Cognos 8 GO Office

Cognos(R) 8 Business Intelligence Readme Cognos 8 Go!
Office User Guide
USER GUIDE
Cognos(R) 8
COGNOS 8 GO! OFFICE USER GUIDE
Product Information
This document applies to Cognos 8 Version 8.2 and may also apply to subsequent releases. To check for newer versions of this document, visit the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site (http://support.cognos.com).
(R)
Copyright
Copyright (C) 2007 Cognos Incorporated. Portions of Cognos(R) software products are protected by one or more of the following U.S. Patents: 6,609,123 B1; 6,611,838 B1; 6,662,188 B1; 6,728,697 B2; 6,741,982 B2; 6,763,520 B1; 6,768,995 B2; 6,782,378 B2; 6,847,973 B2; 6,907,428 B2; 6,853,375 B2; 6,986,135 B2; 6,995,768 B2; 7,062,479 B2; 7,072,822 B2. Cognos and the Cognos logo are trademarks of Cognos Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information in this document is accurate and complete, some typographical errors or technical inaccuracies may exist. Cognos does not accept responsibility for any kind of loss resulting from the use of information contained in this document. This document shows the publication date. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. Any improvements or changes to either the product or the document will be documented in subsequent editions. U.S. Government Restricted Rights. The software and accompanying materials are provided with Restricted Rights. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to the restrictions in subparagraph (C)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013, or subparagraphs (C) (1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights at 48CFR52.227-19, as applicable. The Contractor is Cognos Corporation, 15 Wayside Road, Burlington, MA 01803. This software/documentation contains proprietary information of Cognos Incorporated. All rights are reserved. Reverse engineering of this software is prohibited. No part of this software/documentation may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, or translated into another language without the prior written consent of Cognos Incorporated.
Table of Contents
Introduction 7 Using This Document 7 Audience 7 Related Documentation 7 Finding Documentation 8 Using Quick Tours 8 Getting Help 8 Printing Copyright Material 8 Chapter 1: Working in Excel 9 Understanding Cognos 8 Go! Office in the Microsoft Excel Environment 9 Start Cognos 8 Go! Office 10 Enable Cognos 8 Go! Office in an Existing Workbook 10 Log On, Hide or Show the Cognos Action Pane, and Log Off 12 Import Cognos Report Elements 13 Working with Prompted Reports 15 Enter Prompts 15 Change Prompts Using the Properties Pane 16 Remove Answers to Prompts 17 Working with Reports and Content 17 Run Reports in PowerPlay Web, Analysis Studio, or Report Studio 17 View Information About Content 18 Refresh Report Content and Folders 18 Remove Reports or Report Data from a Workbook 19 Cognos 8 Go! Office Best Practices in the Microsoft Excel Environment 19 Manage Workbooks in Cognos Connection 20 Download an Excel Workbook from Cognos Connection 21 Save Workbooks Created With Cognos 8 Go! Office 21 Chapter 2: Working in PowerPoint 23 Understanding Cognos 8 Go! Office in the Microsoft PowerPoint Environment 23 Start Cognos 8 Go! Office 23 Enable Cognos 8 Go! Office in an Existing Presentation 24 Log On, Hide or Show the Cognos Action Pane, and Log Off 25 Import Cognos Report Elements 26 Working with Prompted Reports 27 Enter Prompts 27 Change Prompts Using the Properties Pane 28 Remove Answers to Prompts 29 Working With Reports and Content 29 Run Reports in PowerPlay Web, Analysis Studio, or Report Studio 29 Managing Content in PowerPoint 30 View Information About Content 30 Refresh Report Content and Folders 30 Remove Reports or Report Data from a Presentation 31 Cognos 8 Go! Office Best Practices in the Microsoft PowerPoint Environment 32 Manage Presentations in Cognos Connection 32 Download a PowerPoint Presentation from Cognos Connection 33 Save Presentations Created With Cognos 8 Go! Office 33
User Guide 3
Chapter 3: Working in Word 35 Understanding Cognos 8 Go! Office in the Microsoft Word Environment 35 Start Cognos 8 Go! Office 35 Enable Cognos 8 Go! Office in an Existing Document 36 Log On, Hide or Show the Cognos Action Pane, and Log Off 38 Import Cognos Report Elements 39 Working with Prompted Reports 40 Enter Prompts 41 Change Prompts Using the Properties Pane 41 Remove Answers to Prompts 42 Working With Reports and Content 42 Run Reports in PowerPlay Web, Analysis Studio, or Report Studio 42 Managing Content in Word 43 View Information About Content 43 Refresh Report Content and Folders 43 Remove Reports or Report Data from a Document 44 Cognos 8 Go! Office Best Practices in the Microsoft Word Environment 44 Manage Documents in Cognos Connection 45 Download a Word Document from Cognos Connection 46 Save Documents Created With Cognos 8 Go! Office 46 Chapter 4: Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office 47 Register the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation Object 47 Reference the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation Object in a Global Variable 48 Writing Code for Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation 49 Set Up the Cognos 8 Go! Office Template to Log Automation Activities and Errors 50 Cognos 8 Go! Office API Functions 50 The IResult Interface 50 The Logon Method 51 The Logon2 Method 51 The EnableLogging Method 52 The RefreshCOCContent Method 52 The Publish Method 53 The Logoff Method 53 Using the Cognos 8 Go! Office API 53 Using the Cognos 8 Go! Office VBA Code Samples 54 Import Cognos 8 Go! Office Forms and Visual Basic Files 55 Macro Files 55 Script Files 56 XML Schema File 56 Working with the Cognos 8 Go! Office Command Line 57 Refresh a List of Office Documents from the Command Line 58 Publish a List of Office Documents from the Command Line 58 Refresh a List of Office Documents from Scheduled Task 59 Chapter 5: Troubleshooting 61 Troubleshooting Resources 61 Error Messages 61 Log Files 61 Windows Event Viewer 62 Samples 62 Use the Knowledge Base of the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site 62 Call Cognos Global Customer Services 62 Common Errors 63 Configuration Issues 63 Processing Issues 67 Security Issues 68
Cognos 8 Go! Office
Glossary 71 Index 75
User Guide 5
Cognos 8 Go! Office
Introduction
This document is intended for use with Cognos 8 Go! Office. Cognos 8 Go! Office is a smart client for retrieving content from Cognos reporting products, such as Cognos 8 and PowerPlay Web within Microsoft Office.
Using This Document

This document contains overview and step-by-step information for using Cognos 8 Go! Office. It provides detailed information about using Cognos 8 Go! Office inside Microsoft Office Excel, PowerPoint and Word. It also contains information and examples for automating Cognos 8 Go! Office using Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications.
Audience
This guide assumes that you are familiar with Cognos products, such as Cognos 8, Cognos Connection, and PowerPlay and Microsoft Office applications, such as Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Word, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint. If you want to automate Cognos 8 Go! Office using the API, you must have knowledge of Visual Basic (VB) or Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).
Related Documentation
Our documentation includes user guides, getting started guides, new features guides, readmes, and other materials to meet the needs of our varied audience. The following documents contain related information and may be referred to in this document. To view these documents, either consult your administrator to determine the online location of Cognos documentation or search the Product Documentation library of the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site (http://support.cognos.com/kb-app/knowledgebase). If you require logon credentials, either consult your administrator or send an email to support.america@cognos.com. Document Description
Cognos Connection User Using Cognos Connection to publish, find, manage, organize, and Guide view Cognos content, such as scorecards, reports, analyses, and agents Cognos 8 Administration Managing servers, security, reports, and Portal Services; setting up and Security Guide Cognos samples; and customizing Cognos 8 Cognos 8 Installation and Installing, upgrading, configuring, and testing Cognos 8, deploying Configuration Guide Cognos 8 Go! Office, changing application servers, and setting up samples Report Studio User Guide Authoring reports that analyze corporate data according to specific needs Analysis Studio User Guide Exploring, analyzing, and comparing dimensional data
Query Studio User Guide Creating self-service business intelligence reports
User Guide 7
Introduction
Document Cognos PowerPlay Enterprise Server Guide Cognos PowerPlay Web Users Guide
Description Administering PowerPlay servers and deploying cubes and reports to PowerPlay users in Windows environments or on the Web Viewing, exploring, formatting, and distributing PowerPlay reports using a Web browser
Finding Documentation
To find the most current Cognos documentation, including all localized documentation, access the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site (http://support.cognos.com). Click the Documentation link to access product documentation. Click the Knowledge Base link to access all documentation, technical papers, and multimedia materials. Product-specific documentation is available in online help from the Help menu or button in Cognos products. You can also download documentation in PDF format from the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site. This document is available as online help in the Cognos Action pane. You can also read PDF versions of the product readme files and installation guides directly from Cognos product CDs.
Using Quick Tours

Quick tours are short online tutorials that illustrate key features in Cognos product components. To view a quick tour, start Cognos Connection and click the Quick Tour link in the lower-right corner of the Welcome page.
Getting Help
For more information about using this product or for technical assistance, visit the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site (http://support.cognos.com). This site provides product information, services, user forums, and a knowledge base of documentation and multimedia materials. To create a case, contact a support person, or provide feedback, click the Contact Support link. For information about education and training, click the Training link.
Printing Copyright Material

You can print selected pages, a section, or the whole book. Cognos grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use, copy, and reproduce the copyright materials, in printed or electronic format, solely for the purpose of operating, maintaining, and providing internal training on Cognos software.
Cognos 8 Go! Office
Chapter 1: Working in Excel

Use Cognos 8 Go! Office with Microsoft Office Excel to create workbooks that leverage Cognos content and the calculation and charting capabilities of Microsoft Office Excel. To use Cognos 8 Go! Office with Microsoft Office Excel, do the following: Start Cognos 8 Go! Office for Microsoft Office Excel.
Log on to Cognos 8 Go! Office. Import Cognos report elements to a workbook. Work with reports and content. Publish workbooks to Cognos Connection.
Understanding Cognos 8 Go! Office in the Microsoft Excel Environment

For Microsoft Office Excel, Cognos 8 Go! Office provides two types of clients: a smart client, and a COM add-in client. A Cognos 8 installation can support both smart client and COM add-in deployments. A deployment using the smart client provides easier maintenance because users do not have to install Cognos 8 Go! Office on their computers. If Cognos 8 Go! Office is upgraded with a later release, users of the smart client automatically use the new version. To use Cognos 8 Go! Office with the smart client requires configuring custom properties in a workbook or template file. It also requires configuring the Microsoft .NET Run-time security policy to allow the Cognos 8 Go! Office smart client to run. A deployment using the COM add-in client requires that an installation be run on user computers and that custom properties be configured in Microsoft Office files or templates. If Cognos 8 Go! Office is upgraded with a later release, COM add-in users must install the newer version. To use Cognos 8 Go! Office with the COM add-in requires configuring custom properties in a workbook or template file. The COM add-in loads with the Microsoft Office application. For changes to custom properties to take effect, you must exit and re-start Microsoft Excel. Both the COM add-in and smart client versions of Cognos 8 Go! Office require the underlying Microsoft .NET framework, such as Microsoft .NET version 1.1 SP1 and the Microsoft Office .NET Programmability PrimaryInteropAssemblies. For complete information on meeting installation and configuration requirements, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide. Microsoft Excel users with Microsoft Office 2003 Professional can use the Cognos 8 Go! Office smart client or the COM add-in client. Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Office 2003 Standard users must use the COM add-in client. Note: If you install the add-in for Just Me, then the registry keys are valid for the Current User and Cognos 8 Go! Office appears in the COM Add-Ins dialog box. If you install the add-in for Everyone, then the registry keys are valid for the Local Machine and Cognos 8 Go! Office does not appear in the COM Add-Ins dialog box.
User Guide 9
Start Cognos 8 Go! Office

Cognos 8 Go! Office starts automatically when you open a workbook that was created using the Cognos 8 Go! Office template. When you create a new workbook, you must load the Cognos 8 Go! Office template, Cognos8GoOffice.xlt, manually. Select the template from the Web site or local intranet where Cognos 8 Go! Office was installed. You may want to copy this template to your Windows templates directory. These instructions assume that the New Workbook pane is active. If the New Workbook pane is not active by default, you can press F1 to activate the pane before beginning these steps.
Steps for Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Professional or Standard

1. 2. 3. 4. Start Microsoft Office Excel. From the File menu, click New. In the New Workbook pane, click On my Web sites. In the File name box, type the URL of the Cognos 8 Go! Office template, and then click Create New.
Steps for Microsoft Office Excel XP

1. 2. 3. 4. Start Microsoft Office Excel XP. From the File menu, click New. In the New Workbook pane, under New from Template, click Templates on my Web sites. In the File name box, type the URL of the Cognos 8 Go! Office template, and then click Create New.
You can now log on to Cognos 8 Go! Office.
Enable Cognos 8 Go! Office in an Existing Workbook

To enable an existing workbook with Cognos 8 Go! Office capabilities you must request the values for the required custom properties and enter them into the workbook. Usually you can obtain these values from the system administrator. You must know whether you are running Cognos 8 Go! Office as a Smart Client or a COM add-in. If you are using Microsoft Office Excel XP or Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Standard you must run Cognos 8 Go! Office as a COM add-in. If you are using Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Professional, you can run Cognos 8 Go! Office as either a COM add-in or a Smart Client. If the value for one of the custom properties is longer than 255 characters, you can add a number to the property name and then enter another custom property with the number increased by one. For example, if entering a CognosGateway where the path is 258 characters, you must enter the first 255 characters in CognosGateway0. Then add another custom property, CognosGateway1, with the remaining 3 characters. The value is concatenated when the custom property is read.
Steps for the Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Professional Smart Client
1. 2. 3. 4. In Microsoft Excel, open the workbook. From the File menu, click Properties. Click the Custom tab. Add the required custom properties. Name CognosGateway Description Required for all Microsoft Office versions. The URI for the Cognos 8 gateway. Type Text Value http://server_name:port/cogno s8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi
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Chapter 1: Working in Excel Name Description Type Text Value http://server_name:webserver_ port_number/cognos8/coc ExcelSmartClient
_AssemblyLocation Required. The location of the smart client dll file. _AssemblyName
Required. The name of Text the smart client dynamic link library (dll) without the .dll extension. Optional. A file where information is logged. If you turn logging on for a template, all files created from the template will also have logging turned on. Text
LogFile
c:\logs\LogFile.log Log files will have a time stamp appended to the name, such as LogFile_155928924.log.
AutoLogFile
Text Optional. A file where information is logged for batch processing. For more information, see Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office. Yes or no Optional. For forms-based authentication. FBAC can be used with security applications such as SiteMinder.
c:\logs\AutoLogFile.log
FBAC
Yes, to enable forms-based authentication. No, to disable forms-based authentication. To set the FBAC property, you must select Yes or no as the custom property Type, and then select the appropriate Value.
EnableSSO
Optional. EnableSSO allows you to disable single signon with other Cognos 8 Go! Office documents and other Cognos Products. This property does not affect other Cognos 8 Go! Office-enabled documents.
Yes or no The value for EnableSSO can be Yes or No. If this property is not set, the default will be Yes. This means that the Microsoft Office file or template will use single signon. Setting the property to No will disable single signon for the file or template. To set the EnableSSO property, you must select Yes or No as the custom property Type, and then select the appropriate Value.
5. After you finish adding custom properties, click OK.
Steps for the COM Add-in

