sap design studio user guide · • design studio sdk component “biexport 4 sap design studio”...

User Guide biExport 4 SAP Design Studio

Release 2.2.0

biExport 4 SAP Design Studio [email protected] Page i

CONTENT

1. INSTALLATION .................................................................................................................. 4

1.1. Download the Installation Package ........................................................................... 5

1.2. open bi Repository ..................................................................................................... 5

1.3. biExport 4 SAP Design Studio Extension ............................................................... 17

2. THE EXPORT COMPONENT ........................................................................................... 21

2.1. Display Parameters ................................................................................................... 22

2.2. Export Parameters .................................................................................................... 24

2.3. Publishing Parameters ............................................................................................. 25

2.4. PDF Page Parameters ............................................................................................... 28

2.5. PDF Border Parameters ............................................................................................ 28

2.6. PDF Content Parameters .......................................................................................... 29

2.7. PowerPoint Parameters ............................................................................................ 32

2.8. Word Properties ........................................................................................................ 33

2.9. Excel Properties ........................................................................................................ 34

2.10. Events .................................................................................................................... 35

2.11. The Additional Properties Pane ........................................................................... 36

2.12. The Script API ........................................................................................................ 37

3. SPECIAL EXPORT REQUIREMENTS .............................................................................. 44

3.1. Use Master Templates .............................................................................................. 44

3.2. Use Custom Export Templates ................................................................................ 48

3.3. Export Page Book and Tab strip Components ....................................................... 61

3.4. Export hidden Components / Add content to the Export ....................................... 61

3.5. Hide Components from the Export .......................................................................... 62

3.6. Export Components with Scrollbars ....................................................................... 62

3.7. Export Text and Table Components ........................................................................ 62

biExport 4 SAP Design Studio [email protected] Page ii

3.8. Adjust properties on the fly...................................................................................... 65

3.9. Add meta information placeholders ........................................................................ 65

3.10. Repeat information such as filters on every PDF page ...................................... 68

4. THE SIMPLE EXPORT COMPONENT ............................................................................. 69

4.1. Display Parameter ..................................................................................................... 70

4.2. CSV Export Parameters ............................................................................................ 70

4.3. Data Binding Properties ........................................................................................... 70

5. PUBLISHING & BROADCASTING ................................................................................... 71

5.1. Alternatives to receiving the export document directly ......................................... 71

5.2. Pass custom data with the Export ........................................................................... 72

5.3. The “Add to document…” feature ........................................................................... 73

5.4. Use an alternative Design Studio application for the Export ................................. 74

5.5. Multiple Exports with different filter selections ...................................................... 77

5.6. Export all tabs or invisible components ................................................................. 82

5.7. Create Mass Exports of multiple Design Studio applications ............................... 84

5.8. Broadcasting & Scheduling ..................................................................................... 85

5.9. Mail Bursting ............................................................................................................. 86

5.10. Dynamic Template Definitions ............................................................................. 87

6. PROBLEM SOLVING AND TRACING .............................................................................. 96

6.1. No document is returned .......................................................................................... 96

6.2. No document is returned on iOS devices ............................................................... 97

6.3. Document does not contain expected content ....................................................... 97

6.4. “Placeholder for client side charts” is displayed ................................................... 97

6.5. Generation takes a lot of time .................................................................................. 97

6.6. SAP Crosstab is exported with a broken header .................................................... 98

6.7. SAP Crosstab is exported with a broken last row .................................................. 98

6.8. Lines do not show up in the exports ....................................................................... 98

6.9. Components show blue background in the export ................................................ 98

biExport 4 SAP Design Studio [email protected] Page iii

6.10. Objects do not show up in Office exports ........................................................... 99

6.11. Components show wrong sizing in Office exports ............................................. 99

6.12. Export service use a lot of memory after running for days ................................ 99

6.13. Dashboard content is condensed if PDF Page Section is used ......................... 99

biExport 4 SAP Design Studio [email protected] Page 4

1. INSTALLATION

Our Export solution uses a central service to create freely customizable, high quality export

documents. The following figure shall introduce you to the architecture and different

components of this Export solution.

Figure 1: Architecture “Online Export”

In its simplest setup, an export document is created as follows:

When a user requests an export, our Design Studio SDK Component calls the bi excellence

Export Service via http(s) and sends information of the current Design Studio dashboard.

The Export service consists of the open bi Repository service and the Design Studio Export

open bi Plugin. These two components create a PDF, Word, PowerPoint or Excel document

from the passed information and return this document in an http(s) response.

As described, the export solution consists of the following components that must be

installed:

• Design Studio SDK Component “biExport 4 SAP Design Studio”

• open bi Repository 3.0.1 or higher (including open bi Configurator)

• SAP Design Studio Export open bi Plugin

The following pages will describe the installation process. Contact us via

[email protected] if you have questions regarding the setup.

As an alternative to installing the open bi Repository (section 1.2) you can also use our

Cloud Export Service. Its URL https://Design Studioexport.biexcellence.com is stored as a

default Server URL in the Design Studio Export Component (section 2.1). Contact us via

[email protected] if you want to make use of the Cloud Export Service for productive

usage.

mailto:[email protected]

https://designstudioexport.biexcellence.com/

mailto:[email protected]


1.1. Download the Installation Package

You can download all necessary components from our official website

www.biexcellence.com. You have to register to access the necessary files under “Support

Downloads”.

1.2. open bi Repository

Please refer to the open bi Repository Installation Guide for information on system

requirements and installation (sections 1.2.1 and 3.1 of the Installation Guide).

Make sure to also install the open bi Configurator. This client allows you to easily change the

configuration of the Export service (sections 3.2 and 3.3 of the Installation Guide).

After installing the server and before starting the service, follow the following additional

steps:

1. Create the subfolders “export_temp” and “export_resources in the OPENBI directory.

2. Check the file IMPORTANT_RELEASE_INFORMATION.pdf for latest installation

information, e.g. how to install the plugin with older open bi installations.

1.2.1. Export Templates

Important Note:

If you want to use the Export Templates (section 3.2) we recommend creating the following

dedicated user, which will store the Export templates, on the server:

User: Design Studio Password: sap

This user will be used on the additional properties sheet when templates have to be

uploaded. It does not need any special authorizations.

Of course you can also create multiple upload users e.g. for different teams.

To create a user, simply start the open bi Configurator and login to the server with the admin

user (default password is “Initial”). Then choose “User Maintenance” which is shown in the

section “User Maintenance and Authorization”.

Click on “Create new” and enter the user name and password. Do not forget to tick the

“Active” checkbox. Then click on “Save”.

http://www.biexcellence.com/


Figure 2: Create upload user for Design Studio Export in open bi Configurator

1.2.2. Export styles and images

If you want to use the export solution with a BOE installation, you have to keep in mind that

some of the contents, which are used by the application, are protected by the BOE secure

logon. Our export solution automatically extracts all resources and HTML contents from the

Design Studio Application.

For images that you uploaded for your application, the export solution can only take a low-

resolution snapshot of the image. If you face problems through missing images or

stylesheets, try to set property “Parse CSS Images” to “true” (section 2.2).

If you want to export an image in higher resolution, store the resources on a server that does

not need authentication.

If you use specific fonts in your CSS definitions, such as SAP-Icons, make sure to install this

font on the computer that runs the Export Service. Otherwise this font will not be displayed

correctly on the export. Also make sure to restart Windows after the font installation.

1.2.3. Custom Parameters

There is a list of Custom Parameters that change the general behavior of the Export service.

These can be set in the open bi Configurator.

Parameters that change the contents or the layout of the Export documents, on the other

hand, are special to a dashboard and are configured in the Design Studio component

(section 2).


Custom Parameter Name Description

EXPORT_QUALITY For exports to PowerPoint, Word and Excel the Export Service

creates an image of the selected components. The image

quality can be set via this parameter. You can maintain an

export quality from 1 (screen resolution, 72dpi) up to 5 (5

times the screen resolution).

Default: 2

EXPORT_WAITTIME Time in miliseconds that the export process should wait until

the document is generated. If parts of the Design Studio

application are rendered with a delay, these elements might

be wrongly displayed or missing in the export.

If so, change this parameter to 3000 or 5000 ms.

EXPORT_TRACE This parameter is used for support incidents (section 6). Set its

value to “ALL” to generate detailed trace files of an export in

the directory defined in the parameter TEMP_DIRECTORY.

Other possible trace levels: “BASIC” writes trace files & less

detailed trace entries. “WARNINGS” only writes warning and

error trace entries. “ERRORS” only writes error trace entries.

EXPORT_TRACE_MAIL This parameter is used for support incidents (section 6). Set its

value to an email address and after each export a status report

is sent to this address. Make sure to also set the various

SMTP_* parameters.

EXPORT_DELETE_PLACEHOLDERS For exports to Word, placeholders in the Export template are

automatically deleted if they cannot be replaced. To have the

same behavior for Excel and PowerPoint exports, set this

parameter to X.

EXPORT_EXCEL_VERSION Excel exports are by default optimized for Excel version 2010.

This might lead to compatibility problems with other versions,

which are visible to the end user in form of a repair dialogue

upon first opening. You can use this parameter to change the

optimization to the Excel version used in your company: 2007,

2010, 2013 or 2016

TEMP_DIRECTORY The folder that shall be used for temporary and trace files.

Default: [open bi installation directory]\export_temp

RESOURCE_DIRECTORY The folder that shall be used for resource files.

Default: [open bi installation directory]\export_resources


Custom Parameter Name Description

SMTP_SERVER Domain address of your SMTP server. By default, the mail

account of the user that runs the open bi service is used to

send mails (section 5.1).

SMTP_SSL Whether SSL/TLS should be used (X) or not ( ) to connect to

the SMTP server.

Default: (empty)

SMTP_PORT The port your SMTP server is running on.

SMTP_USERNAME The username if authentication is required by the SMTP

server.

If empty or omitted, the mail account of the user that runs the

open bi service is used.

SMTP_PASSWORD The password for the username if authentication is required

by the SMTP server.

SMTP_DOMAIN The domain if authentication is required by the SMTP server.

EXPORT_TIMEOUT Timeout for PDF, image generation, BO loading and Load

Balancer in milliseconds.

Default: 15500 or 1800000 for Load Balancer

EXPORT_BO_PARALLEL_SESSIONS This parameter is only applicable if the SAP server is called

(sections 5.4 to 5.8). By default, each export process only uses

one SAP session for all calls of Design Studio applications,

which might lead to serialized query execution.

Set this parameter to “X” if you want to use an explicit session

for each call of the SAP system, to increase performance

EXPORT_PROCESSES The number of threads used for one iterative export (default:

number of CPU cores)

EXPORT_PROCESSES_MAX The maximum number of parallel running iterative exports at

the same time (default: unlimited).

EXPORT_FALLBACK_CYCLES Number of retrials to execute a call to the SAP system in case

of failure.

Default: 3

Custom Properties are maintained via the open bi Configurator via “Server” “Server

Settings”.


Click on “Add custom parameter”, enter the Custom Parameter Name from the list above as

“Name” and the value you want to set as “Value”. Do not forget to hit “Save” for the

parameter to take effect.

Figure 3: Maintain Custom Parameters

1.2.4. System connections for enhanced publishing scenarios

If you want to use the publishing features for Alternative Export Applications or Broadcasting

(sections 5.4 to 5.7) you have to define a connection to your SAP BO server via the SAP BO

Templates in the open bi Configurator. If you run Design Studio on the NetWeaver stack,

you have to define a connection to the SAP system in the same way.


Figure 4: Architecture “Publishing Scenarios”

Above figure shows the architecture for these publishing scenarios. In this case the Design

Studio SDK Component sends the meta information to the Export Service. The Export

Service has to call the SAP System based on the meta information in order to execute one

or multiple Design Studio applications and to receive the HTML pages. The Export Service

uses these HTML pages to create the export document and to return it to Design Studio.

Follow these steps to set it up:

1. Make sure that the open bi Repository service runs with a dedicated user


Figure 5: Dedicated user in the open bi service

2. If you deployed Design Studio on SAP BO platform:

You create a new SAP BO Template via “Connection Templates” “SAP BO

Template”. Choose “New” and enter all necessary information. Do not forget to click

“Save” afterwards.

2.1. Using Shared Authentication:

You have to specify at least the CMS_URL of the BO system and a USERNAME

and PASSWORD to perform the logon. Make sure that the user that you specify has

sufficient authorization to see data.

AUTH_MODE has to be set to secEnterprise, secWinAD or secSAPR3 depending

on the authorization mode you have configured for the system.

You can use the additional parameter URL_PREFIX if the CMS_URL cannot be

accessed via the Web browser of the server which runs the open bi Repository.


