Contents

List of Examples

List of Figures

List of Tables

Title and Copyright Information

Preface

Audience

Documentation Accessibility

Related Documentation

Conventions

Part I Getting Started

1 Introduction

1.1 Introduction to Oracle Reports

1.1.1 Oracle Reports Builder

1.1.2 Oracle Reports Bridge

1.1.3 Oracle Reports Client

1.1.4 Oracle Reports Runtime

1.1.5 Oracle Reports Servlet

1.1.6 Oracle Reports Server

1.2 What's New In This Release?

2 Understanding the Oracle Reports Services Architecture

2.1 What's New In This Release?

2.2 Oracle Fusion Middleware Platform

2.3 Oracle Reports Services

2.3.1 Overview

2.3.2 Oracle Reports Services Components

2.3.3 Oracle Reports Services Runtime Process

2.3.4 Oracle Reports Services Communication Architecture

2.3.4.1 Server Discovery Using the Broadcast Mechanism

2.3.4.2 Server Discovery Using the COS Naming Service

2.4 Setting Up Your System

2.4.1 Choosing the Types of Requests You Will Service

2.4.2 Choosing Oracle Reports Servlet, JSP, or Web Services

2.4.3 Choosing Single or Multiple-Machine Configurations

2.5 Setting Up a High Availability Environment

2.5.1 Maintaining High Availability

2.5.2 Configuring the rwservlet.properties file

2.5.3 Configuring Reports Server for High Availability

2.5.3.1 Configuring Oracle Enterprise Manager for High Availability

3 Verifying Your Installation

3.1 What's New In This Release?

3.2 Understanding the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Structure

3.3 Verifying OOTB Installation

3.3.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

3.4 Verifying the Reports Server Environment

3.4.1 Checking Oracle HTTP Server

3.4.2 Checking Oracle Reports Servlet

3.4.3 Checking Reports Server

3.5 Confirming Security with Oracle Portal-Based Security

3.5.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

3.5.2 Using the Command Line

3.6 Upgrading from the Prior Release

3.6.1 Backward Compatibility and Interoperability

3.7 Granting Access to RWbuilder

4 Upgrading Oracle Reports

4.1 Overview of the Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Assistant

4.2 Overview of the Upgrade Process

4.3 What is Upgraded?

4.4 Summary of the Upgraded Files

4.5 Post- Upgrade Tasks

4.5.1 Configuring Security After Upgrade to Oracle Reports 11g

4.5.2 Additional Oracle Reports Post-Upgrade Tasks

4.5.2.1 Modifying Oracle Reports Shell Scripts After Upgrade

4.5.2.2 Modifying Oracle Reports DAT Files After Upgrade

4.5.2.3 About the In-process Server Target After Upgrade

4.5.2.4 Viewing Cached Reports Output Files After Upgrade

4.6 For More Information

5 Interoperability Scenarios and Considerations

5.1 Interoperability with Previous Versions of Oracle Reports

5.2 Interoperability with Other Oracle Components

6 Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Services

6.1 Starting and Stopping Reports Server

6.1.1 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Reports Servers from Oracle Enterprise Manager

6.1.2 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Reports Servers from the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server

6.1.3 Alternative Methods of Starting and Stopping Reports Server

6.1.3.1 Starting the In-process Server (Windows and UNIX)

6.1.3.2 Starting Reports Server from a Command Line (Windows and Linux)

6.1.3.3 Stopping Reports Server

6.2 Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Bridge

6.2.1 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting the Oracle Reports Bridge from the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server

6.2.2 Starting and Stopping the Oracle Reports Bridge from the Command Line

6.3 Starting Reports Components After Shutting Down an Instance

6.3.1 Starting Reports Servlet

6.3.2 Starting Reports Standalone Server

6.4 Starting and Stopping the COS Naming Service

6.5 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Oracle Reports Components Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

6.6 Starting and Stopping the In-process Reports Server Using Oracle Reports Servlet

6.7 Verifying that the Oracle HTTP Server Is Running

6.8 Verifying that the Reports Servlet and Server are Running

Part II Administering Oracle Reports Services

7 Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

7.1 What's New In This Release?

7.2 Configuring Reports Server for Oracle Enterprise Manager

7.3 Viewing the Component Topology

7.4 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Oracle Reports Components

7.5 Configuring Oracle Reports Components

7.5.1 Configuring a Mail Server

7.6 Defining Oracle Enterprise Manager Administration Roles

7.7 Administering and Scheduling Jobs

7.7.1 Displaying Jobs

7.7.2 Displaying a Consolidated Job Queue

7.7.3 Performing Operations on Jobs

7.7.4 Scheduling Jobs

7.8 Securing Oracle Reports Services

7.8.1 Enabling and Disabling Security

7.8.1.1 Switching to Oracle Portal Security

7.8.2 Defining Security Policies for Reports

7.8.3 Defining Security Policies for Directories

7.8.4 Defining Security Policies for Web Commands

7.8.5 Defining Read/Write Access to Directories

7.8.6 Enabling and Disabling Single Sign-On

7.8.7 Using Oracle Access Manager

7.8.8 Managing Credentials

7.9 Managing Fonts

7.9.1 Configuring Fonts

7.9.2 Diagnosing Font Issues

7.10 Monitoring Performance

7.10.1 Problems Viewing Reports Metrics When Reports is Configured for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

7.11 Managing Log Files

7.11.1 Viewing and Searching Log Files

7.11.2 Configuring Log Levels

7.11.3 Editing Log Files

7.12 Modifying Reports Server Audit Configuration

7.13 Registering Pluggable Destinations with Reports Server

7.14 Configuring Proxy Information

7.15 Managing and Monitoring a Reports High Availability (HA) Solution

7.15.1 Configuring Reports Server for High Availability

7.15.2 Displaying a Consolidated Job Queue

7.15.3 Specifying a Shared Cache Directory

7.16 About the Oracle Fusion Middleware System MBean Browser

7.16.1 When should I use the Oracle Fusion Middleware System MBean Browser?

7.16.2 About Reports Configuration MBeans

7.17 Modifying Reports Configuration Settings Using the System MBean Browser

7.18 Diagnosing Issues

7.18.1 Specifying Logging Information

7.18.2 Diagnosing Font Issues

8 Configuring Oracle Reports Services

8.1 Oracle Reports Services Configuration Files

8.2 Reports Server Configuration File

8.2.1 Reports Server Configuration Elements

8.2.1.1 ORBPorts

8.2.1.2 pluginParam

8.2.1.3 cache

8.2.1.4 cluster

8.2.1.5 connection

8.2.1.6 destination

8.2.1.7 environment

8.2.1.8 envVariable

8.2.1.9 engine

8.2.1.10 job

8.2.1.11 jobRecovery

8.2.1.12 jobStatusRepository

8.2.1.13 log

8.2.1.14 jobRepository

8.2.1.15 notification

8.2.1.16 oidconnection

8.2.1.17 orbClient

8.2.1.18 persistFile

8.2.1.19 identifier

8.2.1.20 property

8.2.1.21 queue

8.2.1.22 folderAccess

8.2.1.23 security

8.2.1.24 proxyServer

8.2.1.25 domain

8.2.1.26 bypassProxy

8.2.1.27 proxyServers

8.2.1.28 proxyInfo

8.2.1.29 webLayout

8.2.1.30 dbProxyKey

8.2.1.31 dbProxyConnKeys

8.2.1.32 jobThresholds

8.2.1.33 server

8.2.2 Dynamic Environment Switching

8.2.2.1 Examples

8.2.2.2 Usage Notes

8.3 Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File

8.3.1 Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration Elements

8.3.1.1 rwservlet

8.3.2 Specifying an Alternate Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File

8.4 Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration File

8.4.1 Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration Elements

8.4.1.1 bridge

8.4.1.2 identifier

8.4.1.3 remoteBridge

8.4.1.4 remoteBridges

8.5 Network Configuration File

8.5.1 Network Configuration Elements

8.5.1.1 discoveryService

8.5.1.2 multicast

8.5.1.3 namingService

8.6 Configuring the URL Engine

8.7 Entering Proxy Information

8.7.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

8.7.2 Editing the Server Configuration File

8.8 Configuring Reports Server with the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager

8.8.1 opmn.xml

8.8.1.1 Module Specification

8.8.1.2 Standalone Reports Server Specification

8.8.1.3 Oracle Reports Bridge Specification

8.8.1.4 COS Naming Service Specification

8.8.2 Creating a New Reports Server

8.8.3 Creating a New Bridge Component Type

8.9 Overview of SOA Integration

8.9.1 About BPEL

8.10 Configuring Oracle Reports to Communicate with Oracle BPEL Process Manager

8.10.1 Using RWWebservice to Submit Jobs to the Reports Server

8.10.2 Submitting Jobs to the Reports Server from a BPEL Process Asynchronously

8.11 Optimizing the Deployment of Reports

8.12 Sample system-jazn-data.xml File

8.13 Configuring Reports Managed Server

8.14 Enabling HTTPS for Oracle Reports

Part III Managing Runtime Behavior

9 Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports

9.1 Using Fonts

9.1.1 Fonts in Oracle Reports Builder

9.1.2 Fonts in Report Output

9.1.2.1 Font lookup

9.1.3 Fonts in the User Interface

9.2 Adding Fonts

9.2.1 Adding Fonts to Oracle Reports Builder

9.2.2 Adding Fonts for Report Output

9.2.2.1 Adding fonts on UNIX

9.2.2.2 Adding fonts on Windows

9.3 Font Configuration Files

9.3.1 File Searching

9.4 Font Aliasing

9.4.1 Specifying Aliasing Information

9.4.2 Font Aliasing Mechanism

9.4.3 Font Alias File Sections

9.4.4 Font Aliasing File Verification

9.5 Font Types

9.5.1 Character Sets

9.5.2 Unicode

9.5.3 Type1 Fonts

9.5.4 TrueType Fonts

9.5.5 TrueType Collection

9.5.6 Barcode Fonts

9.5.7 CID Fonts

9.6 Verifying Report Output on Different Platforms

9.7 Running a Unicode Report using TTF/TTC Fonts

9.8 Diagnosing Font Issues

9.8.1 Using the Command Line

9.8.2 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

9.9 Troubleshooting Font Issues

10 Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports

10.1 UNIX Printing Overview

10.1.1 General Printing Mechanism

10.1.2 Oracle Reports Printing Mechanism on UNIX and Windows

10.1.3 Printing Support

10.2 Setting Up a Printer on UNIX

10.2.1 Installing a Printer on UNIX

10.2.2 Verifying the Printer Setup for Oracle Reports

10.3 Configuring the Printing Environment

10.3.1 Editing uiprint.txt File

10.3.2 Environment Variables

10.3.3 Print Property Dialog Boxes

10.3.3.1 Page Setup dialog box

10.3.3.2 Print Job dialog box

10.4 Printer-Related Files

10.4.1 Overview of Files

10.4.2 PPD Files

10.4.2.1 Local Customization of PPD files

10.4.3 HPD Files

10.4.4 Font Metrics Files

10.4.4.1 AFM files

10.4.4.2 TFM files

10.4.5 uifont.ali

10.4.6 uiprint.txt

10.4.7 Editing the Printer-Related Files

10.4.7.1 Editing PPD files

10.4.7.2 Editing HPD files for PCL printing

10.5 Enhanced Printing on Linux Using CUPS

10.5.1 Setting Up a Single Server for Printing

10.6 Globalization Support

10.6.1 Multibyte Character Set Printing

10.6.2 Overview of IX and PASTA

10.7 Debugging Options

10.7.1 DEBUG_SLFIND

10.7.2 TK_DEBUG_POSTSCRIPT

10.8 Removing DISPLAY and Printer Dependencies on UNIX

10.8.1 ScreenPrinter

10.8.2 Advanced Imaging Support

10.9 Frequently Asked Questions

10.9.1 Common Printing Error Messages

10.9.2 PCL Printing Issues

10.9.3 PostScript Printing Issues

10.9.4 Font-Related Printing Issues

10.9.5 Printed Output Issues

11 Using PDF in Oracle Reports

11.1 What's New In This Release?

11.2 PDF Features Included in Oracle Reports

11.2.1 Compression

11.2.1.1 Setup

11.2.2 Font-Related Features

11.2.2.1 Font Aliasing

11.2.2.2 Font Subsetting

11.2.2.3 Font Embedding

11.2.2.4 Font Feature Summary

11.2.3 Precedence of Execution

11.2.4 Encryption, Password Protection, and Permissions Security

11.2.5 Accessibility

11.2.6 Taxonomy

11.2.7 Graph Support

11.3 Generating a Unicode PDF File

11.3.1 Font Subsetting

11.4 Generating a Bidirectional (BiDi) PDF File

11.4.1 Font Subsetting

11.5 Generating a Multibyte PDF File

11.5.1 Font Aliasing

11.5.2 Font Subsetting

11.6 Generating a Barcode PDF File

11.6.1 Font Embedding

11.6.2 Font Subsetting

12 Font Model and Cross-Platform Deployment

12.1 What's New In This Release?

12.2 Overview of the Font Model

12.2.1 Font Lookup

12.2.1.1 Font Lookup Algorithm

12.2.2 Configuring the New Font Model

12.2.3 Font Diagnosis and Tracing

12.3 Overview of Cross-Platform Issues

12.3.1 Font Availability On Different Platforms

12.3.2 Fixing Font-Related Issues

12.4 Generating HTMLCSS, RTF, or Web Output

12.4.1 Designing Your Report

12.4.2 Deploying Your Report

12.4.2.1 Troubleshooting Information

12.4.3 Frequently Asked Questions

12.5 Generating Single-Byte PDF Output

12.5.1 Designing Your Report

12.5.2 Deploying Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

12.5.2.1 Troubleshooting Information

12.5.3 Frequently Asked Questions

12.6 Generating Multibyte PDF Output

12.6.1 Designing Your Reportin Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

12.6.2 Deploying Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

12.6.2.1 Troubleshooting Information

12.6.3 Frequently Asked Questions

12.7 Generating Unicode PDF Output

12.7.1 Designing Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

12.7.2 Deploying Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

12.7.2.1 Troubleshooting Information

12.7.3 Frequently Asked Questions

12.8 Generating PostScript Output

12.8.1 Designing Your Report

12.8.2 Deploying Your Report

12.8.3 Frequently Asked Questions

13 Configuring Destinations for Oracle Reports Services

13.1 What's New in this Release

13.1.1 Pluggable Destinations from Oracle Forms Services.

13.2 Overview of Output Processing

13.3 Registering Destination Types with the Server

13.3.1 Setting Up a Destination Section in the Server Configuration File

13.3.2 Entering Valid Values for a Destination

13.3.2.1 Destination destypes and classes

13.3.2.2 Destination Property name/value Pairs

13.3.3 Example Destination

13.4 Submitting Reports to Pluggable Destinations from Oracle Forms Services

14 Configuring and Using the Pluggable Data sources

14.1 Configuring and Using the JDBC PDS

14.1.1 JDBC Configuration File

14.1.1.1 Verifying Pre-installed Driver Entries

14.1.1.2 Installing and Configuring Merant DataDirect Drivers

14.1.2 Defining and Running a JDBC Query

14.1.2.1 Sample Connection Information

14.1.3 Running a JDBC Report Using Oracle Reports Services

14.1.4 TroubleShooting Information

14.1.4.1 Error Messages

14.1.4.2 Trace Information

14.1.5 Adding Your Own JDBC Driver

14.1.5.1 Configuring the jdbcpds.conf File

14.1.5.2 Installing the Driver's JAR Files

14.2 Configuring and Using Text PDS

14.2.1 Text Configuration File

14.3 Configuring and Using XML PDS

14.3.1 XML PDS Configuration File

14.4 Specifying the encoding of an XML PDS Report

15 Securing Oracle Reports Services

15.1 Introduction to Oracle Reports Security

15.1.1 Overview

15.1.2 What's New in This Release?

15.1.3 Resources Protected

15.1.3.1 Application Security

15.1.3.2 Resource Security

15.1.3.3 Data Source Security

15.1.4 Credential Store

15.1.4.1 Credential Types

15.2 Out-of-the-Box Behavior

15.3 Authentication in Oracle Reports

15.3.1 OracleAS Single Sign-On Authentication

15.3.1.1 Report Request Flow with Single Sign-On

15.3.2 Non-SSO Authentication

15.3.2.1 Report Request Flow with Non-SSO (Oracle Internet Directory-Based, File-Based, or Embedded ID Store)

15.3.3 Authentication Scenarios for JPS-Based Security

15.3.3.1 If Reports is using JPS security, JPS-OID for security policies, and an embedded ID store

15.3.3.2 If Reports is using JPS security and JPS-OID as ID store

15.3.4 Authentication Scenario for Portal-Based Security

15.4 Authorization in Oracle Reports

15.4.1 Authorization Process

15.4.2 Additional Step When Using JPS for Authorization

15.4.3 Defining Security Policies for Reports

15.4.3.1 Defining Security Policies for JPS-Based Security

15.4.3.2 Defining Security Policies for Portal-Based Security

15.4.4 Defining Security Policies for Directories for JPS-Based Security

15.4.5 Defining Security Policies for Web Commands for JPS-Based Security

15.4.6 Defining Read/Write Access to Directories

15.4.7 Searching Application Policies in Enterprise Manager

15.4.8 Searching Application Roles in Enterprise Manager

15.5 End-to-End Security Scenarios

15.6 Recommended Production Scenario for JPS-Based Security

15.7 Recommended Production Scenario for Portal-Based Security

15.8 Managing Users and Security Policies

15.8.1 Adding Users to WebLogic Embedded ID Store for In-Process Servers

15.8.2 Adding Policies to Policy Store for In-Process Servers

15.8.3 Mapping Users to Application Roles

15.8.4 Adding Users to system-jazn-data.xml for Standalone Servers

15.8.5 Adding Policies to Policy Store for Standalone Servers

15.9 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory and Reassociating Reports

