14 Deploying Your Integrated Excel Workbook

This chapter describes how to publish and deploy a workbook integrated with a Fusion web application to end users, and how to pass parameters from the Fusion web application to the integrated Excel workbook.

This chapter includes the following sections:

14.1 Introduction to Deploying Your Integrated Excel Workbook

After you finish development of your integrated Excel workbook, you make the final integrated Excel workbook available to end users by deploying the resulting Fusion web application to an application server. Before you deploy a finalized Excel workbook that integrates with the Fusion web application, you must publish it as described in Section 14.3, "Publishing Your Integrated Excel Workbook." After you have published the Excel workbook, you can deploy it using one of the methods outlined in the "Deploying Fusion Web Applications" chapter of the Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

The end users that you deploy an integrated Excel workbook to must do the following:

  • Set up ADF Desktop Integration on their systems.

    Make the ADF Desktop Integration adfdi-excel-addin-installer.exe tool available to end users from, for example, a directory on your network. For more information, see Section 14.2, "Making ADF Desktop Integration Available to End Users."

  • If required, configure the security settings for their Excel application.

When you deploy your integrated Excel workbook with your Fusion web application, you are not required to provide the download URL of workbooks explicitly. The end users can download the integrated Excel workbooks from the Fusion web application's user interface. For more information, see Section 14.4, "Deploying a Published Workbook with Your Fusion Web Application."

You use the Publish button of the Oracle ADF tab to save a copy of the workbook, which is ready for publishing. Figure 14-1 shows the Publish button and the Publish Workbook dialog that opens when you click the Publish button to save a copy of the integrated Excel workbook ready to be published and deployed with the Fusion web application.

Figure 14-1 Publish Workbook Dialog

Publish Workbook dialog box

14.2 Making ADF Desktop Integration Available to End Users

End users who want to use the functionality that you configure in an integrated Excel workbook must install the Runtime edition of ADF Desktop Integration. The installation program (adfdi-excel-addin-installer.exe) is available in MW_HOME\oracle_common\modules\oracle.adf.desktopintegration_11.1.1 directory, where MW_HOME is the Middleware Home directory.

You may consider to provide a link in the Fusion web application that allows end users to download the installer. For information about how to make the installer available to end users, see the "How to Install the ADF Desktop Integration Add-in From a Web Server" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

14.3 Publishing Your Integrated Excel Workbook

After you finish configuring the Excel workbook with Oracle ADF functionality, you must publish it. Publishing a workbook makes it available to the end users for whom you configured the integrated Excel workbook.

ADF Desktop Integration also provides you with two methods to publish your workbook. You can publish your integrated Excel workbook directly from Excel, or you can use the publish tool available in JDeveloper to publish the workbook from the command line. The command-line publish tool enables you to use ANT build scripts to publish an integrated Excel workbook from your Fusion web application.

Notes:

  • After publishing one or more workbooks, you should restart the Fusion web application in order for those workbooks to be downloaded and opened successfully in Microsoft Excel. If the web application is not restarted, you might get errors, such as the following:

    TampercheckErrorException: ADFDI-05537: The integrity of the workbook integration could not be determined.

  • ADF Desktop Integration is not compatible with Protected View feature of Excel 2010. The feature must be disabled before opening the integrated Excel workbook.

14.3.1 How to Publish an Integrated Excel Workbook from Excel

You publish a workbook by clicking a button on the Oracle ADF tab and specifying values in the dialogs that appear, or by using the command-line publish tool. You can use the command line publish tool to publish a workbook from your Fusion web application.

To publish a workbook from Excel:

  1. Open the integrated Excel workbook.

  2. Ensure that the ApplicationHomeFolder and WebPagesFolder properties in the Edit Workbook Properties dialog are correct. If these properties are not set, ADF Desktop Integration prompts to set them when you publish the integrated Excel workbook.

    For more information, see Section 4.2.2, "How to Configure a New Integrated Excel Workbook."

  3. In the Oracle ADF tab, click the Publish button.

  4. Specify the directory and file name for the published workbook in the Publish Workbook dialog that appears, as shown in Figure 14-1. The directory and file name that you specify for the published workbook must be different from the directory and file name for the design time workbook.