Figure 6: Maintain SAP BO Template

2.2. Using Trusted Authentication:

In the BO CMC activate Trusted Authentication under “Authentication”

“Enterprise” “Trusted Authentication”. Download the Shared Secret and put it in

the “SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win32_x86” or “SAP BusinessObjects

Enterprise XI 4.0\win64_x64” folder.

Then go to “Servers” “Servers List” “WebApplicationContainerServer”

“Properties” and change the “-Dbobj.trustedauth.home” command line argument to

the folder above.

E.g. "-Dbobj.trustedauth.home=E:/Programme/SAP BusinessObjects/SAP

BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0/win64_x64"

After that restart the “WebApplicationContainerServer”.

You have to specify the CMS_URL of the BO system and the WACS_URL in the

OpenBI Configurator.

Also make sure to always set the “Include Metadata” property of the export

component to “true” (section 2.2).


Figure 7: Maintain SAP BO Template

3. If you deployed Design Studio on SAP NetWeaver platform:

You create a new SAP BW Template via “Connection Templates” “SAP BW

Template”. Choose “New” and enter all necessary information. Do not forget to hit

“Save” afterwards.

You have to add the following parameters:

J_URL The URL prefix of the Netweaver J2EE platform

J_USER The user to login on the J2EE platform

J_PASSWORD The password to login on the J2EE platform


1.2.5. Load Balancing

If you make heavy use of the Export Service, especially while using the publishing features

for Alternative Export Applications or Broadcasting (sections 5.4 to 5.7) you may face

performance issues on the BO platform or the Export service. In these cases, you can install

multiple servers and use our load balancer to split the export requests on multiple export

instances. These instances can either be installed on the same server or on separate

servers.

To set up load balancing, proceed as follows (after having performed the initial server setup

as described in section 1.2):

1) To install multiple instances on the same server, copy the OPENBI folder as many

times as you need separate instances. If you want to use different servers for the

instances, perform the open bi installation (section 1.2) on each server

2) For each instance created under (1) open the file “configuration.xml” in the root

installation directory. Change the entries HttpPort (default value 9091), HttpsPort

(default value 9092) and ConfigPort (default value 9093) so that each instance has

unique ports defined. Make sure that all ports are opened in the firewall!

Example for the first copy / instance: 9091 1091, 9092 1092, 9093 1093

Example for the second copy / instance: 9091 2091, 9092 2092, 9093 2093

If you do not find a ConfigPort entry in the file, copy the following line manually and

change the port according to above logic.

<Parameter><Name>ConfigPort</Name><Value>9093</Value></Parameter>

3) Delete the com.biexcellence.openbi.DesignStudioexportplugin.* files from the

httpserver\plugins folder of the original open bi installation.

4) Copy the com.biexcellence.openbi.exportloadbalancer.* files into the

httpserver/plugins folder of the original open bi installation.

5) If you copied instances, create the service entries manually:

a. Start the command promt as administrator

b. Execude the following command for each copy (watch the space at “binpath”!)

sc create "BI eXcellence OpenBI Export Server 1" binpath=

"PATH\TO\OPENBI COPY 1\BioxRepositoryService.exe"

c. Start the service maintenance and maintain the newly created services

according to your needs (automatic restart etc.)

d. To delete a service execute the following command in the console:

sc delete "BI eXcellence OpenBI Export Server 1"


6) Start all services

7) Connect to the original open bi installation using the Configurator (port 9093)

8) Add the Custom Parameter “EXPORT_NODES” and define all new instances here,

separated by semicolon.

Example: protocol1://host1:port1;protocol2://host2:port2

As a protocol use either “http” or “https”.

If you copied the instances on the same server, “host” is “localhost” for all instances.

As a port, use the configurator port of the instances (e.g. ports 1093, 2093 etc.)

9) Connect to each of the new instances using the Configuraor (e.g. port 1093) and

change the user in the BO connection template.

The export requests will now be distributed across all instances.

Important Notes:

Restrictions:

• If you want to use PowerPoint, Word or Excel templates, you must place them in all

export_resources folders of the instances. Alternatively change the custom

parameter RESOURCE_DIRECTORY on all instances to a folder that can be

reached by all instances.

• If you want to use publish mode ONLINE, change custom parameter

TEMP_DIRECTORY on all instances to a folder that can be reached by all instances.

Debugging:

• Each instances creates its own trace file in C:\BIOX in the format: „{GUID}trace.txt“

• The original open bi installation only traces the following actions, all other actions are traced by the instance that handles the request:

o Adding Node: localhost:6061 o Heartbeat for localhost:6061: Unknown => Online o Request for DS Export Load Balancer 1.0.0.0 received! o <Export parameters> o Proxy DS Export Request to: localhost:6061 (Online) o Proxy DS Export Request completed! localhost:6061 (Online)

The following illustration shows the architecture with activated load balancing.


Figure 8: Load Balancing architecture


1.3. biExport 4 SAP Design Studio Extension

Our Design Studio Extension comes to you as a compressed ZIP folder. The installation

follows the standard SAP instructions for SDK Components.

1.3.1. Local Installation

Save the ZIP folder to your disk and – to use it with your local installation - perform the

following steps according to the SAP guideline:

1.) Start SAP BO Design Studio

2.) Go to “Tools Install Extension to Design Studio…”

Figure 9: Choose Installation Source

3.) Choose “Archive” and select the Add-on archive that you saved on your disk

Figure 10: Choose Installation Source

4.) Choose “Open”


5.) On the “Choose Installation Source” popup choose “Okay”

6.) On the “Install” popup, mark “bi Export 4 SAP Design Studio” and click “Finish”

Figure 11: Install Design Studio Extension

7.) Click “Next” twice

8.) Choose “I accept the terms of the license agreement” and click “Finish”

Figure 12: License Agreement


9.) If a security warning pops up, click “Okay”

Figure 13: Security Warning

10.) Click “Yes” to restart Design Studio.

After the restart, you can see two new Custom Components in Design Studio:

Figure 14: bi excellence Custom Components

1.3.2. Local Update

To update the component, you first have to uninstall the current version - perform the

following steps according to the SAP guideline:

1.) Start SAP BO Design Studio

2.) Go to “Help About…”

3.) Click on “Installation Details”

4.) Select the “bi excellence 4 sap Design Studio Add-ons” component and click on

“Uninstall…”

5.) In the dialogue box which pops up, click on “Finish” and after that click “Yes” to

restart Design Studio

6.) Continue with the installation described in section 1.3.1


Figure 15: Uninstall bi excellence Custom Components

1.3.3. BOE Installation

To publish the local Component to the BOE, please refer to the standard SAP manual. Make

sure to restart the server so changes to Custom Components can take effect.

1.3.4. NetWeaver Installation

To publish the local Component to NetWeaver, please refer to the standard SAP manual.


2. THE EXPORT COMPONENT

In this chapter, we will describe the open bi Export Component and its properties in detail.

This component allows for export of the application or its Components to the formats PDF,

PowerPoint, Word and Excel.

When you drag the component onto a Design Studio Application, it will render four buttons

on the canvas: For export to PDF, PowerPoint, Word and Excel.

Figure 16: Rendered Export Component

In the Properties pane you find several options to alter the rendering of the component and

the generation of the export.

Figure 17: Properties of the Export Component

The groups “General” and “Layout” include the standard Design Studio properties. The other

groups we will describe in detail in the following sections.

Important Note:

You can set all properties also via Design Studio Script, allowing for a dynamic configuration

of your exports (section 2.12). For some properties, the Additional Properties Pane offers a

more comfortable way of maintaining values than in the Design Studio properties window.


2.1. Display Parameters

This group contains important setup properties, such as Export URL and the appearance of

the buttons:

Property Description

Export Server URL The URL to the open bi Repository installation that handles the export.

Default: https://designstudioexport.biexcellence.com

If you use an installation on your local machine, change this property to:

http://localhost:9091

Otherwise replace “localhost” with the address and port of your

installation.

Server Waittime Overwrites the server parameter “EXPORT_WAITTIME” (section 1.2.3)

Server Quality Overwrites the server parameter “EXPORT_QUALITY” (section 1.2.3)

Server Parallel Processes Overwrites the server parameter “EXPORT_PARALLEL_PROCESSES”

(section 1.2.3)

PDF Button The text that is displayed on the PDF Export Button. Empty the property

to hide the button.

Default: PDF Export

PPT Button The text that is displayed on the PPT Export Button. Empty the property

to hide the button.

Default: PDF Export

DOC Button The text that is displayed on the DOC Export Button. Empty the property

to hide the button.

Default: DOC Export

XLS Button The text that is displayed on the XLS Export Button. Empty the property

to hide the button.

Default: XLS Export

Important Notes:

If you hide the buttons of the component, you can launch the function via Design Studio

Script as OPENBIEXPORT_1.doExport(format). OPENBIEXPORT_1 stands for the name of

your Export Component, “format” for “PDF”, “PPT”, “DOC” or “XLS”. This way you can add

the export to any button or link on your template.

https://designstudioexport.biexcellence.com/

http://localhost:9091/designstudio/designstudioexport.html


You can also specify multiple Export Server URLs for different Design Studio URLs. This

makes sense in particular if you have a multi-system landscape with different Export Servers

for quality and production (this is highly recommended!). Specify DesignStudioUrl and

corresponding ExportUrl in a JSON string as in the following example:

[{"DesignStudioUrl": "http://localhost:9867", "ExportUrl": "http://localhost:9091"},{

"DesignStudioUrl": "https:// prod.xyz.com:1000", "ExportUrl": "https://export.xyz.com:9091"}]


2.2. Export Parameters

This group contains properties that allow you to control general export settings:


Parse Images in CSS If the Export does not show icons or images, you can set this

property to true. This activates the collection of all images of the

Design Studio application and sends them to the Export service.

Parse 3rd Party Images If you use 3rd party components, which render images from a

source with authorization concept, set this property to true.

Extended Table Style Parsing If you apply custom styles to a Crosstab, e.g. to hide columns or to

change formatting, set this parameter to true, so the individual

styles are visible in the export.

Static Screen Width By default, the export uses the screen width of the user to create an

export document that resembles the screen display. If you

experience extensive white spaces or to small font sizes, you can set

this property to a static value, e.g. 1000 pixels.

Static Screen Height If you make extensive use of relative height definitions, exports to

PowerPoint, Word or Excel might show to small font sizes. In this

case, you can set this property to a static value, e.g. 800 pixels. You

might have to combine with a Static Screen Width.

Include Meta Data Set this property to true if you want to access meta data of the

application through placeholders in the export document (section

3.10).

Export Language By default, the export determines the language for the export

document from the web client. The export language is used to

render the correct format for date and time placeholders (section

3.10) and to interpret number formats correctly for Excel export

(secion 3.11).

You can set this property explicitly to overrule the automatic

determination.


2.3. Publishing Parameters

This group contains properties that control publishing of how the Export document:


Publish Mode Controls the way the Export document is delivered. Multiple publish modes

can be used at the same time if separated by “;”. Custom publish modes can

also be defined – contact us for details

ONLINE:

The document is delivered directly back to the user. Supports all events,

including the on Return event. For security reasons URLs of Design Studio

and Export service must contain the same protocol, domain and port to

make this work. (See Same-Origin policy)

MAIL:

The document is delivered via mail using the properties below. Make sure

that you maintained the SMTP_SERVER parameter via the Configurator

(section 1.2.3)

FILE[D:\]:

The document is stored on the file system. You must specify the path in

brackets. Make sure that the path can be accessed from the server which

runs the Export service and that the user is authorized for write access. You

can also specify a UNC path (“//storage/share”).

BO_CMS[Root Folder/UPLOADS]:

The document is stored in the CMS of the BO platform. You must specify the

folder path in brackets. Make sure that the BO template is created as

explained in section 1.2.4 and that the user of the BO template has been

authorized for write access.

SHAREPOINT[sharepointsite;library]:

The document is stored in Sharepoint. You must specify the the URI of the

sharepoint site (e.g. ”http://yoursite.com/sites/Research” and the

name of the library (e.g. ” Shared Documents”) separated by “;”.

(empty - default):

The document is delivered directly back to the user. Does not support the

on Return event. You should only use this in case you face problems with

the ONLINE setting.

PRINT:

The document is delivered directly back to the user and the web client’s

print dialog is called directly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-origin_policy



Filename The file name of the export document. The extension will be determined

automatically. You can use placeholders (section 3.9).

Scheduling

Parameters

If you want to use scheduling & broadcasting you can use this property

(section 5.8).

Alternative Export

Application

If you want to use another than the current application for the export, you

can specify its CUID here. This causes the specified application to be

executed by the Export service and its contents to be converted into the

Export document (section 5.4). For Lumira 2.0 the additional field Document

ID has been introduced.

