uChart Troubleshooting

[Anna Thompson (Annarti)]

Can anyone with uChart experience tell me if there's been an update or something that's created a problem with uChart? I'm brand new to the process (though have been using XMPie for many years) so I've been using the tutorial and using the files provided in it just to get the basics down, but I can't get it to create a graph for me. Using the step by step, I can get through to step 3, but the graph itself never displays no matter what options I pick--again, even using the provided files and data. I'm still left with a placeholder pie 'chart' icon. If I try generating VDP output from it, I get the error message:

A problem occurred during Production.
Information:
Print Production
Error
The layout contains an empty chart, created by the Content Object "asdf".
Please make sure that the Content Object contains data.

Which is what leads me to believe something's broken somewhere, or that there's now a step or a setting missing from the tutorial, but I'm so new to uChart that I don't know what to look for.

[Scot Kendrick]

When we use uChart to do bar charts (we don't do pie charts), we have to
1. Set up a chart file to the size we will need,
2. generate the charts as it's own run, locally (uChart works locally, but our main composition engine runs on XMPie Server), then
2. split them out from the chart PDF output (could be 1000's) to be 1up single-page PDF with unique name (cust. id#), then
3. import them in to the final doc as external "ASSETS", using a data field with the "unique name".pdf

We had to develop this "workaround" ourselves. Good luck!

[Anna Thompson (Annarti)]

Hi Scot

I'm not sure that workaround will help for me, but thanks for your input! Can you confirm if what you're saying, by needing a workaround at all, that there's something in uChart that's changed since the XMPie tutorial was made? I'm really coming in blind here!

[Scot Kendrick]

I suspect that we needed the workaround because we use SERVER version for so much Asset Storage, compositions, impositions, moving files, etc.

uChart cannot work on Server, must be loaded locally (desktop). If you have the full version (not demo), I'd reach out to XMPie tech support. 

They're usually knowledgeable & quick to respond.

[west-digital.fr]

>>  uChart cannot work on Server

True. But "uChart Server" (its server-based big brother) can, and was indeed designed to do so by XMPie.

You may refer to your nearest XMPie Sales Rep or reseller in case of need.

>> Please make sure that the Content Object contains data.

uChart will fail, should the current recipient comes with no viable numeric data to provide to uChart, so that uChart can draw the... chart.

I see two situations:

• the settings of your very uChart (in your very document) was made (by you, or your team) in a way that gives no chance at all to uChart to get numeric data. Per instance, if you mistakenly specified a field ( = a column) that contains text values, whereas uChart expected numeric values. Consider the following: run a 1-record production, from the 1st record in your data source; if it fails, then maybe we are in this situation
• a specific record in your data source (not necessarily the first one) has empty, null or non-numeric value, in a column that was supposed to feed uChart with numeric values.  Consider the following: run a 1-record production, from the 1st record in your data source; if it does not fail, then expend your test to the 2nd record; it it does not fail, then expend again, until the moment you would locate the "wrong record", by dichotomicly (is this English??) testing (1-100, then 51-100, the 51-75, etc.)

You may also share here a screenshot of your uChart settings, then maybe also a screenshot of some anonymized data from your datasource.

west-digital.fr