  5. Click Save to save changes.

Note:

ADF Desktop Integration is not compatible with the Excel's Mark as Final feature. If this feature is used with an integrated workbook, multiple unexpected errors may occur.

14.3.2 How to Publish an Integrated Excel Workbook Using the Command Line Publish Tool

The publish tool is run from the command line, and is available in the MW_HOME\jdeveloper\adfdi\bin\excel\tools\publish directory as publish-workbook.exe. Before you run the publish tool, open the source integrated Excel workbook and ensure that the ApplicationHomeFolder and WebPagesFolder properties in the Edit Workbook Properties dialog are correct.

Note:

You cannot publish a workbook that is already published, or is in runtime mode.

Now, navigate to MW_HOME\jdeveloper\adfdi\bin\excel\tools\publish directory and run the publish tool using the following syntax:

publish-workbook -workbook (-w) <source-workbook-path> -out (-o) <destination-workbook-path>

where source-workbook-path is the full path of the source workbook, and destination-workbook-path is the full path where the published workbook is saved.

For example:

publish-workbook -workbook D:\Application1\Project1\ViewController\src\oracle\sampledemo\excel\workbook-src.xlsx -out D:\Application1\Project1\ViewController\public_html\excel\published\workbook.xlsx

Tip:

For more information about the arguments required by the publish tool, run the following command:

publish-workbook -help (-h)

After publishing the integrated Excel workbook successfully, the publish tool displays a success message. If there is any error while publishing the workbook, the publish tool aborts the process and the error messages are displayed on the command line console.

If you are using the command line publish tool, note that by default the publish tool logs messages to the command line console at information level.

Using the Publish Tool with ANT

You can create ANT scripts to run the publish tool from JDeveloper when you build your Fusion web application. You can use either of the following methods to run the utility using ANT:

  • Generate an ANT build script for the project and add a target to run the workbook command line publish tool

  • Generate or create a separate ANT build script for running the workbook command line publish tool

A sample ANT build script (publish-workbook.xml) to run the publish tool is available in the MW_HOME\jdeveloper\adfdi\bin\excel\samples directory. The sample ANT script demonstrates the invocation of the command-line workbook publishing tool.

14.3.3 What Happens When You Publish an Integrated Excel Workbook

When you click the Publish button in design mode, ADF Desktop Integration performs the following actions:

  1. Validates the mandatory workbook settings.

  2. Updates the client registry. For more information, see Section 11.3, "Checking the Integrity of an Integrated Excel Workbook's Metadata."

  3. Creates the published workbook with the specified file name in the specified directory.

  4. Clears the ApplicationHomeFolder, WebAppRoot, and WebPagesFolder properties from the workbook settings of the published workbook.

  5. Removes binding expressions that are visible in the worksheet while the workbook is in design mode.

  6. Changes the mode of the workbook to runtime mode.

14.4 Deploying a Published Workbook with Your Fusion Web Application

Add the integrated Excel workbook to the JDeveloper project for your Fusion web application if it is not packaged with the other files that constitute your JDeveloper project. This makes sure that the Excel workbooks you integrate with your Fusion web application get deployed when you deploy your finalized Fusion web application. For example, the Summit sample application for ADF Desktop Integration stores the deployed Excel workbooks that it integrates at the following location:

<Summit_HOME>\ViewController\public_html\excel

where Summit_HOME is the installation directory for the Summit sample application for ADF Desktop Integration.

After you decide on a location to store your integrated Excel workbooks, you can configure web pages in your Fusion web application allowing end users to access the integrated Excel workbooks.

For example, Figure 14-2 shows Internet Explorer's File Download dialog, which was invoked by clicking the Available Demos > Editable Table Sample menu option on the index.jspx page of Summit sample application for ADF Desktop Integration.

Figure 14-2 Invoking an Integrated Excel Workbook from a Fusion Web Application

Invoking a Excel Workbook from a Fusion Web Application

To enable the functionality illustrated in Figure 14-2, the HTTP filter parameters for your Fusion web application must be configured to recognize Excel workbooks. JDeveloper automatically configures these parameters for you ADF Desktop Integration is enabled in the Fusion web application. If you want to manually configure the HTTP filter parameters, see Appendix D, "ADF Desktop Integration Settings in the Web Application Deployment Descriptor."