Document ID Application ID Settings

Document ID

(Lumira 2.0 only)

Application ID

(optional for Lumira 2.0)

Specific settings for the

application (optional)

Url Parameters

Array

In combination with the Alternative Export Application property you can

pass the current navigational state (filters and variables) or any custom

setting to the Alternative Export Application (sections 5.4 to 5.6).

Applications Parameter Iterative Values

Application IDs

(optional)

Url Parameter of

the Application

True / False Values to be

passed

Custom Parameters

Array

You can pass custom parameters to the Export service, which is helpful in

particular if you create your custom Publish plugin. We also offer some

standard parameters that you can use (section 5.2).

Parameter Value

The name of the

parameter

Value of the parameter

Custom Texts

Array

You can pass custom texts to the Export service, which can be used during

placeholder replacement in PDF headers and footers or any other content

of the Export document. (section 3.9).

Placeholder Value

The name of the

placeholder in the

template

Text to be replaced in the template

Mail Subject The subject of the mail (Publish Mode must be set to MAIL)



Mail Body The mail body (Publish Mode must be set to MAIL)

Mail Sender The sender of the mail (Publish Mode must be set to MAIL)

Mail Recipients The recipient of the mail (Publish Mode must be set to MAIL)

In combination with the iteration feature of the URL Parameters Array

(section 5.5) you can also implement Mail Bursting scenarios by specifying

different Mail Recipients for the individual filter contexts (section 5.9):

Mail Address For filter context

e-Mail address of the

recipient

Specify the filter values of the iterative

URL parameters that shall be sent to

this recipient.

Separate Files If you have set one of the parameters in the Url Parameters Array to

iterative, you can specify whether you want to include all runs into one

document (false - default) or multiple documents (true).

If you use dependent iteration, you can also choose “1st iteration level” if

you want to create separate documents for each value of the parent

iteration, but you want to include all parts of the dependent iteration into

the same document.

Important Notes:

Both your Design Studio application and the Export service have to run in the same domain if

you set property Publish Mode to “ONLINE”.

You can set the mail properties via Design Studio Script. This way you can design a popup to

ask for the recipient before triggering the Export.


2.4. PDF Page Parameters

The PDF Export tries to fit the whole content of your application to the width of the page. This

may lead to scaling and to page breaks if the content does not fit to one page after scaling.

To avoid page breaks or scaling, you can change several page properties.


Landscape Orientation Defines whether the page is generated in landscape (true) or portrait

format (false).

Default: true

Page Size Defines the page size, ranging from A6 to A0 (DIN A6 to DIN A0) or US

formats Invoice, Executive, Legal, Letter, Broadsheet, Ledger and

Tabloid.

Default: A4

Page Width Page height and width in 0,1 inches (0,25 centimeters).

Overrules the Page Size property if set.

If you want a whole HTML page to fit on one PDF page, you can increase

these properties until the content fits on the page. For print-outs,

Adobe Acrobat then automatically sizes the page to fit on your standard

print page formats.

Page Height

2.5. PDF Border Parameters

Page borders are already defaulted to optimal values. For special requirements they can be

changed individually.


Page Border Top Top border of page in 0,1 inches (0,25 centimeters)

Default: 100 (to provide room for the page header).

Page Border Bottom Bottom border of page in 0,1 inches (0,25 centimeters)

Default: 100 (to provide room for the page footer).

Page Border Left Left border of page in 0,1 inches (0,25 centimeters)

Default: 50

Page Border Right Right border of page in 0,1 inches (0,25 centimeters)

Default: 50


2.6. PDF Content Parameters

The following properties alter the content of the PDF document. Normally, the application is

exported as it is. So it also shows scrollbars if they have been defined, e.g. for tables.

With the following properties you can include and exclude explicit Components or rearrange

the layout completely.


Visible Components Use this property if you want to exclude components from or explicitly

include components in the export.

Component Is Excluded

The name of the

component

False: To include the component, all

other components are excluded.

True: To exclude the component

Header HTML HTML formatted text for the document header and footer.

You can use built-in placeholders to render generic information such as date

and time. You can also use placeholders which access meta data of the

application (section 3.9).

You can also add any component of the Application as a placeholder, e.g. to

repeat a filter component on every page (e.g. %FILTER_PANE%, sections 3.2.1

and 3.10).

Footer HTML

Include in plain page If set to true (default) the components included via “Visible Components” are

put on a blank page. The width of the PDF page is calculated from the width

of the components.

If set to false all visible components that are not explicitly included in “Visible

Components” are deleted (e.g. PANEL_1 is deleted with all its contents). The

width of the PDF page is calculated either from the client width or the “Static

Screen Width” parameter (section 2.2).



Page Sections This property is used to easily rearrange components for the export and to

create a specific export layout. Multiple sections can be defined: title page,

introduction, content pages with different headers and footers etc.

The layout (Content HTML) is defined via HTML – generic placeholders

(section 3.9) and component placeholders can be used (section 3.2.1).

Section

Name

Footer

HTML

Header

HTML

Content

HTML

Iterative Optimize height

Optional See

above

See

above

Page

content

True /

false

True: Optimize height

False: Keep height

Bookmark Template Use this property to create bookmarks in the PDF, which are shown as a table

of contents in Acrobat Reader. This makes sense in particular if you create

PDFs with the iterative function (sections 5.3 to 5.4).

Page Number Bookmark string

The page which shall be

linked to the bookmark

Title to be displayed for the bookmark

You can use generic placeholders and placeholders for meta information

(section 3.9), example: Filter %FILTER_REGION%

If you want to use one generic bookmark string for all pages, create an entry

for Page Number “0”. Otherwise state the page number for each Bookmark

String. Example: Page Number “1” for Bookamrk String “Bookmark to

Iteration 1”.

Template Filename You can specify a Word or PowerPoint which will be used as a fully formatted

template for your PDF export (sections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3).

Template Definition This parameter allows you to define an Export Template depending on the

analytical context (section 5.10).

Important Notes:

“Visible Components” currently can only be all excluded or all included! By default, scrollbars

are kept if you do not use an Export template. Also, components remain at their location,

even if space has been freed by components that have not been included.

When you use the properties “Page Sections” or “Template Filename”, all Components of the

application are automatically set to display their full content. Scrollbars are disabled. This

ensures all content is displayed on the export.


Page properties and Header and Footers are not taken into account if you use the “Template

Filename” property. Instead the settings of the Template document are used.


2.7. PowerPoint Parameters

The following properties alter the content of the PowerPoint document.


One Component by Slide This property only takes affect if you are not using an Export Template. If

set to ‘false’ the application is rendered onto one slide. If you set this

property to ‘true’, each component is rendered to a separate slide.

Default: false




The name of the

component




Template Filename By specifying a template for the PowerPoint Export (in PPT or PPTX

formats) you can generate complete presentations in your corporate

design and with standard text (section 3.2).

Template Definition This parameter allows you to define an Export Template depending on

the analytical context (section 5.10).

Important Notes:

“Visible Components” currently can only be all excluded or all included!

When you use the property “Template Filename”, all Components of the application are

automatically set to display their full content. Scrollbars are disabled. This ensures all content

is displayed on the export.


2.8. Word Properties

The following properties alter the content of the Word document.





The name of the

component




Template Filename By specifying a template for the Word Export (in DOC or DOCX formats)

you can generate complete Word documents in your corporate design

and with standard text (section 3.2).

Template Definition This parameter allows you to define an Export Template depending on

the analytical context (section 5.10).

Important Notes:


When you use the property “Template Filename”, all Components of the application are automatically set to display their full content. Scrollbars are disabled. This ensures all content is displayed on the export.


2.9. Excel Properties

The following properties alter the content of the Excel document.





The name of the

component




Template Filename By specifying a template for the Excel Export (in XLS or XLSX formats) you

can generate complete Word documents in your corporate design and

with standard text (section 3.2).

Important Notes:



2.10. Events

You can attach Design Studio Scripts to the following Events that are thrown during the

Export process. This allows you e.g. to display a print progress popup or a working indicator

somewhere on your application.

Events are only used if you use your own element to trigger the Export. If you use the

standard buttons, the status is displayed below the buttons.


on Start Specify the Design Studio Script that shall be triggered when the Export

process is started. If you set the publishing property “Parse CSS” to true,

all image resources are collected in this phase.

Example to show a text like “Export process started…”:

TEXT_1.setVisible(true);

on Send To Server Specify the Design Studio Script that shall be triggered when the Export

process sends the content to the Export service.

Example to show a text like “Generating document…”:

TEXT_1.setVisible(false); TEXT_2.setVisible(true);

on Return Specify the Design Studio Script that shall be triggered when the Export

process receives the generated document from the Export service.

Example to hide the text when the export is finished:

TEXT_2.setVisible(false);

on Error Specify the Design Studio Script that shall be triggered when an error is

reported by the Export process.

on Message Specify the Design Studio Script that shall be triggered when a message

is sent by the Export process.

display Server Messages If set to ‘true’ the browser displays Export messages as a browser alert.

Set this property to ‘false’ if you do not want to display messages.

Default: true

deactivate in

Background Processing

Default: ‘true’. Set to ‘false’ if you experience problems in using the

doExport() and addExportView() script methods.

Important Note:

The events do not work with the default buttons rendered by the export component. You

must use the doExport() script function of the Export Component to use events!


2.11. The Additional Properties Pane

Figure 18: The Additional Properties Pane

The Additional Properties Pane allows you to set some of the Export properties in a more

convenient way than the Design Studio properties window.

1) Click on PDF HTML Content to maintain the following parameters via HTML editors:

• Header HTML

• Footer HTML

You can also copy and paste HTML into the editors. Do not forget to click “Update

Properties” once you are finished.

Figure 19: Maintain PDF HTML Content via the Additional Properties Pane

2) Click on Upload Export Templates to upload Export templates for the Template

parameters of PDF, PowerPoint, Word and Excel (section 3.2.7)


2.12. The Script API

In this section we discuss the usage of scripts in combination with the Export component.

All properties of the Export Component can be manipulated with JavaScript using its setter.

They can also be read out via a getter function.

Property Getter Setter

PDF Landscape

Orientation

getPdfLandscapeOrientation() setPdfLandscapeOrientation()

PDF Page Size getPdfPageSize() setPdfPageSize()

PDF Page Width / Height getPdfPageDimensions() setPdfPageDimensions()

PDF Page Border

(Top/Bottom/Left/Right)

getPdfBorders() setPdfBorders()

PDF Visible Components getPdfVisibleComponentArray() See example 1 below

PDF Footer HTML getPdfFooter() setPdfFooter()

PDF Header HTML getPdfHeader() setPdfHeader()

PDF Include in plain page getPdfClearPage() setPdfClearPage()

PDF Section Template getPdfPageSections() See example 5 below

PDF Bookmarks getPdfBookmarkArray() See example 6 below

PDF Template Filename getPdfTemplate() setPdfTemplate()

PDF Template Definition getPdfTemplateDefinition() See section 5.10

PPT Separate Slides getPptSeparateSlides() setPptSeparateSlides()

PPT Visible Components getPptVisibleComponentsArray() See example 1 below

PPT Template Filename getPptTemplate() setPptTemplate()

PPT Template Definition getPptTemplateDefinition() See section 5.10

DOC Visible Components getDocVisibleComponentsArray() See example 1 below

DOC Template Filename getDocTemplate() setDocTemplate()



DOC Template Defintion getDocTemplateDefinition() See section 5.10

XLS Visible Components getXlsVisibleComponentsArray() See example 1 below

XLS Template Filename getXlsTemplate() setXlsTemplate()

PDF Button getPdfButton() setPdfButton()

PPT Button getPptButton() setPptButton()

DOC Button getDocButton() setDocButton()

XLS Button getXlsButton() setXlsButton()

Calculate Width From

Children

getWidthFromChildren() setWidthFromChildren

Scheduling Parameters getSchedulingDefinition() setSchedulingDefinition

Export Language getExportLangauge() setExportLangauge()

Parse Table Styles

Separately

getParseAllStyles() setParseAllStyles()

Parse CSS Images getParseCss() setParseCss()

Parse 3rd Party Images getParseThirdParty() setParseThirdParty()

Static Screen Height getScreenHeight() setScreenWidth()

Static Screen Width getScreenWidth() setScreenHeight()

Filename getFilename() setFilename()

Separate Files getSeparateFiles() setSeparateFiles()

Export Server URL getServerUrl() setServerUrl()

Alternative Export

Application

getExportApplicationArray() See example 7 below

Custom Parameters

Array

getCustomParameterArray() See example 2 below

Custom Texts Array getCustomTextArray() See example 3 below



URL Paraemter Array getUrlParameterArray() See example 4 below

Publish Mode getPublishMode() setPublishMode()

Mail Recipient Array getMailRecipientArray() See example 8 below

Mail From getMailFrom() setMailFrom()

Mail Subject getMailSubject() setMailSubject()

Mail Body getMailBody() setMailBody()