15.9.1 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for In-Process Servers

15.9.1.1 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory as ID Store When Using JPS-Based Security

15.9.1.2 Configuring an External Oracle Internet Directory as Policy Store When Using JPS-Based Security

15.9.2 Reassociating Reports with Oracle Internet Directory

15.9.3 Reassociating Oracle Reports to Oracle Portal

15.9.4 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for Standalone Servers

15.9.4.1 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory as ID Store

15.9.4.2 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory as Policy Store

15.10 Forms and Reports Security Recommendations

15.11 Intermediate-level Security for Forms and Reports

15.12 Database Proxy Authentication

15.12.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

15.12.2 Using DAS and Editing the Server Configuration File

15.12.3 Configuring Proxy User Authentication in the Database

15.12.4 Obtaining Proxy Access Information

15.12.5 Configuration Settings in Reports Configuration Files

15.12.5.1 rwserver.conf

15.12.5.2 rwservlet.properties

15.13 Oracle Portal-Based Security for Backward Compatibility

15.13.1 Security Features Provided by Oracle Portal

15.14 Security Interfaces

16 Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal

16.1 Creating Reports Users and Named Groups

16.1.1 Default Reports-Related Groups

16.1.1.1 RW_BASIC_USER

16.1.1.2 RW_POWER_USER

16.1.1.3 RW_DEVELOPER

16.1.1.4 RW_ADMINISTRATOR

16.1.2 Creating Users and Groups

16.1.3 Portal Password in Credential Store

16.2 Registering Oracle Reports Components

16.2.1 Registering a Reports Server

16.2.2 Registering a Report

16.2.3 Registering a Printer

16.2.4 Creating an Availability Calendar

16.2.4.1 Creating a Simple Availability Calendar

16.2.4.2 Creating a Combined Availability Calendar

16.2.5 The Manage Portlet

16.3 Publishing Your Report as a Portlet

16.3.1 Creating a Provider for Your Reports

16.3.2 Adding the Report Portlet to a Page

16.3.3 Adding the Report as an Item Link to a Page

16.3.4 Running Reports on Oracle Portal as an Item Link on a Nondefault Installation

16.3.5 Distributing Report Output to Oracle Portal

16.4 Connecting to Oracle Portal

16.5 Troubleshooting Information

16.5.1 Resolving Reports-Portal Integration Error When Attempting Create Resource

17 Configuring and Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On

17.1 Prerequisites

17.2 Configuring Out-of-the-Box OracleAS Single Sign-On

17.2.1 Oracle Identity Management and OracleAS Single Sign-On Infrastructure

17.2.1.1 OracleAS Single Sign-On

17.3 Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On

17.3.1 Enabling and Disabling OracleAS Single Sign-On

17.3.2 Enabling and Disabling Reports Server Security

17.3.3 Enabling and Disabling Data Source Security

17.3.3.1 SSOCONN

17.3.3.2 Populating Oracle Internet Directory

17.3.3.3 Adding a New Resource Type

17.3.4 Connecting to Oracle Internet Directory

17.3.4.1 Choosing the Connecting Entity for Oracle Internet Directory

17.3.4.2 Choosing the Oracle Internet Directory Instance

17.4 Choosing the Connecting Entity for Oracle Internet Directory

17.5 Changing the Reports Servlet Port to Be Protected by Single Sign-On

17.6 Oracle Forms Services Security Considerations

17.6.1 What's New In This Release?

Part IV Sending Requests to the Server

18 Running Report Requests

18.1 The Reports URL Syntax

18.1.1 Oracle Reports Servlet

18.1.2 JSP

18.2 Report Request Methods

18.3 Deploying Your Reports

18.3.1 Deploying a Report with a Paper Layout

18.3.2 Running a Report with a Paper Layout

18.3.3 Deploying a JSP Report to the Web and to Paper

18.3.3.1 Creating a New Java EE Application

18.3.3.2 Deploying Java EE Application Using WebLogic Server

18.3.4 Running a JSP-Based Web Report from a Browser

18.3.5 Running a JSP report with a Paper Layout

18.3.6 Running with the WE8MSWIN1252 Character Set on UNIX

18.4 Publishing a Report in Oracle Portal

18.5 Specifying a Report Request from a Web Browser

18.6 Sending a Request to the URL Engine

18.7 Running Reports Through a Web Service

18.8 Calling Oracle Reports from Oracle Forms Services

18.8.1 Communication Between Reports and Forms Installed on Different Instances

18.8.2 Generating Random and Non-Sequential Job IDs

18.9 Running Reports Using Oracle BPEL Process Manager

18.10 Scheduling Reports to Run Automatically

18.11 Additional Parameters

18.12 Reusing Report Output from Cache

18.12.1 Usage Note

18.13 Using a Key Map File

18.13.1 Understanding Key Mapping

18.13.2 Enabling Key Mapping

18.13.3 Adding Key Mapping Entries to a Key Map File

18.13.4 Using a Key with Non-JSP Reports

18.13.5 Using a Key with a Report Run as a JSP

19 Using the Oracle Reports Web Service

19.1 Overview

19.2 Getting Started

19.2.1 Invoking the RWWebService Servlet

19.2.2 Viewing the WSDL

19.3 Oracle Reports Web Service Operations

19.3.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Test RWWebService

19.3.1.1 getAPIVersion

19.3.1.2 getServerInfo

19.3.1.3 getJobInfo

19.3.1.4 killJob

19.3.1.5 runJob

19.4 Using RWWebServiceUtil to Test RWWebService

20 Creating Advanced Distributions

20.1 Distribution Overview

20.2 What's New In This Release?

20.3 Introduction to Distribution XML Files

20.3.1 The distribution.dtd File

20.3.2 Using Variables Within Attributes

20.4 Elements of a Distribution XML File

20.4.1 destinations

20.4.2 foreach

20.4.3 mail

20.4.4 body

20.4.5 attach

20.4.6 include

20.4.7 file

20.4.8 printer

20.4.9 destype

20.4.10 property

20.5 Distribution XML File Examples

20.5.1 foreach Examples

20.5.1.1 Single E-Mail with Report Groups as Separate Attachments

20.5.1.2 Separate E-Mail for Each Group Instance

20.5.1.3 Separate E-Mails with Separate Sections as Attachments

20.5.1.4 Separate File for Each Section

20.5.1.5 Separate Print Run for Each Report

20.5.2 mail Examples

20.5.2.1 E-Mail with a Whole Report as the Body

20.5.2.2 E-Mail with a Section of a Report as the Body

20.5.2.3 E-Mail with Two Report Sections as the Body

20.5.2.4 E-Mail with External File as Body and Report as Attachment

20.5.2.5 E-Mail with Whole Report and Grouped Sections Attached

20.5.2.6 E-Mail to Relevant Manager and Department

20.5.3 file Examples

20.5.3.1 File for Whole Report

20.5.3.2 File for Combined Report Sections

20.5.3.3 File for Each Group of Combined Sections

20.5.3.4 File for Each Report Group Instance

20.5.4 printer Examples

20.5.4.1 Print Whole Report

20.5.4.2 Print Two Sections of a Report

20.5.4.3 Print Grouped Report

20.5.4.4 Print Combined Sections for Each Group Instance

20.5.4.5 Print Relevant Instance of a Report to Its Relevant Printer

20.5.5 destype Examples

20.5.5.1 Oracle Portal Destination

20.5.5.2 FTP Destination

20.5.5.3 WebDAV Destination

20.5.5.4 Fax Destination

20.6 Using a Distribution XML File at Runtime

20.7 Limitations with Using Distribution

20.7.1 Delimited Output

20.7.2 Dynamic Format Values

21 Using Event-Driven Publishing

21.1 The Event-Driven Publishing API

21.1.1 Elements of the API

21.1.2 Creating and Manipulating a Parameter List

21.1.2.1 Add_Parameter

21.1.2.2 Remove_Parameter

21.1.2.3 Clear_Parameter_List

21.1.3 Including non-ASCII Characters in Parameter Names and Values

21.1.4 Submitting a Job

21.1.5 Checking for Status

21.1.6 Using the Servers' Status Record

21.2 Debugging Applications that Use the Event-Driven Publishing API

21.3 Invoking a Report from a Database Event

21.4 Integrating with Oracle Advanced Queuing

21.4.1 Creating a Queue That Holds Messages of Type SRW_PARAMLIST

21.4.2 Creating the Enqueuing Procedure

21.4.3 Creating the Dequeuing Procedure

22 Customizing Reports with XML

22.1 Customization Overview

22.2 Creating XML Customizations

22.2.1 Required XML Tags

22.2.2 Changing Styles

22.2.3 Changing a Format Mask

22.2.4 Adding Formatting Exceptions

22.2.5 Adding Program Units and Hyperlinks

22.2.6 Adding a New Query and Using the Result in a New Header Section

22.2.7 Encoding the URL

22.3 Creating XML Data Models

22.3.1 Creating Multiple Data Sources

22.3.2 Linking Between Data Sources

22.3.3 Creating Group Hierarchies Within Each Data Source

22.3.4 Creating Cross-Product (Matrix) Groups

22.3.5 Creating Formulas, Summaries, and Placeholders at Any Level

22.3.6 Creating Parameters

22.4 Using XML Files at Runtime

22.4.1 Applying an XML Report Definition at Runtime

22.4.1.1 Applying One XML Report Definition

22.4.1.2 Applying Multiple XML Report Definitions

22.4.1.3 Applying an XML Report Definition in PL/SQL

22.4.2 Running an XML Report Definition by Itself

22.4.3 Performing Batch Modifications

22.5 Debugging XML Report Definitions

22.5.1 XML Parser Error Messages

22.5.2 rwbuilder

22.5.3 Writing XML to a File for Debugging

Part V Globalization Support and Bidirectional Support

23 Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support

23.1 Globalization Support Architecture

23.1.1 Language-Independent Functions

23.1.2 Language-Dependent Data

23.2 Globalization Support Environment Variables

23.2.1 NLS_LANG Environment Variable

23.2.1.1 Defining the NLS_LANG Environment Variable

23.2.1.2 Defining the Language and Territory

23.2.1.3 Defining the Character Set

23.2.2 DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG and USER_NLS_LANG Environment Variables

23.3 Specifying a Character Set in a JSP or XML File

23.4 Bidirectional Support

23.4.1 Enhanced BIDI Reshaping

23.5 Unicode

23.5.1 Unicode Support

23.5.2 Unicode Font Support

23.5.3 Enabling Unicode Support

23.6 Translating Applications

23.7 Troubleshooting Globalization Issues

Part VI Performance

24   Diagnosing and Tuning Oracle Reports

24.1 What's New In This Release?

24.2 Logging Enhancements

24.2.1 Diagnosing Engine Crashes

24.3 Performance Analysis Tools

24.3.1 Oracle Enterprise Manager

24.3.2 Log Files

24.3.2.1 Viewing Log Files

24.3.2.2 Managing Log Files

24.3.2.3 Audit Log Files

24.3.3 About WLST

24.3.3.1 Using WLST Commands for System Components

24.3.3.2 Using WLST Commands for Java EE Components

24.3.4 Logging-Related WLST Commands

24.3.4.1 listLoggers

24.3.4.2 getLogLevel

24.3.4.3 setLogLevel

24.3.4.4 listLogHandlers

24.3.4.5 configureLogHandlers

24.3.4.6 listLogs

24.3.4.7 displayLogs

24.3.5 Metrics Related WLST Commands

24.3.5.1 Viewing Metrics Tables

24.3.5.2 Viewing All Available Metrics

24.3.5.3 Viewing Specific Metric Tables

24.3.6 Audit Configuration WLST Commands

24.3.6.1 getAuditPolicy

24.3.6.2 setAuditPolicy

24.3.6.3 listAuditEvents

24.3.7 Tracing Report Execution

24.3.8 RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE Table

24.3.8.1 Updating the Database with Queue Activity

24.3.9 SHOWJOBS Command Line Keyword

24.3.10 Efficient SQL

24.3.11 PL/SQL

24.3.12 Java Stored Procedures

24.3.13 The Java Importer

24.4 Tuning Reports Server Configuration

24.5 Accessing the Data

24.5.1 Non-SQL Data Sources

24.5.2 Database Indexes

24.5.3 Calculations

24.5.4 Redundant Data

24.5.5 Break Groups

24.5.6 Group Filters

24.5.7 To Link or Not To Link

24.6 Formatting the Data

24.6.1 Paper Layout

24.6.1.1 Format Triggers

24.6.1.2 Image Outputs

24.6.2 Web Layout and JSP Report Definition

24.7 General Layout Guidelines

24.7.1 Fetching Ahead

24.7.2 Bursting and Distribution

24.8 Running the Report

Part VII Appendixes

A Command-Line Keywords

A.1 Using the Command Line

A.1.1 General Usage Notes

A.1.2 Rules

A.2 Overview of Oracle Reports Components

A.2.1 rwclient

A.2.2 rwrun

A.2.3 rwbuilder

A.2.4 rwconverter

A.2.5 rwservlet

A.2.6 rwserver

A.2.7 rwbridge

A.3 Keyword Usage Summary

A.4 Command-Line Keywords

A.5 Command Line Keywords (ACCESSIBLE to DESTYPE)

A.5.1 ACCESSIBLE

A.5.2 ARRAYSIZE

A.5.3 AUTHID

A.5.4 AUTOCOMMIT

A.5.5 BACKGROUND

A.5.6 BATCH

A.5.7 BCC

A.5.8 BLANKPAGES

A.5.9 BUFFERS

A.5.10 CACHELOB

A.5.11 CC

A.5.12 CELLWRAPPER

A.5.13 CMDFILE

A.5.14 CMDKEY

A.5.15 COLLATE

A.5.16 COMPILE_ALL

A.5.17 CONTAINSHTMLTAGS

A.5.18 CONTAINSOLE

A.5.19 CONTENTAREA

A.5.20 COPIES

A.5.21 CUSTOMIZE

A.5.22 DATEFORMATMASK

A.5.23 DBPROXYCONN

A.5.24 DELAUTH

A.5.25 DELIMITED_HDR

A.5.26 DELIMITER

A.5.27 DESFORMAT

A.5.28 DESNAME

A.5.29 DEST

A.5.30 DESTINATION

A.5.31 DESTYPE

A.6 Command Line Keywords (DISTRIBUTE to ORIENTATION)

A.6.1 DISTRIBUTE

A.6.2 DTYPE

A.6.3 DUNIT

A.6.4 ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT

A.6.5 ENVID

A.6.6 EXPIRATION

A.6.7 EXPIREDAYS

A.6.8 FORMSIZE

A.6.9 FROM

A.6.10 GETJOBID

A.6.11 GETSERVERINFO

A.6.12 HELP

A.6.13 ITEMTITLE

A.6.14 JOBNAME

A.6.15 JOBRETRY

A.6.16 JOBTYPE

A.6.17 JVMOPTIONS

A.6.18 KILLENGINE

A.6.19 KILLJOBID

A.6.20 LONGCHUNK

A.6.21 MIMETYPE

A.6.22 MODE

A.6.23 MODULE|REPORT

A.6.24 NAME

A.6.25 NONBLOCKSQL

A.6.26 NOTIFYFAILURE

A.6.27 NOTIFYSUCCESS

A.6.28 NUMBERFORMATMASK

A.6.29 ONFAILURE

A.6.30 ONSUCCESS

A.6.31 ORIENTATION

A.7 Command Line Keywords (OUTPUTFOLDER to ROLE)

A.7.1 OUTPUTFOLDER

A.7.2 OUTPUTGRAPHFORMAT

A.7.3 OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT

A.7.4 OUTPUTPAGE

A.7.5 OVERWRITE

A.7.6 PARAMETER

A.7.7 P_AVAILABILITY

A.7.8 P_DESCRIPTION

A.7.9 P_FORMATS

A.7.10 P_JDBCPDS

A.7.11 P_NAME

A.7.12 P_OWNER

A.7.13 P_PFORMTEMPLATE

A.7.14 P_PRINTERS

A.7.15 P_PRIVILEGE

A.7.16 P_SERVERS

A.7.17 P_TRIGGER

A.7.18 P_TYPES

A.7.19 PAGEGROUP

A.7.20 PAGESIZE

A.7.21 PAGESTREAM

A.7.22 PARAMFORM

A.7.23 PARSEQUERY

A.7.24 PDFCOMP

A.7.25 PDFEMBED

A.7.26 PDFOWNER

A.7.27 PDFSECURITY

A.7.28 PDFUSER

A.7.29 PFACTION

A.7.30 PRINTJOB

A.7.31 READONLY

A.7.32 RECURSIVE_LOAD

A.7.33 REPLYTO

A.7.34 REPORT | MODULE

A.7.35 ROLE

A.8 Command Line Keywords (RUNDEBUG to WEBSERVER_PORT)

