Using the Report Viewer Options
Use the illustrated Report Viewer to understand the different options that are available to you.
The image shows the report viewer.
Following are the options available in the report viewer. Not all options are available for all reports. See each section for more details:
Parameters
Reports that enable parameter value input present the parameter selection prompts in the report viewer. The presentation of the prompts varies according to the report configuration. Parameters can be presented on the top of the report viewing area, to the left side of the report viewing area, as a pop-up dialog, or as prompts on the page before the report is displayed.
The parameter prompts can be hidden or displayed by clicking the Parameters action button in the upper right area of the report viewer.
Some reports include an Apply button that you must click to re-display the report after making parameter selections. If there is no Apply button, the report is regenerated automatically after you make a new value selection. The display of the Apply button is a parameter property setting. For information about setting this property, see Configuring Parameter Settings for the Report in Report Designer's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher.
Parameter prompts may be one of the following types:
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A list from which you can make a selection.
A list may be displayed as a menu or all values of the list may be displayed in a series. Some lists support multiple selections. A multi-select list displays a check box next to each item. Click the box to select the item. Click the box again to deselect the item.
Lists with many values support search. Click Search at the bottom of the scroll list to open the Search dialog. See The Parameter Search Dialog.
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A text box into which you can type a value, as shown in the following figure. Separate multiple values with a comma.
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A date editor that launches a calendar from which to select the date.
The Parameter Search Dialog
To search for a parameter value in a list, click Search at the bottom of the parameter scroll list to launch the Search dialog.
Enter a search string and then choose whether the value you are looking for starts with, ends with, or contains the entered string.
You can use % and _ as wild cards in your search string:
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%Allows you to match any string of any length, including zero length. -
_Allows you to match on a single character.
For parameters that support multiple value selections, the Search dialog includes a shuttle interface to select multiple returned values.
Flexfield Parameter Dialog
Use the Flexfield Parameter dialog to enter values for the flexfield segments.
This type of parameter applies to Oracle E-Business Suite only. Flexfield parameters display the identifier.
The image shows the Flexfield Parameter Identifier in the Report Viewer.
Click the flexfield parameter identifier to open the parameter entry dialog. Enter values for the flexfield segments in the dialog, as shown in the Flexfield Parameter dialog figure.
Layouts
You can view the same report in different layouts by clicking on the particular report layout tab such as Salary by Department, Salary by Manager, and Breakdown by Office tabs.
When multiple layouts are available, they are displayed as separate tabs in the Report Viewer page. To view the report displayed in a different layout, click its tab. The different layouts could have different output types enabled.
View Report and Choose Other Output Types
The View Report list contains other output types that are available for this report. When you select an option from the menu, the output automatically renders either in the browser or in a spawned application.
Possible output options are:
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Interactive - This output is only available for layouts designed using BI Publisher's Layout Editor. Interactive output enables pop-up chart value displays, navigable and filterable tables, and other interactive features for a report.
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HTML - (Hypertext Markup Language) formats the report for browser viewing.
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PDF - (Portable Document Format) formats the report as PDF and opens the report in Adobe Acrobat reader. This output type is optimized for printing.
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RTF - (Rich Text Format) is a format used by word processing applications. If you have a word processing application installed, such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org, then you are prompted to open the application for viewing.
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Word - (.docx) generates a Microsoft Word document in the .docx format.
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Excel (mhtml) - Select this output type to view the report in Excel if you have Microsoft Excel 2003. This option generates an MHTML format file that can be opened in Excel 2003 or later. This option supports embedded images, such as charts and logos.
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Excel (html) - Select this output type only if you are running the earlier versions of Microsoft Excel 2000 or 2002. This option generates HTML that can be opened in Excel. It does not support embedded images.
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Excel (*.xlsx) - Select this option to generate the report in Excel.xlsx (Excel XML format). If you have Excel 2007 or later installed, this option provides the best preservation of layout and formatting.
Note:
For output format Excel 2007, that uses the xlsx file extension, BI Publisher does not apply any formatting for number and date. BI Publisher saves the formatting mask and the actual value (date or number) into the XLSX output file. The formatting is handled by Microsoft Excel. For example:
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If the Microsoft Windows Region and Language of the client computer is set to English (United States), then the numbers and dates are formatted in en-US locale in the Excel 2007 output file.