Deactivate in

background processing

getDeactivateInBackgroundProces

sing ()

setDeactivateInBackgroundPro

cessing ()

Example 1 – Set Visible Components:

var lelem1 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createVisibleComponent("TEXT_1", true);

var array = [lelem1];

var lelem2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createVisibleComponent("TEXT_2", true);

array.push(lelem2);

OPENBIEXPORT_1.setPdfVisibleComponentArray(array);

OPENBIEXPORT_1.setPptVisibleComponentArray(array);

OPENBIEXPORT_1.setDocVisibleComponentArray(array);

OPENBIEXPORT_1.setXlsVisibleComponentArray(array);

Example 2 – Set Custom Parameters

var lcomp2 = OPENBIEXPORT1.createNameValuePair("NEW_PARAMETER", "Value");

var larray2 = [lcomp2];

OPENBIEXPORT1.setCustomParameterArray(larray2);

Example 3 – Set Custom Texts

var lcomp2 = OPENBIEXPORT1.createNameValuePair("DEPARTMENT", "Value");


OPENBIEXPORT1.setCustomTextsArray(larray2);

Example 4 – Set Url Parameters

var lcomp3 = OPENBIEXPORT1.createUrlParameter("", "XTABNO", true, "0;1;2");


OPENBIEXPORT1.setUrlParameterArray(larray3);


Example 5 – Set PDF Section Template

var lcomp3 = OPENBIEXPORT1.createPdfPageSection("Title page", "My HTML

header", "My HTML Footer", "Title Content", false, true);


OPENBIEXPORT1.setPdfPageSections (larray3);

Example 6 – Set PDF Bookmarks

var lcomp3 = OPENBIEXPORT1.createPdfBookmark(0, "Region Filter:

%FILTER_REGTION5:VALUE");


OPENBIEXPORT1.setPdfBookmarkArray(larray3);

Example 7 – Set Export Applications

// without explicit settings

var lcomp3 = OPENBIEXPORT1.createExportApplication("12973z9zihihu",

lsettings);


OPENBIEXPORT1.setExportApplicationArray(larray3);

// with explicit settings

var lsetting = OPENBIEXPORT1.createNameValuePair("fixed_width", "800");

var lsettings = [lsetting];

var lcomp3 =

OPENBIEXPORT1.createExportApplicationWithSettings("12973z9zihihu",

lsettings);


OPENBIEXPORT1.setExportApplicationArray(larray3);

Important Note:

For Lumira 2.0, use methods createUrlParameters2, createExportApplication2 and

createExportApplication2WithSettings instead, as they allow passing of the obligatory

document ID.

Example 8 – Set Mail Recipients

var lrecipient =

OPENBIEXPORT1.createMailRecipient("[email protected]",

"XREGION=EAST");

var larray3 = [lrecipient];

OPENBIEXPORT1.setMailRecipientArray(larray3);


Export actions can be triggered with the following methods:

Method Description

doExport(iformat) Triggers the export for the specified format. Valid format values are:

“XLS”, “PPT”, “PDF” and “DOC”

doExport(iformat, iSettings) Triggers the export for the specified format. At the same time you

can pass context specific settings to the export function. See

example below.

addExportView(isession) Adds the current view to the current export session. All exports of

one session can be exported later via doExport(iformat) into the

iformat. Currently only isession = “” is supported.

addExportViewWithDelay

(milliseconds)

Same as above, only that you can specify a delay.

This becomes handy if you trigger the event automatically e.g.

onSelect of a pagebook and you want to wait for the animation to be

finished.

clearExportViews(isession) Clears all views from the current export session. Currently only

isession = “” is supported.

updateMetaData() Ensures that changes to the meta data are also available for the

export. This method should be called if you have set “Include Meta

Data” to true and the user changed a filter, e.g. in the onApply event

of the Filter Panel.

Example – do Export with Settings

var lsetting = OPENBIEXPORT1.createNameValuePair("fixed_width", "800");

var lsettings = [lsetting];

OPENBIEXPORT1.doExport("PDF", lsetting);

In addition, the Export component also allows you to programmatically access all

components or data sources of the application. You can access all information that can be

accessed also via the standard Design Studio:

Important Note:

For Lumira 2.0, these methods are currently not supported!


Method Description

listAllDataSources() Returns an array of all data sources in the applications and their

meta data

listAllComponents() Returns an array of all components of the application and their

meta data

listAllDataBoundComponents() Returns an array of all components which are bound to a data

source and their meta data

Important Note:

If you use the Export component in your application and you load data sources in

background processing, a loading indicator is shown while the data sources are queried. This

is not the case without the Export component. The reason is the afterUpdate event, which is

implemented by the component.

You can change this behavior by:

1. Setting the Export component to Visibility = false in the Properties Pane

2. Setting the Export component to Visibility = true after the data source is loaded.


3. SPECIAL EXPORT REQUIREMENTS

In this section we describe how you can deal with special export requirements such as:

• Alter the standard template that is used for the plain export (3.1)

• Use special HTML / PowerPoint / Word / Excel templates for the export (3.2)

• Create a pixel-precise PDF Export by using a PowerPoint / Word template (3.2)

• Add / Remove Components to / from the export (3.4 and 3.5)

• Remove Scrollbars from the Export (3.6)

• Export all contents of a table (3.7)

• Dynamically change Export properties during runtime (3.8)

• Allow the user to adjust Export properties online (3.8)

• Show meta information such as filter values in the document (3.9 and 3.10)

3.1. Use Master Templates

By default, exports to PowerPoint, Word and Excel are based on empty documents. You can

easily enhance the exports to follow your Corporate Design, as well as to show additional

elements, by placing the following files into the “export_resources” folder in the installation

directory of open bi Repository:

Export Format File Name

PowerPoint master_template.pptx

Word master_template.docx

Excel master_template.xlsx

These master templates can be designed just the same way as standard PowerPoint, Word

and Excel documents. In addition, you can use placeholders to add dynamic content from

your Design Studio application. The syntax for placeholders is described in the following.

How to add placeholders to an Export Template is described in chapters 3.2.3 to 3.2.4.

Placeholders consist of the name of the component, surrounded by “%” (e.g. %CHART_1%),

and an optional suffix. You can also use the general placeholder %CONTENT%, which is

automatically multiplied for every component of the application. Note that you can use

parameter “Visible Components” (section 2.6 to 2.9) to dynamically and explicitly select or

deselect components from the export).

You can check out the sample master templates, which are part of this documentation

package, for example layouts.

The following suffixes can be used to include a component as an image:


Suffix Description

Example: %CHART_1%

Without a suffix to the component name, the component is rendered as

an image into the export document.

In PowerPoint the image dimensions are set to the width and height of

the text box. This may lead to a distorted result.

In Word the image is rendered to fill the complete width of an A4 page.

In Excel the image is rendered 450 pixels wide.

:HEIGHT Example: %CHART_1%:HEIGHT

In PowerPoint the component is rendered as an image that fits to the

height of the text box. The scale of the image is kept.

:HEIGHT[npx] Example: %CHART_1%:HEIGHT[225px]

In Word and Excel, the component is rendered as an image with the

exact height specified as “n”.

:WIDTH Example: %CHART_1%:WIDTH

In PowerPoint the component as an image that fits to the width of the

text box. The scale of the image is kept.

:WIDTH[npx] Example: %CHART_1%:WIDTH[225px]

In Word and Excel, the component is rendered as an image with the

exact width specified as “n”. “450” corresponds to the full width of an A4

document.

:SCALESIZE Example: %CHART_1%:SCALESIZE

In PowerPoint the component is rendered as an image that automatically

scales down the width and height if they exceed the placeholder size. The

scale of the image is kept.

:IMAGE Example: %CHART_1%:IMAGE

Use this suffix to render the component as an image of exactly the same

size as defined in the application.

:IMAGE[npx] Example: %CHART_1%:IMAGE[250px]

Use this suffix to split a large component after “n” pixels into different

images. This can be useful for components that would not fit onto one

PowerPoint slide or Word page.


Suffix Description

:SVG Example: %CHART_1%:SVG

Can be used for SVG components in Word. The component is rendered as

a vectorized EMF image.

For text based components you can also use the following suffxes:

Suffix Description

:VALUE Example: %TEXT_1%:VALUE

Use this suffix to render an editable copy into the Export document,

keeping the format of the placeholder.

:TEXT Example: %TEXT_1%:TEXT

Use this suffix to render an editable copy into the Export document,

keeping the format of the component.

:TEXT{wrapping:true / false} Example: %TEXT_1%:TEXT{wrapping:false}

Excel only: Use this suffix to render an editable copy into the Export

document, text shall not be wrapped into the Excel cell.

For table based components, such as CROSSTABs or graphomate tables, you can also use

the following suffixes:

Suffix Description

:IMAGE[cXr]{styles} Works the same way as :TEXT[cXr] only that the result is rendered as an

image, not as a native table.

Add optional {styles} to control style parameters (see below).

:TEXT[auto] Use this suffix to render a table component as a native table with

automatic split, so it automatically fits the PDF page or placeholder size.

Example: %TABLE_1%:TEXT{font-size:8pt}

Add optional {styles} to control style parameters (see below).


Suffix Description

:TEXT{styles}

Example: %TABLE_1%:TEXT{font-size:8pt}

Use this suffix to render the table as a native table.

Add optional {styles} to control style parameters such as the font size.

For Word exports you can also control the width of the table via

{width:800px}.

For Excel exports the output can be controlled further:

{autoFit:false} to keep column widths as defined in the template.

Otherwise column widths are automatically adjusted based on the

dashboard table.

{fixHeaders:false} to prevent table headers to be fixed in the export

{hideColumns:false} to show columns in the export that were hidden in

the dashboard table.

{showHierarchy:false} to prevent hierarchies to be automatically shown

as groupings.

{expandRows:true} to add additional rows depending on the size of the

table without overriding existing cells.

{expandColumns:true} to add additional columns depending on the size

of the table without overriding existing cells.

:TEXT[cXr]{styles} Use this suffix to render a table component as a native table which is split

by “c” columns and “r” rows.

In PowerPoint, the tables are automatically placed on different slides.

In Word, the tables are rendered below each other.

Example: %TABLE_1%:TEXT[12X24] – splits the table into smaller tables

with 12 columns and 24 rows

Add optional {styles} to control style parameters (see above).

Important Note:

If you do not want to take over styles from the Design Studio table, you can replace :TEXT

with :VALUE. This way, only text and figures are included in the Export document.

In addition, you can also use the generic placeholders and placeholders for meta information

(section 3.9).

For special export requirements for specific applications, you can use a Custom Export

Template (section 3.2).


3.2. Use Custom Export Templates

By uploading a specific Export Template and specifying it in the “Template” parameter of an

application (sections 2.6 to 2.9) you can define a specific Export Template for a Design

Studio application. While the master templates provide a generic method to export content,

specific templates allow you to streamline the Export Template completely for a specific

export scenario. This enables you to create ready-to-use executive presentations, briefing

books or PDF documents with pixel-precise layout directly from Design Studio.

If a template is used, scrollbars for components are always removed and they are exported

completely (section 3.6)

The following sections describe how to work with Export Templates.

3.2.1. Create Page Section Templates

Page Section Templates allow for easy rearrangement of the components of your Design

Studio application. They can only be used for the PDF export, but may provide faster results

compared to the usage of PowerPoint or Word Templates for the PDF Export.

You should use Page Section Templates if you want to:

• split huge tables over multiple pages

• create a simple print layout

Rather use a Word or PowerPoint Template if you want to:

• define complex layouts including texts, images, title and/or table of content pages

You define the Page Section Template via the PDF Content Property (section 2.6). A PDF

Section Template consists of a group of HTML templates for header, footer and content

definitions. Each section starts with a new PDF page.

This means that you can use several Page Section Templates in order to:

• create a PDF document with a title page, table of contents, etc.

• split content by page breaks

• define different headers and footers for different parts of the document

In case you just want to export a table with all its contents, one page section is sufficient.

Please note that the parameters for HTML Header and HTML Footer are only used for the

simple PDF export. As soon as you use a PDF section, you have to define headers and

footers directly for the page section.

You can use any HTML for the HTML template definitions – such as <table>, <br>, <img>

etc. Where you want to include Components into the layout, you simply add the name of the

component surrounded by “%” (e.g. %CHART_1%).

In general, you can use the suffixes as described in section 3.1. As a matter of fact, some of

these suffixes only make sense for document based exports and not for HTML based

exports. Some of the suffixes also work differently in the HTML context. The most important

suffixes for HTML templates are repeated in the following table:


Suffix Description

Without a suffix to the component name, the component is rendered as

defined in the application.

Example: %CHART_1%

:TEXT Optimize the table for export, repeat headers. Other text components

are exported as pure text, e.g. to put them next to other text.

