Values send as text by BIWS connection

Posted on October 20, 2011 by . Filed under Connection, Excel | 1 Comment

I have spend some frustating hours trying to figure out, why my number format did not work properly in my preview mode. Data was brought in the dashboard by BIWS connection.

I thought it had to do with the locale, as the numebrs where formated with a comma as decimal token (as is custom here). And thus formatted Xcelsius must interpreted as Text.
Even adding the parameter &locale=en_US to the wsdl did not work. In the end I gave up and just multiplied every value with 1 (I never connect directly to my data output, always by reference).

Just now, my colleauge found out it was due to another missing parameter.

After adding &ConvertAnyType=true to my wsdl, my numbers where recognised as numbers and not as Text anymore. (Be careful: do not format your number in the WebI report otherwise it still will not display correct :-) )

Halleluja :-)

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Femke Kooij
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Femke Kooij is a dashboard and report designer, developer and educator specializing in SAP | BusinessObjects Dashboards (better known as Xcelsius) and Crystal Reports. She has also a lot of experience with other SAP | BusinessObjects toolings like, Web Intelligence (WebI), Information Design Tool (Universe Designer), BusinessObjects Data Services (BODS) and the overall server platform BusinessObjects Enterprise (Launchpad, CMC). She spends a lot of her time thinking about and sharing her knowledge of Xcelsius to others through her own blog. Lately she is exploring other visualization tools like Qlikview and Tableau. On the later she is also posting some experiences. Currently she is in the employment of Cognizant Technology Solutions. Her blog only contains her personal views, thoughts and opinions. It is not endorsed by Cognizant Technology Solutions nor does it constitute any official communication of Cognizant Technology Solutions.

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One Comment to Values send as text by BIWS connection

  1. Soumyojit Sen says:
    August 13, 2012 at 09:49

    The above solution works.
    Add
    “&ConvertAnyType=true&locale=en” to the wsdl for the BIWS to work correctly.
    And Remove any formatting in the webi blocks.

    Soumyojit Sen
    Solution Architect,
    Innovation, SAP Business Objects,
    enteg,
    Dubai/Bangalore