A schedule allows you to specify when to run a report, the format in which to create the output, and how it will be distributed.
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The Basic Scheduling tool provides the ability to create a schedule for a procedure (FEX) from the Resources tree when a report procedure (FEX) is selected from the BUE portal. The WebFOCUS Client security authorization model controls whether users are authorized to access the application content stored in the Repository and the Scheduling tools.
To create a new schedule for a report procedure (FEX), navigate to the Resources tree and expand a folder to display your report procedures (FEX). Right-click the report procedure (FEX) you want to schedule, select Schedule, and then select the method to distribute the report procedure (FEX). You can distribute the report procedure (FEX) by Email, Printer, or Repository, as shown in the following image.
The following image shows the Basic Scheduling tool that consists of a Quick Access Toolbar and the ribbon from which you access the schedule options.
The Quick Access Toolbar, located at the top of the Basic Scheduling tool, is always visible no matter which options are selected. It provides access to the most commonly used functions. From the Quick Access Toolbar, you can select the ReportCaster button to access the New Distribution List, Save, Save As, Delete, and Close options. You can also access the Save, Run, and Help options from the toolbar.
Run options are available for selection from the Run drop-down list.
Note: The schedule must be saved for Run options to be available or enabled.
The Run options you can select include: Run with default traces, Run with no traces, Run with Schedule traces, and Run with Schedule and Report traces, as shown in the following image.
The Basic Scheduling tool ribbon partitions the scheduling options into the following categories:
The Actions portion of the ribbon is shown in the following image.
The Show portion of the ribbon is shown in the following image.
The Options portion of the ribbon is shown in the following image.
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This section provides the overall procedure to create a new schedule for a report procedure (FEX). Some steps in the procedure contain details on the associated options, while other steps direct you to a separate section that contains detailed descriptions of the options and additional information, such as tips in making a selection.
To save a schedule, the required information in the Properties, Recurrence, Distribution and Notification tabs must be provided. If required schedule information is missing when you save the schedule, a message will display informing you of the schedule information that needs to be entered.
In the Distribution tab, you can adjust your distribution preferences for your schedule. The options available will change depending on whether you have selected Email, Printer, or Repository distribution. for more information, see Distribution options in the Basic Scheduling Tool.
This is a required field and a default name is provided.
Note: This is an optional field.
Normal - 3 Job Priority Level is the default.
You can set the interval to Run Once, Minutes, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, or at Custom intervals.
Note: To change the time setting, select either the hour or minutes and use the arrows to increase or decrease the value.
Note: This option is disabled for the Run Once, Minutes, and Hourly settings options.
For more information, see Notification Options.
Note: You can optionally click Save on the toolbar to remain in the scheduling tool.
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When you access the Basic Scheduling tool, the information for the Task tab options is predefined with the selected report procedure (FEX) information. You can complete the available task options, such as specifying parameter values, as well as select whether or not to burst the report.
Note: You can use parameters (amper variables) when specifying a value in the Save Report As field of a schedule. These parameters can be system variables, such as &YYMD or any amper variable for which a value is returned by the Reporting Server when the scheduled procedure is executed. To use the dot file extension separator after a variable, terminate the variable with the '|' character, for example, &YYMD|.htm. Similarly, to use the ampersand character itself, follow the ampersand with the '|' character (for example, Smith&|Jones). If a value for a parameter specified in a schedule is not returned by the Reporting Server when the procedure executes, the schedule will fail with a "No report to distribute" error. If the scheduled task is burst, you can also use the '%BURST' symbol to include the burst value in the Save Report As field.
The options available when you select the Task tab are:
Select one of the following options from the Alert Options dialog box.
Caution: Be sure that you set the schedule interval to a time period greater than the time it takes to run the scheduled procedure. When the schedule interval is less than the time it takes to run the procedure and the Delay option is selected, an alert schedule will distribute (based on the Distribution that you selected) more frequently than expected. For email distribution, this can result in unnecessary distribution of emails which can impact the business or operational goals of the Alert report distribution.
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You can customize a report and control its execution with parameters. When scheduling a report procedure (FEX), the schedule task Parameters section allows you to supply a value for parameters referenced in the report procedure or add a parameter to the schedule by creating a new parameter and specifying the parameter name and value.
If the scheduled procedure contains parameters for which values must be supplied at run time, these parameters are displayed in the parameters section of the scheduling tool.