1. 2. 3. 4. In Microsoft Excel, open the workbook. From the File menu, click Properties. Click the Custom tab. Add the required custom properties.
User Guide 11
Name
Description
Type Text
Value http://server_name:port/cognos 8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi c:\logs\LogFile.log Log files will have a time stamp appended to the name, such as LogFile_155928924.log.
CognosGateway Required for all Microsoft Office versions. The URI for the Cognos 8 gateway. LogFile Optional. A file where information is logged. If you turn logging on for a template, all files created from the template will also have logging turned on. AutoLogFile Optional. A file where information is logged for batch processing. For more information, see Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office.
Text
Text
FBAC
Yes or Optional. For forms-based authentication. FBAC can be no used with security applications such as SiteMinder.
Yes, to enable forms-based authentication. No, to disable forms-based authentication. To set the FBAC property, you must select Yes or No as the custom property Type, and then select the appropriate Value. The value for EnableSSO can be Yes or No. If this property is not set, the default will be Yes. This means that the Microsoft Office file or template will use single signon. Setting the property to No will disable single signon for the file or template. To set the EnableSSO property, you must select Yes or No as the custom property Type, and then select the appropriate Value.
EnableSSO
Optional. EnableSSO allows you to disable single signon with other Cognos 8 Go! Office documents and other Cognos Products. This property does not affect other Cognos 8 Go! Office-enabled documents.
Yes or no
Log On, Hide or Show the Cognos Action Pane, and Log Off
Before you use Cognos 8 Go! Office, you must log on to the datasource that contains the reports you want to import. You can log on to multiple datasources. The procedures for logging on may vary depending on your credential system. The commands to log on or log off must be performed using the context menu on the top node of the portal tree in the Cognos Content tab. Depending on how your security is set up, you may have several logon screens or no logon screens displayed.
Steps to Log On
1. On the Cognos Content tab, right-click the top node of the portal tree and then click Log On. The Log On dialog box appears. 12 Cognos 8 Go! Office
Chapter 1: Working in Excel 2. If there is more than one namespace, in the Namespace box, click the namespace and click OK. 3. In the User ID box, type your user ID. 4. In the Password box, type your password and click OK.
Steps to Hide or Show the Cognos Action Pane

1. From the Tools menu, click Customize. 2. Choose whether to hide or show the Cognos Action Pane. To show the Cognos Action Pane, on the Toolbars tab, select the Cognos Action Pane check box. To hide the Cognos Action Pane, on the Toolbars tab, clear the Cognos Action Pane check box.
Step to Log Off

On the Cognos Content tab, right-click the top node of the portal tree and then click Log Off. After logging on and showing the Cognos Action Pane, you are ready to begin using Cognos 8 Go! Office features. If you open multiple templates in the same Microsoft Office Excel window, when you switch between them, the Cognos 8 Go! Office tree may be collapsed each time. To avoid this behavior, open your Cognos 8 Go! Office sessions in separate windows if you are working with multiple templates.
Import Cognos Report Elements

Use the Import Content wizard to retrieve report content from a variety of Cognos reports. You must select the report elements with which you want to work in your Microsoft Office Excel workbook. Report content is imported to a named range, which is a descriptive name for a group of cells. You can use named ranges to manage content within Microsoft Office Excel. Named ranges must be unique. Cognos 8 Go! Office assigns a default unique name and location to a report when it is imported. You can change this default name as long as it is unique and follows the Microsoft Office Excel conventions for named ranges. When typing a name for a named range, you must follow the conventions set down in Microsoft Office Excel, which forbids the use of special characters except underscore (_) and requires the use of a letter for the starting character. If you want to accept all the default settings for importing content, after you click Import Content, you can click Finish. The wizard then determines the placement of report elements in the workbook. The query used to import and refresh data is a query for the entire report element that you select. If you try to insert rows or columns within this object, they are overwritten when you refresh the data. If your data or data structure, such as the number of rows and columns changes on a subsequent refresh, the object resizes, but other elements in the workbook may get overwritten. When you import content into Excel, depending on the report elements you import, you can select a variety of basic formatting options. Import goal Option
Import data as a simple list without any grouping applied in Import as List the Cognos report (supported for Microsoft Office Excel 2003 - Professional or Standard) Import data without any formatting applied to the Cognos report Resize the width of the columns in the Excel workbook so that you can read all of the text in the imported list Ignore formatting Automatically Resize Columns
User Guide 13
Steps
1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Browse Content tab. 2. Expand the list of reports from the top node and click the report you want to import into the workbook. 3. Click Import Content. The Import Content wizard appears. If this report has been imported to this workbook already a unique name for this instance of the report is assigned. If you choose, you can assign a name. The limit for a name is 215 characters. If the default name is too long, a warning alerts you to this fact and you are prompted to change the name. 4. To change the default name, in the Name box, type the new name and click Next. 5. Select page options. Option Ignore paging Insert page breaks between report pages Description Insert report content in one continuous flow on the current worksheet Inserts the report content on the current worksheet and inserts page breaks. In the Location box, type the cell location where data appears on each worksheet.
Create new worksheets Copies each page of the report to a new worksheet. In the for report pages Location box, type the cell location where data appears on each worksheet. 6. Choose whether to accept the default import setting. To accept defaults for placement and layout of report content, click Finish. The selected report elements appear in the workbook. To choose settings for the placement and layout of report content, click Next. Continue with the remaining steps in this task. Tip: To jump to a particular page in the wizard, click the element or options page listed in the left pane of the wizard. 7. On the Select Report Elements page, click the report elements that you want to place in the workbook and click Next. 8. In the Name box, type the name of this import. If this element has been imported to this workbook already a unique name for this instance of the element is assigned. If you choose, you can assign a name. The limit for a name is 215 characters. If the default name is too long, a warning alerts you to this fact and you are prompted to change the name. 9. In the Location box, type the sheet, column, and row designation. Tip: Click the button to the right of the Location box to select a cell range in the active workbook. The default is the active or current cell of the active workbook. Leave the Location box blank to automatically fit content after the previous element. 10. Select the workbook options that you want and click Next. Depending on the type of report, workbook options include the following: Option Hide Label Repeat Label Description Hides or shows labels for row or column metadata. Repeats labels for row or column metadata.
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Cognos 8 Go! Office
Option Group
Description Groups row or column items using the Microsoft Office Excel Group feature. After content has been placed in a workbook, you may need to expand items to see the data in rows and columns. Shows items as a list, which enables list controls at the top of each column. This option is available in Microsoft Office Excel 2003 (Professional or Standard), which supports the list feature. This feature is not supported in Microsoft Office Excel XP. For list report elements, imports numeric data without formatting or masks. Adjusts the column size to fit the contents
Import as an Excel List
Ignore Formatting Automatically resize columns
11. For each report element, repeat steps 7 through 9. 12. Click Next, and then click Finish. 13. If this is a prompted report, enter prompt answers and click Finish. For more information about prompted reports, see Working With Prompted Reports. The selected report elements appear in the workbook. Graphs and charts are imported as images.
Working with Prompted Reports

Prompts act as questions that help users to customize the information in a report to suit their own needs. For example, through the use of prompted reports users can select a product type. Only products belonging to the selected product type are retrieved and shown in the report. Cognos 8 Go! Office enables users to answer prompts from imported report elements. The prompts appear after the Cognos 8 Go! Office Import Content wizard is complete and only if the report has unanswered prompts. If the report has prompts for which you set and saved default answers, Cognos 8 Go! Office uses those answers and does not re-prompt. Cognos 8 Go! Office enables you to work with prompts in the following ways: Enter prompts.
Change prompts using the Properties pane. Remove prompts.
Enter Prompts
After selecting report content to import, you must select answers for report prompts. The control is identical to the one used in the report itself. The types of controls vary based on the query or the they way the prompt was designed by the report author.
Steps
1. Click the answer and then click Next. 2. After you complete all the prompt answers, click Finish. The report renders and is displayed with the selected data.
User Guide 15
Change Prompts Using the Properties Pane

After prompts are set the first time in the viewer window and the report is imported, you can also use the Properties pane in the Manage Data tab to change prompt answers or to set answers for prompts in an Office document. For Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Word, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint, the following prompt options are available: Type Specified Value Description Application
Excel, Word, and Sets the answer to the prompt and requires that the prompt value be typed into the Use Value box, PowerPoint where the value is saved for future renditions of the Office document. Requires the user to be prompted. No value is saved and the user is prompted each time the report is refreshed. Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
Always Prompt
Cell Value
Specifies an Excel cell for the prompt answer and Excel only requires that the cell reference be typed into the Cell Reference box, where the worksheet, column, and row location is saved for future renditions of the workbook.
Steps to Set a Value

1. In the Cognos Action pane, on the Manage Data tab, in the Properties pane expand the Prompt list. The list of parameters appears. 2. Expand each of the parameters. 3. In the Type box, click Specified Value. 4. In the Use Value box, type the prompt answer. Note: In some cases, the display value for the prompt is not the same as the use value. The use value is the value in the datasource and this must be used for any cell references created in Excel.
Steps to Always Prompt For a Value

1. In the Cognos Action pane, on the Manage Data tab, in the Properties pane expand the Prompt list. The list of parameters appears. 2. Expand each of the parameters. 3. In the Type box, click Always Prompt.
Steps to Set a Value Using a Cell Reference (Excel Only)

1. In the Cognos Action pane, on the Manage Data tab, in the Properties pane expand the Prompt list. The list of parameters appears. 2. Expand each of the parameters. 3. In the Type box, click Cell Value. Note: In some cases, the display value for the prompt is not the same as the use value. The use value is the value in the datasource and this must be used for any cell references created in Excel. 4. In the Cell Reference box, type the cell location, such as Sheet1!A7. 5. Type the value in the cell location you entered in step 4.
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Cognos 8 Go! Office
Remove Answers to Prompts

Remove answers to prompts if you want to ensure that users are prompted when they open the workbook or when they refresh data. This ensures that report content is refreshed without any defaults. This procedure can be performed on reports and will affect all the answers to all the prompts in the report elements that are imported into the Office document. After clearing prompts, you can save the workbook, document, or presentation to Cognos Connection where other users can gain access to it using their own security privileges.
Steps
1. In the Manage Data tab, right-click a report. 2. Click Remove Prompts.
Working with Reports and Content

Cognos 8 Go! Office is fully integrated with Cognos 8 and Cognos Connection. You can run reports from PowerPlay Web and studios, such as Analysis Studio, Query Studio, or Report Studio that are available to you to modify or create new content. Also, Metrics objects can be rendered in Cognos 8 Go! Office if they are defined in a report. When you import content to Cognos 8 Go! Office, the application runs reports on the report server. If your user privileges do not permit you to run certain reports at certain times, you are not able to import content to Cognos 8 Go! Office at that time either.
Run Reports in PowerPlay Web, Analysis Studio, or Report Studio

From the Cognos 8 Go! Office interface, you can open reports and even change report content in PowerPlay Web, Analysis Studio, or Report Studio. You can make changes and save the results to Cognos Connection. New or updated reports are then available to other users through Cognos Connection or Cognos 8 Go! Office. Note: If you are in Cognos 8 Go! Office and you view a report in Excel format using Internet Explorer in Cognos 8, the Cognos Action pane in Cognos 8 Go! Office is hidden by other Excel objects. To avoid this, you must open Microsoft Office documents in their native applications instead of using Internet Explorer. To show the Cognos Action pane, from the Tools menu, click Customize and select the Cognos Action Pane checkbox.
Steps to Run Reports Listed in the Browse Content Pane

1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Browse Content tab. 2. Click a report, and then click Run Report. The report appears in a separate Internet Explorer Web browser even if Internet Explorer is not your default Web browser. 3. If you are licensed to do so, you can change the report by accessing Analysis Studio or Report Studio. 4. After you finish viewing or changing the report, in the upper-right corner, click Close. 5. If prompted to save the report, click Save.
Steps to Run Reports Listed in the Manage Data Pane

1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Manage Data tab. 2. Right-click a report name, and then click Run Report. The report appears in a separate Internet Explorer Web browser even if Internet Explorer is not your default Web browser. 3. If you are licensed to do so, you can change the report by accessing Analysis Studio or Report Studio. 4. After you finish viewing or changing the report, in the upper-right corner, click Close. 5. If prompted to save the report, click Save.
User Guide 17
Step to Run Reports From a Workbook

In the workbook, right-click a range and click Run Report. You may view or change another report or select the report that you just edited to import it into Microsoft Office Excel. After altering report options, you may need to refresh report data. For more information, see Refresh Report Content and Folders.
View Information About Content

You can identify the source of the data in the Microsoft Office Excel workbook, as well as the last time data was updated, by accessing the Manage Data tab. The information in the Manage Data tab provides a context for the report content in your workbook.
Steps
1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Manage Data tab. 2. Expand the hierarchical list and click a report element, such as the header. 3. View the results in the Properties box. These results include information, such as the date and time of the last update, the portal or element ID, and the report name. After you finish viewing the results, you may choose to refresh the content. For more information, see Refresh Report Content and Folders.
Refresh Report Content and Folders

You can refresh folders, the report lists, and the content of reports to retrieve the latest updates and changes. The Refresh folders command updates the list of folders and reports that is visible in the Browse Content tab of the Cognos Action Pane. The Refresh all data, Refresh Data with Format, and Refresh Data without Format functions run the report, or report component, update the data, and include any changes to the report hierarchy. Refreshed data may exceed the target range in the workbook, overwriting existing cell contents or named ranges. If this happens, you must move existing named ranges to create an acceptable row or column range for the updated report data. When choosing between the Refresh Data with Format and Refresh Data without Format options consider the following: The Refresh Data with Format function refreshes data and formatting, such as cell color and number formatting. If you have customized cell formats, Refresh Data with Format changes the special formatting to the current report formatting. The Refresh Data without Format function does not change any customization you make to the cell formatting. The Refresh Data without Format option may refresh faster than the Refresh Data with Format option. Ensure that you are not in Edit mode before refreshing report content. Report content cannot be refreshed while one of the cells of the workbook is being edited. It is possible to cancel a refresh.
Steps to Refresh Folders

1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Browse Content tab. 2. Click Refresh folders.
Steps to Refresh the Content of All Reports

1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Manage Data tab. 2. Click Refresh all data.
Steps to Refresh a Specific Report, Report Element, or Component

1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Manage Data tab.
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Chapter 1: Working in Excel 2. Right-click a report element or component. 3. Choose whether to refresh data with formatting: To refresh data with formatting, click Refresh Data with Format. To refresh data without formatting, click Refresh Data without Format. Tip: To refresh a report from a worksheet, right-click the named range, and then click Refresh Data. The selected report content is refreshed.
Remove Reports or Report Data from a Workbook

You can remove reports, specific report elements, data, or reports and data from a workbook. Removing a report breaks the link between the data in the workbook and the report on which that data is based. Using this option, the data of the report stays in the cells of the workbook, which then becomes static and can be used like any other Excel workbook. Removing data clears the cells of the workbook. Removing a report and data completely deletes the report and data from the cells of the workbook.
Steps
1. In the Cognos Action Pane click the Manage Data tab. 2. Right-click the report or report element you want to remove and then click the remove option. Remove option Remove Element or Remove Report Remove Data Description Breaks the link between the data in the workbook and the report on which that data is based Clears the cells of the workbook
Remove Element and Data Completely deletes the report and data from the cells of the or Remove Report and workbook Data The selected report or report element is removed along with all of its dependent items.
Cognos 8 Go! Office Best Practices in the Microsoft Excel Environment

You should be aware of the following best practices to access Cognos content in your Microsoft Excel environment: Use HLookup and VLookup functions to reference records in large worksheets. Do not insert rows and columns into the middle of imported report tables. Upon refresh, the inserted rows and columns are overwritten or will not necessarily line up. It is better to import report tables into a data worksheet and then access that data with horizontal (HLOOKUP) and vertical (VLOOKUP) lookup syntax to supply summary data in another part of the workbook. For more information, see the Microsoft Office Excel Online Help. Use the Microsoft Excel list feature with the Cognos 8 Go! Office cell reference option to provide data validation. By entering possible values in a column and designating that column as an input validation list in Microsoft Excel, you can select data values for use with Cognos 8 Go! Office cell reference. For more information, see the Microsoft Office Excel Online Help. Protect user access level to data.
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Chapter 1: Working in Excel Create and manage your workbook templates for a wide variety of users. For example, for regional sales managers, you can create a master template that contains all of your corporate data. Then use the Remove data command to clear the workbook of secure data items. Publish the workbook to Cognos Connection and give each manager access to the workbook. Upon refresh of the data, each regional manager sees only the data for his or her region. Publish data with fixed content by breaking the link between the workbook and Cognos 8 Go! Office. Use the Remove report function if you want to present part of the workbook with fixed data. In this case, fixed corporate data that all regional managers should view could be added to the master workbook. Then the link from the report to the workbook cells can be deleted while leaving the common data in the cells. Limit chart metadata in image maps to what can be seen as a static image. Microsoft Excel does not support image maps. Charts are imported as images and do not have the context sensitivity and data values that appear when that same image map is viewed in Cognos 8. Use Cognos 8 Go! Office to copy, move, or delete report objects. In the Manage Content tab of the Cognos Action pane you can click items and see how they are positioned in the workbook. You can refresh individual objects by clicking the report and expanding the list and then right-clicking the report element. To make multiple copies of an item, it is better to reimport the item and place it in the workbook. Report elements have different behavior based on the type of object that it is. Format content in Microsoft Excel using data formats. If you use extensive formatting, you should refresh data without formatting so that the changes you make are not overwritten by formatting changes in the original report. If formatting is applied to cells and the refreshed data shifts, the cell formatting does not move to the new location. This can change the meaning of data. Apply cell formatting to negative numbers. To highlight negative numbers in red, apply the cell formatting in the cell number property instead of the font color. If the data changes, the cell remains red if it is applied as red to the font, but reverts to black if the negative number format is applied.
Manage Workbooks in Cognos Connection

