Table of Contents
- Dynamic Reports
- Why am I given an option to download an SVG file when I try to view an InstantAtlas report?
- Why do I get a blank web page when I try to view an InstantAtlas report?
- Why do I get an XML Parsing Error when I try and view an InstantAtlas report?
- Why is the background mapping not displaying?
- My report takes a long time to load initially. Why is this?
- Why do points disappear when I zoom in on the map?
- Why does the map not zoom when I apply a filter?
- Why do I get script errors when I run my report?
- Why do I see text/symbols when I link to a report?
- Why do I get a "reference error" message when viewing a report on the Web?
- Why do I not see a new page when I click a linking button in a report?
- How do I change the map scale at which background mapping is displayed?
- Why am I unable to change the font of titles in my report using the Style Editor?
- Publisher
- Designer
- Why do components move in the Designer interface when I double click them?
- Why does a static image I have insterted using the Designer look bad when I view my report?
- Why do the positions/dimensions of components in the Designer interface not correspond directly to those of the components displayed in my report?
- Why is the Revert to template option in the File menu greyed out?
- Style Editor
- Excel Data Manager
- Access Data Manager
You may be using a web browser to view the report that does not have native support for Scaleable Vector Graphics (SVG). Your browser will not know how to display the report so it asks you if you wish to download the file (which you do not want to do!). The solution is to install the free Adobe SVG Viwer plug-in installed on your computer. This will allow you to view InstantAtlas reports using web browsers that do not have native support for SVG, such as Internet Explorer. You can download the SVG Viewer plug-in from http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html.
It may be that your web browser security settings are preventing the report from displaying. Usually adding the report to your web browser's list of sites will allow it to display the report. You can do this in the following way in Internet Explorer:
Click Tools, Internet Options
Click the Security tab
Click the Trusted Sites icon and then click the Sites button
Type or paste the link to the report you wish to view into the first box and click the Add button
Try viewing the report again
It is likely that you are using a web browser that cannot display compressed SVG files. By default, InstantAtlas reports are published with compressed SVG files to optimise performance. A compressed SVG file has a .svgz file extension. The Adobe SVG Viewer can display compressed SVG files.
But browsers with native SVG support may not be able to display compressed SVG files. To view an InstantAtlas report that has a compressed SVG file you should download and installed the free Adobe SVG Viewer from http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html. You should then view the report with a web browser that is compatible with the viewer, such as Internet Explorer. You can use Firefox in conjunction with the viewer if you turn off the native SVG support.
Check whether the correct background mapping index files were added on the Choose yor Background Images screen of the Publisher. Check that image files were copied to the report output folder. If the images were not copied to the report output folder during the publication process, you can copy these over manually or you can configure the report to read the images from another location (the latter is done by using the Designer to edit the general properties for your report).
Check that the file size of the .shp or .mif files published in the report do not exceed 1Mb.
Check the file size of the XML data file(s) for your report (data.help and any theme supporting XML files). If file size across all XML data files is >1Mb, you might think about splitting your indicator data between seperate reports rather than displaying it in a single report.
Are you viewing the report across a network? If so load time may be affected by the bandwidth available. Can you try viewing the report at a time when use of the Internet within your organisation is reduced?
Check that the SVG (.svgz) and Javascript (.js) files of the report are compressed (if you open them using a text editor it should display non-readable text i.e. symbols). If this is not the case, you can compress them using GZIP (download this at http://www.gzip.org/).
The points should retain the same radius irrespective of the zoom level of your map. If points are disappearing, check that the correct geography type (point) has been specified in the Excel workbook you are using to generate data files for your report. This is entered in cell A1 of the Geography and Filters worksheet.
For a filter to make the map zoom when you select it, the filter name must match the code of a polygon belonging to a contextual layer in your report. If for example the filter you wish to apply is called "Washington" then you must have a contextual layer in the report with a polygon whose code is "Washington". The map will zoom to the polygon that has a code of "Washington" when this filter is applied.
There are several possible causes:
Do you have the correct plug-in for your browser? Please refer to the "Do I need a plug-in to view InstantAtlas reports?" FAQ.
The XML data file, or files, for your report is invalid. This is probably because you have made a formatting error in the Excel workbook or Access database used to generate the XML data file(s). Please refer to the relevant Data Manager user guide for the rules on formatting.
The configuration file (config.help) for your report is not valid. Configuration files are unique to each InstantAtlas template (the type of template but also the version of the template). So you cannot take the configuration file for a report published using the Single Map template and put it in the folder of a report published using the Double Map template.
Some of the files that the report needs to run have been removed from the output folder for the report. All the files making up a report must be kept together.
One or more of the report files have been corrupted. Have you carried out any operations on these files (e.g. editing them, transferring them by FTP)?
