Saving analysis files to library gives 'ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT, The property value cannot be empty' error

Keywords: ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT, library, save analysis, property value

After upgrading or taking a backup of the Spotire metadatabase, an error occurs when saving an analysis or navigating folders in the library.

The error shown is:

ERROR 2022-08-08T18:47:54,966+0200 [<user>, #C-2223, #766072] ws.library.LibraryService: An exception occurred in method 'listChildren'.
com.spotfire.ws.library.StorageException: ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT, The property value cannot be empty

This is typically caused by a network issue while performing the backup or upgrade.

Resolution:

Ensure a database backup has been performed prior to running the following queries.

In a 3rd party query tool, run the following query:

select PROPERTY_NAME from LIB_PROPERTIES where dbms_lob.getlength(PROPERTY_BLOB_VALUE) = 0;

If there are values returned, run the following query:

update LIB_PROPERTIES set PROPERTY_BLOB_VALUE = null where dbms_lob.getlength(PROPERTY_BLOB_VALUE) = 0;

There were empty values in the database where no empty values are expected when the PROPERTY_BLOB_VALUE length function is equal to 0, or it could be that it only contains white space which is equivalent to empty values. The update command sets the PROPERTY_BLOB_VALUE as null. That updates the LIB_PROPERTIES table, allowing the analysis to be saved.

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Source Case #235523