.png file in dashboard doesn't come up in PDF afte...

surekhasplunk · ‎10-06-2016

Hi,

Am getting "expected string or buffer" error when i try to schedule image which is there in my dashboard.
In my dashboard i can see the .png file but the moment i try sheduling it and do a preview pdf or download pdf then the image doesn't show. I just see "expected string or buffer" message there.

Pls help.

WilsonWu94 · ‎06-06-2017

Had the same issue.

Currently running 6.5.2, but I don't think the version matters.

Whatever is doing the parsing to export the data to PDF is expecting some kind of text to exist there... So I ended up testing a ton of methods finally finding the easiest way to do it.

Under the img tag, I simply added this line:

<p></p>

apietersen · ‎06-07-2017

Hi WilsonWu94

Is this what you mean?

 <panel>
      <html encoded="1">&lt;img src="http://splunk.eremote.nl/en-GB/static/report-head-icoll-L-43.png" /&gt;<p></p></html>
    </panel>

Note: unfortunately this did not work for me.

Allthough I like the Splunk product very much, the pdf report function is below any standards I have seen over the years. I have been struggling now for month to work-around and use a third-party solution for it but was not succesful yet to integrate.

Now I am now using Fireshot to create periodically manualy pdf reports of our dashboards.

In fact the only thing I need is a screenshot of my dashboards and packaged in a pdf with some text added in a scheduled email. I do not need all kind of links or any other smart pdf things. How difficult can that be for these smart Splunk wizzkids-guys. 🙂

I am afraid it is a lack of urgency/focus on the presentation layer of the management or marketeers at Splunk. This is most frustrating because it is the only way to show my customers any results from Splunk. Note: A login in for my customers is not allowed by Splunk copyright limitations. !? So what is left?

nb. there are tons of free and commercial webbased and standalone pdf tools and solutions. Now I am trying to create some kind of script based on Phantomjs. But I am not a programmer it cost me lot of effort to replace/workaround this lame part of Splunk. A waste of time and money because I probably need an extra server instance too for this. And at the end no good for Splunk self, because my customers do not appreciate this poor scheduled reports either.

And yes, for the rest I am very happy (and have great fun) with the Splunk engine 🙂

Regards
Ashley Pietersen

seanduchstein · ‎01-25-2017

any anyswer?,Any answer?

apietersen · ‎10-20-2016

Yes, I have the same issue. Version 6.5.0. But I am a newbee with Splunk. I have added some lines (row) to the report as a header:

<panel>
  <html> 
      <img src="http://<splunk-server>/en-GB/static/report-head-icoll-18.png" />

  </html>
</panel>

It is very crucial feature to us, we need to have a kind of branding in our scheduled report. Manual printing of the report to a pdf is working OK. Have no clue where to look for s solution. It should work as a standard feature.

Hope someone has a clue or hint

Regards

Ashley Pietersen

apietersen · ‎10-20-2016

Note:

I have stored the images in this diretory (was a suggestion from an other post on this forum)

c$\Program Files\Splunk\share\splunk\search_mrsparkle\exposed

right or wrong

regards
Ashley Pietersen

.png file in dashboard doesn't come up in PDF after scheduling

Stay Connected: Your Guide to November Tech Talks, Office Hours, and Webinars!

Transform your security operations with Splunk Enterprise Security

Splunk Admins and App Developers | Earn a $35 gift card!