I had a this kind of case where I got an error when I tried to see the Report Studio report in Excel format. Reason for the error was that I had a background image in the report page. The image was JPEG and size is 1100x800 px. I decided to remove the image from the report.
Because I don't know how Excel handles images I'm still intrested to make tests where I use smaller image and/or GIF format.
11/02/2011
Cognos 10 Report Studio: Every second axis label missing
I made a simple vertical bar chart that I changed it to horizontal so that axis labels would be easier to read. Some of the labels were quite long and I had manually set break after 200 characters. That way whole label would be shown. But changing chart to horizontal, I lost every second axis label!
I read cognos help troubleshoot about labels but it wasn't so clear what I need to do with my report. I share my solution here if somebody has same problems with the labels. Again, texts in the pictures are in Finnish but I wrote instructions also in English.
[1] Go to axis labels properties and set options so that you don't allow skipping but either rotation or stagger is allowed. I chose to allow stagger:
Allow 45 Degree Rotation / Salli 45 asteen kierto --> No / Ei
Allow 90 Degree Rotation / Salli 90 asteen kierto --> No / Ei
Allow Stagger / Salli porrastus --> Yes / Kyllä
Allow Skip / Salli ohitus --> No / Ei
In my case this wasn't enough because I had set size to the chart and there wasn't enough space for the labels. First I tested it so that I took away all the chart size settings but it didn't help. (I didn't make any changes to the report page settings.) But I find the solution:
[2] If the first step didn't help yet, set the size of the chart big enough for the labels. I needed to set chart height to 600px and after that all the labels appeared.
Size and overflow / Koko ja ylivuoto
I read cognos help troubleshoot about labels but it wasn't so clear what I need to do with my report. I share my solution here if somebody has same problems with the labels. Again, texts in the pictures are in Finnish but I wrote instructions also in English.
[1] Go to axis labels properties and set options so that you don't allow skipping but either rotation or stagger is allowed. I chose to allow stagger:
Allow 45 Degree Rotation / Salli 45 asteen kierto --> No / Ei
Allow 90 Degree Rotation / Salli 90 asteen kierto --> No / Ei
Allow Stagger / Salli porrastus --> Yes / Kyllä
Allow Skip / Salli ohitus --> No / Ei
 |
| Axis properties - labels options |
In my case this wasn't enough because I had set size to the chart and there wasn't enough space for the labels. First I tested it so that I took away all the chart size settings but it didn't help. (I didn't make any changes to the report page settings.) But I find the solution:
[2] If the first step didn't help yet, set the size of the chart big enough for the labels. I needed to set chart height to 600px and after that all the labels appeared.
Size and overflow / Koko ja ylivuoto
10/15/2011
Cognos 10 Report Studio - Adding secondary value axis to the chart
This example shows, how to add secondary value axis to the chart in C10 Report Studio. For example in this bar chart 'revenue' and 'profit margin %' measures can't use same axis (Pic.1.)
 |
| Pic.1 |
10/09/2011
CASE statement giving error in SSRS query designer
This is someting "back to basics" stuff.. :)
In SSRS query designer I needed write CASE statement like this:
(CASE WHEN (tf_table.applicationtype = 1) THEN ('first')
ELSE (tf_table.applicationtype) ) AS application
.....But I got error message:
In SSRS query designer I needed write CASE statement like this:
(CASE WHEN (tf_table.applicationtype = 1) THEN ('first')
ELSE (tf_table.applicationtype) ) AS application
.....But I got error message:
10/06/2011
Cognos 10 Report Studio - Format tooltip values
I show tooltip in a chart but measure value is too precise, like 1,629387. I want to show only one decimal. So, here are steps how to modify that tooltip value:
[ 1 ] On the chart Series / Sarja box, click measure text
[ 2 ] Go to Properties - Chart Node Member / Ominaisuudet - Kaavion solmujäsen
[ 3 ] Click ellipsis (...) in the Data Format / Tietomuoto section to open properties and modify format of the measure as you like.
[ 2 ] Go to Properties - Chart Node Member / Ominaisuudet - Kaavion solmujäsen
[ 3 ] Click ellipsis (...) in the Data Format / Tietomuoto section to open properties and modify format of the measure as you like.
9/27/2011
Cognos 10 Report Studio - Rotate x-axis labels (legacy charts)
I made a report with a couple of charts in it, but the x-axis labels of the chart puzzled me. At first I couldn't find where I can modify the x-axis labels to be in a 90 degrees angle in all of those charts. Some of the charts had labels rotated 45 degrees, some 90 degrees and some of the labels were just horizontal. Now that I have solved it I want to share it :) . I add terms used in Finnish language Report Studio 'cause I think those translations used in it are often strange.
