Banded Report Writer Revealed – Unpacking CFG_OIBRW

The OpenInsight Banded Report Writer (BRW) is the proverbial phoenix of reporting tools for our beloved development environment. Many fondly recall the Report Designer, a fairly robust reporting tool that shipped with the 16-bit version of OpenInsight. It was our first taste of a true WYSIWYG reporting tool…and it was banded. Regrettably, the source code went MIA prior to Revelation Software’s transfer to WinWin Solutions, Inc. This left us with a tool that still worked, but it could not be supported nor updated to work properly with the 32-bit version of OpenInsight. The next version of this tool was released in OpenInsight v8.0. It was an ambitious project, if only because it attempted to build upon one of Revelation’s prime directives at the time: build tools within the toolset itself. The final result bore much resemblance to the capable Report Builder (an R/LIST interface, written in BASIC+). As such, it showed some promise. Alas, this tool never succeeded, despite efforts to address various problems through OpenInsight v9.21.

With OpenInsight v9.3, a brand-new Banded Report Writer tool was unveiled. No longer constrained by a self-imposed requirement of building all core tools with BASIC+, Revelation Software invested a lot of effort to integrate a modern, popular, and supported third-party reporting tool from ComponentOne – the same company whose products form the foundation of OIPI classic and OIPI.Net. This provided Revelation Software, developers, and end users a wealth of exciting opportunities and features…material which will certainly occupy future blog articles.

This article will be the first of many in a series dedicated to providing comprehensive technical information as well as tips and techniques that will get the best performance and features out of the Banded Report Writer. Some articles will be primarily focused on documentation. Therefore, we decided it would serve the Revelation community better if this information was published on our wiki site. This will continue our mission to provide our partners and colleagues one of the most useful places to visit to get the most out of OpenInsight. By the time you have read this article, we will have created a new section under the Revelation Resources categories, aptly named Banded Report Writer Revealed.

Our first missive will explore the intricacies of the SYSENV configuration record: CFG_OIBRW. Like many OpenInsight tools, the BRW relies heavily upon a configuration record to determine how certain aspects should behave. Most of this involves how the BRW communicates to the engine. While common configuration setups have been well publicized, we thought there would be value in delving deep and documenting as much as possible. Therefore, with some guidance from Bryan Shumsky, we present the following information.

First, let’s get something out of the way. There are two BRW related configuration records in SYSENV: CFG_BRW and CFG_OIBRW. The former is used by the retired BRW tool and is now deprecated. The second is what the new BRW uses, but it might not be present in your copy of OpenInsight. This is because the BRW will operate using default behavior if this configuration record is missing. More on this later.

As is common with other configuration records, CFG_OIBRW can be named to be applicable to all applications and users, or limited to a specific application and a specific user. Multiple CFG_OIBRW records can exist in this way, where the more specific configuration will always take precedence over the more generic configurations:

SYSENV Key IDScope
CFG_OIBRWAll applications and all users
CFG_OIBRW*AppNameAll users in the AppName application
CFG_OIBRW**UserNameOnly users matching UserName, but for all applications
CFG_OIBRW*AppName*UserNameOnly user matching UserName and only the AppName application

 

Default Configuration

Each attribute setting within the configuration record will have its own way of resolving default behavior (see the Settings section below for more information), but if no applicable CFG_OIBRW configuration record can be found, then helper routines like RTI_BRW_GenerateReport will assume the following settings:

<1> .
<3> *
<4> 0
<5> 0
<6> RTI_BRW_FILTER

Attributes 2, 7, 8, and 9 will be empty.

 

Settings

The configuration settings for CFG_OIBRW are varied and can cause unexpected behavior if not set up properly. This can be anything from the wrong database tables being used to OpenInsight crashes. Therefore, while the below information is provided for thoroughness, see the following Recommended Configurations section for examples that will work rather well.

AttributeValueDescription
Connect Mode

<1>
.Direct Connect mode – The period character tells the BRW to directly connect to a local engine (via REVCAP32.DLL as opposed to the EngineServer) from the working directory (which is derived using the Drive() function). The actual engine used (i.e., in-process, existing named, or newly launched) is determined by attributes 3 and 4 (see below). This is the default value if CFG_OIBRW is missing and the default behavior if this attribute is left empty.
Note: This applies only when using RTI_BRW_GenerateReport. RTI_BRWSupport’s DISPLAY action and Set_Printer’s LOADREPORT message both use OIPI.Net, and thus operate under a different configuration.
Windows PathDirect Connect mode - Tells the BRW to directly connect to a local engine (via REVCAP32.DLL as opposed to the EngineServer) using the specified path.
Note: Specifying a path other than the working directory is meant to allow the BRW to access tables local to that path. However, in practice the BRW still uses the engine from the working directory.
URLEngineServer mode – Connects to the EngineServer at the indicated URL. Note, this could also be a local URL (e.g. 127.0.0.1), which works the same as localhost (see next entry.)
localhostEngineServer mode – Connects to the EngineServer on the local machine. This is useful for web servers running OECGI.
!Special mode – Tells the BRW to use information stored in the eserver configuration record.
EmptyTells the BRW to use the default setting, which is the . (i.e., period) character.
EngineServer Port

<2>
Port #EngineServer mode only – Port that the EngineServer is communicating through (e.g., 8088). This should be empty if attribute 1 is configured for Direct Connect mode.
EmptyDirect Connect mode only – Indicates no port to be used. This is the proper value if attribute 1, Connect Mode, is configured for Direct Connect. This is the default value if CFG_OIBRW is missing and the default behavior if this attribute is left empty.
Engine Name