:TEXT[cXr] Use this suffix to render an editable copy onto the slide which is split by

“c” columns and “r” rows (only available for text based components).

Example: %TABLE_1%:TEXT[12X24] – splits the table into smaller tables

with 12 columns and 24 rows

:TEXT[cXr]{width:npx} This additional suffix ensures that all split tables are rendered in the

same width. “n” stands for the width in px.

Example: %TABLE_1%:TEXT[12X24]{width:1000px} – renders all split

tables 1000px wide

:IMAGE[npx] Example: %CHART_1%:IMAGE[250px]

Use this suffix to split a large component after “n” pixels into different

images. This can be useful for components that would not fit onto one

PowerPoint slide or Word page.

In addition, you can also use the generic placeholders and placeholders for meta information

(section 3.9).

HTML template Example 1:

This layout renders two components – CHART_1 and OPENBIEXPORTTABLE_1 – next to

each other on the page, no matter how they were rearranged before:

Section

Name

Footer

HTML

Header

HTML

Content

HTML

Iterati

ve

Section 1 Footer

Test 1

Header

Test 1

<table><tr><td>%CHART_1%</td>

<td>%CROSSTAB_1%:TEXT</td></tr></table>

false

HTML Template Example 2:


This layout renders two Components – names CHART_1 and OPENBIEXPORTTABLE_1 –

on two separate pages:

Section

Name

Footer

HTML

Header

HTML

Content

HTML

Iterati

ve

Chart Footer

Chart

Header

Chart

%CHART_1% false

Table Footer

Table

Header

Table

%CROSSTAB_1%:TEXT false


This layout splits the Crosstab Component CROSSTAB_1 into tables of 12 columns and

automatically includes page breaks. In addition all tables shall be exactly 1000px wide:

Section

Name

Footer

HTML

Header

HTML

Content

HTML

Iterati

ve

Table Footer

Table

Header

Table

%CROSSTAB_1%:TEXT[12x9999]{width:1000px;} false


This layout splits the Crosstab Component CROSSTAB_1 into tables of 12 columns and 20

rows and automatically includes page breaks:

Section

Name

Footer

HTML

Header

HTML

Content

HTML

Iterati

ve

Table Footer

Table

Header

Table

%CROSSTAB_1%:TEXT[12x20] false


For iterative exports (see section 5.5) you can use an enhanced HTML template to control for

which Url parameters certain parts of the template should be used. The following HTML

template can be read as follows:


For each iteration, the Export service checks the Url parameter XCOUNTRY. If it is filled with

“DE” the crosstab is rendered and also the chart. For “BG” only the chart is rendered:

Section

Name

Footer

HTML

Header

HTML

Content

HTML

Iterative

Iterative Footer

Table

Header

Table

@START_IF@{XTEST=DE}

%CROSSTAB_1%:TEXT

@END_IF@

@START_IF@{XTEST=DE;BG}

%CHART_1%

@END_IF@

true


3.2.2. Create a Word Template

In the Word Template, you can define your corporate design, include texts, tables and

graphics as you like. To insert a Component at a specific place, you have to use the Merge

Fields of Microsoft Word. To insert a Merge Field, navigate to the menu function Insert

Quick Parts Field.

Figure 20: Insert a Merge Field

This opens a dialog box where you have to choose “MergeField” from the list on the left.

Afterwards you can enter the placeholder into the field name input box under field properties.

Figure 21: Choose MergeField

After clicking on OK the result looks as follows:


Figure 22: Placeholder for CHART_1

Merge Fields can also be placed inside of Shapes. Image placeholders will use the size of

the shape to determine the final size of the image.

Supported placeholders and suffixes are described in section 3.1. In addition, you can also

use the generic placeholders and placeholders for meta information (section 3.9).

For iterative exports (section 5.5) you can even use a conditional placeholder. In this case

the place holder is only replaced by the component CROSSTAB_1 of an iteration with the Url

parameter XTEST = DE:

@START_IF@{XTEST=DE}%CROSSTAB_1%@END_IF@ With an iterative placeholder you can insert a copy of the same component for each iteration:

@START_FOR_EACH_ITERATION@%CROSSTAB_1%@END_FOR_EACH_ITERATION@ It is also possible to combine the conditional and iterative placeholders: @START_FOR_EACH_ITERATION@@START_IF@{XTEST=DE}%CROSSTAB_1%@END_IF@@END_FOR_EACH_ITERATION@

Important Notes:

If you want to alter a merge field, it is not sufficient just to edit its name directly in the

Word document! Right click on the merge field instead and choose Edit. Alter the

name in the dialogue box.

If you want to delete a merge field, first toggle on the display of the full merge field via

function “field functions on/off” in the context menu. The display then changes to

“{MERGEFIELD …. * MERGEFORMAT }”. Then delete the full text, including the curved

brackets. Otherwise, Word may not delete the full merge field, and the export will still

find and replace the placeholder.


3.2.3. Create a PowerPoint Template

In the PowerPoint Template, you can define your corporate design, include texts, tables and

graphics as you like. To insert a Component at a specific place, you have to create a Text

Box and enter the technical name of the component into it surrounded by “%”, e.g.

%CHART_1%.

Figure 23: Exemplary PowerPoint Template with formatting and placeholder


use the generic placeholders and placeholders for meta information (section 3.9). Also

multiple Components can be added to one slide. Feel free to add also any PowerPoint items,

such as Slide Titles, Shapes, Text Boxes, to the Template.

For iterative exports (section 5.5) you can even use a conditional placeholder. In this case

the place holder is only replaced by the component CROSSTAB_1 of an iteration with the Url

parameter XTEST = DE:

@START_IF@{XTEST=DE}%CROSSTAB_1%@END_IF@ With an iterative placeholder you can create clones of the slide for each iteration: @START_FOR_EACH_ITERATION@%CROSSTAB_1%@END_FOR_EACH_ITERATION@ It is also possible to combine the conditional and iterative placeholders: @START_FOR_EACH_ITERATION@@START_IF@{XTEST=DE}%CROSSTAB_1%@END_IF@@END_FOR_EACH_ITERATION@ In addition you can also use the generic placeholders and placeholders for meta information

(section 3.9).


Important Notes:

If you observe placeholders not being replaced even though it is spelled correctly, it

might be that you formatted different parts of the placeholder individually. In that case

PowerPoint creates different “Portions” with individual formats. This leads to the fact

that biExport cannot recognize the full placeholder anymore. This can be fixed in two

ways:

1. If the placeholder style appears to be the same for all characters: Try saving the

presentation under a new name.

2. If this does not work or parts of the placeholder obviously hold different styles,

cut and paste the placeholder to notepad, and copy and paste it back to the

exact same position. PowerPoint then creates one “Portion” with the same

style.


3.2.4. Create an Excel Template

In the Excel Template, you can define your corporate design, include texts, tables and

graphics as you like. To insert a Component at a specific place, you simply have to write the

technical name of the component into the cell surrounded by “%”, e.g. %CHART_1%.

Figure 24: Exemplary Excel Template with formatting and placeholder


use the generic placeholders and placeholders for meta information (section 3.9).


3.2.5. Keep pixel-precise relative position of Components in the Export

In the previous sections we focused on rearranging Components individually in the Export

Template. In certain scenarios you may want to keep the pixel-precise relative position of

Components to one another, as you defined them in the application.

You can keep the relative positions of the Components also in the export if you include them

into a Panel Component. Then, add a placeholder for the Panel Component into your Export

Template, instead of all components individually.

Example:

Two Simple Text Components (“TEXT_1” and “TEXT_2”) have been included in the

application. They shall be exported via an Export Template exactly as shown on the screen.

To achieve this, they are placed into a Panel Component (“PANEL_1”). The Export Template

holds a text box named %PANEL_1%. This way, the two components are exported as

defined.

Figure 25: Panel Component for keeping the pixel-precise layout


3.2.6. Upload a template directly to the server

You can use a special PowerPoint, Word or Excel Template for your Design Studio

application by placing the document directly on the Export server:

1) Login to the server which runs the open bi Repository

2) Navigate to the export_resources subfolder of the OPENBI installation directory,

typically C:\OPENBI\export_resources

3) Paste your template there

4) Manually enter the name of the file (e.g. MyExport.pptx) into the Template parameter

in the Excel, Word, PowerPoint or PDF Content group.

This way, the Export service will automatically load the file from the export_resources folder.

Important Note: You can use PPT and PPTX formats for PowerPoint Export, DOC and DOCX for Word

Export, XLS and XLSX for Excel Export. For PDF Exports you can upload templates in

DOC, DOCX, PPT and PPTX formats.

3.2.7. Upload a template via the Additional Properties Pane

If you do not have authorization to access the server which runs the open bi Repository, you

can also upload the template via the Template Manager, which is accessible via Upload

Export Templates on the Additional Properties pane. This does not store the file in the

export_resources directory but in the database of the Repository.

Figure 26: Additional Properties Pane

To upload the template, click on “Export Template Manager”, which opens a new window.

1) Login with the user you created

Figure 27: Login to Export Template Manager

2) You will be forwarded to a dropbox like account, which allows you to upload

templates, rename and organize them in folders.


Figure 28: Export Template Manager

3) Manually enter the name of the file into the Template parameter in the Excel, Word,

PowerPoint or PDF Content group. If you use folders, enter the whole path including

its parent folders (e.g. Controlling/MyTemplate.pptx). If you use multiple export roles,

you should also include it in the path in order to make the file unique (e.g.

designstudio/Controlling/MyTemplate.pptx).

Important Notes: By default, users can only see templates uploaded by themselves. If you want two users to

be able to work on the same templates:

1. Create a role with a name starting with “biexport_upload” (note that you can create

multiple upload roles so you can use them with different user groups

2. Assign the role to all users that shall work on the same templates.

Note that it is currently not possible to assign multiple upload roles to one user.

If you want to change the layout of the Template Manager or you want to add columns to the

table, proceed as follows:

1. Open the openbi Configurator, navigate to „Settings” and „Multi Edit”.

2. Enter “dropbox” in the search field


3. Open items „dropbox“ and perform the following changes, if you want to show

changed date and creation date in the header of the table:

4. Open items „dropboxitem“ and perform the following changes, in order to show both

dates for each entry in the table:

5. Click on “File” and choose “Save all”


3.3. Export Page Book and Tab strip Components

Page Books and Tab strips are a good means to structure applications. SAP only renders the

currently selected tab or page. This leads to the disadvantage when it comes to exporting

that the hidden tabs cannot be exported automatically.

There are several alternatives to export such applications:

1. To export each page individually:

Add a separate Export Component on each page.

2. To export all content – including the components on hidden tabs:

Follow the instructions in section 5.4.

3. To let the user choose what to export:

Follow the instructions in section 5.3.

3.4. Export hidden Components / Add content to the Export

Elements that are hidden via the Visibility property or the corresponding Design Studio Script

function are entirely deleted from the HTML and can therefore not be exported as long as

they are hidden.

There are the following alternatives to export these hidden components:

1. For all components that are not SVG-based:

Use our CSS class “openbihidden” instead of the Visibility property. An example can

be found in our biexcellence blog: http://www.biexcellence.com/blog?how-to-export-

hidden-components-in-sap-design-studio-73

2. For SVG components (such as Charts):

For performance reasons SVGs are not rendered at all by the Browser as long as

they are hidden. As a workaround you can implement the hide function just in the

opposite direction:

a. Create an auxiliary element (e.g. a Panel with a CSS class defining a white,

non-transparent background

b. Place the auxiliary element just in front of the element you want to hide /

unhide

c. If you want to hide the element, set the auxiliary element to visible

d. If you want to unhide the element, set the auxiliary element to hidden

3. Use the concept of Alternative Export Applications (section 5.4) and pass a Url

parameter which sets all components to visible when the Export service executes the

application.

The use of the “openbihidden” class also enables you to add additional system information or

Components to the export. The class can be used with any standard or custom component


3.5. Hide Components from the Export

If you want to show content on the screen but hide it for the PDF export you can use CSS

class “openbihideonprint” or use the Visible Components parameter (section 2.6).

3.6. Export Components with Scrollbars

If you are neither using an Export Template nor the HTML Template property for PDF

Exports, components are always exported as they appear on the Application. Scrollbars are

also kept in order not to disturb the predefined layout.

As soon as you specify an Export Template, scrollbars are automatically deleted.

3.7. Export Text and Table Components

We currently support high quality and editable text export for the following components:

• SAP’s CROSSTAB Component

• graphomate Tables

• formatted and simple texts

• dropdown boxes and input fields

• filter lines

All other components can be exported as images without scrollbars – but they can be

enabled for the editable copy export upon your request.

The editable copies are only available if you use Export Templates. You activate the editable

text export with the suffix “:TEXT” (keep the CSS styles of the component) or “:VALUE” (keep

the formatting of the placeholder). For Excel, Components are always exported as an

editable copy when supported.

