3 Adding BI Composer to ADF Applications

This chapter explains how to add the BI Composer component to ADF applications.

This chapter includes the following sections:

"Overview of Using BI Composer with ADF Application"
"Adding BI Composer to an ADF Application"

3.1 Overview of Using BI Composer with ADF Application

You can add the BI Composer functionality to an ADF application. BI Composer is a simple-to-use wizard that allows users to quickly and easily create, edit, or view the design of Oracle BI EE analyses from ADF applications.

When configured, the BI Composer interface allows ADF application users to browse the Oracle BI EE catalog and subject areas, select or modify the analysis' columns, add views (for example, table and graphs), sort and filter data, and apply conditional formatting to data appearing in tables. For more information about how to use the BI Composer interface, see "Using BI Composer to Work with Analyses" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

Adding BI Composer to a WebCenter Portal application or to WebCenter Portal: Spaces requires a slightly different configuration. For information about configuring a WebCenter Portal application or WebCenter Portal: Spaces to use BI Composer, see "Adding BI Composer to a WebCenter Portal Application or to WebCenter Portal: Spaces".

3.2 Adding BI Composer to an ADF Application

To add BI Composer to an ADF application, you must add the BI Composer library reference to the ADF application, apply the domain extension template, and add task flow parameters and events to the ADF application.

3.2.1 Checking for Installed JDeveloper Extensions

Oracle JDeveloper offers the following Oracle BI EE extensions:

Business Intelligence ADF Task Flow
Business Intelligence ADF View Regions
Business Intelligence Composer
Business Intelligence Logical SQL View Objects
Business Intelligence Soap Connection

Use this procedure if you are not sure whether you have the required Oracle JDeveloper 11g extensions and Oracle BI EE extensions.

In JDeveloper, click the Help menu and click About. The "About Oracle JDeveloper 11g" dialog displays where you can confirm the release number.
Click the Extensions tab to view a list of the installed extensions. To sort the list, click either the Name or Identifier column heading.

Note that all Oracle BI EE extensions contain the "bi-" prefix. If no extensions begin with the "bi-" prefix, then you do not have the required extensions.

3.2.2 Installing the Required JDeveloper Extensions

Use this procedure to install the required extensions.

From the JDeveloper Help menu, select Check for Updates.
Follow the steps in the wizard to locate, download, and install the Oracle BI EE extensions. If you will create a WebCenter Portal application that integrates with Oracle BI EE, then you need to also install the WebCenter Portal framework.

For a list of the available Oracle BI EE extensions, see"Checking for Installed JDeveloper Extensions".

3.2.3 How to Add the BI Composer Library Reference

Use the following procedure to add the required library reference to the application. Before you can perform this procedure, you must have set up the ADF project to accept Oracle BI EE objects. For more information, see "Preparing the ADF Project to Accept Business Intelligence Objects".

Open the application's weblogic.xml.

Add the following library reference:

<library-ref> 
  <library-name>oracle.bi.composer</library-name>
</library-ref>

Open the application's weblogicapplication.xml document.

Add the following library reference:

<library-ref>
  <library-name>oracle.bi.jbips</library-name>
</library-ref>

3.2.4 How to Extend the Domain

Perform this procedure to apply the domain extension template to deploy the BI Composer implementation libraries.

Go to the Oracle BI EE installation directory.
Use the following substeps to copy the required extension template and libraries from Oracle BI EE's Oracle_Home/and paste them to the target application's Oracle_Home/.
1. Go to the Oracle BI EE installation and copy Oracle_Home//common/templates/applications/oracle.bicomposer.slib_template_11.1.1.jar. Go to the target application installation and paste the file to Oracle_Home//common/templates/applications.
2. Go to the Oracle BI EE installation and copy Oracle_Home//modules/oracle.bi.presentation_11.1.1/bi-composer-slib.war. Go to the target application installation and paste the file to Oracle_Home//modules/oracle.bi.presentation_11.1.1.
3. Go to the Oracle BI EE installation and copy Oracle_Home//modules/oracle.bi.presentation_11.1.1/bi-jbips-slib.ear. Go to the target application install and paste the file to Oracle_Home//modules/oracle.bi.presentation_11.1.1.
Stop the WebLogic server.
Launch the Configuration Wizard.
Select Extend an existing Weblogic domain, and then click Next.
Select the domain folder (for example, my_home/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain), and then click Next.
Select Extend using extension template, and then use Browse to select the following template:

Oracle_Home//common/templates/applications/oracle.bicomposer.slib_template_11.1.1.jar

When prompted to override the installed template, click Yes.
Continue clicking Next and change any settings if needed.
Click Extend, and then click Done.
Start the WebLogic server.

