Badly formatted report looks like CSV rendered it not ACTXT

boaz.goldstein · November 1, 2017, 8:09pm

Hello Shakeel and Aspose support,
i would like to report a bizzare phenomena that requires investigation.
See attached zip file contains 2 tab delimited (tsv) files generated for the same customer day after day from the SAME report server in our production environment.
Both report executions in ReportServer database are identical in terms of parameters sent to SSRS + the render format is equal = ACTXT.
The report from the 29/10 is formatted correctly according to Tab separated values file.
The report from the 30/10 is badly formatted as what looks like a CSV although it was requestd as ACTXT for tsv.
tsv inconsistency issue.zip (41.1 KB)

Please assist me understanding where this may come from ?? what can cause such inconsistency?
I looked in various log files - both report server log and Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.log and could not find direct evidence for a problem at the time of the execution of the bad report.

Your assistence is very much appreciated.

Thanks
Boaz G, Sizmek

shakeel.faiz · November 2, 2017, 3:21am

@boaz.goldstein

Thanks for using Aspose APIs.

We were able to see the differences between two reports and logged the issue in our database for investigation and for a fix. Once, the issue resolved or we have some other news for you, we will update you asap.

This issue has been logged as

CELLSRS-516 - Badly formatted report looks like CSV rendered it not ACTXT

shakeel.faiz · November 2, 2017, 2:09pm

@boaz.goldstein

Thanks for using Aspose APIs.

Please provide us the Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.xml and let us know the version number of Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.dll, you are using.

Besides, we want to know whether you are using the most recent version of Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.DLL or not. If you are not using the most recent version, then please use it and then let us know your run results.

Download Link of Most Recent Version:

Aspose.Cells for Reporting Services v17.8.4 (SQL Server 2012)

boaz.goldstein · November 2, 2017, 5:44pm

Hi Shakeel,
In production we use: Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.dll - 17.8.4.0
Attaching a zip file containing the following files:

Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.log
Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.xml
aspose current - rpsvc10 (2).zip (15.4 KB)

Thanks
BoazG, Sizmek

shakeel.faiz · November 3, 2017, 2:25am

@boaz.goldstein

Thanks for providing the requested files and using Aspose APIs.

We have logged your comment for product team investigation and for a fix. Once, there is some news for you, we will let you know asap.

shakeel.faiz · November 7, 2017, 2:21am

@boaz.goldstein

We have found the issues and fixed them.

Please download and try the fixed version i.e.

Aspose.Cells for Reporting Service V17.8.5

Please refer to the attached Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.xml to update Delimiters value to tab in Aspose.Cells.ReportingSerices.xml.
Copy Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.DLL into ${SQL Server Reporting Services installation folder}\ReportServer\bin.

Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices XML File.zip (545 Bytes)

amjad.sahi · March 1, 2018, 10:29am

The issues you have found earlier (filed as CELLSRS-516) have been fixed in this update. This message was posted using BugNotificationTool from Downloads module by Amjad_Sahi

boaz.goldstein · May 28, 2018, 8:04pm

Hello Aspose Support,
After nearly 1 year since the last post, we have found out that the issue is stil alive.
What we see is that when we use ACTXT renderer in Reporting Services 2008R2, we get inconsistent rendered txt file (tsv) - sometimes the file is formatted correctly using tab delimited and in other occasions (on the same server) the file is badly formatted using commas.

I am using the latest version you recommended - 17.8.5.0
in rsreportserver.config file i have the following configuration:

<Extension Name="ACCSV" Type="Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.CSVRenderer,Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices">
				<Configuration>
					<DeviceInfo>
						<FieldDelimiter>,</FieldDelimiter>
					</DeviceInfo>
				</Configuration>
			</Extension>
			<Extension Name="ACTXT" Type="Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.TabDelimitedRenderer,Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices">
				<Configuration>
					<DeviceInfo>
						<FieldDelimiter>tab</FieldDelimiter>
					</DeviceInfo>
				</Configuration>
			</Extension>

under configuration folder of aspose: C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspose\Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices

this is the xml text:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Aspose>
	<logger>
		<level value="No"/>      
	</logger>
	<License>
		<filename value=""/>
	</License>
	<CSVRender>
		<encode value="UTF8"/>
		<Delimiters value="	"/>
		<RenderTableList value ="False"/>
		<report name="" Mode="" encode="" Delimiters="" RenderTableList=""/>
		<NoOutPutIsValid ALL="False"/>
	</CSVRender>
	<Password value="">
		<EncryptionType></EncryptionType>
		<KeyLength></KeyLength>
	</Password>
	<Client>
		<DateParamterFormat value=""/>
	</Client>
  <AutoFit>
    <Row value ="True"/>
  </AutoFit>
  <Page>
    <SheetName value="default"/>
  </Page>
  <Performance>    
    <Report name=""/>      
  </Performance>  
</Aspose>

Any recommendation we can have ? this is production component and our customer cannot use the comma delimited tsv files which should have been created with tab delimiters.