You can also split tables after a certain number of content columns or rows by adding the

suffix “:TEXT[4x10]”. See section 3.2.1 to 3.2.4 for details.

If a Crosstab contains so many rows or columns that scrollbars appear on the Design Studio

application, SAP by default only renders the visible cells. Consequently, also the Export only

contains parts of the data. You can change this by altering the behavior of the Crosstab via

the properties grouped under “Optimization for Low Data Volume”:

Figure 29: Limitation properties for the crosstab

This setting however can lead to performance problems in Design Studio if really huge data

sets shall be exported. For the export of more than 9999 table rows we offer the “open bi

Export Table” Component. This table supports up to 1 million cells and replaces the limited


contents of a crosstab with the full result set in the export. It can be used for exports as

follows:

1. Drag in the Export Table component

2. Enter the crosstab you want to export in the “Crosstab Name” property. The export

table will replace its contents.

If this does not work for you, enter the

3. Select the same Data Source for the Export Table as the one providing data to the

crosstab (via the “Data Source” property in the “Data Binding” group)

4. You can also define whether cells shall be repeated or merged, conditions and units

shall be displayed. For units, you can choose “Display units in data cells” (“DATA”),

“Display in Header (“HEADER”) or “Do not display” (“NONE”).

5. If you want to show conditions in the entire row, set “Apply to entire row” to true.

Figure 30: Property Pane of the open bi Export Table

If you want to hide keyfigures from the export table, e.g. because they are only auxiliary to

activate exception coloring of other cells, you can select them to be hidden from the export:

Figure 31: Export Table property “Hidden Keyfigures”

If you want to use the Export table to export to Microsoft Excel, you might experience

problems with the number formatting for special key figures such as dates. For these key

figures, you can disable number formatting completely, so they are still shown correctly in the

Excel document:

Figure 32: Export Table property “Disable number formatting”

You can use the series picker to select the key figures in both cases:


Figure 33: Property Pane of the open bi Export Table

Important Note:

The number of cells being allowed in the result set can be limited via the admin parameter

AAD_

_MAX_CELLS. It is by default set to 50.000. Please refer to SAP’s note on this:

If wrongly used such option could influence a whole BIP system. Therefore, we have a new

admin parameter AAD_SDK_MAX_CELLS which has a default value 50.000. Administrators

can change it to higher or lower value, e.g. by changing the RSADMIN table for NetWeaver

or adding a JVM argument "-DAAD_SDK_MAX_CELLS=<something>. The lower of the

SDK-component specific option and the admin parameter is used at runtime to decide if the

error message "Too much data" should be displayed.”

Also, check note 1127156 for the general OLAP safety belt for BEx queries.

You can control all properties via SAP Script methods. You can also use the methods

getResultSetColumnCount(), getResultSetRowCount(), ,getResultSetCellCount() to retrieve

the size of the result set. To use these three methods, set parameter “Enable getResult*()

methods” to true.


3.8. Adjust properties on the fly

All properties that are available on the Properties pane can also be set dynamically (section

2.12). This enables you to change properties during runtime of the application. You can also

use it to create a popup for the users, where they can adjust specific export settings such as

page orientation, size, header and footer texts. You could even make them change the

Components they want to export.

With Design Studio Script simply call the corresponding function of your Export component,

e.g. OPENBIEXPORT_1.setPptTemplate(“xxx”). OPENBIEXPORT_1 stands for the name of

your Export component. An example can be found in our biexcellence blog:

http://www.biexcellence.com/blog?sap-design-studio-export-add-on-how-to-use-dynamic-

scripting-70

Important Note:

Make sure to Url escape any special characters, e.g. “\” with “\\”.

3.9. Add meta information placeholders

Placeholders can be used for the following Export properties:

• Content Template

• Bookmark Template

• Header HTML

• Footer HTML

• Template (PDF, PowerPoint, Word and Excel)

You can use the following placeholders to display generic meta data:

Placeholder Description

%EXECUTION_DATE% Current date in long format

%EXECUTION_DATE_SHORT% Current date in short format

%EXECUTION_TIME% Current time in long format

%EXECUTION_TIME_SHORT% Current time in short format

%TITLE% Title of the Design Studio application

%PAGE% Current page (only for PDF)

%PAGES% Total number of pages (only for PDF)

http://www.biexcellence.com/blog?sap-design-studio-export-add-on-how-to-use-dynamic-scripting-70

http://www.biexcellence.com/blog?sap-design-studio-export-add-on-how-to-use-dynamic-scripting-70


Important Note:

Do not name components like the generic placeholders. If you do so, the generic

placeholders will win in most placeholder scenarios.

If you set property Include Meta Data (section 2.2) to true, you can additionally access all

meta data information of the application and all its data sources.

Important Notes:

Make sure to include the updateMetaData call in the onApply events for filters. Otherwise the

meta information for the export might not be up to date.

For Lumira 2.0, these placeholders are currently not supported!

Using the placeholder %OPENBIEXPORT_1%:TEXT (i.e. the export component in text

representation will render standard information paragraph, including variable settings for all

data sources.

If you want to control explicitly which information to show in the Export document, you can

use the following placeholders:

Placeholder Path Description

%applicationInfo.XXX% Display all properties XXX of the ApplicationInfo object,

which SAP allows you to access via script method

APPLICATION.getInfo()

Example: %applicationInfo.name%

%DS.info.XXX% Display all properties XXX of the datasource object DS,

which SAP allows you to access via script method

DS.getInfo()

Example: %AREA.info.user%

%DS.dimensions.DIM.text% Display the name of dimension DIM of data source DS

Example: %AREA.dimensions.0CALYEAR.text%

%DS.dimensions.DIM.filterText% Display the filters set for dimension DIM of data source

DS in text representation

Example: %AREA.dimensions.0CALYEAR.filterText%

%DS.dimensions.DIM.filterValue% Display the filters set for dimension DIM of data source

DS in value representation

Example: %AREA.dimensions.0CALYEAR.filterValue%


Placeholder Path Description

%DS.dimensions.DIM.staticFilterText% Display the static filters set for dimension DIM of data

source DS in text representation

Example: %AREA.dimensions.0CALYEAR.staticFilterText%

%DS.dimensions.DIM.staticFilterValue% Display the static filters set for dimension DIM of data

source DS in value representation

Example:

%AREA.dimensions.0CALYEAR.staticFilterValue%

%DS.dimensions.DIM.dynFilterText% Display the dynamic filters set for dimension DIM of data

source DS in text representation

Example: %AREA.dimensions.0CALYEAR.dynFilterText%

%DS.dimensions.DIM. dynFilterValue% Display the dynamic filters set for dimension DIM of data

source DS in value representation

Example: %AREA.dimensions.0CALYEAR.dynFilterValue%

%DS.variables.VAR.text% Display the name of variable VAR of data source DS

Example: %AREA.variables.ZCALYEAR.text%

%DS.variables.VAR.variableText% Display the values set for variable VAR of data source DS

in text representation

Example: %AREA.variables.ZCALYEAR.variableText%

%DS.variables.VAR.variableValue% Display the values set for variable VAR of data source DS

in value representation

Example: %AREA.variables.ZCALYEAR.variableValue%

You can also define your own custom placeholders with the use of the Custom Texts Array

(section 2.3).

In the following example we replace custom placeholder %DEPARTMENT% with

“Financials” and %USERNAME% with “William Smith”.

Placeholder Value

DEPARTMENT Financials

USERNAME William Smith


3.10. Repeat information such as filters on every PDF page

A frequent requirement is to repeat information about filters on every PDF page. You can do

this very easily by creating a panel which includes this information. Then enter the technical

name of this component into the “Page Header” or “Page Footer” properties (e.g.

%FILTER_PANEL%).

If you want to display this component only on the export, follow the instructions of section

3.5.


4. THE SIMPLE EXPORT COMPONENT

In this chapter, we will describe the open bi Simple Export Component and its properties in

detail. This component allows for exporting data of a data source to the CSV format or to the

clipboard.

You can drag the component to the canvas multiple times and bind it to different data

sources. For example, you can place the export button above the tables and charts you want

to export to CSV.

When you drag the component onto a Design Studio Application, it will render a button on

the canvas:

Figure 34: Rendered Export 2 CSV Component

In the Properties pane you find several options to alter the rendering of the component and

the generation of the export.

Figure 35: Properties of the Export Component

The groups “General” and “Layout” include the standard Design Studio properties. The other

groups we will describe in detail in the following sections.


Important Note:

You can also use SAP Script to set and get the parameters.

4.1. Display Parameter

This group contains important setup properties, such as the appearance of the buttons:


Button Text The text that is displayed on the Client Export Button.

Default: CSV Export

Export Mode Switch between CSV and Clipboard export

Repeat Cells Switch the cell repetition on or off

Show Units Switch the display of units on or off

Conditional Formatting Switch the display of conditional formatting on or off

4.2. CSV Export Parameters

This group contains special properties for CSV export:


Row Delimiter The character to be used to split individual rows in the CSV export.

Default: Carriage Return and Line Feed.

Column Delimiter The character to be used to split individual fields in the CSV export.

Default: “;”

4.3. Data Binding Properties

Here you have to select a data source that shall be exported. This is possible via the “Data

Source” parameter in the same way as for the standard items.


5. PUBLISHING & BROADCASTING

In the standard mode, the Export component delivers the Export document directly to the

user and includes the currently viewed content of the Design Studio application.

There are several other Export requirements that can be also achieved with the component

by manipulating certain parameters, such as:

• Store the document on a file share / portal (5.1)

• Send the document via email (5.1)

• Use the document as input for a signature process including custom data (52)

• Flexibly create the Export document by adding view by view with a click (5.3)

• Export another application / multiple applications (5.4)

• Create a document showing multiple different variable selections (5.5)

• Export all tabs of an application or export any hidden content (5.6)

• Create a document which shows content from multiple applications (5.7)

• Schedule the generation with Broadcasting to receive the result automatically (5.8)

5.1. Alternatives to receiving the export document directly

The property “Publish Mode” (section 2.3) allows you to choose to:

1. Send the Export document to a mail recipient

2. Store the document on a file share (from which it can be read by a batch job for

further publishing)

3. Create your own publishing method (contact us for details)

If you choose delivery via mail, you can define the subject and body of the mail, as well as

the mail sender and mail recipient via properties of the Export component (section 2.3). You

can also create a popup to allow a user to specify these properties before exporting (section

3.8). Make sure to have configured the mail connection via Custom Parameters SMTP_*

(section 1.2.3).

Figure 36: Illustration of the publication feature


5.2. Pass custom data with the Export

You can also configure the Export to store meta information with the document. This is

helpful if you want to use the Export document for further processing, e.g. in a signature

process.

To use this feature, you can use the following parameters in the “Custom Parameters”

property (secion 2.3) of the Export component to do so:

Custom Parameter Description

FILE_NAME_x Name of the file that shall be created in addition to the Export document.

“x” stands for a digit from “1” to “9”. You can create multiple files by

adding multiple parameters, e.g. FILE_NAME_1 and FILE_NAME_2.

FILE_CONTENT_x Holds the text that shall be saved in file FILE_NAME_x. “x” stands for a

digit from “1” to “9”.

ZIP_NAME If you want to provide the metadata files and the Export document in

one zip archive, you simply have to provide a file name in this parameter.

Example:

The following JSON string creates two files “data_1.xml” and “data_2.xml” which are stored

in zip archive “Report.zip” together with the Export document. You can set the property

dynamically with Design Studio Script (section 2.12):

Parameter Value

FILE_NAME_1 Data_1.xml

FILE_CONTENT_1 Test data 1

FILE_NAME_2 Data_2.xml

FILE_CONTENT_2 Test data 2

ZIP_NAME Report


5.3. The “Add to document…” feature

The “Add to document…” feature allows reporting users not only to create a document from

what they are currently viewing, but actually add different views to one document!

This feature can be very helpful if a user:

• Wants to document the individual steps in the analysis

• Wants to create an individual Briefing Book by selecting the individual tabs that shall

be exported or by choosing different filters

Figure 37: Illustration of the “Add to document” feature

For the end user, this feature can be made available e.g. through two buttons: One with the

“Add to document…” feature, and another one to create the final document. The “Add to

document…” feature works with all export formats, so users can choose either to create a

PDF, PowerPoint, Word or Excel document in the end.

You can add the “Add to document…” feature simply by calling method addExportView(“”); in

the on Click event of the button. The Export service realizes that you did not specify any

output format for the export method, and hence will store the current view for later

generation.

If you call the doExport method on click of the second button with the parameter specified as

“PDF”, “PPTX”, “DOCX” etc. , you can export all selected views into the corresponding

format.

