Using Active Technologies for PDF

In this section:

How to:

Reference:

Using Active Technologies for PDF provides the ability to include interactive Flash-based reports, dashboards, and animations in PDF documents. An active report for PDF is available in Report Painter in the Developer Studio environment and from WebFOCUS InfoAssist in the Managed Reporting environment. You can also create active dashboards for PDF from the Document Composer in Developer Studio and from InfoAssist.

SWF files that are Adobe Flash Player compatible combine vector graphics with animation effects that are scalable and provide perfectly smooth transition of lines and images, creating the highest quality, outward-facing PDF documents with engaging functionality, and better visualization of data.

Adobe Reader 9 or higher is required so that the Flash run-time code included in the Adobe client can render the Flash content.

The following image shows the Document Composer with active PDF selected as the Output format for a Compound Document, and the active dashboard for PDF.

Compound Document example


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Procedure: How to Create an Active Technologies Report for PDF

The active report for PDF is available from the Report Painter and Document Composer in Developer Studio, and from WebFOCUS InfoAssist in Managed Reporting.

  1. Select active report for PDF (APDF) in Report Painter.
    1. In the Report Painter, select Output from the Report menu.

      The Report Options dialog box opens at the Output tab.

    2. From the Select Format drop-down list, choose active report for PDF (APDF) as the output format for the report.

      Tip: The Features and Format tabs show the options that are available for the active report for PDF.

    3. Click OK to close the Report Options dialog box.

      You can also select active report for PDF (APDF) from the Output Format toolbar.

  2. Select active PDF in the Document Composer.
    1. Create a new report with the Document Composer.
    2. Select the following properties from the Properties window in the Document Composer:
      • Select active PDF from the Output format properties field.
      • Select On from the Coordinate report properties field.

        A coordinated compound layout coordinates all reports and graphs from the document with a common sort field. The coordinated report is burst into separate page layouts at run time, where each value for the first sort field displays on a separate page.

    3. Add multiple active reports to create the active dashboard.
    4. Position the reports in the document.

    Repeat these steps to embed multiple active reports into the coordinated compound document that will create the active dashboard.

  3. Select active PDF in WebFOCUS InfoAssist:
    1. Create a new report or a new document with WebFOCUS InfoAssist.
    2. Select active PDF from the Format tab of InfoAssist.
  4. Run the report.

    The report loads the active report for PDF.

Tip: For information about the available WebFOCUS syntax formatting options for active PDF reports, see Active Technologies for PDF Formatting Options.


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Reference: Active Technologies for PDF Formatting Options

If using Active Technologies for PDF, you can use the following WebFOCUS syntax to format the width and height, background color, and scale options for the active PDF report.


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Changing the Font Type for Active Technologies Report Menus for PDF

How to:

You can change the font type for active report menus when using active reports and active dashboards for PDF output formats.

By default, the font type information is stored in the irpfsty.js file, located in the Reporting Server \home\etc directory. Optionally, you can copy this file to your application folder and edit the .arMenu section. This enables you to modify the font type and size for the active report menu items in the report output.



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Procedure: How to Change the Font Type for Active Technologies Report Menus for PDF

By copying and pasting the irpfsty.js JavaScript file, you can edit the JavaScript code to modify the font type for the active report menus for PDF formats.

  1. Copy and paste irpfsty.js from the Reporting Server location (\home\etc directory) to your application folder.

    This should be the same directory in which the active report or active dashboard resides. For example, from the Projects on localhost area in Developer Studio, paste irpfsty.js in the Other subfolder of the project folder.

  2. Open the JavaScript file and modify the .arMenu section
    .arMenu {
       backgroundColor: #ffffff;
       borderColor: #cccccc;
       selectionColor: #7FCEFF;
       color: #003300;
       textRollOverColor: #0b333c;
       textSelectedColor: #0b333c;
       themeColor: #009dff;
       fontSize: 12;
       fontWeight: bold;
       textAlign: left;
       fontFamily: Arial
    }

    where:

    fontSize

    Sets the font size of the active report menu.

    fontWeight

    Sets the font type of the active report menu to bold.

    fontFamily

    Sets the font family of the active report menu.

    Currently, Adobe Flash Player supports the Arial, Times, and Courier font types. For details about supported font types, see the Adobe documentation.

    fontStyle

    Sets the font type of the active report menu to italic.

  3. Save and close the JavaScript file.

    The next time that you run an active report or active dashboard, the active report menus appear with the font type that you selected in the customized JavaScript file.

The following image shows the active report for Adobe Flash Player output with the Courier font type for the active report menus.

Courier font format


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Active Technologies Reports for PDF Usage Notes

The following applies when you use active reports for PDF:

In order to run and execute drill downs with the output format APDF even when the report is in disconnected mode, you must specify a fully qualified FOCEXURL in the environment.

By default, FOCEXURL is set to a relative URL, for example,

/ibi_apps/WFServlet

You can modify the FOCEXURL setting in the WFS file of the WebFOCUS Client or issue the SET command in the procedure for individual reports that need the fully qualified URL, as shown below:

SET FOCEXURL = http://host_name:port_number/ibi_apps/WFServlet?

where:

host_name

Is the Web server host name that end users will enter in the browser to access WebFOCUS.

port_number

Is the HTTP port number of the Web server that end users use to access WebFOCUS.

For more information, see the Developing Reporting Applications manual.


WebFOCUS