Adding Logo’s to WEBI Report using SKINs

Want to make it easier for users to add images (performance indicators, logo’s, updated maps, etc) to Webi Reports?  This method is great because it’s simple and centralizes the logo image file for easy replacement in the future.  I’m doing these adjustments in BI4.1 SP3 and higher, but they probably are available for lower BI4 versions too.

Add your image to the directory (clustered environment?  then add it to the server(s) that have WEBI processing service):

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\images

Adjust the file in the directory called SkinConfig.XML.  Here I added an entry for DFT’s logo:

• – <SKINS>
  – <SKIN NAME=”DFT” KEY=”cell,report,section,bloc”>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-fill”>bitmapAndColor</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-type”>tile</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-color”>#ffffff</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-image”>boimg://logo.gif</PVAL>
  </SKIN>
  – <SKIN NAME=”Curve” KEY=”cell,report,section,bloc”>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-fill”>bitmapAndColor</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-type”>tile</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-color”>#ffffff</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-image”>boimg://skin_marble.gif</PVAL>
  </SKIN>
  – <SKIN NAME=”Business Objects” KEY=”cell,section,bloc”>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-fill”>bitmapAndColor</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-type”>stretch</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-color”>#ffffff</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-image”>boimg://skin_bo.gif</PVAL>
  </SKIN>
  – <SKIN NAME=”Dots” KEY=”cell,report,section,bloc”>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-fill”>bitmapAndColor</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-type”>tile</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-color”>#ffffff</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-image”>boimg://skin_listing.gif</PVAL>
  </SKIN>
  – <SKIN NAME=”Draft” KEY=”cell,report,section,bloc”>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-fill”>bitmapAndColor</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-type”>tile</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-color”>#ffffff</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-image”>boimg://skin_draft.jpg</PVAL>
  </SKIN>
  – <SKIN NAME=”Final Copy” KEY=”cell,report,section,bloc”>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-fill”>bitmapAndColor</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-type”>tile</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-color”>#ffffff</PVAL>
  <PVAL NAME=”background-image”>boimg://skin_finalcopy.jpg</PVAL>
  </SKIN>
  </SKINS>

Restart WEBI Servers

When creating a report add the logo to something like a CELL in WEBI.  Adjust the Cell Formatting and then Appearance.  You will now notice the new skin, “DFT”, addition in the list:

 

Here is an example result of the new skin:

Other Tips:

• In the Skin Name add sizing information to help the end user to size the cell correctly, maybe something like: “DFT 1.5in by 2in”
• The file WebIDefaultStyleSheet.css in the same images path above controls the default CSS format for NEW Webi reports.  This is a great way to maintain your brand for all reports (IT built or adhoc).

 

SAP BI 4.0 SP7 Uses SQL Anywhere 12.0 Database

Last week SAP released BI4.0 SP7, per the service marketplace this release is only 73 days after the release of SAP BI4.0 SP6.  It’s difficult to keep up with all the releases since SAP is coming out with them so often, but that might be topic for another blog posting. Instead I wanted to post some of the changes that I’ve noticed during the install and my limited amount of playing with the SP7 version.

The software download comes in a full release or a service pack release, to be added to an existing BI4 install, from the SAP service market place.  I had issues downloading the Windows service pack only release (ENTERPRISE07_0-20007504.exe) using the SAP Download Manager but the rest of the Windows install software came down without an issue using the SAP Download Manager.  To get just the SP7 server pack I ended up having to click on the link and download it through the browser (a couple of times, but it finally came down).

The product availability matrix (PAM) seems to just be the updated version from SP6(ish) in June still, so it looks like that documentation is a little lagging. I mention SP6(ish) because the PAM didn’t get updated after the release of SP5 instead SAP posted the document with + sign.  I guess SP5+ means SP5, SP6 and SP7, but I do hope that SAP will release out an official PAM document for SP7 to reduce confusion. To find the PAM click here.

Here is the link to the What’s New document from SAP.  If you review the SP7 information you can see SAP has referenced a change in Webi Charting, Data Access for the Linux / Unix environment, enhancements to RestFul WS features and that’s it.  Not an overly exciting list of items but I guess it’s just a service pack release.

I completed a full installation of the software and the integrated database has changed from MS SQL Server Express to SAP SQL Anywhere 12.  Here you can see the default ODBC connections the install built:

 

 

 

This change got me thinking about backups and restore of the repository using this database.  I really don’t have any experience with SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere database, but I’m willing to learn and share my knowledge.

• The database engine and the database files are stored in C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\sqlanywhere\
• To complete a full backup of the database I used a command line executable instead of Sybase Central (gui tool that can be found in the SQLAnywhere full install or the developers version).

  dbbackup -c “UID=dba; PWD=Abc123;ENG=BI4;DBN=BI4_CMS” -y C:\backup\BI4

• To stop and start the database just use windows servers the database engine is listed as: SQL Anywhere for SAP BI
• When recovering the database I just simply:

1. Stopped the BI4 SIA
2. Stopped the SQL Anywhere server
3. Copied the backup database to the location of the original database
4. Started the SQL Anywhere server
5. Started up the BI4 SIA again.

• I typically would not execute additional transaction logs as a recovery process because the CMS database is so small and just easier to do a full backup every day, but if you wanted to in my research I found the following command.

  dbeng12 C:\backup\bi4\BI4_CMS.db -a C:\backup\bi4\BI4_CMS.log

Overall, SQL Anywhere actually supports a backup routine which is more than MS SQL Express version, but typically most BI4 Enterprise installations that I see out there don’t use the integrated database but if you decide to use it I hope this blog post helps out.

One disappointing note about the SP7 update is that the Tomcat build in SP7 is still Tomcat 6 and not Tomcat 7.  It seems silly that Tomcat 7 is supported but not being integrated in the standard release of software.  I typically install Tomcat 7 to get the latest fixes and so this additional step is a little annoying.  At least in BI4.1 Ramp Up the installed version is Tomcat 7.0.32.

Best of luck on your BI4.0 SP7 install!