Oracle^® Business Intelligence Answers, Delivers, and Interactive Dashboards User Guide > Getting Started with Oracle Business Intelligence >

Performing Common Tasks in Oracle BI

This section explains how to perform common tasks in Oracle BI. It contains the following topics:

• Exiting from Oracle BI
• Viewing Descriptions of Oracle BI Dashboards and Saved Requests
• Printing an Oracle BI Dashboard or Saved Request
• Emailing an Oracle BI Dashboard Page or Request
• Downloading Oracle BI Results
• Refreshing an Oracle BI Interactive Dashboard or Oracle BI Request
• Refreshing Information in the Oracle BI Selection Pane
• Using a Write-Back Table in an Oracle BI Dashboard Page or Request

Exiting from Oracle BI

Do not close the browser window to exit from Oracle BI.

To exit from Oracle BI

• From any Oracle BI screen, click the Log Out link.

Viewing Descriptions of Oracle BI Dashboards and Saved Requests

Report and dashboard designers can supply a description when saving a dashboard or request in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog. If no description is supplied, the description defaults to the name of the dashboard or saved request.

To view the description of a saved request

• Pause the cursor over the title of the saved request in the selection pane in Oracle BI Answers.

To view the description of a dashboard

• Pause the cursor over the name of the dashboard in Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards.

  To view the description of a dashboard page, pause the cursor over the page tab.

Printing an Oracle BI Dashboard or Saved Request

You can display printer-friendly versions of existing dashboards and requests. A printer-friendly version does not contain any extraneous links or other hypertext items.

You can print using HTML or Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format). Adobe PDF is the only print option available for Oracle BI Publisher reports. Adobe Reader 6.0 or greater is required to print using Adobe PDF.

NOTE:  The HTML method of printing relies on the print handling capabilities of your browser. If you do not get the results you want, choose PDF to open and then print the dashboard or request.

To print a dashboard or a request

1. Navigate to an existing dashboard or request.
2. To print a request, click the Print link, and then choose HTML or PDF. To print a dashboard page, locate and click the Print button at the bottom of the dashboard, and then choose HTML or PDF.
   • For HTML, a new window shows the selected item without the extraneous links.

     Choose File > Print on the browser menu.

   • For PDF, use the options available in the Adobe PDF window to save or print the file.

Emailing an Oracle BI Dashboard Page or Request

You can email a dashboard page or a request as an attachment. The format you use depends on your browser, such as Web Archive, Single File (.mht) in Internet Explorer or Mozilla Archive Format (.maf) in Mozilla and Firefox.

NOTE:  The Mozilla Archive Format capability is available as a separately downloaded plug-in.

In any browser, you can also save a dashboard page or request as a collection of HTML files. You can then zip and email the corresponding directory of associated files.

To email a dashboard page or request

1. Navigate to the dashboard page or request that you want to send.
2. To email a request, click the Print link, and then choose HTML or PDF. To email a dashboard page, locate and click the Print button at the bottom of the dashboard, and then choose HTML or PDF

   A new browser window opens that contains the dashboard page or the request.

3. From the browser's toolbar, choose File > Save As.
4. Save the file to the desired location, with the appropriate file type for your browser.
5. Send the saved attachment using an email application.

NOTE:  The saved attachments can also be used as a means to archive and restore requests as they exist at a particular point in time.

Downloading Oracle BI Results

Oracle BI provides options for downloading results. These appear in Oracle BI Answers as options for the Download link. The Download link can also appear with a request in a dashboard.

• Download to Excel

  This option makes the request results available to Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Excel 2000 in HTML format, including tables or charts that appear with the results. It also includes any other views included in the report. Excel controls the positioning of the HTML.

• Download Data

  This option downloads results as a tab-separated list of values. The file will have a .csv extension to facilitate opening it in Excel. After downloading a request in tab-delimited format, you can use a third-party application to display the data.

• Download Web Page (MHTML)

  This option downloads results as a Web page. This allows you to download the underlying data for an existing request as a Web page (MHTML) file.

To download results in Microsoft Excel format

1. Navigate to the request.
2. Click the Download link and choose either Download to Excel or Download to Excel 2000.

   The File Download dialog box appears.

3. Save the file to the desired location, or open it in Excel.
4. If desired, use Excel to refine the formatted results.

   For information, see your Excel documentation.

To download results as a tab-separated list of values

1. Navigate to the request.
2. Click the Download link and choose Download Data, and then save the file on your hard drive.

To download results as a Web page

1. Navigate to the request.
2. Click the Download link and choose Download Web Page (MHTML).

   The File Download dialog box appears.

3. Save the file on your hard drive.

Refreshing an Oracle BI Interactive Dashboard or Oracle BI Request

When executing an Oracle BI Interactive Dashboard or a request, Oracle BI uses temporary storage areas, called caches, to save frequently accessed or recently accessed results. Storing certain results in cache helps to improve Oracle BI performance. You can use the Refresh feature to make sure that your request bypasses saved information in the Oracle BI Presentation Services cache and is issued to the Oracle Business Intelligence Server for processing.

NOTE:  The Oracle BI Server maintains its own cache. This cache is separate from the Oracle BI Presentation Services cache.

When you select a specific dashboard or request, Oracle BI Presentation Services checks its cache to determine if the identical results have recently been requested. If so, Oracle BI Presentation Services returns the most recent results, thereby avoiding unnecessary processing by the Oracle BI Server and the back-end database. If not, the request is issued to the Oracle BI Server for processing.

If the Oracle BI Server has cached results that can satisfy your request, the results are returned from that cache. If not, Oracle BI Server issues the request to the back-end database. You cannot force your request past the Oracle BI Server's cache.

Oracle BI administrators can configure cache settings for Oracle BI Presentation Services that control what is cached and for how long. For information, see Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services Administration Guide. For information about the Oracle BI Server cache, see Oracle Business Intelligence Server Administration Guide.

To refresh a dashboard or request

1. Navigate to an existing dashboard or request.
2. To refresh a request, click the Refresh link. To refresh a dashboard, click the Refresh button.

Refreshing Information in the Oracle BI Selection Pane

The Oracle BI selection pane appears in Oracle BI Answers and Oracle BI Delivers. When changes have been made to saved content or to the Oracle BI Server metadata, you can refresh the display to access the most current information.

NOTE:  The information available in the selection pane is determined by your permissions and responsibilities.

To refresh the information in the selection pane

• To refresh the information for saved requests, filters, briefing books, and dashboard content, click the Refresh Display link at the bottom of the selection pane.
• To refresh the view of the Oracle BI Server metadata for subject areas, click the link Reload Server Metadata at the bottom of the selection pane.

Using a Write-Back Table in an Oracle BI Dashboard Page or Request

If your user name has the appropriate permissions to write back to the back-end database, a write-back button appears below the table. You can then update or write to the back-end database using the write-back capability. For example, you can enter sales targets for the current quarter in a Sales dashboard.

To use a write-back table in a dashboard or request

1. Type a new value in the column box.

   New values appear in bold type when you step off the box.

2. Click the write-back button.