Troubleshoot Information Broadcasting within SAP NetWeaver '04 (BW 3.5)

[Former Member]

I've put together a lot of common questions that have been received with SAP NetWeaver '04 specifically related to pre-calculating BEx Workbooks. This document is attached in note 936112 or is available at the following URL:

<a href="https://service.sap.com/~sapidb/012003146900000085752006E/HowtoInformationBroadcasting.pdf">Toubleshoot Information Broadcasting (BEx Workbooks)</a>

If you have any issues or questions around how the pre-calc server is setup, feel free to use this document as a reference. If you have any questions, feel free to ask on this forum...

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash and other experts,

I am new to Information Broadcasting, our requirment is that when workbooks have been broadcasted to BI portal KM folder, we run some script to move those workbooks to retail portal.

Now I have process chains which can broadcast workbooks to BI portal, now my question is that how could the system know when the broadcasting is successful and then trigger the script.

I know that we can use RSRD_LOG to check the log, but do you know if there any table in BW to store the logs so that we can read and tell if the broadcasting is successful? Or do you have any idea how this requirement can be done?

MANY THANKS!!

Best Regards,

Melody

[owen_carnes]

I have the same question, does anyone know how to do this?

Or, even better, is it possible to map a drive on the BI Server to the other portal, and then broadcast to that mapped drive? From what I can see, I can only broadcast to KM on the BI Server, but is it possible to select a different drive?

Thanks,

Owen

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash

I need your help. Im working on BW version 3.5. Using broadcasting, im distributing query workbook results via mail to 20 users. now the list contains 41 users. when i try to broadcast mail to 41 users, mail goes to only one user. the problem is mail server header doesnt support 41 mail ids in "To:". There is one facility where we can create distribution list. Can we use this facility in broadcasting emails using information broadcasting setting for distributing query workbook results??

Priya.

[Former Member]

Hi,

I'm getting this error to distribute the report in html n mhtml:

The termination type was: RABAX_STATE

It works fine for format 'online link to current date'.

Looking forward for any suggestion on this!

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

I am broadcasting 5 workbooks, each workbook has 5 varaints(Eg A ,B,C,D,E), meaning each workbook has 5 brodcaster settings with 5 variants.

And all the workbooks has the same 5 variants(Eg A ,B , C, D, E).But upon execution only One workbook runs fine and we recieve emails for 5 settings/varaints and not for other workbooks.

When i execute the broadcaster I get the message " variant missing/CCD Biz/Month value missing" for rest of the workbooks.

But when give the variable values(precalucation values) all workbooks can be broadcasted with out any issues.

Could you please advice on this?

Thanks for your help on this.

Regards,

VR

[Former Member]

Hi Experts,

I am currently working on BI 7.0.

Currently we are facing problem in auto populating of the fiscal year and fiscal period for the broad casting settings.

Is there any way to auto populate the year and period based on the present fiscal year?

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

We have issue with BEx Broadcaster(Query) (Format SAP BW 3.5). When user broadcasting queries in .mhtm format, sometimes result is not broadcasting as expected. It is broadcasting only html tags. If user reschedules the broadcast immediately after the failed broadcasting.. it is sending correct output.

This is not happening all the times. Pls let me know if you have any suggessions.

Thanks

Srikanth.

[Former Member]

Hi Srikanth,

What are you broadcasting to, Meaning to say, what email client are you using, if its Lotus Notes, then yes you might get HTML coding. try broadcasting a test mail to any of your web email address. check if it works fine. There are a couple of settings that you might have to make in case of Lotus notes.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Sreekul.

[Former Member]

Hi Srikanth,

What fixed your issue with HTML tags showing in broadcast email?

We are facing the same situation and couldnt figure out the reason. please share your experience.

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

This is a very strange issue that I have been facing for quiet some time now. I have loaded precalculation service on an HP machine. It works fine there, without any problems. Right now I am using this precalculation machine to broadcast workbooks.

