BI Publisher Menu Reference

When you install the Template Builder the next time you open Microsoft Word, you see the Oracle BI Publisher menu.

Note:

If you are using Microsoft Word 2007, then you might have to modify the Add-In settings. Click the Office button, click Word options, then click Add-Ins.

About the Online Group

The Online group of commands enable you to initiate interaction with the BI Publisher application.

For more information about working with the online commands, see Working in Connected Mode.

The following figure shows the Online group of commands.

The following table describes the commands available for the Online group.

Command Description

Log on

Enables you to log in to BI Publisher. Enter your user name and password. Select or enter the URL for the BI Publisher Report Server (see your Administrator if you do not know the URL). When you log on, the Open Template dialog is displayed.

You must log in directly to the BI Publisher server. For example: http://www.example.com:7001/xmlpserver.

Open

After you log on, this command becomes available to enable you to open a report in the BI Publisher catalog.

Upload Template

If you used the Open Template dialog to download a template from the BI Publisher catalog, use this option to upload the updated layout back to the report definition in the catalog.

Upload Template As

If you used the Open Template dialog to download a template or to open a report from the catalog, use this option to upload the layout to the report definition in the catalog. Also use this option to upload modifications to an existing template under a different name.

Save XML Data

If you are working in connected mode, then use this command to save the data to a local directory if you also need access to the data in disconnected mode.

About the Load Data Group

The Load Data group of commands enables you to load a saved sample data file or sample schema to the Template Builder.

You must load data to use most of the Template Builder functionality. See Accessing Data for Building Templates for more options for loading data to the Template Builder.

The following figure shows the Load Data group of commands.

The Load Data Group options table below describes the commands available for the Load Data group.

Command Description

Sample XML

This command enables you to load a previously saved sample XML file from the report data source. If you are not connected to the BI Publisher server, use this method to load the data.

XML Schema

This command enables you to load an XML Schema file (.xsd) that contains the fields available in the report XML data. The XML schema has the advantage of being complete (a sample xml file may not contain all the fields from the data source). For the preview, the Template Builder can generate dummy sample data for an XML Schema. However, the preview works better if you also upload real sample data.

About the Insert Group

Use the Insert group of commands to insert the layout components to the template.

For more information, see Inserting Components to the Template.

The following figure shows the Insert group of commands.

Command Description

Table Wizard

This function provides a wizard that guides you through the creation of tables used in typical reports.

Pivot Table

The Pivot Table function enables you to drag and drop the data elements to a pivot table structure.

Chart

BI Publisher does not recognize native Microsoft Word charts. The Insert Chart function allows you to insert a chart that is understood by Oracle BI Publisher.

Field

This function allows you to select fields from the data source and insert them into the template.

As a beginner, you should use Insert Fields only for data fields that are unique - none repeating - in the document. See Inserting a Table Using the Table Wizard for additional information on how to insert repetitive fields.

Table/Form

Use this function to insert data fields to be organized as a simple or nested table or as a form that is repeated with different data. You may even organize all the data fields for the whole document before inserting them.

Repeating Group

Enables you to select or define a group of elements that you want repeated for each occurrence of an element in the data.

Conditional Format

Enables you to define simple conditional formats to apply to table rows or cells.

Conditional Region

Enables you to insert a conditional statement around a region of the template.

All Fields

This function inserts all fields found in the XML data into the document. It also inserts processing instructions into the document that repeats a section - such as a table row - when the associated XML element is repeated.

XML documents often contain a large number of fields in a deeply nested hierarchy. For example, an Oracle Purchasing purchase order contains purchase order lines, which contain shipments, which contain distributions. The purchase order line alone contains more than 150 data fields. In these cases, you should use the Insert Table/Form function to have more control over which fields are inserted.

About the Preview Group

The Preview group of commands enables you to preview the RTF template with the sample XML data. The preview menu offers PDF, HTML, RTF, PowerPoint, Excel (MHTML format) and EXCEL2000 as output formats.

When you select any of these output formats, the Template Builder merges the data into the template and creates the output document.

The following figure shows the Preview group of commands.

Note:

You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.0 or higher installed to preview documents in PDF format.

About the Tools Group

The section describes the commands available for a the Tools group.

For more information about using the commands in the Tools group refer to Template Editing Tools and Using the Template Builder Translation Tools.

The following figure shows the Tools group of commands.

The table below describes the commands available for the Tools group.

Command Description

Field Browser

The field browser is a tool for advanced users who must change the BI Publisher commands that are hidden in the form fields. It shows the commands behind each form field and allows you to change them. Use this tool to correct flawed RTF templates or to update multiple fields efficiently.

Validate Template

The validation function checks the template for incorrect use of BI Publisher commands and unsupported elements in the Word file.

Translation

Includes the following subcommands:

  • Extract Text - Enables you to create a standard XLIFF translation file that contains the boilerplate text from the template. XLIFF is a standard file format that is understood by many translation software packages. Because an XLIFF is an XML file, you can translate the text in a text editor. For more information on working with XLIFF files, see Working with Translation Files.

  • Preview Translation - Enables you to preview the template as a PDF file using a specified XLIFF translation file. This functionality enables you to test translation files.

  • Localize Template - Applies a translation file to an RTF template. This means that in the current RTF template all boilerplate text is translated. The main function of this feature is to create a language-specific version of a template.

Export

Includes the following functions:

  • XSL-FO Stylesheet - Allows you to convert the RTF template into an enhanced XSL-FO stylesheet. This function can be used to generate XSL-FO for debugging or further customization.

  • Formatted XML - Enables you to apply the XSL-FO stylesheet generated from the Word document to the sample data and save the intermediate FO format. This function is mainly for debugging.

  • PDF - Converts the Word document to PDF.

About the Options Group

The Options group of commands allows you to define preferences and options for using BI Publisher and access online help.

The following figure shows the Options group of commands.

See Setting Options for the Template Builder.