You can clear all views again by calling method clearExportViews(“”);


5.4. Use an alternative Design Studio application for the Export

We recommend using an alternative application for the Export in the following scenarios:

• Export a special application with additional content (this section)

• Export the same application with different filter selections (section 5.5)

• Export all tabs of an application, not just the one currently visible (section 5.6)

• Export multiple applications at the same time (section 5.7)

Figure 38: Illustration of the “Alternative Export Application” feature

The following instructions shall guide you through the setup for Alternative Export

Applications:

1. The Export service needs to be configured to connect to the Design Studio server.

Follow the instructions of section 1.2.4 for details.

2. Create Global URL Variables, which will be passed by the Export service

Figure 39: Global Script Variables in Scripting


Figure 40: Edit Global Script Variables

3. Implement the OnStartup event to work on the Url Parameters. You can use the Url

Parameters to pass a navigational state, to define which tab shall be exported, or to

make sure that also components that are normally set to invisible shall be visible to

the user.

Figure 41: OnStartup event

4. Copy the CUID of the application that you want to use as an “Alternative Export

Application” into the Clipboard.

Figure 42: CUID in the General properties of the Application

5. Create an entry for the Alternative Export Application property of the Export

Component. Copy the CUID into the Application ID field. You can also specify

multiple CUIDs separated by semicolon. The Export service will execute all

applications and add them to one export document.


In most cases you can leave the settings parameter empty – however you could use

it to pass export settings specifically to one of the export applications.

Application ID Settings

AW5fOOB5xY1Erd28QiDbHw

6. In the original Design Studio Application fill the “Url Parameters Array” parameter to

pass values to the URL parameters of the Alternative Export Application (see

sections 5.5 and 5.6 for details)

Important Note:

With Lumira 2.0 only the document provides a CUID. Extract it in the same way as the

Application ID in Design Studio 1.x and enter it in the Document ID field. Then enter the

technical name of the application in the Application ID field.


5.5. Multiple Exports with different filter selections

Let’s say you do not want to Export a simple copy of what the user sees online. But you want

to provide different views in one document. For example the overview on page 1, and the

same information detailed to the four sales regions North, West, East and South on the

following pages.

You can achieve this by using the “Url Parameter Array” property:

Element Description

Applications Optional: The application CUIDs of this parameter. If you specified

multiple CUIDs in “Alternative Export Application” you might not want

every parameter to be applied to every application url especially

“iterative” parameters.

Example: CUID1;CUID2

parameter The name of the URL parameter in the target Design Studio application

iterative true: Create a separate URL for each value in values

false: Pass all values with one url

values The values to be passed as URL parameter parameter separated by

semicolon.

Example: 0;1;2

Important Note:

With Lumira 2.0 you enter the technical name of the application instead of the CUID. If this

technical name is unique, you do not have to specify the Document ID. If not, enter the

Document CUID in the Document ID field.

The element values can contain a string of values, but it may also be used as a complex object itself. This is to define “dependent iterations”, e.g. to iterate over several states of a special country, and over other states of a second country. In that case, the values field consists of the following sub objects that have to be defined by a JSON string. Note that you can even combine multiple levels of dependent iterations for really complex scenarios.

JSON object Description

value The value or multiple values to be passed for this parameter

dependent A set of param, iterative, values JSON objects


The following examples show you how to use the URL parameters array in JSON and

simplified notation. Please note that these examples are based on the setup described for

the setup Alternative Export Applications (section 5.4).

Example 1:

You want to create multiple exports for the individual Sales Region:

1. Define an URL parameter, e.g. XREGION, in your application.

2. Add a Design Studio script to fill the parameter value into the filter of your Sales

Region dimension.

3. Fill property “Alternative Export Application” with the application’s CUID.

4. Fill property “Url Parameter Array” as follows:


XREGION True ;NORTH;SOUTH;EAST;WEST

This will force the Export to call the Alternative Export Application 5 times. Each time

the URL parameter XREGION is set with one of the passed values: empty, NORTH,

SOUTH, EAST and WEST

Example 2:

In this example, we want to pass the current selection state to the Alternative Export

Application, so the export shows the same content as the online Application. The context of

two dimensions shall be passed: REGION and COUNTRY

1. Define two URL parameters, e.g. XREGION and XCOUNTRY, in your application.

2. Add a Design Studio script to fill the parameter values into the filter of your Sales

Region and Country dimensionss




XREGION False NORTH

XCOUNTRY False US

This will force the Export to call the Alternative Export Application only once –

indicated by the empty second parameter for both dimensions. URL parameter

XREGION will be filled with NORTH, XCOUNTRY with US.


Example 3:

In this example, we want to execute the Alternative Export Application twice, once for

Germany and once for France. For Germany, we want to show the NORTH and SOUTH

sales regions. For France, we only show the overall result.

1. Define two URL parameters, e.g. XREGION and XCOUNTRY, in your application.

2. Add a Design Studio script to fill the parameter values into the filter of your Sales

Region and Country dimensions.




XCOUNTRY True See JSON notation below

[{

"value": "FR"

},{

"value": "DE",

"dependent": [{

"parameter": "XREGION",

"iterative": true,

"values": "NORTH;SOUTH"

}]

}]

Example 4:

This example is very similar to example 3. The only difference is that we do not want to

execute a dependent iteration for Germany. Instead we want to pass additional filters for

Sales Organization and Profit Center, which should only be applied to the Germany run.

This is the altered JSON notation for this example:

[{

"value": "FR"

},{

"value": "DE",

"dependent": [{

"parameter": "XSALESORG",

"iterative": false,

"values": "1000"

}, {

"parameter": "XPROFIT",


"iterative": false,

"values": "1000"

}]

}]

Example 5:

This example is an enhancement to example 3. We add a third level In the dependent

iteration: For both regions North and South, we want to access to different pages of a page

book.


[{

"value": "FR"

},{

"value": "DE",

"dependent": [{


"iterative": true,

"values": [{

"value": "NORTH",

"dependent": [{

"parameter": "XPAGE",

"iterative": true,

"values": “0;1”

},{

"value": "SOUTH",

"dependent": [{

"parameter": "XPAGE",

"iterative": true,

"values": “0;1”

}]

}]

Example 6:

This example is an enhancement to example 3. For Germany, we not only want to show

separately regions NORTH and SOUTH, but also the two main product groups 4711 and

4712.



[{

"value": "FR"

},{

"value": "DE",

"dependent": [{


"iterative": true,

"values": "NORTH;SOUTH"

},{

"value": "DE",

"dependent": [{

"parameter": "XPROD_GRP",

"iterative": true,

"values": "4711;4712"

}]

}]

Important Note:

You can fill the Url Parameter Array dynamically via Design Studio script. This allows

you to maintain the variable values dynamically, e.g. by reading out filter values from a

dropdown box.

Make sure that the parameter name that you pass in the second parameter has been defined

as a Url parameter in the Design Studio application that you use as “Alternative Export

Application”.


5.6. Export all tabs or invisible components

In sections 3.3 and 3.4 we have already discussed the problems that arise if you want to

export components that are set to invisible in the application or if you want to export all tabs

of an application at once.

For these scenarios you can reuse the “Url parameter array” that we presented in section 5.5

to find a very straightforward solution to these requests.

First of all it is important to understand that you can pass anything you want via the Url

parameter array. You are responsible of filling the parameter correctly, of creating the

necessary Url parameters in the application, and of using the provided values to do

something on startup of your application.

With this more general approach than the one we discussed in section 5.5, you can find two

simple solutions to both problems. Of course you can also combine the two, and also

combine them with the solution to pass a navigational context from section 5.5.

Example 1:

You want to export multiple tabs. Let’s say there are 5 tabs in total in your applicaion:

1. Define an URL parameter, e.g. XTABNO, in your application.

2. Add a Design Studio script to set the selected tab of the tab strip with the index

provided via the Url parameter.

3. Fill property “Alternative Export Application” with the application’s CUID

4. Fill property “Url Parameter Array” in the original application as follows:


XTABNO True 0;1;2;3;4

This will force the Export to call the Alternative Export Application 5 times iteratively –

indicated by the “X” in the second parameter. Each time the URL parameter XTABNO

is set with one of the passed values – and hence tab 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are exported!

Example 2:

You want to export also invisible components:

1. Define an URL parameter, e.g. XEXPORT, in your application.

2. Add a Design Studio script that checks if Url parameter XEXPORT is set to TRUE. If

so, call the setVisible method of all your components to display them in the export

document.

3. Fill property “Alternative Export Application” with the application’s CUID

4. Fill property “Url Parameter Array” in the original application as follows:



XEXPORT False TRUE

This will force the Export to call the Alternative Export Application only once. The

XEXPORT Url parameter will be set to TRUE. This will set all components to visible,

whereas they remain hidden if the user executes the application.

Example 3:

With the dependent iteration (Example 3 of section 5.5) you can even export nested tab

strips and page books. Let’s say you have two tabs. The first one contains a page book with

two pages, the second one a page book with three pages. Here the JSON which controls the

export:


XTABNO True See JSON notation below

[{

"value": "0”,

"iteration": {

"param: "XPAGENO_1",

"iterative": true,

"values": "0;1"

},{

"value": "1”,

"iteration": {

"param: "XPAGENO_2",

"iterative": true,

"values": "0;1;2"

}

}]


5.7. Create Mass Exports of multiple Design Studio applications

Let’s say you want to create a Briefing Book which contains data of several Design Studio

applications, such as Financial, Sales and Marketing overview. Or you want to create a

Briefing Book with an overview and a detail page, and these views are already provided by

two different applications.

In this case, you can again use the “Alternative Export Application” property (section 5.4).

Simply enter the CUIDs of all required Design Studio applications and separate them by

semicolon.

You can pass different parameters to each of the applications. You can also alter specific

settings for each application. Both settings are described in the following examples.

Example 1 – Pass different parameters to the applications:

You pass different parameters to applications via the “URL Parameter Array”.

The following example passes parameter XTABNO 0 and 1 to the first application and

XREGION US to the second:


AZGPSFXN2mNCleXONjj4dOY XTABNO True 0;1

Afy1biy1KclJth9UP6UjVsg XREGION False US

Example 2 – Pass different settings to the applications:

You pass different settings to applications via the “Alternative Export Application” property.

The following example sets “Static Screen Height” and “Static Screen Width” for the first

application, and “Calculate Width from Children” for the second:

AZGPSFXN2mNCleXONjj4dOY{"fixed_height": 200, "fixed_width":

100;Afy1biy1KclJth9UP6UjVsg}{"width_from_children": true}


5.8. Broadcasting & Scheduling

Broadcasting & Scheduling allows you to send the export to one or more mail recipients at a

given point in time. Please be aware that the following feature requires a separate license!

Contact us for details.

To use scheduling, the following has to be set up:

• If you want to deliver the documents via mail, the Export service needs to be

configured to connect to the Mail server via Custom Parameter SMTP_SERVER

(section 1.2.3)

• The Export service needs to be configured to connect to the Design Studio server

(section 1.2.4).

Broadcasting and scheduling can then be controlled via the following properties (section 2.3):

• Alternatie Export Application

• Url Parameters Array

• Scheduling Parameters

• Mail To / Subject / Body

You can use these parameters in different ways for the following scenarios:

• Allow the user to create a specific navigational state and schedule it for generation

• Create a static, predefined Broadcast function for each application

• Create a control application, which allows users to choose the application(s) they

want to export, preset filters, define the scheduling and maintain mail recipients

The Scheduling Parameters property has the following fields:

Field Description

startDate Start Date of the Schedule

startTime Start Time of the Schedule

endDate End Date of the Schedule

noRuns As an alternative to specifying an end date – define the number of runs.

frequence Defines the frequence of the schedule: daily, weekly, monthly


5.9. Mail Bursting

If you want to automatically provide employees with different filter selection of the same application, you can use an enhancement of the iterative execution described in section 5.5. Let’s reuse example 1 of that section. There we have created the following URL Parameter:


XREGION True ;NORTH;SOUTH;EAST;WEST

In section 5.5 this resulted in a document containing contents of all 5 filter selections.

If you set the Publishing parameter “Separate Files” to true, you will already get 5 individual

documents, one for each filter value.

Now, you only have to define different filter contexts in the Mail Recipient parameter such as:

Mail Address For filter context

[email protected] XREGION=NORTH

[email protected] XREGION=SOUTH

[email protected] XREGION=EAST


5.10. Dynamic Template Definitions

We have already introduced the concept of Export Templates in sections 3.1 and 3.2: Master

templates provide a generic approach to export different numbers of components. Specific

templates allow you to split huge tables or two create individual layouts. Even if you can

define several specific templates and dynamically switch between them, this concept

becomes difficult to maintain if you want to provide specific templates for a changing group of

components.

This is where Dynamic Template Definitions become very handy. They allow you to

dynamically put together export templates, or even to create whole templates

programmatically on the fly.

