Dear Mr. Wizard,

I would like to know how well integrated maintain is with the rest of Webfocus. Once upon a time the picture was not so rosy.

Can a Maintain procedure be called by PDF, Excel, PPT outputs as well as from an HTML report, and without the caching issue ? How would this be done ?

Can a maintain call a report procedure on close, and have it pop up in the same window ?

Are there any issues with running maintain under MRE vs. Self Service, and will that impact answers to the previous questions ?

That's all for now

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,

Dave

I think these question can better be answerd by your local IBI sales dep.

Hi Dave
If you can set up a URL you can kick off a Maintain without a caching issue. To do this, add the line:

javascript:window.location='http://server/ibi_apps/WFServlet?IBIF_cmd=MNTCON+EX+maintain_app&IBIAPP_app=maintain_path&random='+Math.random();

This adds a random value to there is no problem. There should be NO problems calling Maintain from an MRE or self-service application.

As for kicking off the report when the Maintain exits, you could try:

IWCTrigger("WINEXIT");
window.close();
url=”http://server/ibi_apps/WFServlet?IBIF_ex=fex”
window.open(url);

but I am honestly not sure what will happen with the agent.

Mark

quote:

but I am honestly not sure what will happen with the agent.

The URL will be returned to the browser, the agent will respect the server config, and a new call will be made to WF.

quote:

If you can set up a URL you can kick off a Maintain without a caching issue.

But, that is the problem with the Excel and PDF output format - no Javascript ! How does one get around that ?

If one is working with an HTML output, then Javascript can be added, but how to work with the following ?

TYPE=DATA,
COLUMN=N1,
URL=/ibi_apps/WFServlet?(xxx=N1 IBIF_cmd='MNTCON EX mnt1' IBIS_passthru='on' IBIS_connect='on' IBIAPP_app='cloop baseapp' IBIC_server='EDASERVE'),
$

I tried adding a random number in an & var to the end of one of those kind of URL's, but realized that once the report was rendered, that number didn't change for subsequent clicks, and was useless.

Dave
Would it be possible to create a TimeStamp field and place it somewhere on the report? I am not sure how you are generating the PDF or EXCEL output, but what we are coming up with is adding a random timestamp field to the report at runtime. Then you can pass it as part of the Maintain request.

Mark

DEFINE FILE CAR
TIMESTAMP/D8 WITH MODEL = RDUNIF (TIMESTAMP) * 100000;
END

TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT TIMESTAMP NOPRINT
BY COUNTRY
BY CAR
BY MODEL
ON TABLE SET PAGE-NUM OFF
ON TABLE NOTOTAL
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT PDF
ON TABLE SET HTMLCSS ON
ON TABLE SET STYLE *
TYPE=DATA,
COLUMN=N3,
URL=/ibi_apps/WFServlet?( \
model=N3 \
stamp=TIMESTAMP \
IBIF_cmd='MNTCON EX MNTIVP2' \
IBIS_passthru='on' \
IBIS_connect='on' \
IBIAPP_app='projects baseapp' \
IBIC_server='EDASERVE' \
),
$
ENDSTYLE
END

quote:

Would it be possible to create a TimeStamp field and place it somewhere on the report? I am not sure how you are generating the PDF or EXCEL output, but what we are coming up with is adding a random timestamp field to the report at runtime. Then you can pass it as part of the Maintain request.

Mark,

I tried adding a timestamp to the maintain drilldown URL in a report focexec using a DM &var. The problem was that the value is generated only once, when the report page is rendered and sent to the user. If the user clicks on the link a second time, the timestamp value doesn't change, and a cached maintain page is displayed with no changes visible to them.

I took your advice about using Javascript to create a URL that varied with each click of the same maintain link in an HTML format report, and that worked fine. (Thanks again)

But we are being asked to include maintain links in format EXCEL and PDF reports (clones of the HTML format report), where Javascript processing isn't available, and I'm afraid the caching issue will not be solvable there. That is unless you can pull a rabbit out of your hat

Bump

Dave

does "Bump" mean, "I managed to get this working" or "why is this not possible"

quote:

But we are being asked to include maintain links in format EXCEL and PDF reports (clones of the HTML format report), where Javascript processing isn't available, and I'm afraid the caching issue will not be solvable there. That is unless you can pull a rabbit out of your hat

Have the PDF's drilldown call a stub fex that returns a blank html page, whose onload calls the intended report fex, passing through the received drilldown arguments plus a random tag-along. When the blank page loads (even from cache) its onload javascript function will generate a unique call (whether a url or a Submit), so you will avoid receiving a cached report.

Frank,

'bump' means to bump up to the top, so the thread doesn't get lost in the noise of newer posts.

Jack,

Thanks, that's an interesting approach, through a bit of a 'long way around the horn'. Perhaps the only way...

Mark,

I'm hoping to hear you weigh in on how to deal with the lack of Javascript issue...

Dave
Jack's idea does seem like a viable solution. At one point there was a technique:

Set EXPIRE_REPORTS=1 in CGIVARS.WFS

The file is in \ibi\DevStudionn\srvnn\wfc\etc.

I am not sure what the downside to this setting is, but give it a try and let me know.

Mark

Thanks to everyone !

I won't be able to try an implement the suggestions for a bit due to other problems, but I will report back with the results when I do.