In the Basic Scheduling tool, click the Parameters tab to open the Task Parameters dialog box, shown in the following image.
Parameters may have default values and may have values that can be selected from a static or dynamic list. For more information about selecting parameters in the Scheduling Task Parameters dialog box, see the examples provided in this chapter.
The following are considerations when specifying parameter values for a procedure:
ReportCaster displays global variables that are used in FILTERS defined in Master Files and referenced by a procedure. For example, if a Master File contains
FILENAME=CAR,SUFFIX=FOC VARIABLE NAME=&&COUNTRY1, USAGE=A10, DEFAULT=ENGLAND,$ FILTER FILTER1=COUNTRY EQ '&&COUNTRY1'; $
and the procedure being scheduled contains
WHERE FILTER1
then ReportCaster displays COUNTRY1 in the Parameters window.
The following image shows an example of a static parameter list for the CATEGORY parameter created in WebFOCUS InfoAssist+.
For more information on how to create filters, see the WebFOCUS InfoAssist+ manual.
The following image shows the Task Parameters dialog box displaying the CATEGORY parameter. The CATEGORY parameter has been encoded to only use the values Coffee, Food or Gifts. InfoAssist+, the content developer tool in WebFOCUS Business User Edition, does not allow you to set default values. Therefore, the Use Default column will always be blank.
To supply a value for a single select parameter, select the Value field drop-down list box and choose a value. Your selected value will be shown in the value column. You can select only one value for a static single-select parameter.
The following image shows an example of a dynamic single-select parameter list for the Product parameter. This filter is created in WebFOCUS InfoAssist+.
For more information on how to create filters, see the WebFOCUS InfoAssist+ manual.
The following image shows the Task Parameters dialog box displaying the PRODUCT parameter. To change a parameter value, click the PRODUCT parameter in the table and change the parameter value using the Value field drop-down list in the Parameter Properties section.
The following image shows an example of a dynamic multiselect parameter list for the Product parameter. This filter is created in WebFOCUS InfoAssist+.
For more information on how to create filters, see the WebFOCUS InfoAssist+ manual.
The following image shows the PRODUCT parameter selected in the Task Parameters table.
In the Parameter Properties section, click the Value button to display the Parameter Value for Amper Variable dialog box, as shown in the following image.
The check box All Values is selected by default. If the All Values check box is cleared, you can select a single value, or you can select multiple values by holding down the Crtl key.
It is important to verify that the parameters you delete when scheduling a report procedure (FEX) will be handled, as follows, so that the scheduled job will run successfully:
To delete a parameter so that it is not stored with the schedule information, highlight the parameter in the parameter table you want to delete, and click the Delete button.
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If you need to have the schedule job send a parameter and value that is not defined in the report procedure being scheduled, you can create a new parameter in the Task Parameters dialog box. Parameters referenced during processing by the Reporting Server must be assigned a value for the scheduled job to run successfully. The schedule job log report will contain information when required parameter values were not provided.
You can create parameters for a task as follows:
The Task Parameter dialog box displays, as shown in the following image.
The Name and Value boxes are populated in the Task Parameters dialog box Parameters table.
The Advanced Task Settings option in the Options group provides access to the Additional FOC Errors to be Processed as Warnings dialog box, where you can specify one or more FOCUS error message numbers, separated by a comma. If one of these FOCUS error numbers is encountered during schedule execution, ReportCaster will process it as a warning rather than an error. For example, if a FOC1517 error is generated by the procedure, add 1517 to the text box to convert this error to a warning. This means that if a report is produced, it will be distributed in spite of the FOCUS error number. It also means that this FOCUS error number will not trigger error notification if the schedule is configured to notify on error.
Note: When an accordion report is distributed through ReportCaster, an error may be generated. To prevent this, the error FOC 3330 (EXPANDBYROW: Not Supported with BORDER) can been added to the list of FOC Errors to be Processed as Warnings.
The following image shows the error FOC 3330 saved in the Additional FOC Errors to be Processed as Warnings dialog box.
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The Distribution tab in the Basic Scheduling tool provides the options available for distributing the report output for the scheduled report procedure (FEX). You can distribute a report output using one of the following methods.
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When you distribute a report through email, you can include the report in the body of the email (known as an inline email message) or send it as an attachment. Only the HTML, DHTML, WP, and DOC formats can be distributed as an inline email message.
