Using the Deferred Report Status Interface

The sorting feature pertains to the entire report. When the default sort value (Date/Time Submitted) is changed, the new primary sort becomes your choice, but the secondary sort is always fixed as Date/Time Submitted. To re-sort the list, select the Sort by option:

• Date (default)
• Description
• Domain

You can optionally change the sort order (ascending or descending) by clicking the Reverse Sort Order button, which toggles between A to Z and Z to A.

Note: When the sort value is Date, the sort order option A to Z means from new to old and not alphabetical from A to Z.

To see the results of the new sort options, click Refresh.

The status of deferred requests are organized under the following sections within the Interface:

• Completed. Indicates that the Deferred Receipt request has finished processing.
• Running. Indicates that the Deferred Receipt request is processing.
• Queued. Indicates that the Deferred Receipt request is queued for processing.
• Unknown. Indicates that the Deferred Receipt request cannot be identified. This can occur when the file containing the deferred report results cannot be found. For more information, see Deferred Report Expiration Setting.

The following image shows a sample Deferred Report Status window with completed reports.

Column headings provide information about the published content including the date and time the published content was submitted, the domain of origin, a description of the report (the report name), an expiration indicator, and an Options heading for options within the Deferred Report Status Interface.

When you select the Deferred Status option, the status for all the deferred requests submitted by your Managed Reporting user ID is retrieved. Depending on how Managed Reporting is configured, deferred status may be coming from multiple WebFOCUS Reporting Servers on various platforms. If credentials are required for the connections, you are prompted by the WebFOCUS Dynamic Server System Signon feature. You can view the status of all the deferred requests submitted by your Managed Reporting user ID, but can only delete, view, save, stop, or review parameters for deferred requests submitted with an identical WebFOCUS Reporting Server user ID.

The options available in the Deferred Report Status Interface are based upon the status of the report request and security validation. You can perform various functions by clicking the buttons under the following options.

• Delete. Available for all report status types. The Delete option deletes the deferred request according to the report status, as follows:
  • Queued. When a deferred request is listed in the Queued tab, the Delete option removes the deferred report from the Reporting Server and deletes the deferred request ticket from the WebFOCUS Repository.
  • Unknown. When a deferred request is listed in the Unknown tab, the Delete option deletes the deferred request ticket from the WebFOCUS Repository.
  • Completed. When a deferred request is listed in the Completed tab, the Delete option removes the report from the window, deletes the deferred report results from the Reporting Server, and deletes the deferred request ticket from the WebFOCUS Repository.
  • Running. When a deferred request is listed in the Running tab, the Delete option deletes the deferred request ticket from the WebFOCUS Repository and cancels the job on the Reporting Server.

  Note: The Delete drop-down list in the toolbar at the top of the Interface provides options to delete All, All Completed, All Running, All Queued, All Expired, or All Unknown reports, depending on which report status types exist in the Interface.

• View. Available when the report status is Completed.

  The View option displays the completed report in a new browser session, or the report format may result in the opening of a Windows dialog box that prompts you to save the report to disk or open the report within an application (such as Microsoft® Excel®, Microsoft® Word, or Adobe® Acrobat®).

  Note: Auto Drill functionality is not available for reports that are run deferred because Auto Drill uses live data, in an interactive session, for data drilling. Data values and totals may not be the same if the data has changed since the last deferred execution. Mixing past data with current data could impact the data analysis.

• Save. Available when the report status is Completed.

  The Save option allows you to save Deferred Receipt reports to the WebFOCUS Repository, if you are authorized to save deferred reports and to create private content. You can save the report output to your My Content folder or a folder you are authorized to create content in and write to. When your deferred report is saved to the WebFOCUS Repository, it is removed from the Deferred Report Status Interface.

  Note: This option appears for users authorized to save deferred reports.

• Run. Available for reports without parameters when the report status is completed or queued. The Run option runs the report deferred again.

  Note: Auto Drill functionality is not available for reports that are run deferred because Auto Drill uses live data, in an interactive session, for data drilling. Data values and totals may not be the same if the data has changed since the last deferred execution. Mixing past data with current data could impact the data analysis.

• Parameters. Available for reports with parameters when the report status is completed or queued. The Parameters option allows you to review or change report variables. Changing report variables generates a new report that does not overwrite the original request.

