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  • 1.  Questions about 12.1 Auto-refresh

    Posted 9 days ago

    Hi all,

    I spotted that 12.1 has a new auto-refresh feature. https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cognos-analytics/12.1.x?topic=components-auto-refresh-reports

    This sounds like a great feature for having a dashboard like report updating automatically in a public area.

    I don't have access to a 12.1 to test this so I am hoping someone here might know the answers:

    1. Is this a capability that can be limited to user groups/roles?
    2. Can this be used on any output formats?

    My concern is that users could use this to create system intensive reports, such as large Excel outputs and I cannot stop them doing this with an auto-refresh. At the moment we can lock down scheduling capability to prevent this.



    ------------------------------
    Marc Reed
    Reporting Lead
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Questions about 12.1 Auto-refresh

    Posted 8 days ago

    Hi Marc,

    I've read in a pre-release documentation the following: "Administrators can set the minimum time in the advanced settings".

    Since then, I haven't found any other documentation on this new feature. There is nothing on ibm.com/support/pages/ibmsearch?q=refreshTimer

    Best regards,



    ------------------------------
    Patrick Neveu
    BSL Consulting
    IBM Champion
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Questions about 12.1 Auto-refresh

    Posted 8 days ago

    Hi Marc,

    this is a feature I can demo to you.

    You ask some good questions that I do not know so I will investigate and get back to you and Patrick.

    Greg



    ------------------------------
    Greg McDonald
    Product Manager - Cognos Analytics
    IBM
    greg.mcdonald@ca.ibm.com
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-mcdonald-6743961/
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Questions about 12.1 Auto-refresh

    Posted 8 days ago
    Edited by Marc Reed 8 days ago

    Thanks Greg. your on going dedication to helping IBM customers is always very appreciated.

    A couple of additional points - you know me give an inch take a mile as they say...

    It would also be good to know if you add refreshTimer to any Cognos report URL it doesn't just do it forever until the window is closed.

    The IBM URL help page doesn't have this listed as an option. As it is just a URL thing should it?

    Creating custom URLs to display and run Cognos Analytics content

    Ibm remove preview
    Creating custom URLs to display and run Cognos Analytics content
    You can create URLs that open or run IBM Cognos Analytics content objects, such as reports, dashboards, stories, or data modules. This feature extends the Share > Link command that creates a URL to display Cognos Analytics content objects to provide more control over the actions that are taken when the content object is displayed or run.
    View this on Ibm >

    As development are updating the sharing dialogue box then as well as auto refresh maybe they could add tick boxes for other options that would be useful - such as ui_appbar, ui_navbar, ui_toolbar

    If you are using auto refresh it seems the obvious use case is a public facing dashboard like report, as well as auto refresh you are likely to want to hide the application interface at the same time.



    ------------------------------
    Marc Reed
    Reporting Lead
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Questions about 12.1 Auto-refresh

    Posted 2 days ago

    Hi @GREG MCDONALD,

    Do you have any update?

    Best regards,



    ------------------------------
    Patrick Neveu
    IBM Champion
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Questions about 12.1 Auto-refresh

    Posted 8 days ago
    Edited by Robert Dostal 8 days ago

    Hi Marc,

    i couldn't find any hint for hiding the element with Cognos settings but you can create an extension with CSS that will hide it.

    The ID is "refreshTimer-container".

    I just checked it with CA 12.1.3 and had only 

    ".refreshTimer-container

    {  
    display:none !important;
    }"
    in my CSS file. You can then add the "environment": {"groupsAndRoles": ["<path-to-your-group>"]} section into the spec.json file to hide it only for certain groups and roles.
    Here's the spec.json I used:
    {
      "name": "HideRefresh",
      "schemaVersion": "1.0",
      "extensions": [
      {
          "perspective": "authoring",
          "features": [{
            "cssStyles": ["v1/ext/HideRefresh/styles.css"],
            "id": "HideRefresh"
    }]
      }]
    }
    Works like a charm...

    @GREG MCDONALD it would be great if someone could help me out doing the same thing with the "permissions" tab on the properties page of object. CSS doesn't seem to wokr there or I use the wrong class...

    see Hide/disable "Permissions" tab in object properties page

    ------------------------------
    Robert Dostal
    Principal Expert BI
    GEMÜ Gebr. Müller Apparatebau GmbH & Co. KG
    Kupferzell
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Questions about 12.1 Auto-refresh

    Posted 8 days ago

    Thanks Robert.
    It would probably work for 90% of my users - but with the power of AI  at their fingertips these days we can't use security through obscurity.

    It really should be a capability.



    ------------------------------
    Marc Reed
    Reporting Lead
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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