When i open a report in InfoView i can see the report properly. At the top you can click on ‘Generate PDF and Excel’. Normaly it would ask where you want to save it. Now its running, and keeps running but it doesn’t do anything.
Anyone know what the problem could be ? Or how that i can solve this problem ?
Thanks Filip
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
Have you monitored the busobj processes on the BO Server, to check if it is really doing nothing?
It might be that the process just takes a lot of time, especially if it is a large report, a complex report and/or a complex profile filter.
To simulate: open the same report in the client, apply the section filters matching your Publisher profile (how fast is that?), and save the report as Excel (how fast is that?).
Add the time it takes to apply the profiles and the time it takes to generate the Excel file. That will give an indication of the delay to expect after pressing the “Generate PDF/XLS” button.
Alterego 
(BOB member since 2003-09-23)
it takes 3min 25sec to save the report as excel.
what do you mean with: apply the section filters matching your Publisher profile
thanks Filip
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
Publisher will apply section filters on the report sections, matching the profiles which you have defined in Recipient Manager.
If your report has the following sections:
-YEAR
–REGION
—LOCATION
and in Recipient Manager you have specified:
year = “2007”
region = “Central”
location = “Sometown”
…then try to open your report, refresh it, and manually apply those filters to the sections in the report. Take notice of the amount of time it takes for the entire report (all pages) to be fully rendered again.
Then, save the report as Excel, and again see how much time that takes with the section filters in place.
Alterego (BOB member since 2003-09-23)
How can i do that?
The report has a lot of tabs. Each tab has different sections.
Did i have to do that for each tab?
How can you see if it works or not, or what the problem is by doing these steps?
Thanks Filip
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
To fully test, yes, you will have to do it for every tab.
For a quick test: start with the most complex tab.
I have seen many cases where the report performs very well without section filters. When section filters are applied, it starts to consume 100% CPU, and takes a long time to be fully rendered.
That’s the scenario we have to rule out first…
Alterego (BOB member since 2003-09-23)
it takes 3min 15sec to apply the sections an 3min 25sec to save the report as excel file.
That’s not that long.
So what could be the problem you think ?
Thanks Filip
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
In my experience, if it takes more than 30-60 seconds to apply the section filters and re-render the report, it is likely to fail in Publisher.
Try to tune your report (aggregate data in the database instead of in the report, pre-calculate variables, …).
To see what’s going wrong exactly, in Publisher, just let your current report run for a while (or even a night), to see if that generates any messages in the logs.
Alterego (BOB member since 2003-09-23)
Since this is a Broadcast Agent Publisher question, I’m moving this topic from “General Discussion” to “Enterprise Scheduling and Distribution” ==> BCA, which is where Publisher topics are discussed.
Anita Craig 
(BOB member since 2002-06-17)
Thanks,
maybe somebody else has a suggestion fot this problem.
Thanks Filip
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
Halo,
I’ve found a few steps that i can try, but first i have to do this.
Verify that the Host information in the Parameter Administrator has been filled out correctly
a. Log into Parameter Administrator
Where can i find this ?
Thanks
Filip
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
Start -> All Programs -> BusinessObjects Publisher 6.5 -> Parameter Administrator
If you have not used that tool before: make sure that the OnDemandRequestUsername and OnDemandRequestPassword fields (required for generating PDF/XLS) are filled correctly.
Alterego (BOB member since 2003-09-23)
Thanks !
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
The steps that i had to do doesn’t work.
When i click on “Generate PDF and Excel” it says: “PDF/XLS are being generated” but it doens’t do anything.
In the taskbar, at the bottom, becomes the discription “Opening page http: //airps024/BCAPublisherWiLink/BCAPController.dll…”
After a meantime the discription says “Done”
Normaly there becomes a pop-up with the question to save i guess.
Is that true? How can i fixe this ?
Thanks Filip
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
Normally, the PDF/XLS should have been displayed in your browser, or (depending on your browser settings), an Open/Save dialog should have been displayed.
Does this happen with all reports? Can you try to make a very simple report (one object, <100 rows, no profile filters applied), and test if that does produce PDF/XLS output?
Which values have you specified in Parameter Administrator for OnDemandRequestUsername and OnDemandRequestPassword?
Have you checked the log files and the iplog table for any errors?
Alterego (BOB member since 2003-09-23)
The values for in the Parameter Administrator for OnDemandRequestUsername and OnDemandRequestPassword are ok.
I also checked for log files and the iplog table for any errors, but none.
I’ll try now to make a report with <100 rows.
It’s for all the reports yes.
Also the report with a few rows !
Filip
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
After it says “done”, is the “Generate PDF/XLS” button still displayed, or has it turned into a “PDF” and/or “XLS” button?
Alterego (BOB member since 2003-09-23)
The button is gone than after it says done.
Another question.
In one report i get the button “Generate PDF/XLS”
In another report i get three buttons: “HTML, PDF, EXCEL”
In another report i get no button.
How can i change this ?
When i open the report with the three buttons and click on it, i get a pop-up to save it. Maybe i can change this for the other reports and than the problem is solved. But how can i change this ?
Is this a setting ?
Filip
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)
For the publications with the disappearing buttons, it might be interesting to check the PUBLISHED_REPORTS folder, to see if the PDF/XLS output has been generated or not.
No button -> this is probably a publication with the Auto Segment burst method.
Button with “Generate PDF/XLS” -> Auto Filter publication, with the Optimize Batch Window option turned ON.
Buttons “HTML”, “PDF”, “Excel” -> Auto Filter publication, with the Optimize Batch Window option turned OFF.
In the last case, the PDF and Excel output are generated in the publication process. This means that all PDF and Excel output is pre-generated and directly available with the publication. This will cause the publication process to take extra time, and use more disk space.
Alterego (BOB member since 2003-09-23)
Problem Solved !!!
I tried the last one: Auto Filter publication, with the Optimize Batch Window option turned OFF and than it works.
Thanks !!!
FilipVD (BOB member since 2007-08-20)