Supported Oracle BI EE View and Object Types

You can insert the following views into Oracle Smart View for Office clients (Excel, PowerPoint, and Word) from the catalog or by copying and pasting.

• Table Views

  Data is displayed in table format, either in a format similar to the display in Oracle Business Intelligence Answers, which is also referred to as native format, or as an Excel table.

  Using the Insert option, table views can be inserted into all Smart View clients in native format. This format offers no sorting or filtering. Cells with the same data are merged into a single cell.

  In Excel, using the Insert as Excel Table command, table views can be inserted as an Excel table. With this format, further analysis operations can be performed, such as sorting and filtering.

  Notes:

  • In Excel, you can insert multiple tables on a worksheet, but you cannot insert a table on top of an existing table. You can, however, do the following:

    • To replace a table, select any cell within the table and click the Delete button on the Oracle BI EE ribbon. Then insert the table into the worksheet.

    • To insert additional tables onto the worksheet, select a cell outside any table views or other view objects, and then insert the table.

  • Some custom formats in table views and Excel table views may not be recognized by Excel, resulting in an error when the view is inserted into Excel.

• Pivot Table Views

  Data is displayed in the grouped format defined in BI Answers, which is also referred to as native format. Features such as page item lists and group sectioning are maintained. Data can also be displayed in Excel pivot table format.

  Using the Insert option, pivot table views can be inserted into all Smart View clients in native format. As with inserting a table view, this format offers no sorting or filtering; cells with the same data are merged into a single cell.

  In Excel, using the Insert as Excel Pivot option, pivot table views may also be inserted as an Excel pivot table. With this format, you may perform further analysis operations, such as pivoting, aggregating, drilling, sorting, and filtering.

  Notes:

  • When working with Excel pivot table views, only views with measure columns of numerical data type are supported.

  • There can be only one Excel pivot table view per Excel worksheet. Additionally, Excel pivot table views are always inserted onto a new worksheet. This is the expected behavior, whether you are working with a single data source connection or with multiple connections.

  • Some custom formats in Pivot table views may not be recognized by Excel, resulting in an error when the view is inserted into Excel.

  • Smart View does not have the “Graph Pivoted Results” functionality of BI Answers. In order to view a graph of the same row, column and page dimensions of a particular pivot table, you must create a separate chart view in BI Answers, and then insert that chart view in Smart View.

• Graph Views

  Data is displayed mapping the graph defined in BI Answers graph to a graph type supported by Microsoft Office 2007 charts.

  Using the Insert as Image option, graphs can be inserted directly into Smart View clients as a static image. The image cannot be edited or refreshed.

  Using the Insert option in all Smart View clients, graphs can be edited and refreshed. Smart View attempts to match the graph style from BI Answers as closely as possible, including graph properties such as visual effect (2D, 3D), canvas size, chart title, subtitle, axis titles, legend and legend position, axis scale, data format (numeric, date, currency format), and title and label formatting.

  If a matching Office chart type is not available, the graph view can be inserted as an image. See Supported Oracle BI EE Chart and Object Types and Unsupported Oracle BI EE Chart and Object Types.

• Gauge Views and Funnel Graph Views

  In BI Answers, gauge views and funnel graph views are separate object types from graph views.

  Using the Insert as Image option, gauge and funnel views can be inserted directly into Smart View clients as a static image. The image cannot be edited or refreshed.

• Title Views

  The title of a report is displayed, along with other information that is part of the title view in BI Answers.

  Title views are typically composed of title text, subtitle text, the analysis name, the date and time inserted, an optional logo, and an optional URL (for example, a help link). Title views are inserted into Smart View clients as a collection of text boxes and images grouped together as a single Office object.

• Compound Views

  Data is displayed as an assembly of different views.

  When inserted into Smart View clients, all supported views that make up the compound view are inserted. Each type of view—table, pivot table, graph, gauge, funnel, filter, and title—is inserted into Smart View clients in its own default format.

  In Word, all views are inserted next to and below each other filling pages in the active Word document.

  In Excel or PowerPoint, users are prompted to choose between inserting all the views on one sheet or slide, or inserting each view on a separate sheet or slide.