However, when I load the same precalculation server onto say an IBM machine, with same configuration, same OS, and Same softwares installed as that on the HP machine, it gives me an error. The error is,

"Run time error 5"

If I check the logs in RSRD_LOG, the following appears.

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800A005B): Exception from

HRESULT: 0x800A005B at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.LateB Binding.

LateGet(Object o, Type objType, String nam , Object] args, String[ paramnames,

Boolean[] CopyBack) at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.NewLa ateBinding.LateGet(

Object Instance, Type Type, String MemberName, Object] Arguments, String[ ArgumentNames,

Type] TypeArguments, Boolean[ CopyBack) at com.sap.bi.et.precalculation.BexExcelPrecDll l.StartCalc(Exception& eException, String& eTrace, String iVariant, DataTable iVarTable)

Exception from HRESULT: 0x800A005B at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.LateB Binding.LateGet(Object o, Type objType, String nam, Object] args, String[ paramnames, Boolean[] CopyBack)

at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.NewLateBinding.LateGet(Object Instance, Type Type, String MemberName, Object] Arguments, String[ ArgumentNames, Type] TypeArguments, Boolean[ CopyBack)

at com.sap.bi.et.precalculation.BexExcelPrecDll l.StartCalc(Exception& eException, String& eTrace, String iVariant, DataTable iVarTable)

Precalclulation in thread 4failed.

Cannot precalculate workbook 4CZ0S6346GO7ANGDAO198MQ11

I have tried every possible search on this issue. but I am not able to solve this problem. All the prerequisites for the precalculation server to function properly are met (.NET 2.0 and latest versions.)

The precalculation Service I am using is also the latest one.

This problem is not only with one machine but with all the machines except for one that I am using currently for precalculation of workbooks.

any help would really be appreciated.

Regards,

Sree.

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

I am having an issue when trying to broadcast web templates in PDF format in the 7.0 version.

Although the email is sent correctly, the attachment file extension is missing when I try to open the email from Outlook Mobile (we have the requirement to broadcast the reports to a Palm Treo 750), or the same issue when sending it to a sharepoint library (configured to receive emails). This does not happen when I manually attach and send the same file from an email generated by me (not SAP) and sent to the same targets described above. Any clue?. Thanks.

[Former Member]

Hi All,

Though i am using BI 7, i am facing an issue in Broadcasting

Scenario:

I have a template which has a table 2*3.. which contains some charts and tables.. now when i broadcast it as a pdf the graphs and charts displayed without any heading... I have tried using Text items and Containers, but still no avail...

Any help will be highly appreciated

Regards,

Godhuli

[Former Member]

Hi,

I am receiving the following error when attempting to broadcast a query as PDF - Error: com.sap.ip.bi.base.exception.BIBaseRuntimeException.

When I run a trace the following error appears -

Caused by: com.sap.ip.bi.base.exception.BIBaseRuntimeException: No child list found for parameter GENERIC_TEXT_ELEMENT

at com.sap.ip.bi.webapplications.ui.items.infofield.InfoFieldItem.setSpecificElementList(InfoFieldItem.java:537)

at com.sap.ip.bi.webapplications.ui.items.infofield.InfoFieldItem.createTextElements(InfoFieldItem.java:243)

at com.sap.ip.bi.webapplications.ui.items.infofield.InfoFieldItem.getExportPageContent(InfoFieldItem.java:254).

I have looked at the 'INFO_GROUP' webitem (no Info_field avaibable) within the '0QUERY_TEMPLATE_BROADCAST_PDF' template and added another 'General Text Element', but with no success.

First of all, is this the correct template to change in BI 7 template and secondly, is the correct area to resolve this issue.

Thanks in advance,

Scott

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

I have created a complex webtemplate which uses complex commands and is made up of 22 queries for a report which is based on the project definition,Fiscal year period and wbs element as variable selection. have then created a iView in the portal and uploaded the web template in the portal and runs successfully in the portal against the. project definition 2.fiscal year period 3.wbs(variables) for selection by the user.

My question is i am supposed to produce 200 or so of these reports based on different project definitions. and store them in a file where the user can down load it and print them of. how can i precalculate them and also i help me with broadcasting.

