Dynamically show/hide columns for DelimitedData output

Question

My users want to see only dynamic sets of data from the same report query.
For example, if the query returns:
Date, Widget1Count, Widget2Count, ..., WidgetZCount
User1 wants to see Date and counts for widgets 1,2, 5, and 10
User2 wants to see Date and counts for widgets 2, 3, 4, 5, 10-20.
Uset3 wants to see Date and widget 99 count.
I don't want to write a custom report for every single user nor do I want to create Z! number of queries to satisfy every possible request combination.
I wonder, is there a way to change "Exclude from XML Output" property for a particular query field(s) from a report AfterPForm or BeforeReport trigger?

Answer 1

Hi,
I had the same problem, but I saw the Metalink document: 340793.1, which gave the solution I needed.
In my case, I needed to limit the number of columns being outputted in a DELIMITEDDATA format based on a user parameter.
I ended up with the following code in my After PForm trigger, which did the job.
BEGIN
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<report DTDVersion="1.0">');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<customize>');
-- For those columns I want displayed, Set the XMLSuppress property to False
FOR tmp IN 1 .. 10 LOOP
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<object name="col_'||LPAD(TO_CHAR(tmp), 3, '0')||'_title" type="REP_COL_MAP">');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<properties>');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<property name="XMLSuppress">False</property>');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</properties>');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</object>');
END LOOP;
-- For those column I don't want displayed, Set the XMLSuppress property to True
FOR tmp in 11 .. 100 LOOP
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<object name="col_'||LPAD(TO_CHAR(tmp), 3, '0')||'_title" type="REP_COL_MAP">');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<properties>');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<property name="XMLSuppress">True</property>');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</properties>');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</object>');
END LOOP;
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</customize>');
SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</report>');
SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;
END;
I hope this helps with your problem.
Paul