1. Visualizing Data in Oracle Analytics Server
  2. Report Data
  3. Build Dashboards
  4. Create and Manage Layouts for Dashboards and Dashboard Pages

Create and Manage Layouts for Dashboards and Dashboard Pages

You can specify and manage the layouts of a dashboard for printing or exporting.

About Custom Print and Export Layouts

You can create and define custom layouts for printing and exporting an entire dashboard or a single dashboard page.

Custom layouts allow you to:
  • Produce high-quality printed dashboard content.
  • Export dashboard content customized for Excel.
When you create a custom layout:
  • The dashboard page is exported to BI Publisher, and the following items are auto-generated:
    • A BI Publisher report with a layout based on the exported dashboard layout.
    • A data model to retrieve data for the dashboard page components.
  • The BI Publisher Report Editor opens in a new browser window with the auto-generated layout displayed as a thumbnail. The report editor allows you to edit, delete, or add a layout.

When you’re creating a print layout, BI Publisher doesn’t support some of the customizations and views such as hierarchical columns and map views.

After you’ve saved the custom layouts in BI Publisher, they’re available for that dashboard and appear in the Custom Print & Export Layouts area of the Print & Export Options dialog.

If you delete the data model or the layouts manually from the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog, then the associated BI Publisher report won’t work, and the layouts aren’t available. If you delete an analysis, then the data model and layout are available but fail when run.

Create Custom Layouts

You can create one or more custom layouts for printing and exporting an entire dashboard or a single dashboard page.

The administrator can control the display of the Custom Print & Export Layouts component.
  1. Open the dashboard or dashboard page that you want to print or export.
  2. On the Dashboard page toolbar, click Tools and select Print & Export Options.
  3. In the Custom Print & Export Layouts area, click the gear icon, then select Create Layouts.
    The BI Publisher Report Editor opens in a new browser window with the auto-generated layout displayed as a thumbnail.
  4. Make your changes in BI Publisher, and save the changes.
  5. Close BI Publisher and save the dashboard.
  6. To make the custom layouts available to users, do the following:
    1. Open the Print & Export Options dialog and go to the Custom Print & Export Layouts area.
    2. For each custom layout that you want to make available, select the following:
      • PDF - To make the layout available in the Print menu of a dashboard page.
      • Excel - To make the layout available in the Export to Excel menu of a dashboard page.
    3. Click OK to close the Print & Export Options dialog.
    4. Save the dashboard.
The analysis and dashboard font size is in pixels, but the Excel font size is in points. Therefore, when you export to Excel from an analysis or dashboard, the font size decreases to 75% of the analysis or dashboard font size.

Edit, Replace, or Remove Custom Layouts

You can edit, replace, or remove custom print and export layouts that you’ve created. For example, you might want to remove a custom print layout if the dashboard page to which the layout is associated has changed.

  1. Open the dashboard or dashboard page.
  2. On the Dashboard page toolbar, click Tools and select Print & Export Options.
  3. In the Print & Export Options dialog, go to the Custom Print & Export Layouts area and click the gear icon, then select one of the following:
    • Create and Edit Layouts - A warning message is displayed indicating that the existing print layouts may not work properly if the dashboard page has been modified. Select one of the following and click OK:
      • Keep existing layouts - The BI Publisher Report Editor opens in a new browser window, where you can edit the existing layouts.
      • Remove existing layouts and create new layouts - The BI Publisher Report Editor opens in a new browser window, where you can create new layouts.
    • Replace Layouts - A warning message is displayed indicating that all the existing layouts will be replaced. Click OK to delete the associated BI Publisher report and data model, and auto-generate new layouts. The BI Publisher Report Editor opens in a new browser window, where you can create new layouts.
    • Remove Layouts - A warning message is displayed indicating that all the existing layouts will be removed. Click OK to remove the layouts and the associated BI Publisher report and data model.
  4. When you’ve finished editing, replacing, or removing layouts, click OK to close the Print & Export Options dialog.
  5. Save the dashboard.

Items Not Supported for Custom Print Layouts in BI Publisher

Custom print layouts support a limited set of items.

If BI Publisher doesn’t support an item, that item is removed from the layout and you see a message that indicates the reason for the unsupported item.