After you have configured the HTTP filter for your Fusion web application, you configure the web pages that the Fusion web application displays to end users to allow them to invoke Excel workbooks. A basic method of invoking an Excel workbook that you have integrated with a Fusion web application is to provide a hyperlink that invokes the workbook. For example, you could write the following HTML in a web page:

<a href="/excel/EditCustomers.xlsx">Editable Table Sample</a>

where excel is a subdirectory of the directory specified by the WebPagesFolder workbook property and EditCustomers.xlsx is the Excel workbook that the end user invokes.

You can provide functionality that allows end users to invoke Excel workbooks from buttons, lists, and ribbon commands. The following list provides some examples:

  • Button

    Display a button on the web page that, when clicked, invokes the integrated Excel workbook.

  • Selection list

    Use the ADF Faces selectOneChoice component with a button to invoke an integrated Excel workbook.

  • Menu

    Use the ADF Faces goMenuItem component.

    The Available Demos menu, as illustrated in Figure 14-2, uses the goMenuItem component. The following entry appears in the index.jspx page of the Summit sample application for ADF Desktop Integration and demonstrates the goMenuItem component:

    <af:goMenuItem text="Editable Table Sample" id="gmi1"
  destination="/excel/EditCustomers.xlsx"/>

For more information about creating web pages for a Fusion web application, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Web User Interface Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

14.4.1 What Happens at Runtime: Deploying a Published Workbook

When web.xml is configured for a Fusion web application that uses ADF Desktop Integration, the following happens:

  • The DIExcelDownloadFilter filter is defined.

  • Filter mappings are defined for *.xlsx files.

When the end user makes an http request for a workbook (for example, user clicks a link in a web page from the application), the DIExcelDownloadFilter filter embeds the WebAppRoot property into the workbook as it gets streamed back as the http response. The WebAppRoot property is later used by the ADF Desktop Integration client to connect to the Fusion web application, establish a user session, and send data back and forth.

The DIExcelDownloadFilter filter constructs the WebAppRoot value from the current HttpServletRequest object that is passed in to the doFilter() entry point. The filter code calls HttpServletRequest.getRequestURL()and gets the "root" portion of the full URL by removing everything after the context path portion (uses HttpServletRequest.getContextPath()).

14.5 Passing Parameter Values from a Fusion Web Application Page to a Workbook

You can configure a page in your Fusion web application to pass parameter values to an integrated Excel workbook when the end user downloads the workbook from the page. For example, if the end user attempts to download a workbook from a page that displays a list of products, the list of products that appears in the workbook corresponds to the list of products displayed in the page when the end user invoked the download. Subsequent changes that the end user makes to data in one location (the worksheet or the Fusion web application's page) do not affect data in the other location.

To configure this functionality, you must:

  • Verify that the HTTP filter is configured to allow end users to download integrated Excel workbooks from the Fusion web application. By default, JDeveloper configures the HTTP filter with appropriate values when you enable ADF Desktop Integration in the Oracle ADF Desktop Integration project. To verify the parameter values of the HTTP filter, see Section D.2, "Configuring the ADF Desktop Integration Excel Download Filter."

  • Configure the page in your Fusion web application from which the end user downloads the integrated Excel workbook so that it passes its parameters through URL arguments to the integrated Excel workbook when the end user downloads it.

  • Configure the page definition file associated with the worksheet in the integrated Excel workbook so that the worksheet is initialized with the parameters from the page in the Fusion web application from which the end user downloads the workbook.

  • Configure workbook and worksheet properties in the integrated Excel workbook that end users download so that the workbook contains the parameters from the page in the Fusion web application from which the end user invokes download.

14.5.1 How to Configure the Fusion Web Application's Page to Pass Parameters

You insert an <af:goLink> tag and specify property values for it that reference the integrated Excel workbook the end user downloads and the values to download. You also specify the commands on the page that, when invoked, require the Fusion web application to refresh the values referenced by the <af:goLink> tag and its property values.

