Scheduling Reports

Administrators with the applicable roles associated to their user ID may schedule reports to run on the Scheduled Jobs or Job List page.

To create a scheduled report, right-click a report on the Library or Repository pages, and then click the Schedule option in the pop-up menu.

Note: The Schedule menu option only displays on the menu for users with administrator-level privileges and the applicable role associated to the user ID.

The Scheduled Jobs page displays the internal ID number of the job, the job name, the owner or user who created the job, the state of the job, the last and next run of the job.

 

Fields	Description
Job ID	Internal job number automatically assigned by XRA.
Job Name	Name of the job you entered when you created the schedule.
Owner	Owner or user who created the job.
State	A job can have one of the following states: Normal: XRA has scheduled the job. Paused: The job has been disabled by clearing the Enabled check box. Click the Enabled check box to activate the scheduled run. Running: XRA is outputting the report. Complete: XRA has finished running the job. The report is in the repository. Error: The scheduler encountered an error while scheduling or starting the job.
Last Ran	The date and time of the last scheduled job run.
Next Run	The date and time of the next scheduled job run.
Enabled	Clear this check box to pause a job. To resume the job for the next scheduled time to run, select the check box.

Two icons for editing and removing jobs appear at the end of each scheduled job row.

• Edit: Click this icon at the end of a job's row to edit the schedule on the Schedule tab. You can also edit the job's Parameters, Output Options, and Notifications tabs.
• Remove: Click this icon to delete the scheduled job.

The following buttons display above the job list:

Buttons	Description
Back	Reloads your list of reports.
Create Schedule	Opens the scheduling wizard's New Schedule page.
Run Now	Runs a report in the background, especially if it is a long-running report, which means you can continue working without interrupting your workflow.
Refresh List	Refreshes the list of jobs, which allows you to check if a job has finished.

Setting Up a Job Schedule

Administrators use the report scheduler wizard to set up the jobs on the following tabs:

Tabs	Description
Schedule	Set up when to run a report job and how often.
Parameters	Select the job's report parameters, if the report has input controls. The parameters filter or limit what appears in a report.
Output Options	Enter the report's file options, such as the name, description, locale, format, and output destination.
Notifications	Set up email notifications for when the scheduler runs the job and the job's status.

A scheduled job runs a report in the background. Only the data that you have access to will be displayed in a scheduled report.

To set up a job

1.

Open the Repository pane. Do one of the following:

• On the Home page, click View Reports.
• On the XRA menu bar, click View > Repository.

2.

Select the report or use the search field to find the report you want to schedule.

3.

Right-click the report and select Schedule from the context menu. Alternatively, if the report has a schedule, click the report's schedule icon .

The Scheduled Jobs page appears.

4.

Click Create Schedule.

The New Schedule page displays the Schedule tab. The Schedule for line shows the path to the selected report.

5.

Set the following options in the Schedule Start section:

• Start: Select Immediately, or select the On Specific Date, and then click the calendar icon to select a start date and time.
• Time Zone: The default time zone is the time zone of the server. To change to your time zone, select one from the list box.

6.

In the Recurrence section, select one of the following options in the Recurrence Type list box:

• Start: Select Immediately, or select the On Specific Date, and then click the calendar icon to select a start date and time.
• Time Zone: The default time zone is the time zone of the server. To change to your time zone, select one from the list box.

7.

If the scheduled report has input controls that prompt for user input, click the Parameters tab. See Scheduling Reports.

• None: Select this type of recurrence to run the report once.
• Simple: Schedule reports to recur at a regular interval, set in either minutes, hours, days, or weeks.
• In the Schedule End section, select an end date by either setting the number of times a job runs, the date it runs until, or to let it run indefinitely.
• In the Holidays section, you can stop the job from running on the holiday dates you select in the calendar.
• Calendar: Schedule reports to recur at a regular interval, based on a combination of months, days or date ranges, and times.
• In the Months section, you can select Every Month or Selected Months from the list.
• In the Days section, you can choose Every Day, Selected Days from the list, or Dates in Month (comma-separated dates: 1, 20, 26; or date ranges: 8-13, 22-26).
• In the Times section, enter the time, in hours (24-hour format) and minutes, at which to run the job; for example, comma-separated dates or ranges: 0, 15, 30, 45 for minutes and 8-18 for hours mean the report runs every 15 minutes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• In the Schedule End section, click the calendar icon to select an end date from the calendar.
• In the Holidays section, select a holiday calendar to stop reports running on holidays. The administrator sets up this calendar.

8.

Click the Output Options tab and set up the format of the report. See Setting Output Options.

9.

Click the Notifications tab and set up the email notifications. See Setting Up Notifications.

10.

Click Save.

Setting Report Parameters

If a report has user input parameters set up, you can change them on the Parameters tab.

To set report parameters

1.

Open the Repository pane. Do one of the following:

• On the Home page, click View Reports.
• On the XRA menu bar, click View > Repository.

2.

Select the report or use the search field to find the report.

3.

Right-click the report and select Schedule... from the context menu. Alternatively, if the report has a schedule, click the report's schedule icon .

