BDC Profile Link displays a blank page
Has anyone ran across this before?
I've created a BDC application, added a Business Data column to a list and populated it. When I click on the link for the Business Data column in the populated list I am redirected to a page called ProfileRedirect.aspx. However I just sit on the blank page without actually getting to the profile page for the entity.
I can click the drop down and select View Profile but cannot click the link on the column itself.
Any Ideas?
Answers
I managed to solve the issue using the workaround as described below. Microsoft has acknowledged this as a bug, unfortunately it is is currently set as "won't fix at this time". A KB article is supposed to come out some time describing this issue and possible workarounds. I was given a KB number of 950373, but haven't seen the article yet.
Workaround:
Recreate the profile page inside the site collection you wish to use.
Update the profile link on the shared services admin site to point to the new profile page. (This must be done each time the BDC application is updated)
The works around the problem but obviously only works if you have one site collection on the farm that is using the BDC application.
All Replies
I am having the same issue. I have an application definition imported into the Business Data Catalog. I have it both imported in our test and production box. Our test box works fine. I can search and validate BDC values and store them in lists.
But as for our production box, when I use a BDC column in a list and display the list in a view (via View All Site Content - not even in a web part) and I click on the BDC value
shown in the list, it takes me to a blank page instead of the "View Profile"
page.
The URL is something like: http://server/site/_layouts/ProfileRedirect/aspx?Application=.........&ItemId70003000300030003000......
and it just sits there at a blank screen. But if I do a drop down and select View Profile, it leads me to the Detailed Item page. It just doesn't work if you click on the link of the item itself.Please advise...thanks!
I spent a LONG time with MS support on this one.
Are you using Alternate Access Mappings (AAM)?
If you are, that's the problem. It's a bug in Sharepoint - I was hoping it would be fixed in SP1, but sadly was not.
If you right-click on the BDC value and copy the URL that it normally goes to and paste it into the address bar of the browser, then change the server name to the *actual* server hostname, it works. But it does not work for the mapped name.
For example, the hostname for my Sharepoint server is spsrv1.mydomain.com. I have an AAM set up that maps portal.mydomain.com.
The URL generated when I click on the BDC value starts with http://portal.mydomain.com/......, which redirects to a blank page.
If I copy and paste that URL and change http://portal.mydomain.com to http://spsrv1.mydomain.com, it will get past the ProfileRedirect.aspx page and display the BDC profile page.
- That seems to be a bad XSL code on your bdc list webpart... can you chek the XSL? and confirm that the code is correct there ?
Morrido, the XSL code is correct because it works fine in the test box.
JXJ, we are using the AAM. That was my first thought, but was wondering if there is a workaround. I guess I'll just not have it as a link, but use another web part instead.
Hopefully, "they" will come out with a fix one of these days ;-)
Thank you all for replying.
This problem has nothing to do with the BDC List web part - although it does not work there either.
The problem is very basic.
Create a list and use a BDC column in it. Add an item to the list and select a BDC value.
Go to the standard SharePoint list view of that list (AllItems.aspx).
Click on the BDC value. It should take you to the "Profile" page for that BDC value.
If you are not using an AAM, it will work. If you are using an AAM, it will go to a blank page.
If you are using an AAM, you can drop down the context menu next to the BDC value in the list view and choose "View Profile" and it will display the "Profile" page for the BDC value. But clicking on the BDC value will not work.
It does this whether you are using the standard SharePoint list view or a BDC web part. It's the AAM that breaks it. It looks like SharePoint's ProfileRedirect.aspx page does not support AAM's.
I'm not holding my breath for a fix. I was very disappointed in the number of fixes that came out in SP1.
I toyed with the idea of trying to write a replacement for the problem ProfileRedirect.aspx page, although I haven't thought through exactly how that might be accomplished.
JXJ When you say this is only a bug if you use AAM, are you including using a url other than the server name in that definition? I've setup my site without AAM but I did use a url that is different than the server when I set up my Web Application. I am getting the exact same symptoms so I'm guessing it's part of the same problem.
What did MS support say when you talked with them? Was this admitted as a bug but nothing was done?
As for replacing the ProfileRedirect page it shouldn't be too bad. You have the BDC Application name, and the encoded id of the entity your trying to look at. Theoretically you would just use the current context to find out the site's SSP grab the BDC Application and lookup the entities profile page url. Then redirect to that url passing in the decoded id. I've logged a support call with MS but may start working on this workaround solution.
