Posts Tagged ‘Scheduling’

TRUTH: Business Objects Does Not Create an Excel File, Help!

A couple weeks ago we received the best email question so far. Not only did it ask for more details with regards to one of the articles, but it provided insights worthy of making it its very own standalone article. Truthfully, I would like to publish it here to share the knowledge contained inside (this is always the best way to answer questions sent to us), but also to hopefully bring visibility to a very worthy question that you may be able to answer. Please read this one, it is good, and provide any comments or questions you might had in the comments below.

Our Guest Author wrote the following [minimal edits for context clarification from Julian are in brackets]:

Subject: [Excel] Format issues when Schedule a DESKI report in BOXIR2 SP3

We are trying to schedule a DESKI Report 3 times a week in Excel format to our clients. DESKI report has 1 data provider and 1 report tab only. We are on BOXIR2 SP3.

[A client] has an automated process, which reads the files we send and save it somewhere. They have a problem in reading Excel file which we send it through our BO scheduler. I tried to schedule DESKI document through InfoView using both SMTP and FTP [delivery] options.

From the InfoView -> scheduler
1. Excel format is generating Excel readable file — but they want exact Excel file.
2. Text file format is generating ‘Tab’ delimiter file
3. There is no option for CSV from scheduler [link to related article]

I am really kind of stuck in the middle (between clients, business users, and my manager). Clients want either an Exact Excel file or CSV file on a schedule basis. As there is no other way to schedule a report in CSV Format [link to related article], we have to write macros/scripts to do this. Which I am ready to do, [but] our management and team don’t want to do this workaround. [They want to] avoid macros as it will increase maintenance and users have to depend on IT for this.

New Knowledge Alert – Business Objects Cannot Create True Excel Files, only Excel Readable Files

I have opened a ticket with BO support and this is the answer I got from them.

Business Objects uses its own dll files for exporting a report to an excel format. The file created is not a native excel file and is simply excel readable.

Any file converted to excel using a tool other than excel will always create excel readable file which would be different (but not too much) from the native one created in Microsoft Excel.

Business Objects does not require Microsoft to be installed for this conversion to take place as it relies on its internal files for the conversion. BusinessObjects is designed only for creating the reports, though it can export the reports to the other formats.

But since all the exported files contain similar information such that Microsoft Excel can interpret and render the files, your module should be able to access it. The files exported from Business Objects would not differ greatly from an excel file created in Microsoft. I am not sure what these internal differences would be.

[The following response captures the client's requirement/comments]:

I think we are stuck in this issue now because [BO] was intended to create an “Excel-readable” file, not create an Excel file. My Java module [is] trying to read an Excel file, not an Excel readable file. There [is] nothing wrong at both ends.

Unfortunately, the data file just cannot serve the purpose that I am looking for. We would need to find some other options now.
I am not sure if [BO] is able to create a “CSV” file? This is a general purpose type of file format and would not have any format issue in reading. Also, you did provide a TEXT file for my testing, but it’s not a fixed length TEXT file. Seems that tab was used as a delimiter in that text file. I wonder if you are able to create a text file without delimiter?

I know that we can save a report in CSV format also in a fixed length text format – through DESKTOP Intelligence
but is there a way to schedule this.

Is a schedule CSV option available in BOXIR3.1???

Please let me know if there is a way to schedule a DESKI report in CSV format.

Responses from BusinessObjectsTips.com’s Julian

The more I think about this I have to say that macros are the only solution that will meet the needs client, unless they can somehow do SDK integration of some sort and pull the data right off the report.

Another solution might be to create an Excel “converter” application. This could be a standalone Excel file with a macro in it that loads BO’s native Excel readable format and outputs a true Excel format file. Perhaps a standalone executable would be better because it would allow for scheduling (perhaps using a BO Program Object). I don’t really know how to create such an application, but this actually would not require any BO skills.

To the author, please share your progress with us all. To the rest of our audience please share your ideas and comments. Thanks!

How Do I Run a Report Against a Specific Job or Report Server? Easy!

There will come a time when for some unforeseeable reason you will want to run a particular report against a particular report server or job server, or both. When that time comes I hope you know how to make it happen or that you can easily find this article.

Why Would You Want to Run a Report Against a Specific Job or Report Server?

Usually for debugging purposes this topic comes up. For example you have logging configured on a certain WebI Report Server and now you want to force reports to run on it. You could also want to do this because that Report Server has a particular configuration you want to test. Perhaps you want to direct certain reports to certain report and job servers in order to do your own load balancing in scheduling some intense reports. One of these reasons might be part of the reason, but I would love to hear your comments on other good reasons.

