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How to get rid of "Could not generate the Flash file (SWF); the cause is not known.."?

Former Member
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I'm a new user of Dashboard Design, version 6, build 14. No matter what I put in the spreadsheet, cannot export or preview  it. An error window gives the message " Could not generate the Flash file (SWF); the cause is not known. Try agian. if the problem persists, contact your customer service representative. "

I'm running windows7- 64bit and office 2010 plus. I've installed the latest flash player for IE and java runtime environment. Nothing seems to have any effect.

Any idea what to do?

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

Former Member
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Hi Rifat

A couple of things to check...

- This used to happen to me when using a combination chart.  If I used a single data series then it would work.  Multiples were a problem.

- I've read elsewhere that date functions can cause this problem (e.g., =today()

If none of them work, try replacing formula's in your cells with static values and identify where the problem is occuring through trial and error.

Hope that helps

Ian M.

Former Member
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Hello Ian, I didn't use any date function. But due to the nature of the data, it has to be a combo chart. Thanks for concern.

Regards.

Answers (6)

Answers (6)

Former Member
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hi Rifat,

Can you please tell how did you resolved the issue.

Former Member
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Hi Haria,

What is kind of issue are you facing.What is the connectivity you have been used and which version are of dashboards are you using.

Regards,

Venkat

Former Member
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Seems Mine & Haria's problems are same.

I have 4.1 SP4 with QWAAS connectivity and combination charts are more in my dashboard due to user requirement.

Till now it was working fine...sudenly it started throwing error now.

former_member194862
Active Contributor
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You will get the error due to the shear complexity of the dashboard.To troubleshoot the issue you can try the steps mentioned in this article.However there may be possiblity of a corrupt compoenent so please follow below article.

Identify problematic elements in the dashboard - Business Intelligence (BusinessObjects) - SCN Wiki

Former Member
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I use Dashboards 4.0 SP4 Patch 2 on Windows 7.0 32 bit with Office 2010 32bit. I also get this error every now and then when working on my fairly complex dashboards with make heavy use of excel formula logic.

What's really strange is that sometimes I get the error and sometimes not. Even more strange: Sometimes generating the flash file finally works after starting the generation process (export to swf or generating the preview or publishing) the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th, ... the 10th time. Sometimes I have to restart dashboards and then it finally gets through.

Could it be a memory problem or CPU problem? That is: Could it be that generating the flash file fails when there are not enough resources in terms of RAM memory or CPU power left?

Former Member
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I'm facing the same problem. I checked in my network and there are many more people facing the same error. I logged a SAP call today so I'll find out soon enough what SAP's official response will be. Probably they'll say that the dashboard model is too 'complex'.

My configuration:

- Windows 7 (32 bits)

- MS Excel 2010 (32 bits)

- SAP Dashboard Design 4.0 SP02 Patch level 18 (newest) (32bits)

Personally, I think I'm facing a memory issue since the Windows task managers shows the dashboard takes up to 500mb in run-time and when publishing to SAP BW (and generating the SWF) the memory usage goes up to 600mb and crashes at that limit. At that time, the free memory is around 150mb.

The CPU usage is somewhere around 40% so that won't be the problem.

Another problem could be MS Excel. I checked the windows event logger and there are numerous MS Excel crashes logged.

I'd say it's the RAM usage or MS Excel.

I'll update the post when I have more details or a solution.

Former Member
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All,

Press CTRL+Shift+Esc to get task manager up and go to the performance tab. You want to watch the green bar in the PF Usage screen (essentially your ram usage). If this goes above the amount of physical ram you have, this might be the problem. Peter, this would make sense of why it happens intermittently for you.

As H. Pieter says though, there might be some magical 600MB limit at which point it crashes.

Former Member
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Hi David,

The limit of 600mb is somehow related to the machine you're working on. I've been working with 900mb of RAM consuming dashboards before, without a problem on a different configuration.

So the limit might be related to the amount of free RAM instead of a basic max RAM usage for one dashboard or one running application.

Former Member
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Hi,

What is dashboard file size and how many Live Office connections are you using?

In general it will depend on file size of dashboard ,the excel logic you have implemented in the dashboard and it ll depend on your local system resources like processor ,RAM also.

Regards,

Venkat P

Former Member
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Thanks all for helping, problem solved.

Former Member
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Good news. For the next guy, please share how you solved the problem.

Former Member
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HI,

Would you please share us the solution for this problem ? Did you used the machine with very high config. ?

Thanks,

Pp

Former Member
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Hi Rifat...please explain the steps you performed to resolve this issue.

Former Member
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Would be very helpful if you can share how you resolved this issue.

I am facing with the same error.

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Hi Sara,

IN the past, i have identified 3 root causes for this behavior:

1, Excel issues -> open your spreadsheet, go to formulas->Error Checking and validate your spreadsheet

2, In preferences of DD the Optimize for spreadsheet option is on (this is the default setting). Make sure this option is not checked

3, Your flash player is not supported with the DD/XC version. Try to downgrade your flash player.

I hope these above helps,

János

Former Member
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What is your Office version ?

64-bit version of Office used to cause this issue for me.

Former Member
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Yep, Office 2010 64-bit is not supported. Office 2010 32-bit and office 2007 64-bit are fine.

Also, how much ram do you have?

Former Member
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Hi Rifat,

Is it happening only when using spreadsheet component? Try to change the Theme and work with the dashboard.

Is it an Xcelsius Object or a new dashboard that you are trying to design?

Regards,

Namita Agrawal

Former Member
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thanks Namita. I tried to design from scratch at first, then tried changing the theme by using templates. I guess I will reinstall windows and see if that helps.

former_member192430
Active Participant
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Hi Rifat,

It is definitely not an OS problem, please check the following:

- your user type is administrator.

- if you are on the latest office version, then please try reducing the security level of the macros od MS EXCEL office + the settings in Internet options of the Internet Explorer to medium to allow the formulation of the SWF files.

- Kindly, ensure you have the latest adobe acrobat flash player installed in your system.

In case the above points do not help, kindly re-install the dashboard designer and while the installation is on, do look out for any pop-ups telling you about the installation issue or error.

Also, do let us know of your system components like:

OS version:

Dashboard Designer Version:

Adobe Version:

MS Office Suite Version:

Ideally, the preview of the sample dashboards which come up with the installation should run completely and you should be able to export the same. If not then the exceptions coming during the preview might be helpful here.

Hope this helps.

Thanks

Abhishek

former_member184839
Active Contributor
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Hi Rifat,

May be you can try re-installing the dashboard Design.

Thanks,

Sara

Former Member
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Thanks Sara, just reinstalled. Unfortunately the error persists.