Repository

Allows you to manage the folders and files in the repository.

Actions for a folder

When a folder is selected, the following actions are available:

Figure 2.5. Actions for Folders

Actions for Folders

Add Folder

Allows you to add a sub-folder under the current folder.

Copy

Allows you to copy the current folder and its contents into another folder.

Rename

Allows you to rename the current folder.

Upload

Enables you to choose a file from the designated location and upload it to the current folder.

Alternatively, you can upload any type of file using the curl command as follows:

curl --user <username>:<password> 
  --upload-file <source-file-path> <target-file-path>

The following shows an example of uploading a sample JAR file to /Public/lib:

curl --user admin:sa --upload-file ~/JDBC/myfile.jar 
  http://knockshinnie:8080/elx/do/eno/dc/content/Public/myfile.jar

Access Control

You can specify the actions that users can perform on the folder.

The Access Control option for the folder is shown in Figure 2.6, “Access Control for a Folder”.

Figure 2.6. Access Control for a Folder

Access Control for a Folder

The two permissions are:

  1. Reader: Allows only reading files from the folder. Users cannot write to files in the folder.
  2. Writer: Allows writing to files in the folder.

To add access rights for a user:

  1. Click Add
  2. Enter the name of the user to add. On platforms that support it, the edit field uses auto-complete to narrow down the name choices, as you type the name.
  3. By default, a user gets Reader access when added. To grant Writer access, select the Writer option. This is show in Figure 2.7, “Grant a User Access to a Folder”.

    Figure 2.7. Grant a User Access to a Folder

    Grant a User Access to a Folder
  4. Click the Add icon () to add the access right.

  1. You cannot remove your own access rights from your home directory, and also cannot disable your own write access to your home directory.
  2. For a sub-folder, you have to first clone the access rights from the highest level parent folder and then add and modify the access rights as needed. Click Define here to clone the access rights from the highest level parent folder. This is show in Figure 2.8, “Clone Access to a Folder”.

    Figure 2.8. Clone Access to a Folder

    Clone Access to a Folder

    Notice that in this screen shot, although we are in the Reports folder under User > admin > Sales, the access rights are cloned from User > admin folder (highest level parent folder).

  3. If you delete all the access rights at the filesystem level, the default access rights of the admin user will be inherited.

Drop files here

If you are using an HTML5 compliant browser, Drop files here will appear in a text field. Drag and drop a file into the text field to upload.

Delete Folder

Deletes the current folder and its contents.

Hide/Show

Hides/Shows the action menu for folder operations.

Actions for a file

The following actions are available to all file types. There are some other actions that are specific to reports and datasources, and are mentioned in their relevant sections.

Figure 2.9. Actions for Files

Actions for Files

Open

This action opens the current file in a new tab. The supported file types include datasources, image files, PDF and more.

Parameters in datasources are supported, including two new types, #timestamp and #time.

Watch

Watch provides a quick way to keep track of files that are frequently used, which saves you from the trouble of repeatedly navigating to these files or searching for them.

After selecting a file, enable Watch by clicking the star () in the top right hand corner of the File Information panel. After clicking, the file will be watched, and a tag <user>#watch will be added.

Figure 2.10. A File Being Watched

A File Being Watched

Open the Overview panel and click the Refresh icon next to the watched files, and the file list will be updated.

Generate a datasource

After opening a datasource in the Ambience Web Console, you can generate it by clicking Generate. Data fields will be shown in the browser.

Figure 2.11. Generate a Data Source

Generate a Data Source

Render a report

After opening a report in the Ambience Web Console, you can render the report by selecting from the Target drop-down list and the Render Type drop-down list. Target options include browser, mail, printer and userhome. Render type options include HTML and Simple HTML.

