Prerequisites and Limitations of Oracle Reports to BI Publisher Conversion Assistant

Be aware of the prerequisites for running Oracle Reports to BI Publisher Conversion Assistant.

  • You must be running JDK version 1.1.8 or later.

  • If your source Oracle Reports are not in XML format, then you must have Oracle Reports rwconverter 9i in your Oracle Home.

  • You must have a BI Publisher role with Write access to Shared Folders in BI Publisher Catalog.

Converting Oracle Reports to XML Format

Oracle Reports to BI Publisher Conversion Assistant uses Oracle Report XML (or RDF XML) to convert Oracle Reports into BI Publisher reports.

The conversion from RDF binary to RDF XML report formatting is supported for Oracle Reports 9i and above.

Oracle Reports to BI Publisher Conversion Assistant allows source reports to be in both formats - RDF binary and RDF XML.

The following requirements are necessary in order for Oracle Reports to BI Publisher Conversion Assistant to convert reports:

  • Oracle Reports Designer 9i or later installed on the same machine as Oracle Reports to BI Publisher Conversion Assistant.

  • You must enter the Oracle Reports Home Path in Oracle Reports to BI Publisher Conversion Assistant in order to call the rwconverter executable and convert the reports into Oracle Reports XML format.

Oracle Reports Designer is part of the Oracle Developer Suite 10g (10.1.2.0.2) and is available from: http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ids/index.html

Limitations

Oracle Reports to BI Publisher Conversion Assistant has certain limitations.

These limitations include:

  • Format triggers cannot be converted, but the code is written to a log file for manual implementation. For more information on PL/SQL format triggers in RTF layout templates, see PL/SQL Format Trigger Logic Not Supported in RTF Layout Templates.

  • Charts cannot be converted. If you choose to create a RTF layout, use the Template Builder for Word to create charts. If you choose to create a BI Publisher layout template, use the Layout Editor to create charts. For more information about the layout design tools, see Report Designer's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher.

  • Matrix reports cannot be converted. If you choose to create a RTF layout, use the Template Builder for Word's Pivot Table Wizard. If you choose to create a BI Publisher layout template, use the Layout Editor to create pivot tables. For more information about the layout design tools, see Report Designer's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher.