TIBCO Spotfire Web Player displays error: "There is no URL specified for TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services.".

TIBCO Spotfire Web Player displays error: "There is no URL specified for TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services."

When attempting to execute a data function in an analysis file on the TIBCO Spotfire Web Player, the data function may fail to run and display the error:

There is no URL specified for TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services

Unlike the TIBCO Spotfire desktop client, Spotfire Web Player and Spotfire Automation Services do not have their own TERR engines. They must send data functions' TERR scripts to TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services (TSSS) via a web address (URL).  Some considerations:

• Specifying the TSSS URL for a TSSS instance that is configured to use one type of statistical engine (such as open-source R, for example) will not prevent receiving this error for a data function that has been set to use another statistical engine type (such as TERR).  Each Spotfire user group's Preferences tab has a separate TSSS URL field for each statistical engine type.
• Specifying a TSSS URL for one Spotfire user group will not prevent this error for members of other user groups.  For example, if user group B is not a member of user group A, setting a TSSS URL for group A will not prevent this error for members of group B.  
• All Spotfire users are members of the Everyone user group.

The following discussion provides additional detail about TSSS and its use.

TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services (TSSS) is a separate product (It is not part of Spotfire Server). After purchasing TSSS, you can download it from https://revvitysignals.flexnetoperations.com

The Installation and Administration Manual for TSSS provides instructions for installing it. You will find this manual in the downloaded TSSS installation media. You can also view the manuals online in the TIBCO Documentation site here.

We do not recommend installing TSSS on the same server as Spotfire Web Player, because the Web Player makes heavy use of server resources. We do recommend installing TSSS on a server in the same location (geographical / physical / network / domain / firewall / proxy) as Spotfire Server, Web Player, and Automation Services. This will help optimize performance in transferring data to and from the TSSS instance.

After you have installed TSSS, a Spotfire administrator can provide its URL as a Spotfire Preference for the Everyone user group.  All Spotfire clients (Spotfire Analyst, Web Player, and Automation Services) use this URL to connect to TSSS. It is their only link to TSSS and its TERR engine. The TSSS Installation and Administration Manual has a section with the following title:

• "Configuring TIBCO Spotfire to use TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services"

That section outlines the steps to provide the TSSS URL for use by the Spotfire clients.

Doc: TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services Documentation

• https://docs.tibco.com/products/tibco-spotfire-statistics-services

Doc: Configuring TIBCO Spotfire to use TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services

• https://docs.tibco.com/pub/sf_statsvcs/12.0.7/doc/html/TIB_sf_statsvcs_12.0.7_installation/installation/topics/configuring_tibco_spotfire_server_to_use_tibco_spotfire_statistics_services.html