Adding custom reports to the Metrics reports list

After you create a custom report, edit the reports-config.xml and add an entry for the new report. The entries in this file determine which reports appear in the list that displays in the Metrics user interface.

About this task

The list of reports that displays in the Metrics user interface is based on the report entries in the reports-config.xml; the label associated with each report ID displays in the list of available reports. When you create a new report, you can add it to the file with a new entry tag.

Procedure

  1. On the computer where Cognos® BI Server is installed, open the reports-config.xml file for editing.
    The file is typically located in the following directory:
    ..\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Profile_Name\config\cells\Cell_Name\LotusConnections-config\metrics
  2. In the reports-config.xml file, add a new entry tag into the <!-- Definition of customized reports --> section of either the global reports section or the community reports section, remembering to end it with the closing </entry> tag.
    For example, to add a custom report to the global set of reports, insert the new entry within the global tags but outside of the existing entries that appear for the standard reports, as shown in the example that follows:
    	<global defaultReportId="overview">
    <!-- Definition of built-in reports. Built-in reports don't have link property. -->
	    <entry id="overview" type="report" label="METRICS.NAVIGATION.SYSTEM.OVERVIEW.NAME">
        <entry id="people" type="report" label="METRICS.NAVIGATION.PEOPLE.NAME" />
        <entry id="participation" type="report" label="METRICS.NAVIGATION.PARTICIPATION.NAME" />
        <entry id="content" type="report" label="METRICS.NAVIGATION.CONTENT.NAME" />
    </entry>
  
    <!-- Definition of customized reports -->
    <entry id="customized_report_1" type="report" label="CUSTOMIZED_REPORT_LABEL_1_NEW">
        <link>
        <!<CDATA</servlet/dispatch/ext?b_action=cognosViewer&ui.action=run&ui.object=%2fcontent%2fpackage<%40name%3d%27Metrics%27]%2ffolder<%40name%3d%27metricsCustomReports%27]%2freport<%40name%3d%27visitForApps%27]&ui.name=visitForApps&run.outputFormat=&run.prompt=true]]&#62;
        </link>
    </entry>
</global>
    You can insert the new entry anywhere within the appropriate section; the reports are listed in the user interface in the order in which they appear in this file. Each report needs an entry tag that describes it, with a link node indicating where the report is stored. You can copy the code from an existing report as a starting point and then modify it for the new entry.Provide the following information for the new report:
    • id – Provide a brief description that will not change even if you modify the report’s label later. This ID must match the value used in the report itself so that the Metrics application can locate it.
      <entry id="customized_report_1" type="report" label="CUSTOMIZED_REPORT_LABEL_1_NEW">
    • type – Specify the type of entry that you are creating; use report as the value.
      <entry id="customized_report_1" type="report" label="CUSTOMIZED_REPORT_LABEL_1_NEW">
    • label – Provide a text label that will appear as the report’s name in the user interface.
      <entry id="customized_report_1" type="report" label="CUSTOMIZED_REPORT_LABEL_1_NEW">
    • link – The value of the link depends on whether you are adding an entry for a global metrics eport or for a community metrics report:
      • Global metrics report: Provide a link to the report. Format the URL as a CDATA element and omit the domain and port as shown in the example that follows.
        <entry id="customized_report_1" type="report" label="CUSTOMIZED_REPORT_LABEL_1_NEW">
   <link>
   <!<CDATA</servlet/dispatch/ext?b_action=cognosViewer&ui.action=run&ui.name=main&run.outputFormat=&run.prompt=false&cv.header=false&cv.toolbar=false&ui.object=%2fcontent%2fpackage%5b%40name%3d%27metrics%27%5d%2ffolder%5b%40name%3d%27global%27%5d%2ffolder%5b%40name%3d%27customized%27%5d%2freport%5b%40name%3d%27main%27%5d]]&#62;
   </link>
</entry>
      • Community metrics report: Provide the report name only, as in the example that follow. The report name must match the report name that you added to the community job list for this report as described in Creating a report from a predefined a layout and Creating a blank report from the PowerCube model.
        <entry id="customized_report_2" type="report" label="CUSTOMIZED_REPORT_LABEL_2_NEW">
   <link>your_report_name</link>
</entry>
  3. Save and close the file.
  4. Refresh the browser before viewing the report to verify the new link.

    There is no need to restart the Cognos® BI Server.