A.8.1 RUNDEBUG

A.8.2 SAVE_RDF

A.8.3 SCHEDULE

A.8.4 SERVER

A.8.5 SHOWAUTH

A.8.6 SHOWENV

A.8.7 SHOWJOBID

A.8.8 SHOWJOBS

A.8.9 SHOWMAP

A.8.10 SHOWMYJOBS

A.8.11 SHUTDOWN

A.8.12 SITENAME

A.8.13 SOURCE

A.8.14 SQLTRACE

A.8.15 SSOCONN

A.8.16 STATUSFOLDER

A.8.17 STATUSFORMAT

A.8.18 STATUSPAGE

A.8.19 STYPE

A.8.20 SUBJECT

A.8.21 SUPPRESSLAYOUT

A.8.22 TOLERANCE

A.8.23 URLPARAMETER

A.8.24 USEJVM

A.8.25 USERID

A.8.26 USERSTYLES

A.8.27 VALIDATETAG

A.8.28 WEBSERVER_DEBUG

A.8.29 WEBSERVER_DOCROOT

A.8.30 WEBSERVER_PORT

B Environment Variables

B.1 Environment Variables

B.1.1 CA_GPREFS

B.1.2 CA_UPREFS

B.1.3 DELIMITED_LINE_END

B.1.4 DOC

B.1.5 DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG

B.1.6 NLS_CALENDAR

B.1.7 NLS_CREDIT

B.1.8 NLS_CURRENCY

B.1.9 NLS_DATE_FORMAT

B.1.10 NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE

B.1.11 NLS_DEBIT

B.1.12 NLS_ISO_CURRENCY

B.1.13 NLS_LANG

B.1.14 NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR

B.1.15 NLS_MONETARY_CHARACTERS

B.1.16 NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS

B.1.17 NLS_SORT

B.1.18 ORACLE_AFM

B.1.19 ORACLE_HOME

B.1.20 ORACLE_HPD

B.1.21 ORACLE_INSTANCE

B.1.22 ORACLE_PATH

B.1.23 ORACLE_PPD

B.1.24 ORACLE_TFM

B.1.25 ORAINFONAV_DOCPATH

B.1.26 PRINTER

B.1.27 REMOTE

B.1.28 REPORTS_ADD_HWMARGIN

B.1.29 REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL

B.1.30 REPORTS_ALLOW_DB_CONNECT_STRING

B.1.31 REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM

B.1.32 REPORTS_CGIDIAGBODYTAGS

B.1.33 REPORTS_CGIDIAGHEADTAGS

B.1.34 REPORTS_CGIHELP

B.1.35 REPORTS_CGIMAP

B.1.36 REPORTS_CGINODIAG

B.1.37 REPORTS_CLASSPATH

B.1.38 REPORTS_CONTAINSHTMLTAGS

B.1.39 REPORTS_COOKIE_EXPIRE

B.1.40 REPORTS_CUPS_PRINTING

B.1.41 REPORTS_DB_AUTH

B.1.42 REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY

B.1.43 REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE

B.1.44 REPORTS_ENABLE_RTF_SPACING

B.1.45 REPORTS_ENCRYPTION_KEY

B.1.46 REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING

B.1.47 REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING

B.1.48 REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET

B.1.49 REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY

B.1.50 REPORTS_GRAPH_IMAGE_DPI

B.1.51 REPORTS_IGNORE_IMAGE_TAG_RES

B.1.52 REPORTS_JPEG_QUALITY_FACTOR

B.1.53 REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS

B.1.54 REPORTS_NETWORK_CONFIG

B.1.55 REPORTS_NLS_XML_CHARSETS

B.1.56 REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER

B.1.57 REPORTS_NO_HTML_SPACE_REPLACE

B.1.58 REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT

B.1.59 REPORTS_PATH

B.1.60 REPORTS_RESTRICT_DIRECTORIES

B.1.61 REPORTS_RESOURCE

B.1.62 REPORTS_SERVER

B.1.63 REPORTS_SOLARIS_9

B.1.64 REPORTS_SPACE_BREAK

B.1.65 REPORTS_SRWRUN_TO_SERVER

B.1.66 REPORTS_SSLPORT

B.1.67 REPORTS_SYS_AUTH

B.1.68 REPORTS_TAGLIB_URI

B.1.69 REPORTS_TMP

B.1.70 REPORTS_USEREXITS

B.1.71 REPORTS_UTF8_XMLOUTPUT

B.1.72 RW

B.1.73 TK_PRINT

B.1.74 TK_PRINT_STATUS

B.1.75 TK_PRINTER

B.1.76 TK_AFM

B.1.77 TK_HPD

B.1.78 TK_PPD

B.1.79 TK_TFM

B.1.80 TNS_ADMIN

B.1.81 USERNAME

B.1.82 USER_NLS_LANG

C Batch Registering Reports in Oracle Portal

C.1 Batch Registering Report Definition Files

C.1.1 Run rwconverter to Generate a SQL Script

C.1.2 Run the Script in SQL*Plus

C.2 Batch Removing Report Packages

C.3 PL/SQL Batch Registering Function

D Troubleshooting Oracle Reports Services

D.1 Problems and Solutions

D.1.1 Hanging Report Requests

D.1.2 Reports Server Activity Generates Error REP-50125

D.1.3 Long Running Report Failure with Oracle Reports Servlet

D.1.4 Fonts Do Not Display Consistently On Different Platforms

D.1.5 Running Reports on UNIX Platforms Generates REP-56048

D.1.6 Font Issues with Right-to-Left Languages

D.1.7 Errors When Running Reports from Oracle Forms Using RUN_REPORT_OBJECT

D.1.8 Displaying Report Output in Microsoft Excel

D.1.9 Report Containing User Exit Fails on UNIX

D.1.10 Printing and Font Errors When Using In-process Reports Server

D.2 Diagnosing Performance Problems

D.3 Diagnosing Font Problems

D.4 Diagnosing Printing Problems

D.5 Diagnosing JDBC PDS Problems

D.6 Diagnosing Oracle Portal Problems

D.7 Diagnosing Globalization Problems

D.8 Diagnosing Oracle Reports Bridge Problems

D.9 Need More Help?

E Reports Server and Bridge Diagnostic Utility

E.1 Overview of rwdiag

E.1.1 Examples

E.1.1.1 Example 1

E.1.1.2 Example 2

E.1.1.3 Example 3

E.1.1.4 Example 4

E.1.1.5 Example 5

E.1.1.6 Example 6

E.2 Command Line Syntax

E.2.1 Syntax

E.2.2 Usage Notes

Glossary

Index

List of Examples

7-1 Changing HTTP References

7-2 Example Content of an Exported Certificate

8-1 Minimum Configuration for Oracle Reports Bridge

8-2 Full Configuration for Oracle Reports Bridge

11-1 Font Embedding

14-1 Building a JDBC Query from JDBC Query Dialog

14-2 Running a JDBC Query

24-1 Oracle Reports Builder

List of Figures

2-1 Oracle Reports Services Components

2-2 Server Discovery within a Subnet

2-3 Server Discovery Across Subnets

2-4 Server Discovery Using the COS Naming Service

8-1 Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration (Two-Way)

8-2 Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration (One-Way)

9-1 Font list in Oracle Reports Builder

9-2 xlsfonts sample output

10-1 Oracle Reports printing on UNIX

10-2 Oracle Reports printing on Microsoft Windows

10-3 Interaction Between Oracle Reports and CUPS Server

10-4 Routing Print Requests to a Single Remote CUPS Server

11-1 Compressed Output Versus Non-Compressed Output

11-2 Font Subsetting

11-3 Font Embedding

12-1 Font Algorithm

12-2 Sample Cross-Platform Deployment Scenario

13-1 Main components of destination/distribution architecture

14-1 JDBC Connect Dialog Box in Oracle Reports Builder

14-2 Select a Data Source Type

14-3 Calling a stored procedure

14-4 Query Description

15-1 Authentication Process with Single Sign-On

15-2 Oracle Delegated Administration Services Create Resource

15-3 Authentication Process Without Single Sign-On

15-4 Authorization Process Flow

15-5 Oracle Internet Directory Configuration

17-1 Single Sign-On Architecture

17-2 Delegated Administration Services Preferences

17-3 Oracle Delegated Administration Services Create Resource

17-4 Oracle Internet Directory Configuration Preferences Page

17-5 Create Resource Type page

19-1 Viewing the WSDL

24-1 Format Triggers

List of Tables

1-1 11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality

2-1 11g Architecture Features vs. 10g Functionality

3-1 11g Install Features vs. 10g Functionality

4-1 Upgrade Process Overview

4-2 Upgraded Oracle Reports Files

7-1 11g Oracle Enterprise Manager Features vs. 10g Functionality

7-2 Configuration Menu Selections

7-3 Reports Configuration MBeans

8-1 Oracle Reports Services Configuration Files

8-2 Attribute of the ORBPorts Element

8-3 Attributes of the pluginParam Element

8-4 Attribute of the cache Element

8-5 Attributes of the connection Element

8-6 Attributes of the destination Element

8-7 Attribute of the environment Element

8-8 Attributes of the envVariable Element

8-9 Attributes of the engine Element

8-10 Properties of the engine Element

8-11 Attributes of the job Element

8-12 Attribute of the jobRecovery Element

8-13 Attribute of the jobStatusRepository Element

8-14 Attribute of the log Element

8-15 Attributes of the notification Element

8-16 Attributes of the oidconnection Element

8-17 Attributes of the orbClient Element

8-18 Attribute of the persistFile Element

8-19 Attribute of the queue Element

8-20 Attributes of the security Element

8-21 Attributes of the proxyServer Element

8-22 Attributes of the webLayout Element

8-23 Attributes of the dbProxyKey Element

8-24 Attributes of the jobThresholds Element

8-25 Attribute of the server Element

8-26 Attributes of the cookie Element

8-27 Attributes of the diagtags Element

8-28 Attributes of the oidconnection Element

8-29 Attributes of the bridge Element

8-30 Attributes of the remoteBridge Element

8-31 Attributes of the multicast Element

8-32 Attributes of the namingService Element

9-1 Style Names and Their Numeric Equivalents

9-2 Weights and Their Numeric Equivalents

9-3 Widths and Their Numeric Equivalents

9-4 File Information

9-5 Font Mapping File Sections

9-6 Sample Font Information

9-7 Sample Flash Font Information

10-1 uiprint.txt Entry Elements

10-2 Printer-Related Files Overview

10-3 Common PPD Files Shipped with Oracle Reports

10-4 mediaOption Keywords

10-5 Settings for TK_DEBUG_POSTSCRIPT

10-6 Image Format Options by Output Type

10-7 DESTYPE, DESNAME, and DESFORMAT Settings By Case

11-1 11g Font Features vs. 10g Functionality

11-2 CID Font Mapping for PDF Font Aliasing

11-3 Common East Asian TrueType Collection Files on the Windows Platform

11-4 Comparison of PDF Font Features

11-5 Effect of PDFUSER and PDFOWNER Keyword Combinations

11-6 Taxonomy Properties

12-1 11g Font Features vs. 10g Functionality

12-2 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 1

12-3 Post Conversion Font File Names

12-4 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 2

12-5 Post Conversion Font File Names

12-6 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 4

12-7 Post Conversion Font File Names

12-8 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 5

12-9 Post Conversion Font File Names

12-10 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 3

12-11 Post Conversion Font File Names

13-1 Standard Destination Types and Classes

14-1 Driver Attributes

14-2 Specifying an Excel Data Source

14-3 Oracle Thin Driver

14-4 Oracle Thick Driver

14-5 JDBC-ODBC Driver

14-6 Sybase

14-7 DB2

14-8 SQL Server

14-9 Informix

14-10 Error Messages Related to the Database Connection

14-11 Error messages Related to Executing the Data Source

14-12 Isolating Driver / PDS Issues

14-13 File Format Attributes

14-14 Column Attributes

15-1 11g Security Features vs. 10g Functionality

15-2 Authentication Methods for JPS-Based Security

15-3 Authentication Methods for Portal-Based Security

15-4 Non-SSO Authentication Methods

15-5 Authorization Methods for JPS-Based Security

15-6 Authorization Method for Portal-Based Security

15-7 JPS-Based Security Scenarios

15-8 Portal-Based Security Scenarios

16-1 Sample Values

16-2 Sample Values

16-3 Options on the Runtime Parameter Form

16-4 Sample Values

16-5 The Develop Tab

16-6 The Manage Tab

16-7 Portal Access

16-8 Privilege Mode

16-9 Grant Access

16-10 Change Access

16-11 Cell Privilege Mode

16-12 Alter Access

16-13 Cache Invalidation

17-1 Create Resource Type Properties

17-2 Outcome of Forms/ Reports Integration when Forms is running in SSO Mode or Non-SSO Mode

18-1 Components of a URL That Calls Oracle Reports Servlet

18-2 Components of a JSP-based Report URL

18-3 Methods for Deploying a Report

18-4 Additional Parameters Passed With a Report Request

20-1 11g Distribution and Bursting Features vs. 10g Functionality

20-2 Attributes of the mail Element

20-3 Attributes of the body Sub-Element of mail

20-4 Attributes of the attach Sub-Element of mail

20-5 Attributes of the include Sub-Element When Used with body or attach

20-6 Attributes of the file Element

20-7 Attributes of the printer Element

20-8 Attributes of the destype Element

22-1 Values for the operator Attribute

23-1 Oracle Reports ServicesEnvironment Variables for Globalization Support

23-2 Valid Values for the IANA-Defined Character Sets

24-1 11g Diagnosability Features vs. 10g Functionality

24-2 Example enhanced logging messages.

24-3 Default Location of Log Files

24-4 11g ODL Message Types vs 10.1.2 Trace Options

24-5 Log File Attributes

24-6 ODL Message Types

24-7 Parameters of listLoggers

24-8 Parameters of getLogLevel

24-9 Parameters of setLogLevel

24-10 Parameters of listLogHandlers

24-11 Parameters for configure LogHandler

24-12 Parameters of listLogs

24-13 Parameters of displayLogs

24-14 Parameter for displayMetricTableNames

24-15 Parameters for dumpMetrics

24-16 Parameters for displayMetricTables

24-17 WLST Audit Commands

24-18 Oracle Reports Builder

24-19 Structure of the RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE Table

24-20 Job Submission Status Codes

A-1 Keywords Usage Summary

A-2 Components That Use ACCESSIBLE

A-3 Components That Use ARRAYSIZE

A-4 Components That Use AUTHID

A-5 Components That Use AUTOCOMMIT

A-6 Components That Use BACKGROUND

A-7 Components That Use BATCH

A-8 Components That Use BCC

A-9 Components That Use BLANKPAGES

A-10 Components That Use BUFFERS

A-11 Components That Use CACHELOB

A-12 Components That Use CC

A-13 Components That Use CELLWRAPPER

A-14 Valid Values - General

A-15 Valid Values - Reserved

A-16 Valid Values - Escape Sequences Based on the ASCII Character Set

A-17 Components That Use CMDFILE

A-18 Components That Use CMDKEY

A-19 Components That Use COLLATE

A-20 Components That Use COMPILE_ALL

A-21 Components That Use CONTAINSHTMLTAGS

A-22 Components That Use CONTAINSOLE

A-23 Components That Use CONTENTAREA

A-24 Components That Use COPIES

A-25 Components That Use CUSTOMIZE

A-26 Components That Use DATEFORMATMASK

A-27 Components That Use DBPROXYCONN

A-28 Components That Use DELAUTH

A-29 Components That Use DELIMITED_HDR

A-30 Components That Use DELIMITER

A-31 Valid Values - General

A-32 Valid Values - Reserved

A-33 Valid Values - Escape Sequence based on the ASCII Character set

A-34 Components That Use DESFORMAT

A-35 Valid Values for DESFORMAT

A-36 Components That Use DESNAME

A-37 Components That Use DEST

A-38 Components That Use DESTINATION

A-39 Components That Use DESTYPE

A-40 Valid Values for DESTYPE

A-41 Components That Use DISTRIBUTE

A-42 Components That Use DTYPE

A-43 Components That Use DUNIT

A-44 Components That Use ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT

A-45 Components That Use ENVID

A-46 Components That Use EXPIRATION

A-47 Components That Use EXPIREDAYS

A-48 Components That Use FORMSIZE

A-49 Components That Use FROM

A-50 Components That Use GETJOBID

A-51 Components That Use GETSERVERINFO

A-52 Components That Use HELP

A-53 Components That Use ITEMTITLE

A-54 Components That Use JOBNAME

A-55 Components That Use JOBRETRY

A-56 Components That Use JOBTYPE

A-57 Components That Use JVMOPTIONS

A-58 Components That Use KILLENGINE

A-59 Components That Use KILLJOBID

A-60 Components That Use LONGCHUNK

A-61 Components That Use MIMETYPE

A-62 Components That Use MODE

A-63 Components That Use MODULE|REPORT

A-64 Components That Use NONBLOCKSQL

A-65 Components That Use NOTIFYFAILURE

A-66 Components That Use NOTIFYSUCCESS

A-67 Components That Use NUMBERFORMATMASK

A-68 Components That Use ONFAILURE

A-69 Components That Use ONSUCCESS

A-70 Components That Use ORIENTATION

A-71 Components That Use OUTPUTFOLDER

A-72 Components That Use OUTPUTGRAPHFORMAT

A-73 Components That Use OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT

A-74 Components That Use OUTPUTPAGE

A-75 Components That Use OVERWRITE

A-76 Components That Use parameter

A-77 Components That Use P_AVAILABILITY

A-78 Components That Use P_DESCRIPTION

A-79 Components That Use P_FORMATS

A-80 Components That Use P_JDBCPDS

A-81 Components That Use P_NAME

A-82 Components That Use P_OWNER

A-83 Components That Use P_PFORMTEMPLATE

A-84 Components That Use P_PRINTERS

A-85 Components That Use P_PRIVILEGE

A-86 Components That Use P_SERVERS

A-87 Components That Use P_TRIGGER

A-88 Components That Use P_TYPES

A-89 Components That Use PAGEGROUP

A-90 Components That Use PAGESIZE

A-91 Components That Use PAGESTREAM

A-92 Components That Use PARAMFORM

A-93 Components That Use PARSEQUERY

A-94 Components That Use PDFCOMP

A-95 Components That Use PDFEMBED

A-96 Components That Use PDFOWNER

A-97 Components That Use PDSECURITY

A-98 PDFSECURITY Values

A-99 Components That Use PDFUSER

A-100 Components That Use PFACTION

A-101 Components That Use PRINTJOB

A-102 Components That Use READONLY

A-103 Components That Use RECURSIVE_LOAD

A-104 Components That Use REPLYTO

A-105 Components That Use ROLE

A-106 Components That Use RUNDEBUG

A-107 Components That Use SAVE_RDF

A-108 Components That Use SCHEDULE

A-109 Values for string used with the SCHEDULE keyword

A-110 Components That Use SERVER

A-111 Components That Use SHOWAUTH

A-112 Components That Use SHOWENV

A-113 Components That Use SHOWJOBID

A-114 Components That Use SHOWJOBS

A-115 Components That Use SHOWMAP

A-116 Components That Use SHOWMYJOBS

A-117 Components That Use SHUTDOWN

A-118 Components That Use SITENAME

A-119 Components That Use SOURCE

A-120 Components That Use SQLTRACE

A-121 Components That Use SSOCONN

A-122 Simplified Versions of the SSOCONN Option

A-123 Components That Use STATUSFOLDER

A-124 Components That Use STATUSFORMAT

A-125 Components That Use STATUSPAGE

A-126 Components That Use STYPE

A-127 Components That Use SUBJECT

A-128 Components That Use SUPPRESSLAYOUT

A-129 Components That Use TOLERANCE

A-130 Components That Use URLPARAMETER

A-131 Components That Use USEJVM

A-132 Components That Use USERID

A-133 Components That Use USERSTYLES

A-134 Components That Use VALIDATETAG

A-135 Components That Use WEBSERVER_DEBUG

A-136 Components That Use WEBSERVER_DOCROOT

A-137 Components That Use WEBSERVER_PORT

B-1 Oracle Reports Environment Variables

C-1 RWWWVREG.REGISTER_REPORT parameters

D-1 Commands to Obtain Thread Dump on Windows

Oracle® Fusion Middleware

Publishing Reports to the Web with Oracle Reports Services

11g Release 1 (11.1.1)

B32121-05

November 2011

Oracle Fusion Middleware Publishing Reports to the Web with Oracle Reports Services, 11g Release 1 (11.1.1)

B32121-05

Copyright © 2003, 2011,  Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Primary Author: Swati Thacker

Contributing Author: Gururaj B S, Usha M P, and Ingrid Snedecor

Contributors: Rajesh Ramachandran, Rajiv Malhotra, Ratheesh Pai, Vidya Viswanathan, Suma Shanthappa, Vikram Nanda, Pankaj Yadav, Balaravikumar Shanmugasundaram, Hariharan Srinivasan, Vinod Murthy, Nagesh Patange, Navneet Singh, Rohit Marwaha, Prabakara Reddy, Philipp Weckerle, Kumar Dhanagopal

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Preface

This manual describes the different options available for publishing reports with Oracle Reports Services, as well as how to configure the Oracle Reports Services software for publishing reports.