<3>
*The asterisk character tells the BRW to connect to the current engine (which is derived using the SYSTEM object’s SERVERNAME property). This is also referred to as “sharing” the engine. This is the default value if CFG_OIBRW is missing, but it is not the default behavior if the attribute is left empty. It has a known downside of memory leaks, which can causes OpenInsight to crash when closing.
Engine NameThe name of a specific engine, either TCP/IP Port or Named Pipe. Attribute 4, Startup Flags, determine if this should be an already running engine or if it should be created.
EmptyTells the BRW to use default behavior. As of OpenInsight v9.3, the default behavior is to create a new engine rather than share the engine.
Startup Flags

<4>
0Only connect to engines that already exist. Always use this value if attribute 3, Engine Name, has the * value. This is the default value if CFG_OIBRW is missing, but it is not the default behavior if this attribute is left empty.
Note: Only use this value if the engine specified by attribute 3, Engine Name, is already running.
1 (or 65)Always create a new engine. This is the default value if this attribute is left empty.
1 = Show engine UI.
65 = Hide engine UI.
2 (or 66)Use the current engine if possible, else create a new one.
2 = Show engine UI.
66 = Hide engine UI.
Note: This value will use the engine specified by attribute 3, Engine Name, if it is already running or it will create a new engine.
EmptyTells the BRW to use the default setting, which is 65 (i.e., create a new engine but hide the engine UI.)
Shutdown Flags

<5>
0Do not close the engine when the report is finished. Always use this value if attribute 3, Engine Name, has the * value. This is the default value if CFG_OIBRW is missing, but it is not the default behavior if this attribute is left empty.
1Close the engine when the report is finished.
Note: Only use this setting when the Startup Flag was used to create the engine. This will have no effect on engines which already existed.
EmptyTells the BRW to use the default setting, which is 1 (i.e., close the engine when the report is finished.)
Filter Routine

<6>
Stored ProcedureName of the stored procedure used by the BRW as a callback for different filter requests. The most important of these requests define which sources of data (tables, columns, or programmatic data sources) are allowed to be used by the BRW. This is useful if the Banded Report Designer needs to restrict access for certain users. See the Hooks and Callbacks for more information.
Note: If the filter routine is invalid the BRW will not operate.
EmptyTells the BRW to use RTI_BRW_FILTER as the filter routine. This is the default value if CFG_OIBRW is missing and the default behavior if this attribute is left empty.
Unused

<7>
UTF8 Mode

<8>
1Force the BRW to use UTF8 mode.
0Force the BRW to use ANSI mode.
EmptyUses the UTF8 mode of OpenInsight (which is derived using the IsUTF8() function). This is the default value if CFG_OIBRW is missing and the default behavior if this attribute is left empty.
Debug Log

<9>
Log SuffixTells the RTI_BRW_GenerateReport and RTI_BRWSupport routines to generate a debug log in the SYSLISTS table. The Key ID is DEBUG_<Log Suffix>. Hence, if the value in this attribute is BRW_LOG then the Key ID will be DEBUG_BRW_LOG.
EmptyNo debug log is generated.

 

Recommended Configurations

As noted above, not all configurations work equally well. Some will cause OpenInsight to crash or leaving various processes hanging in the Task Manager. There are three basic options to consider, each one has advantages and disadvantages:

  • Direct Connect to In-Process Engine – The advantage of this configuration is that it allows the BRW to have access to dynamically attached tables. It is also faster since it doesn’t have to connect to another engine or launch one. The disadvantage of this configuration are the memory leaks which have been reported above. It does not fully support the syntax for multiple reports with a single RTI_BRW_GenerateReport command. Generally speaking, these leaks only manifest when OpenInsight is closed and often only when the Banded Report Designer has been used.
     
    Use this configuration for the quickest implementation setup of the Banded Report Writer:

    <1> .
    <2> 
    <3> *
    <4> 0
    <5> 0
    <6> RTI_BRW_FILTER
    <7> 
    <8> 
    <9>
  • Direct Connect to a New Engine – The advantage of this configuration is that it is a relatively stable way to launch BRW reports. It also fully supports the syntax for multiple report usage with a single RTI_BRW_GenerateReport command. The disadvantage of this configuration is the lack of access to dynamically attached tables. It also requires an additional user license for the new engine that is launched, although the startup/shutdown flags can be configured to close the engine and release the user license when the report is finished.
     
    Use this configuration for the most balanced setup of the Banded Report Writer:

    <1> .
    <2> 
    <3> 
    <4> 65
    <5> 1
    <6> RTI_BRW_FILTER
    <7> 
    <8> 
    <9>
  • EngineServer Connection – The advantage of this configuration is that it allows the BRW to offload reports to an EngineServer. This is probably the most stable configuration since all engine management is handled by the EngineServer. This also allows engines used to handling BRW requests to exist on a separate machine. The disadvantages of this configuration is the lack of access to dynamically attached tables. Additional user licenses are also needed, but these can be managed in smaller pools because of the queuing capability of the EngineServer.
     
    Use this configuration for the strongest engine management or for special circumstances setups of the Banded Report Writer.

    <1> <URL> (e.g., 10.0.0.15, 127.0.0.1, or localhost)
    <2> <PortNo> (e.g., 8088 or 8089)
    <3> 
    <4> 
    <5> 
    <6> RTI_BRW_FILTER
    <7> 
    <8> 
    <9>

For future reference, the above technical material can be reviewed from our recently added CFG_OIBRW Configuration wiki article. We hope this information will serve you well.

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