Forum Discussion

AngelaIp's avatar
AngelaIp
Ideator I
7 years ago
Solved

How to avoid the additional helper window when creating a report?

Hi,

this is not really an urgent topic, but it´s something I wanted to ask for an eternity.

When we create a new Report (e.g. Multilevel BOM Report), we will always get an additional empty tab that works as helper window. User have to close the window to work with Innovator again. But espcially new users often forget to close it and than are confused why they cannot use their Innovator any more.

Is it somehow possible to avoid the helper window? Or automatically close it after the report was generated?

Thanks!

Angela

Reporting
  • christopher_gillis's avatar
    christopher_gillis
    7 years ago

    Thanks for clarifying. :) I haven't played around with SSRS too much, but it might be possible to add some code wherever this tab is opened to programmatically close it once the report is downloaded. After some digging with the chrome dev tools, it looks like this tab is opened with aras.targetReport which can be found in your codetree under ./Innovator/Client/javascript/aras_object.js .

    If closing the tab proves to be too troublesome, you can also try deleting the two bolded lines below from this file (these were found near line 2029 in my 11.0 SP12 codetree):

            if (report_location !== 'service') {
                win.document.write(results);
                win.document.write('<br>');
                win.document.body.style.background = '#fff';
            }

    Removing this if statement should cause the new tab to be drawn with a completely white background. Users will still need to close the tab manually, but it should help confusion as the tab won't look like the main grid.

    Chris

5 Replies

  • christopher_gillis's avatar
    christopher_gillis
    New Member
    7 years ago

    Hi Angela,

    I've tested this in a few different versions (SP9, SP15, and 12.0), and I haven't been able to reproduce this behavior with the Multilevel BOM Report. Only the tab to display the report appears, and no helper tab or window seems to open at all. Does this happen for any report in your system?

    Chris

  • AngelaIp's avatar
    AngelaIp
    Ideator I
    7 years ago

    Hi Chris,

    thanks for wasting your time trying to answer my not very accurate question! I appreciate that a lot, while I'm very sorry and a bit ashamed of myself !

    I reached a level were I assume my customization to be OOTB features. Of course standard XLST reports will open correct in a new tab! But my Multilevel BOM is an Microsoft Report Server variant. My question would have made much more sense when I would have mentioned the Microsoft SSRS background. 

    When starting a SSRS report, the report will be downloaded automatically, while at the same time the standard Report window will appear. The tab does not have any content, but it will overlay itself over the complete Innovator. 

    I assume it´s not very easy to avoid this additonal tab. But I thought it would be worth asking. It´s nothing really important, I just like small customization that help to prevent end user confusion. 

    Angela

    • christopher_gillis's avatar
      christopher_gillis
      New Member
      7 years ago

      Thanks for clarifying. :) I haven't played around with SSRS too much, but it might be possible to add some code wherever this tab is opened to programmatically close it once the report is downloaded. After some digging with the chrome dev tools, it looks like this tab is opened with aras.targetReport which can be found in your codetree under ./Innovator/Client/javascript/aras_object.js .

      If closing the tab proves to be too troublesome, you can also try deleting the two bolded lines below from this file (these were found near line 2029 in my 11.0 SP12 codetree):

              if (report_location !== 'service') {
                  win.document.write(results);
                  win.document.write('<br>');
                  win.document.body.style.background = '#fff';
              }

      Removing this if statement should cause the new tab to be drawn with a completely white background. Users will still need to close the tab manually, but it should help confusion as the tab won't look like the main grid.

      Chris

  • AngelaIp's avatar
    AngelaIp
    Ideator I
    7 years ago

    Hi Chris,

    thanks for digging in! The aras_object.js is an interesting piece of code. It does a lot of report related stuff. I will try your suggestion!

    • Wishal_M_Sri_Rangan's avatar
      Wishal_M_Sri_Rangan
      Ideator I
      4 months ago

      Hi Angela,

      Was just wondering if you managed to find a workaround the additional helper window so it never opens?