Note: You must be authorized to distribute by Email in order to create a schedule that uses Email distribution.
Distributing a report as an inline email message is particularly useful when the report is distributed to mobile devices or through email systems that do not support attachments.
You can also distribute a report to a fax machine, as explained later in this section. The following image shows the email distribution options in the Distribution tab of the Basic Scheduling tool when the email method is selected.
SET FOCEXURL='hostname:port/ibi_apps/'
SET FOCHTMLURL='hostname:port/ibi_apps/ibi_html'
Styling options include:
Note: You can use parameters (amper variables) when specifying values in the Email settings of a schedule. These parameters can be system variables, such as &YYMD, or any amper variable for which a value is returned by the Reporting Server when the scheduled procedure is executed. To use the dot file extension separator after a variable, terminate the variable with the '|' character (for example, &YYMD|.htm). Similarly, to use the ampersand character itself, follow the ampersand with the '|' character (for example, Smith&|Jones). If a value for a parameter specified in a schedule is not returned by the Reporting Server when the procedure executes, the schedule will fail with a "No report to distribute" error. If the scheduled task is burst, you can also use the '%BURST' symbol to include the burst value. If the Packet Email setting is Yes, the burst value will not be substituted in the Zip filename.
The Basic Scheduling tool appears.
Additionally, you can use group mail lists (defined on your mail server) with the Email Address(es) option. You can use group mail lists to distribute a report or notification to multiple recipients without having to maintain multiple email addresses in the Repository. The format of the group mail list depends on the mail server being used. For example, if you are using a Microsoft Exchange Server and your group mail list is defined as #group1, you would enter group1@listdomain in the Email Address(es) field. If the group mail list contains a space within its name, enclose the space with double quotation marks ('' ''). For more information, see your mail server administrator.
Note: You can also provide a custom default distribution message using the Email Distribution and Notification settings in the ReportCaster Configuration tool in the ReportCaster Console. This allows you to override the default message, Please see attachment(s), by enabling you to create a custom message specific to your organization. The message displays when creating a schedule using Email distribution. For more information, see ReportCaster Configuration.
Note: When you use the file option, the information can be maintained in one common place. It can also be revised among multiple schedules. There is no size limit to the contents of the file, other than what the email client and server support.
You have the option of converting your distributed report into a password-protected compressed file. By default, the Add Report to Zip File check box is not selected and the report will not be compressed. You can optionally password protect a zipped file by including a password in a Distribution File or Dynamic Distribution List.
Note: Support of Unicode characters in a Zip file name and content within a Zip file on Windows 7 and Windows 2008 Server R2 requires the following hotfix from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2704299/en-us. Without this hotfix, file names are corrupted after you decompress a .zip file in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2.
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The report formats that support printing are DOC, PDF (when you configure ReportCaster to enable PDF to print and the printer has the appropriate driver), PS, and WP.
Note: You can use parameters (amper variables) when specifying a value for the Printer Name field of a schedule. These parameters can be system variables, such as &YYMD, or any amper variable for which a value is returned by the Reporting Server when the scheduled procedure is executed. To use the dot file extension separator after a variable, terminate the variable with the '|' character (for example, &YYMD|.htm). Similarly, to use the ampersand character itself, follow the ampersand with the '|' character (for example, Smith&|Jones). If a value for a parameter specified in a schedule is not returned by the Reporting Server when the procedure executes, the schedule will fail with a "No report to distribute" error. If the scheduled task is burst, you can also use the '%BURST' symbol to include the burst value.
The Basic Scheduling tool appears.
queue@printserver
where:
Is the name of the printer queue.
Is the host name or IP address of the printer.
ReportCaster can differentiate between the printer queue and the printer host name or IP address due to the presence of the '@' separator. Although ReportCaster supports specifying only the host name or IP address of the printer, we recommend that you specify both the printer queue and host name or IP address when distributing ReportCaster output to a printer. The maximum length of this field is 800 characters.
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The Notification tab in the Basic Scheduling tool, shown in the following image, provides the options to send a notification of the schedule status to specific email recipients.
The notification options are:
When you select the On Error or Always notification option, additional options become available, as shown in the following image.
The On Error and Always notification options are:
Tip: Use the Brief Message To option when you are sending notification to devices that have limited memory, such as pagers and cell phones. If you want to notify multiple recipients, you can use group mail lists defined on your mail server provided that you append an at sign (@) followed by a valid domain.
