Strange error "Can not retrieve data to generate the report"

I’m upgrading an old RCP application from Java 8 to Java 11 and as part of that, I’m upgrading the BIRT update site of https://download.eclipse.org/birt/update-site/2018-09-interim/ to https://download.eclipse.org/birt/update-site/4.9.0/

A feature of the app is using BIRT to generate HTML reports. What’s really strange is that when I run the app from within Eclipse, this works fine, but when I build it using Tycho and Maven and launch from there, the report is basically blank and has these sorts of exceptions (despite the error suggesting there is no data available, the application GUI shows plenty of data):

org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.EngineException: There is an error in the report query loading, Can not retrieve data to generate the report.

Table (id = 288):
- There is an error in the report query loading, Can not retrieve data to generate the report. 

Error.ReportQueryLoadingError ( 1 time(s) )
detail : org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.EngineException: There is an error in the report query loading, Can not retrieve data to generate the report. 
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.data.dte.DataPresentationEngine.doExecuteQuery(DataPresentationEngine.java:121)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.data.dte.AbstractDataEngine.execute(AbstractDataEngine.java:254)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.executor.ExecutionContext.executeQuery(ExecutionContext.java:1632)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.internal.document.v4.ReportItemExecutor.executeQuery(ReportItemExecutor.java:369)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.internal.document.v4.TableItemExecutor.doExecute(TableItemExecutor.java:68)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.internal.document.v4.ReportItemExecutor.execute(ReportItemExecutor.java:270)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.internal.document.v4.ContainerExecutor.prepareChildExecutor(ContainerExecutor.java:200)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.internal.document.v4.ContainerExecutor.hasNextChild(ContainerExecutor.java:108)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.internal.executor.wrap.WrappedReportItemExecutor.hasNextChild(WrappedReportItemExecutor.java:84)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.internal.executor.wrap.WrappedReportItemExecutor.hasNextChild(WrappedReportItemExecutor.java:84)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLBlockStackingLM.layoutNodes(HTMLBlockStackingLM.java:60)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLStackingLM.layoutChildren(HTMLStackingLM.java:27)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLAbstractLM.layout(HTMLAbstractLM.java:133)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLInlineStackingLM.resumeLayout(HTMLInlineStackingLM.java:97)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLInlineStackingLM.layoutNodes(HTMLInlineStackingLM.java:136)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLStackingLM.layoutChildren(HTMLStackingLM.java:27)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLAbstractLM.layout(HTMLAbstractLM.java:133)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLBlockStackingLM.layoutNodes(HTMLBlockStackingLM.java:66)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLStackingLM.layoutChildren(HTMLStackingLM.java:27)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLRepeatHeaderLM.layoutChildren(HTMLRepeatHeaderLM.java:54)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLAbstractLM.layout(HTMLAbstractLM.java:133)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLBlockStackingLM.layoutNodes(HTMLBlockStackingLM.java:66)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLPageLM.layout(HTMLPageLM.java:92)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.layout.html.HTMLReportLayoutEngine.layout(HTMLReportLayoutEngine.java:97)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.RenderTask$PageRangeRender.render(RenderTask.java:569)
	at org.eclipse.birt.report.engine.api.impl.RenderTask.render(RenderTask.java:273)
	at com.ibm.perf.ui.editor.ReportEditor.generateHTML(ReportEditor.java:153)
	at com.ibm.perf.ui.editor.ReportEditor.runReport(ReportEditor.java:109)
	at com.ibm.perf.ui.Controller$8$1.run(Controller.java:792)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.RunnableLock.run(RunnableLock.java:40)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Synchronizer.runAsyncMessages(Synchronizer.java:132)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.runAsyncMessages(Display.java:4345)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.readAndDispatch(Display.java:3968)
	at com.ibm.perf.ui.ImageProgress.run(ImageProgress.java:111)
	at com.ibm.perf.ui.ImageProgress.start(ImageProgress.java:73)
	at com.ibm.perf.ui.Controller.OpenReportPage(Controller.java:809)
	at com.ibm.perf.ui.handlers.OpenReportPageHandler.execute(OpenReportPageHandler.java:13)
	at org.eclipse.ui.internal.handlers.HandlerProxy.execute(HandlerProxy.java:283)
	at org.eclipse.ui.internal.handlers.E4HandlerProxy.execute(E4HandlerProxy.java:97)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
	at org.eclipse.e4.core.internal.di.MethodRequestor.execute(MethodRequestor.java:58)
	at org.eclipse.e4.core.internal.di.InjectorImpl.invokeUsingClass(InjectorImpl.java:317)
	at org.eclipse.e4.core.internal.di.InjectorImpl.invoke(InjectorImpl.java:251)
	at org.eclipse.e4.core.contexts.ContextInjectionFactory.invoke(ContextInjectionFactory.java:173)
	at org.eclipse.e4.core.commands.internal.HandlerServiceHandler.execute(HandlerServiceHandler.java:156)
	at org.eclipse.core.commands.Command.executeWithChecks(Command.java:488)
	at org.eclipse.core.commands.ParameterizedCommand.executeWithChecks(ParameterizedCommand.java:485)
	at org.eclipse.e4.core.commands.internal.HandlerServiceImpl.executeHandler(HandlerServiceImpl.java:213)
	at org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.renderers.swt.HandledContributionItem.executeItem(HandledContributionItem.java:438)
	at org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.renderers.swt.AbstractContributionItem.handleWidgetSelection(AbstractContributionItem.java:449)
	at org.eclipse.e4.ui.workbench.renderers.swt.AbstractContributionItem.lambda$2(AbstractContributionItem.java:475)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.EventTable.sendEvent(EventTable.java:89)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.sendEvent(Display.java:4604)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1524)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1547)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1532)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.notifyListeners(Widget.java:1325)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.runDeferredEvents(Display.java:4390)
	at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.readAndDispatch(Display.java:3966)
	at org.eclipse.e4.ui.internal.workbench.swt.PartRenderingEngine$5.run(PartRenderingEngine.java:1155)
	at org.eclipse.core.databinding.observable.Realm.runWithDefault(Realm.java:338)
	at org.eclipse.e4.ui.internal.workbench.swt.PartRenderingEngine.run(PartRenderingEngine.java:1046)
	at org.eclipse.e4.ui.internal.workbench.E4Workbench.createAndRunUI(E4Workbench.java:155)
	at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.lambda$3(Workbench.java:644)
	at org.eclipse.core.databinding.observable.Realm.runWithDefault(Realm.java:338)
	at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.createAndRunWorkbench(Workbench.java:551)
	at org.eclipse.ui.PlatformUI.createAndRunWorkbench(PlatformUI.java:156)
	at com.ibm.perf.ui.Application.start(Application.java:43)
	at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.app.EclipseAppHandle.run(EclipseAppHandle.java:203)
	at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.runApplication(EclipseAppLauncher.java:136)
	at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:104)
	at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:402)
	at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:255)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
	at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:659)
	at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:596)
	at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1467)

