IBM Support

External Data option "Allow the server to automatically load the file" is disabled

Troubleshooting


Problem

After selecting an external data file to import, the "Allow the server to automatically load the file" check box becomes greyed out and cannot be checked.

Cause

For security reasons, many modern internet browsers prohibit the full path of a user's file location from being captured by any external application, including Cognos BI.

The "Allow the server to automatically load the file" check box will be disabled when the internet browser prevents the Cognos BI server from knowing the location of an uploaded external data file. Whenever the inputted file does not a have a full location path visible to the Cognos BI server, the option will be disabled.

Resolving The Problem

To be able to use the "Allow the server to automatically load the file" option, you must upload the file with an internet browser that will share the full path of the file.


Here are internet browsers that will share the full path of a user's file location:
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer if 'Include local directory path when uploading files to a server' in 'Tools->Internet options->Security' has been enabled.
  • Firefox 16.0.2 and earlier version if you have gone through the following steps
    • 1) Enter "about:config" in the URL field;
      2) Filter on following value: "signed.applets.codebase_principal_support' in 'about:config";
      3) If not found, right click and select New->Boolean and name it: "signed.applets.codebase_principal_support';
      4) Set this setting's value to true.

Here are internet browsers that will never expose the full path of a user's file location:
  • Firefox 17.0 and higher
  • Chrome
  • Safari

Related Information

[{"Product":{"code":"SSEP7J","label":"Cognos Business Intelligence"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU059","label":"IBM Software w\/o TPS"},"Component":"--","Platform":[{"code":"PF002","label":"AIX"},{"code":"PF010","label":"HP-UX"},{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"},{"code":"PF027","label":"Solaris"},{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"10.2.1","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB10","label":"Data and AI"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
15 June 2018

UID

swg21670934