Issue downloading report exported to PPTX when deployed on server?

Question

We are generating our reports using JasperReports 5.6.1, and allow exporting the same template to PDF or PowerPoint. When running locally, the PDF and PPTX file downloaded work perfectly. When we deploy to our servers PDF works fine, but PPTX files cannot be opened. When we run locally, it is deployed to tomcat, but when deployed to the server it is running on Websphere. Things I tried and noticed: - I have checked the logs, and there are no exceptions or anything to raise any eyebrows. - The file downloaded is usually slightly larger than the one we get when we run locally. - If I changed the extension of the files to zip, and unarchived them. The file structure and file names are the same, along with the files actually being the same file size. The contents seem to only be different in the names for the objects found in each slide. - thinking it may be a problem with the `x` type files I tried exporting to xlsx also, just to see what would happen, and it works fine with the same template. - I added a static pptx file that was known good, and can download it without issue from the server. I did this to try to eliminate a server config from the issue, and sense it worked, I am assuming it is something with my code, just not sure what. Here is the code for where we write the response: if ("xlsx".equals(type)) { response.setContentType("application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet"); response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + filename + ".xlsx"); } else if ("pptx".equals(type)) { response.setContentType("application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation"); response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + filename + ".pptx"); response.setCharacterEncoding("UTF-8"); } else { response.setContentType("application/pdf"); response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + filename + ".pdf"); } try (final ByteArrayOutputStream reportResult = reportsService.generateReport( getDeal(userId, dealId, sessionStore), getScenarioModel(userId, dealId, scenarioId, sessionStore), reportId, type)) { configureResponse(response, type, reportResult, dealId + "-" + scenarioId); // Write to http response reportResult.writeTo(response.getOutputStream()); } response.flushBuffer(); I have run out of ideas on troubleshooting steps, and without being able to reproduce it locally, I am finding it difficult to diagnose.

Answer 1

It looks like you are having trouble getting PPTX files made with JasperReports on your server, especially when deploying to Websphere. The PDF files work fine, but when you download the PPTX files from the website, you can't open them. Here are some ideas and possible options to think about based on the information you've given:

Encoding and Charset Problems: Make sure that your program handles character encoding in the same way everywhere. You have set the character encoding for the PPTX response in your code, but make sure this doesn't conflict with any encoding settings in your JasperReports template or other parts of the program.

Compatibility with JasperReports: JasperReports 5.6.1 might not work well with making PPTX files, especially on some server setups. You might want to update to a newer version of JasperReports that supports exporting to PPTX file better.

Server Configuration: Check to see if Websphere has any settings or limits that might be stopping PPTX files from being downloaded. Make sure that Websphere has the right MIME type maps for PPTX files.

material-Length Header: Try setting the response's Content-Length header to the real size of the PPTX material that was made. This could help make sure that the saved file doesn't get damaged because its content length is wrong.

Debugging: Since the problem is only happening on the server and not locally, it might help to add more logging lines throughout your code to track the flow of execution and find any differences between the local and server environments. This could help figure out where the problem is coming from.

ClassLoader Problems: Sometimes, unexpected things can happen because of changes in class loaders between the local and server environments. Make sure that the server environment has all of the tools and dependencies that JasperReports needs.

Memory and Resources: Check to see if the server has any memory or resource limits that could be slowing down the PPTX generation process. Make sure that the program has enough memory to create the PPTX files.

Network or Firewall Problems: Make sure that the server doesn't have any network or firewall limits that could make it hard to download PPTX files. Some settings can sometimes make it hard to download files.

JVM Settings: Check the Websphere JVM settings and match them to the ones for your local Tomcat installation. Make sure that the settings for memory allocation, encoding, and other important settings are the same in both locations.

Consult literature and Support: Check the literature for both JasperReports and Websphere to see if there are any known problems or best practices for exporting PPTX files on the server. If the problem keeps happening, you might want to ask for help in their support groups or communities.