Method:Classic General Q&A

Re: Dashboard Error Message

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:18:43 GMT

Chrome or FireFox are both superior browsers to use with Method. I personally like Chrome for the speed.

Regarding the error on this thread, it was related to some customization on the charts for their home dashboard. I've seen a similar error and it was after editing a table then not clicking finished editing fields. If you get this error consistenly and you're working on a stock screen it would be considered free support.

Re: Dashboard Error Message

MikeB — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:58:58 GMT

It appears to me to be an IE9 issue. It doesn't happen that often on FireFox, and since I've switched to Chrome (what appears to me to be the best browser in general) I've never seen it happen.

Re: Dashboard Error Message

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:46:14 GMT

kdellaripa:
Why would that be?

I suspect you need to open the invoice table and click Finished Editing Fields. If you made a change to a table and didn't click that button the table doesn't regenerage properly and can cause problems like this. This may also fix the lookup problem from your other post - try the finished editing fields button on any tables you recently changed and let me know if that helps.

Re: Dashboard Error Message

kdellaripa — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:08:27 GMT

I am getting this same error message when trying to print preview an invoice. Why would that be?

Re: Dashboard Error Message

MikeB — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 11:35:20 GMT

Re: Dashboard Error Message

MikeB — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:44:07 GMT

OK, how about this, then:

Selecting a sales rep triggers 3 actions:

Retrieve SalesRepName from the Sales Rep table where the "Initial" field is equal to the sales rep value from the screen.
Retrieve the UserName field from the Users table where the "Entity" field is from an action result (resultEntityName). I am unsure as to where the action that generated this "resultEntityName" action result is generated. Is there a way for me to find it?
Refresh the reports (which works).

I am thinking that #2 (or a similar action) is not present on the screen load actions and this may be causing the problems?

Re: Dashboard Error Message

MikeB — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:34:57 GMT

I've tested that already and I still get an error. None of the reps have a problem - including the manager - after I press OK and clear the error. I just select a sales rep and the numbers/activities are shown correctly for all reports.

It's only on the initial load where the gereration of report4 fails...

Re: Dashboard Error Message

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:55:47 GMT

MikeB:
The initial load for the 4th doesn't initially work, but then works when I select a rep ID.

The only workaround I can think of is to use an Enter Value Into Field On Screen action (if the user is the manager) to change the drop down to a sales rep that doesn't have this problem. Then call the refresh report action and see if that works.

Re: Dashboard Error Message

MikeB — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:01:02 GMT

There's a hidden refresh button that is activated on screen load. The first 3 reports refresh fine. The initial load for the 4th doesn't initially work, but then works when I select a rep ID.

Re: Dashboard Error Message

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:09:05 GMT

MikeB:
Hmm...I'm close...

There's an action to refresh the charts, try adding a refresh chart action for the last chart onLoad and see if that doesn't help.

Re: Dashboard Error Message

MikeB — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:58:29 GMT

OK, the manager has a sales rep ID which I added to the dropdown list (from the SalesRepFilter table). I also made the dropdown default to the manager sales rep ID.

After unhiding everything, the sales rep list field now shows 5 reps (4 + manager), the dropdown shows the manager sales rep ID and the Assigned To field now shows the manager's Username. So far so good there, but the error window pops up and Report 4 isn't generated.

But, switch to another sales repID in the dropdown and all reports are generated and fine. Switch back to the manager's sales rep ID and everything is fine. For some reason on load, the error pops up, yet that report does not appear to be dependent on sales rep ID (which is moot now, anyway). It's dependent on AssignedTo (ie. UserName).

Hmm...I'm close...

Re: Dashboard Error Message

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:36:32 GMT

MikeB:
I can try to add the manager's sales repID to the 1-row dropdown reference table and see what happens.

I just thought of once place you could adjust that might prevent the error message. Under Customize > Users click edit on the manager's login look for the Link to Employee/Vendor/OtherName (SalesRep): option. Try linking the manager to a valid sales rep since it seems like Report4 depends on a SalesRep.

MikeB:
I don't see why, because the reverse is not true (ie. reps without usernames are fine).

You can be a sales rep and not have a username in Method. I'm thinking that the last report requires a sales rep so the fix above may work for you. The manger user is the only one without a sales rep ID so you can either create one for him, or link his user to a sales rep already on file.

Let me know if this works for you,

Re: Dashboard Error Message

MikeB — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:26:51 GMT

OK, thanks - a little more...

Report 4 really only has 2 fields that associated actions use for defining/filtering:

"AssignedTo" and "Date" functions (the past 4 weeks). The "AssignedTo" field is populated using the "User - UserName" value from the screen. When I unhide all the fields and log in as the manager I see the following for the 4 reports:

Manager has no sales rep ID in the rep dropdown, but the pivot grids for sales by selected rep generate fine. They just show 0 values
The "AssignedTo" field IS populated, however Report4, upon which it is filtered, doesn't even generate.
The Report4 pivot gris DOES show a framework (and the correct values) when I select one of the 4 rep IDs (not the manager user).
Only one of the rep IDs has a UserName, yet when I cycle through the repIDs in the dropdown, all the reports generate according to plan (with 0s)

Anyway, this may speak to the issue that Report4, which looks for AssignedTo, doesn't want to generate upon manager login, even though the unhidden AssignedTo field is populated with the manager's UserName. Perhaps the fact that the manager does not have a UserName in the Sales Rep dropdown is causing issues? I don't see why, because the revers is not true (ie. reps without usernames are fine).

I can try to add the manager's sales repID to the 1-row dropdown reference table and see what happens.

Re: Dashboard Error Message

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 20:00:39 GMT

MikeB:
Any suggestions offhand as to how this could happen?

I'm not sure how this started happening but you could build a quick workaround by giving the manager a sales rep ID. Alternatively you could adjust the OnScreenLoad actions to build in a loop checking for the logging in user, if this user is the manager then you can set the drop down to any sales rep to prevent this error.

Re: Dashboard Error Message

MikeB — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:26:04 GMT

My dashboard tab has a "Refresh" button in the header that is activated OnScreenLoad. After playing around with a copy of the dashboard, I traced the error message to a specific report "Report4". This particular report shows activities by "AssignedTo" (ie. by username).

Upon login as the manager, as expected, the first 3 reports are generated but are not populated with anything because the manager does not have a sales rep ID. I do see the report frameworks - they're just not populated with data - again, which is how it should be. However, the 4th one doesn't generate, and the report area is blank. Once I use a hyperlink to activate the sales rep dropdown and select a sales rep, the 4 reports are then populated with the sales results and/or activities for the selected sales rep.

Now, I can see the report4 in the Report Designer, and I see the activities by for every week in the year week in the pivot grid. The report itself only shows activities for the past 4 weeks.

So, all reports work, the numbers are fine, it's just that the 4th report does not initially generate. It only works after I seleck "OK" for the error message, then select a sales rep and then navigate to the tab for the 4th report.

Any suggestions offhand as to how this could happen? Again, I'm seeing this for the first time and the error hasn't popped up before.

Thanks