There are no obvious differences or exceptions in the System.out/System.err of the two executions leading up to the report generation.

Comparing the installed plugins shows very minor differences (red is the failing app and green is the working app):

$ diff fails_plugins.txt works_plugins.txt 
8c8
< com.ibm.ptt.plugin (0.1.0.202206291830) "Bundle" [Active]
---
> com.ibm.ptt.plugin (0.1.0.qualifier) "Bundle" [Active]
33c33
< org.apache.batik.dom.birt.ext (1.14.0.v202203150031) "Batik DOM Extension" [Resolved]
---
> org.apache.batik.dom.birt.ext (1.14.0.v202203150031) "Batik DOM Extension" [Installed]
35d34
< org.apache.batik.ext (1.14.0.v20210324-0332) "org.apache.xmlgraphics:batik-ext" [Resolved]
77c76
< org.eclipse.birt.data.aggregation (4.9.0.v202203150031) "Build-in Aggregation Plug-in" [Starting]
---
> org.eclipse.birt.data.aggregation (4.9.0.v202203150031) "Build-in Aggregation Plug-in" [Active]
154,155d152
< org.eclipse.equinox.launcher (1.6.400.v20210924-0641) "Equinox Launcher" [Resolved]
< org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.cocoa.macosx.x86_64 (1.2.500.v20220509-0833) "Equinox Launcher MacOSX Cocoa Fragment" [Resolved]
230c227
< org.eclipse.ui.console (3.11.200.v20220324-0630) "Console" [Starting]
---
> org.eclipse.ui.console (3.11.200.v20220324-0630) "Console" [Active]
261c258
< org.mozilla.javascript (1.7.10.v20190430-1943) "Mozilla Rhino" [Resolved]
---
> org.mozilla.javascript (1.7.5.v201504281450) "Mozilla Rhino" [Resolved]

The basic code to generate the report is:

String reportfile = Controller.toPluginFilePath("reports/perfReport.rpt");
EngineConfig config = new EngineConfig();
HashMap hm = config.getAppContext();
hm.put(EngineConstants.APPCONTEXT_CLASSLOADER_KEY, getClass().getClassLoader());
config.setAppContext(hm);
ReportEngine engine = new ReportEngine(config);
Platform.startup(config);
IReportRunnable report = engine.openReportDesign(reportfile);
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd_HHmmss");
Date nameDate = new Date();
if (record.getStartDate() != null) {
    nameDate = record.getStartDate();
} else if (record.getEndDate() != null) {
    nameDate = record.getEndDate();
}
String dtstr = sdf.format(nameDate);
File rptdocument = new File("ptt_report_" + dtstr + ".rptdocument");
IRunTask task = engine.createRunTask(report);
task.run(rptdocument.getAbsolutePath());
task.close();
IReportDocument iReportDocument = engine.openReportDocument(rptdocument.getAbsolutePath());
IRenderTask renderTask = engine.createRenderTask(iReportDocument);
File htmlfile = new File("ptt_report_" + dtstr + ".html");
HTMLRenderOption options = new HTMLRenderOption();
options.setOutputFileName(htmlfile.getAbsolutePath());
options.setOutputFormat("html");
renderTask.setRenderOption(options);
renderTask.render();
renderTask.close();

Any thoughts?

I can’t share the whole app for you to reproduce but I can share snippets or try different debug patches.

Attached are the failing and working inputs and outputs in a zip.

engine_exception.zip

[hvbtup]

Well, at least the exception handling of that code looks really buggy to me.

Most error situations are ignored silently. Lines like System.out.println(...) and e.printStackTrace(); won’t have any effect unless you setup your system to actually show System.out and System.err somehow.

I recommend to rewrite the error and exception handling from scratch. A first step to see what’s going on might involve removing the exception handling complete or to throw a ScriptException with the current exception as cause.

What I mean is: I think that the terrible exception handling hides the actual error, that’s why the stack trace doesn’t contain anything useful.

[hvbtup]

You could add some additional logging to the Java code to see if your handlers are working as expected (and maybe compare the log output when using the newer javascript plugin to that when using the older plugin.

Anyway, my guess is that root cause of the issue is some unintended behavior change within the Rhino engine.

One question that you didn’t answer yet: Can you reproduce the problem with a JDBC based report (without scripted datasets?).

BTW: Did you already search for known issues in the Rhino project that might be related?

I fear that it will boil down to a diff of the Rhino source code of the two different plugin versions.