Customize Report Output Formats in IBM Cognos Connection and IBM Cognos Viewer

You can specify which formats are available for users to view their reports. For example, you may want to prevent users from exporting reports in Excel.

The report formats available to a user appear in the user preferences. For more information, see Personalize the Portal.

The report formats are controlled by the format element of the reportFormats parameter in the system.xml file located in the c10_location/templates/ps directory.

The format element has the following attributes:

Table 1. Customizing report output, format element attributes and values
Attribute	Value	Description
id	Report output formats. For example, HTML or PDF	Specifies the supported report format. This attribute cannot be modified.
browserHide	ie safari moz other	Excludes Web browsers in which the report format should be hidden from users. You can modify this attribute.
downloadable	true false	Specifies the download support. You can modify this attribute
appMode	basic - basic run options and preferences adv - advanced run options and scheduling rv - report viewing options	Specifies the IBM Cognos software functions where the report format must be supported. You can modify this attribute.
extension	Extension value For example, xls	Optional attribute that specifies the file extension of the output format. It is used to control download functionality.
mime	Mime value. For example, application/vnd.ms-excel	Optional attribute that specifies the MIME type. It is used to control download functionality.
cafaction	true false	Specifies the IBM Cognos Application Firewall settings. This attribute cannot be modified.

Note: Because the format element settings can be used to control access to output formats, this setting can affect how reports that were saved previously are accessed. For example, if a report is saved in PDF format, users cannot view the saved report if the administrator chooses to make the PDF format unavailable.

The following example shows how to remove CSV format from the list of available format options. For example, when setting personal preferences or scheduling reports, while still allowing users access to saved CSV output in the portal.

<format id="CSV" browserHide="" downloadable="true"
appMode="" extension="csv"/>

The following example shows how to hide the report output completely.

<!--<format id="CSV" browserHide=""
downloadable="true" appMode="" extension="csv"/> -->

Procedure

Open the system.xml file in the c10_location/templates/ps directory.

In the following code, remove or comment out the format element associated with the report format you want to disable.

<param name="reportFormats">
<!-- Comments --> 
	<format id="HTML" browserHide="" appMode="basic adv rv"/>
		<format id="XHTML" browserHide="" appMode="adv"/>
		<format id="HTMLFragment" browserHide="" downloadable="false" 
     appMode="adv"/>
		<format id="PDF" browserHide="" downloadable="true" 
     appMode="basic adv rv" extension="pdf"/>
		<format id="spreadsheetML" browserHide="safari" downloadable="true" 
     appMode="basic adv rv" extension="xlsx"/> <!-- excel 2007 format -->
		<format id="xlsxData" browserHide="safari" downloadable="true" 
     appMode="basic adv rv" extension="xlsx" />	<!-- excel 2007 data -->
		<format id="XLWA" browserHide="safari" downloadable="true" 
     appMode="basic adv rv" extension="xls" mime="application/vnd.ms-excel"/> 
   <!-- excel 2002 format -->
		<format id="singleXLS" browserHide="safari" downloadable="true" 
     appMode="" extension="xls"/>
		<format id="XLS" browserHide="safari moz other" downloadable="false" 
     appMode="" cafaction="true"/>
		<format id="CSV" browserHide="" downloadable="true" appMode="basic 
     adv rv" extension="csv"/>	
		<format id="XML" browserHide="" downloadable="true" appMode="basic 
     adv rv" extension="xml"/>
</param>

The following example shows how to disable the PDF format:

<!-- <format id="PDF" browserHide=""
downloadable="true" appMode="basic adv rv"/> -->

The following example shows how to disable support for the CSV format for advanced run options and scheduling by deleting the adv attribute:

<format id="CSV" browserHide="" downloadable="true"
appMode="basic rv"/>

Save the system.xml file.
Restart the IBM Cognos service.
Note that the configuration settings you specify in the system.xml file apply only to the presentation services which includes the portal, portal administration, and IBM Cognos Viewer. The settings do not apply to the report server.