Cognos Analytics

Hi Team - i have added a Column in Cognos report and we are able to place values in that column, but when we extract in any format like Excel /PDF, that column remain blank.

 any idea to solve this

Thanks.

Hi Hashim,

I assume you use a list data container in your report, correct? How did you add the column and what exactly do you mean with "place values in that column"? Is there some write back functionality?

Hi Team - i have added a Column in Cognos report and we are able to place values in that column, but when we extract in any format like Excel /PDF, that column remain blank.

 any idea to solve this

Thanks.

HI Robert - i just added a Text prompt in my List in the Design Mode, and after Run the report i am able to write values there, but these values are not exported in Excel, while on browser we can write our values. we can say Write back there .

Thanks.

Hi Hashim,

I assume you use a list data container in your report, correct? How did you add the column and what exactly do you mean with "place values in that column"? Is there some write back functionality?

Hi Team - i have added a Column in Cognos report and we are able to place values in that column, but when we extract in any format like Excel /PDF, that column remain blank.

 any idea to solve this

Thanks.

Hi Hashim,

Prompt-elements are not supported in Excel files as they can't change into an appropriate Excel object. You would have to place a report expression instead into the list that is used for the Excel export.

Before we dive deeper into that I'd like to point out that text prompts in a list don't allow you to enter values separately for each line. the prompt is tied to a parameter and this will be repeated for each row. Here's an example:

If I now run the report and enter different values in the lines and hit "Reprompt" the last value will appear in all lines:

Therefore the text prompt won't let you enter values for each line. Even if you mange it to pass the values to the Excel files, you will end up with this:

If you want users to be able to enter values, I suggest to implement a stored procedure that writes back values to the database or user Apparo FastEdit - which comes free for one business case and a few users. You can look it  up in the IBM Accelerator Catalog:

https://ibm.biz/acccatalog

There might be other solutions but you would need to use the Master Detail Relationships if that is even possible to link a parameter to each key of the list rows.

I don't have the time at the moment to try this out. I'm using Store Procedures to allow data input for users. Down side: STP are not supported in data modules, you would have to use Framework Manager instead.

Question?

HI Robert - i just added a Text prompt in my List in the Design Mode, and after Run the report i am able to write values there, but these values are not exported in Excel, while on browser we can write our values. we can say Write back there .

Thanks.

Hi Hashim,

I assume you use a list data container in your report, correct? How did you add the column and what exactly do you mean with "place values in that column"? Is there some write back functionality?

Hi Team - i have added a Column in Cognos report and we are able to place values in that column, but when we extract in any format like Excel /PDF, that column remain blank.

 any idea to solve this

Thanks.