ESRI Map not rendering in IE8/10 when EM4C drill-through added

Question

Hi all

Currently got a support ticket on-going with ESRI but slow/no progress so throwing it open to the floor ??? any input greatly
appreciated!  Bear with me, it is a weird one???

Running: Cognos 10.2.1 FP2, EM4C 4.3.2 (+ 10.2 compatibility fix), ArcGis 10.2.1

Current reporting structure:

1. Entry Report ??? Cognos report (no ESRI content) with prompt page and summary totals output page, with several Cognos drill-throughs defined (passing required/optional parameters) to all of the following???
2. Report A ??? Geo Level 1 (Shape Layer): Cognos report with list and ESRI map (no parameter page) ??? EM4C drill-through on map to Report B, Cognos drill-throughs back to Entry Report and Cognos Excel List Report
3. Report B ??? Geo Level 2 (Shape Layer): Cognos report with list and ESRI map (no parameter page) - EM4C drill-through on map to Report C, Cognos drill-throughs back to Entry Report and Cognos Excel List Report
4. Report C ??? Geo Level 3 (Shape Layer): Cognos report with list and ESRI map (no parameter page) - EM4C drill-through on map to Report D, Cognos drill-throughs back to Entry Report and Cognos Excel List Report
5. Report D ???Geo Level 4 (XY Layer): Cognos report with list and ESRI map (no parameter page), Cognos drill-throughs back to Entry Report and Cognos Excel List Report

This reporting suite works just fine in IE8, IE10 and Chrome. However, client then changed requirements and wanted to enter the
 suite at Report A ie display map report for all available areas. Attempted this in two ways:
a) Report view to Report A with necessary parameters defined and report view not to prompt user for parameters
b) Duplicate report but with no parameters required

With both reports I immediately encountered a major issue. The Cognos report would run in IE, the list populate with data, but the map would not render; IE8 displayed a black block in place of the map, IE10 nothing at all. Yet the either report would still run fine
 in Chrome.

So then I tried running Report A directly. As expected, Cognos automatically created a parameter page, but after specifying 
required values (or leaving blank - all prompts at this level are optional) the same results were encountered ??? IE8 black block, IE10 white block, Chrome OK.

Numerous attempts to rebuild the report resulted, all with the same outcome. However, on several occasions I thought it was 
resolved as the rebuilt report would run for a period of time, but then ultimately the same results were experienced. Could this be 
some sort of caching issue? Regularly clear IE browsing history etc so would have to be something server-side.

During the rebuild process the cause of the issue became evident; adding the drill-through broadcast action from Report A to 
Report B in ESRI Maps Designer killed the map functionality. Up to this point the map would render fine in all browsers, but the new drill-through code would kill IE functionality (still working in Chrome!). Why would this bit of code kill the map ??? is it something to do with null or optional parameters being handled incorrectly?

Also, all these rebuilt reports would still run in IE if accessed via a drill-through from another Cognos report, just as we experienced originally.

And this is where we are at some two months after the issue was originally encountered. Has anyone else experienced similar 
issues with EM4C drill-throughs, or encountered the black/white screen in place of a map in IE? Appreciate IE8 is no longer 
supported, but I need to handle all browsers as user base could be using any of these, and issue is in all IE10 as well.

All view/opinions welcomed.

Many thanks

Gary

GaryBearman · Answer

Latest response 12/09:

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. Esri Inc do not believe they will be able to test the issue against the v6 release as they still have no way of consistently replicating the issue.

I think the quickest way to proceed would be to test this yourself with the v6 release when available to see if it has been resolved (which Esri Inc believe it will due to changes in the way the software behaves).

I appreciate that this is not an ideal suggestion, but I hope that it will allow us to keep progressing the call to a resolution. I am still trying to confirm the exact release date for the v6 software as well as the procedure to get hold of it.

GaryBearman · Answer

Further update received from Esri 26/08:

I have received a response from Esri Inc regarding this issue at the end of last week. They have now confirmed the behaviour you have been experiencing and have therefore gone ahead and logged it as a bug:

NIM104434 - For a Specific report that has a drill through action, it will not display the map in Internet Explorer

They have been unable to identify the exact cause of the bug, but have found that in IE 9/10, if the report is run from the IBM Cognos Viewer (the Run Report button), the map will show up successfully. They have advised in the meantime that either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browsers be used instead (as you reported back in March).

They have also asked me to advise you that Esri Maps for Cognos 4.3.2 will be retired on 1st January 2015 (as it is in the Mature Phase of Support). Unfortunately, because the product is in Mature Support, no further Service Packs, Patches or Hotfixes will be released for the product: http://downloads2.esri.com/support/TechArticles/ProductLifeCycle.pdf.

Esri Maps for Cognos 6.0 will be available for evaluation next month (30th September) should you wish to test against the newer version.

http://downloads.esri.com/support/product%20life%20cycle/location_analytics/EsriMapsforIBMCognos_PLC.pdf

I am currently still working with Esri Inc to see if this issue has been fixed in later supported versions, or if the issue is still prevalent.

GaryBearman · Answer

Update on this IE issue in case anyone was curious...

Incident raised 22/04/14 after extensive testing. Acknowledgement that this is a bug finally received 18/08/14 after almost 4 months duration; only real progress made in August once Esri accepted our offer of utilising the client's development environment:

I have had a reply from our account manager at Esri Inc regarding this issue. He has spoken to the Tech Lead who is assisting with this call, who believes the issue to be a bug. The behaviour is inconsistent and specific to web-browsers. He sees different behaviours in IE9, IE10, and IE11, as you know and have reported. They believe they may have identified a workaround in IE10, but are currently testing this to ensure it works correctly. They have also contacted the primary product engineer for Esri Maps for Cognos, to see if this affects later versions of the product.

Will issue a final update once fix implemented.