The report that is generated from the Print button on the Incident (HPD:Help Desk) form displays correctly on the screen.    However, when that report is exported to the XLS format, the resulting XLS file displays "" characters on rows that are not fully suppressed.  

The file looks like this:


This also occurs for Web reports that are published/scheduled to an XLS format.
 

This knowledge article may contain information that does not apply to version 21.05 or later which runs in a container environment. Please refer to Article Number 000385088 for more information about troubleshooting BMC products in containers.

Instructions to apply workaround for Web reports to XLS display problems:

Assumptions:    AR Server 8.1.02 is installed to C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem
  Midtier 9.1 is installed to C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\midtier

On the ARServer 8.1.02
1. Stop the AR Server 
2.  Make a backup copy of the following files:
 C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\pluginsvr\birtruntime\ReportEngine\configuration\config.ini
 C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\pluginsvr\arreport81_build001.jar
 C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\pluginsvr\birtruntime\ReportEngine\plugins\org.uguess.birt.report.engine.emitter.xls_2.5.1.2014080512550.jar
 C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\pluginsvr\birtruntime\ReportEngine\plugins\org.uguess.birt.report.engine.common_1.1.1.201204261050.jar

 
3.  Copy the config.ini into the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\pluginsvr\birtruntime\ReportEngine\configuration directory.
4.  Delete the c:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\pluginsvr\birtruntime\ReportEngine\plugins\org.uguess.birt.report.engine.emitter.xls_2.5.1.20140805125550.jar
 and org.uguess.birt.report.engine.common_1.1.1.201204261050.jar.
5.  Copy the org.uguess.birt.report.engine.emitter.xls_2.5.2.201107181644.jar
 and the org.uguess.birt.report.engine.common_2.5.2.201107181644.jar
 into C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\pluginsvr\birtruntime\ReportEngine\plugins
6.  Copy the arreport81_build001.jar into the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\pluginsvr\ directory.
7.  Restart the AR Server.

On the Midtier 9.1:
1.  Stop Tomcat
2.  Make a backup copy of the following files:
 C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\midtier\WEB-INF\platform\plugins\org.uguess.birt.report.engine.emitter.xls_2.5.1.2014080512550.jar
 C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\midtier\WEB-INF\platform\plugins\org.uguess.birt.report.engine.common_1.1.1.201204261050.jar
3.  Delete the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\midtier\WEB-INF\platform\plugins\org.uguess.birt.report.engine.emitter.xls_2.5.1.201408051255.jar
4.  Delete the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\midtier\WEB-INF\platform\plugins\org.uguess.birt.report.engine.common_1.1.1.201204261050.jar
5.  Copy the org.uguess.birt.report.engine.emitter.xls_2.5.2.201107181644.jar and the org.uguess.birt.report.engine.common_2.5.2.201107181644.jar
 to the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\midtier\WEB-INF\platform\plugins
6.  Copy the org.uguess.birt.report.engine.common_2.5.2.201107181644.jar  and the org.uguess.birt.report.engine.common_2.5.2.201107181644.jar
 to the C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem\midtier\WEB-INF\platform\plugins
7.  Start Tomcat.

Warning:   The org.uguess.birt.report.engine.emitter.xls_2.5.2.201107181644.jar may produce high CPU usage when running extremely large reports that contain many columns and thousands of rows.