Note:

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Audience

This manual is intended for anyone who is interested in publishing reports with Oracle Reports Services. To configure Oracle Reports Services, it is useful to have a solid understanding of the following technologies:

Your operating system

Java

Databases

CORBA

JSP files

XML and DTD files

Web server configuration

HTTP

This manual will guide you through configuring components related to these technologies.

Documentation Accessibility

For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program website at http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/accessibility/index.html.

Access to Oracle Support

Oracle customers have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/support/contact.html or visit http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/support.html if you are hearing impaired.

Related Documentation

For more information about Oracle Reports, refer to the following resources:

Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html)

Oracle Reports Tutorial

Oracle Reports Building Reports

Oracle Reports online Help, which you can access from Reports Builder in any of the following ways:

Choose Help > Help Contents.

Click Help or press F1 in any dialog box.

In the Property Inspector, click a property, then press F1 to display the property's help topic.

Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention | Meaning
boldface | Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.
italic | Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.
monospace | Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.
monospace italic | Monospace italic type indicates variables or user-supplied names.
[ ] | Brackets enclose optional clauses from which you can choose one or none.

Part I

Getting Started

Part I contains information about Oracle Reports and Oracle Reports Services to get you ready to start publishing your reports:

Chapter 1, "Introduction"

Chapter 2, "Understanding the Oracle Reports Services Architecture"

Chapter 3, "Verifying Your Installation"

Chapter 6, "Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Services"

1 Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of Oracle Reports, the reporting component of Oracle Fusion Middleware:

Introduction to Oracle Reports

What's New In This Release?

1.1 Introduction to Oracle Reports

Oracle Reports is Oracle's award-winning, high-fidelity enterprise reporting tool. It enables businesses to give immediate access to information to all levels within and outside of the organization in an unrivaled scalable and secure environment.

Using Oracle Reports, you can rapidly develop and deploy sophisticated Web and paper reports against any data source (including an Oracle database, JDBC, XML, and text files). Leveraging Java EE technologies such as JSP and XML, you can publish your reports in a variety of formats (including HTML, XML, PDF, Enhanced Spreadsheet, Spreadsheetdata, delimited text, delimiteddata, PostScript, and RTF) to any destination (including e-mail, Web browser, WebDav, FTP, Oracle Portal, and file system) in a scalable, efficient manner.

Oracle Reports consists of Oracle Reports Developer (a component of the Oracle Developer Suite) and Oracle Reports Services (a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware).

Oracle Reports Developer includes the following component:

Oracle Reports Builder

Oracle Reports Services is the focus of this manual. It executes, distributes, and publishes your reports for enterprise wide reporting. Using Oracle Reports Services to deploy your reports results in gains of flexibility, time savings, and processing capacity. It includes the following components:

Oracle Reports Bridge

Oracle Reports Client

Oracle Reports Runtime

Oracle Reports Servlet

Oracle Reports Server

For more resources for information about Oracle Reports, refer to "Related Documentation" in the Preface.

1.1.1 Oracle Reports Builder

As its name implies, Oracle Reports Builder (rwbuilder) is the report-building component of Oracle Reports. Report developers use the Oracle Reports Builder design-time user interface to create and maintain report definitions, using:

user-friendly wizards that guide you through the report design process

pluggable data sources (PDSs), such as JDBC and XML, that provide access to data from any source for your reports

a query builder with a graphical representation of the SQL statement to obtain report data

default report templates and layout styles that can be customized if needed

a live editor that enables you to modify paper report layouts in WYSIWYG mode

the ability to add dynamic report output to an HTML page by embedding custom JSP tags within an HTML document

an integrated graph builder to graphically represent report data

the ability to generate code to customize how reports will run

tools that dynamically generate Web pages based on your data

standard report output formats such as HTML, HTMLCSS, XML, PDF, RTF, spreadsheet, PCL, PostScript, and ASCII

client-side parameter validation using JavaScript

the ability to execute dynamic SQL statements within PL/SQL procedures

support for Oracle database objects

event-based reporting (report execution based on database events)

seamless integration of Oracle Reports with Oracle Portal for administering report security and publishing report output to portlets

For more information, refer to the Oracle Reports online Help (select Help > Contents in Oracle Reports Builder), and the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual.

1.1.2 Oracle Reports Bridge

Oracle Reports Bridge (rwbridge) provides functionality for discovering a Reports Server across farms. For more information, see Section 2.3.4.1.2, "Server Discovery Across Subnets".

1.1.3 Oracle Reports Client

Oracle Reports Client (rwclient) provides a command-line interface to send a report to a remote Reports Server (rwserver).

1.1.4 Oracle Reports Runtime

rwrun (Reports Runtime) runs a report by starting its own in-process server (not to be confused with the default in-process Reports Server), which runs in the same JVM as the rwrun process. The configuration file for this in-process server is rwbuilder.conf and trace files are saved in the rep_machinename-rwbuilder directory.

Note:

It is recommended that you use rwrun for testing purposes only. Use rwservlet and rwclient in your production environment to take full advantage of the power of Oracle Reports Services.

1.1.5 Oracle Reports Servlet

Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) is a component of Oracle Reports Services that translates and delivers information between either a Web Server or a Java EE Container (for example, Oracle WebLogic Server) and the Reports Server, enabling you to run a report dynamically from your Web browser.

1.1.6 Oracle Reports Server

Oracle Reports Server (rwserver) is a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware that provides reporting services to execute, distribute, and publish your reports for enterprise-wide reporting. This component processes client requests, including user authentication, scheduling, caching, and report distribution. Use Oracle Reports clients such as Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet), Reports JSP, and Oracle Reports Client (rwclient) to send a report to Oracle Reports Server (generally referred to as Reports Server).

1.2 What's New In This Release?

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides many new features and enhancements. The primary themes of this release are:

Tighter integration with Oracle Fusion Middleware platform and services.

Enhancements in top supportability areas with architectural changes.

New features in key enterprise reporting areas.

Table 1-1 details the new functionality in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), along with the equivalent 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) functionality, when applicable. The new features and enhancements are grouped into the following categories:

Install and Upgrade

Monitoring and Management

Job Administration and Scheduling

Security

High Availability

Font Management and Support

Distribution and Bursting

ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET Output Format

Graphing

Diagnosability

Forms-Reports Integration

Server Stability

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Integration: Oracle BPEL Process Manager

Enhanced Printing Support Based on Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS)

Table 1-1 11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality

11g New Features and Enhancements
Equivalent 10g Functionality

Install and Upgrade

Flexible Install types. In Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g, the install type contains Oracle Reports, Forms, Portal, and Discoverer. In the installer, you can selectively install any one of these products or all of them.

Predefined install types only.

Separate installation of binaries from configuration, allowing shared binaries across servers. Oracle Installer allows for install only and then configuration only as two separate steps.

For more information, see Section 3.2, "Understanding the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Structure".

Single ORACLE_HOME installation including both binaries and configuration.

New and improved management screens in Oracle Enterprise Manager. Oracle Enterprise Manager provides enhanced usability for all the administration, monitoring, and diagnosability operations. For more information, see Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

Oracle Enterprise Manager Application Server (AS) Control, and modifying configuration files.

Fully automated upgrade from 10g Release 2 (10.1.2.x). For more information, see Section 3.6, "Upgrading from the Prior Release".

Not Applicable (N/A)

For more information about installation, see Chapter 3, "Verifying Your Installation".

See Also: Oracle Fusion Middleware Quick Installation Guide for Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer

Monitoring and Management

New rich and customizable Oracle Enterprise Manager user interface, providing:

Navigation pane showing hierarchical view of complete Farm and all components.

New pages for Oracle Reports to perform comprehensive administration, management, configuration, tuning, and diagnostics of complete reporting environment.

Large number of metrics for monitoring and tuning.

Administration dashboard for instant access to start, stop, restart, grouping, servlet, plug-in registration, and more.

Significant reduction of configuration parameters, and categorization.

Extensive real-time and historical performance metrics.

Reports Server auditing

Oracle Internet Directory reassociation

Portal metadata repository discovery and association.

Direct access to documentation and collateral from Oracle Enterprise Manager.

For more information, see Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

Enterprise Manager Application Server (AS) Control and manually editing configuration files.

New trend graphs, key statistics.

Anticipation of common problems with early symptoms.

N/A

Job Administration and Scheduling

Advanced job queue administration. Comprehensive job queue management user interface in Oracle Enterprise Manager (search and filters, resubmit the job, view errors, and more).

Basic job queue user interface.

Rich calendar-based scheduling user interface. Comprehensive Reports Server job scheduling in Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Reports job scheduling done through Oracle Reports Queue Manager (rwrqm), Oracle Portal user interface, or command line only.

For more information about job administration and scheduling, see Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

Security

A standards-based Java EE security model through Oracle Platform Security Services. This provides a flexible, simple to administer, and high performance security mechanism.

Reports Server authentication restricted to use only Oracle Internet Directory. Authorization of Reports Server required OracleAS Portal-based security model (using Portal metadata repository for checking authorization).

Oracle Enterprise Manager advanced user interface. Administrators can use Oracle Enterprise Manager to more easily define and manage granular security policies for reports, Web commands, and folder access.

For more information, see Section 7.8, "Securing Oracle Reports Services" in Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager"

Basic UI in OracleAS Portal for defining the policies. Hard-coded Web command access to the Oracle Reports seeded roles. Access policies at file (report) level only, not folder level.

Read/write access to directories at Reports Server level. Administrators can control the input folders from which reports can be served and output folders to which the output of reports servers can be pushed. This ensures there is no security vulnerability.

REPORT_RESTRICT_DIRECTORIES as an interim feature.

Database proxy authentication. Support for database authentication using proxy users:

Additional security through control of users that are allowed to connect to the database through Oracle Reports.

Scalability, through reuse of a single database connection.

N/A

Security check for distribution destinations. Ability to define security policies for distribution jobs. For example, you can define a security policy that specifies report output may not be burst to ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format; if the distribution XML file specifies ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format, the attempt to generate a report to this output format displays an error.

No security check performed for destinations specified in the distribution XML file.

Security check for system parameters. A security check is performed for all system parameters, including those specified in the report definition as well as on the command line.

No security check performed for system parameters.

Security auditing. Audit authentication and authorization on the Reports Server.

Security for report output from Oracle Forms Services. With no configuration required, support for intermediate-level security even when Oracle Forms Services and Oracle Reports Services are not secured.

Anyone is able to see anyone else's report output by "guessing" the job ID based on sequential job ID assignment.

For more information about security, see Chapter 15, "Securing Oracle Reports Services"

High Availability

Database-backed job queue repository. Use of the database as the job repository provides the following High Availability (HA) benefits:

Ability to view consolidated jobs for the complete group of Reports Servers in Oracle Enterprise Manager, and perform operations on this consolidated jobs See Section 7.15.2, "Displaying a Consolidated Job Queue".

Scheduled jobs do not get lost even if the Reports Server where the jobs are scheduled goes down.

The administrator must view the job queues for each Reports Server separately.

If the Reports Server where a job is scheduled goes down, the job is left waiting until that Reports Server comes back up to start executing the job again.

Oracle Reports Server cluster with shared job repository and cache, including Java Object Cache. Reports Servers communicate via peer-to-peer mechanisms for job management, to minimize manual administration and for automatic failover of jobs. Access to cached output even when the Reports Server that processed the master job is not available.

Use of Oracle Reports caching mechanism. Cache not shared among Reports Servers. Cached output is not available to other servers if the Reports Server where it is cached goes down.

Proprietary clustering and HA mechanism.

For more information about High Availability, see Section 2.5, "Setting Up a High Availability Environment".

Font Management and Support

Cross-platform support for TrueType Fonts (TTF) and TrueType Collections (TTC). Report output is in most cases identical on UNIX as on Windows, allowing for simplified cross-platform deployment.

Oracle Reports reads the font metrics from the appropriate TTF files to correctly format the report output. This eliminates the issue of text misalignment due to font metrics mismatches. Fonts for which TTF files are available are found automatically. Note that if a TTF font file is not found, then the font lookup mechanism reverts to the pre-11g implementation.

New environment variables REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING and REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY.

Possible mismatches between fonts in report output on UNIX and Windows due to different font mechanisms on Windows and UNIX. Font aliasing was required, along with PDF font subsetting.

Support for older font file types (for example, AFM) supported. Difficult to get these font types for all fonts. Conversion of TTF to AFM required in many cases, but even these files did not provide the exact output as on Windows.

Support for all character sets in PDF. With the new font model, no misalignment will be seen in the PDF subsetted report output. Support for Unicode font subsetting in PDF on UNIX.

Only multibyte reports supported. PFM and PFA files must be created to resolve text misalignments in UNIX output. Dependence on AFM files.

Variable width font output was especially problematic, because Reports was unable to get width of characters beyond the first 256 characters in the file, and assumed fixed width for all these characters, resulting in misalignment.

Simplified font management and configuration through Oracle Enterprise Manager. Use Oracle Enterprise Manager to modify aliasing and subsetting entries in uifont.ali (such as global aliasing, PDF aliasing, and PDF subsetting), printer resolution, and the default font used.

Configure fonts in uifont.ali and configuration file.

PDF, password protection, and security. Specify new command line arguments to password-protect PDF reports generated from Oracle Reports. You can also suppress certain permissions to provide security for the generated PDF reports.

No capability to encrypt PDF reports or specify security permissions.

Font diagnostics. Easy to understand tracing for diagnosis of font issues. Reporting of fonts used, and other debugging tools.

Difficult to diagnose issues.

For more information about fonts in Oracle Reports, see Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports" and Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports".

Distribution and Bursting

Full support for bursting and distribution to all destinations and output formats, including:

all out-of-the-box and pluggable destinations

data-driven formats such as XML and DELIMITEDDATA, as well as layout-based formats such as the new ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format.

Limited destinations and output formats for bursting and distribution.

System parameters in report definition honored for distribution. Distributed output honors the DESTYPE, DESFORMAT, and DESNAME system parameters specified in the report definition.

For example, if you define system parameters in the report:

DESTYPE=FILE, DESFORMAT=PDF, and DESNAME=/tmp/a.pdf

the report output is generated and distributed using these values without the parameter values needing to be specified in the distribution XML file or on the command line.

Additionally, if users change the values of DESTYPE, DESFORMAT, or DESNAME on the Runtime Parameter Form during runtime, or if Oracle Reports sets the value of these system parameter based on a runtime calculation, the parameter values are honored when the report is distributed.

Values for system parameters DESTYPE, DESFORMAT, and DESNAME specified in the report definition are not honored for distributed output; to change the default values of these system parameters for distributed reports, they must be specified in the distribution file or on the command line.

Security check for distribution destinations. Ability to define security policies for distribution jobs. For example, you can define a security policy that specifies report output may not be burst to ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format; if the distribution XML file specifies ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format, the attempt to generate a report to this output format displays an error.

No security check performed for destinations specified in the distribution XML file.

Other improvements such as tolerance support for burst jobs and improved diagnostics.

N/A

For more information about distribution and bursting, see Chapter 20, "Creating Advanced Distributions".

ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET Output Format

Support for large data sets output to spreadsheets. Significantly enhanced support for large data sets (up to 75,000 rows) and matrix reports with new ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET output format.

For more information, see the Oracle Reports online Help and the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual.

Failed attempts to generate output for large data sets to SPREADSHEET output format.

Graphing

New graph types: New funnel and curved line graph types allow for more variety in graphing.

N/A

Enhancements for existing graph types.

Support for number formatting in the Graph Wizard (independent of the Data Model), and plotting irregular time periods on the time-axis.

Restrictions on plotting time data.

Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) image support. SVG provides for high resolution and smaller file size in graph output. Graph image output scales up better without losing resolution.

