Solved: xcelsius "failled to create an empty document"

Xcelsius has stopped working. I haven't touched it for a few days and this morning it refused to open an xlf on which I double-clicked and generated the error message: Failed to create an empty document.

I then tried to fire up xcelsius the usual way but it did not start and the same error message is generated. I restarted the computer and tried again: same issue.

So right now, no xcelsius.

I haven't installed fp3 yet but I would rather wait for feedback before doing that, unless this problem is known and fixed in fp3.

SAP Managed Tags:
SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards

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Nooo!!

Does the Application Event Log give you any more clues?

Administrative Tools > Event Viewer

Regards

Charles

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Yep, that's how I reacted too.

I checked just now: I can't see anything that seems to relate to xcelsius.

Hate to suggest this but, uninstall and re-install?

Nooo!

I will wait and see what SAP say first. But just in case: if I re-install, do I have to to run all 2 fix packs or does the latest always cover the older fixes?

Good question. I'm not sure if the FP's are cummulative or not.

Matt???

Yes FPs are cummulative (so FP3 has FP2 and FP1).

You install the latest Service Pack and then the latest Fix Pack for the Service Pack.

Before doing that try uninstalling the Adobe Flash Player (from Add/Remove Programs), then using Internet Explorer go to Adobe.com and install the latest Adobe Flash Player.

Reinstalling the Adobe Flash Player can sometimes fix some issues (as Xcelsius relies on Excel and the Flash Player inside the Designer).

Regards,

Matt

I thought they would be. Thanks for the clarification, and the tip about the flash player.

Regards

Charles

No luck. Reinstalled the Flash player but I get the same error.

Has anyone jad this before? Matt, is there any info that would be useful for you,,,please ask before I reinstall xcelsius.

Have you loaded any other software, MS updates recently?

Regards

Charles

Have you installed any 3rd party tools into Excel recently?

If not then I'd go for the re-install...

Regards,

Matt

Reinstalled...

And I still get the error.

EDIT

I uninstalled Flash 10 which was still on my pc and...when I can still view Flash...I thought that may be because the reinstall put Flash 9 back on my pc but checking the settings for an animation, I see that I am somehow running flash 10 still (though it does not show in the Control Panel add/remove.

Edited by: Cricri on Apr 24, 2009 10:14 AM

SAP, is there anything you can suggest. I have now tried all kind of reinstalls of xcelsius and the flash player...short of throwing away my pc I don't know what to do.

When I start xcelsius and get the - by now - usual error message something happens if I don't close the xcelsius message box. May not yield much of a clue but this is my last hope.

Vista's Program Compatibility Assistant (which I had not encountered before) comes up and states:

This program requires a missing windows component. Program: Xcelsius Publisher: Businesss Objects Location: C;\Program Files\Business Objects\Xcelsius\Xcelsius.exe This program requires flash.ocx, which us no longer included in this version of windows.

"Checking for solutions online" takes me to the flash player installer. But I have already installed it after reinstalling xcelsius, several times, and it is definitely working so either this error message is just typical Windows tosh or it is a clue to the underlying problem.

I am really desperate. I have a deadline in a week's time and I haven;t been able to do any work. I can only install on my machine as xcelsius is non-standard software which I cannot install at work.

Hi Cricri

Sad to hear you're still having problems.

Have you gone through the registry and removed all references to Xcelsius and /or flash and then reinstalled?

Regards

Charles

No i did not. Not sure I would know how to find all relevant entries in the registry either.

Start > Run > Regedit

Backup the registry first, File > Export, select export range as All

Edit > Find, and search for Xcelsius, and delete any keys found.

Reboot, and try reinstalling

Regards

Charles

Thank you Charles. That's my job for tonight. I'll report back...

Cleared all references to xcelsius. Reinstalled.

Same error message referring to "_This programe requires flash.ocx, which is no longer included in this version of windows_"

It seems also that xcelsius, even as it fails to create a new document (this happens also when I try to open an existing xlf) creates a file in the directory I try to open from. The file is called nodeid and hass no extension. It contains 3 or 4 characters as far as I can tell (opening it ip i notepad). I have bever seen those nodeid files before and xcelsius now creates them every time.

Sorry Cricri, but other than downloading a fresh copy of the install files and trying again, I'm out of ideas.

Regards

Charles

So am i. Out of ideas.

Matt, my only hope is that this file that gets created, the nodeid, gives you a clue as to what is happening. Those files never featured before this fatal issue arose.

Hi,

Not sure if you have checked what Matt said earlier that Flash is installed using Internet Explorer. Xcelsius checks for the installation of Flash in IE even if other browsers are your default browser ( I only realised that myself when reading Loren Abdulezer's Book , Xcelsius Best Practices recently.

I'm not sure if you've mentioned this before but what version of Windows or Microsoft Office are you using?

Hope you get it sorted soon

Best Regards,

Ian

Hi Ian,

I installed Flash (or reinstalled about 10 times!) using a downloaded install executable from Adobe. I will try again.

I use Office 2007 and the dreaded Vista Business (and may I take this opportunity to say how much I hate it).

I will give it one more go. Thanks a lot Ian.

Hi CriCri,

Try installing Flash from within Internet Explorer , check under Tools>Manage Add Ons that Shockwave flash is one of the add-ons. That may be the problem.

I know what you mean about Vista , can be frustrating at times.

Good Luck

Ian

Sorry, I'm out of ideas as well...

Matt, I should have read one of your earlier message more carefully. I though your mention of Internet Explorer was casual, not crucial. Ian recommended I should pay particular attention to this. I have and I fixed it.

For those of you who may encounter a similar issue, here is the chronology of what I think caused the problem.

First, I now remember that the last time I used xcelsius was to import an xlf created in 4.5. That failed and at some stage xcelsius froze. It did not start again successfully.

Then, I think what happened was that there was an update to Internet Explorer which wiped out add-ons. So I still had Flash installed, but not specifically for IE.I reinstalled Flash many times, first through Firefox, then simply downloading an install package and installing from the desktop. As Ian explained, this does not work for xcelsius: it needs to see Flash specifically as an IE add-on. Hence the error messages reporting that flash.ocx is not available when it plainly is.

The only question I have now is whether I am likely to casuse a problem is I install teh flash add-on for Firefox. I don't think so but I would rather ask before doing so.

Anyway, the problem is fixed at long last and thank you to all of you for bearing with me with saintly patience.

Great news, well done, and good call Ian.

Regards

Charles

I thought maybe you hadn't realised the significance of Matt's previous post. glad that was the answer anyway and you got it installed.

Ian

Answers (1)

Hi:

I was encountered that error before. I just reinstalled flash player which created flash.ocx in the system to solve it.

I would suggest you to uninstall the xcelsius and flash both. and then install flash from abobe website and then install the xcelsius. \

let me know if it works

BRs

Stanley

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