Publish your Cognos-enabled workbooks to Cognos Connection to share them with other users in a secure and centrally managed way. Any user who downloads the workbook from Cognos Connection and has the required Microsoft application infrastructure, such as Microsoft .NET and Microsoft Office Excel 2003 (Professional only), automatically receives the Cognos 8 Go! Office Smart Client. They can refresh the data based on their user authentication privileges in Cognos 8. If they do not have Microsoft .NET installed or they have the Standard version of Microsoft Office Excel 2003 or Microsoft Office Excel XP and have not run the .msi program, they can still view the workbook and its contents, although they cannot refresh the data or update the contents. You can also open Cognos 8 Go! Office enabled workbooks from Cognos Connection. You may need to configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to open workbooks in Excel for this option to work. You can start Cognos 8 Go! Office when you open a workbook that was saved to Cognos Connection. For more information, see the Cognos Connection User Guide.
Steps to Publish Workbooks to Cognos Connection

1. Open the workbook. 2. In the Cognos Action Pane, click the Manage Data tab. 3. Choose whether to save your workbook with data: To save the workbook with the most up-to-date data, click Refresh all data. To save the workbook without data, click Remove all data. 4. Click Publish. You are prompted to save the workbook to continue.
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Chapter 1: Working in Excel 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Click Yes. Click a location. If prompted, select your namespace and enter your user name and password. In the Description box, type a description for the report. In the Screen Tip box, type a tip and click OK. Click OK.
The active workbook is published to Cognos Connection.
Download an Excel Workbook from Cognos Connection

You can download a workbook from Cognos Connection if it was published in Cognos 8 using Cognos 8 Go! Office. The default action for any Microsoft Office document is to download it. You must have read and traverse permissions to access workbooks in Cognos Connection. For more information, see the topic about access permissions in the Cognos 8 Administration and Security Guide.
Steps
1. In Cognos Connection, locate the workbook that you want to open. 2. Click more on the actions toolbar to the right of the document that you want to download. The Cognos Connection actions page opens. 3. To download the workbook, click the View most recent document in Excel object. The File Download dialog box appears. 4. Click Save and follow the prompts that appear. You must save the workbook before using it with Cognos 8 Go! Office. You can now perform the same actions that you would perform for any Excel workbook.
Save Workbooks Created With Cognos 8 Go! Office

You can save workbooks you create with Cognos 8 Go! Office with or without data. If you save the workbook with data, the data is not refreshed on opening the workbook. You must refresh the data manually. Saving workbooks without data may be a way of enforcing best practices, such as refreshing data upon opening the workbook and respecting security. Saving workbooks with data enables users without Cognos 8 Go! Office or users not connected to the network to view numbers.
Steps to Save a Workbook

1. Choose whether to save the workbook with data: To save the workbook with the most up-to-date data, from the Manage Data tab, click Refresh all data. To save the workbook without data, from the Manage Data tab, click Remove all data. 2. From the File menu, click Save.
Steps to Save a Copy of the Current Workbook

1. From the File menu, click Save As. 2. In the Name box, type a new name for the workbook and click Save. The workbook is saved.
User Guide 21
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Chapter 2: Working in PowerPoint

Use Cognos 8 Go! Office with Microsoft Office PowerPoint to create presentations that leverage Cognos content and the presentation capabilities of Microsoft Office PowerPoint. To use Cognos 8 Go! Office with Microsoft Office PowerPoint, do the following: Start Cognos 8 Go! Office for Microsoft Office PowerPoint.
Log on to Cognos 8 Go! Office. Import Cognos report elements to a presentation. Work with reports and content. Publish presentations to Cognos Connection.
Understanding Cognos 8 Go! Office in the Microsoft PowerPoint Environment

For Microsoft Office PowerPoint, Cognos 8 Go! Office provides a COM add-in client. A deployment using the COM add-in client requires that an installation be run on user computers and that custom properties be configured in Microsoft Office files or templates. If Cognos 8 Go! Office is upgraded with a later release, COM add-in users must install the newer version. Microsoft PowerPoint users with Microsoft Office 2003 Professional, Microsoft Office XP, or Microsoft Office 2003 Standard can use the Cognos 8 Go! Office COM add-in client. The COM add-in loads with the Microsoft Office application. For changes to custom properties to take effect, you must exit and re-start Microsoft PowerPoint. The COM add-in client of Cognos 8 Go! Office requires the underlying Microsoft .NET framework, such as Microsoft .NET version 1.1 SP1 and the Microsoft Office .NET Programmability PrimaryInteropAssemblies. For complete information on meeting installation and configuration requirements, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide. Note: If you install the add-in for Just Me, then the registry keys are valid for the Current User and Cognos 8 Go! Office appears in the COM Add-Ins dialog box. If you install the add-in for Everyone, then the registry keys are valid for the Local Machine and Cognos 8 Go! Office does not appear in the COM Add-Ins dialog box.

Cognos 8 Go! Office starts automatically when you open a presentation that is Cognos 8 Go! Office enabled. When you create a new presentation or template, you must load the Cognos 8 Go! Office custom properties manually. For more information, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide. These instructions assume that a template has been set up by your administrator in a central location. You may want to copy this template to your Windows templates directory. By default no template is installed. If the New Presentation pane is not active by default, you can press F1 to activate the pane before beginning these steps.
Steps
1. Start Microsoft Office PowerPoint. 2. From the File menu, click New. 3. In the New Presentation pane, click On my Web sites.
User Guide 23
Chapter 2: Working in PowerPoint 4. In the File name box, type the URL of the Cognos 8 Go! Office template, and then click Create New. You can now log on to Cognos 8 Go! Office.
Enable Cognos 8 Go! Office in an Existing Presentation

To enable an existing presentation with Cognos 8 Go! Office capabilities you must request the values for the required custom properties and enter them into the presentation. Usually you can obtain these values from the system administrator. If the value for one of the custom properties is longer than 255 characters, you can add a number to the property name and then enter another custom property with the number increased by one. For example, if entering a CognosGateway where the path is 258 characters, you must enter the first 255 characters in CognosGateway0. Then add another custom property, CognosGateway1, with the remaining 3 characters. The value is concatenated when the custom property is read.
Steps
1. 2. 3. 4. In Microsoft PowerPoint, open the presentation. From the File menu, click Properties. Click the Custom tab. Add the required custom properties. Name Description Type Value http://server_name:port/cogno s8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi c:\logs\LogFile.log Log files will have a time stamp appended to the name, such as LogFile_155928924.log.
CognosGateway Required for all Microsoft Text Office versions. The URI for the Cognos 8 gateway. LogFile Optional. A file where information is logged. If you turn logging on for a template, all files created from the template will also have logging turned on. AutoLogFile Text Optional. A file where information is logged for batch processing. For more information, see Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office. Yes or no Optional. For forms-based authentication. FBAC can be used with security applications such as SiteMinder. Text
FBAC
Yes, to enable forms-based authentication. No, to disable forms-based authentication. To set the FBAC property, you must select Yes or No as the custom property Type, and then select the appropriate Value.
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Name EnableSSO
Description
Type
Value The value for EnableSSO can be Yes or No. If this property is not set, the default will be Yes. This means that the Microsoft Office file or template will use single signon. Setting the property to No will disable single signon for the file or template. To set the EnableSSO property, you must select Yes or No as the custom property Type, and then select the appropriate Value.
Optional. EnableSSO allows Yes or no you to disable single signon with other Cognos 8 Go! Office documents and other Cognos Products. This property does not affect other Cognos 8 Go! Office-enabled documents.
Steps to Log On
1. On the Cognos Content tab, right-click the top node of the portal tree and then click Log On. The Log On dialog box appears. 2. If there is more than one namespace, in the Namespace box, click the namespace and click OK. 3. In the User ID box, type your user ID. 4. In the Password box, type your password and click OK.

1. From the Tools menu, click Customize. 2. Choose whether to hide or show the Cognos Action Pane. To show the Cognos Action Pane, on the Toolbars tab, select the Cognos Action Pane check box. To hide the Cognos Action Pane, on the Toolbars tab, clear the Cognos Action Pane check box.
Step to Log Off

User Guide 25

Use the Import Content wizard to retrieve report content from a variety of Cognos reports. You must select the report elements with which you want to work in your Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation. By default, report content is imported to the active slide. You can also choose to place content on a new or existing slide. If you want to accept all the default settings for importing content, after you click Import Content, you can click Finish. The wizard then determines the placement of report elements in the presentation. As you import report content into Microsoft PowerPoint, you must keep in mind the following: When you import Cognos report elements, charts are imported to PowerPoint slides as image objects and lists and crosstabs are imported as table objects. You can format imported charts by adding borders, and resizing and repositioning the objects. When you import lists or crosstabs, Cognos 8 Go! Office removes formatting applied within the Cognos report. In PowerPoint, you can format imported lists and crosstabs as required. We recommend that you select report elements that can be sized to fit on a slide.
Steps
1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Browse Content tab. 2. Expand the list of reports from the top node and click the report you want to import into the presentation. 3. Click Import Content. The Import Content wizard appears. If this report has been imported to this presentation already a unique name for this instance of the report is assigned. If you choose, you can assign a name. The limit for a name is 215 characters. If the default name is too long, a warning alerts you to this fact and you are prompted to change the name. 4. To change the default name, in the Name box, type the new name and click Next. 5. Select page options. Option Ignore paging Create new slides for report pages Description Ignore pages and insert content on designated slides Creates new slides for each page of the report. You must select a slide to put content after. By default it is usually the current active slide.
6. Choose whether to accept the default import setting: To accept defaults for placement and layout of report content, click Finish. The selected report elements appear in the presentation on the active slide. To choose settings, click Next. Continue with the remaining steps in this task. Tip: To jump to a particular page in the wizard, click the element or options page listed in the left pane of the wizard. 7. On the Select Report Elements page of the wizard, click the report elements that you want to place in the presentation and click Next. 8. In the Name box, type the name of this element to import. If this element has been imported to this workbook already a unique name for this instance of the element is assigned. If you choose, you can assign a name. The limit for a name is 215 characters. If the default name is too long, a warning alerts you to this fact and you are prompted to change the name. 9. In the Location box, click the slide number.
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Chapter 2: Working in PowerPoint Tip: Click the New Slide button to the right of the Location box to add a slide to the presentation. If this is a crosstab or list element, in the Limit the number of rows displayed box, click the number of rows to display on the slide. The default is 0 (zero), which means that autosize is set to True. The range is 0 to 25. Use this option to fit larger reports on a slide. When set to 0 (zero), the application automatically sets the number of rows based on the content that is being imported. For objects that have more than 25 rows, the content is truncated to 25 rows, which is the maximum number of rows allowed by PowerPoint. If this is a crosstab or list element, in the Limit the number of columns displayed box, click the number of columns to display on the slide and click Next. The default is 0 (zero), which means that autosize is set to True. The range is 0 to 25. Use this option to fit larger reports on a slide. When set to 0 (zero), the application automatically sets the number of columns based on the content that is being imported. For objects that have more than 25 columns, the content is truncated to 25 columns, which is the maximum number of columns allowed by PowerPoint. For each report element, repeat steps 7 through 10. Tip: At any time, click Finish to accept the default settings and locations. The remaining elements use the settings from the last element that was set in the wizard. To put each report element on a new slide, in the Location box click New Slide. Click Next, and then click Finish.
10.
11.
12.
13.
The selected report elements appear in the presentation. Graphs and charts are imported as images.

Prompts act as questions that help users to customize the information in a report to suit their own needs. For example, through the use of prompted reports users can select a product type. Only products belonging to the selected product type are retrieved and shown in the report. Cognos 8 Go! Office enables users to answer prompts from imported report elements. The prompts appear after the Cognos 8 Go! Office Import Content wizard is complete and only if the report has unanswered prompts. If the report has prompts for which you set and saved default answers, Cognos 8 Go! Office uses those answers and does not re-prompt. Cognos 8 Go! Office enables you to work with prompts in the following ways: Enter prompts.
Change prompts using the Properties pane. Remove prompts.
Enter Prompts
Steps
User Guide 27

Always Prompt
Cell Value


1. In the Cognos Action pane, on the Manage Data tab, in the Properties pane expand the Prompt list. The list of parameters appears. 2. Expand each of the parameters. 3. In the Type box, click Always Prompt.

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Steps
Working With Reports and Content


From the Cognos 8 Go! Office interface, you can open reports and even change report content in PowerPlay Web, Analysis Studio, or Report Studio. You can make changes and save the results to Cognos Connection. New or updated reports are then available to other users through Cognos Connection or Cognos 8 Go! Office.


Step to Run Reports From a Slide

On the slide, right-click a text frame or table cell and click Run Report. You may view or change another report or select the report that you just edited to import it into Microsoft Office PowerPoint. After altering report options, you may need to refresh report data. For more information, see Refresh Report Content and Folders.
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Managing Content in PowerPoint

Imported elements can be copied or moved between slides by using Windows Copy and Paste commands. Each copy of an element retains its link to Cognos 8 Go! Office. Changing the number of rows or columns in a table changes the amount of data that is refreshed into that shape, unless the autosize option is used, in which case the application adds or deletes rows or columns as necessary. The shape accommodates as much data as it can fit. When working with Cognos 8 Go! Office in PowerPoint, keep the following best practices in mind: After editing tables and then refreshing data, the table reverts to the unedited version. For example, if you delete multiple rows and then refresh data, the deleted rows are added back in to the table. Workaround: Edit tables in Cognos 8 before importing. This eliminates the need to delete unwanted rows after refreshing data. There is a limit of 25 rows and 25 columns in a table. If you want data that appears in a higher row or column, a new table should be created in Cognos 8 with the targeted rows or columns available under this limit. Do not delete objects manually, always use the remove data link or menu item. Otherwise the object placeholder is lost and the item can no longer be refreshed.

You can identify the source of the data in the Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation, as well as the last time data was updated, by accessing the Manage Data tab. The information in the Manage Data tab provides a context for the report content in your presentation.
Steps

You can refresh folders, the report lists, and the content of reports to retrieve the latest updates and changes. The Refresh Folders command updates the list of folders and reports that is visible in the Browse Content tab of the Cognos Action Pane. The Refresh all data and Refresh Data functions run the report, or report component, update the data, and include any changes to the report hierarchy. When choosing between the Refresh Data with Format and Refresh Data without Format options consider the following: The Refresh Data with Format function refreshes data and formatting, such as cell color and number formatting. If you have customized cell formats, Refresh Data with Format changes the special formatting to the current report formatting. The Refresh Data without Format function does not change any customization you make to the cell formatting. The Refresh Data without Format option may refresh faster than the Refresh Data with Format option.
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Refreshing Formatting
You should be aware of how formatting is refreshed when you refresh data in a PowerPoint presentation. Formatting preserved when you refresh Cognos data Any custom formatting applied in the PowerPoint presentation, such as borders, positioning, and resizing Any custom formatting applied in the PowerPoint presentation, such as the cell fill, cell borders, font size, and font style Formatting updated when you refresh Cognos data Formatting applied to the chart in the Cognos report, such as the palette or legend Columns or rows added in PowerPoint are overwritten and columns or rows deleted in PowerPoint re-appear

1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Browse Content tab. 2. Click Refresh Folders.