Support for only PNG, JPG, and GIF output formats.

For more information, see the Oracle Reports online Help and the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual.

Diagnosability

Log files in ODL format. All Oracle Reports log files follow Oracle Diagnostic Logging (ODL) format, the standard across Oracle Fusion Middleware, for log format, message types, and log management directives. The log file entries are in Text format (default) or XML format. Searching of log files from Oracle Enterprise Manager is easy and effective

N/A

More comprehensive choices for tracing:

Multiple tracing levels for fine-grained control.

New tracing options: NOTIFICATION, WARNING, ERROR (standardized across Oracle Fusion Middleware components).

Better naming convention, mechanism to control file size.

N/A

Enhanced trace viewer and search. New tracing options, levels, log file sizes, and so on can all be specified, viewed, and searched using Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Tracing options specified in configuration files or on command line.

Extensive diagnostic enhancements. Improved actionable errors with cause and action, job-level tracing, critical errors logged even when tracing is off, better health check mechanisms, and hyperlinks to contextual help and error message registry.

N/A

For more information about diagnosibility, see Chapter 24, "  Diagnosing and Tuning Oracle Reports" (Section 24.3.2, "Log Files" and Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution").

Forms-Reports Integration

Forms-Reports non-SSO security. With no configuration required, support for intermediate-level security even when Oracle Forms Services and Oracle Reports Services are not secured. Other users are not able to see the report output, as job IDs can be random non-sequential numbers.This setting is optional.

For more information, see Section 17.6, "Oracle Forms Services Security Considerations".

Anyone is able to see anyone else's report output by "guessing" the job ID based on sequential job ID assignment.

Pluggable destinations support from Oracle Forms Services. Report requests can be submitted to all destinations, including any Oracle Reports-registered pluggable destinations from Oracle Forms Services using RUN_REPORT_OBJECT.

For more information, see Section 13.1.1, "Pluggable Destinations from Oracle Forms Services.".

Report requests can be submitted to a fixed specific set of destinations, so newly defined destinations can not be used for report output from Oracle Forms Services.

JVM pooling. Oracle Forms Services uses the shared JVM controller for all Oracle Reports requests, reducing memory consumption.

Server Stability

Database-backed job queue repository. Use of the database as the job repository helps to avoid Reports Server DAT file corruption, and also ensures no loss of scheduled jobs. It is also easier to manage jobs in the database.

Only file system-based DAT file repository.

New command line argument: JOBRETRY. When specified, this value takes precedence over the retry attribute of the job element. Jobs are retried for all unexpected errors. For more information, see Section A.6.15, "JOBRETRY".

Number of times to retry a failed job can be specified in the server configuration file using the retry attribute of the job element, or on the command line for scheduled jobs only Jobs are retried only in the case of engine crash failures.

For more information about Reports Server, see Chapter 2, "Understanding the Oracle Reports Services Architecture".

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Integration: Oracle BPEL Process Manager

Oracle BPEL Process Manager integration. Users can submit Oracle Reports jobs using the Oracle BPEL Process Manager to automate and monitor reporting requirements.

For more information, see Section 18.9, "Running Reports Using Oracle BPEL Process Manager".

Enhanced Printing Support Based on Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS)

CUPS Support

Standard and modularized printing system that can process numerous data formats on the print server and also supports Internet Printing Protocol (IPP).

For more information, see Section 10.5, "Enhanced Printing on Linux Using CUPS".

Others

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Support

IPv6 support is available out-of-the-box. For more information about IPv6, see Request for Comments (RFC) 2460 at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2460.txt.

For more information about IPv6 Support in Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), see Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

2 Understanding the Oracle Reports Services Architecture

This chapter describes the architecture of Oracle Reports Services and its components. It also outlines considerations when setting up your Reports Server environment.

This chapter includes the following sections:

What's New In This Release?

Oracle Fusion Middleware Platform

Oracle Reports Services

Setting Up Your System

Setting Up a High Availability Environment

2.1 What's New In This Release?

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) is integrated with Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle WebLogic Server, which provide the architectural enhancements listed in Table 2-1 (a subset of Table 1-1, "11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality"):

Table 2-1 11g Architecture Features vs. 10g Functionality

11g New Features
Equivalent 10g Functionality

Server Stability

Database-backed job queue repository. Use of the database as the job repository helps to avoid Reports Server DAT file corruption, and also ensures no loss of scheduled jobs. It is also easier to manage jobs in the database.

Only file system-based DAT file repository.

New command line argument: JOBRETRY. When specified, this value takes precedence over the retry attribute of the job element. Jobs are retried for all unexpected errors. For more information, see Section A.6.15, "JOBRETRY".

Number of times to retry a failed job can be specified in the server configuration file using the retry attribute of the job element, or on the command line for scheduled jobs only Jobs are retried only in the case of engine crash failures.

High Availability

Database-backed job queue repository. Use of the database as the job repository provides the following High Availability (HA) benefits:

Ability to view consolidated jobs for the complete group of Reports Servers in Oracle Enterprise Manager, and perform operations on this consolidated jobs. See Section 7.15.2, "Displaying a Consolidated Job Queue".

Scheduled jobs do not get lost even if the Reports Server where the jobs are scheduled goes down.

The administrator must view the job queues for each Reports Server separately.

A scheduled job is lost if the Reports Server where the job was scheduled goes down.

Oracle Reports Server Cluster with shared job repository and cache, including Java Object Cache. Reports Servers communicate via peer-to-peer mechanisms for job management, to minimize manual administration and for automatic failover of jobs. Access to cached output even when the Reports Server that processed the master job is not available.

Use of Oracle Reports caching mechanism. Cache not shared among Reports Servers. Cached output is not available to other servers if the Reports Server where it is cached goes down.

Proprietary clustering and HA mechanism.

For more information about High Availability, see Section 2.5, "Setting Up a High Availability Environment".

2.2 Oracle Fusion Middleware Platform

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) is integrated with Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle WebLogic Server, which results in simpler administration of complex topology and deployments. You can manage and monitor Oracle Reports components using either:

Oracle Enterprise Manager, included with Oracle Fusion Middleware (recommended). Refer to Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN)

For complete overview and conceptual information about Oracle Fusion Middleware, refer to the following manuals:

Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts

Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide

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2.3 Oracle Reports Services

Oracle Reports Services is the reports publishing component of Oracle Fusion Middleware. It is an enterprise reporting service for producing high quality production reports that dynamically retrieve, format, and distribute any data, in any format, anywhere. You can use Oracle Reports Services to publish in both Web-based and non-Web-based environments.

Read this section to learn more about Oracle Reports Services:

Section 2.3.1, "Overview"

Section 2.3.2, "Oracle Reports Services Components"

Section 2.3.3, "Oracle Reports Services Runtime Process"

Section 2.3.4, "Oracle Reports Services Communication Architecture"

2.3.1 Overview

Oracle Reports Services provides a scalable, flexible architecture for the distribution and automated management of report generation engines on the same server and across multiple servers. Additionally, it caches report output for reuse on similar requests. It integrates into standard Web environments with JSPs, Java servlets, and Web Services. It enables you to run reports on both local and remote application servers and to implement a multitiered architecture for running your reports.

When used in conjunction with JSPs, Java servlets, or Web Services, Oracle Reports Services enables you to run reports on any platform from a Web browser using a standard URL syntax. For Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) implementations, the in-process Reports Server is available for faster response and easier administration. The in-process Reports Server cuts down on the communication expense between processes and consequently shortens response times.

Oracle Reports Services handles client requests to run reports by entering all requests into a job queue. When one of the server's engines becomes available, the next job in the queue is dispatched to run. As the number of jobs in the queue increases, the server can start more engines until it reaches the maximum limit specified in your server configuration. Similarly, engines are shut down automatically after having been idle for a period of time that you specify (see Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services").

Oracle Reports Services keeps track of all jobs submitted to the server, including jobs that are running, scheduled to run, finished, or failed. The showjobs Web command (through rwservlet), the Web Services interface, the Oracle Reports Services pages in Oracle Enterprise Manager, the Reports Queue Manager (Windows), and the Reports Queue Viewer (UNIX) enable you to view information on when jobs are scheduled, queued, started, finished, and failed, as well as the job output and the final status of the report.

With Oracle Reports Services, job information is persistent. This means that if the Reports Server is shut down then restarted, all jobs are recovered,Foot 1  not just scheduled jobs.

When used in a Web environment, the Oracle Reports Services architecture consists of four tiers:

Note:

The term tier refers to the logical location of the components that comprise the Oracle Reports Services architecture. Each of the tiers, though, can reside on the same machine or on different machines.

The client tier (a Web browser)

The Web server tier

The Oracle Reports Services tier

The data tier, including databases and all other data sources

When used in a non-Web environment, there are three tiers (a Web server being unnecessary):

The client tier

Oracle Reports Services tier

The data tier, including databases and pluggable data sources

The client software could be:

A rwclient

A browser

The way you set up the tiers can range from having all of them on one machine to having each of them on a separate machine. Additionally, you can have multiple Web servers on multiple machines as well as multiple application servers on multiple machines. Refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide for more information on sample topologies.

If you choose to have your Web server on multiple machines, you can cluster and load balance multiple Oracle Fusion Middleware instances for a highly available, fail-safe environment.

Note:

Do not use "server=clustername" statements while calling jobs from an HA Reports Sever. For calling jobs from an HA Reports server, you must use a load balancer.

Refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide for information on load balancing. Refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Enterprise Deployment Guide for Java EE and Oracle Fusion Middleware High Availability Guide for information on enterprise deployment architectures and high availability.

Oracle Reports Services provides event-based reporting. This uses database events to trigger the generation of a report. For example, you can define an event that signals a change in revenue levels above or below a particular watermark. If the change occurs in the database (the event), a report is automatically generated. This feature is discussed in detail in Chapter 21, "Using Event-Driven Publishing".

Oracle Reports Services includes a distribution module that uses XML to define unique configurations for the distribution of reports. Call the desired XML file from the runtime command line or URL to generate one report, and let the server handle diverse outputs and destinations. Processing time is significantly reduced and configuration changes can all be handled within the XML file. This feature is discussed in detail in Chapter 20, "Creating Advanced Distributions".

2.3.2 Oracle Reports Services Components

Figure 2-1 Oracle Reports Services Components

Figure 2-1 illustrates the components of a working Oracle Reports Services environment. This includes:

The Oracle HTTP Server, a Web server provided by Oracle Fusion Middleware. It incorporates an OpenSSL module to provide support for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and HTTP Secure Sockets Layer (HTTPS). It also provides a servlet engine to support the running of Java servlet applications.

The module mod_weblogic, used by the Oracle HTTP Server to redirect requests from servlets and JSPs to Oracle WebLogic Server. WebLogic Server provides a complete Java EE environment that includes a JSP translator, a JSP servlet engine (OJSP), and an Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) container. It provides a fast, lightweight, highly scalable, easy-to-use, complete Java EE environment. It is written entirely in Java and executes on the standard Java Development Kit (JDK) Virtual Machine (JVM).

The module mod_osso, used by the Oracle HTTP Server to connect to Single Sign-On Server. The Single Sign-On Server, in turn, uses Oracle Internet Directory.

Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet), a component of Oracle Reports Services that runs inside the Web server's servlet engine. Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) translates and delivers information between HTTP and Reports Server. It uses Single Sign-On Server for authentication. Oracle Reports Servlet includes:

The in-process Reports Server, which reduces the maintenance and administration of the Reports Server by providing a means for starting the server automatically, whenever it receives the first request from the client through rwservlet or a Reports JSP.

The Custom Tag Handler, which processes custom Oracle Reports tags included in a JSP file. In a JSP file, Oracle Reports-related custom tags are identified by the prefix rw:; other custom tags using other prefixes may also be present.

The Reports Server (rwserver), which processes client requests, including ushering them through its various services, such as security (authentication and authorization, job scheduling, caching, publishing, and bursting and distribution (including distribution to custom—or pluggable—output destinations).

The security service offers authentication based on the following methods:

Oracle Internet Directory

Java Platform Security (JPS) Oracle Internet Directory

Any LDAP-based ID Store using Java Platform Security (JPS)

The security service offers authorization based on the following methods:

Java Platform Security (JPS) Oracle Internet Directory

XML file-based

Portal-based

The bursting and distribution service enables the distribution of reports to multiple destinations, such as wireless, printer, FTP server, Portal, WebDAV, browser, and e-mail. The publishing service publishes Reports into multiple output formats, such as PDF, HTML, XML, and spreadsheet.

The Reports Server also spawns runtime engines for generating requested reports, fetches completed reports from the Reports Server cache, and notifies the client that the job is ready. Reports output can be stored in the Reports cache or on a physical disk.

The Reports Server Cache, which securely stores completed job outputs.

The Reports Engine, which includes components for running SQL-based and pluggable data source-based reports. It fetches requested data from the data source, formats the report, sends the output to cache, and notifies the Reports Server that the job is complete. The Reports engine also includes pluggable data sources, which are custom data sources like text, database, JDBC, OLAP, XML, and web services.

The pluggable data sources, a set of design-time and runtime Java APIs that provide openness to Reports by enabling data input from numerous sources through the implementation of the PDS Java Interface. The PDS feature enables developers to leverage Reports' aggregation, summarization, formatting, and scheduling capabilities not only on data that is accessed through SQL, but also on data that is available elsewhere.

The pluggable engines, which are custom engines that use Java APIs to pass jobs to the Reports Server, as well as leverage the server's other features, such as scheduling, distribution, notification, and caching. Oracle Reports Services provides an out-of-the-box pluggable engine called the URL engine. The URL engine enables you to distribute content from any publicly available URL to destinations such as e-mail, Oracle Portal, and WebDAV.

In addition to the Reports Services components, Figure 2-1 depicts the following:

Integration of Oracle Reports with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) through the web services module of the Reports J2EE application.

Communication between Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports.

Reports-specific modules in Enterprise Manager that enable you to administer and manage tasks, such as monitoring, scheduling, security policies, font setup, and configuration.

Additionally, the Oracle Reports Bridge provides functionality for discovering a Reports Server across Farms. The Oracle Reports Bridge acts as a gateway for packets that are broadcast by Reports Server/Reports Client across Farms. The Oracle Reports Bridge mechanism is not shown in Figure 2-1; for more information, see Section 2.3.4.1.2, "Server Discovery Across Subnets".

2.3.3 Oracle Reports Services Runtime Process

The various components of Oracle Reports Services contribute to the process of running a report as follows:

The client requests a report by contacting a server through either a URL (Web) or a non-Web, Oracle Reports-related command, such as rwclient.

The URL goes to JSP or rwservlet, both associated with the Oracle HTTP Server. The requests go to mod_weblogic. (For jobs that run as JSPs, mod_weblogic uses OJSP to translate the JSP into a servlet.)

The URL may contain runtime parameters or a keyword that refers to a runtime parameter configuration section within the cgicmd.dat key map file file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File"), or it may contain both, though parameters explicitly named in the URL must not also be present in the relevant keyword section of cgicmd.dat.

rwclient goes directly to the Reports Server.

The command line may contain runtime parameters. If you have a lot of runtime parameters, you can create a batch file or shell script that contains the rwclient command along with a string of parameters.

The rwservlet component translates and delivers information between either a Web server or a Java EE Container (for example, Oracle WebLogic Server) and the Reports Server:

Server requests from Reports JSP or rwservlet can be run by the in-process Reports Server or as a standalone Reports Server process (recommended), whichever is specified in the Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) configuration file (DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration//rwservlet.properties). An in-process Reports Server requires less maintenance than a standalone Reports Server because, unlike the standalone Reports Server, it starts automatically in response to requests from the client. An in-process Reports Server cuts down on the communication between processes. A standalone server, on other hand, provides better control outside the rwservlet process with the ability to separate out server process from the WebLogic Server instance. For information about specifying an in-process Reports Server and default naming, see Section 8.3, "Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File".

The Reports Server processes the request:

If the request includes a TOLERANCE option, then the Reports Server checks its cache to determine whether it already has output that satisfies the request. If it finds acceptable output in its cache, then it immediately returns that output rather than rerunning the report.

Note:

For any job request that you send to the Reports Server, you can include a TOLERANCE option. TOLERANCE defines the oldest output that the requester would consider acceptable. For example, if the requester specified five minutes as the TOLERANCE, the Reports Server would check its cache for the last duplicate report output that had been generated within the last five minutes. An EXPIRATION option defines the point in time when the report output should be deleted from the cache (for example, EXPIRATION might equal a specific date and time for when the output should expire). For more information, see Section A.8.22, "TOLERANCE" and Section A.6.6, "EXPIRATION".

If the request is the same as a currently running job, then the request will reuse the output from the current job rather than rerunning the report.

If neither of these conditions is met, then:

If Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) is SSO-enabled, it checks for authentication. A secure Reports Server then authorizes the user using Oracle Internet Directory. If Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) is not SSO-enabled, a secure Reports Server authorizes and authenticates the user.

If the report is scheduled, the Reports Server stores the request in the scheduled job queue, and the report is run according to schedule. If the report is not scheduled, it is queued in the current job queue for execution when a Reports Engine becomes available.

Note:

When you configure the Reports Server (in rwserver.conf), you can specify the maximum number of the Report Engines it can use. If the Reports Server is under this maximum, then it can send the job to an idle engine or start a new engine to handle the request. Otherwise, the request must wait until one of the current Oracle Reports Engines completes its current job.

At runtime, the Reports Server spawns a Reports Engine and sends the request to that engine to be run.

The Reports Engine retrieves and formats the data.

The Reports Engine populates the Reports Server cache.

The Reports Engine notifies the Reports Server that the report is ready.

The Reports Server accesses the cache and sends the report to output according to the runtime parameters specified in either the URL, the command line, or the keyword section in the cgicmd.dat file (URL requests only).