Figure 2.12. Render a Report

Render a Report

As an alternative to using the Ambience Web Console, you can also use HTTP requests to render a report. HTTP Requests support all the output types provided in the Render Wizard. You can send a HTTP request with a parameter list with ?mode=render and other options, or send a HTTP request with an XML body describing the options. In all cases, it is assumed that authentication has been completed as a cookie is required to be sent with each request. All requests must use POST and not GET. For a complete list of parameters used in HTTP requests, refer to Table 2.1, “Parameters”.

You can specify the parameters as part of the URL, such as “?elx.start.timeout=30&elx.end.timeout=120”, which works for all jobs. An example is as follows:

curl -X POST -u admin:sa --data "mime-type=application/x-glint
&elx.target=output1&elx.start.timeout=30&elx.end.timetout=120
&elx.job.retry=5" 
http://MachineName:8080/elx/do/eno/re/ElixirSamples/Feature/Report/
Form.rml?mode=render

The order of parameters is not important. Report parameters are distinguished from target parameters by not having the elx.target. prefix.

The response from the parameter string version is the same as the XML version, with the same headers.

Note

Different browsers and web servers impose different limits on the length of URL strings. Hence, a very long request URL, perhaps 1024 characters or greater, should be sent using the XML approach, where there is no such limit.

Table 2.1. Parameters

ParameterDescriptionValue OptionsNecessary
mode=renderIndicates that the report will be rendered.renderYes
mime-type={mime-type}Defines the report output type.Refer to Table 2.2, “Mime Types”Yes
{name}={value}User-defined report parameter.Add any value.Optional
elx.target={target}Defines the report output target. Add any target. Yes
elx.target.{name}={value}Defines the report output target name. Add any value by prefixing the parameter name with elx.target.Optional
elx.start.timeoutTimeout parameter for job engines, which specifies the time spent in the job queue. If the job is in the queue for a time longer than this value, and no job engine starts processing it, then the job will quit.The default value is 60 (seconds).Optional
elx.end.timeoutThis is a timeout parameter for job engines, which specifies the time spent running the job. If a job takes longer than this value, then the system aborts the job, and assumes it was stuck in an endless loop or is thrashing. This ensures the job engine will be able to run other jobs. The default value is 60 (seconds).Optional
elx.job.retryThis is a timeout parameter for job engines, which specifies the number of retries before a job gives up. This only applies for elx.end.timeout. If the job does not complete in 60 seconds, it will be put back on the queue to get picked up. Therefore, if a machine fails while running a job, the job will still have another chance at running. In most cases, the default value is 3.Optional

