Eric,
Sorry, missed your earlier request on the server:

CG,
Decision has already been made, Tableau and BlackBoard Analytics(BBA).
Too many caveats when a new version is applied, too much rework, revised code, etc.
My contract is up mid year 2017, will see if Francis has any room on the boat to France!

Thanks Tom,

That's 8.1.05m by the way. Gen 882. I'm downloading a copy of Gen 800 to see if that is previous to whatever change is causing my problem.

OK, so, my forms still send both values since App Studio is NOT 8.1.05M.
Lucky me!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tom Flynn,

There was a change in behavior for the functionality of Send Display Value since App Studio 8105M.
The change was made based on few customer feedback.

All UC issues that have been reported have been addressed.

Original Behavior:
Display values were only sent to &VARIABLE_TEXT.
Send Display Value - Not Checked - &VARIABLE will have the actual value.
Send Display Value - Checked - &VARIABLE will have the actual value and &VARIABLE_TEXT will have the display value.
So you had to use &VARIABLE_TEXT in the procedure in order to see the Display value.

Current Behavior:
If the procedure uses &VARIABLE and &VARIABLE_TEXT, then there is no need to check Send Display Value. Even if it is checked, &VARIABLE will have the actual value and &VARIABLE_TEXT will have the display value.

Changes were made to use the Send Display Value exclusively for sending a value to &VARIABLE.
Send Display Value - Checked and no &VARIABLE_TEXT is used in the procedure, then &VARIABLE will have the display value.

Please open cases or let me know of any cases that were opened for any UC's based on this change in behavior.
I can work with support to provide the 8105M hotfixes that addressed this issue.
All reported UC's were fixed.

Thanks,
Latha Gunashekaran.

Is this documented anywhere other than here?

Would you agree that this change is ridiculous?

While I realize Information Builders INSISTS that you create the report procedure BEFORE creating the HTML parameter page, I don't work this way, and probably several hundred other DEVELOPERS don't either.

So, what happens if I don't have a procedure? I want to create only a parameter page, and one that behaves like it's supposed to - passing both selected value(s) and selected display value(s).

Thank you.

It's quite amazing that expected behaviour of the software can change in an M release, I thought these were 'maintenance' releases - bug fixes, etc...

No one else bothered by this?

Francis,

I think I've used up all my get-out-of-jail-free/don't-get-banned-from-the-forums cards already, or I'd tell you how I really feel. lol

With IBI releases, M stands for M-ore and/or M-odified more than it stands for M-aintenance in my opinion. W/o the M, you are working in a beta product. Plain and simple. This based on my experience, and the droves of cases I've created.

quote:

So, what happens if I don't have a procedure? I want to create only a parameter page, and one that behaves like it's supposed to - passing both selected value(s) and selected display value(s).

Grin and bear it -- create a stub procedure first, with just
-TYPE &apple
-TYPE &apple_TEXT
etc.
I mean, you DO know what vars the report fex needs to reference, before you design the launch page, n'est-ce pas?

Note that, once you have developed the launch page and the report, this behavior has minimal impact on maintenance.

J.Gross

What about when you're adding variables to HTML page. I might know generally that I'm going to need say 4 variables, but I might have to come back 2 months later and add 2 more. Or the requirements change, etc etc. You know how it goes. personally this is why I hate that IBI tries to hide all of this stuff in some glorified comment. I didn't really like the XML island before either, but at least there I knew how to manipulate it so that things worked correctly....

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. You have no need to do the things manually that we left out or didn't think about....

quote:

Originally posted by Francis Mariani:
No one else bothered by this?

No, because the only thing I believe is whatever amper values I get when I do this at the beginning of a procedure:

-? &
-EXIT

I developed an adhoc-type report about 15 months ago on 8.1.05. It sent some of the display values in amper variables like this:

_TEXT2
_TEXT4
_TEXT12

So I really have no idea what LathaG is talking about and I don't take it as the Gospel. My experience has been not to assume anything and check what description is actually being sent (if any). Maybe I have low expectations, but the software doesn't lie even if it does act strange.

As soon as I figure out what _TEXT2, _TEXT4 and _TEXT12 are actually describing I am good to go and can place them in the correct spot in HTML composer.

Apparently, the behaviour changed in 8.1.05 M.

quote:

Original Behavior:

Display values were only sent to &VARIABLE_TEXT.
Send Display Value - Not Checked - &VARIABLE will have the actual value.
Send Display Value - Checked - &VARIABLE will have the actual value and &VARIABLE_TEXT will have the display value.
So you had to use &VARIABLE_TEXT in the procedure in order to see the Display value.

Francis, I never even got the behavior I was supposed to get in 8.1.05!

I never got amper VARIABLE_TEXT. I must not have been working with the PRO version of WebFOCUS. My shareware version only gave me _TEXT.

I suspect it had something to do with me creating the amper variables in the fex file at a later time, after I had already HTML-composer'd it. Maybe.

The best part is that one or two of these _TEXT display variables are no longer recognized on our development system after upgrading to 8.1.05M. I get prompted for them when running the adhoc application I thought I had completed 15 months ago.

quote:

I get prompted for them when running the adhoc application I thought I had completed 15 months ago.

And now you know why this event is occurring.
IBI tightened the Auto-Prompter, so, now ALL & Variables were prompted for, even the ones IBI created in the HTML canvas.
If you go in after the fact and select Send Display Value:
1. the variable created was _TEXT, _TEXT1, _TEXT2 etc.
2. You now had to -DEFAULT all of these in the fex.

Took a long time to convert....

quote:

Apparently, the behaviour changed in 8.1.05 M.

Good thing we are skipping 8.1.05 and going to 8.2.01

Eric, I typed almost the same words and then gave up, threw in the towel, kicked the bucket...

quote:

What about when you're adding variables to HTML page. I might know generally that I'm going to need say 4 variables, but I might have to come back 2 months later and add 2 more. Or the requirements change, etc etc.