SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

3095888 - Error "Input has an invalid format" when entering a value with special characters in a variable in Analysis Office

Symptom

The error below occurs when trying to manually enter a value with special characters directly in a variable in Analysis Office (either in prompts of a query or in a planning sequence):

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Input "XYZ!" for <VARIABLE> has an invalid format 
(com.sap.ip.bi.bics.dataaccess.consumer.impl.base.RequestedObjects-InvalidFormat) 
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Note: "XYZ!" is just an example of a value with special character.

Environment

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office

Cause

The input fields of the variables use the so-called input string notation, which allows the selection directly entered via keyboard including intervals and hierarchy nodes. This means that some characters are reserved and need to be escaped.

Resolution

It is necessary to escape the reserved character with "\".

For example: the value "XYZ!" should be entered as "XYZ\!".

The SAP KBA 2845593 explains how to enter the values using input-string notation and contains the reserved characters that should be escaped.

See Also

2845593  How to enter the variable values in Analysis Office using the input-string notation

Keywords

invalid, not allowed, input, planning, not able, special, character , KBA , BI-RA-AO-XLA , Excel Addin , Problem

Product

SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office all versions