How do I launch report from menu using RUN_REPORT_OBJECT?

Question

Hi all,
Re: How do I launch report from menu (and have it print to the screen) using RUN_REPORT_OBJECT?
I am using Oracle 9iAS on Windows 2000 and I have a similar problem with launching reports from the menu. The application should call the report via the RUN_REPORT_OBJECT builtin feature from Forms. The report is never displayed.
The report is in the same folder as the menu form calling it. Do the reports have to be in a specific format? How do I get the report_id?
The name of the report is seconds_calls. No user-specified parameters are passed. Also, the report object in the object navigator in Forms is Report4 (is this relevant?)
When I try to run report via the form using this code:
DECLARE
     report_id REPORT_OBJECT;
     rep_status VARCHAR2(200);
     v_rep VARCHAR2(100);          
     report_job_id VARCHAR2(200);
--     job_number NUMBER;
--     server_name VARCHAR2(200) := 'repserver';
BEGIN
     report_id:= FIND_REPORT_OBJECT('seconds_calls');
     rep_status:=REPORT_OBJECT_STATUS(report_job_id);
     v_rep := RUN_REPORT_OBJECT(report_id);
END;
I get this error message:
FRM-41219 Cannot find report:Invalid ID
And this message
FRM-40738 Argument 1 to builtin RUN_REPORT_OBJECT cannot be null
When I tried to use the same code (above), substituting the object name for the form name,
I got these messages:
FRM-41219 Cannot find report:Invalid ID
FRM-40738 Argument 1 to builtin RUN_REPORT_OBJECT cannot be null
And FRM-10259 Invalid null argument to packaged procedure or function (???)
Any ideas?
Cheers,
Pippa

Answer 1

Philippy,
substr(v_rep,instr(v_rep,'_',-1)+1)
This code extracts the Reports job id from the Reports Server name. The run_report_object() built-in
retrieves e.g. RepServ_9 as a job id, but in Reports9i you only need the '9' as a value to retrieve the
output.
Use the following sample a template. It is a procedure that expects the reports object name, teh reports server name and the
output format as an argument. The call to Web.show_document expects the ReportsSrevices to be accessible from teh same server
(relative addressing is used)
PROCEDURE RUN_REPORT_OBJECT_PROC (vc_reportobj Varchar2, vc_reportserver varchar2, vc_runformat varchar2) IS
v_report_id           Report_Object;
vc_ReportServerJob      VARCHAR2(100); /* unique id for each Report request */
vc_rep_status      VARCHAR2(100); /* status of the Report job */
vjob_id               VARCHAR2(100); /* job_id as number only string*
BEGIN
/* Get a handle to the Report Object itself. */
v_report_id:= FIND_REPORT_OBJECT(vc_reportobj);
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(v_report_id,REPORT_COMM_MODE,SYNCHRONOUS);
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(v_report_id,REPORT_DESTYPE,CACHE);
/* Define the Report output format and the name of the Reports Server as well as a user-defined parameter, passing the department number from Forms to the Report. We don't need a parameter form to be displayed, and therefore paramform is set to "no". */
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(v_report_id,REPORT_DESFORMAT, vc_runformat);
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(v_report_id,REPORT_SERVER, vc_reportserver);
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(v_report_id,REPORT_OTHER,      'p_deptno='||:dept.deptno||'paramform=no');
vc_ReportServerJob:=RUN_REPORT_OBJECT(report_id);
/* remove the Reports Server name from teh job id */
vjob_id := substr(vc_ReportServerJob,length(reportserver)+2,length(vc_ReportServerJob));
/* Check the report status if finished. */
vc_rep_status := REPORT_OBJECT_STATUS(vc_ReportServerJob);
IF vc_rep_status='FINISHED' THEN
/* Call the Report output to be displayed in a separate browser window.
The URL for relative addressing is only valid when the Reports Server
is on the same host as the Forms Server. For accessing a Remote Reports
Server on a different machine, you must use the prefix http://hostname:port/ */
WEB.SHOW_DOCUMENT ('/reports/rwservlet/getjobid '||vjob_id ||'?server='vc_reportserver,'_blank');
ELSE
message ('Report failed with error message '||vc_rep_status);
END IF;
END;
Frank