Using the Customize Feature

Use the Customize feature to create custom layouts and processes.

Assume your enterprise uses an Oracle prepackaged report called "Customer Orders" that resides under Shared Folders/Applications/Financials. Existing application processes point to this report in its current location in the catalog. Your organization wants to add a custom layout to this report that displays your company logo and color schemes. You then want the application processes to run your custom layout whenever the report is run as part of the business process, run as a separately scheduled job, or run directly from the catalog.

To use the Customize feature:

  1. Log in to BI Publisher Enterprise through the /xmlpserver URL. Navigate to your report in the catalog. Click the More link for your report to see all options and then click Customize.

    BI Publisher creates a copy of the report in the Custom folder, under the identical folder hierarchy: Shared Folders/Custom/Applications/Financials and opens the report copy in the report editor.

  2. Create a custom layout for this report and save it. Use the List View to customize properties of the layout, enable the custom layout as the default for this report, or inactivate the original layouts so your users no longer see them. See Configuring the Layout Settings Using the List View for information on setting the layout properties.
  3. Apply security to the custom report.

    Although BI Publisher creates identical folder hierarchy for the custom copy of the report, the catalog permissions present on the original folders and report are not copied to the custom report or the folder hierarchy. You must manually reapply the catalog permissions to secure the custom report identically to the original report.

    To apply catalog permissions to reports:

    • Use the Oracle Business Intelligence interface by logging in to Oracle Business Intelligence using the /analytics URL (for example: http:www.example.com:7001/analytics).

    • You must be granted the appropriate permissions for setting permissions on the objects in the Custom folder. This typically requires having a role that is granted Full Control on the Custom folder. For more information about setting catalog permissions, see "Managing Objects in the BI Presentation Catalog" in the User's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.