OnDemand NPrinting and Locked Fields/Variables

[Senor_Dai]

HI,  we are using NPrinting September 2020 and QlikView 12.4.2.

We have just deployed onDemand.   Our QV application has a Document Load Trigger that locks a field : Organisation to a value depending on the user.

We also have a variable vUserOrganisation with the following expression :

=If(count(distinct [Organisation])=1,[Organisation],
  If (count(distinct [Organisation])>1,'Multiple Organisations')) 

We use vUserOrganisation in the OnDemand Nprint report.   If the user runs the report with no other selections made then 'Multiple Organisations' is displayed on the report even though in the QV app Organisation is locked to a single Value. 

To get the report to show the correct value - the user has to unlock, clear and manually select their correct Organisation.  

Is there a known bug with Nprint, Ondemand and triggers/variables?

Thanks in advance for any advice,


Dai

[Frank_S]

@Senor_Dai 

Updated Link

There are limitations whether On Demand or not is used:

See https://help.qlik.com/en-US/nprinting/November2020/Content/NPrinting/GettingStarted/HowCreateConnect...

Note that locked fields behave as a selected 'always one selected' dimension value so you will need to leave fields unlocked and do not use any 'always one selected' dimensions.

[Lech_Miszkiewicz]

On top of that "Triggers" are also not supported as per official documentation - one of the basic requirements: 

https://help.qlik.com/en-US/nprinting/November2020/Content/NPrinting/GettingStarted/HowCreateConnect...

Now - solution which I am unsure of (as I dont have QlikView environment to test) and which works in Qlik Sense in the same scenario is to have 2 documents:

1. one with triggers and your locked fields/triggers
   1. that document will be exposed to users in access point
2. another document without those objects which will be used in NPrinitng connection and for report production

As I mentioned this solution works in Qlik Sense for sure, but I am not aware if it is possible in QlikView and whether it will work with QlikView.

sorry I could not give you more info.

cheers

[Senor_Dai]

HI, Thanks for your thoughts on this.  

With your suggestion of two apps, how would the 'second' document know what selections have been made?

[Frank_S]

Caution: In previous instances, where some customer's I've worked with that used two QVWs (1st QVW to generate selections in the 2nd QVW), this too caused issues ie: 'stuck' On Demand reports. I've seen this done at a few sites and this was not a robust solution.

All selections ideally should be made in a single reporting QVW only (the QVW used in the NPrinting Connection) to mitigate any On Demand report failures associated with unsupported items .

Whenever a QV unsupported item is used, this will introduce unexpected reporting results. It may work for awhile then fail to work suddenly...just fyi.

Selections should be made in a single QVW only. For example, you may replace triggers that enable selected values with directly selectible objects such as List box, Multibox objects contain dimensions necessary and utilize where possible in your data model dimensions that are associated/linked with the main fact table.

See https://community.qlik.com/t5/Support-Knowledge-Base/Troubleshooting-QlikView-On-Demand-with-NPrinti...

• Variable Selections, input boxes will not work with On Demand. Direct selections are required to successfully export an On Demand report

[Senor_Dai]

Hi, thanks for the suggestions.  

I've tried your suggestion @Lech_Miszkiewicz  with a document in for the AccessPoint with on OnOpen trigger that selects a value in a listbox.  I have a copy of this application for the NPrint Connection and which the Report points to.  

When I try to run the OnDemand report from the AP with the OnOpen trigger - the ondemand generation throws an error.  

On checking the logs the Nprinting_Sheduler log has this error :
Check Engine logs for details. ERROR: Bookmark with id Server\BM07-254_214285488 could not be found.

Do you have any thoughts on this?

Many thanks

[Lech_Miszkiewicz · Accepted solution]

I see - I think i remember now and sorry that I am coming back with this now, but I think that scenario I described will not work with QlikView. This is only my assumption and not documented knowledge, but now when you mentioned "bookmark" i can remember that NPrinitng is using Bookmarks to create filters, levels pages etc... when connected to QlikView. Therefore selections I think will be explicit to the application you apply it on, as opposed to Qlik Sense where you have ability to choose which application you want this selection to be applied on.

Technology behind both solutions are completely different and I apologise that I brought that option up without knowing 100% if it would work in first place - my mistake and sorry.

Summary:

I guess in this scenario the only option you may have available is to follow Frank's suggestions of creating fully supported QlikView document:

• no always one selected
• no triggers of any kind
• no macros
• no alternate states
• no locked fields
• keep in mind that variable inputs will also not work with on demand!

cheers

[Senor_Dai]

Thanks @Lech_Miszkiewicz  - much appreciated.