About exporting worksheets to Oracle Reports

You can export worksheet data from Discoverer to Oracle Reports. You can then use Oracle Report's reporting features (e.g. multi-component reports, break charts) to further enhance the worksheet data.

When you export worksheets to Oracle Reports, the export file includes the Discoverer query definition used to create the worksheets. When Oracle Reports opens the export file, this query is executed and the report is refreshed with up-to-date data. In other words, you do not have to repeat the export from Discoverer to get up-to-date data in Oracle Reports.

When you export Discoverer worksheets to Oracle Reports, worksheet data is exported in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) format used by Oracle Reports. During export, Discoverer populates Oracle Report's data model, reports layout, and previewer.

Exported worksheet data is displayed in Oracle Reports. When you open an exported Discoverer worksheet in Oracle Reports, you have everything that you need to continue to work on the report definition on a standalone machine.

The table below shows Discoverer features that are supported by Oracle Reports:

Discoverer feature	How it works in Oracle Reports
calculations	Oracle Reports preserves worksheet calculations.
format styles and symbols	Oracle Reports preserves the following worksheet formatting: font alignment text color background color NULL value substitution currency symbols format masks text style (e.g. upper/lower case, capitalization)
formatting	Oracle Reports users can add, edit, and delete format and exception formats defined on items.
layout	Oracle Reports users can move items around.
NLS	Oracle Reports must be started using the NLS settings used in the original Discoverer worksheet.
parameters	Oracle Reports users can continue to use worksheet parameters.
SQL	Discoverer exports an easy-to-read SQL statement for each report that you can edit in Oracle Reports. For example, you can edit SQL for calculations and totals.
titles	Oracle Reports preserves worksheet titles.
totals	Oracle Reports preserves worksheet totals, which are mapped to Oracle Reports summaries.
worksheet items	Oracle Reports users can edit the conditions and parameters used in the worksheet.

Notes

• When you export worksheet data to Oracle Reports, note the following limitations:

  • Oracle Reports does not support Discoverer graphs

  • Oracle Reports does not support Discoverer percentages

• If errors occur during the export process, Discoverer generates warning messages. You can use these messages to diagnose discrepancies between a report in Discoverer and the same report in Oracle Reports.

• To automatically open a file you export in Oracle Reports, files with a filename suffix of '.xml' must be associated with Oracle Reports. Because many different applications can open '.xml' files, you might have to change an existing association between '.xml' files and another application.