The New Schedule page appears.

4.

Select a set of saved values or set the following input values:

• Date Range: Select the either the current or previous day, week, month, year, or a custom date range.
• Start Date: Click the calendar icon to select a date.
• End Date: Click the calendar icon to select a date.
• Time Interval: Select either by the hour, day, week, month, quarter, or year.
• Item Type: Select an item type from the list box.
• Queue: Select a queue from the list box.
• Associate: Select an associate from the list box.
• Status: Select the type of status from the list box.

5.

Click Save or click Save Current Values if you changed values that were already set up.

Setting Output Options

You can set up how to output the scheduled report on the Output Options tab. It covers report naming, time zones, available file formats, file handling, and output destinations.

To set up the output options for the scheduled report

1.

Open the Repository pane. Do one of the following:

• On the Home page, click View Reports.
• On the XRA menu bar, click View > Repository.

2.

Select the report or use the search field to find the report.

3.

Right-click the report and select Run in Background... from the context menu.

The New Schedule page displays the Output Options tab. The Schedule for line shows the path to the selected report.

4.

Set the following options in the Output File Options section:

• File name (required): Enter the job's output name.
• Description: Optional description of the file that appears in the repository.
• Time Zone: The default time zone is the time zone of the server. Select alternate time zones from the list.
• Output Locale: Locale language settings for generating the report.
• Formats: You can select multiple formats besides the default PDF format. If you select more than one format, XRA creates separate files for each format in the repository and attaches them as separate files in email notifications.
• File Handling: You can select two check boxes.
  • Overwrite Files: Select this check box to overwrite old output files that have the same name as the files created by your latest job.
  • Sequential File Names by Timestamp: Select this check box to add a timestamp to the names of files created by the job. This helps to identify the output of recurring jobs and time-sensitive reports. The Timestamp Pattern field is an optional format for the timestamp, based on the java.text.SimpleDateFormat. Valid patterns for report files can only contain letters, numbers, dashes, underscores, and periods. The default pattern is yyyyMMddHHmm, for example 201406180705.
• Output Destination: Select one or more of the following check boxes to save the output file to the specified locations:
  • Output to Repository: Select this check box to save the report to the specified location in the repository. Ensure you have write permission to this folder. Use the Browse button to find the correct folder.
  • Output to Host File System: Select this check box and specify the correct folder to save the report in on the server host machine.
  • Output to FTP Server: Select this check box to save the report to the specified FTP server. You must have write permission to the selected directory on the FTP server. Enter the following details for your FTP server:

    • Server Address: Host, IP address or URL of the FTP server

    • Directory: Directory to save the report to on the FTP server

    • Username: A user name for access to the FTP server

    • Password: Password for the user name

    • Enable FTPS: Select this check box to specify that the server uses FTPS.

    • Port: Specifies the FTP connection port. The default port for FTP is 21; for FTPS, it is 990.

    • Test Connection: Click the button to test your settings.

5.

Click Save.

Setting Up Notifications

1.

Open the Repository pane. Do one of the following:

• On the Home page, click View Reports.
• On the XRA menu bar, click View > Repository.

2.

Use the search field or Filters to find the report you want to run.

3.

Right-click the report and select Run in Background from the context menu.

The Output page appears as shown in the figure “Output Page for Scheduling a Report – Output File Options”.

4.

Set the output format and location, as described in Setting Output Options. By default, the report output is saved in the repository.

5.

(Optional) If the report you are running has input controls that prompt for user input, click the Parameters tab. Choose a set of saved values, or set the fields one at a time.

6.

(Optional) Click the Notifications tab and set up email notifications, as described in Setting Up Notifications.

7.

Click Save.

The report begins to run immediately.

If the report already has a schedule that you want to add, modify, or delete, click beside the report name.

Running Reports and the Report Viewer

 

Schedule the job to start at a specific time

1.

In Start Job, select On.

2.

Click.

The calendar appears.

3.

Click a date.

4.

To set the time for the job to run, at the bottom of the calendar, repeatedly click the hours and minutes. To close the calendar, click a blank spot on the Scheduler page.

The selected date for starting the job appears in the calendar field.

5.

In Recurrence, accept the default setting, None to run the report only once.

6.

Click Next.

Set Up the Job Page

If you select Simple or Calendar Recurrence, additional controls appear on the page.

JasperReports Server User Guide

If the report you are scheduling has input controls that prompt for user input, the Set the Parameter Values page appears:

• Saved values, if there are any, appear in a drop-down list at the top of the page, as shown in Figure 3-15. In the Use saved values drop-down, you can set the input controls defined for the report you’re scheduling. You can set the input values for the scheduled report, and click Save Current Values to save the input value as a named set of values.

For more information about using saved values and saving input values, see the JasperReports Server User Guide section 3.7, “Running a Report with Input Controls or Filters”.

1.

Choose a set of saved values, or set the input controls. This example uses the saved values for USA.

2.

Click Next.

The Output Settings page appears.

3.

Set output options and click Submit to schedule the job.