iServer Transparency

jherbin
jherbin
edited February 11, 2022 in Analytics #1
Hi,

What's the best way to tell what's happening with the iServer? Specifically, I've created a Dashboard that references a datadesign file that has a custom ODA as a DataSource. My Dashboard is not responding in either Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 17.0.1. Sometimes the Dashboard generates a javascript alert box with a stack trace or an error message that's not very descriptive. I also tried reading the encycsrvr11, jsrvr11, and jencycsrvr11 logs. There is alot of information in the log files and its tough to understand how the log entries relate to the Dashboard UI actions. Is there another log file that captures ui information?

Is there a reference that explains the Dashboard development and/or iServer datadesign and data management? I've tried looking through the documentation on birt-exchange but I found very high level descriptions....am I missing something?

Thanks in advance,
James

Comments

  • jherbin
    jherbin
    edited December 31, 1969 #2
    Here is an example of the error dialog box that is returned in the Dashboard I created. What does this mean? How can I find out which object, property, or method that is referred to by the error?
  • rmurphy
    rmurphy
    edited December 31, 1969 #3
    Have you tried using the ODA in a simple BIRT report run from the iServer? If so, next try a BIRT report that uses the .datadesign file as the data source.

    What I'm looking for is if the ODA itself is functioning properly. If so, then we know to look at this from the dashboard perspective versus an issue with the ODA itself.

    Rob
  • jherbin
    jherbin
    edited December 31, 1969 #4
    Hi Rob,

    Thanks for your quick response. I was able to confirm that the ODA worked with the Dashboard. I confirmed this by filtering my DataSets to return a subset of my DataSource. With this subset of data, I was able to create gadgets that contained the data I expected and I was able to link gadgets that used the same dataset and gadgets that used different datasets. When I removed the filter to test the Dashboard against the entire DataSource, the Dashboard stopped responding.

    That's where I am at now. I'm trying to determine what next step I need to take.

    Thanks,
    James
  • rmurphy
    rmurphy
    edited December 31, 1969 #5
    Next I would generate a .data file from the .datadesign and recreate your dashboard against the materialized data file.

    If the issue goes away using the .data file, then I would suspect the issue to be in the ODA. Did you implement logging in the ODA?
  • jherbin
    jherbin
    edited December 31, 1969 #6
    How can I generate and view the .data file? With the Management Console?

    Also, I did not implement logging in the ODA.

    James
  • rmurphy
    rmurphy
    edited December 31, 1969 #7
    You can generate the .data file either from the Information Console or Management Console. The .datadesign file should be located under /Resources (or a subdirectory of). Browse to the .datadesign and click on it. This will bring up the schedule view. Set it to run "Right now" and the output should be saved under /Resources.

    You can also generate .data files from BIRT Designer Professional, but I typically only do this for smaller files. To generate in BD Pro, right click on the .datadesign in the Navigator view and select "Generate Data Objects...".
  • jherbin
    jherbin
    edited December 31, 1969 #8
    Generating the .data object and referring to that in my Dashboard has helped. I was able to create a few data selection list that contained the expected values. However, when I tried to add a chart into the Dashboard, the browser stopped responding. The chart referenced the same .data file but different data set than the other gadgets. Looking at the .data generation job summary in the Management Console, the .data is 144 MB. Is this .data file size too large for a Dashboard?
  • rmurphy
    rmurphy
    edited December 31, 1969 #9
    Since you are using a Data Set, as opposed to a Data Cube, the question isn't so much about the size of the .data file but rather the number of data points you are plotting. Based on the selected data, how many points will be plotted?
  • jherbin
    jherbin
    edited December 31, 1969 #10
    I would like to be able to plot approximately a thousand series with 250 points each. Only one series is displayed at a time. The series displayed is determined by the values of a set of data selection gadgets.

    I used Data Set instead of Data Cube because I was experiencing the timeout problems. That was before I was aware of building the dashboard from the .data file. Do you think that using a DataCube with a prepopulated .data file would fix this current problem?
  • rmurphy
    rmurphy
    edited December 31, 1969 #11
    You should never expect the dashboard to render a chart with a thousand series, which is what is happening before you apply a filter.

    If your chart is having to aggregate a lot of data to calculate a point, then a cube will be faster (from a .data file) since the measure will be pre-aggregated.

    You may want to consider building the chart in a parameterized BIRT report and using the report on the dashboard and showing the parameters for the report as data selectors. This will allow you to set some defaults so you are never trying to render a thousand series.

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