In this section: |
The Distribution tab in the Scheduling Tool provides the options available for distributing the scheduled report. You can distribute a report using one of the following methods.
Note: If you are using the Single Page Scheduling Tool with the Legacy HTML ReportCaster Interface, the FTP and SFTP options are not available.
This section describes the options available for each distribution method.
How to: Reference: |
When you distribute a report through e-mail, you can include the report in the body of the e‑mail (known as an inline e-mail message) or send it as an attachment. Distributing a report as an inline e-mail message is particularly useful when the report is distributed to mobile devices, fax machines, or through e-mail systems that do not support attachments. You can also distribute a report to a Fax machine, as explained later in this section.
Note:
The following image shows the e-mail distribution options in the Distribution tab of the Scheduling Tool.
Distribution List. The report will be sent to all e-mail addresses in the selected Distribution List. To select a Distribution List, click the icon next to the Distribution List field. The Distribution List Selection dialog box opens. In the display pane, double-click the folder with your ID. The display pane lists the e-mail Distribution Lists that are public and that you own. The following image is an example of the Distribution List Selection dialog box displaying a group of Distribution List belonging to specific user ID.
Note: While in the Distribution List Selection dialog box, you can view additional information about the Distribution Lists in the display pane by selecting Details from the far-right icon. Additionally, you can edit an existing Distribution List (select a list and click the Open icon). You can also create a Distribution List by clicking the New icon.
Click the Distribution List you want to use. It will appear in the Dist. List Name field. Then click OK. The Distribution List name appears in the Schedule Distribution List field.
Tip:
Dynamic List. A Dynamic List enables you to return in memory either a list of burst values and destinations, or only a list of destinations from a data source (for example, a flat file, SQL database, FOCUS data source, or LDAP). To select a Dynamic List, click the icon next to the Dynamic List field. The Select Dynamic List Procedure dialog box opens, as shown in the following image.
In this dialog box, select or type a value for the WF Server Name, Execution Id, password to access the server, and the procedure name that creates the Dynamic List. For more information, see Creating a Dynamic Distribution List.
Then click OK. The designated Dynamic List procedure appears in the Schedule, Dynamic List field.
When creating a schedule, you can place multiple parameters and burst values from the scheduled procedure in an e-mail subject line. This dynamically creates the subject in order to personalize e-mails to recipients. Parameters referenced in the subject line must be stored with the schedule information in the ReportCaster tables.
Parameters must be specified in the format '&parmname' (where parmname is the name of the parameter). You must specify burst values using the syntax '%BURST'.
Note:
For an example of specifying parameters and burst values in an e-mail subject line, see E-mail Distribution Examples.
If you select the Send Report as an Attachment option, you can also:
This section provides an example of using burst values and multiple parameters when sending the report in an e-mail, and distributing a report to a Fax machine using e-mail.
The following schedule specifies burst values and multiple parameters in the e-mail subject line.
The following image shows an example of a resulting e-mail subject line.
To distribute an inline e-mail message to a fax machine, you must register your e-mail address with a third-party e-mail distribution provider. The features offered by providers, (such as supported area codes and file formats), in addition to requirements on the structure of e-mail parameter values, may vary. It is important that you select a provider whose features are compatible with ReportCaster.
Note: You cannot distribute an e-mail attachment to a Fax machine.
The following example shows how to distribute a report directly to a fax machine. The e-mail address, john_doe@xyz.com, was registered with the e-mail distribution provider called emfax.com. During the processing of the request, ReportCaster generates the scheduled report output and then distributes it using the e-mail address of emfax.com. The reply address specified in ReportCaster is the registered e-mail address that is validated by emfax.com. If the e-mail address is valid, emfax.com distributes the report to the fax number 12129999999. The validation of the registered e-mail address is performed by emfax.com, not by ReportCaster.
Note: The syntax used in this illustration is specific to this example. The required syntax for your provider may be different.
The following image shows the Distribution tab of the Scheduling Tool, which contains the name of the report to be distributed, fields, drop-down lists, and option buttons that enable you to specify the destination(s) for the scheduled report, and an e-mail address to which report recipients can reply.
In the accompanying text box, type the e-mail address to be used by the e-mail provider according to their requirements. In this example, it is phone-number@emfax.com or 12129999999@emfax.com (where emfax.com is the name of your e-mail provider).
Note: You can also select a Distribution List. However, be sure to use the syntax required by your provider.
How to: |
This section provides information about distributing scheduled output using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). The benefit of using SFTP over FTP is that it encrypts the data and user credentials distributed over the network. Host key fingerprints are not used in this SFTP implementation.
Note:
The following image shows the FTP distribution options in the Distribution tab of the Scheduling Tool.
In this field, you can also designate a port for the (S)FTP server other than the default assignment using the syntax:
hostname:port
Note: When scheduling a Managed Reporting report from Domain Builder for (S)FTP distribution, the maximum number of characters you can specify for the directory is 64, including the full path name.
Distribution List. The report will be sent to all (S)FTP addresses in the selected Distribution List. To select a Distribution List, click the icon next to the Distribution List field. The Distribution List Selection dialog box opens. In the display pane, double-click the folder with your ID. The display pane lists the (S)FTP Distribution Lists that are public and that you own. The following image is an example of the Distribution List Selection dialog box displaying a group of Distribution List belonging to specific user ID.
Note: While in the Distribution List Selection dialog box, you can view additional information about the Distribution Lists in the display pane by selecting Details from the far-right icon. Additionally, you can edit an existing Distribution List (select a list and click the Open icon). You can also create a Distribution List by clicking the New icon.
