I thought my prayers had been answered when I read Robert's answer here:
http://forums.informationbuild...807064526#3807064526

This works, I assume, for reports that don't need parameters.

Then I saw Susannah's suggestion in this post:
http://forums.informationbuild...687034526#6687034526
and I thought that all I had to do is combine the two techniques and I'd be laughing.

But no ... it's never that easy is it.

There are several issues, including a major difference in what happens in my local environment and what goes on with the server, but I'd like to tackle them one or two at a time.

So in the local environment, I can run a launch page and it displays and populates the dynamic variables correctly. If I put the same html in a fex between -HTMLFORM BEGIN and -HTMLFORM END I get two errors:

1) It prompts for a value for [amper]nbsp
2) The form displays, but dynamic variables don't get populated

The [amper]nbsp prompt happens no matter what launch page I try, incidenttally. Is this another HTML Composter feature?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: George Patton,

Show us the code.

Is the fex in MRE? Does it have the Prompt for parameters option checked?

If you're creating HTML in a fex and wabnt to use html characters like   then you have to code them like &|nbsp;

Francis: Here's the code. I can make the nbsp prompt go away by using a SET, but of course I'd rather not have them in the code to start with. I don't do html, so it's your favourite tool that is the culprit ...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: George Patton,

PS - this is not MRE

Actually, I have fourteen (14) ampersand parameters being passed into the router on this most recent applcation, so yes, it is very useful with parameters.

The main thing I see at this point is I stopped using -HTMLFORM BEGIN and -HTMLFORM END to embed HTML in a fex a LONG time ago. If I absolutely have to do it I will use the construct

 
-HTMLFORM app/launch.htm
 

where launch.htm is the file I built using the Composer. I use the composer simply because it is easier than coding the HTML like I had to do for some 15 years before in my Client-Server / ASP days prior to WebFOCUS development, and as I still do for my two business sites that do not use WebFOCUS.

I may be wrong, but it definitly looks to me like either you wrote the HTML by hand, or you deleted all those "extra" DIV, SPAN and LABEL tags the Composer uses. I also used to try to "Clean up" the html, and I have learned the long hard way not to bother. Now I just use the GUI, and only go into the HTML tab to add Javascript and sometimes make additions to the xml. Since I have started doing this, I have not had to use a non breakable space, ever.

So, my first suggestion is to make sure the report runs with the parameters you need, comment out ALL DEFAULT statements, and then use the Composer to create your launch page. The instant you create a hyperlink, USING the GUI, you will have the opportunity to select which variables to create controls for, and what type of controls. It is nothing but styling after that.

Robert: I absolutely created the form using HTML Composer - I don't know enough about html to code anything myself.

You write that you do pass a lot of variables using your technique - do you supply them all at the initial page where you have the drop-down list of the fexes? I only want to show my users the variables relevant to a given report, which is why I wanted to invoke the separate launch page. I'll give your -HTMLFORM app/launch.htm a shot.

Thanks for the tips!

I have the same situation in that not all 14 of those variables are used by every report. In one of my applications I have the report names in a dropdown list. I have the variables in group boxes and when the user makes a selection, the appropriate Group Box is displayed with:

 
function combobox1_onchange(ctrl) {
     document.getElementById("groupbox4").style.visibility = "visible";
}

and all others are set to 'hidden'. Since some parameters are applicable to all, they are outside the group boxes. With 12 reports in the list, the thing looks really ugly in the Composer :-) but it seems to make the end user happy.

Success ! I think....

I recreated a bare-bones launch page for the report I listed earlier using HTML Composer and then used the -HTMLFORM app/launch.htm command in the router.fex.

This works in my local environment and I'll next try deploying it to production.

This project is now coming along nicely - a drop down box of reports and an invisible iframe on the main menu page where the variables page for the selected report gets displayed. After the variables are selected the report runs in a new window.

My next challenge is to group my reports into several different list boxes. Each of those controls will get bound to a different ReportCode variable, which would imply a separate Run button for each list.

So:

ReportList1 populates ReportCode1
ReportList2 populates ReportCode2
etc..

Is there a neat way to have just one Run button?

I'm guessing that if the user selects a report from ReportList2 I could write something like this in router.fex:

-&NewReportCode=IF &ReportCode1 EQ '' THEN &ReportCode2 .... ELSE ReportCodex;
-GOTO &NewReportCode

But can I be sure that &ReportCode1 will return a null value if nothing is selected in that list?

Hey, that sounds really cool. Can you post some screen shots?

Actually, using a single button off of multiple lists, each and every list will send whatever the last selected item was.

When you go to the parameters tab and click on the list box bound to &ReportCode1, there will be a checkbox for an "All" option. Check that and change to text from 'All' to blanks, or N/A or whatever you want. Then when your user clicks on the single button the variable will be passed containing 'FOC_NONE'

Then tweak the code...

 
-&NewReportCode=IF &ReportCode1 EQ 'FOC_NONE' THEN
 

I would also add a bit of java script to disable the button until the user has selected a report, and also to to set the selectedIndex of the other ReportList boxes to 0. This will ensure the user must select a report, and only one report.

Thanks Robert,

I pretty much thought it would work as you describe. I was really happy till you mentioned javascript :-(

What about all those admonitions to never, ever, mess around with the code generated by the GUI? (I know, I know ... IBI even puts //TODO Insert your code here messages, but if I break it ....)

Maybe I'll just have separate run buttons for each list - it won't be too awful, and they can all reference the same router.fex

@Mike in Deland - what I have now is pretty raw and experimental. I'll post when I have something a bit more finished.

About 6 years ago I was working for a company out in Wichita Ks. I don't know if Travis is still reading this forum since he moved on from IT, but he will probably die laughing if he sees me publishing JS suggestions :-) To say that I 'resisted' is a very mild way to phrase my response when he wanted me to write JS.

However, I am now of the school that you have to have at least rudimentary skills in JavaScript if you want to really get the most out of WebFOCUS. There really is no other way to have the launch page function dynamically in response to the users real time actions.

You will also need rudimentary XML skills so that when you click on a button and the Variable does not show up in the Fex, You know to go add that Requestid to the Variables list. That one had me tearing my hair out for a while also

quote:

add that Requestid to the Variables list

I just got burnt by this.

You set up a parameter screen via the GUI for a particular report, where you include the Run Now, Run Deferred and Schedule buttons. You point these buttons to the report so that the required variables are added to the parameter screen. All is good.

Later, you add a parameter to the report and then add a control (list box, radio button, etc) to the parameter screen. This is done by re-pointing the Run Now button to the report to consume this newly added parameter. IF YOU DON'T ALSO RECONNECT THE RUN DEFERRED BUTTON AND THE SCHEDULE BUTTON TO THE REPORT, THEY ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THESE RUN TYPES!!!

This is so unintuitive and most likely not documented anywhere. Thankfully someone told me about the requestids, so I fixed it manually.