Is it possible? Archiving and Pdf

rbuser

Is it possible with the Server to call a report but not return it to the
client - just write out directly to a pdf or archive file? This would be
written out to a file on the machine where the server resides. To be viewed
later using the client viewing the archive directory.

We are trying to use the Server to handle scheduled reports and would not
need an immediate viewing of the report output.

Just need to know if this is possible.

Bill Brittain

rbuser

Just thinking.

Since we were thinking of calling some processes as webservices from the
scheduler.

Possibly we could utililize the webtier component to use in an asp.net
webservice to generate a report with "content=pdf" but not return as a
response. The output created of the pdf for the response is what we need,
just not an actually html response.

This thinking is based on your example of calling in an aspx page - the
webtiercomserver.ocx example.

Has anyone done something along this lines.

And this would be good for allocating in a round robin server farm
arrangement.

What do you think?

Bill Brittain

nardmoseley

- You can use ClientReport to generate a PDF. The ClientReport, Report and
ArchiveReader descend from a common anscestor, Producer. They share many of
the same properties, methods, and events. (As a first step towards a
solution, try placing a ClientReport on a form, configure it to communicate
with your server and try writing some code to generate a PDF file. )

- The WebTier internally uses ClientReport to communicate with the Server.
You can call the WebTier.CreateClientReport method to create a ClientReport
that is configured to communicate with the server. After you are done, free
the ClientReport.

- To extend the ASP.NET example, you can add methods to the COM object and
then call them from ASP.NET.



--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

I found that using an http call from our scheduler area to call the reports
thru the webtier component works.

I removed the Response.Content to not return the report to our calling
process.

Our Request is calling the report with content=pdf and the pdf is being
created without problem.

Our next problem is assigning the report to the appropriate directory that
we need it in to allow the report to be viewed after being created.

This probably goes back to what you were saying about using the
CreateClientReport method.

How should that be done. Could you give me a brief code example of how to
just create and call the report in the webtier action item to replace the
ProcessWebRequest.

Thanks for all your help.

Bill Brittain

nardmoseley

I think this will help you accomplish what you need...

-------------------------------------------------------
Tech Tips: RB Server and Custom Parameters
-------------------------------------------------------

The RBServer Custom Parameter demos show how to define custom session and
report level parameters that can be used to implement security and other
types of custom processing.

The are three projects that work together. Each project includes a
ReadMe.doc and commented code.

1. RBServer\Demos\Servers\Custom Parameters
2. RBServer\Demos\WebTier\Custom Parameters
3. RBServer\Demos\Clients\Custom Parameters


The demos include examples of how to...

1. Define Custom Session parameters.

A custom login form is displayed. Based upon the login, the catalog of
reports available to the user is filtered.

2. Define Custom Report parameters

A custom parameter form is displayed. The parameters are used by the report.

3. Custom AutoSearch form

A custom autosearch form is displayed. The parameter values are used by the
autosearch criteria.





--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Thank you Nard.

These look quite promising.

Bill Brittain

rbuser

Nard Moseley (Digital Metaphors) wrote:
I am trying to do this but with no success...
I tried

rsClientReport1.AllowPrintToFile := true;
rsClientReport1.DeviceType := 'PDF';
rsClientReport1.PrintToDevices; // even tried .print
ShowMessage('FileName:'+rsClientReport1.TextFileName);

or in this way:

rsClientReport1.AllowPrintToFile := true;
rsClientReport1.SessionParameters['content'].Value := 'PDF';
rsClientReport1.PrintToDevices; // even tried .Print
ShowMessage('FileName:'+rsClientReport1.TextFileName);

What I want to achieve is :
1. tell rb server to print on pdf
2. be able to get the path in the cache of the pdf generated at step #1

I could achieve this parsing the output of ProcessWebRequest (isolating
the pdf path from:
..

..

but it not seems to me a good approach ...
I am using RB 9.03 and D7
Thanks in advance for any help
bye
Nicola

nardmoseley

- I don't a see problem with parsing out the web response - that is just as
good approach as any other. It will let the webtier do what it already it
does - process the requests.

- I researched this and came with an example:

uses
rsWebRequest,
rsWebSessionManager,
rsWebSession,
rsWebCacheReportFile;

procedure TWebModule1.WebModule1WebActionItem1Action(Sender: TObject;
Request: TWebRequest; Response: TWebResponse; var Handled: Boolean);
var
lWebRequest: TrsWebRequest;
lWebSession: TrsWebSession;
lWebCacheReportFile: TrsWebCacheReportFile;
begin

// create a WebRequestObject
lWebRequest := rsWebTier1.CreateWebRequest(Request.QueryFields,
Request.Content);

// check whether request is for a pdf
if (lWebRequest.ContentType = 'pdf') and
(rsWebTier1.SessionExists(lWebRequest)) then
begin
// get the web session
lWebSession := gWebSessionManager.GetSessionForRequest(lWebRequest);

// get the cache
lWebCacheReportFile := TrsWebCacheReportFile.Create(lWebSession,
lWebRequest);

lWebCacheReportFile.FileExtension := 'pdf';


// the report file will be this value
ShowMessage(lWebCacheReportFile.ReportFileQualifiedName);

lWebCacheReportFile.Free;

end;


Response.Content := rsWebTier1.ProcessWebRequest(lWebRequest);

lWebRequest.Free;

end;

--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com

rbuser

Nard Moseley (Digital Metaphors) wrote:
My only concern is if the output of ProcessWebRequest could change for
some reason ...


I tried and it works but it returns the local path while
ProcessWebRequest returns the web version (starting with "http://....").
So I'll stay with the first option if you can tell me that the output
will stay the same. By the way, are the functions/classes you used in
this example documented somewhere ?
I searched the help and didn't find the TrsWebCacheReportFile class.

Many thanks, really appreciate your help
Bye
Nicola

nardmoseley

Those are implementation classes that are not currently documented.


--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com