Custom color palette BI 4.0
Do you need a custom color palette for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 WebIntelligence, Analysis or Crystal Reports? There are options available in the software to choose a custom color palette, but when you want to use your own custom color palette, it’s not possible in the frontend tooling.
In XI 3.1 we could work around that by changing the XML files so default a different color was used. In SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 the chart engine has been changed, now there is one chart engine for WebIntelligence, Analysis and Crystal Reports. So if you need a house-style for your reports, follow the next steps.
1. Your administrator needs to go to the following directory on the server side C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\images
2. Find the file there named as VisualizationConfig.template.xml
3. Rename this file to VisualizationConfig.xml
4. Then edit this file and add the color for the palette as you required (RGB colors are used)
5. Check there are no errors in the config file, otherwise the standard palette is applied – you can define only one Corporate palette, and the palette ID must not be changed
6. Finally, you need to reboot Tomcat after editing the config file.
Hope this helps to create your own color palette for WebIntelligence, Analysis or Crystal Reports.
I was able to create my own custom color palette with SAP BO BI 4.0 ServicePack 4 Patch level 4. I don’t know if earlier version are supported.
Hi Pieter,
Great to see that you managed to solve this issue we faced back in the days. Looks like we were close to the solution back then..
Regards,
Pieter H
Hmm I made all the chnages, renamed the file, restarted Tomcat, SIA and the server itself to no avail. Running SAP BI 40 SP2 Patch 5 on Tomcat/Apache, all on one box.
Hi Andreas,
Sorry for the delay! One thing is very important to know. Current reports with charts are not automatically converted. You need to create a new chart, then the colors will be used.
Keep in mind that there are no errors in the “VisualizationConfig.xml” file.
Please let me know when if it works. You can also send me an email with your file attached (VisualizationConfig.xml). I can check the file if it works on my BI4 server.
Regards,
Pieter
Hi Pieter,
I understood the whole procedure, but had one doubt regarding it.When we add RGB colors to the config file we need to add how many RGB colors to it.We are on SAP BO 4.0SP6.We are building a stacked column chart which is divided into three parts and for this three parts we need to give a custom color.
I hope I have made myself clear.
Thanks in advance.
Hi,
Thank you for the tip. Also, I would like to know how can we select this default palette in the drop down list.
Regards,
Hi Nel,
It’s not possible to select the palette from the dropdown list. When inserting a new diagram into your report, the default color palette will be automatically selected.
Regards,
Pieter
Hi Pieter,
Can you specify which XML files should be changed in BOXI 3.1
Reagrds
Yoav
Hi Yoav,
I apologize that I don’t know how to fix this. I have a little experience with BOXI 3.1. I know that the chart engine in BI4 is changed from the earlier version.
Could you find any other XML file in one of the directories on the server?
Regards,
Pieter
Thanks Piteter,
I have found the relavent file named :defaultConfig.xml
located under tomcat–>Web Intelligence.
Regards
Yoav
Hi Yoav,
I’ll publish this answer in my post. Thanks!
Regards,
Pieter
HI Pieter,
Very informative and helpful! Can you tell me if you believe this approach could provide patterns to cells as well? Another gap we noticed in Deski to Webi 3x-4.
Regards,
Chris
Hi Chris,
I think yes! You should use CSS and place the CSS file on the serverside. Please visit this site for more information:
http://www.avantis.com.au/pages/changing-the-default-webi-4-0-template/
Hope this will help you!
Regards,
Pieter
Hi, Pieter. My team is currently working with technology in our organization to package BO 4.0 for deployment across our group; however we do not currently have a build to test against. I’m working on our default templates ahead of time and had a question. There are 32 colors defined by default in VisualizationConfig.xml. I’m wondering if the XML file must contain 32 colors or would everything still function with either more or less colors being defined?
Thank you!
Hi Jacob,
What I did is define the first x numbers of colors in the palette, for example the first 10 colors, you can untouch the rest of the color numbers.
Regards,
Pieter
Hi Pieter,
We are in SAP BO 4.2 SP3. Can we add multiple custom palettes in the VisualizationConfig.xml file, apart from the Corporate one already present in there so that the custom palette is available across the server to all the users through BI Launchpad.
Thank you
Regards
Sid
Hi Sid,
I think that this solution has not been changed during the time. You can still use the custom made palettes next to the standard palettes. Take into account that you need to configure this file on each server in the landscape.
Regards,
Pieter