Question

BLOB background in Report Designer

  • 28 April 2023
  • 7 replies
  • 167 views

Userlevel 3
Badge +6
  • Sidekick (Customer)
  • 19 replies

Hi,
Is there anyone out there with the knowledge to help me solve this mystery?

When fetching a dynamic Image stored as a BLOB in the data base into Report Designer and then previewing the report, there is a black background displayed on signatures created in a Service Work Task (fetched from ifsapp.JT_TASK_SIGNATURE) , but not on other objects fetched from Media Library (ifsapp.media_item). 

The signatures where the error is caused are all stored as BLOBS and when previewing them in Oracle SQL the background is white:

Previewing BLOB in Oracle SQL.


But when printing them on PDF, the background becomes black for some reason, while other BLOBs are presented with white background. In this sample the signature is printed twice (black squares with blue signature) and a BLOB presenting a coffee machine is printed correctly in the lower left corner as comparison. 

Previewing BLOB on PDF (Adobe or Microsoft Edge) through Report Designer.

In Report designer the code for fetching both the coffee machine and the signature are technically the same, except for the source tables for the objects and the parameters used to fetch them:
 

Fetching BLOB for Signature.

Query statement:
select mob_signature from ifsapp.jt_task_signature where task_seq = :1 and mob_signature_type_db = :2
Bind Variables: tns:JT_TASKS_REP/tns:TASKS/tns:TASK/tns:TASK_SEQ;tns:JT_TASKS_REP/tns:TASKS/tns:TASK/tns:CF_L_CUSTOMER_SIGN

 

Fetching BLOB for Coffee Machine.

Query statement:
select media_object from ifsapp.media_item where item_id = :1
Bind Variables:
tns:JT_TASKS_REP/tns:TASKS/tns:TASK/tns:CF_L_MEDIA_ITEM

I cannot find the cause of this issue. Do you know how to fix or what’s causing it?


7 replies

Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Hello Ellin,

Were you able to find a solution for this? We are facing the same issue with the service report signature but sometimes it works and sometimes it isnt.

 

 

Userlevel 3
Badge +6

Hi, 
no unfortunately I have not yet found a solution to this issue. Do you see any patterns for when it works and when it doesn’t? 
I still have only had black backgrounds in all of my tests. 

Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Hello Ellin,
At the moment no, but i will keep you posted.
 

 

Userlevel 5
Badge +14

Dear @ELJO 

Can you send me the the two pictures? tobias.grimm@ifs.com
Are those two .png files?

Is there a transparent background at the signature?

There might be an issue with the java logic in the back which tends to make a black background instead of a transparent one.

 

Kind regards,
Tobias

Userlevel 3
Badge +6

Hi @Technical Toby!

Thank you for helping, it’s much appreciated!

I’ve downloaded and saved the BLOB. When saving you can decide what file format to use. I’ve saved one version of the signature as .jpg and one as .png. Both versions become transparent in the background when previewing them in Windows Photo. It seems the original file format for the signatures is .png. At least it says “data:image/png;base64” in column MOB_SIGNATURE_CLOB, table JT_TASK_SIGNATURE. 

Regarding the Media Item (coffee machine) I’m not sure what file format it was originally and I can’t seem to find this information in the database. I’ve saved also this image as .png and as .jpg. 

I’ve emailed you all four images and versions. I hope it helps, let me know if there’s any other data you need to investigate further. 

Userlevel 5
Badge +14

Hi @ELJO 

Based on the images you sent me, they got a transparent background. From what I have found out is that this is an issue when the java framework is not using specific commands. I do not want to go into detail with that.

 

But it seems the Java library of the reporting engine does not support this “transparent” feature and replaces it with a black one.

 

So either the logic to create the picture needs to be changed or the framework of the reporting engine.
Sorry for the delay at first and second for the need to create a supportticket for this topic.

 

I do not think you can change this via configurations but only via java changes.

 

Kind regards,

Tobias

Userlevel 3
Badge +6

Hi Tobias!

I greatly appreciate your response. It’s very helpful to know I cannot change this via configurations. 

Thanks again for taking time to look into this. 

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