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  • Book Overview & Buying IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio Cookbook
  • Table Of Contents Toc
IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio Cookbook

IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio Cookbook - Second Edition

By : Ahmed S Lashin, Abhishek Sanghani
3.6 (9)
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IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio Cookbook

IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio Cookbook

3.6 (9)
By: Ahmed S Lashin, Abhishek Sanghani
Buy this Book

Overview of this book

IBM 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, this book is designed to take the reader beyond the basics and into the world of creating more sophisticated, functional business reports.IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio Cookbook, Second Edition 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.Written in a recipe style, this book offers step-by-step instructions for IBM Cognos Report Studio users to author reports effectively, allowing a reader to dip in and out of the chapters as they desire. You will see a new fictional business case in each recipe that will relate to a real-life problem and then you will learn how to crack it in Report Studio. This book covers all the basic and advanced features of Report Authoring. It introduces 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. You will discover how to build and use Cognos Active Reports, a new addition in IBM Cognos 10. Provide richness to the user interface by adding JavaScript and HTML tags and using the different chart types introduced in IBM Cognos 10. The main focus is on the practical use of various powerful features that Report Studio has to offer to suit your business requirements. Learn numerous techniques and hacks that will allow you to make the best out of your IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
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Preface
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Preface
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What this book covers
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What you need for this book
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Who this book is for
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Conventions
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Reader feedback
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Customer support
Lock Free Chapter
1
1. Report Authoring Basic Concepts
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1. Report Authoring Basic Concepts
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Introduction
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Summary filters and detail filters
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Sorting grouped values
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Aggregation and rollup aggregation
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Implementing if-then-else in filters
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Formatting data – dates, numbers, and percentages
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Creating sections
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Hiding columns in crosstabs
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Prompts – display value versus use value
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2. Advanced Report Authoring
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2. Advanced Report Authoring
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Introduction
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Adding cascaded prompts
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Creating a nested report – defining the master-detail relationship
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Writing back to the database
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Adding conditional formatting
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Formatting negative values
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Playing with conditional styles
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Using conditional blocks – many reports in one
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Defining drill-through from crosstab intersection
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Overriding crosstab intersection drill-through definitions
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3. Using JavaScript Files – Tips and Tricks
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3. Using JavaScript Files – Tips and Tricks
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Introduction
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Defining dynamic default values for prompts
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Changing the title of the value prompt
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Validating textbox prompts
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Showing/hiding prompt controls at runtime
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Selecting and submitting values automatically
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Manipulating the Date Time control
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Creating a variable width bar chart using JavaScript
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4. The Report Page – Tips and Tricks
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4. The Report Page – Tips and Tricks
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Introduction
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Showing images dynamically (traffic light report)
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Handling the missing image issue
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Dynamic links to an external website (a Google Maps example)
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Alternating drill links
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Showing tooltips on reports
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Merged cells in Excel output
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Worksheet name in Excel output
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Conditional column titles
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5. Working with XML
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5. Working with XML
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Introduction
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Changing drill targets quickly
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Copying and pasting drill links
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Removing references to old packages or items
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A hidden gem in XML – row level formatting
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6. Writing Printable Reports
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6. Writing Printable Reports
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Introduction
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Controlling the container size and rows per page
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Eliminating orphan rows
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Defining page orientation and size (and overriding them for one page)
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Avoiding page title repetition
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Horizontal pagination
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Page numbering with horizontal pagination
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Choosing the output format from a prompt
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Choosing the right colors
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Defining page sets
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Cautions about HTML items and JavaScript files
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Displaying the report name in a footer
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7. Working with Dimensional Models
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7. Working with Dimensional Models
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Introduction
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List report or crosstab report
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Filtering rows or columns
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Filtering a whole report
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Adding a prompt into Slicer and its limitations
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Achieving zero suppression
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Aggregation versus preaggregated values
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The roleValue() function
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Swapping dimensions using MUN manipulation
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8. Working with Macros
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8. Working with Macros
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Introduction
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Adding data-level security using the CSVIdentityMap macro
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Using the Prompt macro in native SQL
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Making prompts optional
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Adding a token using macros
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Using the prompt() and promptmany() macros in query subjects
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Showing the prompt values in a report based on security
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String operations to get it right
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Showing a username in the footer
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9. Using Report Studio Efficiently
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9. Using Report Studio Efficiently
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Introduction
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Using Report Studio's environmental options
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Copying and pasting partial or full reports
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Upgrading report specifications
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Setting the execution timeout
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Setting the maximum row limit
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Handling slow report validation
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Capturing a query
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Browsing values from the data expression window
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Viewing the page structure
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Picking up and applying styles
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Using the "grab them all" practice
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Using Default Data Formats
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10. Working with Active Reports
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10. Working with Active Reports
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Introduction
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Building tabbed reports
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Working with Decks
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Working with the Data Deck
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Filtering data using Data Check Box Group
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11. Charts and New Chart Features
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11. Charts and New Chart Features
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Introduction
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Chart formatting options
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Converting a chart to another chart type
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Working with pie charts
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Getting started with bullet charts
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Getting started with scatter charts
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12. More Useful Recipes
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12. More Useful Recipes
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Introduction
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Timing report execution
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Missing values versus zero values
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Overriding data formatting using patterns
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Setting up conditional drill-throughs
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Dynamically switching between reports using an iFrame
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Freezing column titles
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13. Best Practices
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13. Best Practices
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Introduction
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Reducing the number of query items
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Highlighting hidden items
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Using relative paths for images
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Controlling JavaScript file execution
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Customizing classes for report-wide effect
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Creating templates
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Regression testing
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Commenting the code
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Naming data containers (lists, crosstabs, and charts) for use in Cognos Workspace
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Enabling a larger worksheet size for Excel 2007
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A. Recommendations and References
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A. Recommendations and References
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Introduction
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Version controlling
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Recommendations for prompt types
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Cognos Mashup Service
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SDK and third-party tools for Cognos
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IBM Cognos Analysis For Excel (CAFE)
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IBM Cognos for Microsoft Office
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IBM Cognos Workspace
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IBM Cognos Workspace Advanced
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IBM Cognos Cloud
15
Index
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Index