Thanks
Boaz

shakeel.faiz · May 29, 2018, 3:04am

@boaz.goldstein

Thanks for using Aspose.Cells for Reporting Services.

We will check if Delimiter value in Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.xml is incorrect and find the root cause of this issue. Once, the issue is fixed or we have some other news for you, we will update you in this topic.

This issue has been logged as

CELLSRS-532 - Delimiters value in Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.xml seems to be incorrect

shakeel.faiz · May 31, 2018, 2:43pm

@boaz.goldstein

Thanks for using Aspose APIs.

Please set debug mode in Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.xml on each server and post all Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.log files here. We will check them.

boaz.goldstein · June 1, 2018, 8:26am

Thanks Shakeel,
Will do.
does this require SSRS service restart?

Thanks
Boaz

boaz.goldstein · June 1, 2018, 8:28am

Is this the correct way to set debug mode in the xml file?

Thanks
Boaz

shakeel.faiz · June 1, 2018, 12:38pm

@boaz.goldstein

Yes, this is the right way. You can refer to this post#3.

Restarting is always good because everything will reload. However, I need to confirm if restarting is necessary or not.

shakeel.faiz · June 4, 2018, 1:56am

@boaz.goldstein

Yes, restarting SSRS service is necessary.

boaz.goldstein · June 4, 2018, 7:38am

Hi,
The log is in debug mode since yesterday.
I will send it once i find issues.

Thanks
Boaz

shakeel.faiz · June 4, 2018, 2:21pm

@boaz.goldstein

Sure. Thanks for your cooperation in this regard and have a good day.

amjad.sahi · August 8, 2018, 8:59am

@boaz.goldstein,

For the issue “CELLSRS-532”:
We have tested the issues with your provided parameters. We get the correct results. When exporting CSV file, the field delimiter of the exported file is commas. When exporting txt file, the field delimiter of the exported file is tab.

We tested using our latest version/fix: Aspose.Cells for RS v18.2.5. Please download our latest version/fix (Aspose.Cells for RS v18.2.5) here.

If you still find the issue with v18.2.5, kindly describe your issue in details and which other occasions you find the issue and we will create the same environment to test your issues.

boaz.goldstein · September 11, 2018, 7:30pm

Hi Aspose Support
Currently we use aspose.cells version 17.8.5
Today again we have customers complains of badly formatted tab-delimited (tsv) output of the ACTXT extension.
We have change logging level to DEBUG since May 2018 and by now the log is ~382MB on one of our reporting servers.
Today exactly at 6:39:05 AM (EST) a report was executed with “tsv” format output parameter. the result at 6:42:49 AM came out improperly delimited using “,” character instead of tab.
Following is an excerpt from the original log file created in the report server which have produced the wrong format at 6:42:49 AM:
Aspose.Cells.ReportingServices.zip (16.9 KB)
Next is the report itself -
bad_report.zip (485.2 KB)

I prefer if you could please take a look and try to trace back for a potential problem in the specific execution instance which yielded the wrong format although it was indeed requested to be delimited with tabs.
Upgrade to version 18 should be considered after we try finding the root cause of this problem.
Thanks
Boaz, Sizmek

ahsaniqbalsidiqui · September 12, 2018, 5:54am

@boaz.goldstein,

We have tested your requirements with provided parameters but we did not notice the issue. Please test the same with suggested version and let us know your feedback. We hope you will not face the issue as we have tested it on our end.

boaz.goldstein · September 12, 2018, 8:54am

Thanks Ahsan
Seems like the behaviour is inconsistent and is a result of an unexpected issues in the code.
In the last iteration which i have opened the case with Aspose - we ended up upgrading to the version we use right now (17) from a much earlier version - and although Aspose support did mention it should be fixed - we still face the same issue.
I do not want to be in a place where i constantly upgrade the versions but the issue is not resolved.
Did you look in the log file i sent?
Can you confirm the bad format delimiter in the report file i attached?

Thanks
Boaz