1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Manage Data tab. 2. Right-click a report element or component. 3. Choose whether to refresh data with formatting: To refresh data with formatting, click Refresh Data with Format. To refresh data without formatting, click Refresh Data without Format. Tip: To refresh a report from a slide, right-click a report element, and then click Refresh Data. The selected report content is refreshed.
Remove Reports or Report Data from a Presentation

You can remove specific reports, data, or reports and data from a presentation. Removing a report breaks the link between the data in the presentation and the report on which that data is based. Using this option, the data of the report stays on the slides of the presentation. Removing data clears the slides of the presentation. Removing a report and data completely deletes the report and data from the presentation. Using the Delete key to delete an object in PowerPoint also deletes the link for that object to Cognos 8 Go! Office. To clear content, such as data or an image from a slide, you must use the Remove Data option on the Manage Data tab. Using this method, you can clear the image and leave a placeholder for the content to be refreshed later.
Steps
1. In the Cognos Action Pane click the Manage Data tab. 2. Right-click the report or report element you want to remove and then click the remove option. Remove option Remove Element or Remove Report Description Breaks the link between the data in the presentation and the report on which that data is based
User Guide 31
Remove option Remove Data
Description Clears the data from the slides of the presentation
Remove Element and Data Completely deletes the report and data from the cells of the or Remove Report and presentation Data The selected report or report element is removed along with all of its dependent items.
Cognos 8 Go! Office Best Practices in the Microsoft PowerPoint Environment

You should be aware of the following best practices to access Cognos content in your Microsoft PowerPoint environment: Protect user access level to data. Create and manage your presentation templates for a wide variety of users. For example, for regional sales managers, you can create a master template that contains all of your corporate presentation data. Then use the Remove data command to clear the slides of secure data items. Publish the presentation to Cognos Connection and give each manager access to the presentation. Upon refresh of the data, each regional manager sees only the data for his or her region. Publish data with fixed content by breaking the link between the presentation and Cognos 8 Go! Office. Use the Remove report function if you want to present part of the presentation with fixed data. In this case, fixed corporate data that all regional managers should view could be added to the master presentation. Then the link from the report to the slides can be deleted while leaving the common data on the slides. Limit chart metadata in image maps to what can be seen as a static image. Microsoft PowerPoint does not support image maps. Charts are imported as images and do not have the context sensitivity and data values that appear when that same image map is viewed in Cognos 8. We recommend that you create images with transparent backgrounds so that they take the background color of the slide. Use Cognos 8 Go! Office to copy, move, or delete report objects. In the Manage Content tab of the Cognos Action pane you can click items and see how they are positioned on slides. You can refresh individual objects by clicking the report and expanding the list and then right-clicking the report element. To make multiple copies of an item, it is better to reimport the item and place it in the presentation. Report elements have different behavior based on the type of object that it is. Create tables and charts specifically for importing into Microsoft PowerPoint. In Microsoft PowerPoint, tables are limited to 25 rows and 25 columns. Create report tables and lists that fit within these requirements and still provide you with the data you want to present. Create text box titles for report elements. Use the text box as the slide title.
Manage Presentations in Cognos Connection

Publish your Cognos-enabled presentations to Cognos Connection to share them with other users in a secure and centrally managed way. Any user who downloads the presentation from Cognos Connection and has the required Microsoft application infrastructure, such as Microsoft .NET, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, and has run the .msi program, can open and use the presentation. They can refresh the data based on their user authentication privileges in Cognos 8. If they do not have Microsoft .NET installed, or they have not run the .msi, they can still view the presentation and its contents, although they cannot refresh the data or update the contents. 32 Cognos 8 Go! Office
Chapter 2: Working in PowerPoint You can also open Cognos 8 Go! Office enabled presentations from Cognos Connection. You may need to configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to open presentations in PowerPoint for this option to work. You can start Cognos 8 Go! Office when you open a presentation that was saved to Cognos Connection. For more information, see the Cognos Connection User Guide.
Steps to Publish Presentations to Cognos Connection

1. Open the presentation. 2. In the Cognos Action Pane, click the Manage Data tab. 3. Click Publish. You are prompted to save the presentation to continue. 4. Click Yes. 5. Click a location. 6. If prompted, select your namespace and enter your user name and password. 7. In the Description box, type a description for the report. 8. In the Screen Tip box, type a tip and click OK. The active presentation is published to or opened from Cognos Connection.
Download a PowerPoint Presentation from Cognos Connection

You can download a PowerPoint presentation from Cognos Connection if it was published in Cognos 8 using Cognos 8 Go! Office. The default action for any Microsoft Office document is to download it. You must have read and traverse permissions to access presentations in Cognos Connection. For more information, see the topic about access permissions in the Cognos 8 Administration and Security Guide.
Steps
1. In Cognos Connection, locate the presentation that you want to open. 2. Click more on the actions toolbar to the right of the presentation that you want to download. The Cognos Connection actions page opens. 3. To download a presentation, click the View most recent document in PowerPoint object. The File Download dialog box appears. 4. Click Save and follow the prompts that appear. You must save the presentation before using it with Cognos 8 Go! Office. You can now perform the same actions that you would perform for any presentation.
Save Presentations Created With Cognos 8 Go! Office

You can save presentations you create with Cognos 8 Go! Office with or without data. If you save the presentation with data, the data is not refreshed on opening the presentation. You must refresh the data. Saving presentations without data may be a way of enforcing best practices, such as refreshing data upon opening the presentation and respecting security. Saving presentations with data allows users without Cognos 8 Go! Office connectivity to view numbers. If you close a Cognos 8 Go! Office presentation before saving it, the Cognos Action pane closes immediately and you are prompted to save the presentation. If you click Cancel instead of clicking Save, you must restart Cognos 8 Go! Office either by closing and reopening the presentation or by switching to another presentation and then switching back to the Cognos 8 Go! Office presentation.
Steps to Save a Presentation

1. Choose whether to save the presentation with data:
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Chapter 2: Working in PowerPoint To save the presentation with the most up-to-date data, from the Manage Data tab, click Refresh all data. To save the presentation without data, from the Manage Data tab, click Remove all data. 2. From the File menu, click Save.
Steps to Save a Copy of the Current Presentation

1. From the File menu, click Save As. 2. In the Name box, type a new name for the presentation and click Save. The presentation is saved.
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Chapter 3: Working in Word

Use Cognos 8 Go! Office with Microsoft Office Word to create documents that leverage Cognos content and the word-processing capabilities of Microsoft Office Word. To use Cognos 8 Go! Office with Microsoft Office Word, do the following: Start Cognos 8 Go! Office for Microsoft Office Word.
Log on to Cognos 8 Go! Office. Import Cognos report elements to a document. Work with reports and content. Publish documents to Cognos Connection.
Understanding Cognos 8 Go! Office in the Microsoft Word Environment

For Microsoft Office Word, Cognos 8 Go! Office provides two types of clients: a smart client, and a COM add-in client. A Cognos 8 installation can support both smart client and COM add-in deployments. A deployment using the smart client provides easier maintenance because users do not have to install Cognos 8 Go! Office on their computers. If Cognos 8 Go! Office is upgraded with a later release, users of the smart client automatically use the new version. To use Cognos 8 Go! Office with the smart client requires configuring custom properties in a document or template file. It also requires configuring the Microsoft .NET Run-time security policy to allow the Cognos 8 Go! Office smart client to run. A deployment using the COM add-in client requires that an installation be run on user computers and that custom properties be configured in Microsoft Office files or templates. If Cognos 8 Go! Office is upgraded with a later release, COM add-in users must install the newer version. To use Cognos 8 Go! Office with the COM add-in requires configuring custom properties in a workbook or template file. The COM add-in loads with the Microsoft Office application. For changes to custom properties to take effect, you must exit and re-start Microsoft Word. Both the COM add-in and smart client versions of Cognos 8 Go! Office require the underlying Microsoft .NET framework, such as Microsoft .NET version 1.1 SP1 and the Microsoft Office .NET Programmability PrimaryInteropAssemblies. For complete information on meeting installation and configuration requirements, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide. Note: If you install the add-in for Just Me, then the registry keys are valid for the Current User and Cognos 8 Go! Office appears in the COM Add-Ins dialog box. If you install the add-in for Everyone, then the registry keys are valid for the Local Machine and Cognos 8 Go! Office does not appear in the COM Add-Ins dialog box.

Cognos 8 Go! Office starts automatically when you open a document that is Cognos 8 Go! Office enabled. When you create a new document or template, you must load the Cognos 8 Go! Office custom properties manually. For more information, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide. These instructions assume that a template has been set up by your administrator in a central location. You may want to copy this template to your Windows templates directory. By default no template is installed.
User Guide 35
Chapter 3: Working in Word If the New Document pane is not active by default, you can press F1 to activate the pane before beginning these steps.
Steps
1. 2. 3. 4. Start Microsoft Office Word. From the File menu, click New. In the New Document pane, click On my Web sites. In the File name box, type the URL of the Cognos 8 Go! Office template, and then click Create New.
You can now log on to Cognos 8 Go! Office.
Enable Cognos 8 Go! Office in an Existing Document

To enable an existing document with Cognos 8 Go! Office capabilities you must request the values for the required custom properties and enter them into the document. Usually you can obtain these values from the system administrator. You must know whether you are running Cognos 8 Go! Office as a Smart Client or a COM add-in. If you are using Microsoft Office Word XP or Microsoft Office Word 2003 Standard you must run Cognos 8 Go! Office as a COM add-in. If you are using Microsoft Office Word 2003 Professional, you can run Cognos 8 Go! Office as either a COM add-in or a Smart Client. If the value for one of the custom properties is longer than 255 characters, you can add a number to the property name and then enter another custom property with the number increased by one. For example, if entering a CognosGateway where the path is 258 characters, you must enter the first 255 characters in CognosGateway0. Then add another custom property, CognosGateway1, with the remaining 3 characters. The value is concatenated when the custom property is read.
Steps for the Microsoft Office Word 2003 Professional Smart Client
1. 2. 3. 4. In Microsoft Word, open the document. From the File menu, click Properties. Click the Custom tab. Add the required custom properties. Name CognosGateway Description Required for all Microsoft Office versions. The URI for the Cognos 8 gateway. Type Text Value http://server_name:port/cog nos8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi http://server_name:webserv er_port_number/cognos8/c oc WordSmartClient
_AssemblyLocation Required. The location of the Text smart client dll file. _AssemblyName Required. The name of the smart client dynamic link library (dll) without the .dll extension. Optional. A file where information is logged. If you turn logging on for a template, all files created from the template will also have logging turned on. Text
LogFile
Text
c:\logs\LogFile.log Log files will have a time stamp appended to the name, such as LogFile_155928924.log.
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Chapter 3: Working in Word Name AutoLogFile Description Optional. A file where information is logged for batch processing. For more information, see Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office. Optional. For forms-based authentication. FBAC can be used with security applications such as SiteMinder. Type Text Value c:\logs\AutoLogFile.log
FBAC
Yes or no
EnableSSO
Steps for the COM Add-in

1. 2. 3. 4. In Microsoft Word, open the workbook. From the File menu, click Properties. Click the Custom tab. Add the required custom properties. Name CognosGateway Description Required for all Microsoft Office versions. The URI for the Cognos 8 gateway. Optional. A file where information is logged. If you turn logging on for a template, all files created from the template will also have logging turned on. Type Text Value http://server_name:port/cogno s8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi c:\logs\LogFile.log Log files will have a time stamp appended to the name, such as LogFile_155928924.log.
LogFile
Text
User Guide 37
Name AutoLogFile
Description Optional. A file where information is logged for batch processing. For more information, see Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office. Optional. For forms-based authentication. FBAC can be used with security applications such as SiteMinder.
Type Text
Value c:\logs\AutoLogFile.log
FBAC
Yes or no
EnableSSO
Steps to Log On
1. On the Cognos Content tab, right-click the top node of the portal tree and then click Log On. The Log On dialog box appears. 2. If there is more than one namespace, in the Namespace box, click the namespace and click OK. 3. In the User ID box, type your user ID. 4. In the Password box, type your password and click OK.

1. From the Tools menu, click Customize. 2. Choose whether to hide or show the Cognos Action Pane. To show the Cognos Action Pane, on the Toolbars tab, select the Cognos Action Pane check box.
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Chapter 3: Working in Word To hide the Cognos Action Pane, on the Toolbars tab, clear the Cognos Action Pane check box.
Step to Log Off


Use the Import Content wizard to retrieve report content from a variety of Cognos reports. You must select the report elements with which you want to work in your Microsoft Office Word document. By default, report content is imported to the main flow of the active page. You can also choose to place some types of content in its own floating text box. If you want to accept all the default settings for importing content, after you click Import Content, you can click Finish. The wizard then determines the placement of report elements in the document. Select report elements that can be sized to fit on a page.
Steps
1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Browse Content tab. 2. Expand the list of reports from the top node and click the report you want to import into the document. 3. Click Import Content. The Import Content wizard appears. 4. Choose whether to accept the default import setting. To accept defaults for placement and layout of report content, click Finish. The selected report elements appear in the document. To choose settings, click Next. Continue with the remaining steps in this task. 5. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the wizard. Tip: At any time, click Finish to accept the default settings and locations. Tip: To jump to a particular page in the wizard, click the element or options page listed in the left pane of the wizard. 6. Depending on the type of report and the elements that you are selecting, you must complete some or all of the following options for each element: Option Name Description Element
Report Name, If this report or element has been imported to this document already a unique name for this instance of Element Name the report or element is assigned. If you choose, you can assign a name. The limit for a name is 215 characters or 40 characters for list items and crosstab items. If the default name is too long, a warning alerts you to this fact and you are prompted to change the name. Ignore the report page breaks and feed the content continuously down the Word document pages Pages
Ignore paging
User Guide 39
Option Insert breaks between report pages Select Report Elements
Description
Element
Uses the report page breaks to place content on Word Pages document pages using page breaks, column breaks, text wrapping breaks, or section breaks In the hierarchical list, click the report elements that you want to place in the document All elements All elements
Insert a page break To insert a page break before the element, select the before this element Insert a page break before this element check box. To not have a page break before this element, clear the Insert a page break before this element check box.
Import as an inline Places the element in the main text flow as a Microsoft Text elements field code Word field code Import as a floating text box Number of rows to display Creates a separate floating text box that can be moved Text elements around the page Crosstab, List The default is 0 (zero), which means that autosize is set to True. The range is 0 to 32,000. Use this option element to fit larger reports on a page. When set to 0 (zero), the application automatically sets the number of rows based on the content that is being imported. For objects that have more than 32,000 rows, the content is truncated to 32,000 rows.
Crosstab, List Number of The default is 0 (zero), which means that autosize is columns to display set to True. The range is 0 to 63. Use this option to fit element larger reports on a page. When set to 0 (zero), the application automatically sets the number of columns based on the content that is being imported. For objects that have more than 63 columns, the content is truncated to 63 columns. Repeat header rows at the top of each page Creates a running header on each page of the Word document. You can also create a running header by copying elements into the Word header. List
Import as an inline Import the image inline with the text. This is the best picture option for small images that fit inline with text. Import as a floating picture
Image
Import the image in its own floating box. This option Image gives you the most control over how the image appears on the page.
7. After you finish setting options, click Finish. The selected report elements appear in the document. Graphs and charts are imported as images.

Prompts act as questions that help users to customize the information in a report to suit their own needs. For example, through the use of prompted reports users can select a product type. Only products belonging to the selected product type are retrieved and shown in the report. Cognos 8 Go! Office enables users to answer prompts from imported report elements. The prompts appear after the Cognos 8 Go! Office Import Content wizard is complete and only if the report has unanswered prompts. If the report has prompts for which you set and saved default answers, Cognos 8 Go! Office uses those answers and does not re-prompt. Cognos 8 Go! Office enables you to work with prompts in the following ways: 40 Cognos 8 Go! Office
Enter prompts. Change prompts using the Properties pane. Remove prompts.
Enter Prompts
Steps

Always Prompt
Cell Value


1. In the Cognos Action pane, on the Manage Data tab, in the Properties pane expand the Prompt list. The list of parameters appears. 2. Expand each of the parameters.
User Guide 41
Chapter 3: Working in Word 3. In the Type box, click Always Prompt.


Steps
Working With Reports and Content


From the Cognos 8 Go! Office interface, you can open reports and even change report content in PowerPlay Web, Analysis Studio, or Report Studio. You can make changes and save the results to Cognos Connection. New or updated reports are then available to other users through Cognos Connection or Cognos 8 Go! Office.

