Book Image

IBM Cognos 8 Report Studio Cookbook

By : Abhishek Sanghani
Book Image

IBM Cognos 8 Report Studio Cookbook

By: Abhishek Sanghani

Overview of this book

Cognos Report Studio is widely used for creating and managing business reports in medium to large companies. It is simple enough for any business analyst, power user, or developer to pick up and start developing basic reports. However, when it comes to developing more sophisticated, fully functional business reports for wider audiences, report authors will need guidance. This book helps you understand and use all the features provided by Report Studio to generate impressive deliverables. It will take you from being a beginner to a professional report author. It bridges the gap between basic training provided by manuals or trainers and the practical techniques learned over years of practice. This book covers all the basic and advanced features of Report Authoring. It begins by bringing readers on the same platform and introducing the fundamental features useful across any level of reporting. Then it ascends to advanced techniques and tricks to overcome Studio limitations.Develop excellent reports using dimensional data sources by following best practices that development work requires in Report Studio. You will also learn about editing the report outside the Studio by directly editing the XML specifications. Provide richness to the user interface by adding JavaScript and HTML tags. The main focus is on the practical use of various powerful features that Report Studio has to offer to suit your business requirements.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
IBM Cognos 8 Report Studio Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface
Index

Showing the prompt values in report based on security


This recipe combines the techniques learned in prior recipes to achieve a business requirement. A report shows sales data by country and product line. Users can choose to see data for one or more countries.

However, we need to implement a security mechanism such that a user can choose only those countries to which he is supposed to have access. This is determined by the user groups he belongs to.

Getting ready

Create a simple list report with Country, City, Product line, and Sales Quantity as columns.

How to do it...

  1. We will start by adding a filter for countries. For that, go to Query Explorer and insert a new detail filter. Define it as: [Country] in ?Countries?

    Ensure that this filter is mandatory.

  2. Now, add a new prompt page. Drag a value prompt on to it.

  3. Follow the prompt wizard to set the following:

    1. Link it to existing parameter called 'Countries'.

    2. Create a new query for this prompt and call it 'Countries'.

  4. Go to Query Explorer and open...