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If the Microsoft Windows Region and Language of the client computer is set to French (France), then the numbers and dates in the same Excel 2007 output file are formatted in fr-FR locale.
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PowerPoint (mhtml) - Select this output type to generate a PowerPoint file compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint 2003. Note that Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 does not support this output type. Choose PowerPoint (*.pptx) instead.
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PowerPoint (*.pptx) - Select this output type to generate a PowerPoint file in Microsoft Office Open XML format. This output type is supported for versions of Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 and later.
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MHTML - (Mime HyperText Markup Language) format enables you to save a Web page and its resources as a single MHTML file (.mht), in which all images and linked files are saved as a single entity. Use this option to send or save HTML output and retain the embedded images and stylesheet formatting.
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PDF/A - is an archiving standard to support reports that require long-term preservation. PDF/A is a specialized subset of the PDF standard that prohibits elements that may interfere with the preservation of the file as a self-contained document.
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PDF/X - is for reports that require formatting for pre-press graphics exchange. PDF/X is a specialized subset of the PDF standard that streamlines documents for high-quality print production output and restricts content that does not serve the print production, such as signatures, comments, and embedded multimedia.
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Zipped PDFs - This option is only available for reports that have been designed to enable zipped PDF output. BI Publisher generates a zip file containing the report PDF output and index files. For more information on designing a report to generate a zipped PDF, see Generating Zipped PDF Output in Report Designer's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher.
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FO Formatted XML - generates an XML file with the XSL-FO information.
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Data (XML) - displays the report XML data.
Note:
For Safari browser users, the Safari browser renders XML as text. To view the XML generated by the data engine as XML, right-click inside the frame displaying the data and then click View Frame Source. This is a display issue only. The data is saved properly if you choose to export the data.
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Data (CSV) - displays the data in comma separated value format. The data must be in a simple
<rowset>/<row>structure. -
Flash - displays output for templates designed using Adobe Flash. You must have the Adobe Flash Player Plug-in installed for your Web browser.
Actions
The Actions menu provides more commands and operation that you can perform on the report.
The options that are available to you depend on your user privileges and properties set for the report.
The image shows the Actions menu.
You can use the following menu options:
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Add to My Favorite adds this report to your My Favorites list on your Home page.
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Edit Report enables you to update the report definition. For example, you can add or create new layouts, update the report properties, or change the default parameter values. See Editing Reports in Report Designer's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher.
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Edit Layout enables you to update the layout you are viewing. When the layout was created using the BI Publisher Layout Editor, the Layout Editor launches in the browser, see Creating BI Publisher Layout Templates in Report Designer's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher. If the layout is based on another supported template type such as RTF, PDF, or Excel then you are prompted to save the template file. You can then open it in the appropriate application.
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Export exports the report to the default application for the output type you select, for example, Adobe Acrobat for PDF output or Microsoft Excel for Excel output.
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Send enables you to schedule the report for immediate delivery to an e-mail address, printer, or other destination.
The Send action launches the Schedule Report Job page where you can select the output, destination, and notification options.
Note:
You cannot send a report in Interactive mode. You must select a different output type such as PDF or HTML from the View Report list, and then click Send. -
Schedule creates a job to run and distribute the report. See Navigating to the Schedule Report Job Page.
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Jobs enables you to view and manage currently scheduled jobs for this report. See About the Manage Report Jobs Page.
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Job History enables you to view completed and running report jobs. See Viewing Report Job History and Saved Output.
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Republish from History enables you to select a previously scheduled, completed job and specific output for viewing in the report viewer.
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Share Report Link enables you to generate a link that you can copy and reuse, based on the report that you are currently viewing. When you select an option, a dialog displays the URL to the report. You can control what the URL displays as follows:
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Current Page displays the current page as shown.
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No Header displays the current report without the BI Publisher logo, tabs, or navigation path.
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No Parameters displays the current report without the header or any parameter selections. The Actions, Export, and View Report menus are still available.
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Document Only displays the URL to the current report document only. No other page information or options are displayed.
Note:
Share Report Link is a report property that can be disabled. For more information on setting this and other report properties, see Configuring Report Properties in Report Designer's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher.
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