To configure the page in the Fusion web application:

  1. In JDeveloper, insert the af:goLink tag into the page from which the end user downloads the integrated Excel workbook.

  2. In the Structure window, right-click the af:goLink node and choose Go to Properties.

  3. Expand the Common section and set values for the properties, as described in Table 14-1.

    Table 14-1 Properties for af:goLink Tag

    Property Value

    Text

    Write the text that appears to end users at runtime.

    For example, write text such as the following to appear at runtime:

    Download to Excel

    Destination

    Invoke the expression builder to write an EL expression that specifies the integrated Excel workbook and the values to download as a URL argument:

    For example, write an EL expression such as the following:

    "/excel/workbook.xlsx?productName=#{bindings.productName.attributeValue}"

    Note that the runtime URL-encoded value of the entire query string to the right of ? must be less than 2048 bytes. If the runtime value exceeds 2048 bytes, the integrated Excel workbook will contain only the URL arguments that fit in 2048 bytes. Subsequent URL arguments do not get included with the integrated Excel workbook. Instead, the Fusion web application writes log entries for these URL arguments identifying them as having not been included.

    For example, the total size of the result when the following EL expression is evaluated and then URL-encoded must be less than 2048 bytes.

    productName=#{bindings.productName.attributeValue}&productType=#{bindings.productType.attributeValue}.

    Also note that if the URL contains more than 256 characters, an exception is raised when the end user downloads and opens the integrated Excel workbook without saving it. To resolve this problem, you must limit your URL length to 256 characters, or instruct the end user to save the workbook before opening it.

  4. Optionally, expand the Behavior section and specify component IDs for the partialTriggers property that, when invoked, update the values of the af:goLink tag and its Destination property.

    For example, if you have navigation buttons with the IDs NextButton, PreviousButton, FirstButton, and LastButton, specify them as follows:

    :NextButton :PreviousButton :FirstButton :LastButton

  5. Save the page.

    The following example shows the entries that JDeveloper generates in a JSF page using the examples in this procedure:

    <af:goLink text="Download to Excel"
destination="/excel/workbook.xlsx?productName=#{bindings.productName.attributeValue}"
partialTriggers=":NextButton :PreviousButton :FirstButton :LastButton"/>

14.5.2 How to Configure the Page Definition File for the Worksheet to Receive Parameters

You configure the page definition file associated with the worksheet in the integrated Excel workbook as follows:

  • Add one or more parameter elements that initialize the worksheet with the values specified by the workbook Parameters property that you configure in Section 14.5.3, "How to Configure Parameters Properties in the Integrated Excel Workbook."

    The following example shows a parameter element in a page definition file that is associated with a worksheet in an integrated Excel workbook:

    <parameters>
    <parameter id="ProductNameParam" />
</parameters>

  • Add an invokeAction and a method action binding so that the page definition file associated with the worksheet initializes correctly.

    Note:

    When a page definition file that has an invokeAction is used with an integrated Excel workbook, the method that is used in the invokeAction may be invoked multiple times. If needed, the method should be coded to handle these multiple invocations. The Refresh and RefreshCondition properties of the <invokeAction> element can also be configured to manage the frequency of invocation.

    The following example shows the initializeProductTable invokeAction invoking the filterByProductName method action binding. The invokeAction is refreshed only when a value for ProductNameParam is supplied.

    <executables>
    <invokeAction Binds="filterByProductName" id="initializeProductTable"
                  Refresh="deferred"
                  RefreshCondition="${bindings.ProductNameParam != null}"/>
...
</executables>

    The method action binding invokes a view object method (filterByProductName). The view object method takes a single String argument (ProductNameArg) that references the value of ProductNameParam.

    <bindings>
    <methodAction id="filterByProductName" RequiresUpdateModel="true"
                  Action="invokeMethod" MethodName="filterByProductName"
                  IsViewObjectMethod="true" DataControl="AppModuleDataControl"
                  InstanceName="AppModuleDataControl.ProductVO1">
      <NamedData NDName="ProductNameArg" NDValue="${bindings.ProductNameParam}"
                  NDType="java.lang.String"/>
    </methodAction>
. . .
</bindings>

For more information about configuring a page definition file, see Section 4.3, "Working with Page Definition Files for an Integrated Excel Workbook."

