Powerplay Cube Different From Web Cube - why??? 1

[mjcotter]

I have a cube that I'm having a problem with. I have a Dimension that shows assorted codes. When I view the cube:

In the PowerPlay client, from the Dimension Viewer, when I expand the dimension, all of the codes I expect are listed.

In Upfront on the web, from the Dimension Viewer, when I expand the dimension, the codes are NOT listed. Instead, it shows a blank white piece of paper next to the Dimension name.

Why are there differences between the Powerplay client cube and the Upfront web cube???

Thanks!

 

[DoubleD]

First you should ensure that you have the most recent version of the mdc on the web. Easiest way to do this is to modify the properties of the mdl in PPES. Set the title bar to read "Last Updated: <MDC Date> <MDC Time>".
Now when you open the cube in Upfront, the title bar will show the last time the file was updated. Compare that Date & Time with the Date & Time of the file you have been accessing on your desktop.

Pain is stress leaving the body.

DoubleD

 

[mjcotter]

Yes, I have the following line in the Title Bar of all of my cubes:

This Cube Was Refreshed On: <VAR>MDC file date</VAR> at <VAR>MDC file time</VAR>

The version of the cube on the web is most certainly the same version of the cube I'm opening in Powerplay client. To be safe, I completely deleted it from the web and re-added it through the PPES Admin tool. The differing dimension issue is still present.

Very peculiar.

Thanks!

 

[DoubleD]

Are you using security in the mdl?

Pain is stress leaving the body.

DoubleD

 

[mjcotter]

No, not using any security in the mdl, well, actually pyi.

Thanks!

 

[DoubleD]

We don't utilize PYI files at all do to their susceptibility to corruption. MDL files seem to be much more stable. I guess it's possible the files corrupt, but that would only be a guess.
You could try cleaning out all the categories, (except your custom categories) save it as an MDL, then build your cube from the MDL file. This will force Powerplay to generate the categories fresh. It might be that you PYI file is holding some original category list??
These are mostly just thoughts, after 4 years of troubleshooting Cognos objects you start to go on hunches as much as proven issues.

Pain is stress leaving the body.

DoubleD

 

[mjcotter]

This is a pretty basic cube... I try not to save categories, if I can help it, so as to keep the size of the PYI down (it's only 125kb!). However, I did a clean house and then saved the PYI as a MDL. I then deleted the PYI, opened the MDL, and resaved the MDL as a PYI.

It's really strange that it works fine when viewed through the Powerplay client, but not when viewed through the web...

 

[DoubleD]

mjcotter,
I agree that this is a pretty strange problem. I'm fresh out of ideas. Sorry I couldn't help.

Pain is stress leaving the body.

DoubleD

 

[mjcotter]

DoubleD,

Thanks for trying. It is much appreciated!!!

I opened a support case with Cognos this morning. I will post an explanation/solution, if one is found. I haven't had much success with Cognos Support lately, so we'll see what happens this time.

Thanks again!!!

 

[mjcotter]

Cognos Support was very helpful in determining what my problem was.

There are some special characters that are reserved by the browser (IE, in particular) but will show in the PowerPlay client.

If the Dimension includes these special character, you will see this behavior. Some reserved browser special characters are: <,>,?,&,/,'.

I had a small square character showing up in some of my data. Evidently, it was supposed to be a tab character, but was converted into a small square by DB2 when the data was loaded to the database.

FYI - Netscape does not seem to have these reserved characters. I did not have the problem when I opened the cube using Netscape 7.

 

[DoubleD]

Star for you mjcotter!

Excellent follow-up, thanks for the update. I'll keep an eye out for this in the future.

Pain is stress leaving the body.

DoubleD