Mark,
They did eventually say they reproduced it and it was a bug. They did not give a workaround, other than to not use AAM.It took a while before they concluded it was a bug. I sent them my BDC definition file multiple times (they kept losing it I guess). I sent them a sample database. I let them remote control my PC and they tried various combinations of AAM settings and IIS settings (all of which I already tried....). They even had me capture a packet trace between a client PC and the server.
At first I thought there was just some problem on my server because it worked OK on my development server but didn't work on my production server. That's what initiated the call to support. I originally did not know it was related to AAM.
During one remote control session, we copied the URL to the ProfileRedirect.aspx page and changed the hostname to the server name and it worked. So we added an AAM to the development server (which was not using AAM) and reproduced the problem there also.
That led to the conclusion that it was related to AAM.
This is the current information I received from Microsoft. They are currently looking at the issue to decide what they will do about it. I'll keep this post updated when i hear more.
Internal Repro Steps:
---------------------------------
1. Create a simple BDC Application XML definition that connects to a SQL Server DB table and has a DEFAULT action for each item that points to an external URL (not managed by Sharepoint). For example: http://www.test.com/action.aspx?id={0}
2. Add a "Business Data List" Web part in any page of the portal 3. Edit this Web Part properties, specify the "Type" you have created in step 1 and click "Ok"
4. If the DB table has some data, it should display it in the Web Part, and each row will have a clickable item 5. Click on any item (IMPORTANT: Don't open the dropdown, just click on the item)
Actual Results: A blank page is displayed (profileredirect.aspx).
Work around: Instead of clicking directly on the item instead follow the item link via the drop down
Mark Zacharias wrote: This is the current information I received from Microsoft. They are currently looking at the issue to decide what they will do about it. I'll keep this post updated when i hear more.
Internal Repro Steps:
---------------------------------
1. Create a simple BDC Application XML definition that connects to a SQL Server DB table and has a DEFAULT action for each item that points to an external URL (not managed by Sharepoint). For example: http://www.test.com/action.aspx?id={0}
2. Add a "Business Data List" Web part in any page of the portal 3. Edit this Web Part properties, specify the "Type" you have created in step 1 and click "Ok"
4. If the DB table has some data, it should display it in the Web Part, and each row will have a clickable item 5. Click on any item (IMPORTANT: Don't open the dropdown, just click on the item)
Actual Results: A blank page is displayed (profileredirect.aspx).
Work around: Instead of clicking directly on the item instead follow the item link via the drop down
now after this post and as everyone should get to the same conclusion i did... if you edit the xsl and correct the link that is buged and replace for the one that is the correct one you have a fix... generated code is not 100% acurate i supose this is a bug, and as of now MS is aware of it.
Morrido is correct. In the dvt_1.rowview template, you can overwrite the href of the <a>.
It says
<
xsl:if test="$ClickThroughUrl"><
xsl:attribute name="href"><
xsl:value-of select="concat($ClickThroughUrl, $rowId)" /></
xsl:attribute></
xsl:if>replace it with
<
xsl:attribute name="href"><
xsl:value-of select="@yourURL" /></
xsl:attribute>That should fix it.
Edit the xsl in what file?
It occurs in the out-of-the-box generated list view (AllItems.aspx).
I managed to solve the issue using the workaround as described below. Microsoft has acknowledged this as a bug, unfortunately it is is currently set as "won't fix at this time". A KB article is supposed to come out some time describing this issue and possible workarounds. I was given a KB number of 950373, but haven't seen the article yet.
Workaround:
Recreate the profile page inside the site collection you wish to use.
Update the profile link on the shared services admin site to point to the new profile page. (This must be done each time the BDC application is updated)
The works around the problem but obviously only works if you have one site collection on the farm that is using the BDC application.
- Does anyone has a solution for multiple BDC entities?
- Proposed As Answer byAtWorksLLC Friday, August 01, 2008 1:24 PM
- This is actually a bug in the DLL itself.
The Profileredirect.aspx works well if using the machine name or a dediacted IP. It does not work with host headers.
I have been able to work around this issue by editing the XSL and hardcode the relative link for the $CLickThroughURL with the defualt action URL.
I recommend creating an XSL file and upload it in the stylelibrary (if using publishing features) or any global list (accessible by all visitors).
Then just link your BDC web part to te corresponding XSL file (in the misc... web part panel).
Doing this will prevent the embedded XSL to be overwritten everytime you change the columns to be displayed.
Hope this help.- Proposed As Answer byAtWorksLLC Friday, August 01, 2008 1:18 PM