Is there any way i can automate the process if there is can you give me a brief outline. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

regards

subha

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

I went through your document on Troubleshooting Information broadcasting, but there I am not able to get sloution for my issue with broadcasting workbooks with variables. I have 4 variables (optional not mandatory) in my workbook. In the Broadcasting screen, Precalculation tab, I am not able to get the screen for variable assignment. even though I have maintained the variables RSRVARIANT table. I am on 2004s. If you know any answer please let me know.

Thanks.

Harshal

[Former Member]

Hi All,

I am using the BI7.0 Patch 13.I have installed Pre calculation server on BW server and made the required changes .

I am getting the follwoing error while Broadcasting workbook from Portal:

Settings were started from the BEx Broadcaster

Processing for user VAISHAN1, language EN

Processing setting Precalculation server was started

Start connection transfer with GWHOST 01 and GWService sapgw01 and SessionID 01

Start Excel RFC server InProc

Load workbook SHXK7ZZPA0MU3H995WIGVMNPZ

Start precalculation against RFC server WJV_TEST

Precalculation failed: E Value cannot be null. Parameter name: buffer

Cannot precalculate workbook Workbook - Timesheet Entry (New)

Please let me know how can i resolve this issue?

Thanks & Reagrds

Arun

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

1)I am having trouble in using Bex broadcasting. I need to send a email to my boss for the sales report with some filters.

I am trying to set the filters in the bex broadcasting and i am getting a error saying that "Filter navigation is not supported with the output format selected", for the output format as MHTML in the Bex Broadcast email.

2) i am trying to distribute the workbook using broadcast e-mail and the output format is MS Excel Workbook.

I am getting a mail of the above workbook but the problem is when i open the workbook it says the workbook is corrupted.

Thanks in advance,

[former_member439278]

Dear All,

I have two kfs as kf1 and kf2.for this two kf's i am calculating cumulated keyfigs.See below for ex.

KF1 Cummulatedkf1 KF2 Cumulated kf2

10 10 5 5

20 30 15 20

0 0 10 30

15 45 50 80

5 50 33 113

now i want to calculate the difference between the cumulated keyfigs ( cumulated kf1 - cumulated kf2 ).But unfortunately when i take the cumulated kfs in formulae to calculate the diff i am getting the difference between the actual kf's only.insted of cumulated see below..

diff of cumulated kf( what i am expecting, cumulated kf1-cumulated kf2)

5

10

-30

-35

-63

but when i create the formulae or calculated kf to calculate the cumulated kf diff i am getting actual kfs difference as followed.

result what i am getting ( kfs diff instead of cumulated kfs)

5

5

-10

-45

-28

please tell me is there any other tip to calculate the cumulated kf's difference .i tried thru formulae,calculated kf's, cell editor..but there is no use...for all the methods i am getting the actual kf's value instead of cumulated kf's.

[former_member439278]

Dear All,

I have two kfs as kf1 and kf2.for this two kf's i am calculating cumulated keyfigs.See below for ex.

KF1 Cummulatedkf1 KF2 Cumulated kf2

10 10 5 5

20 30 15 20

0 0 10 30

15 45 50 80

5 50 33 113

now i want to calculate the difference between the cumulated keyfigs ( cumulated kf1 - cumulated kf2 ).But unfortunately when i take the cumulated kfs in formulae to calculate the diff i am getting the difference between the actual kf's only.insted of cumulated see below..

diff of cumulated kf( what i am expecting, cumulated kf1-cumulated kf2)

5

10

-30

-35

-63

but when i create the formulae or calculated kf to calculate the cumulated kf diff i am getting actual kfs difference as followed.

result what i am getting ( kfs diff instead of cumulated kfs)

5

5

-10

-45

-28

please tell me is there any other tip to calculate the cumulated kf's difference .i tried thru formulae,calculated kf's, cell editor..but there is no use...for all the methods i am getting the actual kf's value instead of cumulated kf's.

