[Fusion] How to fix “Index -1 out of bounds for length 9” Error in Oracle BI Publisher Excel Report

 

A real-world Oracle BI Publisher troubleshooting scenario where the report query worked perfectly in the Data Model but failed during Excel output generation with the error Index -1 out of bounds for length 9. In this post we will see how to fix the issue and how to download the diagnostics logs in Oracle Fusion BIP

Issue Details

The SQL query was running perfectly in the Data Model and returning data successfully. However, when generating the report in Excel format, the report failed with the below error:

Index -1 out of bounds for length 9

At first glance, it looked like a SQL issue or optimizer hint problem, but after checking the diagnostic logs carefully, the actual issue turned out to be something completely different.
This is a classic BI Publisher Excel template issue that many developers can face during report development.

How to download Diagnostics Logs
Open the report and first enable the diagnostics
Click on Actions → Online Diagnostics → Enable Diagnostics


Now select the parameters and run the report again.
Now, download the Diagnostics logs by clicking on Actions → Online Diagnostics → Download Diagnostics


Now open the downloaded Diagnostics Logs and at the end of the log file you will find the error details:


The online diagnostic logs showed the following:
java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: Index -1 out of bounds for length 9
	at oracle.xdo.template.excel.object.SheetObject.addComponent
	at oracle.xdo.template.excel.object.BookManager.collectAllNameObjects

This was the key clue.

Initial Assumption 
Initially, I suspected:
SQL optimizer hints

Complex CTEs

BI Publisher parser limitation

However, the query itself was executing successfully in the Data Model, which meant:
SQL was NOT the actual problem.


Root Cause
After further investigation, I found that: 
Two columns had been deleted from the Excel template,
but their references were still present in Excel Name Manager.


Because of these broken references, BI Publisher’s Excel parser failed internally while processing the template.

This caused:

ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException

during Excel rendering.
BI Publisher Excel templates internally maintain:

Named ranges
Cell mappings
Repeating group references
XDO metadata references
When columns or rows are deleted manually in Excel:

Excel may leave orphan references behind
Name Manager can still contain invalid entries
BI Publisher tries to resolve them
Internal parser receives invalid index values

Fix
Open the Excel Template and click on Formulas → Name Manager


Look for entries containing #REF! and Delete them


After removing invalid named references: 
Save the template 
Upload it again 
Run the report 

 The report worked successfully.