[ 1 ] Click category axis / luokan akseli in the chart
[ 2 ] In the properties list under General / Yleinen modify Label control / Nimen ohjausobjekti property from Default / Oletus àAutomatic / Automaattinen
Voilà! All the rotation properties are shown and you are able to set label rotation, eg. allow 90 degrees rotation.
NOTE: this applies to legacy charts.
[ 1 ] Click category axis / luokan akseli in the chart
[ 2 ] In the properties list under General / Yleinen modify Label control / Nimen ohjausobjekti property from Default / Oletus àAutomatic / Automaattinen
Voilà! All the rotation properties are shown and you are able to set label rotation, eg. allow 90 degrees rotation.
NOTE: this applies to legacy charts.
9/10/2011
Blog statistics
Precisely eleven months ago I sent my first posting here. I'm happy that I've got many readers even though I haven't been very active blogger. I want to share my blog statistics.
TOP 3 Topics
TOP 3 Topics
- Cognos Report Studio and prevent page breaks in HTML report
- Creating and copying custom palette
- Errors while loading the designer - fixed in code view
TOP 10 Countries
- Finland
- United States
- Germany
- Great Britain
- Australia
- India
- Singapore
- Russia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Canada
Do U Love Excel-reports?
How would it sound if a manager of an organisation wanted a dashboard report, that would show what kind of impact it had, if he used less time for management and more for customer meetings?
When opening the report, different scenarios would be played in 3D video and James McCaffrey (voice actor of MaxPayne video game) would be the narrator. For showing the report in the board meeting, it would have elements based on the organisations graphic instructions and in addition personal themes that were loaded from an online store.
My imagination is not the wildest, but could that description above be something like what the Generation Y managers would want? Past years Generarion Y in a workplace, being led and being leaders, has been a topic of discussion. How does this generation, who was born in the internet-era and to whom computers are a given, differ from the previous generations? I'm interested in what this brings to my work in BI-reporting area or will it bring anything at all?
In differend sources the Generation Y is defined to be born between 1977-1990, 1980-1995 or 1980-2000 and in a way I myself belong to that generation, but when you’re used to seeing old-fashioned reports, it is easy to get stuck with them. The most important wish for a customer may be, that a report can be viewed in Excel-format and the numbers can later be tweaked by them. They don’t necessarily care at all how ugly the report looks and in the worst case they may wish to input as much as 30 prompts before they run the report!
Generation Y is described, for example, so that user experience is important and delays are irritating for them. I can believe, that Generation Y demands much more from a report, than “just show the right figures”!
When opening the report, different scenarios would be played in 3D video and James McCaffrey (voice actor of MaxPayne video game) would be the narrator. For showing the report in the board meeting, it would have elements based on the organisations graphic instructions and in addition personal themes that were loaded from an online store.
My imagination is not the wildest, but could that description above be something like what the Generation Y managers would want? Past years Generarion Y in a workplace, being led and being leaders, has been a topic of discussion. How does this generation, who was born in the internet-era and to whom computers are a given, differ from the previous generations? I'm interested in what this brings to my work in BI-reporting area or will it bring anything at all?
In differend sources the Generation Y is defined to be born between 1977-1990, 1980-1995 or 1980-2000 and in a way I myself belong to that generation, but when you’re used to seeing old-fashioned reports, it is easy to get stuck with them. The most important wish for a customer may be, that a report can be viewed in Excel-format and the numbers can later be tweaked by them. They don’t necessarily care at all how ugly the report looks and in the worst case they may wish to input as much as 30 prompts before they run the report!
Generation Y is described, for example, so that user experience is important and delays are irritating for them. I can believe, that Generation Y demands much more from a report, than “just show the right figures”!
6/24/2011
Cognos Report Studio and prevent page breaks in HTML report
I made reports in IBM Cognos Report Studio, version was 10 but it has only slight changes compared to version 8. (If you are new with Cognos you might wonder if I have typed number wrong but I haven't because previous version was 8.) Software was in Finnish and that makes it sometimes more difficult to find the right settings for objects's properties because translations can be so weird sometimes and use terms wrong. I wrote these instructions here because for me these settings weren't logical.. :) This page break example picture has Finnish texts.
Desired report layout had crosstab first and after that a couple of graphs and these all had to be in one HTML-page without page breaks.
At first I set rows per page number for the crosstab big enough to prevent page break then I checked that all possible properties which could affect to page breaks.
