KB11730: The string is truncated to 255 characters when a report with an attribute Form Category set to ID and Format Type set to Text is exported to Excel from MicroStrategy Developer 9.x

SYMPTOM:
When the Form Category of an attribute is set to ID and the Format Type is defined as Text, exporting a report to Excel truncates the string to 255 characters.
 
Steps to reproduce:
Reproduce this issue using Microsoft Excel 2003 and Strategy Developer 9.x by completing the following steps:
 

• Create an attribute 'Test.'
   
  
• Set 'Form Category' as 'ID' and 'Format Type' as 'Text' as shown in the image below:
   
  

• In the warehouse database (Microsoft SQL Server 2000 in this example) set a data column type VARCHAR (5000) for the column of the source table mapping the attribute 'Test.'
   
  
• Add strings longer than 255 characters into the column of the database.
   
  
• Execute the report in Strategy Desktop, and the values appear correctly.
   
  
• Export the report to Excel, and the string is truncated to 255 characters.
   
  

CAUSE:
This is a known issue in Strategy 9.x.
 
Additionally, Strategy does not recommend setting a text format for an attribute for the form category ID for performance reasons.
 
WORKAROUND:
Exporting the same report to Excel from Strategy Web. Exporting to Excel from Strategy Web displays the correct length of the string.