Hi all,

I've a nice simple question; at first glance.

I'm working in an environment in which all FEXes and HTML-files are within domains in MRE. No problems there.

When I need to call an HTML-page from one of these FEXes something like the following (if you have a file called 'htmlfile.htm') will do:

-HTMLFORM htmlfile

We have a FEX that loads something like 20 to 30 parameters which are used in our HTML-files which are in turn used to run some reports.
The idea is to call the FEX, and then to load the required HTML-file via a parameter (which is already available in the FEX).
Something like:

-HTMLFORM &HTMLNAME

Somehow this doesn't seem to work in MRE. It just looks for a file called &HTMLNAME.htm.
After a lot of searching I came across the -MRNOEDIT command. This does interpret the parameter, but then looks for the HTML-file in the IBI/APPS directory (application).
It won't find the file there because the HTML-file exists only in MRE.

I've been trying for a few days now and tried this on versions 7.1.4 to 7.6.4 and different server setups (reporting server and client on the same machine; the two on different machines), but this somehow does not work.

Anyone know a workaround or am I doing something blatently obviously wrong?

You can test this of course by creating an HTMLfile in a domain and a FEX calling that HTMLfile.
-HTMLFORM htmlfile
will work.
-SET &HTMLNAME = 'htmlfile'
-HTMLFORM &HTMLNAME
will not (also not with .EVAL, .QUOTEDSTRING)

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

You can harness the usage of !IBI.AMP.variable; within your HTML files.

Just -INCLUDE the fex before the -HTMLFORM and issue a -RUN and ensure that the fex calling the HTMLFORM has a -DEFAULT or a -SET for &HTMLNAME.

Within your HTML file have controls for each amper variable that you wish to use, something like -

<input type=hidden name=[your ampvar name] value=!IBI.AMP.[your ampvar name];>

T

Jochem,

You can make the htmlform that you need to access variable like so:

-SET &HTMFILE='help.htm';
APP MAP HTMLS C:\ibi\WebFOCUS76\basedir\untitled\app
APP PREPENDPATH HTMLS

-HTMLFORM BEGIN
-MRNOEDIT -INCLUDE &HTMFILE
-HTMLFORM END

This way you can have all your html files in one separate directory and show them by using a variable.

Hope this helps ...

Only problem with that last solution is you are opening up your secure MRE environment by adding part of the domain structure to the server path. I would stay away from that as much as possible. With a slight tweak, people could be getting into places they shouldn't.

Thanks for the replies!

Tony; perhaps it would be best if I explained the whole situation.

What I'm searching for is a way to use one generic FEX (so that for all new reports to be created I can use this FEX as well) to point to, which loads a specific HTML-file.
As you pointed out; the generic FEX has an INCLUDE which loads a set of parameters which can then be used in the HTML-file with the !IBI.AMP.VAR; syntax.

The way we implement it in MRE now is the following:
- A URL is created in the domain which uses a MRE URL to the generic FEX with 1 extra parameter; the HTML-file it needs to load next. This URL is what the user gets in the Dashboard.
- The HTML-file to be loaded is also located in the domain and uses the !IBI.AMP.VAR; variables loaded in the generic FEX.
- The HTML-file then loads it's specific FEX

I hope this sheds some more light on the subject! Perhaps there's a better way to implement this in MRE and the Dasboard?

Darin, you're absolutely right about the security; it's the main reason the customer wants to keep everything located in the MRE domains.

I also would agree with Darin, if this addition to the servers path would be permanent.
Since this is done only within this fex and only for the time it takes the server to access the htmlform, and since the server has to access the form anyway, wherever it is located, I think the security breach is virtually non-existent.
And, as I said before, you could store your htm files anywhere, they do not have to be present in the domain structure. As long as you point your server to where it can find them, it's ok.
As you have also found, there is not any other obvious way to present an MRE-htmlform with a variable name....

Hope this helps ...

Hi GamP,

It's most certainly an option worth looking into.
There's an extra catch here though were the way WebFOCUS is implemented is an extra thing to take into account; The Client is installed on a Windows machine (7.1.4), the Reporting server on a UNIX machine (7.1.7).

I've been trying your suggestion, but I suspect this is the reason it can't do anything with the APP MAP? Since this is a Windows path (and I have the correct path), and it looks like the MRNOEDIT makes it look for the file on the UNIX machine (anyone know if this is actually the case?).

Jochem,

You're absolutely right. Since it is the server that will instruct the webserver what to do, it will look at the server only. MRE is implemented by means of applets, and thus runs mainly on your own workstation. Executing a procedure from MRE will be started by the servlet engine, which runs wherever webfocus client is installed. The servlets will take care of locating the right procedures and will ship them over to the server for execution. This is exactly the reason why -HTMLFORM &somename will not work within MRE, because the servlets will start looking for a file with the name &somename. Servlets do not have any notion of program variables. Since the value of the variable is only known at runtime, you will have to have the htmlfiles that you want to show on the unix side of the equation.
I hope this explanation of how things work internally will help you in finding a solution.

GamP,

Thanks for the info!
Fully understanding the problem brings you closer to the solution of course, so all information about it is always welcome.

As a note --
I've also been trying to do things like create a FEX on the fly (with the -HTMLFORM in it) and INCLUDE this straight away. Of course this has the same problem; the FEX is created on the Reporting server, and I'd want it to INCLUDE something within MRE.
The way we have it working right now is that we use labels. Something like:
-GOTO :&PAGE
-:htmlfile1
-HTMLFORM app/htmlfile1
-GOTO :end
-*
-:end
Of course this has the huge drawback that every HTML-file you need to call has to be in here.

I think I'm going to see if I can change the way the URL's, HTML-files and FEXes have been set up here to get to the desired functionality.