Creating sections

Users want to see the details of orders. They would like to see the order number and then a small table showing the details (product name, promotion, quantity, and unit sell price) within each order.

Getting ready

Create a simple list report with Sales order / Order number, Products / Product, Sales fact / Quantity, and Sales fact / Unit sale price as columns.

How to do it...

Creating sections in a report is helpful to show a data item as the heading of a section. When you run the report, separate sections appear for each value. There is a way to reconstruct the report, and this is how to do it:

  1. Click on the Order number column. Hit the Section button on the toolbar as shown in the following screenshot:
    How to do it...
  2. You will see that Report Studio automatically creates a header for Order number and moves it out of the list.
  3. Notice that the Order number field is now grouped as shown in the following screenshot:
    How to do it...
  4. Run the report to test it.

How it works...

The information we are trying to show in this report can also be achieved by normal grouping on order number. That will bring all the related records together. We can also set an appropriate group/level span and sorting for better appearance.

However, in this recipe, I want to introduce another feature of Report Studio called section.

When you create a section on a column, Report Studio automatically does the following:

  • It creates a new list object and moves the current report object (in our case, the existing list) inside that. This is report nesting. Both the inner and outer objects use the same query.
  • It creates grouping on the column selected for section, which is Order number in this case. It also creates a group header for that item and removes it from the inner list.
  • It formats the outer list appropriately. For example, hiding the column title.

There's more...

Some of the advantages of creating sections are as follows:

  1. As mentioned earlier, Report Studio does a lot of the work for you and gives you a report that looks more presentable. It makes the information more readable by clearly differentiating different entities; in our case, different orders. You will see mini-lists or tables, one for each Order number, as shown in the following screenshot:
    There's more...
  2. As the outer and inner queries are the same, there is no maintenance overhead.

See also

  • The Creating a nested report – defining the master-detail relationship recipe in Chapter 2, Advanced Report Authoring
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IBM Cognos 10 Report Studio Cookbook
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