a domain Thus the FrontPage and MRE integration feature makes all i the functionality currently available for local i applications also available in MRE with no We intentionally omitted the edit open and run ictions options because the Server ID and not the MRE The Development on Server tool is great if you Administrator might not have access to the same data as the user This has generated some debate directly in the server environment without hav and may become a configurable site option in the ing to worry about having the same files in both the server and on your desktop would like to create and test your applications The Deployment Wizard is great if you would like to create your applications using any of the From the server you can either run them if the The FrontPage and MRE integration feature is If you have comments about these features please great if you would UNS to createany TME tormi contact Jim Thorstad in WebFOCUS Pr
52. r WebFOCUS Desktop Namespace WebFOCUS reporting applications or who are in Reporting Server for both of these features path For instructions on how to configure your Web server and WebFOCUS Reporting server see the Application Development Getting Started manual Information Builders Inc Another similarity between the Development on i Server and Deployment features is in order to use any of these features in the WebFOCUS Developer Studio you need to not only install and properly i configure a web server and a WebFOCUS Reporting Server but you also need to add all tar geted servers to the WebFOCUS folder in the Developer Studio Explorer Each server points to a WebFOCUS Reporting W ith the release of WebFOCUS 4 3 6 weintro X amp Y where you will be either moving files duced support for FrontPage for WebFOCUS through the Deployment Wizard tool or develop Desktop Managed Reporting Environment MRE PPP eaten server in order to use FrontPage in MRE ing an application through the Development on Server feature You also need to add a targeted While you can use the Deployment Wizard to deploy files created in your local application envi ronment to either a Web server or a WebFOCUS Reporting server you can use the Devedopment on Server feature to create these files directly on the web server or the WebFOCUS Reporting serv er This article is a discussion of how the FrontPage Dev
53. respective markets Excel among all of its popular features has an optional feature called Microsoft Query This feature gives you the ability to grab external data or even an HTML page and bring it right into your spread sheet It provides the most powerful way to deliver that information in real time to users who request it Hmmm if just put two and two together If data into the spreadsheet an existing spreadsheet Keep in mind Microsoft Query is not installed by default and may need to be installed before this technique can be used You will automatically be prompted to install Query the first time you attempt to access the feature Just follow the installation instructions need to designate an area where you want your spreadsh eet One good thing about Query is that after it is run WebFOCUS on the other hand as we all know is the first time the static data stays in the spread the best when it comes to accessing information sheet and is automatically refreshed each time you open the spreadsheet You can also click the Refresh Data option at anytime to update the information So let s take a look at the sample spreadsheet created Figure 1 on page 16 could use Microsoft Query to access the powerful WebFOCUS engine to get the data am looking for could possibly accomplish my goal Indeed Microsoft Query uses a URL to embed external The report is the result of a web
54. sions Topping the list is spiritual renewal Having lain fallow for many years this got a big motiva tional boost last September Next is my plan to make strides as a woodworker would never have guessed how sophisticated a project build ing an end grain butcher block cutting board is improve Of course there are other pas sions of home and hearth but if listed them all here you d fall asleep before said what s really on my mind Another important passion in my life is my work on WebFOCUS really enjoy what do and want it to reflect my sense of craftsmanship If you read From W here Sit last issue you may recall next release my plea for your input into product design This The product management team is working on the design for the next release of WebFOCUS so now is the time for you to give us advice Resolve to This year will talk to as many of you as I can learn what you do with WebFOCUS and how you was the humble beginning of a broad based plan to better understand how you use WebFOCUS This year I will talk to as many of you as can learn what you do with WebFOCUS and how you do it I ll listen to your pain and relish in your victories At the end of it all will use what I learn to WebFOCUS job offer The job seeker in both panels is saying It s boring uncreative and stable Information Builders has weath ered economic downturns before
55. st Can send an Exca report to an existing spreadsheet You see have this customized spreadsheet with all of my styling formulas and macros and want to put OK let s create a query In your spreadsheet you ll my WebFOCUS report into that spreadsheet The i stock answer I m sorry but WebFOCUS always l WebFOCUS report to appear If you have an exist generates its own squeaky clean spreadsheet from ing spreadsheet with lots of stuff already in it you may need to run the query in a separate work sheet and see how much space it will take up before adding it to the main working area of the thinking and a slight reverse of procedure you can have your data and eat it too mean you can put your WebFOCUS report inside of your own A good option is to designate one particular spreadsheet for your query and have everything else refer to the data through formulas on anoth er spreadsheet Or if you prefer you could have everything contained within the same worksheet Other surrounding elements in the spreadsheet should automatically reposition when the data comes back but you may want to leave a buffer area around the query anyway just in case you get back a surprise scratch But there is an alternative With a little creative customized spreadsheet Here s how it can be done With Microsoft Excel and WebFOCUS you have two of the most pow eful tools in their
