Monday, February 13, 2012

BI Publisher XDO_TOP - MSword Debugging

In several of my previous posts over the years, I've highlighted quite a few ways to turn on debugging for the Oracle BI Publisher APIs.  I really haven't gone to much into depth on how to turn on debugging for the MSword template builder.  I've outlined an approach below that I have used with great success.  In my opinion it's the easiest way to configure BI Publisher and debug the BI Publisher APIs.
 
1. Create a directory on your C: drive called xdo_top
2. Create a sub-directory called temp:  C:\xdo_top\temp
    Create a sub-directory called resource:   C:\xdo_top\resource
3. Create a xdodebug.cfg file in the resource directory with the following 2 lines:
LogLevel=STATEMENT
LogDir=C:\xdo_top\temp
4. Optionally copy an existing version xdo.cfg file if you need it for barcodes, micr fonts, etc.  Note: You can find this in one of the oracle bi publisher template builder directory's.
5. In MSWord goto the Add-ins menu for BIP,  Click on -> tools->options->java options, Add the following:   -DXDO_TOP=C:\\xdo_top















 


Note:  The screen shot also has a memory parameter, you do not need the memory option -Xmx256M

6. Restart msword* Not really needed but a good idea

When you start bi publisher and preview a template from MSword the following should happen:
  • xdo.log should be created under c:\xdo_top\temp.  
  • The log file should contain rich debugging information to help you with your troubleshooting.  

When would I need to use debugging?
As an example, let say you wanted to use the xdo.cfg file to configure a font, but that insolent micr font isn't working in your template.  You can review the log to see if it's indeed being pulled in.

36 comments:

Sunder Iyer said...

Hi Ike,
Nice post! I use Template Viewer for debugging, but I'll give this a try and compare. Thanks for sharing.

Sunder Iyer said...

Hi Ike,
Nice post! I use BIP Desktop Template Viewer for debugging but I'll give this a try and compare.

Thanks for sharing.

Sunder

yes said...

Hi Lke,

Nice post!!!

i tried the same in "Oracle BI publisher template builder for word 10.1.3.4.1" (JDE) and getting following error while previewing the output.

"Java execution failed. Please check the Java Option in the option dialog"

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Sathish.J
jsathish22@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi lke,

Thanks for sharing.


Sathish

Ike Wiggins said...

Satish,

Please make sure you typed in the parameters correctly.

-DXDO_TOP=C:\\xdo_top

It's minus -D as in dog, your directory path must have slash slash and it cannot have any spaces.

If your continuing to have issues, please add another comment on this blog post with your parameters in the option dialog.

Thanks,

Ike

yes said...

Hi lik,

I have check the parameter again,its perfect.Please look into the below parameter given in option

"-Xmx256M-DXDO_TOP=C:\\xdo_top"

One more thing,I seached for xdo.cfg file in oracle bi publisher template builder directory's and there is no such file.Is this could be the issue?


Thanks a lot

Sathish.J

Ike Wiggins said...

Satish,

I looked at the screen shot you sent, just use this:

-DXDO_TOP=C:\\xdo_top

Ike

yes said...

Hi lik,

Now i can view output but there is no log file in the temp folder(C:\xdo_top\Temp).

Thanks,
Sathish.J

Ike Wiggins said...

Sathish,

Please paste the contents of your xdodebug.cfg

yes said...

Hi lik,

LogLevel=STATEMENT
LogDir=[full XDO_TOP]/temp

Thanks & Regards,
Sathish

Ike Wiggins said...

Sathish,

Please replace it with this.

LogLevel=STATEMENT
LogDir=C:\xdo_top\temp

kiran said...

Hi lke,

i have done the steps mentioned.But not able to see the log file in the temp directory.
The content of xdodebug.cfg is as follows
LogLevel=STATEMENT
LogDir=D:\xdo_top\temp
i have created the directory in D drive.
The options given is -Xmx256M -DXDO_TOP=D:\\xdo_top

can you please help me in resolving this issue.

Ike Wiggins said...

Kiran,

Where did you put the xdodebug.cfg file?

Ike

yes said...

Hi lik,

I replaced it.Still no log file.

In a notepad i have pasted the code and saved it as xdodebug.cfg in C:\xdo_top\.

Thanks

Sathish.J

Ike Wiggins said...

Sathish,

1. Quit calling me lik, it's IKE.

2. Paste the following in your remove the contents of whatever you have pasted in your xdodebug.cfg file.

paste the following:
LogLevel=STATEMENT
LogDir=C:\xdo_top\temp

3. Make sure the xdodebug.cfg file resides in C:\xdo_top

Anonymous said...

