David Taylors' Business Intelligence Blog

If you need to troubleshoot Xcelsius 2008 runtime messages here is another link you might want to check out. I recently ran across an error message “2170″ but was not able to find it on my original list of error messages, but then I finally found it.

Click Here for the description of the runtime message.

The solution to the 2170 message when using Xcelsius was provided via YOUR posted comments to my blog.  Thank you!!

Most of the time, the issue has to do with the crossdomain.xml file.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE cross-domain-policy SYSTEM "http://www.macromedia.com/xml/dtds/cross-domain-policy.dtd">
<cross-domain-policy>
 <allow-http-request-headers-from domain="*" headers="*" secure="false" />
 <allow-access-from domain="*" secure="false" />
</cross-domain-policy>

For more information about installing the crossdomain.xml file, read my previous article.  If you are STILL having problems check out these two posts.

Check out the answer on the BusinessObjects forums :

https://forums.sdn.sap.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5656068#56560685656068

There is also additional information in the BOB forums:
http://www.forumtopics.com/busobj/viewtopic.php?t=110827

I’ve been spending a lot of time of late getting myself familiar with the new interface of Xcelsius 2008 and I like it so much better than the older Xcelsius 4.5 interface. The embedded Excel spreadsheet is real dream and the new Data Manager, which manages all the external connections make it easy to keep track of where data is coming from.

Xcelsius Error 2170 or 2048

There were a couple of things I learned during the transition that I thought would be good to share. The first is around security. With the release of Xcelsius 2008 we have moved to support for Flash 9. In Flash 9, they have tightened up security a bit more. Here is one of the first messages I got when trying to run a Xcelsius file with LiveOffice or Web Service connected data. My problem is a flash security issue. SWFs running locally (directly from a user’s computer) have additional restrictions imposed on them since version 8 of the Flash Player.

This error is coming from the Adobe Flash Viewer. If you see error messages like this in the future, you can look them up here. This has the complete list of ActionScript runtime errors.

To get around this error I need to tell my application server that it is okay to trust requests from other domains. This means I will need to create a crossdomain.xml file for your application server.

I have created a crossdomain.xml file that you can download here:
http://trustedbi.com/files/crossdomain.xml

Here are the contents of the file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE cross-domain-policy SYSTEM "http://www.macromedia.com/xml/dtds/cross-domain-policy.dtd">
<cross-domain-policy>
 <allow-http-request-headers-from domain="*" headers="*" secure="false" />
 <allow-access-from domain="*" secure="false" />
</cross-domain-policy>

On Tomcat, you need to add this file to the /tomcat/webapps/ROOT directory. Each application server is different, so you may need to check the manual for your specific application server.

For More Information on crossdomain.xml

For more information on crossdomain.xml look here. Even more information about crossdomain.xml and Macromedia is found here.

Hope this help you achieve smooth sailing with Xcelsius 2008!

I recently starting moving my BusinessObjects Enterprise Xcelsius models from XIr2 to XI 3.0. I have found that you may need to modify some of the elements after your model has been upgraded. Namely you will need to:

• Modify the URL of the web services
• Modify the URL of the embedded opendocument calls
• Modify the models

I can’t say that these changes are completely unexpected, but it unfortunately these changes will need to be part of a manual process. I think that part of the problem is that we haven’t integrated Xcelsius into any type of structured lifecycle management.

Modify the URL of the webservices

As I move my Xcelsius model from one physical machine to another, I had to go back into each Web Service and change the name of the machine it was pointing to. I also had an issue with my Universes. It appears that somehow, it lost track of exactly which universe I was pointed to (perhaps I changed the CUID during the migration to XI 3.0) so I had to manually edit each one and make sure it was working. In some cases, once I manually picked the right universe, the query still didn’t work. It would throw an error. So I discovered a special trick.

TIP: I found that when the system lost track of my universe I could click on the Show the option dialog… and it seems to fix everything. I think it realizes that the objects in the query are the same as the old universe and repoints the objects correctly.

I also found that you can no longer just copy the URL from the QaaWS administration panel and paste it into Xcelsius 2008. You need to actually click on the which shows you the definition. From there you can click on the WSDL link and it will reveal the correct WSDL “url”. You can see that the URL below contains the end-notation, ?def. The WSDL will be exactly the same but say ?WSDL.

Modify the URL of the embedded opendocument calls

Ouch – what a pain. In XI 3.0, they changed the location of opendocument.jsp from http://<hostname>:<port>/businessobjects/enterprise115/desktoplaunch/opendoc/openDocument.jsp to http://<hostname>:<port>/OpenDocument/opendoc/openDocument.jsp

This means you need to either create your own redirector logic on the application server, or rebuild all your opendocument URLs. I can’t say I’m too surprised (it changed from CE10 to XI to XIr2). It’s just that we now see customer’s using opendocument.jsp so much more because it’s a great way to integrate Xcelsius dashboards with Crystal Reports and WebIntelligence documents.

Modify the Models

So far I’ve not had too much trouble in moving my dashboards from Xcelsius 4.5 to Xcelsius 2008, however there are clearly differences in the way the product works. For example, I had a dashboard that did some lookups and returned zeros. In Xcelsius 4.5, when I used the option Ignore cells at End-of-Range option, it would ignore a text cell with the value 0 and a numeric value of 0. Now, it will only ignore the values in the column if they are truly blank.

