Authoring Doclets on the Web

As a doclet author, you provide report content in the author phase. You can author doclets on the web by downloading the doclet files and opening them in the appropriate authoring applications (such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Adobe Acrobat). You can access Microsoft Office documents directly in Word or PowerPoint through Oracle Smart View for Office. This topic provides procedures for authoring doclets on the web. To work with doclets in Smart View, see Authoring Doclets in Smart View and Approving Doclets in Smart View.

The authoring process follows this workflow:

Author workflow

1. Check out the doclet.

2. Download the doclet to a local drive.

   Alternatively, you can open the doclet directly in Smart View.

3. Update the doclet.

4. Upload the doclet to the report package.

5. Optional: Select the doclet attributes or slide masters to override the style sample.

6. Optional: Preview the report package or doclet.

7. Check the doclet back in.

8. Submit the doclet for approval if required.

These actions are described in more detail in the following topics:

• Checking Out Doclets

• Undoing Checkouts

• Downloading Doclets

• Opening Doclets in Smart View

• Uploading Doclets

• Selecting Doclet Attributes (Word-based Report Packages)

• Working with Slide Masters (PowerPoint-based Report Packages)

• Selecting Excel Worksheets from an Excel doclet (PDF-based Report Packages)

• Previewing Reports or Doclets

• Checking In Doclets

• Submitting Doclets

• Recall Doclets

• Reverting to a Prior Version of a Doclet

• Refreshing Report Content

For supplemental doclets, the authoring process is the same as for a regular doclet. However, the contents of a supplemental doclet are not merged into the combined report package and you cannot preview supplemental doclets. See supplemental doclets for more information. Reference doclets are also similar to a regular doclet. Using reference doclets as the container where certain types of reporting content is created, authors can then embed that content in their assigned areas of the report package. You can design content such as highly formatted reports, ad hoc grids, and text within an Excel spreadsheet, and add that spreadsheet to the report package as a reference doclet. The available content in a reference doclet becomes common report content that can be embedded in doclets by assigned authors. Embedded content can be reused as required throughout the report package, and is refreshable, so the content will always reflect the latest data.