r15 - 04 May 2007 - 09:56:33 - TanDunlinYou are here: TWiki >  Main Web  >  ElixirReport > ElixirReportCookbook > FrequentlyAskedQuestionsForDesigner

Frequent Asked Questions

This collection of frequently asked questions (FAQ) provides brief answers to many common questions about Elixir Report Professional (ERP).


How do I know that a datasource is not properly configured ?
Badly mapped datasource will show
  • a red icon in the report tree
  • a red text in the datasource wizard
  • an error message with a red icon at the top of the datasource wizard
  • no data elements in the Data tree on the right of the designer


How do I include the JDBC driver ?
JDBC driver and external libraries can be placed at <ext> folder of the product home.
During start up of the product, it will includes the necessary libraries.


Why is the report title showing in PDF format but not in Excel Format?
For Excel export format, the Page Header and Page Footer are ignored during the report generation while the Section, Group and Detail will still be included for generation. If you need to display the headers information for your report, you will have to place your headers information in the Section Header instead of Page Header.

Alternatively, you can enable 'Paged' option but the data will grow across worksheets.



Why is the fonts not showing in PDF?
The PDF file might not be able have suitable font to display the required character. In this case, to resolve the issue, you would need to map the font encoding for PDF.

Steps to map the font encoding
- Modify EREngine-config.xml of folder to include the necessary font

-Code Snippet-

<properties>
   <property name="javascript.debug" value="no"/>
   <property name="elixirtech.fonts.path" value="C:\\WINDOWS\\Fonts"/>
</properties>


<pdf-font-map>
   <map-encoding logical-font-name="Times New Roman" encoding="Identity-H" />
   <map-encoding logical-font-name="Times New Roman Bold" encoding="Identity-H"/>
   <map-encoding logical-font-name="Times New Roman Bold Italic" encoding="Identity-H"/>
   <map-encoding logical-font-name="Times New Roman Italic" encoding="Identity-H"/>
</pdf-font-map> 

P.S. Some EUDC fonts might not include a "typeface" name. Thus modification would need to be done to the font to include a "typeface" name



Encountered error message'java.sql.SQLException: ORA-00911: invalid character'
Possible causing factor is at datasource level. Verify the following :-
  1. Database connection
  2. User Name and Password
  3. Availability of JDBC driver
  4. SQL Query

For your information, when using Oracle Database, a semi-colon at the end of your query might impose a problem



Encountered error message'java.lang.ClassNotFountException:......(Database Driver)'
This occurs when it is not able to locate the JDBC driver at <ext> folder of the product home.
After placing the file at the directory, restart the product.
During start up of the product, it will includes the necessary libraries.
You should be able to see the required JDBC driver with a green square indicating that it is available.


What version of PDF / Acrobat reader is supported?
Elixir tools currently generate PDF files that comply with the Adobe PDF 1.4 specification.
As the PDF format is backwards compatible, this means that the files can be accessed using
Adobe Acrobat version 5.0 or later and other PDF viewers and utilities that accept PDF 1.4 or later.


Encountered error : 'MIMEType error Exception executing....'
This imply that default launcher for the report format is not available or the directory of the program is in correct. In this case, you will need to modify the configuration to use another program or you can always save it to a physical location for viewing.

To change the configuration of the viewer for the report format, click on 'Global Properties' at the Designer and go to 'MIME Types' tab. Identify the report format and click on Properties to edit. Launcher store the directory of the viewer program and extension is the file extension. (E.g. xls for Excel File). You will notice that there is a "%s" for some of the viewer, that is referencing to the report (stored in temporary directory) generated.

Example :
MIME-Type : application/pdf
Launcher : "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe" "%s"
Extensions : pdf

If you using Elxir Report Designer version that are earlier than 5.2.0, you will need to modify the mailcap.txt which is located in folder of $ELIXIR_REPORT_DESIGNER_HOME.

-Code Snippet-

 
application/pdf; C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe %s


Encountered error message 'Warning: Could not merge cells ... as they clash with an existing set of merged cells'
Occurs when there is content overlapping each other for report generation to Excel format.

Resolution is to ensure that no components overlap each other during report design.
In addition to that, enable 'Snap' option which will adjusted all coordinates to fit on a 4x4 pixel grid. You should try both Snap on and Snap off to see which works best for your template


Report is generated to Glint with aid of API but why did the content of the report become truncated during printing
For version 5.0 and prior, there is a known issue with the GlintStreamPrinter API for the Page Orientation.
If the default orientation of the report template is set to "Landscape", when printing this report using the
GlintStreamPrinter API, the report will be printed in "Portrait" instead.

Resolution : Upgrade to version after 5.0.
Workaround : Manually set the printable area for the report.
Below is the code snippet:-

 
// To set right paper and reasonable margins.
// A4 = 210x297 mm. 1 cm margins

GlintStreamPrinter gsp = new GlintStreamPrinter();
HashPrintRequestAttributeSet aset = new HashPrintRequestAttributeSet();
aset.add(new MediaPrintableArea(10, 10, 190, 277, MediaPrintableArea.MM));
gsp.print(true, fis, aset, null); 


Image not showing when using repository path. Example, repository:/ElixirSamples/Resources/images/LogoElixir.gif
For Repository Path to work in Runtime Engine API, library file, ERURLHandlers.jar is required to support. This file is missing in Elixir Report Software Development Kit 5.0, you will need to upgrade to at least 5.1 and above or get ERURLHandlers.jar from us.


Known Issue : Memory Leakage
According to the IBM website, there are some memory leaks fixes resolved in their IBM JVM 1.4.2 version.
Reference :
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/aix/142_64/fixes.html


Value of parameter not passed to datasource, using 5.0
Cause : Dynamic parameters that have been given a default value in the
datasource level is not able to be propagated to the report level.
Fixed in Elixir Report 5.0.1 and later.


-- TanDunlin - 04 May 2006

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