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Step to Run Reports From a Page

On the page, right-click a text frame or table cell and click Run Report. You may view or change another report or select the report that you just edited to import it into Microsoft Office Word. After altering report options, you may need to refresh report data. For more information, see Refresh Report Content and Folders.
Managing Content in Word

Imported elements can be copied or moved between document pages, headers, and footers by using Windows Copy and Paste commands. Each copy of an element retains its link to Cognos 8 Go! Office. Changing the number of rows or columns in a table changes the amount of data that is refreshed into that shape, unless the autosize option is used, in which case the application adds or deletes rows or columns as necessary. The shape accommodates as much data as it can fit.

You can identify the source of the data in the Microsoft Office Word document, as well as the last time data was updated, by accessing the Manage Data tab. The information in the Manage Data tab provides a context for the report content in your document.
Steps

You can refresh folders, the report lists, and the content of reports to retrieve the latest updates and changes. The Refresh Folders command updates the list of folders and reports that is visible in the Browse Content tab of the Cognos Action Pane. The Refresh all data and Refresh Data functions run the report, or report component, update the data, and include any changes to the report hierarchy. When choosing between the Refresh Data with Format and Refresh Data without Format options consider the following: The Refresh Data with Format function refreshes data and formatting, such as cell color and number formatting. If you have customized cell formats, Refresh Data with Format changes the special formatting to the current report formatting. The Refresh Data without Format function does not change any customization you make to the cell formatting. The Refresh Data without Format option may refresh faster than the Refresh Data with Format option. User Guide 43

1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Browse Content tab. 2. Click Refresh Folders.


1. In Cognos 8 Go! Office, click the Manage Data tab. 2. Right-click a report element or component. 3. Choose whether to refresh data with formatting: To refresh data with formatting, click Refresh Data with Format. To refresh data without formatting, click Refresh Data without Format. Tip: To refresh a report from a page, right-click a report element, and then click Refresh Data. The selected report content is refreshed.
Remove Reports or Report Data from a Document

You can remove reports, data, or reports and data from a document. Removing a report breaks the link between the data in the document and the report on which that data is based. Using this option, the data of the report stays on the pages of the document. Removing data clears the pages of the document. Removing a report and data completely deletes the report and data from the document. Using the Delete key to delete an object in Word also deletes the link for that object to Cognos 8 Go! Office. To clear content, such as data or an image from a page, you must use the Remove Data option on the Manage Data tab. Using this method, you can clear the image and leave a placeholder for the content to be refreshed later.
Steps
1. In the Cognos Action Pane click the Manage Data tab. 2. Right-click the report or report element you want to remove and then click the remove option. Remove option Remove Element or Remove Report Remove Data Remove Element and Data or Remove Report and Data Description Breaks the link between the data in the document and the report on which that data is based Clears the pages of the document Completely deletes the report and data from the cells of the document
The selected report or report element is removed along with all of its dependent items.
Cognos 8 Go! Office Best Practices in the Microsoft Word Environment

You should be aware of the following best practices to access Cognos content in your Microsoft Word environment: Protect user access level to data.
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Chapter 3: Working in Word Create and manage your document templates for a wide variety of users. For example, for regional sales managers, you can create a master template that contains all of your corporate data. Then use the Remove data command to clear the pages of secure data items. Publish the document to Cognos Connection and give each manager access to the document. Upon refresh of the data, each regional manager sees only the data for his or her region. Publish data with fixed content by breaking the link between the document and Cognos 8 Go! Office. Use the Remove report function if you want to present part of the presentation with fixed data. In this case, fixed corporate data that all regional managers should view could be added to the master document. Then the link from the report to the slides can be deleted while leaving the common data on the pages. Limit chart metadata in image maps to what can be seen as a static image. Microsoft Word does not support image maps. Charts are imported as images and do not have the context sensitivity and data values that appear when that same image map is viewed in Cognos 8. We recommend that you create images with transparent backgrounds so that they take the background color of the page. Use Cognos 8 Go! Office to copy, move, or delete report objects. In the Manage Content tab of the Cognos Action pane you can click items and see how they are positioned on pages. You can refresh individual objects by clicking the report and expanding the list and then right-clicking the report element. To make multiple copies of an item, it is better to reimport the item and place it in the document. Report elements have different behavior based on the type of object that it is. Create tables and charts specifically for importing into Microsoft Word. In Cognos 8 Go! Office in the Microsoft Word environment, tables are limited to 32,000 rows and 63 columns. Create report tables and lists that fit within these requirements and still provide you with the data you want to be able to present. Create text box titles for report elements. Use the text box in the header or footer. Import the title separately one time and then place the title in the section header or footer so that the report has labels throughout the document. Then import the remaining report elements. In this scenario, you must perform two imports on the same report. One time you import only the text that you want in the header or footer and the other time you import the content. If you want to present report content in line with other text in the document, import the text as field codes using the Import as inline field code option. Combine inline field codes with introductory text to create introductory language for report tables, charts, and other objects. Text appears as other text and can be formatted using Word paragraph and character styles. Because they are field codes they can still be distinguished as Cognos 8 Go! Office content.
Manage Documents in Cognos Connection

Publish your Cognos-enabled documents to Cognos Connection to share them with other users in a secure and centrally managed way. Any user who downloads the document from Cognos Connection and has the required Microsoft application infrastructure, such as Microsoft .NET and Microsoft Office Word 2003 (Professional only), automatically receives the Cognos 8 Go! Office Smart Client. They can refresh the data based on their user authentication privileges in Cognos 8. If they do not have Microsoft .NET installed or they have the Standard version of Microsoft Office Word 2003 or Microsoft Office Word XP and have not run the .msi program, they can still view the document and its contents, although they cannot refresh the data or update the contents. You can also open Cognos 8 Go! Office enabled documents from Cognos Connection. You may need to configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to open documents in Word for this option to work. You can start Cognos 8 Go! Office when you open a document that was saved to Cognos Connection. For more information, see the Cognos Connection User Guide.
Steps to Publish Documents to Cognos Connection

1. Open the document. User Guide 45
Chapter 3: Working in Word 2. In the Cognos Action Pane, click the Manage Data tab. 3. Click Publish. You are prompted to save the document to continue. 4. Click Yes. 5. Click a location. 6. If prompted, select your namespace and enter your user name and password. 7. In the Description box, type a description for the report. 8. In the Screen Tip box, type a tip and click OK. The active document is published to or opened from Cognos Connection.
Download a Word Document from Cognos Connection

You can download a Word document from Cognos Connection if it was published in Cognos 8 using Cognos 8 Go! Office. The default action for any Microsoft Office document is to download it. You must have read and traverse permissions to access Microsoft Office documents in Cognos Connection. For more information, see the topic about access permissions in the Cognos 8 Administration and Security Guide.
Steps
1. In Cognos Connection, locate the document that you want to open. 2. Click more on the actions toolbar to the right of the document that you want to download. The Cognos Connection actions page opens. 3. To download the document, click the View most recent Word object. The File Download dialog box appears. 4. Click Save and follow the prompts that appear. You must save the document before using it with Cognos 8 Go! Office. You can now perform the same actions that you would perform for any Word document.
Save Documents Created With Cognos 8 Go! Office

You can save documents you create with Cognos 8 Go! Office with or without data. If you save the document with data, the data is not refreshed on opening the document. You must refresh the data. Saving documents without data may be a way of enforcing best practices, such as refreshing data upon opening the document and respecting security. Saving documents with data allows users without Cognos 8 Go! Office connectivity to view numbers.
Steps to Save a Document

1. Choose whether to save the document with data: To save the document with the most up-to-date data, from the Manage Data tab, click Refresh all data. To save the document without data, from the Manage Data tab, click Remove all data. 2. From the File menu, click Save.
Steps to Save a Copy of the Current Document

1. From the File menu, click Save As. 2. In the Name box, type a new name for the document and click Save. The document is saved.
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Chapter 4: Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office

Through the use of an application programming interface (API), you can automate the refreshing or publishing of workbook, document, and presentation content. It can be scheduled using a scheduling tool, such as Scheduled Task and can process one or more workbooks, documents, or presentations. You could use the API to create a scheduled batch program to refresh all the Cognos 8 Go! Office enabled workbooks, documents, or presentations on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis so that as your period data changes, the affected files are up-to-date. This solution exposes an API that provides the functionality for the user to create programs to automatically refresh or publish Cognos 8 Go! Office content. The API can be called within Microsoft Office Excel workbooks, Microsoft Office Word documents, or Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations using VBA or using VBS and a command line interface. For these types of automation to work, a macro must be registered within the workbook, document, or presentation. To help you understand what is possible with this API, several samples are provided. You can use these examples to help you create your own solutions. Ask your administrator to make the sample files available to you in a location that you can access. There are numerous samples provided that can help you to achieve the following: Creating VBA macros within Excel, Word, or PowerPoint Passing parameters leveraging VBS and the command line interface, with which you can refresh Cognos 8 Go! Office content in workbooks, documents, and presentations or publish workbooks, documents, and presentations to Cognos Connection In addition to these capabilities, you can schedule scripts, either ones that you create or the samples, to run as a batch process at a set time. Use the following checklist to guide you through the automation process:
Register the Cognos 8 Go! Office macro so that you can call the Automation API.
To help you with this task you can install the VBA code sample that came with Cognos 8 Go! Office, cocAutoModule.bas. Optionally set up the Cognos 8 Go! Office Template to log automation activities and errors.
Use the Cognos 8 Go! Office API functions. Refer to the Cognos 8 Go! Office Visual Basic (VBA and VBS) samples to further enhance
your solution.
Register the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation Object

You can access Cognos 8 Go! Office through the cocAutomationObj variable, which is a public object variable in the VBA code module. Cognos 8 Go! Office sets this variable one time immediately after it loads. Cognos 8 Go! Office calls Application.Run and gives the cocAutomationObj variable a handle to itself. If you edit any of the code in the VBA code module that contains the cocAutomationObj variable, Microsoft Office recompiles the code module. This recompilation reinitializes all the global variables. If this happens, the cocAutomationObj is set to null. Because Cognos 8 Go! Office only sets the cocAutomationObj variable once when it loads, it does not set it again. If you change any code in the module that contains cocAutomationObj you must save, close, and then re-open the workbook, document, or presentation to be able to use the variable again. We recommend that you do not edit this code module. Instead, you must write code in a different module to avoid recompiling the module that contains the cocAutomationObj variable. User Guide 47
Chapter 4: Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office There is an error message that can alert you to this situation. The error message returned by the sample VBA forms is: "The COC Automation Object is not initialized. This may be because Automation is not configured yet or if the VBA environment was reset (i.e.: after a failed debug session). In the latter case, reopening the workbook, document, or presentation will fix the problem." To register the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation Object you must: Reference the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation object in a global variable.
Import the cocAutoModule.bas file.
Reference the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation Object in a Global Variable

To use automation you must have the RegisterCOCAutomation macro. This macro should save a reference to the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation object in a global variable. When the workbook, document, or presentation is opened, Cognos 8 Go! Office calls the RegisterCOCAutomation to pass a reference of itself to your VBA code. Now you can use this reference to call into the Automation Macros.
Public Sub RegisterCOCAutomation(callback As Object) Set cocAutomationObj = callback End Sub
Steps
1. Create a global object variable to save a reference to the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation object.
Public cocAutomationObj As Object
2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Set up a parameter. Check that the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation object is valid. Call the macro. Save the result and inspect it. Call GetErrorMessage for more information.
The Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation object is registered and you are now able to use the API.
Example - Using the Cognos 8 Go! Office Object

The following code shows the most basic techniques for registering the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation object.
Sub Logon() Dim UserName As Variant Dim Password As Variant Dim Namespace As Variant Dim ResultObject As Object UserName = "Admin" Password = "Admin" Namespace = "Production" ' Check that the cocAutomationObj ' object has been set and ' is still valid before using it. If Not cocAutomationObj is Nothing Then Set ResultObject = cocAutomationObj.Logon(UserName, Password, Namespace) ' Save the result as an object ' and inspect to make decisions. Dim ResultCode As Long ResultCode = ResultObject.GetResultCode()
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If ResultCode = 0 Then MsgBox "Logon succeeded." ElseIf ResultCode = 1 Then ' Call GetErrorMessage to get ' more information about the error ' this can be displayed to the user. Dim msg As String msg = cocResult.GetErrorMessage() MsgBox "Logon2 failed. " & msg ElseIf ResultCode = 2 Then MsgBox "You are already logged on to COC." End If End If End Sub
Import the cocAutoModule.bas File

The quickest way to set up Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft PowerPoint for automation is to import the cocAutoModule.bas file into the Cognos8GoOffice.xlt file or PowerPoint or Word template that your administrator has set up and then use the macros that it supplies to write code for logging on to Cognos 8 Go! Office, refreshing the content of specified workbooks, documents, or presentations, and logging off.
Steps
1. Double-click the Cognos 8 Go! Office template file, such as Cognos8GoOffice.xlt, Cognos8GoOffice.dot, or Cognos8GoOffice.pot, assuming your system administrator has created those files. The file opens with the Cognos Action Pane showing on the right. 2. From the Tools menu, click Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor. The Visual Basic Editor appears. 3. Right-click VBAProject and click Import File. The Browse dialog box appears. 4. Browse to the location where the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation macro files are installed. 5. Select the cocAutoModule.bas file and import it into the template. 6. Close the Visual Basic Editor and return to Cognos 8 Go! Office. 7. Save and close the template, and then re-open the template to begin using the macros. You can now call the macros contained in the cocAutoModule.bas file from the VBA code that you write within Excel, Word, or PowerPoint.
Writing Code for Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation

When using sample macros and script files as part of your own processing functions, it is important to keep the following information in mind. The API is accessible only as user defined functions (UDFs) in Excel, Word, or PowerPoint. UDFs are functions created in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). In this case however, the UDFs are created within the Cognos 8 Go! Office solution and are called from VBA. Use the following steps to guide you through the process of writing code for Cognos 8 Go! Office automation: To enable the API, add a macro to the workbook, document, or presentation. When Cognos 8 Go! Office loads, it calls the macro and passes it a reference from the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation object which exposes its API to VBA. We recommend that you first import the cocAutoModule.bas VBA module, because it contains all the necessary macros, including the registration macro. Call the Cognos 8 Go! Office macros that you enabled in VBA.
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Chapter 4: Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office After the reference to Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation is established, any macro in VBA can call the functions exposed in the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation API. To find out an objects properties and methods use the online help. Because this solution is based on an object that is obtained at runtime and there is no type library installed on the client's machine, the user is not able to use IntelliSense to tell what properties and methods are available on the object. Understand the differences in API behavior when Microsoft Office is open or not. If Microsoft Office is open when the command is executing, the command executes in interactive mode. If Microsoft Office is closed when the command is executing, the command executes in batch mode. Executing in batch mode means that all display alerts are turned off.
Set Up the Cognos 8 Go! Office Template to Log Automation Activities and Errors
Use the automation log to track automation activities and troubleshoot problems with automation tools and scripts. To generate automation log files, you must add the Automation Logging custom property to the Office document or template and run the script.
Steps
1. Double-click the Cognos 8 Go! Office document or template file. The workbook, document, presentation, or template opens with the Cognos Action Pane showing on the right. 2. From the File menu, click Properties, and then click the Custom tab. The Custom Properties tab is displayed. 3. In the Name box, type AutoLogFile. 4. In the Value box, type the location and file name of the log file. 5. In the Type box, click Text. 6. Click Add, and then click OK. 7. Save the file. 8. Run the automation batch script. The log file is generated.
Cognos 8 Go! Office API Functions

Use these API functions to process Office documents, such as workbooks, documents, and presentations. The functions that are exposed through the Cognos 8 Go! Office automation objects are Logon, which authenticates users Logon2, which authenticates users through the use of an XML file EnableLogging, which enables error and event logging when Microsoft Office is visible RefreshCOCContent, which refreshes all Cognos 8 Go! Office content in the active Office document Publish, which publishes Cognos 8 Go! Office documents to Cognos Connection Logoff, which ends the session GetErrorMessage, which returns an error string GetResultCode, which returns an error code
The IResult Interface

The IResult interface defines the object that is returned by all the functions in the API. It exposes these methods:
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Chapter 4: Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office string GetErrorMessage ( ) int GetResultCode ( )
Use the results to perform error trapping and exception handling. The GetErrorMessage() method returns the error string returned when executing the function failed. This method needs to be called only when GetResultCode() returns a value different than zero. The GetResultCode() method returns the error code associated with the state of the executed function and can return one of the following. Number 0 1 2 3 Description Success Failed Already logged on Already logged off
The Logon Method

