Customizing the Functionality of IBM Cognos Software
You can customize how IBM® Cognos® software
works to suit your particular needs.
Presentation services in IBM Cognos software maintain XML-based system configuration files named system.xml that are used to customize the product user interface and functionality. Before you start customizing IBM Cognos version 10.1, you may want to migrate the customization changes made in the system.xml files in previous IBM Cognos versions.
For more information about IBM Cognos customizations, see Customizing the Appearance of IBM Cognos BI.
- Upgrade the system.xml Files to IBM Cognos Version 10.1
The IBM Cognos presentation service supports automatic upgrade of the system.xml files. - Customizing IBM Cognos Connection
You can do the following to customize IBM Cognos Connection. - Customizing the IBM Cognos Connection Login Page
You customize the IBM Cognos Connection login page by adding predefined macros, UI element names, JavaScript, and CSS classes to a login template on the gateway machine. - Customizing Server-side Printing for UNIX and Linux Platforms
The way in which the IBM Cognos Connection portal handles server printing can differ depending on your platform. - Start Query Studio in Preview Mode
You can configure Query Studio to start in preview mode. Users can then create or modify reports without retrieving actual data from the database. Instead, simulated data is shown. - Customizing Data Formats for Query Studio
You can customize the data formats that are available for selection in Query Studio. - Change the Default Query Studio Template
All Query Studio reports use a default template. You can create a custom template, for example, to include your company logo in it, and set it up as the default template for Query Studio reports. - Modifying properties for the CSV output format
You can modify properties for the comma separated values (CSV) output format. For example, you can specify encoding and field delimiter characters to suit your environment. - Repeating crosstab labels in CSV output format
By default, labels are not repeated for a nested cross-tab when the output is in CSV format. - Auto-Size Select and Search Prompts
Often with large text items, the select and search prompt display areas are not wide enough to display the data. - Using in_range Filters with Character Data
If you use an in_range filter with character data, and the From value is greater than the To value, the filter returns no results. For example, if the From value is "Zone" and the To value is "Aloe Relief", the report returns no data. - Modifying properties for the batch report service and the report service
You can specify advanced properties for the batch report service and the report service to generate customized report outputs. - Customizing error-handling on the SMTP mail server
The way in which an SMTP mail server handles errors can differ depending on your mail server implementation. For this reason, you can customize the actions that the delivery service should take when it encounters specific errors by setting up SMTP rules in an XML file. - Disable Report Attachments in Email Messages
To prevent users from sending reports as e-mail attachments, modify the system file system.xml. - Showing attachments in IBM Lotus Notes
When chart reports are sent as E-mail attachments, they may not be shown properly in Lotus Notes®. You can specify that .png file types be automatically converted to .jpg to avoid this possibility. - Setting metric threshold values
You can set threshold values that are used for some metric scores. - Setting the default validation level in Report Studio
You can set the default validation level that report authors see when they validate reports in IBM Cognos Report Studio. - Disable Support for Trigger-based Scheduling
By default, trigger-based scheduling is enabled. An occurrence acts as a trigger, causing the report to run. You can disable this feature by modifying the system.xml file. - Set Up a Trigger Occurrence on a Server
As part of setting up trigger-based report scheduling, you must set up the trigger occurrence on a server. - Changing the default processing of burst reports
Starting with version 10.2.1, internal processing of burst reports in IBM Cognos BI is different than in earlier versions of the product. You can change the product defaults to revert to the type of processing that was used in earlier versions of the product. - Changing the default file extension for Excel 2002 spreadsheets
By default, Excel 2002 spreadsheets sent by e-mail are created in Excel Multipart HTML format with the .mht file extension. You can change the default file extension to .xls by setting the RSVP.FILE.EXTENSION.XLS parameter to true. - Applying the Don't Print Style to Excel 2007 report outputs
You can control whether the Don't Print style is applied to Excel 2007 report outputs. - Disabling Toolbox Widgets
System administrators can disable any of the following toolbox widgets: Web Page, RSS Feed, Image, Text, and My Inbox Features.