56. tions You may choose all Case Management operations from this item and switch between any of the site codes or serial numbers in your profile code or serial number you add The new Change Profile option on the Case i Management menu allows you to view and update your profile from any page You can navi i gate to the Add Delete Site Code option from the Change Profile form The list of products on the top navigation bar i reflects the current offerings from Information Builders and iWay Use these links to browse tech i 5 nical information about our products The event will feature intensive workshops prod uct updates best practices seminars hands on A new Contact Us link and Logout link appear labs customer presentations and a solutions i in the banner area on top of each page You can pavilion with technology exhibits from leading now log out without returning to the home page software hardware and services providers Discussions will revolve around topics such as The product choices provided on the New Case Business Intelligence and wireless technology for Entry Form have changed to improve routing to the appropriate technical support representative i They do not directly coincide with the product Names now on the navigation bar but instead are optimized for case routing purposes For more information and to register visit www informationbuilders com summit call 8
57. tions you would like the servlet to compile for you by sim ply taking out or adding a snippet of JSP code and rerunning the JSP With static servlets what you see is what you get If you would like to change what functions or parameters are included in the servlet you must J ava first came into play in WebFOCUS 4 3 1 with the introduction of the ReportCaster Distribution Server Java application Since then other products such as Two Way Email for Self Service Applications and ReportCaster API have been developed and built upon this software implementation to embrace new technologies such as Java Beans and JavaServer Pages reprogram them using Java code and then recom pile and redistribute them Other benefits of JSPs include speed and scalability JSPs are compiled when they are first accessed and remain active and available for any subsequent requests within the same browser session which shortens response time Also based on Java JSPs inherit the portability and scalability benefits that enable development on one platform and deploy WebFOCUS 4 3 6 leverages these technologies for one important reason So that customers can integrate ReportCaster into their own existing applications regardless of whether they are using JavaServer Pages Java applications or Java Servlets says Steve Orlando Technical Director in the WebFOCUS Technical Division ment to any other
58. to run a JSP page for WebFOCUS User Administration Services or ReportCaster API The New Atlanta ServletExec Admin Console General View Logs option for Log File option ServletExec log contains access or compile errors 18 P All these problems are related to the configuration Dato Wob Site Sroperies 3 i of New Atlanta ServietExec on a system with NT File System NTFS There are specific configura tion instructions in the ServletExec Installation Guide for systems with NTFS The New Atlanta ServletExec installation guide is available at http www newatlanta com downloads 4_1 ServletE xec_41_Installation_Guide pdf This address is also available in New Atlanta s ServietExec READ ME txt file located in Drive Program Files New Atlanta ServletExec ISAPI Page 8 of the New Atlanta ServletExec Installation Guide states If you re using the NT File System NTFS permis sions for the ServletExec ISAPI directory and its subdirectories must be set so that ServletExec ISAPI has read and write access to these direc tories Because ServletExec ISAPI runs as part of the IIS process it will run as different users at dif ferent times The following groups should be granted Full Control to the ServletExec ISAPI directory and its subdirectories SYSTEM and Authenticated Users i The following user should be granted Full Control to the ServletExec ISAPI directory and its subdirectori
59. tor can only delete or modify the properties of this kind of output as shown in Figure 4 tory la Server nains tr Management Abernathy Adam L User s Reports H Acme Manufacturing em Deferred Reports Output B L Inventory Data Delete HH Sales Data Properties J Thu 27 Sep 2001 14 Help Baker Kathy Davis Norman default user Figure 4 ID frequently controls access to data The MRE future depending on feedback The main reason for doing this feature was to make it easier for administrators to manage the user base Some possibilities for the future include WebFOCUS Developer Studio application devel opment tools and then move them to the server one user to another We might also let the admin istrator access the user s deferred output while it tool they were originally created in is not avail still resides on the server from the User ablein the server or edit them Management feature These plans are still taking the ability to promote a user s My Report to a Standard Report or reassign a My Report from place so let us know your thoughts Management at jim_thorstad ibi com Information Builders Inc A Matter of Choice continued from page 3 One constraint when using either Deployment or But there are differences For local applications the HTML Forms folder and the Procedures folder l reside in the same directory your application directory H
60. uld help the user work faster and smarter in Dashboard Now that the WebFOCUS Business Intelligence The particular icons Information Builders imple into the core Mented in the list and folder blocks make it easi WebFOCUS installation the person installing the product simply enters the respective Dashboard tains hyperlinks and launch forms or procedures that do not require input or launch forms An icon is also available for procedures that are des ignated as Run Only as a Deferred Report installation can range from Dashboard alone to Dashboard with ReportCaster Two Way and PDA Summary Refer to the Dashboard license codes or your local The WebFOCUS Business Intelligence Dashboard enables organizations to quickly and easily per sonalize the WebFOCUS reporting environment for end users The enhancements described in this article as well as those to come strengthen the Al gba EL seer on ee coat Dash board s functionality flexibility and ease of block which serves as the location where an exe USS helping to make it an integral component cuted report s output appears This prevents a new within the WebFOCUS business intelligence window from spawning each time a report is run Context er for a user to determine whether the report con For more information on Dashboard enhance Information Builders enhanced the View Builder ments refer to the WebFOCUS Summary of New to let the ad

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