Outer query result does not exist

I get this error message regularly and although it does not interfere with the correct rendering of the report, I would like to know if it can be resolved.
I have an outer table, e.g. States, which cycles through all the States
and an inner table named Demographics, filtered on the outer table's State value:
 
row["State_ID"] Equal to row._outer["state_ID"]
 
So far no problems. Now I also add a chart in the outer table at the same level as the inner table Demographics and bind it to the table Demographics.
 
Instantly I get an error message at the top of the chart design window that reads:
 
"A BIRT exception occurred. See next exception for more information. 
The outer query results does not exist. This might be caused by a "_outer" reference in a query without parent query."
 
The chart has inherited the Demographics table filter but does not like it.
 
The chart renders fine, but I have not found a way to get rid of the error message.
 
Does anyone know how to get rid of this error?

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Comments

mwilliams

So, the copied chart is in the outer table? If so, this would make sense that it's having an issue with finding an _outer result set. Can you post the design or create a similar one with the sample database that I can run? Thanks.

mogwai

You are right. The chart is in the outer table. I use this method frequently:
An outer table cycling through the main chapters of ther report
In a group header or the detail of the outer table, I use grids for layout and insert several hidden tables providing the aggregated data for my charts
Then I insert the charts in the cells in the grid
 
So the chart refers to the inner table - there's nothing wrong with that, is there?
The inner table is filtered on a value in the outer table
The chart shows an error, although it renders corredtly.
 
A very basic example is attached. The erro is visilbe inthe chart design window.
 
Is there a way to avoid the error message?

mwilliams

I know this is just an example report and may not fit your actual application, but the simple way to get rid of the error would be to place the chart in the group footer of the inner table and just use the "inherit from container" option.
 
Your best option, if possible would probably be to use a dataset parameter on the inner data set query instead of using the filter. If you do this, you don't get an error. See the attached report.
 
Otherwise, I don't think you'll be able to get rid of the error and it may be a bug worth reporting.

mogwai

Apologies for taking so long to acknowledge the help.
The first soution doesn't work for me because the layout of the reports are typically to elaborate to put the charts in the table footer.
The second option works beautifully, thank you.
It gets a bit more complicated in drill down reports, because the table is then filtered on a lower geographical level so the same parameter can no longer be used, but with some SQL and the use of mltiple parameters this can come right.
Thanks Michael.

mwilliams

You're welcome. Glad to help!

tamnguyen

Hi,
 
Sorry for re open this topic. I was able to create nested table in cross tab cell with binding parameters are column and row dimension value. But this will slow down the report since the number of sub query will grow depend on number of row dimension and column dimension. Are there anyway to continue with filter solution, I tried it but got same error ?
 
Thank you and Best regards
Tam Nguyen Minh

mwilliams

I think you're still better off with individual queries for each dimension. If you were to filter, it would filter the entire result set each time. This seems like it would be more time consuming. Maybe I'm misunderstanding. In any case, the error doesn't seem to change the result of the report output, so if you want to use the filters, it shouldn't be a big deal. You might test both scenarios though. Let me know.