webi pdf export missing dates

[Former Member]

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this problem before.

First a bit of background - this has only started happening since upgrade from XI3.1 to 4.1 SP5

Both Web-based and Rich client exhibit the same behavior:

1. Create simple webi report document containing a date in-table  (ie.  =[SomeDate]).

2. Save as "PDF" (local machine)

Result:  The exported PDF is missing the dates in the table.

Couple of other observations:

1.  Save-As any other format (like Excel) and there's no problem (all dates are visible).

2.  If we Format the date (ie. =FormatDate([SomeDate]; "dd-mmm-yyyy")) that makes the date visible again in the PDF.  (Actually any variable that references the same underlying date seems to show up in the PDF just fine).

3.  It is affecting Scheduled PDF reports on the server, not just local-machine "Save as PDF".

I've tried different Locale settings in Webi and Rich Client to see if that made any difference...  And sadly, it didn't.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks to Ivan from SAP support:

Please uncheck Read As HTML in the Object Format. You can follow the steps below:

1. Import the universe into the UDT.
2. Right click on the dimension [Some Date] -> Object Format.
3. Uncheck Read As Html in Number Tab.
4. Click OK and Save the changes.
5. Export the universe.
6. Open and refresh the reports.
7. Export the report as a pdf file.

This is a limitation of 'Read As Html'.  It supports very limited html tag and the formatted contents may not show properly when exporting them as a PDF file.

[Former Member]

If (like me), you have a great number of dates in many different universes, and need to identify which dates have "Object Format" applied, and which ones don't - this is an excellent tool (and works with 4.1 universes too):

http://bukhantsov.org/2011/09/universe-documenter/

[former_member195292]

Thanks Mike

[Former Member]

Just discovered that the "Object format" defined for the date in the Universe, has bearing on this problem.

* Dates which have Object Format assigned of "Date/Time" "dd/mm/yyyy" are the ones which won't "Save as PDF" correctly under 4.1.

* Dates which have no Object Format are Ok.

I am not sure how and why this has any bearing on whether or not the dates can be exported "as PDF", but it seems like (that under 4.1 at least) it does.   The same behavior was not experienced under 3.1 (not for dates that had ObjectFormat added, nor for dates that had no object format assigned).

[former_member195292]

I had found same sort of behavior for Date format in BO 4.x as well . I though your discover would have  made scene here.