I have an html page which is referencing an external procedure through a push button. The report it is referncing has quite a few parameters which are on the HTML page. However, every so often I need to do updates to the page, but the only way I can get the new parameter to show up is to remove then reload the refernce to the external procedure. This means I need to redo all the parameters on the HTML page each time a new parameter is added. Does anyone know a better way to add a new parameter to an HTML page that is linked to an external procedure rather than redoing the whole report? Thank you!

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

Welcome to the wacky world of HTML Composter. There are no "Refresh" or "Update" buttons in the tool, so you must chose to either do as you have done, or add the new parameter(s) manually via the Parameters and Design tabs. In either case, the tool does a terrible job of cleaning up after itself in the HTML code. If you view the HTML code after making such changes, you will probably discover references to parameters that no longer exist or are out of context for the form (unbound on the Parameters tab), and multiple request ids for the same function. It's an adventure!

Cdeal

Right click the report frame and select Refresh Parameters. This will find new parameter names and allow you to add them. As an aside please don't refer to the product as derogatory names like HTML Composter since I will not respond to those questions. If you use a hyperlink you can use the frame idea above and then delete the frame and update the button hyperlink target.

David,

The "HTML Composter" moniker started off as a typo and soon became a (what I believe to be very mild) way for us to vent our frustrations over a very difficult tool to work with.

I find you often jump to the conclusion that we're not working with the tool properly but it usually ends up that it's the tool itself that's broken or hobbled by some idiosyncratic behaviour that doesn't make it easy to work with.

Take some time to read the many, many posts with subjects containing "HTML Composer" or even "HTML Composter" - there's a lot of frustration out there, so a little tongue-in-cheek typo is quite a minor insult.

I hope you read this.

Thanks, David. I am using a Hyperlink so I went to the Hyperlink properties, removed the link and created a new one (the same) immediately and it just pulled in the parameters I needed. That was easier than what I was doing before. I have not yet tried it with a frame, but I am sure that will be useful. Thank you!

Yes, "it just pulled in the parameters I needed" sounds easy, but watch out - if you have existing controls for these parameters with values added after the first time you pulled them in, you lose the values and the controls are reset to whatever the -DEFAULT or PROMPT statements contain in that external fex.

Thanks Francis. I have had that issue as well. I use includes for parameters sometimes since we have a variety of reports that use the same list that we don't have stored in the database. It somewhat defeats the purpose of having an include for this when it will not update automatically in the HTML page or that parameter cannot be refreshed from the report. If there is a way to update individual parameters like that, that would be great and helpful to know as well. I haven't been able to figure out that one yet.

Francis,

I spend usually 90% or more of my day on HTML Composer, and I have many other responsibilities. So to have what I work on most of my day be insulted with names may seem trivial to others but it hurts me and the Programmers who also spend most of their day on this as well. It just should not be done. I belong to other forums where people get booted off for things like that.

There is a reason why HTML Composer does what it does. It is a very complex facility that attempts to be everything to everyone. What one person likes, another one hates. I have been trying to change that or make areas where choices can be made since becoming Product Manager for it. For example, if you set up a procedure to populate a control and then decide to bind it to a parameter, the population changes because an assumption was made way back, that the population is probably invalid now that it is bound. We cannot be everything to everyone.

As far as not using the tool properly goes,many posts here do show incorrect usage, or an attempt to stretch functionality to suit needs. The documentation should be consulted. I work very hard on it. This manual is the second largest in the doc set. It is a complex tool. If there is something needed in the tool that is not there, editing code is not the answer. That is a bandaid since it will have a problem when you reopen the page, or upgrade to a new release. You need to open a new feature request.

I want everyone to be successful, and I want to help everyone to be successful. We all need to play fair in this.

Best regards.

You're working hard on HTML Composer - we're working hard with it. I can tell you that many of us feel it's lacking in a lot of ways - many of which have been documented here. We shouldn't have to open new feature requests just to fix things that are just plain wrong, and, though the documentation is the second largest, it still seems to be lacking.

The basic problem is that while it's relatively simple to build a parameter screen, it can be very difficult to maintain it - to adjust to new requirements.

Thanks for the hard work you're putting into the product and we're all hoping it keeps getting better.

I currently have a case open concerning what I believe to be this exact scenario (#82622546) - my parameter links are "broken" when I try to either relink a hyperlink or recreate it. Maybe this is a situation where I am using the tool incorrectly. David - would you be able to shed light on this? This case has been open for 2 weeks now and has gone NOWHERE.

Thank you,
Jeralee

Jeralee,

I read the case and I don't follow the entire thing unfortunately. It seems you are attaching a copy of an existing FEX to a button? HTML Composer would see that as a completely different FEX. If the parameter names are the same as those for existing controls, you should not be prompted to create controls for them by the New Parameters dialog. I don't see how existing chains and bindings would change though.

HTML Composer can be so frustrating. Why does it suddenly drop a parameter? I never changed the hyperlink properties - the thing has been pointing to the same fex for days. But for some reason, the &WFFMT parameter disappeared. So I reconnected and it came back - but of course, it wipes out any changes you made to the radio button set - like renaming "HTML Active Report" to "Active HTML". That's one of the many questions on my mind - why, when reconnecting (or whatever you want to call it), do the previously entered values get reset? It's most annoying and not intuitive at all that after setting up ten values in a list box, you may have to reconnect to the report fex and find that the ten values all disappeared. Of course, I'm doing something wrong for this to occur.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Francis Mariani,

If you are, then I am too. My original case referred to above was case where I had the parameters set as DEFAULTH within the fex, so anytime I would try to reattach, it would lose the links to those parameters. However, today..in another HTML Composer app I have, all of my frames suddenly started pointing to different procedures. I had to reconnect the frames to the correct procedures and now it's working again. I'm feeling your pain too...some of this just doesn't make sense.

Be careful about -DEFAULTH - wouldn't these variables not appear at all when linking to a fex?

When I originally built the ad-hoc tool in 7.6.10, they worked out fine. But you are right - now it doesn't see them at all so I had to change them all to -DEFAULT