There’s lots of talk at the moment of Firefox blocking flash due to a security issue. The techies seem to be calling for Adobe to kill it off completely - “Flash is dead,” they cry. “Put it out of its misery!”
What then for the future of Xcelsius, for those of us who create HTML pages from our dashboards? 
Debbie
Debbie 
(BOB member since 2005-03-01)
But that ain’t really news now…
Xcelsius can generate HTML instead of Flash.
As an Alternative use Webi or… DesignStudio or… Lumira… or…
Andreas 
(BOB member since 2002-06-20)
What? Are you telling me that my xlf dashboards wont work in firefox anymore?
NycPriya (BOB member since 2010-11-04)
But isn’t HTML just a wrapper for the flash? Or am I missing something somewhere?
debbie
Debbie (BOB member since 2005-03-01)
Nope…no wrapper!
Andreas (BOB member since 2002-06-20)
So I’ve obviously not had enough coffee yet and am struggling with this. If I open up my Xcelsius-generated HTML file for my dashboard, I just get basic web code which calls a flash file:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>XXX.swf</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
codebase="http://fpdownload.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0"
WIDTH="1236" HEIGHT="835" id="myMovieName">
<PARAM NAME="movie" VALUE="XDashboardCrime.swf">
<PARAM NAME="quality" VALUE="high">
<PARAM NAME="bgcolor" VALUE="#FFFFFF">
<PARAM NAME="play" VALUE="true">
<PARAM NAME="loop" VALUE="true">
<PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE="#FFFFFF">
<EMBED src="XXX.swf" quality=high bgcolor=#FFFFFF WIDTH="1236" HEIGHT="835"
NAME="myMovieName" ALIGN="" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash"
play="true" loop="true"
PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash">
</EMBED>
</OBJECT>
</BODY>
</HTML>Sorry if I’m being thick here. I’ve done basic web coding, but I’m very much a beginner at web design.
Debbie
Debbie (BOB member since 2005-03-01)
Just to confirm, our dashboards are not working in new firefox now 
NycPriya (BOB member since 2010-11-04)
I am assuming some workaround (aside from “use Chrome”) will be coming.
Has anyone tried a “mobile” dashboard in the new Firefox? Those are supposed to be able to work on iOS devices, which also block Flash.
Lugh (BOB member since 2009-07-16)
Apparently the workaround is there, download the latest flash player version 18.0.0.209. However, when i access my dashboards it now throws the cross domain policy error. Why is firefox doing this to us? 
NycPriya (BOB member since 2010-11-04)
@Debbie
Which exact Xcelsius version are you using, please?
And exactly how is your workflow for saving as HTML?
Andreas (BOB member since 2002-06-20)
Xcelsius 2008 5.5.0.0
And I’m just using the Export to HTML option. Which generates a SWF file and an HTML file.
Thanks
Debbie
Debbie (BOB member since 2005-03-01)
I think to the HTML5 you have to “Save to Platform” or “Save to Platform As” and choose the Mobile Only option in Dashboard Design.
kevlray 
(BOB member since 2010-06-23)
and 2008 is kinda old… Debbie…
You should have the option of VIEW | MOBILE COMPATIBILITY.
If you do not have that your XC version is just too old.
With a recent XC Version you can then do a FILE | SAVE TO PLATFORM | MOBILE ONLY
Note, this will require the SAP BI 4.x platform/Server and SAP BI Mobile app, still the output is HTML5.
Andreas (BOB member since 2002-06-20)
This isn’t for mobile deployment - just for loading pages via our intranet.
And I know 2008 is old. I have SAP Dashboards on my pc. Loaded up a simple XLF to have a look and nothing worked properly! I’m UK public sector and with the savage cuts we’ve all had, I’m running just to stand still at the moment, let alone do any development and move forwards!
Having said that - this is what I am trying to find out. As I said, I don’t particularly care about mobile. I just want to be able to host an HTML file and have my users be able to open it from the intranet. If this SWF/HTML combination really is going to be dead sooner rather than later, then I need to seriously rethink our dashboard strategies and pass the message upwards that unless we act fast, nothing is going to work! 
Debbie
Debbie (BOB member since 2005-03-01)
Well you gotta look at the mobile XC stuff as it generates an HTML5 file; I do not have any SAP BI 4.1 system right now to publish the HTML5/Mobile XC dashboard and look at the generated code, which might be usable as a stand-alone solution as you require.
On a side note:
And yeah, everyone is almost always complaining about the Money 
But hey I even gotta pay for a mandatory passport for my little one, 6 months old …
Andreas (BOB member since 2002-06-20)
Soooo… I had a simple dashboard that needed updating, so I’ve opened it in SAP Business Objects Dashboards 4.1 SP5 today! So far so good and I’ve done my tweaking. It’s a real-time dashboard that runs 24/7 on a big screen in our control centre and refreshes every 3 minutes.
How best do I deploy this now - given that I want to simply give the users a URL they can load up in a browser? My Export options seem no different and Save To Platform invokes a Bob logon - I don’t want to deploy inside the Bobj environment.
Debbie
ETA: Did a save to platform --> mobile only which gave me an XLF file sitting within BOE. When I click on it, I get a message saying I have to be using a mobile device to view it…
Debbie (BOB member since 2005-03-01)
Debbie,
I dont know if this will help or not. But i got my dashboards and everything working by updating the tomcat file and updating flash player to newest version.
NycPriya (BOB member since 2010-11-04)
It’s all working just fine right now. I’m just trying to make sure I have a solution ready-to-go if/when flash is no longer a viable option.
Chances are we’ll all be in SharePoint in the next 12 months anyway!
Deb
Debbie (BOB member since 2005-03-01)
Deb, thanks for sharing your experience. The recent actions taken by browser vendors regarding Adobe Flash are certainly the latest wrinkle for SAP Dashboards, leading me to ask Will Security Concerns Override Your BI Strategy?
dmarks (BOB member since 2003-04-16)
Concur… I think Flash is nearing an IT sunset. SAP should take heed and gravitate away. I would agree that Flash is a memory intensive monster that limits dashboard size and responsible for 99% of component UI display problems. The integration between dashboards and flash has been an uphill climb for SAP. But, that’s another day… I don’t think that marriage is breaking up anytime soon. 
& 
datawizard (BOB member since 2015-01-20)