Click the Distribution List you want to use. It will appear in the Dist. List Name field. Then click OK. The Distribution List name appears in the Schedule Distribution List field.
In this dialog box, select or type a value for the WF Server Name, Execution Id, password to access the server, and the procedure name that creates the Dynamic List.
Then click OK. The designated Dynamic List procedure appears in the Schedule, Dynamic List field.
Note: For WF Server Procedures, if you are going to specify that the report is to be burst, type the name of the file in which you want the index page to be created.
You must type the name of the index in the case specific to your operating system.
The following table lists the case you should use for a specific operating system:
Case |
Operating System |
---|---|
Uppercase |
z/OS |
Lowercase |
Windows UNIX |
Note: Index pages for burst report output contain only the burst values specified in the Distribution List.
None if you do not want to Zip the output.
Add Reports to One Zip File to Zip the output in a single file. Type a name for the file in the Zip File Name field.
Note: Usability enhancement for FTP and SFTP distribution schedules. ReportCaster will now store FTP/SFTP server names, user ids and passwords in its internal table and list them in the scheduling tool for selection when creating new schedules. These server names and user ids and password can be maintained on the Execution ID table of the ReportCaster Development interface.
How to: |
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. The following image shows the printer distribution options in the Distribution tab section of the Scheduling Tool.
Distribution List. The report will be sent to all printers in the selected Distribution List. To select a Distribution List, click the icon next to the Distribution List field. The Distribution List Selection dialog box opens. In the display pane, double-click the folder with your ID. The display pane lists the printer Distribution Lists that are public and that you own. The following image is an example of the Distribution List Selection dialog box displaying a group of Distribution List belonging to specific user ID.
Note: While in the Distribution List Selection dialog box, you can view additional information about the Distribution Lists in the display pane by selecting Details from the far-right icon, and edit an existing Distribution List (select a list and click the Open icon). You can also create a Distribution List by clicking the New icon.
Click the Distribution List you want to use. It will appear in the Dist. List Name field. Then click OK. The Distribution List name appears in the Schedule Distribution List field.
Note: If the printer you specify is not recognized, the following message is recorded in the log file when the ReportCaster Distribution Server tries to distribute the report:
Cannot connect to specified printer
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/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 specifying both the printer queue and host name/IP address when distributing ReportCaster output to a printer. The maximum length of this field is 800 characters.
In this dialog box, select or type a value for the WF Server Name, Execution Id, password to access the server, and the procedure name that creates the Dynamic List. For more information, see Creating a Dynamic Distribution List.
Then click OK. The designated Dynamic List procedure appears in the Schedule, Dynamic List field.
How to: Reference: |
When distributing a report to the Report Library, you can send an e-mail informing users of its availability and provide the URL to the content in the library.
The Report Library provides secure access to library content and it allows you to save multiple versions of the same report output, set an expiration date, and keep a specified number of versions. When creating a schedule for a distribution to the library, you have the option to designate a category in the library where you want the report to reside. The Report Library is only available to ReportCaster users who have been granted library privileges.
Note: When a report is distributed to the Report Library, the Log Report will include the report ID and the report version number. This enables you to confirm which reports and report version were distributed to the Library.
Reports can contain links to Web resources (live links) and to other reports (drill-downs). The following variables, used with the SET command in the FEX, define the path to the resource or the drill-down report.
The following image shows the Report Library distribution options in the Distribution tab of the Scheduling Tool.
Note: When you distribute a Standard Report or My Report to the Library, by default, the report is placed in a category named with the Managed Reporting domain name of the report. Optionally, select the Category in Library check box to specify a different.
Select the Category in Library option. The Category Library field and icon (to the right of the field) are activated. Click the Library category icon. The Library Categories dialog box opens, as shown in the following image.
Select a category from the Category List or create a new category by typing a name in the New Category Name field.
Click OK. The Category in Library field displays your selection. If, at this point, you want to change the new category name that you just created, open the Library Categories dialog box, enter the new name, and click OK. The updated category name now appears in the Category in Library field.
Note: ReportCaster administrators can limit the Access Options that appear in the Access Type list.
This option stipulates that only the burst values specified in the selected Access List will be distributed to the Report Library. For more information, see Considerations When Limiting Distribution to Values in an Access List.
version(s). The Report Library stores the output for the top number of versions specified. For example, if you specify three versions and the current version is 7, then versions 7, 6, and 5 are stored in the library. However, if you delete version 6, then only versions 7 and 5 are stored in the library. If you then distribute version 8 to the library, only version 8 and 7 are stored in the library since you deleted version 6 and version 5 is not among the top three versions.
Use the up and down arrows to select the number of versions.
day(s). The Report Library stores the report for the number of day(s) specified. Use the up and down arrows to select the number of days.
week(s). The Report Library stores the report for the number of week(s) specified. Use the up and down arrows to select the number of weeks.
month(s). The Report Library stores the report for the number of month(s) specified. Use the up and down arrows to select the number of months.
year(s). The Report Library stores the report for the number of year(s) specified. Use the up and down arrows to select the number of years.
Note:
Note: If you distribute a compressed report to the library, consider that this may impact end user response time in viewing the report. A compressed report must first be decompressed before it is sent to the user. You should weigh the benefits of saving repository space against the impact of the time it takes to retrieve a compressed report from the library.
When you select this option, the following fields appear:
When limiting Report Library distribution to values in an Access List, note the following:
WebFOCUS |