14.5.3 How to Configure Parameters Properties in the Integrated Excel Workbook

You configure the workbook Parameters property and the worksheet Parameters property so that the integrated Excel workbook that the end user downloads from the Fusion web application receives parameter values included in the query string of the workbook download URL.

To configure the workbook Parameters property:

  1. Open the integrated Excel workbook.

  2. In the Workbook group of the Oracle ADF tab, click Workbook Properties.

  3. Click the browse (...) icon beside the input field for Parameters to invoke the Edit Parameters dialog.

  4. Click Add to add a new workbook initialization parameter and configure its properties as follows:

  5. Repeat Step 4 as necessary to add other workbook initialization parameters.

  6. Click OK.

    For more information about the workbook Parameters property, see Table A-21.

To configure the worksheet Parameters property:

  1. Open the integrated Excel workbook.

  2. In the Workbook group of the Oracle ADF tab, click Worksheet Properties.

  3. Click the browse (...) icon beside the input field for Parameters to invoke the Edit Parameters dialog.

  4. Click Add to add a new worksheet parameter and configure it as in Figure 14-4:

    • (Optional) In the Annotation field, enter a description of the worksheet parameter.

    • In the Parameter field, specify a parameter element that you added to the page definition file associated with the worksheet, as described in Section 14.5.2, "How to Configure the Page Definition File for the Worksheet to Receive Parameters."

    • In the Value field, write an EL expression that references the value of the Parameter property you specified for the workbook initialization parameter (workbook Parameters array). Use the following syntax when writing the EL expression:

      #{workbook.params.parameter}

      where parameter references the value of the Parameter property you specified for the workbook initialization parameter.

    Figure 14-4 Worksheet Parameters

    Worksheet Parameters dialog

  5. Repeat Step 4 as necessary to add other workbook initialization parameters.

  6. Click OK.

    For more information about the worksheet Parameters property, see Table A-22.

By default, the workbook parameters are not sent every time the workbook connects to the server to request metadata, the end user logs out, or the session expires. If required, you can configure the workbook to send the initialization parameters by configuring the SendParameters property.

To configure the worksheet SendParameters property:

  1. Open the integrated Excel workbook.

  2. In the Workbook group of the Oracle ADF tab, click Worksheet Properties.

  3. In the Edit Worksheet Properties dialog, set the value of SendParameters as shown in the Table 14-2 and Figure 14-5:

    Table 14-2 SendParameters Property

    Set this property to... This value...

    SendParameters

    True to send workbook parameters when the workbook connects to the server to request metadata or data. When set to True, parameters are sent every time when the metadata is requested and the first time when data is requested, during each user session. False is the default value.

    For more information, see Section 15.2, "Restore Server Data Context Between Sessions."

    Figure 14-5 SendParameters Property

    SendParameters Property in Worksheet Properties dialog

  4. Click OK.

14.5.4 What Happens at Runtime: How Parameters Are Passed from a Fusion Web Application to the Integrated Excel Workbook

When the end user downloads the integrated Excel workbook from the Fusion web application, the af:goLink tag is evaluated and the current product name is captured and included on the URL. The adfdiExcelDownload filter embeds the names and values of all the parameters from the URL into the downloaded integrated Excel workbook.

After downloading the workbook, when the end user opens it for the first time, the active worksheet of the integrated Excel workbook is initialized. The initialization process includes fetching metadata from the web application. As part of retrieving the worksheet metadata, the stored workbook parameters (if any) are sent to the ADF Desktop Integration remote servlet and are available for application logic such as <invokeAction> executables. Specifically, the parameters are set into BindingContainer DCParameters before the binding container is refreshed. The action set in the worksheet Startup event also runs during initialization. After initialization, the initialization status for each worksheet is recorded when the integrated Excel workbook is saved to disk.

