Add a Custom Action

To add a custom action for an object such as a package, folder, URL, job definition, query, report, or report view in the IBM® Cognos® Connection user interface, you must modify the system.xml file.

Add a custom action when you want to run a Software Development Kit application for a particular class of object, such as a report.

You can pass the following properties of an object to an application:

defaultName
defaultOutputFormat
searchPath
uri
permissions
usage
disabled

In the IBM Cognos Connection main view, custom action icons appear to the left of the More link. In the Perform an action page, custom actions appear under the IBM Cognos-specified actions.

Procedure

Stop the IBM Cognos service.
Open the c10_location/templates/ps/portal/system.xml file in an XML or text editor.
Locate the following XML code that describes the actions for the objects in IBM Cognos Connection:
```
<param name="base-object-actions">
  <actions>
    ...
  </actions>
</param>
```

Use the following syntax to add a custom action as a child of the <object> element for the class of object you want to associate the custom action with. The <object> elements are children of the <actions> element. Note that an English tooltip and label are required.

<action name="name" type="custom">
  <icon>
    icon to show for this element 
</icon>
  <url>
    http-encoded URL to execute 
  </url>
  <label xml:lang="en">
    link text 
  </label>
  <tooltip xml:lang="en">
    tooltip text 
  </tooltip>
  <label xml:lang="language">
    link text 
  </label>
  <tooltip xml:lang="language">
    tooltip text 
  </tooltip>
  <objProperties encode="encoding">
    <property>
      property to be passed to application 
    </property>
  </objProperties>
</action>

For example, the following XML code defines a custom action for a report object that launches an ASP application named myapp. The defaultName and searchPath properties of the report are passed to the application.

<param name="base-object-actions">
  <actions>
    ...
    <object class="report">
      ...
      <action name="showPath" type="custom">
        <icon>
          action_myaction.gif
        </icon>
        <url>
          /myapp.asp</url>
        <label xml:lang="en">
          View the search path
        </label>
        <tooltip xml:lang="en">
          View the search path
        </tooltip>
        <label xml:lang="fr">
          Afficher le chemin d'accès
        </label>	
        <tooltip xml:lang="fr">
          Afficher le chemin d'accès
        </tooltip>
        <objProperties encode="shift_jis">
          <property>
            defaultName
          </property>
          <property>
            searchPath
          </property>
        </objProperties>
      </action>
    </object>
    ...
  </actions>
</param>

Save the file.
Start the IBM Cognos service.