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Is there an option to export results from a lobby element

  • 19 February 2020
  • 7 replies
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Userlevel 7
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So the key user has prepared a new element and it is of the list form. The data is represented very nicely and every one happy. Now there are more than one pages to show. I know we have the page option in the lower right corner. 

Question from key user is: is it possible to export the results in the list to Excel (csv or some other format).

My initial thought is no, but I like to be proven wrong.

PS. My suggestion to the customer was to prepare a quick report (answer: but then I'm missing the results in the lobby).

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Best answer by Rusiru Dharmadasa 19 February 2020, 09:43

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7 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

Unfortunately you are correct. There’s no way to export to excel from lobby. 

Userlevel 7

So the key user has prepared a new element and it is of the list form. The data is represented very nicely and every one happy. Now there are more than one pages to show. I know we have the page option in the lower right corner. 

Question from key user is: is it possible to export the results in the list to Excel (csv or some other format).

My initial thought is no, but I like to be proven wrong.

PS. My suggestion to the customer was to prepare a quick report (answer: but then I'm missing the results in the lobby).

What do you mean by ‘missing the results in the lobby’? Is it the formatting they are looking for, because that would be lost with a csv export anyway. 

You could explore using IFS Business Reporter to create a similar look and feel. These reports can then be published to IFS and run from within the application. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Missing the results is meant as: I don't have the list in the lobby as a list element anymore. Sure it can be there, but from a maintenance point of view that is not nice (as we have to maintain the same selection, sorting, grouping in two areas: data source and quick report). Even a third solution, which I didn't immediately thought of, the Business Reporter will have the same duplication of the same sql to be maintained.

Reports run from within the application is that the same as run from a lobby element?

Userlevel 7

Missing the results is meant as: I don't have the list in the lobby as a list element anymore. Sure it can be there, but from a maintenance point of view that is not nice (as we have to maintain the same selection, sorting, grouping in two areas: data source and quick report). Even a third solution, which I didn't immediately thought of, the Business Reporter will have the same duplication of the same sql to be maintained.

Reports run from within the application is that the same as run from a lobby element?

I’m not sure if I fully understand this still. Are you looking at the data or amending it? Is your worry that if you have to amend the query in the lobby element you’d have to amend it in a quick report as well?

 

Let’s say your list lobby element shows you:

ID Description Day Type Count
1 Summer Warm 10
2 Summer Cold 12
3 Winter Cold 30

 

What would you like to do with this data after you export it?

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Question 1: the element shows the example of the table in a list element (user is happy). The user however wants to export the data from the 4 rows to be exported to Excel for whatever reason. Answer given by Rusiru: Not possible

So a quick report is built and gives the same results. User has option to see data via element and via QR. QR gives option of export to Excel. User is happy with the exported results.

Next step, User wants to include a new column in the list (ie days with rain). Now maintenance has to be done in both the data source and the QR definition. That is what IT department wants to avoid.

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +30

I think someone should request this (Idea Wall) and see what happens. I don’t know very well the technical stuff behind a lobby but I would not think that exporting data from an element would be very hard. I mean, it’s there, on the screen. But I would be wrong…

Like @anmise, I am also curious on what they want to “do” with the data once in Excel. For sure, there must be some reason for it, otherwise they would not have asked for it (or, it’s an Excel-a-holic, perhaps :) )

As for the code maintenance, well, yeah… In theory you might be able to solve it by preparing a special view, that has all the data the user wants, and use that same view both from the QR and the lobby element. But it might be more work doing it that way than what it takes to simply update the QR, or lobby element, when needed, if it will ever be needed (“premature optimization” and bla bla...).

 

Badge +1

Highlight the text and copy and paste it into an open spreadsheet.  Job done.

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