The Cognos 8 SDK

When you create a report in Report Studio, you are creating a report specification. A report specification is an XML file that you can view (Tools menu, Show Specification ). In addition, you can view the specification for a selected object with the Show Specification (Selection) menu option.

Tip: When you are viewing the report specification in Report Studio, you cannot modify or copy parts of it.

Instead of using Report Studio, you can programmatically create or modify reports by using an editing tool to work with report specifications. You then use the Cognos 8 software development kit (SDK) to implement the reports in your Cognos 8 environment. This is useful if, for example, you must make the same modification in many reports. Rather than opening each report in Report Studio and making the change, you can automate the process using the SDK, thereby saving you time. For more information about the Cognos 8 SDK, contact your local Cognos sales office.

Tip: You can also modify the XML code in a report specification by saving the report specification on your computer .