Tanubhrt.This.Side

In Cognos when doing the drill through, there are three options available to the report maker. It is the confusion as to which needs to be chosen that makes using drill through difficult.

Pass By Parameter Value

This option is chosen when on clicking on the column on which you are making the drill through, you are not passing the value that is chosen.

Now, let us assume that the above list is a result of a drill through or a filter condition on the publisher name and here you want to generate a drill through such that, on clicking the ID some chart gets generated. Now, when you create a drill through, for the publisher name you need to give parameter value, because the value that you are about to pass onto the other report is not from the result of any clicking on this report but a result of filter or a drill through from other report.

Pass By Data Item Value

This option is chosen for the ID in the above name. This is because in the next report you are going to actually pass the values that have clicked. See, you are creating a drill through on ID and when one clicks the ID you want the next report to get generated. So, the point is you want the next report to know the ID you are sending i.e. you want the next report to know the data value of something. In cases, where you want the next report to know the data item value i.e. the selected value, you choose Pass By Data Item Value.

Default

There are times when you simply want to go to the next report. You don’t want to send any values or anything. This option is mostly used when you create the back link in the series of report. So, for example if you have five reports and in each report you want to have a HOME option, such that if a user clicks on that link he/she should directly go to the Home page of your report. Now, in this case you don’t want to send any values or any parameters. In cases like these, you don’t click on the parameter option available in the drill through and even if you do, you pass default values.

So, now go use drill through. It makes reports more presentable and fun to use.

Happy Learning 🙂