Recently we have encountered numeric error messages in multiple environments when using Smartview 11.1.2.x. Typically a single number is shown with no accompanying description. The error message looks like the following, but may list some other specific number:
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The fact that there is no descriptive text makes troubleshooting these errors difficult. Further complicating the process is the fact that the numbers that appear in these error messages can vary depending on the specific issue. One theory on why this occurring may be that the number the user receives on error is supposed to correspond to a message, but either the wrong field is being displayed in the message window or a lookup of the error message is failing.
No matter what the root cause, what we do know is that these errors typically indicate issues with Planning User Preferences or Smart View Options. If an error such as that above is encountered, the first step in the troubleshooting process should be to find another user of the application for whom the error does not occur. Second, compare Planning User Preferences and Smart View settings then begin changing them to match until the issue is resolved.
I will describe a couple examples that we have uncovered using this method. Feel free to start the troubleshooting process with these examples if you are struggling with this issue. This is by no means an exhaustive list, as I’m sure there are other possible causes.
1.) “Use Application Default” for Number Formatting
If you are receiving a numeric error message when navigating to User Preferences from Smartview (see below):
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The issue may be related to selections within Planning User Preferences. There are validation rules within the settings themselves to prevent conflicting values from being selected. For instance, selecting Comma as both the “thousands separator” and the “decimal separator” is not possible. Typically this results in a specific message and does not allow the settings to save. In one case, however, selecting “Use Application Defaults” for this category resulted in this exact conflict but still allowed the invalid setting to save. The fix was to access User Preferences from the Planning Web interface and de-select the option (see below):
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Once this setting was changed, the user in question could again access Planning User Preferences within Smartview.
2.) Ad-Hoc Settings such as “Suppress Missing”
If you are receiving a numeric error message when attempting to open a Data Form in Planning, it may be due to a Smartview option having been set incorrectly such as “Suppress Missing”.
Typically if suppression is turned on and a blank sheet is retrieved via ad-hoc with no underlying data, a very specific error message appears which indicates that no valid data exists. In some circumstances, this setting can affect the behavior of Planning Data Forms as well. Simply disable suppression in Smartview Options and attempt to open the Data Form to work around this issue.
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As was stated previously, this is by no means an exhaustive list of causes. In our experience, these numeric errors typically indicate issues with Preferences and Options within Planning and Smartview. The possibility certainly exists for other underlying causes. Hopefully this post points the reader in the right direction!
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