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Performing Common Tasks When Working with Oracle BI Views

When you are working with the various result views in Oracle BI Answers, you can perform some tasks, such as accessing the compound layout view or previewing a view. This section provides the procedures to perform these common tasks. It contains the following topics:

Saving an Oracle BI View

In Oracle BI Answers, you can save the view with which you are working at any time.

To save an Oracle BI view

  1. Click the following button near the top of the workspace:

  2. At the Choose Folder dialog box, choose a personal or shared folder in which to save the view.

    To specify a subfolder, perform one of the following actions:

    • Navigate to it.
    • Click Create Folder to create a new subfolder.
    • Type the path in the Folder box.
  3. Type a descriptive name for the view.

    The name will appear when a user pauses the mouse on the request in the selection pane.

  4. (Optional) Type a description for the view.

    Descriptions are displayed when Oracle BI administrators use the Catalog Manager.

  5. Click OK.

Printing an Oracle BI View

In Oracle BI Interactive Dashboards and Oracle BI Answers, you can specify PDF and print control options, add headers and footers, and print the object with which you are working using HTML or Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format). 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 specify PDF and print control settings

  1. Click the following button near the top of the workspace:

    The PDF and Print Control dialog box appears.

    For more information, see the section about changing PDF and printing options in Modifying Oracle BI Interactive Dashboard Properties Using the Dashboard Editor.

To print an Oracle BI view

  1. Click the following button near the top of the workspace:

  2. Choose HTML or PDF.
    • For HTML, a new window shows the selected item.

      Choose File > Print on the browser menu.

    • For PDF, an Adobe PDF window shows the selected item.

      Use the options available in the Adobe PDF window to save or print the file.

Making a Copy of or Duplicating an Oracle BI View

In Oracle BI Answers, you can duplicate a view to create a copy of it. Duplicating a view is useful when you want to make changes to it while preserving the original view, or when you want create a new view based on an existing view.

The duplicated view name has the numeral 2 appended to it. You can change the name when you save the view.

To duplicate an Oracle BI view

  1. From any view in Oracle BI Answers, click the following button near the top of the workspace:

  2. Choose Duplicate View from the list.

    The duplicated view appears in the workspace.

Previewing How an Oracle BI View Will Appear on an Oracle BI Interactive Dashboard

In Oracle BI Answers, you can preview an Oracle BI view to see how it will appear on a dashboard. When you preview the compound layout view, you can see how the collection of views will appear.

When you are working with views in Oracle BI Answers that show results data, such as the table and pivot table views, you can also see the results as you work with the view.

To preview an Oracle BI view as it will appear on a dashboard

  • Click the preview button to near the top of the workspace:

    NOTE:  If the preview button is not available, your Oracle BI Presentation Services administrator has suppressed its display.

    The dashboard preview appears in a new window.

To see the results as you work with the view

  1. Select the option Display Results.
  2. Click the Display Results link to view the results.

Deleting an Oracle BI View

In Oracle BI Answers, you can delete the view with which you are working at any time.

To delete an Oracle BI view

  1. Click the following button near the top of the workspace:

  2. Choose Delete View from the list.

    The workspace displays either the compound layout view or another view.

Refreshing the Results in an Oracle BI View

When you are working with views in Oracle BI Answers that show results data, such as the table and pivot table views, you can refresh the results of the current request. Refreshing results is useful if you make a change such as adding a filter that limits results and you want to see the effects of your change.

To refresh the results of the current request in an Oracle BI view

  1. Click the following button near the top of the workspace:

    For information about how the refresh feature works, see Refreshing an Oracle BI Interactive Dashboard or Oracle BI Request.

Creating a New Request While Working with an Oracle BI View

In Oracle BI Answers, you can create a new request while you are working with a view for the current request.

To create a new Oracle BI request

  1. Save the view with which you are working.

    If you do not save the current view, any changes you made to it are discarded.

  2. Click the following button near the top of the workspace:

  3. Click a subject area in the list to select it.
  4. The workspace displays the Criteria tab, where you can create the new request.

Opening a Saved Request While Working with an Oracle BI View

In Oracle BI Answers, you can work with a previously saved request while you are working with a view for the current request.

To open a saved Oracle BI request

  1. Save the view with which you are working.

    If you do not save the current view, any changes you made to it are discarded.

  2. Click the following button near the top of the workspace:

  3. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the request and click OK.

    The workspace displays the Criteria tab, where you can modify the new request.

Accessing the Compound Layout View from Another Oracle BI View

When you are working with a view in Oracle BI Answers, you can access or return to the compound layout view at any time.

To access or return to the Oracle BI compound layout view

  1. Click the following button near the top of the workspace:

    The compound layout view appears in the workspace. The view that you were working with appears in the workspace at the compound layout view, together with any other views.

Customizing an Oracle BI View for Delivery to Oracle BI Delivers Users

Oracle BI automatically formats delivery content based on the destinations specified at the Destinations tab in Oracle BI Delivers. If you want to have manual control of a view's format for a particular destination, you can use the Specialize View feature in Oracle BI Answers to override the Oracle BI format. You can specialize an entire compound layout view or only certain views. The override remains in force until the specialized view is removed.

To specialize an Oracle BI view for delivery

  1. Click the following button near the top of the workspace:

  2. Choose Specialize View, and then make a selection from the list.
    • HTML

      HTML is typically used for dashboards. A specialized HTML view has (HTML) appended to its name.

    • Delivery

      Delivery is typically used for iBot content delivered to users' delivery devices. A specialized Delivery view has (Delivery) appended to its name.

    • Text (Mobile devices)

      Text is typically used for devices such as text-capable cellular phones. A specialized Text view has (Text) appended to its name.

      The view changes to the specialized view.

  3. Save the view.
Related Topic

Applying Cosmetic Formatting to Results and Dashboards

  
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