Problem:
BIRT PDF reports when emailed show some "?" when using foreign characters on AIX
hosted application server
Cause:
Truetype fonts like Arial and Verdana do not exist on an AIX server.
PDF emitter needs to locate these files to embed in the created file.
The default behavior:
1.
PDF emitter loads the font files from the fonts folder of the plug-in
"org.ecllipse.birt.report.engine.fonts". and then the system defined font
folder. If the section <font-paths> is set in fontsConfig.xml, the system
defined font folder will be ignored, and the font files specified in section
<font-paths> will be loaded instead.
2.
PDF emitter tries to use the font specified in design-time to render the pdf.
If the font is a generic family, it will be mapped to a PDF embeded type1
font.
"serif" to "Times-Roman"
"fantasy" to "Times-Roman"
"sans-serif" to "Helvetica"
"monospace" to "Courier"
"cursive" to "ZapfDingbats"
If the font can not be built, it will go to the unicode block of that character,
and try the font defined in that block.
If this also fails, the character will be replaced with '?' using the default font,
currently "Times-Roman", to denote a place of missing character.
Solution:
1- From admin workstation machine, create a new directory named fonts
2- Go to your Windows/fonts directory and copy following ttf files under the fonts directory
arial.ttf
arialbi.ttf
arialbd.ttf
ariali.ttf
verdana.ttf
verdanab.ttf
verdanai.ttf
verdanaz.ttf
N.B!: Please be advised that part of this used solution , i.e adding the Verdana ttf font
family to the AIX system - has license implications.
(more info on this at for instance: http://www.ascendercorp.com/font/verdana/ )
Please check further on this with AIX and your held license!
3- Save a backup copy of the following jar file:
C:\IBM\SMP\maximo\applications\maximo\maximouiweb\webmodule\WEBINF\birt\platform\plugins\org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.fonts_2.1.2.v20070205-1728.jar
Open this file with WinRar and add the fonts directory you have just created in it.
From WinRar Menu, select Commands->Add Files to Archive -> OK -> OK
Copy com.lowagie.itext_1.5.2.jar file
from <your server IP address>/
(this file has also fonts added to it: Extract the jar file. In the new directory-structure, find
and “extract here” the jarfile \lib\itext-1.5.2.jar. In the new folderstructure, go to
com\lowagie\text\pdf\fonts, and copy the fonts there. Recreate both jarfiles and you get the
jarfile included.)
under
C:\IBM\SMP\maximo\applications\maximo\maximouiweb\webmodule\WEBINF\birt\platform\plugins\
4- Rebuild Maximo.ear file
Open a command window
Go to c:\IBM\SMP\maximo\deployment folder
Execute buildmaximoear.cmd
5- Deploy new Maximo.ear on Websphere Application Server.
6- Install Adobe Acrobat Reader for AIX
Download and install on the AIX server that runs Websphere Application Server, Adobe
Acrobat Reader 7.0.9 for AIX from
http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/
_709_aix_enu.tar.gz)
Select default installation directory.
7- Install ”Adobe Central European and other language fonts” for AIX on the Websphere
Application Server
Download FontPack708_ce_rs6000-aix.tar.gz from
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrasianfontpackthanks.html?hasjavascript=0&Vers
ion=Adobe+Reader+7&Language=Central+European+and+other+languages&Platform=AIX
8- Install TrueType fonts:
Copy and extract the TrueType.tar (<your server IPAddress.)from the following (default)
path:
/depo/TIVOLI/CCMDB711_TSRM71/ (bimadmin/bimadmin)) file to be found under
/usr/lpp/X11/lib/X11/fonts
tar -xvf TrueType.tar
N.B!: It is assumed that you own a proper license to install Arial and Verdana fonts on
your server
Place or create the path as follows:
mkfontdir /usr/lpp/X11/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType .
This will create a new fonts.dir file in the directory.
9 – Add parameters to generic JVM arguments
Application servers > MXServer > Process Definition > Java Virtual Machine
Under Generic JVM Argumants
Add -Dclient.encoding.override=UTF-8 -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
10- Restart Application Server