You can use either the Logon or Logon2 method to authenticate users. The Logon method takes the three credential elements required by Cognos 8 to perform a logon: user ID, password, and namespace. For more information about Logon2, see the Logon2 topic. Cognos 8 Go! Office stores the user credentials in memory only. The Cognos 8 Go! Office API supports this strategy. Users are responsible for storing their credentials in a secured area and passing them to the logon methods at run time.
Syntax
IResult Logon (user ID, password, namespace) Argument user ID password namespace Description Supplies the user name for authentication Supplies the password for authentication Supplies the specific namespace for authentication Data type String String String
Here is an example of this syntax:

Dim resultObject As Object Set resultObject = Logon("Administrator", "CognosAdmin", "Production")
The Logon2 Method

You can use either the Logon2 or Logon method to authenticate users. The Logon2 method uses credentials that are supplied in an XML format. Logon2 can be used to supply two sets of credentials for logging on to different applications. Unlike the Logon method, which passes three separate arguments for user ID, password, and namespace, the Logon2 method passes an XML file, which contains the information necessary for logging on to different applications, such as SiteMinder and Cognos 8. Cognos 8 Go! Office stores the user credentials only in memory. The Cognos 8 Go! Office API supports this strategy. Users are responsible for storing their credentials in a secured area and passing them to the logon methods at run time.
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Example of Using the Logon2 Method with SiteMinder and Microsoft Excel
Cognos 8 Go! Office should not be configured to run in a secured location. For example, to use SiteMinder as an authentication source, Cognos 8 Go! Office must be installed outside of that configuration. The Cognos Report Data Service (RDS) and Cognos 8 report server, however, can be secured by SiteMinder. If Cognos 8 Go! Office is secured by SiteMinder, the SiteMinder logon page will show up before Cognos 8 Go! Office is loaded by Microsoft Office Excel and this page cannot be bypassed by Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation. Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation does not support SiteMinder Form-Based Authentication. When the Microsoft Office Excel application is visible, the Logon2 method supports all types of SiteMinder Authentications supported by Cognos 8 Go! Office, with the exception of Form-Based Authentication. When the Microsoft Office Excel application is not visible, such as when it runs from a batch script the Logon2 method does not support SiteMinder Authentication.
Syntax
IResult Logon2 (XML Credentials) Argument XML Credentials Description Data type
XML source code that handles two sets of user authentication string credentials. These include XML-parsed versions of the user ID, password, and namespace for Cognos 8 and another set of credentials containing a user name and password.
The following sample shows XML code that can be used. The Cognos 8 user is indicated as the Administrator, with a password of CognosAdmin, and the Production namespace.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <credentials> <cognos8> <userId>Administrator</userId> <password>CognosAdmin</password> <namespace>Production</namespace> </cognos8> <http> <username>SiteMinderAdmin</username> <password>Admin</password> </http> </credentials>
The EnableLogging Method

Logging is enabled by default in the API when the API is called while Microsoft Office is not visible, for example when called from a batch script. When Microsoft Office is visible, such as in VBA, the logging is disabled by default. You can turn it on by running the EnableLogging macro. Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation can log information about the actions it is performing.
Syntax
IResult EnableLogging (enable) Argument enable Description Sets the logging to enabled Data type Boolean
The RefreshCOCContent Method

The RefreshCOCContent method duplicates the Refresh all data feature of the user interface.
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Chapter 4: Automating Cognos 8 Go! Office Use RefreshCOCContent to run reports and refresh all the Cognos 8 Go! Office content in the Office document.
Syntax
IResult RefreshCOCContent ( )
The Publish Method

Use the Publish method to publish Cognos 8 Go! Office enabled Office documents to Cognos Connection. The arguments mirror the entry boxes in the dialog box that is used in the user interface.
Syntax
IResult Publish (folder path, description, screenTip) Argument folder path Description Data type
Indicates the location of the Office document to be published. string The folder path is a search path in Cognos 8. For more information, see the Cognos 8 User Guide. If the path of your folder is not correct when you publish using Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation, you are prompted again to log on. This is because Cognos 8 does not distinguish between non-existing folders and folders for which the user does not have permissions. This security feature helps to prevent the discovery of the folder path by trial and error. Describes the Office document Fills the screen tip text that users see when they point to the Office document in the list of published items string string
description screenTip
Following is an example of this syntax:

Dim resultObject As Object Set resultObject = Publish("CAMID('::Anonymous')/folder[@name='My Folders']", "Description of 'My Folders'", "")
The Logoff Method

The Logoff method mirrors the log off function in Cognos 8 Go! Office. You must use the Logoff method to end your session.
Syntax
IResult Logoff ( )
Using the Cognos 8 Go! Office API

The API functions return a Cognos 8 Go! Office object of type IResult. Because there is no type library, you cannot declare objects to be of type IResult. Instead you must create the result object to be of the VBA Object type and then get the returned IResult object from the function call.
Sample Code for Processing Within VBA

The following example demonstrates how to call the Logon method within VBA:
' Declare the result object as a VBA Object Dim result As Object
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' Assign the returned IResult to the result object Set result = Logon ( userId, password, namespace ) ' The result object now supports the functions in IResult If ( result.GetResultCode() = 0 ) Then MsgBox "Logon Succeeded." Else MsgBox "Logon failed with error: " & result.GetErrorMessage ( ) End If
To use Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation outside VBA, you cannot call the APIs directly. Instead, wrapper macros must be created in the Office document for every API. You can then call these macros from your code. The module cocAutoModule.bas is an example of wrapper macros that can be called from outside VBA.
Sample Code for Processing outside VBA

The following Visual Basic Script opens Microsoft Office Excel, logs on to Cognos 8 Go! Office, refreshes the content, and logs off.
' Start Excel in batch mode Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application") objExcel.Visible = false objExcel.ScreenUpdating = false objExcel.DisplayAlerts = false Set objWorkbook = objExcel.Workbooks.Open("c:\workbook1.xls") ' Call the wrapper macros objExcel.Run "Logon", "Administrator", "", "Production" objExcel.Run "RefreshCOCContent" objExcel.Run "Logoff" objWorkbook.Save() objWorkbook.Close() objExcel.Quit()
Using the Cognos 8 Go! Office VBA Code Samples

You can use the VBA Code samples that accompany Cognos 8 Go! Office to create an interface for refreshing Office documents, such as workbooks, documents, and presentations within Microsoft Office or to automate the process of refreshing and saving Office documents outside of Microsoft Office. Before you begin this process, ensure that the following requirements are met: Cognos 8 and Cognos 8 Go! Office are installed The Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation files were located by means of a physical path or a URL The Cognos 8 Go! Office Template is set up For more information, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide. Use the following steps to guide you through the process of using the code samples: Import the forms and Visual Basic files into the Cognos 8 Go! Office template.
Use the macro files to enable functions within Microsoft Office Excel, Word, or PowerPoint. Use the sample script files to help you automate portions of your processing. Write customized code.
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Import Cognos 8 Go! Office Forms and Visual Basic Files

Before you can start using the macros and script files, you must import the Cognos 8 Go! Office forms and Visual Basic files into Microsoft Excel, Word, or PowerPoint. These procedures show you how to do that for the Cognos 8 Go! Office template, which you can use as the basis for your other workbooks, documents, and presentations. These procedures assume that your administrator has set up a template file for Word and PowerPoint. By default a template file is not installed and must be created for use with Word and PowerPoint.
Steps
1. Double-click the Cognos 8 Go! Office template file, such as Cognos8GoOffice.xlt, Cognos8GoOffice.dot, or Cognos8GoOffice.pot. The file opens with the Cognos Action Pane showing on the right. 2. From the Tools menu, click Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor. The Visual Basic Editor appears. 3. Right-click VBAProject and click Import File. The Browse dialog box appears. 4. Browse to the location where the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation macro files are installed. 5. Select each of the .frm and .bas files and import them into the template. This step must be done for each file one by one. 6. Close the Visual Basic Editor and return to Cognos 8 Go! Office. 7. Save and close the file, and then re-open the Office document to begin using the macros. You can now call the macros and use the forms contained in the imported files from the VBA code that you write within Microsoft Office.
Macro Files
The macro files are written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). They are installed with Cognos 8 Go! Office in sub-folders of the webcontent directory. Separate files exist for Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. The following files are installed in the respective locations. File cocAutoModule.bas Description Because it is a BASIC file created using VBA, this file has the extension .bas. It contains the RegisterCOCAutomation macro that enables Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation in the current Office document. It also contains wrapper functions that call the API exposed by Cognos 8 Go! Office. This file is the main form that drives the other macro files. It exposes the following functionality: The Workbooks, Documents, or Presentations frame lists all the open items in the Office application. You can remove specific items from the list and reload the list. The Refresh All button exposes the functionality to refresh the Cognos 8 Go! Office content in all the items in the list. This means calling the RefreshCOCContent function on every item in the list. The Functions frame lists all the functions exposed in Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation. Execute them by double-clicking or by clicking the Run button. The Results frame shows the output of running the APIs. The View Log File button opens the Cognos 8 Go! Office log file in Notepad.
cocAutoSampleForm.frm
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File LogonForm.frm
Description When running the Logon method from the main form, cocAutoSampleForm.frm, you are prompted for the user authentication credentials. This is done in this form. The following prompts appear: User ID Password Namespace The Logon2 method takes an XML string as input. The Input Sample XML button populates the edit box with the squeleton XML string taken by the Logon2 method. To prompt for it, this dialog box is provided with an edit box for the XML code. The Publish method takes the following parameters: the folder path where the Office document is uploaded, the description, and the screen tip for the uploaded object. These parameters are prompted for in this form using the following labels: Folder Path Description Screen Tips The files with the extension .frx are resource files generated by VBA for the forms. They do not need to be and cannot be imported into the Office document, they only need to be in the same directory as their corresponding form file (.frm) when the user imports the form.
Logon2Form.frm
PublishForm.frm
The .frx files
Script Files
Use the sample script files to help you with more advanced automation functions, such as scheduling the refresh of workbooks, documents, or presentations. You can use the script files as they are or modify them to meet your particular needs.
COCAutoScript.vbs
The COCAutoScript.vbs file is a Visual Basic Script (VBS) provided as a sample program that you can use, modify, or use as a reference to create your own programs. The COCAutoScript.vbs file can be used to specify authentication credentials and the items to be refreshed or published. It loops through the list of files and refreshes them. For more information, see the comments in the file, which explain how it works.
COCAutoRunner.bat
You can schedule the refresh of the Cognos 8 Go! Office content to happen at any time. To do this, we recommend that you use the Scheduled Tasks program to set up the schedule. Instead of adding the VBS script to Scheduled Tasks, which takes a program name with strict restrictions on the argument syntax, such as no slashes you must use the provided COCAutoRunner.bat file. This file calls the script and passes the arguments to it.
XML Schema File

Another file that is installed with Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation is the cocAutoLogon2.xsd file. You can use the XML schema file to validate the XML you are passing to the Logon2 method. The cocAutoLogon2.xsd file is installed one directory above the macro and script files in the automation directory, which is a sub-folder of the webcontent directory.
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Working with the Cognos 8 Go! Office Command Line

You can use the cocAutoScript.vbs Visual Basic script file to automate refreshing and publishing of Office documents. The sample scripts are set up to work with Microsoft Excel. You can modify them to work with Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint. Use the syntax to determine the logon method and credentials the list of items to be refreshed or published whether to stop processing if an error is encountered whether to write all these activities to the automation log
Script Variables
The cocAutoScript.vbs Visual Basic Script uses the following arguments and variables. Argument -u Variable user ID Description Supplies the user name to be used with the Logon method. When multiple logon credentials are necessary, use the -cred argument with a credential XML file. Supplies the password to be used with the Logon method. When multiple logon credentials are necessary, use the -cred argument with a credential XML file. Supplies the namespace to be used with the Logon method. When multiple logon credentials are necessary, use the -cred argument with a credential XML file.
-p
password
-n
namespace
-cred
credentialsXMLFileN Supplies the XML credential file location and name to be ame used with the Logon2 method. When single logon credentials are necessary, use the -u user ID -p password -n namespace arguments instead. item name item list Supplies a single item location and name. When multiple items are required, use the -wbl list argument instead. Supplies the location and name of a text file that lists items. File names must be on separate lines. When a single item is required, use the -w item name argument instead. Forces the script to stop processing if an error is encountered. Specifies the publish folder in Cognos 8 where to publish items. When this option is present, items are published. When this option is not present, items are refreshed. When passing the Cognos 8 folder path on the command line, replace internal double quotes by single quotes. For example, the "CAMID("::Anonymous")/folder[@name='My Folders']" folder path becomes "CAMID('::Anonymous')/folder[@name='My Folders']" Specifies the location of the Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation Log file.
-w -wbl
-coe -fp
0 Cognos 8 folder path
-log
log file name
The command line syntax can be summarized like this:
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cocAutoScript.vbs [[-u <userId> [-p<password>] -n <namespace>] -cred <credentialsXMLFileName>] [-w <workbook, document, or presentation Name> -wbl <workbooksdocumentspresentationsFileName>] [-coe 0] [-fp <cognos8FolderPath>] [-log <COCAutomationLogFileName>]
Use the following steps to guide you through the process of using the Cognos 8 Go! Office command line: Create a text file with a list of each Office document to be refreshed or published. The text file must consist of the path and name of each item, such as c:\workbook1.xls with each workbook listed on a separate line. Refresh Office documents using the cocAutoScript.vbs script.
Publish Office documents use the cocAutoScript.vbs script. Schedule refresh and publish tasks by using the cocAutoRunner.bat file with Scheduled Tasks.
Refresh a List of Office Documents from the Command Line

To refresh a list of Office documents from the command line, you must create a list of items and then use the cocAutoScript.vbs script to process that list. The absence of the -fp argument indicates a refresh operation instead of a publish operation. The following procedure uses the Logon method. You can also use the Logon2 method, which would replace the -u user ID -p password -n namespace arguments with -cred credentialXMLFile.
Steps
1. Create a text file that contains the names of all the workbooks, documents, or presentations to refresh. Each name must be on a separate line. 2. At the command prompt, type the following command replacing the variables with your information: cocAutoScript.vbs -u user ID -p password -n namespace -coe 0 -wbl List.txt -log c:\AutoLogFile The items are refreshed and the log file is created.
Publish a List of Office Documents from the Command Line

To publish a list of Office documents, such as workbooks, documents, or presentations from the command line, you must create a list of items and then use the cocAutoScript.vbs script to process that list. The presence of the -fp argument and variable causes a publish instead of a refresh operation. Office documents are published to Cognos Connection. The following procedure uses the Logon method. You can also use the Logon2 method, which would replace the -u user ID -p password -n namespace arguments with -cred credentialXMLFile.
Steps
1. Create a text file that contains the names of all the workbooks, documents, or presentations to refresh. Each name must be on a separate line. 2. At the command prompt, type the following command replacing the variables with your information: cocAutoScript.vbs -u user ID -p password -n namespace -coe 0 -wbl List.txt -log c:\AutoLogFile -fp "CAMID('::Anonymous')/folder[@name='My Folders']" The items are published and the log file is created. If the path of your folder is not correct when you publish using Cognos 8 Go! Office Automation, you are prompted again to log on. This is because Cognos 8 does not distinguish between non-existing folders and folders for which the user does not have permissions. This security feature helps to prevent the discovery of the folder path by trial and error.
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Refresh a List of Office Documents from Scheduled Task