How do you force a report to run of a Business Objects report server or job server?

This is rather easy once you know where to configure it and you have some Server Groups set up.

Log in to the Central Management Console (CMC): this is where many things start and in this case InfoView will not help you to set any part of this up, you need CMC access.
Create a Server Group: Go to the Server Groups section of CMC and create a new SG. After you create the SG you need to assign your targeted servers to it by clicking the “Servers” tab and clicking the “Add/Remove Servers…” button

Assign BO Servers to the New Server Groups

Locate the Desired Report:: The easiest way is to use the “Folders” section to navigate to the report in CMC, or use the “Objects” section to search for it. Once located click on the report.

$find BO report through \"Folders\" section$

Click on the “Process” tab: yeah, do that and then you will see where the power of this often ignored tab comes from. This is where the magic happens. Remember we are still using the Central Management Console.

$The \"Processes\" tab$

Make Your Selections: You will want to almost always use the “Only use servers belonging to the selected group” option, for obvious reasons. In the corresponding drop-down box, locate the server group that you want to use. Only one server group is permitted here, but a server group can have pretty much any number of servers in it. The top setting is for scheduling only; I suggest you set this even if you don’t plan on scheduling, but your requirements may dictate otherwise. The bottom setting is for both interactive refresh and report editing (such as the JAva Report Panel for WebI Reports).

Set your server groups here

Now to Test it Out!

Ok, now you are cooking with gas! Give it a try. If you get errors, go back and check the Server Group or the assignments to the server group. If the SG is empty you WILL get errors. Sometimes errors tell you that the something is wrong with the server, such as it is not started. If a schedule stays in “Pending” status for very long this may mean that you have not added both a Job Server and a Report Server to the server group. It all depends. Experiment, observe, and learn.

Business Objects XIR2 SP4 Bug: Schedules Pending, Job Server Scheduling Dead

Breaking News

I have some breaking news, a scoop perhaps, on a new bug that may only impact some (not all) innocent Business Objects XIR2 SP4 shops. Apparently, my contacts tell me that within the last week, Business Objects has internally identified and even resolved a bug that can wreak havoc on the unknowing BO XIR2 users out there who make the leap to Service Pack 4 (SP4).

Symptoms of the Bug: All Schedules Pending

It seems that the bug causes a loss of communication between the BO XIR2 CMS server(s) and the job server(s). The strange part is that the only detectable error or problem is that suddenly no scheduled jobs process; they all go to an eternal “Pending” status. Every Job Server’s scheduling function ceases to function. Even stranger is that fact that this bug does not effect all Business Objects XIR2 SP4 installations. Some experience the issue and others do not. Some assume that the SP4 install may have changed their configuration or their security and caused the issue; however, it seems that all settings stayed unchanged (good!), but the job servers just ceased to do their job (very bad!).

No Fix Until Fix Pack 4.5

BO just released Fix Pack 4.3 for SP4 and the fix to this issue was not included. My resources tell me that it is planned for inclusion in BO XIR2 Fix Pack 4.5. I am not certain what the due date is for FP4.5, but I would imagine that is not going to be available until after Columbus Day and probably not until after Halloween.

Rethink Your Planned BO XIR2 SP4 Upgrade

If you are thinking about installing SP4 on your Business Objects XIR2 system I would encourage you to rethink this plan. Could your users accept the new functionality of completely disabled scheduling? I doubt it. Of course, there may be fixes to other functionality in the SP4 upgrade for which you cannot wait. If this is true then you might want to test out the fixed DLL on a test environment. Yes, BusinessObjects has already corrected the issue and released a Limited Availability patch. I have managed to get my hands on the patch info and the patch that BO’s product development group has developed.

Download the BO XIR2 SP4 XIR2.LAFix4.3.3 patch directly from Business Objects

Get the Fix for the BO XIR2 SP4 Bug

On September 24th, BO released a Limited Availability patch. In truth the fix is still considered a “beta” fix and so it comes with the standard disclaimer. Basically the LA Fix hasn’t been through full regression testing and it may inadvertently introduce other issues. BO Customer Assurance still needs to confirm the issue is fixed by this patch.” That is a pretty big disclaimer, but it is the standard one on such “hot-off-the-press” fixes. If you need this fix then test it yourself.

Regardless, I recommend that you immediately contact your BusinessObjects Account Rep and/or BO Support. The more attention this issue gets the more likely it will be officially fixed sooner.