Hi Ike,

same problem here:
No log file is created
in C:\xdo_top\temp

I am using Word 2007 and BI Pub Desktop 10.1.3.4.2

regards
Matthias

Ike Wiggins said...

Hi Matthias,

Can you verify the following

Paste the following in your xdodebug.cfg file:
LogLevel=STATEMENT
LogDir=C:\xdo_top\temp

Make sure the xdodebug.cfg file resides in C:\xdo_top

Please reconfirm.

Thanks,

Ike

Anonymous said...

Hi Ike,

I did everything exactly as you described, but the problem was something else:
I had to place the xdodebug.cfg
in the lib-folder of my Java Home (in my case:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\lib)

Now it works!

Thanks for sharing this helpful hint.

best regards
Matthias

Ike Wiggins said...

Just out of curiosity did you setup the command line arguments in the template builder?

Ike Wiggins said...

I apologize, I had a step incorrectly documented. I've updated the post.

Anyways, the xdodebug.cfg file needs to reside under:

C:\xdo_top\resource

This will resolve the issue that both Sathish and Matthias had.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ike,

Nice post, it worked for me and i got the correct xdo.log file.

yes said...

Now it works.

Thanks alot IKE !!!

Sreesaifarms said...

Thanks for the post,

When I click ok .. i am getting access denied error

BY any chance did you encounter the issue
Ram

Ike Wiggins said...

Thats a permissions setup in windows 7, it has to do with java.

Try the following:

1. Quit MSWORD
2. Uninstall java
3. Reinstall java under your C:\ drive. Do not install it under program files.

Anonymous said...

Ike,
I tried doing all that has been presented here.
My xdodebug.cfg is under C:\xdo_top\resource
it has:
LogLevel=STATEMENT
LogDir=C:\xdo_top\temp
The java option has:
-Xmx256M -DXDO_TOP=C:\\xdo_top

Still no log file in the C:\xdo_top\temp folder.
I tried what Matthias tried....ie., put the xdodebug.cfg under "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\lib", yet no log file. What I am I missing. Pls. help.
-Sudhakar

Ike Wiggins said...

Sudhakar,

Please try changing this in the xdodebug.cfg

LogDir=C:\\xdo_top\\temp

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the feedback. I changed the xdodebug.cfg to say:
LogDir=C:\\xdo_top\\temp

Still no log file. Does it matter where the rtf is run/previewed from? (in my case, the rtf/xml data reside on a network drive and is previewed from there)
Thanks in advance,
Sudhakar

RK said...

Hi Ike,

I cannot see the "Java Option" under Tools--> Options.

I can see only 2 fields
Locale and Java Home.

I am using "Oracle XML Publisher for Word"
Version 5.6 Build 45.
Workspace = C:\Program Files (x86)\Oracle\XML Publisher Desktop\Template Builder for Word.

MS Word Version being used = MS Word 2010.

Can you Please Help.

Thanks & Regards
RK

Unknown said...

Hi Ike,

We use BI Publisher desktop version 10.1.3.4.1. Is debugging possible with that version?

If yes, Kindly help me with that.

Thanks,
Aarthee

Ike Wiggins said...

You need to upgrade your version of BI Publisher RK.

raunak said...

hi Ike,

when doing this -DXDO_TOP=C:\\xdo_top in java option I am getting run time error '-2147024891 (80070005)' : access denied.

Please help how to debug this.

i followed all the steps correctly

Regards
Raunak

Unknown said...

got error message on apply the changes as advised...
Tools > Option > OK

Run-Time Error -2147024891 (80070005)':
Access Denied

Unknown said...

Ike,

BI Publisher 10.1.3.2.1 works properly with Word 2013 on Windows 10 when I start (i.e. run) word as the Administrator. However, when I try to use the BI Publisher Template Viewer, I keep getting the message "Failed to create temporary file."

c:\xdo_top\resource\xdodebug.cfg
LogLevel=STATEMENT
LogDir=C:\xdo_top\temp


Any Ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Ed

Ike Wiggins said...

make sure the temp directory exists.

Unknown said...

Yes, the directory C:\xdo_top\temp exists.

Ike Wiggins said...

oops, I had assumed you were talking about msword. nm. I don't know what you have setup in the template viewer. there is a property section in the viewer where you can change things. I would start there, specifically: system-temp-dir