Hey there!
I know there are some of you out there that have chosen to build your renewal forms in SSRS. I hope you're reading this right now. :)
I'm starting to understand why Tess tells us you have to build custom forms in InfoMaker. But I really, really, really don't want to. So I want to know how you guys did it? Did you manage to get full functionality with it (if so, how?!) or are you missing pieces and have learned to make do without them?
I'm struggling with a few things in particular. I'm sure I'll stumble across more gotcha's as I go so feel free to share your experiences even if I haven't asked about them specifically.
If you have any knowledge on:
1) How to get the SSRS form to call the appropriate sproc at the beginning (there are two I'm seeing - TP_GEN_ONE_REN_NOTICE and TP_GEN_ALL_REN_NOTICES). I'm not super handy with InfoMaker so I'm not seeing how our current form calls those either. All I can see is the link to our local procedure that generates the appropriate data for us (and neither of those is executed within our local procedure either). But they are definitely being called somehow. I ran a trace and can see that it happens. In a nutshell, I'm currently missing that first step where the new set is generated and don't know the best way to get it in there.
2) How to generate the SSRS report from Subscription Summary for an individual customer. I got an error telling me I had an invalid data object selected. We do a big print of all of our forms for mailout but then frequently print one off forms at the box office or at our renewal table in the lobby at concerts. It seems silly to have an SSRS form that is new and fun being mailed out but we have to print the previous InfoMaker form if we need it reprinted individually. Unless you avoid Sub Summary all together and made your SSRS report something that could be run for an individual and accessible to the staff? Wouldn't be my first choice but........
3) Literally anything else you can tell me that may help me going forward with this project. I feel like I'm so close to having this thing finished and awesome but I'm just missing these last few (but critical) things.
Thanks and feel free to message me offline if you'd prefer!
Bethbhawryluk@winspearcentre.com
Hi Beth,
I try to avoid Infomaker, but sometimes it's impossible. Have you checked the Data Source button to see whether the SP are being executed from there? I don't know whether it's possible to add exec statements if the form is running an SP to return the data, but it might do.
Sounds like a good project.
Debbie
Thanks for the suggestion! I did have a look at our current InfoMaker form to see if the initial procedures are setup in there as Data Sources. They don't appear to in there. I'm only seeing our local procedure that generates all the renewal form data being set up as a data source. It's a bit of a mystery! I thought about making a change to our LP and adding a call to the missing procedure. I'm not sure if that would actually work though. And I'm not clear on how to make it call the appropriate one at that.
Gotta love all the little quirks that pop up in these kinds of projects!