[Former Member]

Hello,

I have defined two dropdown boxes in web template one is for plant and one is for material.

Plant is used as a compounding attribute of material. After executing the template when I select plant it shows the material numbers corresponding to that plant. That’s fine, When I select the next plant it does not show the data. But when I execute the link again it shows the data. Because the material number does not exist in the other plant.

Now is there any possibility to restore All in the other drop down box (Material) when I select other plant. Because now it keeps the same material in the drop down box which Is selected previously and when I select other plant it does not show me the data.

Help me to solve this issue!

Kind regards

Ram.

[Former Member]

Hi,

Using Variables while Broadcasting Queries to the Portal.

/people/ramkumar.ghattamaneni/blog/2008/02/25/using-variables-while-broadcasting-queries-to-the-portal-in-bi-7

Regards,

Ramkumar Ghattamaneni.

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash

this is Raj your Troubleshoot Information Broadcasting within SAP NetWeaver its very usefull to me, do have any Documents for creating Bex Map Reports in Bw 3.5 and how to create and customise graphs for webtemplates

Thanks &regards

Raj

[Former Member]

Hi All,

Is it possible to broadcast a report to non-SAP users (in 3.5)? I haven't got it up and running yet, so I cannot test.

The "E-Mail Addresses" field on the Recipients Tab indicates that this should work, but I've heard stories that contradict this.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[Former Member]

Hi.

Yes you can... with 2 provisos...

First, consider the licencing issue

And second, consider how up to date your patch is, as it seems only relatively recently that broadcasting has achieved something like stability.

Let us know if you encounter difficulties.

Patrick

[Former Member]

I am having difficulty with the Pre calc. It seems to work fine for any work book created using the old tools, but when we try to use it with the new tools we get the following errors when attempting to open the workbook spreadsheet that was e-mailed:

First we get in the e-mail message: Error loading item, OPIE 3DCOLUMNS

Then when we try to open the spreadsheet we get:

This file in not in a recognizable format.

If you know the file is from another program which is incompatable with Microdsoft Office Excel, click cancel, then open this file in its original application. If you want to open the file later in Microsoft Office Excel, save it in a format that is compatable, such as text format.

If you suspect teh file is damaged, click help for more information about solving the problem.

If you still want to see what the text is contained in the file, click OK, then click finish in the Text Import Wizard.

Has anyone else run into this? I have applied the following notes that SAP recommended. 1044219, 1072913, 1074272, 1082617 still it does not work.

[Former Member]

I am having difficulty with the Pre calc. It seems to work fine for any work book created using the old tools, but when we try to use it with the new tools we get the following errors when attempting to open the workbook spreadshhet that was e-mailed:

First we get in the e-mail message: Error loading item, OPIE 3DCOLUMNS

Then when we try to open the spreadsheet we get:

This file in not in a recognizable format.

If you know the file is from another program which is incompatable with Microdsoft Office Excel, click cancel, then open this file in its original application. If you want to open the file later in Microsoft Office Excel, save it in a format that is compatable, such as text format.

If you suspect teh file is damaged, click help for more information about solving the problem.

If you still want to see what the text is contained in the file, click OK, then click finish in the Text Import Wizard.

Has anyone else run into this? I have applied the following notes that SAP recommended. 1044219, 1072913, 1074272, 1082617 still it does not work.

[chris_mason2]

We have a slow running query that brings our BW Precalc server down (red light status). When we run it in foreground it produces an excel file of 18 Megabytes size. Could it be that 18 Megabytes to too large for BW Excel precalculation? Is there a known size limit of BW Excel files for SAP BW 3.5 as far as the precalculation server goes? The same query runs fine if we make it have smaller criteria (which results in 2 Megabytes file size). I'm wondering what to tell our users on what size or runtime limit to adhere to. The people that have problems we could have reduce their query criteria to get below the limit. This query uses an aggregate in foreground. It's our least efficient query. So I'm unsure if it's the excel size or the runtime that is killing it in batch. It takes about 10 minutes to run in foreground, then it uses the olap cache and runs faster subsequently.

