PowerPivotGeek » Gallery

General problems with Gallery snapshots not being taken – no items listed in the ULS log

powerpivotgeek — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 03:37:59 +0000

For most problems with the Gallery snapshot problem, there are entries in the ULS – but sometimes there are no items or if there are, there is just the “Timeout Exception”. Under these circumstances there is so little to go on that it is hard to figure out how to even get started. Here are some of the general ‘how to get started’ recommendations that I have:

First and most importantly, the rendering engine for the entry must be running.

For workbooks, Excel Services must be running. The way that snapshots are taken is that a web browser is brought up by the GetSnapshot.exe process and inserted into the document library as a collection of images (representing the worksheets in the workbook).
For reports, Reporting Services must be running in SharePoint integrated mode so that the .rdl files can be rendered in a browser.

Go into the site collection and look to see if the PowerPivot feature is enabled.

Sometimes you will find that it is disabled. Typically this happens if the user starts from the “Blank” Site template. For most templates, such as the Team Site, we use feature stapling so that the PowerPivot feature is automatically enabled. However the Blank Site is specifically designed by SharePoint as having all features disabled. So if the end-user starts with the Blank Site and then adds a PowerPivot Gallery (which is a document library), you will find that snapshots will just never happen.
Sometimes even if the PowerPivot feature is enabled, sometimes the SharePoint event handler just stops firing. The GetSnapshot.exe process is started from the Gallery event handler (when a new document is added or if an existing document is being updated). If GetSnapshot.exe isn’t being started (see http://powerpivotgeek.com/2010/10/24/snapshots-not-being-taken/ for another reason why it might not be started, but at least it had an error being recorded) then it could be an issue with the event handler. The workaround that we have found works is to deactivate and then re-enable the PowerPivot site collection level feature.

Look to see if GetSnapshot.exe process starts. If it does, the ULS should contain something, even if it just a Timeout Exception. If this is happening:

Gallery should set the doclib advanced setting "Opening documents in the browser" from "Use the system default" to "Open in the browser" – we are finding that when some apps are installed on SharePoint, that the default value is being changed to “Open in client application”

If all else fails, log onto the server interactively using the web application app pool service account. Then try to view the file that you are having problems with. As the first item above mentions, the rendering engine must be working. It may be that there are issues with the web application app pool service account that is stopping the browser control from rendering the content.

Hope this helps.

_-_-_ Dave

Snapshots not being taken

powerpivotgeek — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 03:07:53 +0000

Recently I ran into an interesting customer situations with Gallery snapshots not being taken – just an hourglass is showing (meaning that the snapshot generation process is on-going, i.e. the GetSnapshot.exe process is running).

The problem is visible in the ULS log with this error:

w3wp.exe (0×1508) 0×0CF4 SSAS Mid-Tier Service Report Gallery 99 High EXCEPTION: System.Exception: CreateProcessAsUser failed with 1058 at Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SharePoint.Integration.SnapshotExtraction.InternalSnapshotExtraction(SnapshotExecutionContext context, Int32& snapshotToolExecutionMask) at Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SharePoint.Integration.SnapshotExtraction.ExtractSnapshots(SnapshotExecutionContext context) at Microsoft.AnalysisServices.SharePoint.Integration.SnapshotHandler.CaptureSnapshot(ListItemInfo itemInfo, WorkbookConnections connections)

The error 1058 can have as a root cause the fact the Windows service “Secondary Logon” is disabled.

The service as to be at least in manual (the service will be started by the call to CreateProcessWithToken if the permissions permit it).

Note: To totally solve the issue, the server needs to be restarted and the properties on the documents to be changed in order to generate a new snapshot.

Enjoy!

_-_-_ Dave

PowerPivot demos are now ONLINE

powerpivotgeek — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:43:22 +0000

So, you’d like to see what a PowerPivot-enabled workbook likes like? Want to give it a try online using just your browser? Then today is your day. The PowerPivot demos are now ONLINE, see here: http://powerpivot.com/demo.aspx – these are all hosted, and available with just your browser. Now here is a trick that we don’t tell you about – as a reader of PowerPivotGeek – you get to see it first. After you view one of the demo workbooks, click on the Gallery: for example,

And that takes you to the PowerPivot Gallery that holds all of the sample workbooks. So you also get to see what a Gallery looks like also! Cool STUFF!

A trick: How do I regenerate a thumbnail in the Gallery?

powerpivotgeek — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:25:50 +0000

Suppose your thumbnail has gotten out of whack with your workbook. How do you regenerate it? Sure, the brute force way is to re-upload the file again, but surely there must be a geek’er way to do this. Fortunately there is: just edit one of the SharePoint properties for the file. I always select the “Title”. I delete the last character in the title of the file and then re-enter it. Click Save. Since this document property has to be back populated into the file, by changing a property forces the event handler to fire and the thumbnail is regenerated. There ya go!