After the integrated Excel workbook has been saved, closed, and reopened , the first-time initialization is skipped for any worksheets that were previously initialized. If workbook parameters were captured when the integrated Excel workbook was first downloaded, and those parameters are required to set up server context, then the Worksheet.ServerContext.SendParameters property should be set to True. When the SendParameters property is True, workbook parameters are sent on every request for metadata, and also on the first request for data in each user session.

To reset the initialization state for all worksheets in the workbook, invoke the ClearAllData action. For more information about the ClearAllData action, see Table A-20.

Note:

Parameter values passed to the server might reset when a web dialog is invoked in an action set where the ShareFrame property is True. Custom code, which uses the parameters and requires that values be maintained across the invocation of a web dialog, should ensure that those values are saved in the user session data structures.

14.6 Customizing Workbook Integration Metadata at Runtime

ADF Desktop Integration also supports Oracle Metadata Services (MDS) based runtime customization. For more information about MDS, see the "Customizing Applications with MDS" chapter in Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

Workbook integration metadata defines how ADF Desktop Integration components appear and behave in the workbook, and how the workbook is integrated with its Fusion web application. When the workbook is published, its workbook integration metadata XML file is saved at the same location as the design-time copy of the workbook. For more information about publishing a customization-enabled workbook, see Section 14.3, "Publishing Your Integrated Excel Workbook."

The workbook integration metadata files for customization-enabled workbooks need to be deployed to MDS metadata repositories so that they can be managed by MDS. For more information about Metadata Repository, see the "Managing the Metadata Repository" chapter in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

14.6.1 How to Enable Workbook Customization at Runtime

To enable customization of workbook integration metadata, open the Workbook Properties dialog, and set CustomizationEnabled to True.

To enable runtime customization for a workbook:

  1. Open the integrated Excel workbook.

  2. In the Workbook group of the Oracle ADF tab, click Workbook Properties.

  3. Set CustomizationEnabled to True.

  4. Click OK.

  5. Publish the customization-enabled workbook.

14.6.2 What Happens at Runtime: Workbook Integration Metadata is Customized

A customization-enabled workbook obtains its metadata from the server when the workbook is initialized. The integration metadata is managed by MDS on the server end and can be accessed by the application through MDS APIs.

At runtime, the application can provide means for users to customize the workbook integration metadata. When a customization-enabled workbooks is being initialized, it requests the server for workbook integration metadata. MDS applies all the customizations based on current customization context and returns the customized metadata to the workbook for its initialization.

For example, an application can provide a web page where users can customize the columns of a table in a customization-enabled workbook. The user can remove certain columns from the table on the web page and then download the customization-enabled workbook and see the change takes effect in the workbook.

14.6.3 What You May Need to Know About Customizing Workbook Integration Metadata

Customization-enabled workbooks can only be published to a directory under the public_html directory of the associated project. When you deploy your application, make sure that the corresponding workbook integration metadata file can be found by MDS using the metadata path generated when the workbook is published.

Each customization-enabled workbook has its own workbook integration metadata file. When the workbook is published, its workbook integration metadata XML file is saved at the same location as the design-time copy of the workbook. This workbook integration metadata file should be deployed to MDS metadata repositories so that it can be managed by MDS at runtime. In MDS terms, a workbook integration metadata file is a base document and is referenced by MDS using a metadata path. The metadata path is determined when the customization-enabled workbook is published.

For example, if a design-time customization-enabled workbook is published to <PROJECT_HOME>/public_html/myCompany/myPackage/myWorkbook.xlsx and its workbook integration metadata file name is myWorkbook-DT.xlsx-workbook-definition.xml, then the metadata path for this workbook is /myCompany/myPackage/myWorkbook-DT.xlsx-workbook-defintion.xml. At runtime, MDS looks for the workbook integration metadata using this metadata path in the repositories configured with the application. The metadata path must be unique across the application.

By default, if no MDS repository is configured for the workbook integration metadata files, MDS will look up the metadata files on the classpath using the metadata path mentioned. To avoid configuring MDS, you may host the workbook integration metadata files on the classpath of the Fusion web application. The customizations created at runtime can be stored in MDS default-cust-store.

14.7 Integrating ADF Workbook Composer into Your Fusion Web Application

The ADF Workbook Composer is an ADF Task Flow that enables an authorized user to customize an integrated Excel workbook from the runtime web user interface of the Fusion web application.

