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Lesson 4: Scheduling Reports

In Lesson 3 of this track, we ran published reports by using the Run and Advanced Run commands on the Server Console. Reports run in this way are on-demand reports. By contrast, Server also enables reports to be scheduled, that is, automatically run at one or more designated dates and times. Scheduled reports can greatly improve the performance of the reporting service in an organization. For example, you can run reports during low network traffic times. Scheduled reports can also capture a time period exactly, for example, the last day of the quarter.

Server does not deliver a scheduled report to an end user in the same way as it delivers an on-demand report. There are six destinations for scheduled reports:

• Versioning System
• File System
• Email
• Printer
• Fax
• FTP

In this lesson, we explore three of these:

• Example 1: Publish a Report to the Versioning System
• Example 2: Publish a Report to the File System
• Example 3: Publish a Report to the Printer

Example 1: Publish a Report to the Versioning System

The built-in versioning system is a virtual file system that Server maintains.

In this example, we set up a schedule to run a report immediately and ask Server to keep the generated result for 7 days. Even though we run the task immediately, we schedule to run the report through the Server scheduling system. This has two advantages, the user does not need to wait for the report to finish to continue using their system and Server runs the report in the background so does not impact other users who are running interactive reports. Another advantage of scheduling a report is that Server saves it in the versioning system; while normally Server does not save on-demand reports in the versioning system unless explicitly saved by the user.

1. In the Resources page of the Server Console, go to the Public Reports > JinfonetGourmetJava folder.
2. Point to the OrderListbyDate_Parameter.cls report row, then select Schedule on the floating toolbar. Server displays the Schedule dialog box.

   

3. In the General tab, type ToVersion in the Schedule Name text box. Keep the default settings for other options in the tab, then select Next.
4. In the Parameter tab, you can specify new parameter values or keep the default values. Select Next.
5. In the Publish tab, select To Version, then select Publish to Versioning System. Server displays the publishing options.

   

6. Select the Page Report Result format, select Result Auto-delete and set Result Expires in 7 Days.
7. Switch to the Conditions tab to specify the time to perform the task. 
8. In the Time subtab, keep the default selection to run the task immediately. The Time Zone option should represent your current time zone.
9. Select Finish to submit the task.

You can monitor the status of the report by viewing the My Tasks page (to access this page, select My Tasks on the system toolbar). Server lists the reports that are running in the Running table; when they complete running, Server moves them to the Completed table. Server lists the reports that are scheduled but have not yet run in the Scheduled table.

In this example, we publish the report to its built-in version folder. We can view the report as follows:

1. Point to the OrderListbyDate_Parameter.cls report row, then select Version on the floating toolbar.
2. In the Report Result Versions table, select the Page Report Result link in the Result column. Server displays the full page report.

   

Example 2: Publish a Report to the File System

In this example, we set up a schedule to output a weekly sales report to the file system. We specify to run the report every Sunday night so it is available first thing on Monday morning.

1. In the Resources page of the Server Console, go to the Public Reports > JinfonetGourmetJava folder.
2. Point to the CustomerContactCard.cls report row, then select Schedule on the floating toolbar.
3. In the General tab, type ToPDF as the schedule name.
4. Navigate to the Publish > To Disk tab, then select Publish to Disk.
5. Select PDF. Server displays the PDF options.

   

6. Keep the default location selection, Publish to Server Resource Tree, then type /CustomerContactCard.pdf in the text box below the location drop-down list. This publishes the report to the disk path of the server resource tree under the name CustomerContactCard.pdf.

   The server disk path is <install_root>\jreports by default, thus if we want to place the output file in this folder, the path must start with a "/". Alternatively, we can type a full disk path if we want to create the file outside the server resource tree, for example, C:\temp\CustomerContactCard.pdf.

7. Select the Conditions tab to specify the time at which you want to perform the task.
8. In the Time subtab, choose Run this task periodically from the Time Type drop-down list. Select Weekly from the Date drop-down list and define to repeat every one week on Sunday. Select At from the Time drop-down list and specify the time as 8:00 PM.

   

   Although we do not use it in this lesson, the Notification tab enables you to specify email notifications to be sent automatically when the report finishes running or if it is unable to complete successfully.

9. Select Finish to submit the scheduled report request.

Because it is not practical to wait until Sunday night to view the report in our lesson, we cheat a bit and request an early version of the report.

1. On the Server Console, select My Tasks on the system toolbar. Server should display the report we requested as a scheduled task.
2. Point to the task and select Run on the floating toolbar to immediately schedule the report.

   

3. Now we can find the file CustomerContactCard.pdf using Windows Explorer in <install_root>\jreports\.

Example 3: Publish a Report to the Printer

In this example, we set up a schedule to output a form letter report to the printer on a monthly basis. We specify to send the form letter to delinquent customers.

1. In the Resources page of the Server Console, go to the Public Reports > JinfonetGourmetJava folder.
2. Point to the ProductSalesAnalysis.cls report row, then select Schedule on the floating toolbar.
3. In the General tab, type ToPrinter as the schedule name.
4. Navigate to the Publish > To Printer tab, then select Publish to Printer.
5. Fill out the tab according to your requirements and the printer settings.

   

6. Select the Conditions tab, and then select the Time subtab to specify the time at which you want to perform the task.
7. From the Time Type drop-down list, choose Run this task periodically, select Monthly from the Date drop-down list and select to run the task on The 1st day of every 2 months at 7:00 AM.

   

8. Select Finish to submit the schedule request.
9. Select My Tasks on the system toolbar. Server lists the task in the Scheduled table. You probably want to delete this entry so Server does not print the report to your printer every month!

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