Another way to create a report is through event-driven publishing. With event-driven publishing, the client is the database (rather than the end user). Events are defined through the Event-Driven Publishing API. The event invokes a database trigger, an advanced queuing application, or a PL/SQL package that calls the Event-Driven Publishing API to submit jobs to the Reports Server. Event-driven publishing is discussed in detail in Chapter 21, "Using Event-Driven Publishing".

For information about running reports with Oracle BPEL Process Manager, refer to Section 8.10, "Configuring Oracle Reports to Communicate with Oracle BPEL Process Manager".

2.3.4 Oracle Reports Services Communication Architecture

Oracle Reports replaces the use of Borland's VisiBroker with Sun Microsystems' industry-standard Java Developer's Kit Object Request Broker (JDK ORB), providing support for Reports Server requests from clients across subnets, and using the broadcast mechanism for dynamic Reports Server discovery both within a subnet and across subnets.

With Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), you can use the built-in broadcast mechanism, available out-of-the-box, for dynamic discovery of Reports Servers. You can also choose to use the Common Object Service (COS) naming service orbd, provided by Sun Microsystem's JDK ORB, for Reports Server discovery.

Note:

It is recommended that you use the built-in broadcast mechanism for dynamic discovery of Reports Servers. Use the Common Object Service (COS) naming service for Reports Server discovery only when the built-in broadcast mechanism is not suitable for your environment, as in the following scenarios:

You plan to install Oracle Reports on a machine that is connected to a network using VPN.

You want to avoid broadcast traffic on your network.

This section discusses the two methods of Reports Server discovery

Server Discovery Using the Broadcast Mechanism

Server Discovery Using the COS Naming Service

Note:

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) contains rwdiag executable to provide diagnosis for the JDK ORB implementation. Using rwdiag, you can replace the functionality of osfind available in the prior VisiBroker implementation, providing information about which ORB applications are running and options for logging ORB-related network traffic

2.3.4.1 Server Discovery Using the Broadcast Mechanism

With the broadcast mechanism, Reports Server discovery can occur within a subnet or across subnets:

Server Discovery within a Subnet

Server Discovery Across Subnets

Note:

The Oracle Reports built-in broadcast mechanism requires the host machine to be inside a network. Thus, following are two scenarios in which the broadcast mechanism may not work, including the solutions for each scenario:

If the host machine is not in a network (that is, it is a standalone machine).

Solution for Windows platform: Install the MS loopback adapter, as described on the Microsoft Web site (http:\\microsoft.support.com). Then, specify an IP address for your machine (either XP or Windows 2000), as follows:

On your desktop, right-click My Network Places, and choose Properties.

Right-click the MS loopback adapter, and choose Properties.

In the Properties dialog box, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and click Properties.

Select Use the following IP address, and enter a valid IP address. The subnet mask field will automatically populate. Do not use the local host IP (that is, 127.0.0.1). For example, enter: 198.162.1.1.

Click OK, and follow the instructions displayed.

Solution for UNIX platform: Configure the discovery mechanism to disable the built-in broadcast mechanism and enable the COS naming service instead, by replacing the multicast element with the namingService element in the network configuration file (rwnetwork.conf).

If the host machine is connected to a network through VPN.

Solution for both Windows and UNIX platform: Configure the discovery mechanism to disable the built-in broadcast mechanism and enable the COS naming service instead, by replacing the multicast element with the namingService element in the network configuration file (rwnetwork.conf), as described in Section 2.3.4.1, "Server Discovery Using the Broadcast Mechanism".

2.3.4.1.1 Server Discovery within a Subnet

Within a subnet, the client broadcasts a packet with the name of the Reports Server to which it wants to connect. A Reports Server with that name will respond if it exists in the network. The client then connects to the Reports Server to run the report request.

Figure 2-2 Server Discovery within a Subnet

Using the example of running a report request with server=rep_server, the following numbered steps map to the numbers in Figure 2-2:

getServerRef

The Oracle Reports client (for example, rwclient, rwservlet, or rwrqm) broadcasts a packet containing the name of the server to which it wants to connect. In this case, the packet contains the name rep_server.

The server with name rep_server in the network responds back with its Interoperable Object Reference (IOR).

The client converts the IOR to an object reference.

runReport

The Oracle Reports client sends a request to the remote object reference to run the report (IIOP call).

executeReport

Reports Server executes the report and returns either report or status.

2.3.4.1.2 Server Discovery Across Subnets

Oracle Reports provides the Oracle Reports Bridge mechanism for connecting two or more non-secured subnets. An Oracle Reports Bridge running in one subnet will contact Oracle Reports Bridge running in another subnet to obtain Reports Server references. For configuration details, refer to Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration Elements.

Figure 2-3 Server Discovery Across Subnets

Using the example of running a report request with server=rep_server, the following numbered steps map to the numbers in Figure 2-3:

getServerRef

The Oracle Reports client (for example, rwclient, rwservlet, or rwrqm) broadcasts a packet containing the name of the server to which it wants to connect. In this case, the packet contains the name rep_server.

bridge1 intercepts the packet and passes it to bridge2.

registerServerRef

bridge2 broadcasts the packet in dom2, and rep_server in dom2 responds back with the Interoperable Object Reference (IOR).

bridge2 passes the IOR back to bridge1, and bridge1 passes it to the client using the broadcast mechanism.

The Oracle Reports client converts the IOR to an object reference.

runReport

The Oracle Reports client sends a request to the remote object reference to run the report (IIOP call).

executeReport

Reports Server executes the report and returns either report or status.

Note:

Numbers in blue color in Figure 2-3 are shown for the case where the Oracle Reports client is in dom2 and Reports Server is in dom1.

2.3.4.2 Server Discovery Using the COS Naming Service

Alternatively, you can use the JDK-provided Common Object Service (COS) naming service to access a Reports Server in the same subnet, as well as across a non-secured subnet. To configure the naming service, refer to Section 8.5.1, "Network Configuration Elements".

Note:

It is recommended that you use the built-in broadcast mechanism for dynamic discovery of Reports Servers. Use the Common Object Service (COS) naming service for Reports Server discovery only when the built-in broadcast mechanism is not suitable for your environment, as in the following scenarios:

You plan to install OracleAS Reports Services on a machine that is connected to a network using VPN.

You want to avoid broadcast traffic on your network.

To control the COS naming service through OPMN, refer to Section 8.8.1.4, "COS Naming Service Specification"

Figure 2-4 Server Discovery Using the COS Naming Service

Using the example of running a report request with server=rep_server, the following numbered steps map to the numbers in Figure 2-4

registerServer

When rep_server is started, it registers itself with the naming service, which must be up and running for the server to start. Now a request is run with server=rep_server.

getServerRef

The Oracle Reports client contacts the naming service and requests a reference to server rep_server.

The naming service returns the reference to server rep_server.

runReport

The Oracle Reports client sends a request to the remote object reference to run the report (IIOP call).

executeReport

Reports Server executes the report and returns either report or status.

Note:

Numbers in blue color in Figure 2-4 are shown for the case where the Oracle Reports client is in dom2 and Reports Server is in dom1.

Footnote Legend

Footnote 1: Only synchronous jobs and jobs that are currently running are lost in this case.

2.4 Setting Up Your System

The way you set up Oracle Reports Services can vary widely depending upon the requirements of your system. Before you set up Oracle Reports Services, you must make some decisions based upon your requirements. By making these decisions beforehand, you can greatly simplify the setup process.

The following subsections discuss some of the decisions involved in:

Choosing the Types of Requests You Will Service

Choosing Oracle Reports Servlet, JSP, or Web Services

Choosing Single or Multiple-Machine Configurations

2.4.1 Choosing the Types of Requests You Will Service

Oracle Reports Services can be configured to accept both Web and non-Web job requests.

In the Web case, you can run reports by clicking or typing a URL in a Web browser. Depending on the URL, the report output is then served back to you in your browser or sent to a specified destination (for example, a printer). To enable users to launch reports from a browser, you will use either Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) or a JSP with your Web server. One or the other of these components must be present on the Web server to enable communications between it and Oracle Reports Services and to enable the processing of report requests from Web clients.

Note:

For more information, refer to Section 2.4.2, "Choosing Oracle Reports Servlet, JSP, or Web Services".

In non-Web cases, you can send job requests using the rwclient component, installed on each of your user's machines.

From the perspective of configuration, these are the key differences between enabling Web and non-Web requests:

Enabling Web requests requires that you choose between Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) or JSP for the server side, but eliminates the need to install any client software beyond a standard Web browser.

Enabling non-Web requests requires that you install client software on each machine that will be used to run requests. This introduces the need to administer client software on each client machine.

The client software could be:

An Oracle Developer Suite installation, which can be used to submit reports requests through rwclient or rwrun.

A utility such as the Oracle Reports Java EE Thin Client, which is available on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Note that this utility is supported only through Discussion Forums on OTN.

The Web case is clearly the most cost effective because it reduces client maintenance costs. But there might be cases where launching non-Web requests is a necessity. Oracle Reports Services supports the implementation of both Web and non-Web requests in a single deployment environment.

2.4.2 Choosing Oracle Reports Servlet, JSP, or Web Services

To use Oracle Reports Services in a Web environment, you must use Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet), Reports Web Services, or Reports JSP.

Between Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) and Reports JSP there are additional considerations. A JSP-only implementation means that you can publish a layout that is optimized for Web delivery (that is, the Oracle Reports Web Layout). Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) enables you to include paper layouts in your report publishing solution and fully leverage the distribution features of Oracle Reports Services.

Using Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) does not imply that you cannot also use JSP files, because JSP files can contain both Web and paper layouts. When you run a report stored in a JSP, you specify the servlet in the URL and call the JSP with the command line option report=myreport.jsp. In this case, report output is created based on the paper layout.

For more information on running reports, see Chapter 18, "Running Report Requests".

2.4.3 Choosing Single or Multiple-Machine Configurations

You can place Oracle Reports Services on the same machine as your Web server or on a different machine. Both scenarios have pros and cons.

For example, while it's true that having Oracle Reports Services and the Web server on the same machine requires more of the machine's memory and disk space, it's also true that such an implementation reduces network traffic. This is because requests traveling between the Web server and the application server do not have to travel across a network, only incoming requests must do so.

If you are using the in-process Reports Server (available only with Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) implementations) you can further amplify the performance advantages of a single machine. The in-process Reports Server speeds up processing time by allowing for faster and more efficient communication between Oracle Reports Services components. We recommend that you use the in-process Reports Server unless you will not use Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) to deploy reports.

On the other hand, if you have a single machine configuration and that machine fails, everything fails.

While there is a greater amount of network traffic when the Web server and the application server are on different machines, you also benefit from the increase in system resources, in the form of additional CPUs, more disk space, and more available memory. Even in a multiple machine configuration, the in-process Reports Server will aid performance by speeding communication between Oracle Reports Services components.

Another possibility is placing your Web server and your application server each on multiple machines. This will require additional configuration, but it enables you to implement load balancing on the Web server.

By using the environment switching feature it is possible to spawn Reports Engines with different environment settings, including language, in the same Reports Server. Refer to Section 8.2.2, "Dynamic Environment Switching" for more information.

2.5 Setting Up a High Availability Environment

11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides numerous high availability (HA) enhancements, as listed in Table 2-1 in Section 2.1, "What's New In This Release?".

This section discusses the following topics pertinent to establishing a high availability environment:

Maintaining High Availability

Configuring the rwservlet.properties file

Configuring Reports Server for High Availability

2.5.1 Maintaining High Availability

Oracle Fusion Middleware consists of many components that can be deployed in distributed topologies. The underlying paradigm used to enable high availability for Oracle Fusion Middleware is clustering, which unites various Oracle Fusion Middleware components in certain permutations to offer scalable and unified functionality, and redundancy should any of the individual components fail.

Note:

Refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Enterprise Deployment Guide for Java EE and Oracle Fusion Middleware High Availability Guide for more information on the various solutions and techniques to achieve high availability in Oracle Fusion Middleware.

2.5.2 Configuring the rwservlet.properties file

Perform the following steps to configure the rwservlet.properties file:

Make sure that the in-process server has a unique name. You can check the server sub-element of the rwservlet.properties to verify the unique server name.

Configure cluster in the rwservlet.properties file.

<cluster clustername="ha_cluster" clusternodes="ha_server2"/>

cluster name should be same in all rwservlet.properties files. Cluster nodes should include in-process server names which are part of the cluster except the current one. More than one server should be separated by a colon.

Save the servlet configuration file.

Alternatively, you can configure a cluster through Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Navigate to the Reports Application Home Page in Enterprise Manager.

From the Reports menu, select System MBean Browser.

The System MBean Browser page is displayed.

From the left content pane, expand Application Defined MBeans > oracle.reportsApp.config > Server: WLS_REPORTS > Application: reports > ReportsApp.

Select rwservlet from the list.

The Application Defined MBeans: Report sApp:rwservlet page is displayed.

Click the Operations tab.

Select addCluster.

The Operation:addCluster page is displayed.

Enter valid values in the Cluster Name and Node fields.

Click Invoke.

For more information about the rwservlet.properties file, refer to Section 8.3.1.1, "rwservlet"

2.5.3 Configuring Reports Server for High Availability

To configure Reports Server for high availability by using the database as the job repository, perform the following steps for each instance:

Configure the database job repository for in-process Reports Servers in all instances in the rwserver.conf file of all Reports Servers.

Note that in 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) the server configuration file must correspond to the rwserverconf.xsd file (refer to Section 8.2.1, "Reports Server Configuration Elements"), which means that the order in which different entries appear inside the server configuration file is no longer random, but fixed by the XSD. As a result, the following element must be added immediately before the <connection> element in the server configuration file:

<jobRepository>
<property name="dbuser" value="dbuser"/>
<property name="dbpassword" value="csf:reports:dbpasswdKey"/>
<property name="dbconn" value="dbconn"/>
</jobRepository>

For information about adding a password key in the credential store, see Section 15.1.4, "Credential Store".

Save the server configuration file.

Alternatively, you can configure the database job repository through Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Navigate to the Reports Application home page in Enterprise Manager.

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Application Advanced Configuration page is displayed.

Locate the Job Repository content pane in the Advanced Configuration page.

Select the Enable Job Repository DB checkbox.

Enter valid values in the Username, Password Key and Database fields.

Click Apply.

Configure a folder to which all instances have access (write access is needed, read access is not enough) by adding the CacheDir or JOCCacheDir property to the <cache> element of each of the server configuration files,

For example,

on Windows:

<property name="JOCCacheDir" value="folder_name"/>
<property name="CacheDir" value="folder_name"/>

on UNIX:

<property name="JOCCacheDir" value="/net/machine_name/usrs/tmp"/>
<property name="CacheDir" value="/net/machine_name/usrs/tmp"/>

where, "/usrs/tmp" is a shared location when Reports Server is running on different machines and has write privileges.

Note:

Along with JOCCache Dir, CacheDir can also be used for high availability for sharing the cache.

In a case where the in-process Reports Servers are running on different machines, the configuration can be done by sharing a folder to the other machine or user. For example, on Windows, configure the shared cache for both in-process Reports Servers by adding the following property to the <cache> element of each of the server configuration files:

<property name="JOCCacheDir" value="\\host\shared"/>

where host is the machine where the shared folder is available, and shared is the folder name

Alternatively, you can specify the value for JOC Cache directory through Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Navigate to the Reports Application Home page in Enterprise Manager.

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Application Advanced Configuration page is displayed.

Note:

You can use the System MBean Browser to add JOC Cache directory for the first time.

The High Availability parameters section in Enterprise Manager is displayed only when the server is part of the HA cluster and the in-process server is running.

Locate the High Availability Parameters section in the content pane.

Enter a valid folder name in the Cluster Cache Directory field.

Click Apply.

For information about the JOCCacheDir and CacheDir properties (new in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), refer to Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services".

Load the rw_server.sql file to a database (this file is included with your Oracle Reports Services installation: ORACLE_HOME\reports\admin\sql)

This creates a schema that owns the report queue information and has execute privileges on the server queue API.

Restart the Reports Server.

Set the Environment variables TNS_ADMIN and ORACLE_HOME in the shell and start the node manager ($FMW_HOME/wlserver_10.3/server/bin/startNodeManager.sh). This is required for the reports in-process server to connect to the database.

For more information, see "TNS_ADMIN".

You can use Oracle WebCache as a load balancer. For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Web Cache

2.5.3.1 Configuring Oracle Enterprise Manager for High Availability

When High Availability is setup across two different domains in Oracle Enterprise Manager, you need to configure the Enterprise Manager settings. This enables both the domains to access the data from all the servers.

Navigate to your Domain Home Page in Enterprise Manager.

From the WebLogic Domain menu, select Security > Credentials.

Select the Reports map and edit EMServerPasswordKey and enter a password.

Repeat the steps from one to three for the other domain and enter the same password.

Restart the Enterprise Manager Agent in both the domains.

In ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin of each domain

./opmnctl stopproc ias-component=<emagent_name>
./opmnctl startproc ias-component=<emagent_name>
./opmnctl restartproc ias-component=<emagent_name>

Restart the Reports Server in both the domains.

When you have finished configuring the Enterprise Manager settings for both the domains, the Enterprise Manager console monitors and manages jobs in the job queues of all the HA servers.

3 Verifying Your Installation

After installing Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), read through the section in this chapter to verify you are ready to use Oracle Reports Services to publish your reports:

What's New In This Release?

Understanding the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Structure

Verifying OOTB Installation

Verifying the Reports Server Environment

Confirming Security with Oracle Portal-Based Security

Upgrading from the Prior Release

Granting Access to RWbuilder

3.1 What's New In This Release?

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides the installation and upgrade enhancements listed in Table 3-1 (a subset of Table 1-1, "11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality"):

Table 3-1 11g Install Features vs. 10g Functionality

11g New Features
Equivalent 10g Functionality

Flexible install types. In Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g, install type contains Oracle Reports, Forms, Portal, and Discoverer. In the installer, you can selectively install any one of these products or all of them.

Predefined install types only. For example, you can not install Oracle Reports alone or Oracle Reports and Oracle Portal alone.