Table 2.2. Mime Types

NameExtensionMime Type
Windows Bitmapbmpimage/bmp
Zipped Windows Bitmap Filebmp.zipapplication/x-bmp-zip
Cascading Stylesheetscsstext/css
Comma Separated Valuescsvtext/csv
Elixir Ad-hoc Cubecubetext/x-adhoc-cube
Elixir Ad-hoc Dashboarddashboardtext/x-adhoc-dashboard
Elixir Database Filesystemdbfapplication/x-dbf
Microsoft Office Open XML Format Documentdocxapplication/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Elixir DataSourcedstext/x-datasource
Graphical Interchange Format Filegifimage/gif
Elixir Glint Fileglintapplication/x-glint
HyperText Markup Language Filehtmltext/html
Zipped HyperText Markup Language Filehtml.zipapplication/x-html-zip
Elixir Interactive Markup Language Fileimlapplication/x-rml-interactive
Elixir Job Filejobtext/x-job
Joint Photographic Experts Group Filejpgimage/jpeg
Zipped Joint Photographic Experts Group Filejpg.zipapplication/x-jpeg-zip
JavaScript Filejsapplication/javascript
JavaScript Object Notation Filejsonapplication/json
Elixir Line Print Text Filelpttext/x-lpt
Elixir Map Filemaptext/x-map
OpenDocument Presentation Fileodpapplication/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation
OpenDocument Spreadsheet Fileodsapplication/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet
OpenDocument Text Documentodtapplication/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text
Printer Command Language Documentpclapplication/vnd.hp-pcl
Portable Document Format Filepdfapplication/pdf
Elixir Perspective Markup Language Filepmltext/x-perspective
Portable Network Graphic Filepngimage/png
Zipped Portable Network Graphic Filepng.zipapplication/x-png-zip
Elixir Connection Poolpooltext/x-connection-pool
Elixir Connection Poolpooltext/x-connection-pool
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentationpptapplication/vnd.ms-powerpoint
Microsoft PowerPoint Open XML Presentationpptxapplication/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation
Elixir PrintPrint the file on the specified printer.application/x-print
Adobe PostScript Filepsapplication/postscript
Elixir Ad-hoc Reportreporttext/x-adhoc-report
Elixir Report Markup Language Filermltext/x-report-template
Rich Text Format Filertfapplication/rtf
Elixir Safe Filesafeapplication/x-safe
Elixir Shape Fileshpapplication/x-esri-shapefile
Scalable Vector Graphics Filesvgimage/svg+xml
Zipped Scalable Vector Graphic Filesvg.zipapplication/x-svg-zip
Elixir Shockwave Flash Fileswfapplication/x-shockwave-flash
Tagged Image File Formattiffimage/tiff
Zipped Tagged Image File Format Filetiff.zipapplication/x-tiff-zip
Plain Text Filetxttext/plain
Wireless Bitmap Filewbmpimage/vnd.wap.wbmp
Zipped Wireless Bitmap Filewbmp.zipapplication/x-wbmp-zip
Extensible Hypertext Markup Language Filexhtmlapplication/xhtml+xml
Zipped Extensible Hypertext Markup Language Filexhtml.zipapplication/x-xhtml-zip
Extensible Markup Language Filexmltext/xml
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Filexlsapplication/vnd.ms-excel
Microsoft Excel Open XML Spreadsheet Filexlsxapplication/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
Zipped Filezipapplication/zip

Run a job

Run a job by navigating to the job file in the Repository and clicking Run. A new tab will open and display a message “Request Submitted”. The system will prompt for parameters (if any), run the job and display the job log when finished.

View a log

Some events may open the log viewer. For example, when you are rendering a report to mail, printer, userhome or any other target except the browser, there will be a log file link which appears in the status box at the end of the rendering. Click the log file to view the details. Alternatively, Logs are available in the /User/{User_Name}/logs/ directory in the Repository. Logs are stored in JSON files, which are excluded from indexing and are therefore not searchable. Select a JSON file and click the Open button.

Figure 2.13. Open a Log File

Open a Log File

The log viewer will show the appropriate actions on the right hand side. The actions include Open, View and Follow, allowing you to look at job results, view more details of exceptions or follow hand overs to other jobs.

Figure 2.14. View a Log File

View a Log File

For example, the Follow action helps you navigate through a potential tree of logs produced by multiple engines working together to solve a problem. The parent log will show the status and elapsed time of each child processing log, saving you from the trouble of following irrelevant logs.

Schedule

This option is applicable when you click a datasource or a report file from the repository. It allows you to create job schedules that determine when the datasource or a report is to be run.

For more info, see the section called “Schedule”

Edit Tags

Enables you to edit the tag keywords for the current file.

Copy

Allows you to copy the current file into another folder.

Rename

Facilitates renaming the current file.

Version

Allows you to restore any of the previous versions of the file.

  1. Navigate to the folder where your file is located, and click the filename.
  2. Click Versions from the right pane.

    Figure 2.15. File Versions

    File Versions
  3. The list of versions of the file is displayed. Select the version to be restored and click Revert to revert to the selected version of the file.

    Figure 2.16. Revert to a Version of the File

    Revert to a Version of the File

Access Control

Allows you to set access rights for the file. For more information refer to the section called “Access Control”.

Download

Downloads the current file into the default folder on the system.

Hide/Show

Hides/Shows the action menu for file operations.

Delete

Deletes the current file. After deletion, the file will be temporarily placed in the /User/admin/deleted/ folder.