This may be because the web server hosting the report is not set up to serve SVG. The web server must be configured to recognise the .svg and .svgz file types. You can check whether the web server is configured correctly by doing the following:
In your web browser type http://web-sniffer.net/
Paste the link to the report you are trying to view into the HTTP(S)-URL box and click Submit
Under HTTP Response Header, check the Content-Type. This should be image/svg+xml. If this is not the case, you will need to set the MIME types for your web server.
If the content-type is not image/svg+xml and the report is on your own web server you need to edit the MIME types for the web server. The procedure will depend upon your web server. To define a MIME type for a specific extension under Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), the steps are the following:
Open the IIS Microsoft Management Console (MMC), right-click the local computer name, and then click Properties
Click MIME Types
In the Extension box, type the file name extension that you want ( .svg )
In the MIME Type box, type image/svg+xml
Apply the new settings. IIS now serves files with the extension that you added. In this example, IIS now serves files with the .svg extension
Repeat steps 4-5 for .svgz file name extension
This problem is likely to be related to the javascript files (.js) of the report. There are a few possible reasons:
The method used to upload files to the web server may assume that these files are in ASCII format, where they are actually binary as they have been compressed using gzip
The javascript files may have been copied to the wrong location. They must be in the same folder as the SVG file.
The web server is not configured to send out .js files (IIS 6 only sends files that are defined in it's approved MIME type list)
The web server is compressing (zipping) the *.js files on the way out. The problem then is that they are already compressed.
This may occur if the button is linking to a file that poses a security threat. Your system settings may prevent such files opening in a new browser window. For example, Word or Excel documents can contain macros and may be blocked. In this case, you may see a page with an "Action cancelled" message or nothing may happen at all when you click the linking button.
If you are publishing an InstantAtlas report and wish to link to external files using linking buttons, bear in mind that not all users may be able to view these (depending on their operating system and settings). It is safer to link to files that do not pose a threat such as HTML or PDF files. If you must link to an Excel or Word file, you have the option of making this open in the same window as your InstantAtlas report. You can do this by changing the Target setting of the linking button to "_self" using the InstantAtlas Designer.
The scale settings for each background mapping layer are defined when you publish a report (on the Choose Your Background Images screen). Once you have published the report, you cannot change the scale settings.
At present you should change the colour, font and size of title text components (e.g. the title for the report, the title for the bar chart, etc) by applying a custom style in the InstantAtlas Designer. Open the config.help file for your report using the Designer. Click the title you wish to edit and click the Properties icon in the toolbar. The Properties dialog will open and you should click the Styles tab. Select the Use Custom Style settings checkbox and click the Change Font and Change Colour buttons to make your changes to appearance. Click Ok and save the config.help file and start your report to view the changes.
The most likely reason is that you are uploading a data.help file created using a version 3 InstantAtlas Data Manager into the version 4 Publisher. You should only upload data files created using a version 4 Data Manager. You can still use the version 3 data files with a version 4 InstantAtlas report by doing the following:
During the publishing of your version 4 report, choose the "Use demo data file" option in the Publisher
Once the report has been published and unpacked to a folder, add the version 3 XML data file(s) directly to the folder
It may be that the data.help file is invalid for another reason. The error message may give you some indication of why the file is invalid. If this does not help you to resolve the issue please contact the InstantAtlas support team at support@geowise.co.uk.
This may be because you are moving your mouse when you double click on a component. A better way to access the Properties dialogue is by clicking the Properties button in the toolbar or selecting Properties from the Edit menu when a component is selected in the interface.
An InstantAtlas SVG report rescales when you change the size of the browser window you are using to view it.The vector graphics in the report do not loose quality when they rescale but images that you have inserted are resampled by the SVG plugin. The images may look fine when the report is a certain size, but may not look great when the window used to view the report is resized. Quality of the image will depend on the original size of the graphic you inserted and the size of your browser window at any point in time. The safest way to ensure that the quality of added graphics is to insert these as SVG images. For advice on converting other image formats to SVG please contact the InstantAtlas support team at support@geowise.co.uk.
The Designer is a flexible tool for moving and resizing components in a report but the position/size of the component in the Designer interface does not necessarily correspond directly to position/size of the component displayed in the report not You can still reposition and resize components (assuming that these options are available for a particular component). Just remember that the position/size of the component in the Designer interface does not necessarily correspond directly to position/size of the component displayed in the report. The best thing is to have both the Designer and the report you are editing open at the some time. Each time you make a change to the position/size in the Designer, click the Save button and then refresh your web browser to view your changes in the report. Making, undoing, redoing and visualising a series of changes to the position of a property is relatively easy and quick in this way.