IBM How to troubleshoot images not appearing in PDF/Excel in Report Studio - United States  TECHNOTE (TROUBLESHOOTING)

PROBLEM(ABSTRACT)
 Unable to view images in reports in PDF/Excel output when using Report Studio/Workspace. 
However images are visible in HTML format when reports are run actively. 

SYMPTOM
Unable to view images in reports in PDF/Excel output when using Report Studio/Workspace. 
However images are visible in HTML format when reports are run actively.

The PDF/Excel outputs will have a placeholder image. This will be in the form of an empty black box (PDF) or will be a missing pictures icon (Excel).


CAUSE
There are a few common causes for this issue: 

 1. The permissions of the folder which contains the image, have not been configured correctly 
 2. The image is not within the directory which is specified 
 3. The directory where the image is meant to be stored, does not exist in the specified location

DIAGNOSING THE PROBLEM
To find out the root cause of this problem, you will need to use tools that monitor and record all actions attempted against the Operating System Registry. 

In THIS scenario the tool used was Process Monitor and the Web Server was IIS 7.5. 

 

 1.  Download Process Monitor tool (Make sure you run it from the same machine Cognos is installed on) 
 2.  Open up the report in Cognos Workspace 
 3.  Load up Process Monitor 
 4.  You will notice the current processes immediately being captured and displaying in the window. Press the Capture / Ctrl+E Icon (Magnifying Glass) to stop the capture of events. 
 5.  Press the Clear / Ctrl+X icon (Eraser) to remove all the recorded entries. 
 6.  Press the capture icon in process monitor 
 7.  Export the report to Excel 2007/PDF 
 8.  Save the file anywhere 
 9.  Press the Capture icon again in process monitor to stop the capturing of events. 
 10. Press the Find Icon / Ctrl+F and type "[Image Name]" to make sure the filter image event was captured. 
 11. You should be able to see the reason why the image could not be saved under the 'Result' column.


RESOLVING THE PROBLEM
If the image is found but cannot be accessed due to permission configuration issue: 

 

 1. Open up IIS 7.5 
 2. Click on the root folder of your Cognos installation (E.g. C1021GA) in the navigation pane on the left side 
 3. When the root folder is selected, double-click 'Authentication' 
 4. Ensure that anonymous access is enabled 
 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the image folder and it's parent folder. 
 6. If the user is concerned about security, they may want to restrict the child-folders (E.g. cgi-bin) and change the authentication settings accordingly 
 7. Run the report in export as Excel 2007 and PDF


If the image/ directory is not located: 

Place the image/directory in the specified location  



Cross reference information Segment Product Component Platform Version Edition Business Analytics Cognos Business Intelligence Cognos Workspace Windows 10.2.1, 10.2

Question: Cognos Analytics - Images not displayed in PDF/Excel, working in HTML I've just completed an upgrade to Cognos Analytics 11.0.3. When running existing reports in HTML, the images are displayed but when I try to run them in PDF/Excel they are not. 

Answer: Open up IIS 7.5 
 2. Click on the root folder of your Cognos installation (E.g. C1021GA) in the navigation pane on the left side 
 3. When the root folder is selected, double-click 'Authentication' 
 4. Ensure that anonymous access is enabled 
 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the image folder and it's parent folder. 
 6. If the user is concerned about security, they may want to restrict the child-folders (E.g. cgi-bin) and change the authentication settings accordingly 
 7. Run the report in export as Excel 2007 and PDF