When using SAS Promotion Optimization, the following error message might be displayed after running On-demand:

SAS Merchandise Intelligence
An error occurred in SAS Merchandise Intelligence.
Restart or Exit the application.

The detailed error message shows the following:

!ENTRY sas.solutions.di.studio.jars 2 2 2013-07-10 10:19:36.791
!MESSAGE Illegal group reference
!STACK 0
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Illegal group reference
	at java.util.regex.Matcher.appendReplacement(Matcher.java:725)
	at java.util.regex.Matcher.replaceFirst(Matcher.java:872)
	at java.lang.String.replaceFirst(String.java:2158)

After this message is generated, you cannot access the promotion.

This error occurs when the On-demand action generates a message that includes a dollar sign ($) or backslash (\).

The workaround is to modify the On-demand action so that the updates to the WORK.MESSAGE table MESSAGE column include a backslash (\) before the special characters.

Examples:

• The MESSAGE Turkey $ off promotion should be Turkey \$ off promotion.
• The MESSAGE Turkey\Chicken promotion should be Turkey\\Chicken promotion.

In the user interface, the MESSAGE does not display the backslash (\).

Contact SAS Technical Support if an update to data in the PROCESS_MESSGAGE_DETAIL table is required.

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