Dynamic Template Definitions are available for PDF, Word and PowerPoint exports. PDF

and Word use the same definitions. The aim is to create an Export template dynamically. Its

placeholders are replaced by the Export engine in the same way as for the Export templates.

5.10.1. PDF and Word definitions

A PDF or Word template definition consists of a Document Definition object, which itself

consists of multiple document sections:

Document Definition

Field Description

template Optional: Filename of an export template that shall be used for the

whole document. The template has to be uploaded to the server

(sections 3.2.6 or 3.2.7).

Using a document template makes sense if you want to create a

template completely on the fly. The document can then provide already

the title page and table of contents, for example.

sections Array of Document Sections

To create a Document Definition call:

var ldocument = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentDefinition("DOCUMENT.docx",

lsections);

Document Sections hold the individual document contents. It is defined as follows:


Document Section

Field Description

template Optional: Filename of an export template that shall be used for the

section. The template has to be uploaded to the server (sections 3.2.6

or 3.2.7).

Using a section template makes sense if you want to combine

predefined generic template parts for the export template.

containsPageBreak True: Page Break shall be rendered at the end of the section.

False: The next section starts were this section ended.

placeholderValues Array of placeholder names and the values that shall replace them

placehloderRedefinitions Array of placeholder names and the new names that shall replace them

contentElements Array of document elements, such as texts, placeholers etc.

There are two options for defining the creating a template definition for PDF or Word:

1. Use existing generic templates and replace their generic placeholders with values or

changed placeholder names

var lsection =

OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentSectionFromTemplate("CONTENT.docx",

false, lplaceholder_values, lplaceholder_redefinitions);

2. Add content elements such as texts, placeholders and page breaks directly to the

section

var lsection = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentSectionFromContent("",

false, lcontent);

The section array is then created with:

var lsections = [lsection];

And additional sections are afterwards added with:

lsections.push(lsection);


Placeholder values allow you to replace placeholders in the Section Template with specific

texts. They are very handy e.g. for generic chapter titles. A placeholder value is defined as

follows:

Placeholder Value

Field Description

name Name of the placeholder in the specified export template

value Value to be written into the placeholder

To create an array of placeholder values call:

var lholder1 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createNameValuePair("TEXT_1", "Chapter One");

var lplaceholder_values = [lholder1];

Placeholder redefinitions allow you to create generic Section Templates with generic

placeholders such as “HOLDER_1”. These placeholders can be replaced by specific once

such as “CHART_1”. A placeholder redefinition is defined as follows:

Placeholder Redefinition

Field Description

placeholderName Name of the placeholder in the specified export template

changedName New name that shall replace the placeholder

To create an array of placeholder redefinitions call:

var lholder1 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createPlaceholderRedefinition("HOLDER_1",

"CHART_1");

var lplaceholder_redefinition = [lholder1];

If you want to explicitly add Content Elements to the Document Section you can choose

from the following elements:

A Document Placeholder corresponds to a merge field in the document. It is identified by

the Export service and replaced by a component of your application, such as “%CHART_1%”

is replaced with a chart.

A placeholder is defined as follows:


Document Placeholder

Field Description

type placeholder

definition Name: Name of the placeholder

Style: Optional Word style to be applied to the element

To create a document placeholder call:

lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentPlaceholder("%CHART_1%:WIDTH", "");

A Document Image renders an image into the document. It is defined as follows:

Document Image

Field Description

type image

definition Url: Location from where the image shall be downloaded

Width: Width of the image in the document

Height: Height of the image in the document

To create a document image call:

lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentImage(

"http://localhost:9091/export_resources/Kaufhof.png", 100, 100);

A Document Link adds a hyperlink to the document. It is defined as follows:

Document Link

Field Description

type hyperlink

definition Url: Target of the hyperlink

Text: Text to be displayed for the hyperlink



To create a document link call:

lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentLink("und dies ein Link",

"http://www.biexcellence.com", "");

A Document Paragraph starts a new paragraph in the document. It is defined as follows:

Document Paragraph

Field Description

type paragraph

definition Word style to be applied to the element

To create a document paragraph call:

lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentParagraph("");

A Document Header adds a section header to the document. It is defined as follows:

Document Header

Field Description

type header

definition Level: Level of the header (1…9)

Text: Text to be displayed for the header

To create a document link call:

lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentHeader("Caption 1", 1);

A Document Text adds text to the document. It is defined as follows:

Document Text

Field Description

type text

definition Text: Text to be displayed, can be formatted in HTML



To create a document text call:

var lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentText("Document Title", "Title");

A Document Pagebreak adds a pagebreak to the document. It is defined as follows:

Document Pagebreak

Field Description

type pagebreak


var lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentPagebreak();

A Document TOC adds a table of contents to the document. It is defined as follows:

Document TOC

Field Description

type toc

definition Optional: Switches to control the rendering of the TOC


var lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentTOC ();

A Document Table adds a table to the document. It is defined as follows:

Document Table

Field Description

type table

definition Array of table rows

A table row is defined as follows:


Document Row

Field Description

type row

definition Array of table cells

A table cell is defined as follows:

Document Cell

Field Description

type row

definition Array of content elements

To create a document table use a script as follows:

// create two table cells in the row

var ltext = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentText("<b>Dies ist</b> ein Text",

"");

var lcontentcell = [ltext];

var lcell = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentTableCell(lcontentcell);

var lcells = [lcell];

ltext = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentText("Second Column second cell", "");

lcontentcell = [ltext];

lcell = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentTableCell(lcontentcell);

lcells.push(lcell);

var lrow = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentTableRow(lcells);

var lrows = [lrow];

// create another row

ltext = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentText("Second row", "");



lcells = [lcell];

ltext = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentText("Last cell", "");



lcells.push(lcell);

lrow = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentTableRow(lcells);

lrows.push(lrow);

// create table

var ltable = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentTable(lrows);


To add one of the content elements, which we have created above, to the section or to a

table cell, create an array:

var lcontent = [lpage2];

Or add another element to an already created array:

lcontent.push(ltable);

This full example explains how to create a simple Export Template Definition:

var lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentText("Some text", "Title");

var lcontent = [lpage2];

lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentHeader("Chapter 1", 1);

lcontent.push(lpage2);

lpage2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentText("Some more text", "");

lcontent.push(lpage2);

var lsection = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentSectionFromContent("", false,

lcontent);


var ldocument =

OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentDefinition("admin/DynamicDefinition/TITLE.docx

", lsections);

OPENBIEXPORT_1.setDocTemplateDefinition(ldocument);

5.10.2. PowerPoint definitions

PowerPoint template definitions use the same object definitions and methods as the Word

and PDF template definitions. However, you can only use the option of using generic

templates.

The idea is to create different PowerPoint parts as generic templates, such as:

• Title page and agenda

• Layout for one component

• Layout for two components

• Layout for three components

• Layout for table exports

These PowerPoint templates can then be rearranged using multiple document sections.

The following example explains how to create such an Export Template Definition;

// create empty arrays

var lholder1 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createNameValuePair("", "");

var lplaceholder1 = [lholder1];

var lholder2 = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createPlaceholderRedefinition("", "");

var lplaceholder2 = [lholder2];

var lempty = OPENBIEXPORT_1.createDocumentPagebreak();


6. PROBLEM SOLVING AND TRACING

This section shall give you first aid in case you are facing problems with our Export

component.

If you need to record a trace, proceed as follows:

1. Login to the Export Service via openbi Configurator.

2. Set the following Additional Parameters via “Server Settings” (see section 1.2.3)

• TRACE = “X”

• EXPORT_TRACE = “ALL”

• TRACE_PATH = “[open bi installation directory]\export_temp\OpenBiTrace.txt”

• Optionally set EXPORT_TRACE_MAIL to automatically send the trace to the specified mail address Restart the Export service

3. Perform the exports you want to trace

4. Collect the OpenBiTrace.txt and all other files that have been created in “[open bi installation directory]\export_temp\ and send them to us.

5. Reset the Additional Parameters to:

• TRACE = “”

• EXPORT_TRACE = “BASIC”

6. Delete the trace files

7. Restart the Export service

6.1. No document is returned

If nothing happens when you click on the Export buttons, please check the following points

one by one. Step 4 is only required if step 3 does not show any errors.

1. Check if the server URL, which you provided, can be reached from your machine

2. Create a trace on the open bi Repository (refer to section 5.1 of the open bi

Repository Installation Guide)

3. Run the console of the open bi Repository (refer to section 5.2 of the open bi

Repository Installation Guide)

4. Record a trace as described on the beginning of this section.

If the trace contains the following exception the problem is caused by content, e.g. because

the page is quite complex:

“Failed to add HTML: Page load timed out.; Gecko engine hit an error that it was unable to

recover from. Possible causes: XULRunner folder is corrupt or is from another version of

ABCpdf.”


In this case set the EXPORT_TIMEOUT parameter in the Configurator. Start with 20000 and

increase by 5000 steps to test.

6.2. No document is returned on iOS devices

On iOS devices the export does only work with Publish Mode set to “ONLINE”. Because the

Safari on iOS does not allow downloads inside hidden IFrames only in new browser tabs.

See section 2.3 on details of the setting.

6.3. Document does not contain expected content

If you receive a blank page or some of the standard components are not rendered 100%

correctly, set the “Parse CSS Images” property to “true” (section 2.2).

If this does not help, check which component is downloading content from the Internet. This

is the case e.g. for Google Map based Custom Components. For these components set

Custom Parameter EXPORT_WAITTIME on the open bi Repository. See section 1.2.3 on

details how to maintain Custom Properties.

If this does not help, please follow steps 2, 3 and 4 of section 6.1.

6.4. “Placeholder for client side charts” is displayed

If you are use the “Alternative Export Application” feature and the export does not show any

charts but a grey box with the text “Placeholder for client side charts” you can maintain the

FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION Registry entry:

As an alternative, you can simply open the file ds_export_ie_settings.reg which is part of this

download package.

6.5. Generation takes a lot of time

If the generation of documents takes a long time, this can happen to one of the following

reasons:

1. Bad network connection between client and open bi Repository

2. Export of huge tables or a lot of Components to Microsoft Office

3. A lot of export requests in parallel

4. Quality of the export

For reasons 2 and 3 check your open bi Repository sizing. Please refer to the open bi Repository Installation Guide for details. For reason 4 it is important to know that Components are by default exported in 2 times the quality as they appear on your screen. This allows for good quality also on print outs. However, you can adjust the export quality via Custom Parameter EXPORT_QUALITY. You


can set the quality from “1” (normal quality) to “5” (best quality – default). See section 1.2.3 on details how to maintain Custom Properties.

6.6. SAP Crosstab is exported with a broken header

The export of crosstabs may show a white space in the header between the dimension

header and the column header.

This is due to a broken rendering of cell widths. You can “fill up” the white space with the

following CSS selector:

#CROSSTAB_1_upperLeft{ background-color: #ff0000; }

Replace background-color by the styles special to your crosstab’s header. Replace

CROSSTAB_1 with the name of your crosstab.

6.7. SAP Crosstab is exported with a broken last row

The export of crosstabs may show a truncated last row. You can change this by adding the

following CSS classes to your Design Studio application:

.sapzencrosstab-HeaderCellContentDiv table { border-spacing: 0px; } .sapzencrosstab-HeaderCellContentDiv { line-height: 15px; }

6.8. Lines do not show up in the exports

If lines are defined less than 1 px wide, they may not show up in the export document. Do not

use line width of 0.6 px or the equivalents in rem or em.

6.9. Components show blue background in the export

If the background of your application is blue, export of individual components may show blue

background, eventhough you have used a panel with a white background to hide the

background. In this case, add the following CSS to your application:

.sapUiBodyBackground, .sapUiBody{ background-color: white !important;

background-image: none !important; }


6.10. Objects do not show up in Office exports

If objects are not displayed in the image exports to PowerPoint, Word or Excel, set Custom

Parameter “EXPORT_ENGINE” to “CHROMIUM”.

6.11. Components show wrong sizing in Office exports

If objects are shown with a wrong image size in PowerPoint, Word or Excel – e.g. too much

blank space or condensed content, set Custom Parameter “EXPORT_USE_BROWSER” to

“X”.

6.12. Export service use a lot of memory after running for days

If the export services use a lot of memory after running for days, it might be related to some

third-party libraries which are used for the document generation (PowerPoint, Word, …).

Currently the only workaround is to periodically restart the services. This can be done with

the windows task planner.

Create a “.bat” file with the following contents and schedule it for example on weekends, or at

night.

net stop "BI eXcellence OpenBI Repository Server"

net start "BI eXcellence OpenBI Repository Server"

6.13. Dashboard content is condensed if PDF Page Section is used

Set the parameter “Optimize Height” of your PDF Page Section definition from “false” to “true”.


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