Report problem when called from menu

Question

Hi
Im calling a report from the menu item. in the items pl/sql i have the following code
DECLARE
Report_Id REPORT_OBJECT;
Report_Job_Id VARCHAR2(20);
Report_Status VARCHAR2(80);
Report_Svr VARCHAR2(20);
BEGIN
Report_Svr := 'testserver';
Report_Id := FIND_REPORT_OBJECT('LOT_AVERAGE_REPORT');
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(Report_Id,REPORT_EXECUTION_MODE, BATCH);
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(Report_Id,REPORT_FILENAME, 'lot_average_report');
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(Report_Id,REPORT_COMM_MODE, SYNCHRONOUS);
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(Report_Id,REPORT_DESTYPE, CACHE);
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(Report_Id,REPORT_DESFORMAT,'PDF');
SET_REPORT_OBJECT_PROPERTY(Report_Id,REPORT_SERVER, Report_Svr);
Report_Job_Id := RUN_REPORT_OBJECT(Report_Id);
Report_Status := REPORT_OBJECT_STATUS(Report_Job_Id);
WHILE Report_Status IN ('RUNNING','OPENING_REPORT','ENQUEUED') LOOP
Report_Status := REPORT_OBJECT_STATUS(Report_Job_Id);
END LOOP;
IF Report_Status = 'FINISHED' then
WEB.SHOW_DOCUMENT('http://<machine>:<port>/reports/rwservlet/getjobid' || substr(Report_Job_Id, length(Report_Svr) + 2, length(Report_Job_Id)) || '?server=' || Report_Svr);
END IF;
END;
it is working fine till i set the properties of report objects and it is failing when RUN_REPORT_OBJECT(Report_Id); is getting executed.
the error is like frm-10259: invalid null argument to pacaged procedure or function
Kindly helpme to come out of this...
Thanks in advance
Sundar

Answer 1

Sundar,
you just need a report (*.rdf) file that serves as a placeholder for the reports object in the forms module. You can either take one of your reports, one of the sample reports or create a simple dummy report by yourselves.
Create a simple report using reports developer (e.g. "select sysdate as dummy_date from dual" as the report query). Save it as "dummy.rdf" in your reports directory (where your existing reports are stored).
Now open the form that uses your menu. In the Reports node of your forms module, add a report, select "Use existing report file" and browse to the "dummy.rdf" file previously created.
Open the property palette for that report and remove the path information of the "Filename" property, so that it reads "dummy.rdf".
Edit the "Name" property so that it reads "MY_DUMMY_REPORT".
Compile and save the form.
Now use the PL/SQL code mentioned above in your menu and see if it works.
Hope this helps
Gerald Krieger