I’m not saying the old way was right or wrong, it’s just that now the interpretation of “blank cells” has changed. It used to include cells with 0′s but now it really means only blanks.

Therefore – fair warning. When moving to Xcelsius 2008 you need to make sure and test each and every model to make sure it is still working in exactly the same way.

Conclusion

Overall, I love the new features of Xcelsius 2008. I love the fact that the worksheet is now integrated into the model and the updates to the model take place in real time, but expect a few bumps along the road. Like the fact that when you switch between Preview mode and the Normal mode, Xcelsius can’t seem to remember the sizes of the properties window on the right and the worksheet on the bottom-middle.

I often get asked about getting the most out of BusinessObjects, so I thought I would take a few moments to mention an often overlooked factor is being successful with BusinessObjects.

What do companies need to do to make their investment in BusinessObjects pay off?

There are the obvious things such as creating a Center of Excellence around BusinessObjects and enforce adherence to those standard processes, procedures and development standards. There is the need for education to make sure that people know how to use the tool and getting help from consultants when appropriate… but there is one additional factor that I think is critical to success.

Embrace the SDK. Yes, that’s right – leverage the BusinessObjects SDK to allow the software to work for you in a way that makes everyone’s lives easier. You can always develop best practices, processes and procedures on paper, but the best way to enforce them is by building SDK support around those standards.

AT&T Embraced the SDK

One outstanding example is at AT&T. They needed to be able to support over 50,000 end users (and this number continues to grow) and hundreds of report developers with minimal support staff. The team realized that the only way to make sure that the system enforced those standards was to leverage the SDK.

Their business requirements included:

• Create an application for the migration, tracking, and versioning of Crystal Reports between Development, QC, and Production.
• Assign roles to users to perform different functions in the Report Development Life Cycle
• Enforce AT&T standards such as exact placement of logos, headers, and footers
• Historical versioning to go back to previous versions should a bug be introduced. Used as information on how many times the report has been checked-in, migrated to QC, and migrated to Production.
• Results in a clean easily maintainable system

This lead them to the following technical requirements:

• Track the creation and modifications of reports through a checkin/check-out process in the development environment
  • Developers can only save reports to their own user folder in Enterprise preventing any changes in naming or multiple versions.
• Roles assigned to the Users
  • Developer: New Reports, Check-In, Check-Out, Transport to QC
  • Tester: Approving / Denying Reports, Documenting Defects
  • Release/Change Manager: Approving migrations to Production when all necessary items have been accounted for
  • Administrator: Full control of the tool, adding users to above roles
• Prevent any modifications to the reports that could be introduced through the migration between environments in the Crystal Reports Designer.
  • Automatically set the dB location on reports through the RDC
  • Saves the report to the exact location with correct naming
  • No accidental clicking/moving/changing/deleting of objects on reports
• Provide specific templates of reports for a developer to use which contain the standard AT&T Logo, headers, footers, font (size, face, style) and location already set for new report development

As you can see, there were some pretty extensive requirements and in order to achieve these goals, either one of two things would have to happen.

1. Nag Business Objects until they capitulate and put these capabilities into the software natively.
2. Embrace the SDK and build it yourself.

The team at AT&T did the later with remarkable results which they shared with other BusinessObjects Users during the INSIGHT 2006 conference. Click here to download the entire presentation.

Now, one could argue that Business Objects should provide this capability out of the box, but the reality is that no BI software company will be able to provide an Enterprise Business Intelligence solution that will meet all of your requirements 100%. What IS important is that the solution provide an extensive SDK which will allow you to customize your environment to meet your companies needs.

When talking with companies about BusinessObjects I like to talk about the rich history that BusinessObjects has around SDK and developer support. Our communities might not be as reach as Microsoft or BEA, but we have recently made some great strides forward with our launch of the Diamond Developer Site.

Another great resource is a book written by Carl Ganz, Jr. called Pro Crystal Enterprise/Business Objects XI Programming. This is an excellent resource for learning about software development – specifically for the BOE platform. For me, the only problem with the book is that I wish it included samples written in Java; however all the samples are very clearly detailed and Carl does a great job at stepping the developer through the core components of the SDK. I highly recommend this book.

As I come across good sample of the SDK in action I will make these available on my blog. I also recommend that you begin to troll through many of the samples on the Diamond Developer Site.

I truly believe that the best and most successful Enterprise Business Intelligence implementations take advantage of the SDK to customize the software works so that it works more efficiently for the organization and ultimately for the administrators and end-users. In the meantime, we’ll continue to push the development team at Business Objects to add more and more features into the products.

Happy SDKing.

The web is making it easier and easier to keep in touch with old friends, even when the paths of life take you in different directions. In America, we are so mobile. When I was growing up, I lived in the same house my whole life. I loved the sense of stability this provided me. Now as an adult I’ve also moved around a fair bit, meeting people and making new friends in:

• Champaign, IL
• Marburg, Germany
• Phoenix, AZ
• Peachtree City, GA
• Manchester, England
• Alpharetta, GA
• Roswell, GA

I always hate it when I lose touch with those who have shared life’s journey with me. Now through sites like Classmates, Myspace, Facebook, Xing and Linkedin, we can make sure we are able to stay in touch. This in addition to the benefits from search engines like Google that make it easy to find old friends and colleagues.

I encourage you to create an online presence. You never know when an old friend might want to contact you and reminisce about old times.

The only challenge is keeping track of our friends as they move through cyberspace!