Use the cocAutoScript.vbs file, the cocAutoRunner.bat file, and Scheduled Tasks to automate the refreshing of workbooks, documents, or presentations on a scheduled basis. Modify the cocAutoRunner.bat file to include a Cognos 8 Go! Office automation script entry that logs on, opens and refreshes a list of items, and writes the activity to a log. In a default installation, the cocAutoRunner.bat file and the cocAutoScript.vbs file are both located in the COC/automation/scripts directory, which is a sub-folder of the webcontent directory.
Steps
1. In a text editor, open the cocAutoRunner.bat file and append the following line, replacing the variables with your information: cocAutoScript -u Administrator -n namespace -coe 0 -wbl List.txt -log c:\AutoLogFile 2. Start Windows Scheduled Task and add the cocAutoRunner.bat file to be executed. The script runs at the appointed time and all the workbooks, documents, or presentations in List.txt are refreshed.
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Chapter 5: Troubleshooting
Use this troubleshooting reference information and solutions as a resource to help you solve specific problems you may encounter during or after the installation of Cognos 8 Go! Office components.
Troubleshooting Resources
Troubleshooting resources are sources of information that can help you resolve a problem that you are having with a product. Generally, sources of troubleshooting information include logs, debugging modes, documentation, and technical support. In addition to this document, the following troubleshooting resources are available when you work with Cognos 8 Go! Office: error messages log files Windows Event Viewer samples Knowledge Base of the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site Cognos Global Customer Services
Error Messages
The first indication of a problem is often an error message. Error messages contain information that can be helpful in determining the cause of a problem.
Log Files
Log files can help you troubleshoot problems by recording the activities that take place when you work with a product. Operations performed in Cognos 8 Go! Office are recorded in various log files for tracking purposes. For example, if you experienced problems with batch processing, consult the batch log file to learn what activities were performed during processing. Before you begin viewing log files, ensure that they contain the information that you need. The number of log files and the information they contain are set by parameters that you control. In most cases, the log files are locked while the application is running. To email the log file, you must exit the application first before copying it. When troubleshooting, the following files can assist you:
Cognos Server Log File

This file contains information about the Report Data Service processes.
Cognos 8 Go! Office Log File

This file contains information about Cognos 8 Go! Office processes. You turn this log on or off by setting or deleting the LogFile0 custom property in the Office document, such as a document, presentation, workbook, or template file. For more information about setting custom properties, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide.
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Cognos 8 Go! Office Batch Log File

This file contains information about Cognos 8 Go! Office batch processing, which is effected through the API. This log is turned off and on through the EnableLogging method in the API and gives detailed information about when methods are started and whether they were successful.
Windows Event Viewer

Windows Event Viewer provides information about program, security, and system events. For example, if a Cognos service fails to start, this fact is recorded in the event log. Windows Event Viewer does not record information that is specific to operations or tasks performed in Cognos 8 Go! Office. Consult the Cognos 8 Go! Office log files for these problems. For information about how to use Windows Event Viewer, see the Windows help.
Samples
Cognos 8 Go! Office uses samples to highlight product features and to help you learn how to use the product. You can also use samples to troubleshoot problems. You can use the samples that come with Cognos 8 Go! Office to determine if various components are working together as expected. For example, if you are having a problem running a report, you can try running a sample report to see if the problem persists. You may discover that the problem is related to connecting to a database.
Use the Knowledge Base of the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site
The Knowledge Base of the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site is a database of documents maintained by Cognos support personnel containing problems logged by customers. Consequently, a problem you are experiencing with Cognos 8 Go! Office may already be reported by someone else, and a solution already found. If Knowledge Base does not include the problem you are having, you can call Cognos Global Customer Services for individual assistance. Before you can access Knowledge Base, you must have a valid logon. To obtain one, send an email message to SupportWeb@Cognos.com.
Steps
1. In your Web browser, go to http://support.cognos.com/kb-app/knowledgebase 2. In the logon dialog box, type your user name and password, and click OK. The search page appears. 3. Search through the available documents.
Call Cognos Global Customer Services

If you are unable to resolve a problem using all other troubleshooting resources, call Cognos support to receive immediate help. For information about Cognos support locations and programs, see the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site (http://support.cognos.com). To contact Cognos Global Customer Services, you must have a current support agreement with Cognos. Before you call, do the following: Ensure that the problem is related to Cognos software and results in a Cognos error message. Attempt to reproduce the problem to ensure that it is not just a simple error. Check obvious things like file locations, directories, paths, and access. Review all relevant documentation, including any release notes or readme files. Check to see if any recent changes in your computing environment may be responsible for the problem.
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Steps
1. Have the following information at hand: your customer identification number your case reference number, if it is an ongoing case the phone number where you can be reached the version of the software you use the version of the operating environment you use a description of what you were doing when the problem occurred the exact wording of any error messages that appear any steps you took to attempt to solve the problem 2. Contact the Cognos support center nearest you. 3. You are asked whether this is a new or ongoing case. If it is an ongoing case, provide your case reference number or, if appropriate, your customer identification number. If you dont have support on the software about which you are calling, you will be directed to a support renewal representative.
Common Errors
This section lists the most-common errors that you might encounter with Cognos 8 Go! Office. For a complete listing, which includes numbered error messages and warning, such as COC-ERR-1003 refer to the Cognos 8 Troubleshooting Guide.
Configuration Issues
The following specific issues are related to configuration and setup.
The Cognos 8 Go! Office Interface Fails to Initialize in Microsoft Office

Cognos 8 Go! Office may not initialize when the Microsoft .NET Framework version is not correct. The required Microsoft .NET Framework version is 1.1 SP1. Another possible reason for this condition is that the Cognos 8 Go! Office COM add-in is either not installed or not registered. If you are running the wrong version of Microsoft .NET Framework, uninstall it and then reinstall Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1. To install the Cognos 8 Go! Office COM add-in, run the .msi program that is found on the installation disk. For more information, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide. To register the COM add-in, from the Start menu, click Run, then type the following command and click OK: regsvr32.exe "c:\program files\cognos\Cognos 8 Go! Office\COMAddinShim2k3.dll"
Failed to Load Portal Tree. The Request Failed with HTTP Status 401: Access Denied
One of the required custom property values found in the Cognos 8 Go! Office template (.pot, .dot, or .xlt), workbook (.xls), document (.doc), or presentation (.ppt) file is not correct.
Steps to Update the Values in the Cognos 8 Go! Office Template or Files
1. Close Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Word, or Microsoft Office PowerPoint. 2. Right-click the Cognos 8 Go! Office template, workbook, document, or presentation and click Properties. 3. Click the Custom tab. 4. In the Name box, type CognosGateway0. 5. In the Value box, type the Web server address where the dispatcher is installed and click Modify. 6. If this is a Microsoft Excel or Word file and you are using the Smart Client, in the Name box, type _AssemblyLocation0. User Guide 63
Chapter 5: Troubleshooting 7. In the Value box, type the installation location of Cognos 8 Go! Office and click Modify. 8. Click OK.
The Assembly Name Could Not Be Found at Location or Could Not Be Loaded
Cognos 8 Go! Office may not initialize if the locations for the Cognos 8 dispatcher and the Cognos 8 Go! Office assemblies are not correct, if the assembly name is incorrect, or if you did not install Microsoft .NET Programmability Support and you are using Microsoft Office Excel or Word 2003 Professional. Update the values in the template file (.xlt, .dot, or .pot) or Office document. You may need to clear the assembly cache by running the clear assembly cache command from the Microsoft .NET Framework directory before attempting to run Cognos 8 Go! Office. Before you attempt to install Microsoft .NET Programmability Support, you must have installed Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1.
Steps to Update Locations and Names

1. Close Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft PowerPoint. 2. In Windows Explorer, right-click the template, workbook, document, or presentation file and click Properties. 3. Click the Custom tab. 4. In the Name box, type _AssemblyLocation0. You must type the leading underscore character (_). 5. In the Value box, type the installation location of Cognos 8 Go! Office and click Modify. 6. In the Name box, type _AssemblyName0. You must type the leading underscore character (_). 7. In the Value box, for Microsoft Office Excel type ExcelSmartClient or for Microsoft Office Word type WordSmartClient and click Modify. 8. In the Name box, type CognosGateway0. 9. In the Value box, type the Web server address where the dispatcher is installed and click Modify. 10. Click OK.
Steps to Install .NET Programmability Support

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Start the Microsoft Windows Control Panel. Double-click Add or Remove Programs. Click Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 and click Change. Click Add or Remove Features and click Next. Set the Excel, Word, and PowerPoint check boxes, set the Choose advanced customization of applications check box, and click Next. Do not clear any other check boxes because this uninstalls those applications or components from Microsoft Office. Expand the Microsoft Office Excel update options by clicking the plus sign next to Microsoft Office Excel. In the .NET Programmability Support box, click Run from My Computer. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for Microsoft Office PowerPoint and Microsoft Office Word. Click Update. After you receive the message that Microsoft Office 2003 was updated successfully, click OK.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Steps to Clear the Assembly Cache

1. Exit all applications, especially all Microsoft Office applications or other applications that use Microsoft .NET functions. 2. Change the working directory to the Microsoft .NET Framework directory, such as C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322. 3. Type Gacutil -cdl and press Enter.
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The Cognos 8 Go! Office Interface Fails to Initialize in Microsoft Internet Explorer
If you use Internet Explorer to browse Cognos 8 and open a workbook, document, or presentation published by Cognos 8 Go! Office, the document launches in Microsoft Office, but without full functionality. Data is visible, document actions pane, or opening screen appears. Similarly, if you open the Cognos 8 Go! Office template file from a Web server location, it opens in Internet Explorer, but does not have full functionality. To configure Internet Explorer to open Microsoft Office files in Microsoft Office instead of in Internet Explorer, you must use the Folder Options tool to update browse options. It is also possible to do this in Windows Registry.
Steps to Configure Internet Explorer to Open Microsoft Office Documents in Microsoft Office Applications
1. Open My Computer. 2. From the Tools menu, click Folder Options. 3. On the File Types tab, under Registered file types, click Microsoft Excel Worksheet, and then click Advanced. The Edit File Type dialog box appears. 4. Clear the Browse in same window check box and click OK. 5. Complete the same steps for Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations and Microsoft Office Word documents.
Microsoft Office Does Not Open a Microsoft Office Document Published from Cognos 8 Go! Office
If you observe Microsoft Office trying to open a published document twice when you double-click the workbook, document, or presentation from Windows Explorer, the file association is either corrupted or not installed properly. There are two options to resolve this issue. You can start the Microsoft Office application first, and then open the document using the Open command from the File menu, or you can reregister the file type.
Steps to Reregister Workbook File Types for Microsoft Office Excel

1. From the Start menu, click Run. 2. Type the following command and click OK. You can adapt this command to your environment by providing the proper local drive and location. "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Excel.Exe" /regserver
Steps to Reregister Presentation File Types for Microsoft Office PowerPoint

1. From the Start menu, click Run. 2. Type the following command and click OK. You can adapt this command to your environment by providing the proper local drive and location. "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Powerpnt.Exe" /regserver
Steps to Reregister Document File Types for Microsoft Office Word

1. From the Start menu, click Run. 2. Type the following command and click OK. You can adapt this command to your environment by providing the proper local drive and location. "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\winword.exe" /regserver
Microsoft Excel Is Waiting for Another Application to Complete an OLE Action

When Microsoft Office Excel has to wait for a long report to render in Cognos 8 Go! Office it displays the following message: "Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action."
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Chapter 5: Troubleshooting To suppress this message a custom property, InteractiveMode, was added. If InteractiveMode is set to "False" then during the upload, download, import and rendering of report content, Microsoft Office Excel goes into a state where you cannot interact with it and where you will not receive the error message.
Unable to Open Published Cognos 8 Go! Office Documents from Cognos 8

If you are using Cognos 8 Go! Office as a Smart Client, it does not support opening a published workbook, document, or presentation directly from a browser. If you click the link for a published document in Cognos 8, the browser prompts you to open or save the file. You must save the file to your local workstation before opening it. If the browser does not prompt you to open or save the workbook, document, or presentation, it may mean that the option to prompt before opening was cleared. This option must be reset. You must enable these options in Internet Explorer. This error may also be caused by file download properties being disabled. You must enable the File Download and Automatic prompting for file downloads in Internet Explorer.
Steps to Confirm Opening of Documents

1. Start the Windows Control Panel. 2. Double-click Folder Options. 3. From the Folder Types tab, in the Registered file types list, click Microsoft Excel Worksheet, and then click Advanced. 4. Ensure that the Confirm open after download check box is selected and click OK. 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for other Microsoft Office documents that are supported in Cognos 8 Go! Office, such as Microsoft Office Excel Template, Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation, Microsoft Office PowerPoint Template, Microsoft Word Document, and Microsoft Office Word Template. 6. Click Close.
Steps to Reset Internet Security Options

1. Start Internet Explorer. 2. From the Tools menu, click Internet Options. 3. From the Security tab, click the Web content zone for which you are updating these options, and then click Custom Level. 4. Scroll down to the Downloads section and click Enable for the File download and Automatic prompting for file downloads options. 5. Click OK twice.
Error Messages, the .NET shortcut, or the .NET Console Are Not in the Language of the .NET Framework 1.1 (SP1) That Was Installed
When you install a non-English version of .NET Framework 1.1 and Service Pack 1 in a non-English operating system, you will notice that the error messages, .NET shortcut and .NET Console are in English. To solve this issue, you must apply the .NET Framework Language Pack for your language. For example, if your operating system is French and you have installed the .NET Framework 1.1 (French) and Service Pack 1 (French), you must apply the .NET French Language Pack. You can verify if the language pack is installed by checking the following registry keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322 with a 1033 subkey and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322 with a 1036 subkey.
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Chapter 5: Troubleshooting The following subkeys provide a way for you to check which component is installed. Installed component After you install .NET Framework 1.1 (French, German, or Japanese) and SP1 (French, German, or Japanese) .NET French Language Pack .NET German Language Pack .NET Japanese Language Pack Subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NE T Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322 with a 1033 subkey
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NE T Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322 with a 1036 subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NE T Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322 with a 1031 subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NE T Framework Setup\NDP\v1.1.4322 with a 1041 subkey
The subkey numbers relate to the language as follows: 1033=en-en, 1036=fr-fr, 1031=de-de, and 1041=ja. If you are missing the language pack subkeys, you must install the .NET language pack, which is available from the Microsoft support Web site.
Processing Issues
The following specific issues are related to processing and rendering reports.
Cannot Render this Report

The Report Data Service (RDS) cannot bring report elements into a Microsoft Office document. Some combination of text and graphical images is beyond the scope of the target application. Evaluate the report and attempt to simplify the content requirements so that Cognos 8 Go! Office can render the report.
RDS Data Limit Exceeded When Importing from Large Report Outputs
While attempting to import all or part of a large report, the application attempts to open the entire report. A provisionable governor limit is in place to restrict the size of report output allowed and might result in an error (even if you are trying to import only part of a report). From the Server Administration page, adjust the Governor limit of the Report Data Service.
RDS Server Unavailable

The Cognos Report Data Service (RDS) renders data from Cognos data sources. It renders report content through Cognos 8 Go! Office to Microsoft Office. Restart RDS. RDS restarts when the Cognos 8 service is restarted.
Steps
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. In a browser window, connect to Cognos 8 as an administrator. Click Tools, and then click Server Administration. In the Services box, click Report Data Service. If the status is Stopped, start the RDS Service. If the status is Running, stop the RDS Service, and then re-start the RDS Service. If RDS fails to start, or if Cognos 8 is not responding, start Cognos Configuration. Choose whether to start or restart Cognos 8. If Cognos 8 is not running, click Start. If Cognos 8 is running, click Restart. User Guide 67
Imported Reports Are Missing Charts or Images

Cognos 8 Go! Office is functioning normally, but charts and images are missing. The client machine, which is running Cognos 8 Go! Office, cannot connect to the gateway URL as configured in Cognos 8. It is behind a firewall, the hostname/DNS is not known to this client machine, or the client machine has proxy issues. Work with your system administrator to resolve the connectivity issues.
#ERROR Appears in Cells With Multiple Images in a Cell (Excel Only)

Multiple images in a cell cannot be rendered. Re-author the report to move each image to its own cell. Then re-import the report.
The Dispatcher Is Unable to Process the Request. The Request Is Directed to an Unknown Service Name: Content
The Cognos Report Data Service (RDS) cannot bring report elements into a Microsoft Office document. Some combination of text and graphical images is beyond the scope of the target application. Evaluate the report and attempt to simplify the content requirements so that Cognos 8 Go! Office can render the report.
Problems Exporting/Importing Published Cognos 8 Go! Office Files in Cognos Connection from ReportNet 1.1 MR3 to Cognos 8 MR1
Exporting a deployment package that contains published Cognos 8 Go! Office enabled workbooks from ReportNet 1.1 MR3 and importing them into Cognos 8 MR1, the Excel links appear to be broken and the custom properties must be updated. You must save the workbooks locally and run the cocupdater utility.
Steps
1. When exporting the package in ReportNet 1.1 MR3, select the Include Report Output Versions check box. 2. Import the package into Cognos 8. 3. Save the workbook (locally or on a network) to update the custom properties. To save the files, under the Action column, click View the output versions for this report. 4. On the View report output versions page, click the desired format to view the report. 5. When prompted for file download, click Save. 6. Run the cocupdater utility to update the custom properties of the saved workbooks. 7. For each workbook, open it and re-publish it to the Cognos 8 server.
Security Issues
The following specific issues are related to security setup.
Cognos 8 Go! Office Unable to Create Trust Relationship