When you access the Basic Scheduling tool, the Title and Path Properties options are predefined for the selected report procedure (FEX). The following image displays the Properties tab in the Basic Scheduling tool.
The options within the Properties tab are:
Title. This allows you to provide a brief description of the purpose of the schedule. It is pre-populated with the Title of the report procedure being scheduled when creating schedules with the Basic Scheduling tool. You can edit the Title while creating the schedule or after saving the schedule from within the Schedule tools. You can also edit the title from the Properties option from the Resources tree after saving the schedule.
The Title of the schedule is the default name assigned when saving the schedule. If the name value already exists in the selected tree folder, a message is displayed informing you that the name already exists. You can change the Title field in the Save dialog box, which when saved, will also update the Title field within the schedule information.
Path. This is the Repository path of the report procedure (FEX) you selected to schedule.
Summary. This allows you to insert a detailed description for the schedule. This is an optional field.
Job Priority Level. This specifies the priority the scheduled job will be given when processed by the Distribution Server. The default Job Priority Level is set to Normal - 3. However, you can use the drop-down list to set the priority level, as shown in the following image.
No Report to Distribute. This option is set to the default value configured by the Manager. To trigger error notification if no report is generated, set this value to Error. If you do not want to trigger notification when no report is generated, set this value to Warning.
Delete this schedule if it is not scheduled to run again. This check box allows you to specify that the schedule should be deleted after the scheduled job processing is completed if the schedule is not scheduled to run again. Selecting this option for schedules you will not utilize again is recommended as it will improve overall performance within the Resources tree listing folder contents and within the ReportCaster Explorer tool when listing schedules.
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When you access the Basic Scheduling tool, the Recurrence tab options allow you to define how often to run the schedule. The following image displays the Recurrence tab in the Basic Scheduling tool.
Options that users must determine include frequency of distribution, start and end times, and Advanced interval settings. Select one of the following frequency of distribution settings:
You can assign start and end times by using the drop-down lists. When you click on the down arrow, a calendar will display that enables an authorized user to set the date for schedule distribution. Use the up and down arrows to set a specific time for schedule distribution. Alternatively, you can enter the time manually.
If the user has the privilege to set Advanced settings, check the Repeat schedule every check box to enable Advanced interval setting options. Set how often you want to repeat schedule distribution, when you want to stop distributing the schedule (Until Time), and the duration to distribute the schedule (Last For). Enter this information manually or use the up and down arrows to set parameters.
The Run Once option sets the job to execute immediately. This is the default value. You can modify the date or time if you do not want the schedule to run immediately. You can specify the date and time you want the schedule to run using the Start Schedule options, as shown in the following image.
To select a date, choose a date from the drop-down date calendar. To select a time, select either the hour or minutes, and use the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the value. Alternatively, you can enter the time manually.
The Minute(s) option sets the schedule to run every n minutes.
In the Every minute(s) field, type or select the minutes interval (1 to 59), check the days of the week on which you want to run the schedule, and select the Start and End date and time to define the time period in which the schedule will run. For example, the following image shows a schedule that will run every 30 minutes on Mondays beginning at noon May 16, 2012 and ending 6:00 PM October 30, 2012.
Tip: Selecting this option may affect system performance if you choose to run the schedule every 5 minutes or less. We recommend specifying a minimum of 30 minutes. The minute interval option is primarily for alert schedules.
The Hourly option sets the schedule to run every n hours.
In the Every hour(s) field, type or select the hours interval (1 to 24), check the days of the week on which you want to run the schedule, and select the Start and End date and time to define the time period in which the schedule will run. For example, the schedule shown in the following image will run every three hours on Mondays and Fridays beginning at noon May 16, 2012 and ending 6:00 PM October 30, 2012.
The Daily option in the Run Interval drop-down list sets the schedule to run every n days. In the Every day(s) field, type or select the days interval to run the schedule and select Start and End date and time to define the period in which the schedule will run. For example, the schedule shown in the following image will run every five days beginning at noon May 16, 2012 and ending 6:00 PM October 30, 2012.
You can also set a secondary run interval. For information about this setting, see Advanced Settings.
The Weekly option in the Run Interval drop-down list sets the schedule to run every n weeks.
In the Every week(s) field, type or select the weekly interval to run the schedule, check the days of the week on which you want to run the schedule, and select the Start and End date and time to define the time period in which the schedule will run. The following image shows a schedule that will run every two weeks on both Monday and Friday beginning at noon May 16, 2012 and ending at 6:00pm on October 30, 2012.