[ 1 ] Go to File / Tiedosto and in the Report Properties / Raportin ominaisuudet menu set ”Page break by data container for interactive HTML” / ”Tietosäilön sivunvaihto vuorovaikutteiselle HTML:lle” à Yes (default setting is No)
[ 2 ] Deselect ”Paginate saved HTML output” / ”Sivuta tallennetut HTML-tulokset” --> OK.
Desired report layout had crosstab first and after that a couple of graphs and these all had to be in one HTML-page without page breaks.
At first I set rows per page number for the crosstab big enough to prevent page break then I checked that all possible properties which could affect to page breaks.
[ 1 ] Go to File / Tiedosto and in the Report Properties / Raportin ominaisuudet menu set ”Page break by data container for interactive HTML” / ”Tietosäilön sivunvaihto vuorovaikutteiselle HTML:lle” à Yes (default setting is No)
[ 2 ] Deselect ”Paginate saved HTML output” / ”Sivuta tallennetut HTML-tulokset” --> OK.
 |
| Report Properties * Here is updated picture of the properties in English. (Report Studio version is 10.2.2). Instructions above still apply :) (pink spots in the pic)  |
6/01/2011
Bottoms up! Finally simple bottomN report is working
I had difficulties to create simple Top N or Bottom N report in SSRS but finally it's working :) ! Here's the example how use bottom N filter in a tablix report. In this case I wanted to have list of the oldest jobs from the database table and the prompt where user can choose how many records are shown in the list.
[ 1 ] I made Report Parameter p_bottomN that is Visible to user.
[ 2 ] In its properties Available Values tab I specified values 5, 10 and 20 for user to choices. Label and value were both same. In Default Values tab I added value 5.
[ 3 ] Then in report's Dataset Properties and Filters tab I added filter:
Report looked fine when previewing it an I even didn't need to pre-order my data in dataset query. But after I deployed the report to the report manager, publishing site - bottomN prompt wasn't visible and default record amount wasn't 5. This was because at first I had this parameter hidden and default value was 10. Problem was solved in report manager. I looked to report's properties and parameter tab where I needed to put this prompt visible and change the default value.
[ 1 ] I made Report Parameter p_bottomN that is Visible to user.
[ 2 ] In its properties Available Values tab I specified values 5, 10 and 20 for user to choices. Label and value were both same. In Default Values tab I added value 5.
[ 3 ] Then in report's Dataset Properties and Filters tab I added filter:
- Expression [JobDate]
- Operator Bottom N
- Value [@p_bottomN]
Report looked fine when previewing it an I even didn't need to pre-order my data in dataset query. But after I deployed the report to the report manager, publishing site - bottomN prompt wasn't visible and default record amount wasn't 5. This was because at first I had this parameter hidden and default value was 10. Problem was solved in report manager. I looked to report's properties and parameter tab where I needed to put this prompt visible and change the default value.
 |
| Report Manager - Parameter tab. |
2/26/2011
Report Page Setup - Paper size
I use next setup for the reports that are displayed in HTML and PDF formats and need to be ready for printing.
Report Properties > Page Setup I have inches for units because I couldn't set size right with centimeters. When orientation is portrait then Width: 8,27in and Height: 11,69in. (For landscape - the other way round.)
Page margins are 0,5 inches so that it's easy to control report body width in relation to paper size. I have the ruler displayed in report designer and I set report body width to some what 7,2in (paper width 8,27in - margins 2*0,5in). Now report content won't exceed paper width and printing blank papers is avoided.
 |
| Report Properties - Page Setup |
Report Properties > Page Setup I have inches for units because I couldn't set size right with centimeters. When orientation is portrait then Width: 8,27in and Height: 11,69in. (For landscape - the other way round.)
Page margins are 0,5 inches so that it's easy to control report body width in relation to paper size. I have the ruler displayed in report designer and I set report body width to some what 7,2in (paper width 8,27in - margins 2*0,5in). Now report content won't exceed paper width and printing blank papers is avoided.
MS SSRS - Sorting chart axis labels
In the beginning I had difficulties to remember where to find sorting options for the chart axis labels. Clicking around chart area and checking properties got to my nerves but then I decided to write it down for the future and then I begin to remember. I thought this would be useful post to some others too. In this example I add sorting to x-axis "finished_month".
[ 1 ] Click over x-axis labels so that x-axis category field is seen
[ 2 ] Right-mouse click open Category Group Properties and add sorting.
[ 1 ] Click over x-axis labels so that x-axis category field is seen
[ 2 ] Right-mouse click open Category Group Properties and add sorting.
 |
| x-axis labels - sorting |
Notice...
[ 3 ] It doesn't show anything at Chart Member Properties: SortExpression box. You have to click it open to see the sorting options for that Chart Member.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)