When we try to download a Full Client report to Excel via Webi we are getting a lot of formatting stuff that we don’t want to see. We are running the report in Webi then clicking on Save/Save to my Computer with the Microsoft Excel format (.xls) button checked.
We get an Excel spreadsheet which shows all the table formatting, section headers, etc. What we want is the data cube. We know that we can click on Edit, go into ZABO and download from there, but we were hoping for a simpler method for our users. Does anyone else have this problem and have you found a solution?
P.S. We can’t get ZABO to install from Webi. Right now when we click Edit we get an error message which says “You must reinstall BusinessObjects. Contact your system Administrator (Error: INF 00190)”
I think this is pretty funny in a twisted sort of way.
In the past, a big gripe was that users could only download the data cube and not the report. Now you can download the report.
What happens if you put your report as far left and as close to the top of the window? On mine it does a pretty good job of going into Excel the right way.
Erin – how about creating a second tab on the full-client report before you put it into the repository. That second tab could be a straightforward table of the data cube, with no aggregation nor special formatting.
I can’t test v. 6, but I’m guessing the “download to Excel” would let you download that tab, right?
I have to agree with Steve - downloading the data cube was pretty much the last thing our users wanted to do. They wanted the formatted report.
I went back and forth as to whether to post this or not, as it adds absolutely nothing productive to the topic… and finally decided to go ahead and post anyway. Why?
I laughed so hard I almost had tears running out of my eyes after reading Steve’s post. Many folks from the old listserv may remember this post which was one of many “rants” on the topic. So to read this, well, it was almost just too funny (at least to me) for words. 8)
Thanks for the laugh. Now back to your regularly scheduled conversation.
Are you worried about extra stuff (like Headers etc too) or just the formatting info? If the latter, I’d suggest having a macro that selects everything and sets it to some defaults (default font, size, no fill, column width, etc).
That way you can DL the formatting XLS and just run the macro. Not the best, but it’s an option. Remember that exporting the cube ignores any formulas you may have set up. Also… if you’re just trying to get this into Excel, what about BusinessQuery?
Let me explain our situation. We have 500+ reports which have been created in full client and published to Webi so our users can access them. We have been adding tabs with no formatting (as Anita suggested) to some of the reports, but doing all of them is a daunting task and we were hoping for a work around.
Our old reporting tool allowed users to download a report to Excel with one or two clicks. They want just the raw data when they drop it into Excel so they can manipulate it. They sort the data, filter it, add calculations, etc. Please don’t ask me to defend their position. I don’t understand it, but that’s what they want. Maybe someday they will allow us to create reports that do what they do in Excel, but for now they want the data downloaded into Excel.
We just finished converting these 500+ reports to BusObj and we will begin training the users in September. Some users are already using the BusObj reports and they complain about the whole go into ZABO procedure to do the download. We have been waiting for v6 hoping that the simpler export to Excel would make them happy, but they want the raw data with column headers and nothing else.
We talked with our BusObj reps and they said BusObj considered offering an option to download the data into a .csv file, but they decided against it. Now they are offering to make us a customized SDK solution, but it’s going to cost a bit of money. My coworkers asked me to post something to BOB and see if you all had any other suggestions. Have any of you created a customized solution that creates a .csv file? We are wondering how easy it would be to build something in-house.
I’m so glad to hear that someone else has a need for the raw data. We just wish they had given us the option to download the report with all the formatting OR to download just the cube of data.
Busobj is famous for removing features, or not recognizing “loopholes” that were used as features. One example (dates waaaay back) was that in version 3.1 you could switch a query from one universe to another simply by putting it in the proper directory. When 4.0 came out, believe it or not, there was no way to migrate a report from one universe to another (primarily Test to Production sort of thing). Now, of course there is a way to do this.
Another issue in 3.1… the count function would count only the number of rows, not the number of values. So in 4.0 they changed the count to count the number of values, but then you could not count the number of rows. Later on they finally provided the Count() and CountAll() functions so we can count both ways.
You almost get the impression that nobody in the development group understands how people actually use their tools.
In any case, when you are working with full client docs via Webi, your choices are somewhat limited. Prior to V6 you could only download the full client report. At least now you can download to Excel. Just to be clear, they never offered the ability to download full client reports to CSV, that was for Webi reports only. But I had not noticed that they removed the ability to download Webi docs to CSV from version 6.
It wasn’t. I based that comment on what Tom Thompson said. I haven’t gone back and reviewed it, so that may or may not be true. Can someone with V6 currently installed confirm whether this is the case or not?
The idea of downloading to a .csv file came from the Business Objects people themselves. We were having a meeting with the sales/tech support people for our area and we told them about wanting to download the data cube. One of them said BusObj was considering adding a .csv download option to v6, but he looked into it and found out BusObj decided not to include it. I guess they have no intention of adding it in the future, so now they are offering to build us a customized solution, but of course there is a fee. We’re trying to figure out if we have other options.
Pardon me for asking the same question and beating this topic to death, but can you still download a WebI created report as a *.csv in version 6? I’m not sure I followed the answers between the client and WebI functionality of a download?
Yes, you can download a Webi report to a .csv file in v6. When you run a Webi created report in v6 and click on Save, the only option under Save to My Computer is a CSV file.
If all our reports were created in Webi this would be perfect for us, but 99% of our reports were created in Full Client, so we are having BusObj send out a consultant next week to create a customized solution.
So to summarize Erin, you didn’t lose functionality and the added feature, download to Excel for full client docs, didn’t satisfy your need because the download was WYSIWYG rather than data cube? Correct?
Yes, that is correct. We did not lose functionality. We just didn’t get everything we hoped for from v6.
We still have the option of going into ZABO and exporting the data cube to Excel. We were just hoping that the v6 download to Excel would work for our users. It is much simpler than the ZABO method and our users are demanding simple. Unfortunately, they are also demanding the data cube and they don’t want to see the report formatting in their Excel spreadsheet, so we have to get a consultant out here to create a solution for us.
We are in need of the same type of solution. Searching BoB, as well as BO’s KnowledgeBase and Forum, brought me here.
We are moving from 5.1 to 6.5.1 and approximately 98% of our reports are full client. In our current environment, we have an option to save full client reports in a csv format from webi. This option offers the results that our users need for some of their reports, i.e. headers and raw data. As stated in multiple places in BoB, there is no option in 6.5.1 to save a full client report in a csv format from webi. Downloading in the .xls format and then saving in a csv format does not offer the results our users are loooking for.
It was eluded to in the Webi 6.x forum that the SDK could be used to do create this option. Has anyone does this as of yet and if so could you direct me in where to find the information? I apologize if I have missed anything. I have been searching and reading messages for weeks and this is the last part to be resolved before we can go live.
I think we talked to a consultant and found out that we couldn’t make the csv download work for reports that have multiple data providers, and many of our reports have multiple data providers, so we didn’t pursue it.
(BOB member since 2002-08-15)
(BOB member since 2002-06-25)
Later on they finally provided the Count() and CountAll() functions so we can count both ways.
simple. Unfortunately, they are also demanding the data cube and they don’t want to see the report formatting in their Excel spreadsheet, so we have to get a consultant out here to create a solution for us.
