Question

Empty Reports when scheduling

  • 19 December 2022
  • 7 replies
  • 102 views

Userlevel 3
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I have two instances where a report can be manually run and produce accurate results, however, when scheduling these same reports, the attachment within the email is always blank. Any suggestions on what could be causing different results when run manually versus when scheduled (using batch manager schedule queue)? We are using Alliance 15.4


7 replies

Userlevel 7
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Hi Leann,

I don’t have an answer for you specifically but have to ask the question whether these are standard reports from Alliance or custom reports you developed?

What user is running the scheduled job?  I presume it is a background user which should have access to all data but perhaps there is a user attributed to the report request who does not have permissions?

 

Userlevel 3
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Hi @Phil Seifert , 

It is a custom report that we have developed. However, we have multiple versions running of this report (for different customers/accounts) and all are running fine except for one version of it. We’ve tried using different users to schedule thinking that might be the issue as well, however, even when I as customizer schedule it, we get these same results. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Hi Leann,

So if I understand correctly:

  • The report is a custom report (made how? via Customizer?)
  • There are multiple variations of this report but for different customers. Only this one customer/report is not working as a batch schedule but each report runs on its own batch schedule?

If you compare the batch parameters for the variations that work versus the one that does not work, what do you see different?

Userlevel 3
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Good morning,

The report was created through Customizer. 

Each report runs on its own batch schedule. 

The only difference in the batch parameters is who the attachment is sent to. Even when it is just sent to my own address, it is not producing the same results as when run manually.

Within the report, the customer/warehouse is different. But since the report runs fine when run manually, I don’t think that is the issue.

This is a view of the report run manually.

 

Same report, same day - below is what was sent for the scheduled report. 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Hmmm… what happens when you save the report from the web site with the SAVE AS option?  Does the resulting file also get populated?

Reason I am going this way is the first screen showing it does retrieve data when you run manually is actually a rendering of the report presented by the website.  The latter example without data is of course the Excel file generated by the report but is not rendered by the IIS server.

It is strange that this works for other customer reports and only a problem with this one specifically.

So all batch parameters are exactly the same with the exception of the customer the report is used and for the email recipient?  Meaning, things like Culture are the same, etc.

In the areas you blocked out, there are no funny characters or non alphanumeric characters like ‘, “, & or extended characters for foreign languages?

 

Userlevel 3
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When I choose Save As, it populates as a .txt file… which is different than what we are used to. Usually, if I choose to save as a .csv file, the result is in spreadsheet form. So, you might be on to something…but I’m not sure how to fix it. 

No funny characters or foreign languages in the file, and yes, all batch parameters are the same with exception of report name and output addresses.

Userlevel 7
Badge +21

Hi Leann,

So you saved it as a text file generated by the Save as CSV option.  Did you then change the extension from txt to csv after it was saved?  Normally, most clients have the csv extension linked to Excel.

The point of the exercise was to see if data was actually being saved in this part of the process which is different from the batch schedule process.

Not having this custom report nor your data, I am not able to see at this time why this is happening for your one custom report.

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