Schedule a Cognos Report Outside of the Cognos Platform

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I know, I know . . . this isn't a Cognos blog. I apologize. However, I do think this is a good little tid-bit and it can also be applied to SQL Server based on some (very high level) similarities in their architecture.

The Cognos scheduler is not extremely robust (nor is SQL Job Agent at times) and even if it was, there are times when it is appropriate to run a job using an enterprise scheduler application such as AppWorx or Tidal Enterprise Scheduler.

By exposing most functionality through web services, Cognos (and SSRS) allow you do to things such as execute a report. So, if your scheduler can make web services calls or call executables (wrap the web service calls in a console app) you can bypass the Cognos scheduler and leverage your enterprise scheduler by running the report directly (or through a proxy app such as a .NET exe wrapped web service) by your scheduler of choice.

Below is an example of this using .NET and Cognos.


using System;

using System.IO;
using System.Web.Services.Protocols;
using cognosdotnet_2_0;
using System.Configuration;

namespace InformationCollaboration.Cognos.Utilities

{

class ExecuteCognos8BIJob
{

[STAThread]
static int Main(string[] args)
{
    string serverHost = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["serverHost"];
    string serverPort = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["serverPort"];

searchPathSingleObject jobPath = new searchPathSingleObject();
jobPath.Value = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["jobPath"];

// Parse the command-line arguments.
bool exit = false;
string jobName = string.Empty;

for (int i = 0; i < args.Length; i++)
{
if (args[i].CompareTo("-job") == 0){
i++;
jobName = args[i];
jobPath.Value += "jobDefinition[@name='" + jobName + "']";
} else {
Console.WriteLine("Unknown argument: {0}\n", args[i]);
showUsage(jobPath.Value);
exit = true;
}
}

if (!exit)
{
try
{
string Server_URL = "http://" + serverHost + ":" + serverPort + "/p2pd/servlet/dispatch";

jobService1 jobService = new jobService1();
jobService.Url = Server_URL;

Console.WriteLine("Logging on.");
setUpHeader(jobService);

parameterValue[] parameters = new parameterValue[] { };
option[] runOptions = new option[] { };

asynchReply res = jobService.run(jobPath, parameters, runOptions);
Console.WriteLine("Show usage.");
Console.WriteLine("Successfully executed job " + jobName);
writeMessageToLog("Successfully executed job " + jobName, false);
return 0;
}

catch (SoapException ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("SOAP exception!\n");
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
writeMessageToLog(ex.Message, true);
return -1;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Unhandled exception!");
Console.WriteLine("Message: {0}", ex.Message);
Console.WriteLine("Stack trace:\n{0}", ex.StackTrace);

writeMessageToLog("Unhandled exception!\n" + "Message: " + ex.Message + "\n" + "Stack trace:\n" + ex.StackTrace + "\n", true);
return -1;
}
} // if (!exit)
else
{
return -1;
}
} // Main

///

/// This function will prepare the biBusHeader
///
/// If no error was reported, then logon was successful.
///

static void setUpHeader(jobService1 jobService)
{
// Scrub the header to remove the conversation context.
if (jobService.biBusHeaderValue != null)
{
if (jobService.biBusHeaderValue.tracking != null)
{
if (jobService.biBusHeaderValue.tracking.conversationContext != null)
{
jobService.biBusHeaderValue.tracking.conversationContext = null;
}
}
return;
}

// Get authentication info from config file
string onyxUserId = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["onyxUserId"];
string onyxPassword = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["onyxPassword"];
string onyxApplication = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["onyxApplication"];
string onyxSite = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["onyxSite"];
string CAMNamespace = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["CAMNamespace"];

// Set up a new biBusHeader for the "logon" action.
jobService.biBusHeaderValue = new biBusHeader();
jobService.biBusHeaderValue.CAM = new CAM();
jobService.biBusHeaderValue.CAM.action = "logonAs";
jobService.biBusHeaderValue.hdrSession = new hdrSession();

formFieldVar[] ffs = new formFieldVar[5];
ffs[0] = new formFieldVar();
ffs[0].name = "onyxUserId";
ffs[0].value = onyxUserId;
ffs[0].format = formatEnum.not_encrypted;
ffs[1] = new formFieldVar();
ffs[1].name = "onyxPassword";
ffs[1].value = onyxPassword;
ffs[1].format = formatEnum.not_encrypted;
ffs[2] = new formFieldVar();
ffs[2].name = "onyxApplication";
ffs[2].value = onyxApplication;
ffs[2].format = formatEnum.not_encrypted;
ffs[3] = new formFieldVar();
ffs[3].name = "onyxSite";
ffs[3].value = onyxSite;
ffs[3].format = formatEnum.not_encrypted;
ffs[4] = new formFieldVar();
ffs[4].name = "CAMNamespace";
ffs[4].value = CAMNamespace;
ffs[4].format = formatEnum.not_encrypted;

jobService.biBusHeaderValue.hdrSession.formFieldVars = ffs;
}

static void showUsage(string jobPath)
{
Console.WriteLine("Run a Cognos 8 BI job.\n");
Console.WriteLine("usage:\n");
Console.WriteLine("-job searchPath Search path in Cognos Connection to a job.");
Console.WriteLine(" " + jobPath);
}

static void writeMessageToLog(string message, bool error)
{
try
{
string errorLogPath = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["errorLogPath"];
errorLogPath += "CognosJobServiceLog_" + DateTime.Today.ToString("dd-mm-yy") + ".txt";
if (!File.Exists(errorLogPath))
{
File.Create(errorLogPath).Close();
}
using (StreamWriter w = File.AppendText(errorLogPath))
{
string logText;
if (!error)
{
logText = message;
}
else
{
logText = "ERROR: " + message;
}
w.WriteLine("{0} {1}",DateTime.Now.ToString(), logText);
w.Flush();
w.Close();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
}
}

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