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash, thanks for the information!

One question, I work with a 3.x system. I need to place the result of a workbook with a variant in a network folder in XLS format. Do you know if there is any way to do it?

Is there any option in the broadcaster or any other application to do it?

I know that it it possible with the information broadcasting in the 7.0 version but unfortunatly I don´t work with this version.

Thanks and regards

[former_member187400]

Dear Mr. Prakash,

Can you help me .. ??

Right now, i'm still running Inf. Broadcasting for 3.x (Although we have already upgraded our BW System into 7.0, since we haven't yet upgraded e-Portal).

I have 2 questions for Information Broadcasting:

1. As we know that Inf. Broadcasting can distribute HTML,MHTML, and On-line Link.

If i use On-Line Link (distribute it through email), why after the recipient click the link, the recipient should key-in the selection, where i've already set-up (in broadcast setting) the selection ??

My Expectaction is after the recipient receive the email & click the address, the recipient doesn't have to key-in the selection.

The recipient goes directly to the report.

Can i make it ??

2. Right now i'm little bit confuse. I attempt to distribute MHTML some report through email, but the picture i get know is blank. Without any picture. There is only sentece written "Overview pre-calculated".

O.. ya..

My web-template comprises many chart component + 1 table component.

Could you help me ??

Or is there anybody had experience like what i'm encountering right now ??

Really-really need your advice.

Kind regards,

Niel.

[Former Member]

1. If you don't want them to key things in, disable variable input during precalculation.

2. Haven't seen this issue.

[former_member187400]

If you don't mind, can you tell me how to do it (disable the variable), since the report also need i filter with a few value.

1. Because in the broadcaster setting, they have General Link Generation area then i can fill in the values of those variables. And i think, if i have already filled in all the information for the variables, the recipients doesn't have to key-in the same.

Another questions (still same for the coresponding topics : On-Line Link to Current Data),

Why every recipient click the link for the broadcasting report, the recipient seem should run that report.

I mean why the recipient must wait for particular time to see the report, since the thing i know that this is the pre-calculated report. It's supposed the recipient doesn't have to have an idle time to wait the report running, they will see the report immediately.

Mr. Prakash, could you please advice me ??

How should i do in order the recipient capable to see the report immediately without waiting the report's running for few time.

Many-many thanks Mr. Prakash for your attention.

Best regards,

Niel.

[former_member188972]

Hi Prakash,

very well, it solves many questions about Broadcasting.

One from my customer:

the Boradcasting functionality has a separate licencing from BW installation?

Thaks,

Sergio

[Former Member]

Yes, broadcasting is licensed separately.

[Former Member]

Hi,

How can I access this document. I want to publish a workbook through web and I hope this document will be very helpful for me.

Regards,

Vishal

[Former Member]

PS We are accessing Broadcaster through the Business Content Portal (as shown on page 6 of your 'Tap into the Latest...' Vegas presentation).

I suspect that a number of the issues we are encountering are due to the Portal, rather than the underlying Broadcasting functionality.

Would you agree that trouble-shooting Broadcasting of Workbooks (set up through the Portal) should be covered in your document?

Hope to hear back before long...

Patrick

[Former Member]

Hey Patrick,

Thanks for the feedback. The reason I wrote this document is because I had a lot of people struggling with this and wanted to clarify. When I get a chance, I'll try and update it for the data bursting scenario. I have spent some time with that, so I should be able to do that, but I've got a few more things right now that are higher priority. When I get something like that, I'll post it up here.

Hope all is well.

Cheers,

Prakash

[Former Member]

Thanks, Prakash, I'll be watching out for it!!!

Patrick

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash.

That is a useful document for trouble-shooting, and we have benefitted from it particularly with getting the precalculation to work. And I must say, I appreciate your style - you communicate to the necessary level of detail rather than stopping at screenshots that fail to actually highlight the difficult areas... keep it up!!