The Certificate Authority (CA) certificate that was issued by the Web server is not trusted on the client workstation. This procedure is only required if you are using HTTPS to RDS and you receive an error in Cognos 8 Go! Office about being unable to trust the relationship. You must ensure that the Certificate Authority (CA) that issued the Web server certificate is also trusted on the client workstation. If the certificate is not from an authority that is already trusted on the client, such as Verisign, you must install the CA certificate in the trust store on the client.
Steps to Ensure That the CA Certificate is Trusted on the Client Workstation

1. Retrieve the CA certificate from the issuing authority.
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Chapter 5: Troubleshooting The file has a .cer extension. This is not the same certificate as the one used by the Web server. It is the certificate for the issuing authority itself. Double-click the .cer file, click Install Certificate, and then click Next. Click Place all certificates in the following store. Click Browse, click Trusted Root Certification Authorities, and then click Next. Click Finish.
2. 3. 4. 5.
The Current .NET Security Policy Does Not Permit Location\Cognos8GoOffice.xlt to Load Custom Macros
Custom macros are required for the proper functioning of Cognos 8 Go! Office. Your security settings disabled these macros or prevented them from running properly. Do not change the security policy on your computer. The Microsoft .NET Framework security policy is controlled by your administrator or the IT security personnel who control custom macros. You can still edit and save the document. Contact your administrator or IT security department for further assistance. To avoid this problem, copy the template locally before using it to open a new workbook. For more information search the Knowledge Base of the Cognos Global Customer Services Web site (http://support.cognos.comkb-appknowledgebase) using the keywords office, excel, .net, security.
Unable to View Reports After Clicking Run Report

Cognos 8 Go! Office is functioning normally, but you cannot use the Run Report option to view reports. The client machine, running Cognos 8 Go! Office, cannot connect to the gateway URL as configured in Cognos 8. It is behind a firewall, the hostname/DNS is not known to this client machine, or the client machine has proxy issues. Work with your system administrator to resolve the connectivity issues.
User Guide 69
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Glossary
The glossary lists terms used in this document.
action
A task that affects the performance of an individual metric. Metric Studio tracks the dates, resources and status of actions and their relationship to a metric.
agent
The object type created and edited by Event Studio. An agent contains the event condition and the associated tasks to perform. Once defined, an agent can be scheduled to check for instances of the event.
alias
In modeling and database terminology, a secondary name for a database table. Aliases are used to create a distinct reference to the table in the model, so that self-joins can be created or ambiguous query paths can be resolved.
attribute
In relational models, a query item that is not a measure or identifier. When a query item is an attribute, it is not intended to be aggregated, or used for grouping or generating prompt pick lists. In dimensional models, attributes provide qualitative information about members of a level in a dimension. For example, the Store level within the Retailer dimension might have properties such as "address" or "retail space." In general, dimensional attributes do not have measure values or rollups associated with them, but are used to locate or filter members.
authentication
The process of verifying the identity of users when they log on. Users must be authenticated before they can be authorized to use any secured resources.
certificate
A document that identifies someone or something by name. Certificates are issued by certification authorities. Each Cognos computer in a distributed installation uses a different certificate. Certificates are used to positively identify an entity. They are used for digital signatures and secure communications, and can be used for encryption or decryption.
common gateway interface

A standard that describes how Web servers should access other programs to create a document that will appear in a Web browser. For example, Web servers often use CGI programs to process forms.
condition
An expression that yields a boolean value. Conditions are used in query expressions, query filters, and boolean report variables that can be used for conditional formatting, styles, data sources, layouts and blocks.
connection
The named information that defines the type of the data source, its physical location, and any signon requirements. A data source can have more than one connection. User Guide 71
credentials
Information stored about the identity of a Cognos user, usually a user name and password. You can assign your credentials to someone else so that they can use resources that you are authorized to use. Credentials are created for Cognos components. If a user schedules or programs an action, then credentials must be stored in the content store.
cube
A physical data source containing a multidimensional representation of data. A cube contains information organized into dimensions and optimized to provide faster retrieval and navigation in reports.
data source
A relational database, dimensional cube, file, or other physical data store that can be accessed though Cognos 8.
data tree
Within a studio, contains objects such as query subjects, query items, dimensions, levels, and members. A data tree is used as a palette of the available data that can be inserted into calculations, filters, display areas, and other authoring gestures.
dimension
A broad grouping of descriptive data about a major aspect of a business, such as products, dates, or markets. Each dimension includes different levels of members in one or more hierarchies, and an optional set of calculated members.
event
An exceptional item of data, defined by specifying a query expression against items in a package. When data is detected matching the event condition, it causes an agent to perform tasks.
gateway
An extension of a Web server program that transfers information from the Web server to another server. Gateways are often CGI programs, but may follow other standards such as ISAPI and Apache Modules.
hierarchy
A hierarchy represents a collection of dimensional members organized into a tree structure, with each member having one or more parent members and an arbitrary number of child members. The root of a hierarchy has no parent, and leaf members of a hierarchy have no children.
HTTPS
A secure version of HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol that incorporates secure sockets layer (SSL). Cognos products use HTTPS and SSL to encrypt and transmit passwords securely over the Internet.
information pane
In Analysis Studio, a pane that helps you to confirm your selection in the data tree by displaying related information such as the level and attributes.
job
A group of runnable objects, such as reports, agents, and other jobs that you run and schedule as a batch.
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locale
A code that is used to set the language or dialect used for browsers, report text, and so on; and the regional preferences, such as formats for time, date, money, money, and expressions. For Cognos products, you can specify a locale for the product interface (product locale) and for the data in the report (content locale).
namespace
For authentication and access control, a configured instance of an authentication provider. Allows access to user and group information. In XML, a collection of names, identified by a URI reference, which are used in XML documents as element types and attribute names. In Framework Manager, namespaces uniquely identify query items, query subjects, and so on. You import different databases into separate namespaces to avoid duplicate names.
prompt
A report element that asks for parameter values before the report is run.
report
A set of data deliberately laid out to communicate business information. Depending on the context, "report" may refer to report specification or report output. Report (more precisely, report specification) is the generic term for the objects created or edited by Query Studio, Report Studio, and Analysis Studio.
report specification
The definition of queries, prompts, layouts, and styles that make up a report. A report specification is combined with data by a run operation to create report outputs. You create report specifications by using Report Studio, Query Studio, Analysis Studio, or through the Software Development Kit.
report view
A reference to another report that has its own properties, such as prompt values, schedules, and results. You use report views to share a report specification instead of making copies of it.
smart client
An Internet-connected device that allows the user's local applications to interact with server-based applications through the use of Web services. For example, a smart client running a word processing application can interface with a remote database over the Internet in order to collect data from the database to be used in the word processing document.
User Guide 73
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Index
Symbols
.NET programmability support, 64 security issues, 68-69 starting, 10, 23, 35 Cognos 8 Go! Office gateway errors, 64 log files, 61 Cognos 8 Go! Office report server errors, 64 log files, 61 Cognos Action Pane Browse Content tab, 18, 30, 43 hiding, 12, 25, 38 Manage Content tab, 17, 18, 29, 30, 43 showing, 12, 25, 38 Cognos Connection, 13, 20, 26, 32, 39, 45 downloading a Microsoft Office document, 21, 33, 46 downloading Cognos 8 Go! Office workbooks and presentations, 21, 33, 46 Cognos support, 62 Cognos8GoOffice.xlt, 63 command line interface, 57 common gateway interface definition, 71 conditions definition, 71 configuration issues in Cognos 8 Go! Office, 63-66 connections definition, 71 content refreshing, 17, 18, 29, 30, 42, 43 copyright, 2 credentials definition, 72 cubes definition, 72
A
actions definition, 71 agents definition, 71 aliases definition, 71 Analysis Studio, 29, 42 API, 47 functions, 50 logging errors, 50 writing code, 49 API functions EnableLogging method, 50, 52 GetErrorMessage method, 50 GetResultCode method, 50 Logoff method, 50, 53 Logon method, 50, 51 Logon2 method, 50, 51 Publish method, 50, 53 RefreshCOCContent method, 50, 52 attributes definition, 71 authentication definition, 71 AutoLogFile enabling, 50 automating Cognos 8 Go! Office, 47 automation logging errors, 50 writing code, 49
D
data deleting, 19, 31, 44 refreshing, 17, 18, 29, 30, 42, 43 data sources definition, 72 data trees definition, 72 deleting report data from a workbook, 19, 31, 44 reports from a workbook, 19, 31, 44 dimensions definition, 72 downloading Cognos 8 Go! Office workbooks in Cognos Connection, 21, 33, 46
C
certificate authority (CA) in Cognos 8 Go! Office, 68 certificates definition, 71 cocAutomationObj registering, 47, 49 cocAutoModule.bas, 49 Cognos 8 Go! Office automating, 47 batch log files, 61 configuration and setup issues, 63 downloading workbooks and presentations in Cognos Connection, 21, 33, 46 processing issues, 67-68 samples, 62
User Guide 75
Index
E
EnableLogging method, 52 enabling AutoLogFile, 50 error messages #ERROR appears in cells with multiple images in a cell, 68 assembly name could not be found at location or could not be loaded, 64 cannot render this report, 67 Cognos 8 Go! Office interface fails to initialize in Microsoft Internet Explorer, 65 Cognos 8 Go! Office interface fails to initialize in Microsoft Office, 63 Cognos 8 Go! Office unable to create trust relationship, 68 current .NET security policy does not permit location Cognos8GoOffice.xlt to load custom macros, 69 dispatcher is unable to process the request, 68 failed to load portal tree. the request failed with HTTP status 401 access denied, 63 imported reports are missing charts or images, 68 Microsoft Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action, 65 Microsoft Office Excel does not open a workbook published from Cognos 8 Go! Office, 65 RDS Data Limit Exceeded, 67 RDS Server unavailable, 67 unable to open published workbooks from Cognos 8, 66 unable to view reports after clicking run report, 69 events definition, 72
importing code samples, 55 report elements, 13, 26, 39 information viewing, 17, 18, 29, 30, 42, 43 information panes definition, 72 IResult Interface, 50
J
jobs definition, 72
K
Knowledge Base, 62
L
locales definition, 73 log files, 61 logging off, 12, 25, 38 logging on, 12, 25, 38 Logoff method, 53 Logon method, 51 Logon2 method, 51
M
macros, 55 methods EnableLogging, 52 Logoff, 53 Logon, 51 Logon2, 51 Publish, 53 RefreshCOCContent, 52 Microsoft Office documents downloading from Cognos 8, 21, 33, 46
F
folders refreshing, 18, 30, 43 forms cocAutoSampleForm, 55 Logon2Form, 55 LogonForm, 55 PublishForm, 55 functions API, 50
N
named ranges, 13 namespaces definition, 73
G
gateways definition, 72 Group option, 13
O
opening presentations from Cognos Connection, 32, 45 workbooks from Cognos Connection, 20 opening Microsoft Office workbooks and presentations, See downloading options Group, 13 Hide Label, 13 Ignore Formatting, 13 Repeat Label, 13 Show as List, 13
H
Hide Label option, 13 hiding Cognos Action Pane, 12, 25, 38 hierarchies definition, 72 HTTPS definition, 72
I
Ignore Formatting option, 13
76
Cognos 8 Go! Office
Index
P
PowerPlay, 17, 29, 42 presentations, 30, 43 importing report elements, 26, 39 opening from Cognos Connection, 32, 45 publishing to Cognos Connection, 32, 45 saving, 33, 46 processing issues in Cognos 8 Go! Office, 67-68 prompted reports, 13, 26, 39 prompts, 13, 26, 39 definition, 73 Publish method, 53 publishing presentations to Cognos Connection, 32, 45 workbooks to Cognos Connection, 20
security issues in Cognos 8 Go! Office, 68-69 security policies error messages, 68 setup issues in Cognos 8 Go! Office, 63-66 Show as List option, 13 showing Cognos Action Pane, 12, 25, 38 starting Cognos 8 Go! Office, 10, 23, 35 support, Cognos, 62
T
troubleshooting, 61 resources, 61-63
Q
Query Studio, 17
V
VBA, 47 samples, 53, 54 VBS, 47 samples, 54 version of document, 2 viewing information about content, 17, 18, 29, 30, 42, 43
R
RefreshCOCContent method, 52 refreshing content, 17, 18, 29, 30, 42, 43 data, 17, 18, 29, 30, 42, 43 folders, 18, 30, 43 presentations, 30, 43 report elements, 18, 31, 44 registering cocAutomationObj, 47, 49 removing report data, 19, 31, 44 Repeat Label option, 13 report data removing, 19, 31, 44 report elements importing, 13, 26, 39 refreshing, 18, 31, 44 report specifications definition, 73 Report Studio Cognos Action Pane, 17, 29, 42 report views definition, 73 reports definition, 73 running, 17, 29, 42 running reports, 17, 29, 42
W
Windows Event Viewer, 62 worbooks options, 13 workbooks opening from Cognos Connection, 20 publishing to Cognos Connection, 20 saving, 21
X
XML schema, 56
S
samples, 62 importing, 55 VBA, 54 saving presentations, 33, 46 workbooks, 21 scripts cocAutoRunner.bat, 56 cocAutoScript.vbs, 56
User Guide 77
Index
78
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Cognos(R) 8 Business Intelligence Readme Cognos 8 Go!

Office User Guide

COGNOS 8 GO! OFFICE USER GUIDE

Cognos 8 Go! Office

Cognos 8 Go! Office

Using This Document

Query Studio User Guide Creating self-service business intelligence reports

Using Quick Tours

Printing Copyright Material

Cognos 8 Go! Office

Chapter 1: Working in Excel

Understanding Cognos 8 Go! Office in the Microsoft Excel Environment

Chapter 1: Working in Excel

Start Cognos 8 Go! Office

Steps for Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Professional or Standard

Steps for Microsoft Office Excel XP

You can now log on to Cognos 8 Go! Office.

Enable Cognos 8 Go! Office in an Existing Workbook

Cognos 8 Go! Office

5. After you finish adding custom properties, click OK.

Steps for the COM Add-in

Chapter 1: Working in Excel

5. After you finish adding custom properties, click OK.

Steps to Hide or Show the Cognos Action Pane

Step to Log Off

Import Cognos Report Elements

Chapter 1: Working in Excel

Cognos 8 Go! Office

Chapter 1: Working in Excel

Import as an Excel List

Ignore Formatting Automatically resize columns

Working with Prompted Reports

Change prompts using the Properties pane. Remove prompts.

Chapter 1: Working in Excel

Change Prompts Using the Properties Pane

Steps to Set a Value

Steps to Always Prompt For a Value

Steps to Set a Value Using a Cell Reference (Excel Only)

Cognos 8 Go! Office

Chapter 1: Working in Excel

Remove Answers to Prompts

Working with Reports and Content

Run Reports in PowerPlay Web, Analysis Studio, or Report Studio

Steps to Run Reports Listed in the Browse Content Pane

Steps to Run Reports Listed in the Manage Data Pane

Chapter 1: Working in Excel

Step to Run Reports From a Workbook

View Information About Content

Refresh Report Content and Folders

Steps to Refresh Folders

Steps to Refresh the Content of All Reports

Steps to Refresh a Specific Report, Report Element, or Component

Cognos 8 Go! Office

Remove Reports or Report Data from a Workbook

Cognos 8 Go! Office Best Practices in the Microsoft Excel Environment

Manage Workbooks in Cognos Connection

Steps to Publish Workbooks to Cognos Connection

Cognos 8 Go! Office

The active workbook is published to Cognos Connection.

Download an Excel Workbook from Cognos Connection

Save Workbooks Created With Cognos 8 Go! Office

Steps to Save a Workbook

Steps to Save a Copy of the Current Workbook