"Export to PDF" on Report that is a graphic (line chart, pie graph, etc.) does not work

[Brian Whyte]

To reproduce the issue I'm running into.  Create a report that is graphical, then try to export it to PDF.  In our instance, Service Now does generate a PDF, but all that's in it is a header and where the image should be, there's the following message:

"Error: Export failed using PARExport server"

The PDF it generates is completely useless.   

Ultimately, I need to send these reports over email using "Scheduled Report".  Within the "Scheduled Report" email, I tried all four attachment types, all of them fail. See explanation of how it fails out the side:

1. PDF Landscape - Received email with Empty PDF with same error above

2. PDF - Received email with Empty PDF with same error above

3. Embedded PNG - Received Email with broken link where I can't even download the image and the source text is useless

4. PNG - Received an email with a PNG attached to it. When opening, the image has the following text in the image "It looks like we don't support this file format"

Ideally, being able to do 3 or 4 would be best.  I really don't want it to be a PDF. Seems like a feature like this should work in a product as large as Service Now. Maybe our instance is broken.

[Dr Atul G- LNG · Accepted solution]

Hi @Brian Whyte 

https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB1123205

Cause

The Graphs in reports are rendered by a Cloud service called AVP,

This service is a Datacenter Service for the purpose of rendering the Graphs, which is a shared resource for multiple customers. 

We are aware that the Older "AVP Service" can experience issues when multiple Graphs for scheduled reports are requested at the same moment. 
The Issue is related to too many requests at the same time to the Service (resulting in 503 errors on the Service itself). 

The Customer will have the following system properties active in their instance that will confirm,
That they are using the Older Service: 

glide.chart.avp.host With Value: "http://avp"
glide.avp.server.enable_new With Value "false".  

As a result the requests for rendering the graphs are sent to the Older Service that On peek requests 
may not have the capacity required to handle all the requests from all customer instances. 

Resolution

Please check the following first: 

- The PAR Export server needs to be installed and deployed before it can be used.
- You can set the amount of time the export process waits before timing out. The sys property is 'com.snc.par.export.timeout' and the value is in milliseconds.

Then, check the following properties on a "Sub-production instance" First:
for the purpose of testing this procedure for production:

This is a safe Harbour statement the changes are Low risk.

On the customer instances experiencing this issue 

Set value: glide.avp.server.enable_new to value "true" 
(this will enable the New processing for "Embedded report images".) (instead of the Old One). 

Further assure that the property: glide.chart.avp2.host exists (type: string) with Value: http://parexport
(If it does not exist kindly create it.) 

This will point the instance to use the PAREXPORT Server to render the Graphs, 

Also, it is our recommendation to set the system property:
com.snc.whtp.host to Value: http://parexport

These properties exist because of changes and internal improvements of our ServiceNow data center services. 
and exist point your instance to use the New Services instead of the Old Services.

Most instances are still deployed with the Deprecated services enabled. 
But it is our recommendation to update the above-mentioned to assure that the New and improved Services are activated. 

[Brian Whyte]

Is there another option or configuration that doesn't require an extra server in the configuration?

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Brian Whyte 

Not sure, but log a HI Support case.