workbook export macro function should also support pdf as file type (currently xlsx, wss)
I am using macros to export files. Currently I can only choose between xlsx and wss. For a project I do at the moment I would need Pdf to be a possibility as well.
why Pdf in this case? - normal users can't handle wss - we don't want the user to use an exported xlsx Jedox report as source for other Excel reports to apply shadow reporting
ADMIN RESPONSE
Jan 18, 2023
Thanks for the idea. This feature already exists in Jedox. You can find more information about it in the Jedox Knowledgebase.
This can be accomplished with our Workbook action "Export report", where the user can choose a file name and type to being downloaded to their computer.
We would rather provide a way to solve common problems with actions than having to use a macro for this purpose. For this idea, the original purpose was understood by us to provide a PDF export functionality for a user. This is given with actions and/or existing PDF download functionality. Other use cases should be handled in separate ideas, so we will be able to deliver the required capabilities based on the use case / specific problem.
The combination of "send mail" and "export report" isn't exactly what we are looking for since this option is missing a lot of flexibility. If I would prefer to save the report as pdf to a share instead of sending it via mail, this action wouldn't be sufficent - another action would be neccessary. Why not just extend the macro function export() with a pdf option? With a macro the user would have full flexibility. He could store the report to a share or send it via mail, no matter what. I understand why you are pushing the actions (they are easy to implement and ready to use), but lack flexibility and moreover this approach isn't exactly what was requestet in 2019.
Thanks for your reply. Please create a separate idea for this use case. I understand, that a combination of our "send email" and "export report" action is what you are looking for (e.g. new option to "attach current report" with the "send email" action).
That is actually not the function we are looking for. As mentioned in my response from May 22, 2020 I don't want the file to be downloaded to the computer of the user who's hitting the button. I want the pdf to be temporary stored on the server to send it via mail somewhere else. In our usecase a user changes data in a report, finally accept this data and sends a copy of the report for backup reasons to another user. Your sollution is more time consuming since the user would have to download the report as pdf and create and send an email. Just imagine you do that 30 times. You just recently improved the mailer-api, why not using it to send the mails? Currenty we use the xlsx-export via macro, but the result not the best since not every feature is correctly exported to Excel.
Right, but that is not the use case we are looking for. With the "__download" -function a popup appears and the user may choose the location where the document should be saved. In my case the user would hit a button and the current report is temporary saved on the server to be send by mail to another user. Sending a mail with an attachment is already possible, but what isn't working is the export of a report as pdf to a predefined location on the server with "activeworkbook()->export('C:\\dump.xlsx', 'xlsx', 0)".
Moreover its necessary to redesign a report exported as xlsx. Since buttons are visible and hidden rows or columns can be made visible after export the user might see information he is not allowed to. With an export as pdf this won’t be an issue.
We would rather provide a way to solve common problems with actions than having to use a macro for this purpose. For this idea, the original purpose was understood by us to provide a PDF export functionality for a user. This is given with actions and/or existing PDF download functionality. Other use cases should be handled in separate ideas, so we will be able to deliver the required capabilities based on the use case / specific problem.
The combination of "send mail" and "export report" isn't exactly what we are looking for since this option is missing a lot of flexibility. If I would prefer to save the report as pdf to a share instead of sending it via mail, this action wouldn't be sufficent - another action would be neccessary. Why not just extend the macro function export() with a pdf option? With a macro the user would have full flexibility. He could store the report to a share or send it via mail, no matter what. I understand why you are pushing the actions (they are easy to implement and ready to use), but lack flexibility and moreover this approach isn't exactly what was requestet in 2019.
Thanks for your reply. Please create a separate idea for this use case. I understand, that a combination of our "send email" and "export report" action is what you are looking for (e.g. new option to "attach current report" with the "send email" action).
That is actually not the function we are looking for. As mentioned in my response from May 22, 2020 I don't want the file to be downloaded to the computer of the user who's hitting the button. I want the pdf to be temporary stored on the server to send it via mail somewhere else. In our usecase a user changes data in a report, finally accept this data and sends a copy of the report for backup reasons to another user. Your sollution is more time consuming since the user would have to download the report as pdf and create and send an email. Just imagine you do that 30 times. You just recently improved the mailer-api, why not using it to send the mails? Currenty we use the xlsx-export via macro, but the result not the best since not every feature is correctly exported to Excel.
ok, got it, thanks.
Right, but that is not the use case we are looking for. With the "__download" -function a popup appears and the user may choose the location where the document should be saved. In my case the user would hit a button and the current report is temporary saved on the server to be send by mail to another user. Sending a mail with an attachment is already possible, but what isn't working is the export of a report as pdf to a predefined location on the server with "activeworkbook()->export('C:\\dump.xlsx', 'xlsx', 0)".
The Jedox macro formula __download supports pdf download as well as wss and xlsx. Are you using this function? You can find more about it here: https://knowledgebase.jedox.com/doc/2019_4/macro_engine/
Moreover its necessary to redesign a report exported as xlsx. Since buttons are visible and hidden rows or columns can be made visible after export the user might see information he is not allowed to. With an export as pdf this won’t be an issue.