Separate installation of binaries from configuration, allowing shared binaries across servers. Oracle Installer allows for install only and then configuration only as two separate steps.

For more information, see Section 3.2, "Understanding the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Structure".

Single ORACLE_HOME installation including both binaries and configuration.

New and improved management screens in Oracle Enterprise Manager. Oracle Enterprise Manager provides enhanced usability for all the administration, monitoring, and diagnosability operations. For more information, see Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

Oracle Enterprise Manager Application Server (AS) Control, and modifying configuration files.

Fully automated upgrade from 10g Release 2 (10.1.2).

For more information, see Section 3.6, "Upgrading from the Prior Release".

Not Applicable (N/A)

3.2 Understanding the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Structure

In prior releases, Oracle Reports Services was installed in a single Oracle home (ORACLE_HOME), including all files (both binaries and configuration). Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) introduces the option to split installation into an Oracle home (ORACLE_HOME) and an Oracle instance (ORACLE_INSTANCE) to separate binaries from configuration, and allow shared binaries across servers.

The new Oracle Fusion Middleware installation option provides several advantages:

ORACLE_HOME contains binary files, which can be shared across multiple ORACLE_INSTANCEs, reducing the footprint and management of each ORACLE_INSTANCE.

It is easier to apply patches and maintain the binary ORACLE_HOME without needing to reconfigure.

Install of each ORACLE_INSTANCE is easier and lightweight.

Easier backup, restore, and cloning.

Support for Reports-only install.

For complete information about the new installation structure, including how to create a new Oracle instance, refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

3.3 Verifying OOTB Installation

Make sure Oracle Reports components are created out-of-the-box (OOTB), and are available and ready to use after installation and configuration in the following way:

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

3.3.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

In Oracle Enterprise Manager, navigate to the following pages to manage and view Oracle Reports components:

Reports Server Home Page, along with Basic Configuration and Advanced Configuration pages

Forms/Reports Common Component Configuration Page

Reports Tools Component Configuration Page

Reports New Job Scheduling Page

Reports Bridge Home Page, along with configuration pages

Reports Application Home Page, along with Basic Configuration and Advanced Configuration pages

Reports Security Policies Page

Reports Security Configuration Page

Reports Log Configuration Page

Reports Jobs Page (Finished/Scheduled/Current/Long Running/Failed)

Use these pages to perform checks and verifications, start a standalone Reports Server, shut down the standalone Reports Server, and run a report using rwservlet and the in-process Reports Server.

For more information, see Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

3.4 Verifying the Reports Server Environment

Oracle Reports Services report requests flow from the Oracle HTTP Server component, to Oracle Reports Servlet, to Reports Server. Before sending report requests to Reports Server, verify that the environment is up and running:

Checking Oracle HTTP Server

Checking Oracle Reports Servlet

Checking Reports Server

3.4.1 Checking Oracle HTTP Server

Before starting Reports Server through Oracle Enterprise Manager, you must verify that your Oracle HTTP Server is running. For more information about performing this task in Oracle Enterprise Manager, refer to your Oracle Enterprise Manager documentation.

Alternatively, you can verify that the Oracle HTTP Server is running by navigating to the following URL:

http://server_name.domain:port_number/

3.4.2 Checking Oracle Reports Servlet

To verify that Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) is running, navigate to the following URL:

http://host:port/reports/rwservlet/help

where

host is the server that is allotted.

port is either the OHS port or the WebLogic Server port.

Note that the URL is case-sensitive. If this URL executes successfully, you should get a help page describing the rwservlet command line arguments

3.4.3 Checking Reports Server

To verify that Reports Server is running, navigate to the following URL:

http://host:port/reports/rwservlet/getserverinfo?server=server_name

where

host and port are as described in Section 3.4.2, "Checking Oracle Reports Servlet".

server=server_name is not required if you are using the default Reports Server name (rep_machine_name) or the Reports Server specified in the Oracle Reports Servlet configuration file (rwservlet.properties ).

If this URL executes successfully, you should see a listing of the job queue for the specified Reports Server.

Note:

For more information about the Oracle Reports Servlet configuration file (rwservlet.properties ), see Section 8.3, "Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File".

3.5 Confirming Security with Oracle Portal-Based Security

In Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), by default Reports Server is secure out-of-the-box using Oracle Portal-based Security Services. During installation, you can specify any LDAP server (including Oracle Internet Directory) to be used as the policy store. Confirm that security is enabled in either of the following ways:

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

Using the Command Line

3.5.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

In Oracle Enterprise Manager, select Reports > Administration > Advanced Configuration to display the Reports Server Advanced Configuration Page:

In the Reports Security region, check Enable Security.

3.5.2 Using the Command Line

On the command line, navigate to the following directory to open the in-process Reports Server configuration file to verify it is configured with the RWJAZN security:

DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS_REPORTS/applications/reports_version/configuration

The presence of "<security id="rwSec" class="oracle.reports.server.RWSecurity"/>" in the configuration file confirms that RWSecurity is enabled.

3.6 Upgrading from the Prior Release

Upgrading from Oracle Reports 10.1.2.x to 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) is fully automated:

Integrated with Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade framework.

Automated configuration reduction mapping.

Extensive logging and diagnostics.

No loss of functionality.

3.6.1 Backward Compatibility and Interoperability

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) is fully backward compatible and interoperable with 10.1.2.x:

10.1.2.x server/client compatible with 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) server/client.

Note:

This interoperability scenario requires the Patch 7597820 to be installed. You can download this patch from the following URL:

http://updates.oracle.com/download/7597820.html.

This patch is required to address the CORBA IDL changes between the two releases for the Job Status information. If you want to use rwservlet of Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2.3) with the Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) Server, ensure that you install this patch on your 10.1.2.3 installation. You can download this patch from http://metalink.oracle.com.

10.1.2.x reports can be run without any changes or loss of functionality.

Support for Oracle Portal and Oracle Internet Directory based security along with new Java EE security.

Support for 10.1.2.x Toolkit-based font model along with new Java-based font model.

Support for interoperability with 10.1.2.x Oracle Forms Services, Oracle Portal, and Oracle Internet Directory.

3.7 Granting Access to RWbuilder

A user who installed the Oracle Reports components can access them, by default. If you want to allow other users to run rwbuilder, run the following commands at the command prompt:

chmod 750 $ORACLE_HOME/bin
chmod 750 $ORACLE_HOME/bin/rwbuilder
chmod 750 $COMMON_COMPONENTS_HOME/modules/oracle.dms_11.1.1/*.jar
chmod 750 $COMMON_COMPONENTS_HOME/modules/oracle.odl_11.1.1/*.jar
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin/*
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/*
chmod 770 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/rwbuilder.conf
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports
chmod 750 $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/reports_install.properties
chmod 750 $DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/tmp/_WL_user/
chmod 770 $DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/tmp/_WL_user/reports_<version>/
chmod 770 $DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/tmp/_WL_user/reports_<version>/<random_name>/war
chmod 750 <the directory that is mentioned in REPORTS_TMP>

Then you can change the location of logs to a user-readable and writable location in $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/logging.xml by changing the "path" property of runtime_trace_handler and zrcclient_trace_handler.

4 Upgrading Oracle Reports

This chapter summarizes the process of upgrading Oracle Reports.

4.1 Overview of the Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Assistant

The Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Assistant automates the upgrade of many aspects of Oracle Application Server 10g environment. The Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Assistant is installed automatically into the bin directory of Oracle Fusion Middleware Oracle home.

The Oracle Fusion Middleware upgrade Assistant guides you through the process of upgrading from previous versions of Oracle Application Server instance to Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) instance.

4.2 Overview of the Upgrade Process

The following table summarizes the steps in the process of upgrading Oracle Reports from Oracle Application Server 10g instance to Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) instance.

Table 4-1 Upgrade Process Overview

Step
Description

Review Upgrade Concepts in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Planning Guide

The Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Planning Guide provides a high-level overview of how to upgrade your entire Oracle Application Server environment to Oracle Fusion Middleware, including compatibility information and instructions for upgrading any databases that support your middleware components

Understand the upgrade starting points

Before planning your upgrade, you should be familiar with the supported starting points for an Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer upgrade.

Decide upon an Oracle Reports Topology

With the introduction of Oracle WebLogic Server, the topologies for Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer have changed somewhat. Before you begin an upgrade, make sure you are familiar with the basic topologies in Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g.

Install New 11g Middle Tiers

Use the Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer installer to install your new Oracle Fusion Middleware middle tiers.

Run Upgrade Assistant for Each Middle Tier

The Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Assistant copies configuration data from your existing Oracle Application Server middle tiers to the newly installed Oracle Fusion Middleware middle tiers.

Perform Any Required Post-Upgrade Manual Steps for Each Middle Tier

The Upgrade Assistant automates many of the upgrade tasks, but there are cases where you must manually modify the configuration settings after running the Upgrade Assistant.

Use Upgrade Assistant to Verify Upgraded Environment

The Upgrade Assistant provides a feature that will verify the upgraded environment to make sure specific components and URLs are functional.

Upgrading Oracle Reports using Upgrade Assistant involves the following steps:

Specifying an operation, such as Upgrading the middle tier instance, Upgrading metadata repository, or Verifying the instance. The Upgrade Middle Tier Instance option is selected by default.

Specifying the Source Home.

Specifying the Destination Instance.

Specifying the details of the WebLogic Server.

Specifying an Upgrade option. The Stop source components before upgrade option is selected by default.

Examining the components. The Upgrade Assistant tool provides a list of the components that are already examined and ready for upgrade.

Reviewing the settings and choices before proceeding with the upgrade. The Upgrade Assistant tool displays the summary of the middle-tier upgrade to be performed in the Upgrade Summary screen.

Clicking the Upgrade button on the Upgrade Summary screen completes the upgrade process.

Note:

For more information on upgrading Oracle Reports using Upgrade Assistant, see "Task 6: Use the Upgrade Assistant to Upgrade the Required Schemas and Middle Tiers" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer.

4.3 What is Upgraded?

The following Oracle Reports Components and elements are upgraded to the new Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) environment.

Configuration files for Reports Runtime components like rwbuilder, rwrun, rwclient, and in-process server.

All the Reports Servers created in 10g instance are created and migrated to 11g instance.

Reports Bridge created in 10g instance is created and migrated to 11g instance.

All the dependent Reports components are migrated to 11g instance.

Registry entries in 10g instance are migrated to 11g instance on windows platform.

4.4 Summary of the Upgraded Files

Table 4-2 summarizes Oracle Reports files, including the configuration files, which are upgraded during the upgrade process, as described in Table 4-1.

Table 4-2 Upgraded Oracle Reports Files

11g Target FIle Name
11g Target Configuration Path
Upgrade Modification

<stand_alone_server_name>.conf

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<server_name>/rwserver.conf

Migration of Standalone Server configuration.

Exception: <rwsec> element is not migrated.

<in-process_server_name>.conf

$DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration//rwserver.conf

Migration of configuration for in-process server.

Exception: <rwsec> element is not migrated.

rwnetwork.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<server_name>/rwnetwork.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/rwnetwork.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsBridgeComponent;/<bridge_name>/rwnetwork.conf

J2EE: $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/>/rwnetwork.conf

Migration of network configuration to Standalone Server, Reports Bridge, Reports tools and In-process Server.

Exception: Channel and port attributes in <multicast> element are not migrated.

xmlpds.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<server_name>/xmlpds.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/xmlpds.conf

J2EE: $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration//xmlpds.conf

Migration of configuration to Standalone Server, Reports tools and In-process Server.

textpds.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<server_name>/textpds.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/textpds.conf

J2EE: $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/textpds.conf

Migration of configuration to Standalone Server, Reports tools and In-process Server.

Jdbcpds.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<server_name>/jdbcpds.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/jdbcpds.conf

J2EE: $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/jdbcpds.conf

Migration of configuration to Standalone Server, Reports tools and in-process server.

proxyinfo.xml

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<server_name>/rwserver.conf

J2SE: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/rwserver.conf

J2EE: $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/rwserver.conf

Migration of configuration to Standalone Server, Reports tools and In-process Server.

rwservlet.properties

$DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/rwservlet.properties

Migration of configuration to in-process server.

Exception: <singlesignon> element is not migrated.

<bridge_name>.conf

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsBridgeComponent/<bridge_name>/bridge.conf

Migration of configuration to Reports Bridge.

Cgicmd.dat

$DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/cgicmd.dat

Migration of configuration to In-process Server.

*.res

$ORACLE_HOME/reports/res

Copy all files to target location.

*.dat

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/server

Copy all files to target location.

Opmn.xml

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/OPMN/opmn/opmn.xml

Migration of Reports specific entries.

Uifont.ali

On Windows: ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\frcommon\tools\common

On UNIX: ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

Copy file to target location.

Uiprint.txt

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

Copy file to target location.

uiscreenprint.txt

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

Copy file to target location.

uiscreenprint.ppd

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

Copy file to target location.

*.ppd

$ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

Copy all files in source location to target location.

*.afm

$ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM

Copy all files in source location to target location.

*.hpd

$ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/HPD

Copy all files in source location to target location.

*.tfm

$ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/TFM

Copy all files in source location to target location.

*.rgb

$ORACLE_HOME/frcommon/templates/tk/config/

Copy all files in source location to target location.

Cauprefs.ora (Windows only)

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/tools/admin

Copy file to target location.

Cagprefs.ora (Windows only)

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/tools/admin

Copy file to target location.

Prefs.ora (Linux only)

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/tools/admin

Copy file to target location.

Windows Registry

Windows Registry

Migration of Windows registry entries. Only Reports specific registry entries are migrated.

4.5 Post- Upgrade Tasks

After you upgrade to OracleAS Reports Services 11g, review the following sections, which provide information about typical post-upgrade tasks for OracleAS Reports Services users:

Configuring Security After Upgrade to Oracle Reports 11g

Additional Oracle Reports Post-Upgrade Tasks

4.5.1 Configuring Security After Upgrade to Oracle Reports 11g

When you upgrade to Oracle Reports 11g, the security configuration is not upgraded. As a result, the security configuration of Oracle Reports 11g remains the same as it was before the upgrade.

For information about the security features available in Oracle Reports 11g and how to configure them, see Chapter 15, "Securing Oracle Reports Services".

4.5.2 Additional Oracle Reports Post-Upgrade Tasks

The following sections describe some other common post-upgrade tasks to complete after upgrading to OracleAS Reports Services 11g:

Modifying Oracle Reports Shell Scripts After Upgrade

Modifying Oracle Reports DAT Files After Upgrade

About the In-process Server Target After Upgrade

Viewing Cached Reports Output Files After Upgrade

4.5.2.1 Modifying Oracle Reports Shell Scripts After Upgrade

Any shell scripts that are stored in the bin directory of the Oracle Reports 10g Oracle home, such as reports.sh, rwrun.sh, and rwserver.sh are not upgraded automatically during the upgrade process. Instead, you must change these scripts manually, as needed. After the upgrade, you can find these scripts in the following Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g directory:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin

4.5.2.2 Modifying Oracle Reports DAT Files After Upgrade

OracleAS Reports Services DAT files are upgraded during the upgrade process. However, if job command entries in the DAT files contain references to old Oracle Home path names or invalid path names, then those jobs will fail. Therefore, you must reschedule any such report jobs.

4.5.2.3 About the In-process Server Target After Upgrade

In OracleAS Reports Services 10g, the in-process server target appears in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Application Server Control as Reports Server.

However, after you upgrade to OracleAS Reports Services 11g, the in-process server does not appear as Reports server in Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control. Instead, it appears as a Reports application, called reports, and you can manage the in-process server target and the Reports servlet on the Reports application page.

4.5.2.4 Viewing Cached Reports Output Files After Upgrade

Cached Reports output files are not upgraded to Oracle Reports 11g.

4.6 For More Information

For more information about the upgrade process, see:

Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Planning Guide.

Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer.

5 Interoperability Scenarios and Considerations

This chapter discusses interoperability scenarios and considerations for Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1).

It includes the following sections:

Interoperability with Previous Versions of Oracle Reports

Interoperability with Other Oracle Components

5.1 Interoperability with Previous Versions of Oracle Reports

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) interoperates with Oracle Reports 10.1.2.3. If you are using Oracle Reports 10.1.2.3 client with Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) server, you must install a patch. For more information about this interoperability scenario and patch requirements, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Release Notes for Microsoft Windows.

5.2 Interoperability with Other Oracle Components

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) interoperates with other Oracle components, such as Oracle Portal, Oracle Internet Directory, Oracle Forms, OracleAS Single Sign-On (SSO), Oracle BPEL Process Manager, and Oracle Application Server WebCache.

The following are the interoperability scenarios:

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) Server/Servlet with Oracle Portal 10.1.4

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) Server/Servlet with Oracle Internet Directory 10.1.4.3

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) Server with Oracle Forms 10.1.2.3 Client

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) with Oracle Portal 11g Release 1 (11.1.1)

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) with Oracle Internet Directory Release 1 (11.1.1) and Oracle Single Sign-on 10.1.4.3

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) Server with Oracle Forms 11g Release 1 (11.1.1)

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) Server with Oracle BPEL Process Manager 11g Release 1 (11.1.1)

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) with Oracle WebCache 11g Release 1 (11.1.1)

Oracle Reports 10.1.2 with Oracle Internet Directory 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) and Oracle Single Sign-on 10.1.4.3

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) with Oracle Internet Directory 10.1.2.3 and Oracle Single Sign-on 10.1.2.3

For more information, see:

Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer

Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports and Discoverer

6 Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Services

This chapter provides information on starting and stopping Oracle Reports Services. It includes the following main sections:

Starting and Stopping Reports Server

Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Bridge

Starting Reports Components After Shutting Down an Instance

Starting and Stopping the COS Naming Service

Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Oracle Reports Components Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

Starting and Stopping the In-process Reports Server Using Oracle Reports Servlet

Verifying that the Oracle HTTP Server Is Running

Verifying that the Reports Servlet and Server are Running

Note:

The examples in this chapter use ORACLE_HOME to denote where Oracle Fusion Middleware is installed. This includes Oracle Reports Services.

