Hi All

I would like to start a thread that we can share the issues and techniques used when working with the HTML Composer. The good, the bad, and the ugly... I feel that the HTML Composer could become the premier tool in the WebFOCUS products. We need to share our ideas and new features that bring the tool forward and make it a Premier product..

If there is any support for this thread let me know by your posts.

Thank you and have a great day,
Barry Solomon

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <Kathryn Henning>,

Hi Barry, I like your idea. I've tried to keep myself away from using HTML Composer but there are definitely cases when it's rather convenient to use it even when knowing ahead of time that a few moments of frustration are to be expected, so having a consolidated list of documented issues and techniques to be used would definitely go a long away.

I have one quirk off the top of my head that gets me. Maybe it's the way I am doing it.

Let's say I need to re-link my fex to the page again for what ever reason and I have a control that has static values (like a radio control).

If I uses the existing control (Radio1) when bringing it the fex, it wipes out all the static values that were orginally created in the control and my asssumption it is looking at the

-DEFAULT &Radio1 ='';

causing it to wiping them all out.

Maybe there is another way I could do this so it doesn't remove the values?

Hi Matt

When ever you refresh parameters on a report or go into the Hyperlink properties, the HTML Composer will parse the procedure and change any information in the HTML page that it thinks is incorrect. For example if in the procedure you have COUNTRY EQ &COUNTRY and &COUNTRY is associated with a Double List Box, the HTML Composer will set the parameter to a static variable and only pass one value regardless of how many values are selected. What you need to do is put the following code in the top of the procedure:

-PROMPT &COUNTRY.(OR(FIND CAR.ORIGIN.COUNTRY IN car)).COUNTRY.

or

-PROMPT ampParameterName.(OR([REGION,REGION],[ICD9,ICD9],)).Please select detail
field(s).

Note replace the square bracket with the less than or greater than symbol and use the amp symbol

The &COUNTRY will be seen by the HTML Composer as Multi OR and the parameter will be set correctly.

In your case it may be a little different but maybe you can use the static reference of the above PROMPT. If that does not work call me or open a case and we will take care of it.

Thanks Barry

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

Barry,

Some of my biggest frustrations revolve around the HTML Composer removing my relative positioning and replacing it with absolute positioning. This can be a real problem when I am creating dynamic check boxes for filtering or using other data that is not static. I have tried using the GUI to put the relative positioning in, and even then it will still replace it with absolute positioning

Another issue I have is I will use style sheets to define the look and feel of my pages and I will often have my width / height defined in the style sheet. For whatever reason HTML Composer thinks it knows better then I do on what the Height / Width should be and it will add its own inline style to my objects. This is extremely frustrating and forces me to have to go in and remove all of the unwanted inline styles.

A third issue I have is the Composer will very often create unnecessary request id's. This happens a lot when I need to add a parameter to a page and use the refresh parameters option. What I find happening then is, a new request is created for the new parameter. multiple things tend to happen from here. Multiple request lists will be executed on the execution of the form when I only needed 1 in the first place. This sends unnecessary request to the server and can cause conflicting returned results sometimes. Especially when 1 request only sends half of the variables to the report. I find myself having to spend a lot of time cleaning up the bad request id's to keep my execution clean.

These are my experiences in 7703 HF7. I have 8006 in a sandbox environment, but I have not gotten to this level of exploration there yet to see if these things have been fixed. Maybe they have. I'll find out when I can put the conversion project to the top of my priority list.