To use the ADF Workbook Composer, you must have a customization-enabled workbook integrated into your Fusion web application and have its metadata managed by MDS. For more information about customization-enabled workbook, see Section 14.6, "Customizing Workbook Integration Metadata at Runtime."

Using the ADF Workbook Composer, the end user may perform the following actions at runtime:

  • Edit or delete ADF components of the integrated Excel workbook

  • Reposition components in the worksheet

  • Edit tooltips, labels, and source of ADF components

  • Delete worksheets

See Section 14.7.3, "What You May Need to Know About ADF Workbook Composer" for more information about properties of ADF components that are editable.

14.7.1 How to Integrate ADF Workbook Composer into Your Fusion Web Application

The ADF Workbook Composer task flow is available in the adf-workbook-composer.jar file as an ADF Library. The jar file is available in the MWHOME/oracle_common/modules/oracle.adf.desktopintegration_12.1.4 directory.

To integrate ADF Workbook Composer in your Fusion web application:

  1. Open your Fusion web application in JDeveloper.

  2. Add the adf-workbook-composer.jar file as an ADF Library jar to your Fusion web application.

    1. In the Application Navigator, select and right-click the project (ViewController, for example) and choose Project Properties.

    2. In the Project Properties dialog, select Libraries and Classpath.

    3. In the Libraries and Classpath page, click Add Library.

    4. In the Add Library dialog, click New.

    5. In the Create Library dialog, enter ADF Workbook Composer Runtime as Library Name.

    6. Click Add Entry.

    7. Navigate to the MWHOME/oracle_common/modules/oracle.adf.desktopintegration_12.1.4 directory, select the adf-workbook-composer.jar file, and click Open.

      Ensure that the Deploy on default checkbox is not selected so that the jar will not be included in your Fusion web application when it is deployed.

  3. Select and expand the ADF Workbook Composer Runtime Library in the Application Navigator.

    If libraries are not visible, select View > Application Projects > Show Libraries.

  4. Locate the workbook-customization-task-flow.xml file under WEB-INF\oracle\adf\workbookcomposer\view\taskflows and drag-and-drop the file to import the task flow within the host page.

  5. If necessary, set up the desired customization context.

  6. Configure the MDS repository in adf-config.xml and make sure that workbook metadata files are accessible on the metadata path.

  7. Provide the required workbook metadata path and workbook name parameters for the task flow.

  8. If the Fusion web application is authorization-enabled, you would need to configure security policies to grant resource access to users for the following task flows available in the /WEB-INF/oracle/adf/workbookcomposer/view/taskflows/ directory of the workbook composer jar file.

    • button-customization-task-flow.xml

    • form-component-customization-task-flow.xml

    • image-customization-task-flow.xml

    • not-supported-task-flow.xml

    • read-only-table-customization-task-flow.xml

    • ribbon-command-customization-task-flow.xml

    • table-customization-task-flow.xml

    • workbook-customization-task-flow.xml

  9. Run the host web page to make sure that the workbook composer is rendered correctly.

14.7.2 What Happens at Runtime: ADF Workbook Composer is Invoked

The ADF Workbook Composer task flow is available in adf-workbook-composer.jar as an ADF Library jar file. This jar is included in the oracle.adf.desktopintegration JRF shared library and is available at runtime when the Fusion web application is running on WebLogic Server.

At runtime, the customization made from the ADF Workbook Composer takes effect immediately without restarting the Fusion web application. End users that match the customization context associated with the workbook customization will see the customization after they download and open a new copy of the integrated Excel workbook, or re-open an uninitialized integrated Excel workbook.

14.7.3 What You May Need to Know About ADF Workbook Composer

The ADF Workbook Composer task flow requires two parameters:

  • WorkbookName – The name of the workbook that the users will be customizing at runtime. The name will be displayed in the composer.

  • WorkookMetadataPath – The path to the workbook metadata file. This is the path used by MDS to locate the metadata file for the workbook to be customized. The workbook metadata file is generated when the design-time workbook is published. The metadata path is determined by the location to which the workbook is published.