However, there seems to be a gap in it as far as Bursting for Workbooks is concerned, and other documents (including the ones from Vegas) don't cover Workbooks when they discuss Bursting, they tend to say they work the same as bursting PDFs or HTML, but actually the differences are not insignificant, are they? The fact that you have to be SO careful to work out what order to do things in, and then stick to that order rigidly in order to avoid the various system errors... that sort of thing would be great to be documented and shared.

And I wonder whether you could include some more precalc error messages, specially the ones which get no mention in OSS? 'Precalculation failed: E Value cannot be null.' is a case in point, and also 'Bursting: Could not determine recipient' seems to have a whole string of possible causes!

All the best,

Patrick

[Former Member]

Hello Patrick,

Could you give me some of the causes you came across when getting the error 'Precalculation failed: E Value cannot be null.' I can't find any information on the error. We receive the email with some text but most of it is red X boxes as if an HTML image isn't displaying though.

Any help would be great.

Thank you,

Chris

[Former Member]

Hi Everybody,

we have set up the precalculation server in a 3.5 (SP 17)-environment according to the referenced troubleshooting document and we were able to precalculate workbooks and distribute them by email. Now we have a somewhat more complex workbook (with 6 queries embedded filled by a 3-4 variables), size ca. 1 MB. This has shown some problems: If I do not zip it, the precalculation client seems not to be able to process the workbook, for some reason the sap loggon-pad is opend and after pressing 'cancel' excel is terminated. When taking the 'zip'-option in the broadcaster, the precalculations seems to work and the workbook is send via email (reduced to 30-35%), but the workbook is then corrupted (can be extracted and opend, but has no data, message 'document is damaged, cannot be repaired).

The log in transaction RSPRECADMIN and on the client are saying nearly the same:

'error in calculation, object variable or with block variable not set'

We have maintained the necessary variables in the broadcaster (no variant of the report, but direct input of variable values in the broadcaster), therefore the background of the message remains unclear.

Any idea would be appreciated.

Best Regards

Marcus

[Former Member]

Hi,

I think you have not installed the precalculation server for distributing the workbook.

check oss notes 760775 - settings for information broadcasting.

Regards,

Siva.

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

In this document, there is a link provided to download <b>BWAPSERV12_0-10002960.zip</b>. But I could not find it. Kindly help me to get this.

http://service.sap.com/bi

> Download

> Support Packages and Patches

> Entry by Application Group

> Support Packages and Patches

> SAP NetWeaver

> SAP NETWEAVER

> SAP NETWEAVER 04

> Entry by Component

> BI Precalculation

> BW ANALYZER PRECALC SERVICE350

> Win32

> BWAPSERV12_0-10002960.zip

Regards,

Manesh

[Former Member]

Download the latest pre-calc server (not patch12). Patch12 was the latest one when I wrote my guide, but no longer is needed and isn't available.

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

I could successfully broadcast a workbook(<i>created by someone else</i>), but when I open the workbook, i dont see any result values, but see a <b>No Authorization</b> message in the last cell.

Can you tell me why could this be?

Regards,

Manesh

[Former Member]

Hi Prakash,

For Precalculation we need to Install Precalculation server in a System.

Is this prerequisite is done. If done then automatically the workbook result will be downloaded in server correctly and output can checked in SOST transaction.

Please let me whether this is a valid point

[former_member196080]

Hi Parkash,

Could you pls tell me if I can use customer exit variable swhile doing brodacsting scheduling via rs_prec_plan so that it get populated automatical for example fiscal week is our customer exit in report it get populated automatically .Can you advice on this?

Thanks

R

[former_member198108]

I am creating a Information Broadcasting setting for a web template. The web template contains a number of views/queries which have the following variables entry:

Country

Site

date

In the information broadacsting (IB) setting I have a user "E00T".

I have popualted the value of the variables (country, site, date) in the Personalisation ODS: 0PERS_VAR for the user E00T

However, when I try to save the Information Broadcasting session, I get the following error:

The required entry variables in Template <TEMPLATE> are not filled

Please can you tell me why this error occurs when all the variables have been saved in the ODS?

Regards

Shah Odud