Cognos 8.3 – Date prompt Error Microsoft SQL database

Recently, we had an issue with date prompts. When we use regular date prompts, one each for start and end, the reports were running fine. But later when we had to test the report on ‘Microsoft SQL’, we faced some issues.
Something like: -69 , -9, -201 Errors and sometimes
‘prepare’ [Microsoft ODBC] and some crappy message.
Initially, I had come out with a simple solution, that is to keep the date prompt in ‘in _range‘ and the report used to work. But we could not make too many changes with the ‘in_range’ prompt. Then I found out that, because Microsoft uses a different date format we need to cast the filter.
Example - [date] between cast(?begdate?, timestamp) and cast(?enddate?,timestamp)

Even if we use cast into ‘Date’, the prompt does not seem to work.
The main problem one faces in this situation is identifying the issue, The errors are so strange and are not at all related to the issue sometimes.

Never took the screen shot of the issue and now too lazy to make the changes and put in the screen shot.

Disabling a database connection in Cognos 8

Get on to the ‘Content Administration’ in the ‘Launch’ drop down. Select the ‘Configuration’, this by default one will be in the database section. Click on the database connection, it will take you to the 2nd level of databases, where we can have n number of database connections.

Now click the ‘set properties’ button in the properties of the database you want to disable. On the ‘set properties’ click the ‘general’ and you will find a ‘check box’ for disabling the database. Just check the ‘Check Box’ and you have done it.
The image shown below should give you a better idea of how he database connection should look like when it is disabled.(One with ‘Hour Glass’ is disabled)

Cognos Report Studio 8 – Setting Up Mail Server

Setting up the mail server is so easy. Find out from your Network Administrator about the SMTP connection and port number. Usually, it is 25 or 2525, depending on the security issues of the company. Once you find that out, it is all simple.

1. Open the Cognos Configuration
2. Click on ‘Notification’.
3. SMTP mail server: mail.urcompanyname.com:2525
4. Account and password --- leave it default or your company security password
5. Default Sender --- you@yourcompany.com

You will have to restart the Cognos Configuration, once the mail server check runs during the restart; it should send you an email to the specified email address in the ‘Default Sender’.

So, once this is done. When we run the report, we do have a default option ‘Send by Email’ for all the report output in 8.3. Every time we run a report, we can attach the report output to the email or just send a link (which will be HTML by default, works more like a report view.)