  Note: Deferred reports run from within any report development tool do not have an option to view or change amper variable parameter values in the Deferred Status Interface window.

Under certain circumstances, WebFOCUS Business User Edition is unable to submit the request to run in deferred mode. This can occur, for example, when the Reporting Server is unavailable. When WebFOCUS Business User Edition is unable to submit a deferred request, a Deferred Receipt Notification window opens, notifying you of the failure.

The number of days until expiration appears next to each report. On the last day, the value Today appears.

The following image shows the results of a deferred status request, run on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 15. (The current date appears in the status bar at the top of the page.) Each report is listed with the time remaining before it is deleted from the WebFOCUS Reporting Server. The time remaining is based on 24-hour intervals (rather than whole days), beginning with the time that the report was submitted. For example, the last report shown on the list will be deleted shortly after 3:51 pm on March 14, not at midnight on March 13.

If a deferred report is not saved or deleted prior to its expiration, the output is automatically deleted from the Reporting Server dfm_dir directory and the deferred report is moved to the Unknown status tab in the Deferred Report Status Interface. From here, you can only delete the orphaned report.

If deferred output expiration is not configured on your Reporting Server, then the value never appears next to each report under the Expires In column.

Note: This setting does not affect deferred output saved to your private content area.

Saved Deferred Reports that utilize features that create temporary files, such as OLAP, On-demand paging, and redirected formats, are subject to expiration as defined by the WebFOCUS Client parameter, EXPIRE_REPORTS (located in cgivars.wfs).

How to: Set the Automatic Refresh Interval

You can set the automatic refresh interval to any value. The default is 5 seconds and there is no maximum value.

How to: View a Deferred Status Report

You must access the Deferred Report Status Interface to view deferred reports.

How to: Retrieve Deferred Request Parameters

The Deferred Report Status Interface enables you to retrieve parameters submitted with a deferred request. You access parameters by opening the Deferred Report Status Interface and clicking the parameters button for the report of your choice. The parameters button is not available when the deferred request is submitted from within a report development tool, such as InfoAssist.

You can also change the parameters associated with a report and submit the report to run deferred with the new parameters you specified. WebFOCUS generates your report again using the new parameters and does not overwrite your original report request.

How to: Save a Deferred Report

You can save Deferred Receipt reports to the WebFOCUS Repository, if you are authorized to save deferred reports. You can save the report output to your My Content folder or a folder you are authorized to create content in and write to. When your deferred report is saved to the WebFOCUS Repository, it is removed from the Deferred Report Status Interface.

How to: Delete Tickets for All Report Status Types

From the Deferred Status Interface, you can delete tickets for all report status types using the Delete drop-down list located in the toolbar at the top of the Interface. The drop-down list provides options to delete All, All Completed, All Running, All Queued, All Expired, and All Unknown reports, but only when one or more reports exist for that status type in the Deferred Status Interface. If a report status type is not displayed in the Interface, the corresponding status option does not appear in the Delete drop-down list.

You can also delete individual tickets using the Delete button, located in the Options column next to each report.

The following image shows the Deferred Status Interface with the Delete drop-down list expanded showing the available options.

Note: For Unknown reports, the Options column displays the Server ID that submitted the report along with the Current ID.

The Deferred Status Interface presents the user with a delete confirmation message before deleting a deferred report that is in Completed, Running, or Queued states. (A confirmation message is already displayed for deferred reports in Unknown status.)

When you click the delete button from the Deferred Report Status page, you are prompted to confirm the delete before the deferred report is actually deleted. A similar confirmation message is used for all deferred reports, but the message varies depending on the conditions.

The following are the confirmation messages and the associated conditions:

• If the report is expired or was deleted from the server, the message recommends deletion and indicates that there is no report output on the specific Reporting Server.

• If the Reporting Server is unavailable, the message indicates there is an error attaching to the specific Reporting Server.

• If there is no entry for the server in the WebFOCUS client configuration, the message recommends deletion and indicates that the specific Reporting Server is not defined in the WebFOCUS client configuration file.

Each of the deletion confirmation messages also displays the date and time the deferred report was submitted, and the description that is displayed in the Deferred Status Interface.