3.2.5 How to Add the Task Flow Parameters and Events

Use the content in this topic to embed the taskflow in an application page.

This topic contains the following subtopics:

"BI Composer Wizard Editor Task Flow"
"BI Composer Wizard Edit Events"
"BI Composer Wizard Viewer Task Flow Parameters"

3.2.5.1 BI Composer Wizard Editor Task Flow

Use the following information to initialize the taskflow with values for parameters based on other elements in the page. For example, you can use these parameters if you have a list of analyses in the page and the selected analysis needs to be passed as a parameter to the wizard before the user can edit the selected analysis.

The task flow document location is:

WEB-INF/oracle/bi/adf/apps/answers/flow/BIReportWizardTF.xml

The task flow's ID is:

id: BIReportWizardTF

For more information about adding parameters to a task flow, see Chapter 16: Using Parameters in Task Flows in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

Table 3-1 lists each task flow parameter, its description, type, default value, and if it is required.

Table 3-1 BI Composer Report Wizard Editor Task Flow Parameters

Name	Description	Type	Required?	Default Value
biReportPath	The catalog path for the analysis that is being edited.	String	No	null
biReportContainerPath	The catalog parent folder path for the analysis that is being edited. This parameter is used when selecting an analysis that is a shortcut.	String	No	null
biSubjectArea	The subject area upon which a new analysis is being created.	String	No	null
biConnectionId	The ID of the deployed Oracle BI EE Presentation Services connection.	String	No	bi-default
biCatalogOverwriteAllowed	This flag indicates if the user is allowed to overwrite existing analyses in the catalog.	Boolean	No	false
biReportXML	The analysis' XML to use for editing.	String	No	null
biTenantId	Unused	N/A	N/A	N/A
biShowPreviewDefault	This flag indicates if preview is turned on by default.	Boolean	No	false
biShowIncompatibilityMessages	This flag indicates if warning messages should be displayed when opening an analysis that is not compatible with BI Composer.	Boolean	No	true
biReportViewName	Unused	N/A	N/A	N/A
biPromptFilterXML	Unused	N/A	N/A	N/A
biDebugMode	This flag indicates if the icon to generate debug analysis XML is displayed by default.	Boolean	No	false

3.2.5.2 BI Composer Wizard Edit Events

Use the following information to add events that perform specific processing from the BI Composer wizard. For example, you can add a Save event that is initiated by the wizard taskflow after the analysis is edited in the BI Composer wizard. This event refreshes the application's catalog tree.

The task flow document location is:

WEB-INF/oracle/bi/adf/apps/answers/flow/BIReportWizardTF.xml

The task flow's ID is:

BIReportWizardTF

Table 3-2 contains each event, its description, and its payload.

Table 3-2 BI Composer Report Wizard Editor Task Flow Events

Event Name	Description	Payload
biAnsReportWizardCancelEvent	Triggered when the user clicks on the wizard's Cancel button.	None
biAnsReportWizardSaveEvent	Triggered when the user saves an analysis to the catalog.	Path to the analysis saved in the Catalog.
biAnsReportWizardRefreshCatalogEvent	Triggered when any action, such as rename or delete, is performed that requires external consumers to refresh their catalog tree.	Path to the analysis in the catalog which was the source of the action that requires a catalog refresh.

3.2.5.3 BI Composer Wizard Viewer Task Flow Parameters

Use the following information to initialize the taskflow with values for parameters based on other elements in the page. For example, you can uses these parameters if you have a list of analyses in the page and the selected analysis needs to be passed as a parameter to the viewer so that it can render the analysis.

The task flow document location is:

WEB-INF/oracle/bi/adf/apps/answers/flow/BIReportViewerTF.xml

The task flow's ID is:

id: BIReportViewerTF

Table 3-3 lists each task flow parameter, its description, type, default value, and if it is required.

Table 3-3 BI Composer Report Wizard Viewer Task Flow Parameters

Parameter Name	Description	Type	Required?	Default Value
biReportPath	The catalog path for the analysis that is being viewed.	String	No	null
biConnectionId	The ID of the deployed Oracle BI EE Presentation Services connection.	String	No	bi-default
biReportXML	The analysis' XML to use for editing.	String	No	null
biTenantId	Unused	N/A	N/A	N/A
biContentType	The type of content being viewed: "biReportContent" for analyses or "biDashboardContent" for dashboards.	String	No	null
biReportViewName	Unused	N/A	N/A	N/A