Note: When selecting the Weekly interval, set the Start to the date of the first day (current or future) of the week you want the schedule to run. If you select the current date, then you must make sure that the Start time is later than the current time when you save the schedule. If the Start time is less than or equal to the current time, the calculation for the next run time results in the schedule not running on the current date.
You can also set a secondary run interval. For more information about this settings, see Advanced Settings.
The Monthly option sets the schedule to run every n months. You can then refine the monthly interval with one of the following options. Note that these options are mutually exclusive.
Additionally, select the Start and End date and time to define the time period in which the schedule will run. The following image shows a schedule set to run on the first Monday of every month beginning at noon May 16, 2012 and ending 6:00 PM October 30, 2012.
The following image shows a schedule set to run on the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th of every month, regardless of the day of the week on which those dates fall.
You can also select the Last Day of the Month option at the end of the calendar to run the schedule on the last day of the month.
Note: When selecting the Month(s) interval, set the Start date to the date of the first day (current or future) of the month you want the schedule to run. If you select the current date, then you must make sure that the Start time is later than the current time when you save the schedule. If the Start time is less than or equal to the current time, the calculation for the next run time results in the schedule not running on the current date.
You can also set a secondary run interval. For information about this setting, see Advanced Settings.
The Yearly option sets the schedule to run every n years during a specific time period. The following image shows a schedule set to run every two years beginning at noon May 16, 2012 and ending 6:00 PM October 30, 2022.
You can also set a secondary run interval. For information about this setting, see Advanced Settings.
The Custom option allows you to select a set of dates that do not follow a specific pattern. For example, if you want to run a quarterly report on a different day of each quarter, then you can use the Custom run interval to set the schedule to run on dates, such as March 3 (Saturday), June 4 (Monday), September 7 (Friday), and December 2 (Sunday).
The following image shows the Custom Run Interval options, which includes Start (initially set to the current date and time) and the End date and time options, the Custom calendar, and the Custom Date List node that appears in the right panel.
Define the time period in which the schedule will run by selecting the Start date and time and the End date and time. Select the specific days on which to run the schedule by clicking the day in the calendar. (Use the forward and back buttons at the top of the calendar to move through the months and years.) As you select a date, it appears in the Custom Date List. If it does not already exist, a folder for the year and month of the date you select is automatically created under the Custom Date List node. The following image shows an example of a selection of Custom dates in the calendar and the Custom Date List.
To remove a date from the list, click the date in the calendar. The date is no longer highlighted in the calendar and will not appear in the Custom Date List. You can optionally use the left single arrow to remove a date from the list. The double arrow button removes all defined lists.
You can also set secondary run interval. For information about this setting, see Advanced Settings.
The Advanced settings option enables you to create a secondary run interval within the day the schedule runs. You can apply the secondary run interval every n minutes or hours for a specified number of hours and minutes or until a specified time. This option is available for schedules that run every day(s), week(s), month(s), or year(s).
Note: When a schedule is saved, the hours setting is converted to minutes. When a schedule is edited, this value appears as minutes.
The secondary run interval will not be validated when the schedule is created. Instead, validation is performed every time the next run time of the schedule is calculated when running within the secondary run interval. The secondary run interval cannot exceed the next run time for the primary run interval. For example, a daily schedule cannot have a secondary run interval greater than Every 1 day(s). If you schedule a secondary run interval to run after the next primary run interval of the schedule, the secondary run interval is stopped and an error message appears. This error message is also written to the log file.
The Advanced settings section allows you to specify repeat options, as well as time intervals. The following image shows an example of set secondary run interval options.
The Apply secondary run interval options are:
Note: When a schedule is updated, the next run time is recalculated based only on the primary run interval. This means that if a schedule that includes a secondary run interval is updated before the secondary schedule is able to run, then the secondary run interval is ignored and the NEXTRUNTIME is calculated based on the primary interval.
For example, a schedule exists that is set to run daily at 2:00 PM with a secondary run interval of every 10 minutes from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM. When the schedule runs at 2:00 PM, the NEXTRUNTIME resets to run at 2:10, which honors the secondary run interval. If this schedule is updated at 2:03 PM, the NEXTRUNTIME is recalculated to be 2:00 PM the next day, rather than 2:10 PM on the current day.
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