6.1 Starting and Stopping Reports Server

The best way to run Reports Server is through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN). OPMN provides a centralized mechanism for initializing, maintaining, and shutting down your Oracle HTTP Server, Oracle WebLogic Server processes, and OracleAS Reports Services. For more information on configuring Reports Server through OPMN, see Section 8.8, "Configuring Reports Server with the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager"

Important:

You must start or stop a Reports Server registered with Oracle Enterprise Manager only through Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g or OPMN. OPMN automatically restarts Reports Server if it stops responding for some reason. OPMN runs as a Windows service on Windows.

In Oracle Reports, running Reports Server as Windows service is no longer supported (rwserver -install server_name). As a result, the related command line keywords INSTALL and UNINSTALL are obsolete. If you start or stop a Reports Server that is managed by OPMN running as a Windows service or through the command line, you may face the following issues:

Oracle Enterprise Manager may not accurately reflect the status of Reports Server and metrics information.

Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g may display errors when starting or stopping Reports Server.

For more information about the obsolescence of running Reports Server as a Windows service, see A Guide to Functional Changes Between Oracle Reports 6i and 10g on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN).

6.1.1 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Reports Servers from Oracle Enterprise Manager

When the standalone Reports Server is configured through OPMN, you can start, stop, and restart it through Oracle Enterprise Manager

Note:

The in-process server is available as part of wls_reports and thus registered with Oracle Enterprise Manager during installation of Oracle Application Server. If you add any Reports Servers after installing Oracle Application Server, you must register the new server(s) in the Oracle Enterprise Manager's targets.xml file and the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server's opmn.xml file. For more information, see Section 8.8, "Configuring Reports Server with the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager"

To start, stop, or restart a Reports Server:

From the Reports Server main page, navigate to Reports > Control menu, and select:

Start Up to start the server.

Shut Down.. to stop the server.

Restart... to restart the server.

6.1.2 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Reports Servers from the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server

Before you start the Oracle Reports Server with Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN), you must add the Server to OPMN, as shown in the following example:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl createcomponent -adminUsername weblogic -adminHost <host_name> -adminPort <port> -oracleHome <oracle_home -oracleInstance <instance_home> -instanceName <instancename> -componentName <bridge_name> -componentType ReportsServerComponent

You can use the following command lines to start, stop, and restart Reports Server if it was configured through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl startproc ias-component=reports_server_name
ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl startproc process-type=ReportsServerComponent
ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl stopproc ias-component=reports_server_name
ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl restartproc ias-component=reports_server_name

The Reports Server name must match the name in the ias-component id in the opmn.xml file.

You can also query the status of the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server, by using the following command:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl status

For more information on configuring Reports Server through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server, see Section 8.8, "Configuring Reports Server with the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager"

6.1.3 Alternative Methods of Starting and Stopping Reports Server

If you choose not to run Reports Server through OPMN and maintain it through Oracle Enterprise Manager, you can use these older methods of running Reports Server:

Starting the In-process Server (Windows and UNIX)

Starting Reports Server from a Command Line (Windows and UNIX)

Stopping Reports Server

Important:

Beginning with Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), running Reports Server as a Windows service is no longer supported, as mentioned at the beginning of this section.

6.1.3.1 Starting the In-process Server (Windows and UNIX)

If you are using Reports Server as an in-process server (the default configuration), sending a run report request starts the in-process server; however, if you are sending a request through a command line, the servlet must be invoked first using either the run report URL or the Web command URL. When you have successfully started the servlet, this also means you have successfully started the in-process server.

To directly start the in-process server from a URL, enter the following from your Web browser:

http://your_machine_name:your_port_num/reports/rwservlet/startserver

6.1.3.2 Starting Reports Server from a Command Line (Windows and Linux)

Before you start the Reports Server from command line, you must set the COMPONENT_CONFIG_DIRECTORY environment variable as follows:

COMPONENT_CONFIG_DIRECTORY=ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<reports_server_name>

To start Reports Server as a standalone server on Windows, use the following command:

rwserver server=server_name

Add the BATCH command line keyword to start up the server without displaying dialog boxes or messages.

rwserver server=server_name batch=yes

You can run this command on UNIX using the following syntax:

rwserver.sh server=server_name

Or:

rwserver.sh server=server_name batch=yes

Important:

If DISPLAY is not set, you must start Reports Server in batch mode (batch=yes).

For more information about removing DISPLAY and printer dependencies in UNIX systems, see Section 10.8.

For more information about the REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY environment variable, see Appendix B.

You can run this command from any directory as long as the shell script can be reached in your PATH environment variable.

6.1.3.3 Stopping Reports Server

There are several ways to stop Reports Server on Windows and UNIX, as follows:

If Reports Server is running on Windows through the rwserver executable, or on UNIX through a shell script, rwserver.sh, click Shutdown in the Reports Server dialog box.

If you are not running Reports Server from the command line, launch Oracle Enterprise Manager, and navigate to the Reports Server home page and from the Reports menu select Control > Shut Down...

If Reports Server is running as an in-process server through the Reports Servlet, issue the following URL:

http://your_host_name:port_number/reports/rwservlet/stopserver?authid=admin user/admin password

If Reports Server is running from a command line on Windows or UNIX, use any of the following commands, depending on how you want to shut down the Reports Server.

Note:

On UNIX, use rwserver.sh instead of rwserver.

Before you shut down the server, you must set the COMPONENT_CONFIG_DIRECTORY environment variable as follows:

COMPONENT_CONFIG_DIRECTORY=ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<reports_server_name>

To shut down the server normally (that is, finish pending jobs and then stop):

rwserver server=server shutdown=normal authid=username/password

To shut down the server immediately (that is, stop without finishing pendingjobs):

rwserver server=server shutdown=immediate authid=username/password

To shut down the server without displaying any related messages:

rwserver server=server shutdown=normal authid=username/password batch=yes

The keywords used with the rwserver command are described in Appendix A, "Command-Line Keywords"

Note:

authid is Reports Server's administration user name and password. In Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), the default security is based on standards-based Java EE security model through Oracle Platform Security Services. For a non-secure Reports Server, this user is defined in the identifier element. The following bullet contains more information on how to stop a non-secure Reports Server using the command line.

When you stop or shut down a non-secure Reports Server from the command line using either rwserver.sh or rwrqv.sh, you must provide a valid authid, which must match the value set in the identifier element in the server configuration file. However, the identifier element is set during Reports configuration while installing Oracle Application Server and encrypted by Reports Server. You can reset the identifier element to any value. If you have registered this Reports Server with Oracle Enterprise Manager and OPMN, you must also change the corresponding properties in targets.xml for Oracle Enterprise Manager integration to work. Perform the following steps:

In the non-secure Reports Server's configuration file, server_name.conf, modify the identifier element to specify the username/password and set the encrypted attribute to no. For example:

<identifier encrypted="no">scott/tiger</identifier>

Stop and restart Reports Server manually for the changes made to the server_name.conf file to take effect.

Note:

You must restart Reports Server for any configuration changes to take effect.

Reports Server will now encrypt the username/password value of the identifier element. After Reports Server reads the changes made in the server_name.conf, the following commands should execute successfully (with scott/tiger as the username/password):

./rwserver.sh server=server_name shutdown=normal authid=scott/tiger
./rwrqv.sh server=server_name shutdown=normal authid=scott/tiger

For Oracle Enterprise Manager integration, edit the targets.xml file (in $ORACLE_INSTANCE/EMAGENT/emagent_asinst_1/sysman/emd ) using any text editor, as follows:

Search for target with TYPE="oracle_repserv" and DISPLAY_NAME="Reports Server: server_name".

In the entry, set the UserName property and the Password property to the same user name and password as in the identifier element in the server_name.conf file. Set the ENCRYPTED attribute to FALSE for these two properties.

Restart Oracle Enterprise Manager for the changes to take effect.

You should now be able to stop and shut down a non-secure Reports Server using Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Note:

These steps are required only for a non-secure Reports Server and not for secure Reports Servers.

6.2 Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Bridge

The Oracle Reports bridge is used to connect two subnets. It acts as a gateway between Oracle Reports components running in different subnets.

Note:

In Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), the Oracle Reports bridge is integrated with Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g. Therefore, you can see the Oracle Reports bridge status or start and stop it from the Oracle Enterprise Manager.

For troubleshooting scenarios and diagnosis, see Appendix D, "Diagnosing Oracle Reports Bridge Problems".

6.2.1 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting the Oracle Reports Bridge from the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server

Before you can start the Oracle Reports bridge with Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN), you must add the bridge to OPMN, as shown in the following example:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl createcomponent -adminUsername weblogic -adminHost <host_name>  -adminPort <port> -oracleHome <oracle_home  -oracleInstance <instance_home> -instanceName <instancename> -componentName <bridge_name> -componentType ReportsBridgeComponent

To start the Oracle Reports bridge if it was configured through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN) Server, use either of the following commands:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl startproc ias-component=bridgename
ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl startproc process-type=ReportsBridgeComponent

To stop the Oracle Reports bridge, use the following command:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl stopproc ias-component=bridgename

To restart the Oracle Reports bridge, use the following command:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl restartproc ias-component=bridgename

The Oracle Reports bridge name must match the name in the ias-component id in the opmn.xml file.

You can also query the status of the Oracle Process Manager and Notification bridge, using the following command:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl status

For more information on configuring the Oracle Reports bridge through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server, see Section 8.8.1.3, "Oracle Reports Bridge Specification"

6.2.2 Starting and Stopping the Oracle Reports Bridge from the Command Line

It is recommended that you use Enterprise Manager or OPMN to start and stop Oracle Reports components.

You must set the following environment variable before you start or stop the Reports Bridge component:

COMPONENT_CONFIG_DIRECTORY=ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsBridgeComponent/<reports_bridge_name>

To start the Oracle Reports bridge from the command line, use the following commands:

On Windows:

rwbridge.bat name=bridgename

On UNIX:

rwbridge.sh name=bridgename

For example, to start an Oracle Reports bridge named foo on Windows, use the following command:

rwbridge.bat name=foo

For more information about the rwbridge executable, see Section A.2.7, "rwbridge"

Oracle Reports creates a configuration file, rwbridge.conf when the Oracle Reports bridge is started for the first time. This file is generated based on the settings in the rwbridge.template file and is located in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsBridgeComponent\bridge_name directory. Edit the rwbridge.conf file to specify remote Oracle Reports bridges to connect to other subnets.

Note:

You must restart the Oracle Reports bridge for any configuration changes to take effect.

To stop an Oracle Reports bridge, use the following command:

On Windows:

rwbridge.bat name=bridgename shutdown=normal authid=username/password

On UNIX:

rwbridge.sh name=bridgename shutdown=normal authid=username/password

For example, to stop an Oracle Reports bridge named foo on UNIX, use the following command:

rwbridge.sh name=foo shutdown= normal authid=scott/tiger

In the configuration file, repbrg_bridgename.conf, modify the identifier element to specify the username/password and set the encrypted attribute to no. This is to indicate that the password is not encrypted. This password will be encrypted once the Oracle Reports bridge is started.

For example:

<identifier encrypted="no">scott/tiger</identifier>

Usage Notes

If the identifier element is commented, then it is possible to stop the Oracle Reports bridge without specifying authid

It is not possible to stop the Oracle Reports bridge remotely.

For more information see, Section 8.2.1.19, "identifier"

6.3 Starting Reports Components After Shutting Down an Instance

When a Reports instance is shut down, you can bring up the Reports components as follows.

6.3.1 Starting Reports Servlet

To start Reports Servlet in an expand cluster, complete the following steps:

Start the Node Manager.

From your present working directory, run the following command:

cd $FMW_HOME/wlserver_10.3/server/bin

Set the ORACLE_HOME environment variable to your Oracle Home directory

Set the TNS_ADMIN environment variable to your TNS_ADMIN directory.

Set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable on the command line as follows:

setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH $ORACLE_HOME/jdk/jre/lib/i386:$ORACLE_HOME/jdk/jre/lib/i386/server:$ORACLE_HOME/jdk/jre/lib/i386/native_threads:$ORACLE_HOME/lib32:$ORACLE_HOME/lib:/usr/X11R6/lib:/usr/openwin/lib:

Run the following command:

./startNodeManager.sh

Start the Admin Server.

From your present working directory, run the following command:

cd $FMW_HOME/user_projects/domains/<domain_name>/bin

Run the following command to start the admin server:

./startWebLogic.sh

Start WLS_REPORTS from the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

Log in to the WebLogic Server Administration Console. (http://host:7001/console).

From the Domain Structure section in the left navigation pane, select Environment > Servers.The Summary of Servers screen is displayed. Click the Control tab.

Select the WLS_REPORTS check box and click Start.

From the Domain Structure section in the left navigation pane, select Deployments.

The Summary of Deployments screen is displayed.

Click Next to navigate to the screen that lists the Reports Application.

Click Start.

6.3.2 Starting Reports Standalone Server

To start the Reports standalone server, complete the following steps:

From your present working directory, run the following command:

cd $ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin.

Enter the following command:

opmnctl startall

All Reports components, including the Reports Standalone server, are started.

6.4 Starting and Stopping the COS Naming Service

The Common Object Service (COS) naming service orbd, provided by Sun Microsystem's JDK, can be used for Reports Server discovery instead of the default broadcast mechanism. Refer to the JavaIDL page on Sun Microsystem's Web site (http://java.sun.com) for more details on the orbd executable.

To start the naming service, use the following commands:

On Windows:

namingservice.bat port_number

On UNIX:

namingservice.sh port_number

To use OPMN to control the naming service, refer to Section 8.8.1.4, "COS Naming Service Specification"

6.5 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Oracle Reports Components Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

All start and stop operations on Oracle Reports components can be performed using Oracle Enterprise Manager. Refer to Section 7.4, "Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Oracle Reports Components".

6.6 Starting and Stopping the In-process Reports Server Using Oracle Reports Servlet

If you are using Reports Server as an in-process Reports Server (the default configuration), sending a run report request starts the in-process Reports Server. However, if you are sending a request through a command line, Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) must be started first using either the run report URL or the Web command URL. When you have successfully started rwservlet, you have successfully started the in-process Reports Server.

You can also start an In-process Reports server through Enterprise Manager:

Navigate to the Reports application page in Oracle Enterprise Manager

From the Reports menu, select Monitoring > Start Reports Application.

The Reports application is started.

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Start In-process Reports Server.

The In-process Reports server is started.

To directly start or stop the in-process Reports Server using a URL, enter the following in your Web browser:

http://machine_name:port/reports/rwservlet/startserver
http://machine_name:port/reports/rwservlet/stopserver

6.7 Verifying that the Oracle HTTP Server Is Running

OracleAS Reports Services depends upon the Oracle HTTP Server component. Before starting Reports Server through Oracle Enterprise Manager or OPMN, you must verify that your Oracle HTTP Server is running. For more information about performing this task in Oracle Enterprise Manager, refer to your Oracle Enterprise Manager documentation.

Alternatively, you can verify that the Oracle HTTP Server is running, in your browser, by navigating to the following URL:

http://server_name.domain:port_number/

6.8 Verifying that the Reports Servlet and Server are Running

To verify that the Reports Servlet is running, navigate to the following URL:

http://your_machine_name.domain_name:your_port_number/reports/rwservlet/help

Note that the URL is case sensitive. If this URL executes successfully, you should get a help page describing the rwservlet command line arguments.

To verify that Reports Server is running, navigate to the following URL:

http://your_machine_name.domain_name:your_port_number/reports/rwservlet/getserverinfo?server=server_name

The server=server_name argument is not required if you are using the default Reports Server name (rep_machine_name) or the Reports Server specified in the servlet configuration file, rwservlet.properties ($DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration). If this URL executes successfully, you should see a listing of the job queue for the specified Reports Server.

Note:

You'll find more information about the servlet configuration file in Section 8.3, "Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File".

Part II

Administering Oracle Reports Services

Part II provides information about administering Oracle Reports Services:

Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager"

Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services"

7 Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) is integrated with Oracle WebLogic Server, which results in simpler administration of complex topology and deployments. You can manage and monitor Oracle Reports components using either:

Oracle Enterprise Manager, included with Oracle Fusion Middleware (recommended).

Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN)

This chapter describes how to manage and monitor Oracle Reports components using Oracle Enterprise Manager. It includes the following main sections:

What's New In This Release?

Configuring Reports Server for Oracle Enterprise Manager

Viewing the Component Topology

Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Oracle Reports Components

Configuring Oracle Reports Components

Defining Oracle Enterprise Manager Administration Roles

Administering and Scheduling Jobs

Securing Oracle Reports Services

Managing Fonts

Monitoring Performance

Managing Log Files

Modifying Reports Server Audit Configuration

Registering Pluggable Destinations with Reports Server

Configuring Proxy Information

Managing and Monitoring a Reports High Availability (HA) Solution

About the Oracle Fusion Middleware System MBean Browser

Modifying Reports Configuration Settings Using the System MBean Browser

Diagnosing Issues

Note:

Where needed, Oracle Reports Services pages in Oracle Enterprise Manager include context-sensitive Help topics that provide more information about the items on those pages. Click the Help icon to display the corresponding help topic.

See Also:

For more information on Oracle Enterprise Manager, refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide, available on the Oracle Fusion Middleware documentation CD.

7.1 What's New In This Release?

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides significant enhancements to Oracle Enterprise Manager, including pages to administer and configure Oracle Reports Services through the Oracle Enterprise Manager user interface, rather than by editing configuration files, as summarized in Table 7-1 (a subset of Table 1-1, "11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality"):

Table 7-1 11g Oracle Enterprise Manager Features vs. 10g Functionality

11g New Features
Equivalent 10g Functionality

Monitoring and Management

New rich and customizable Oracle Enterprise Manager user interface, providing:

Navigation pane showing hierarchical view of complete Farm and all components.

New pages for Oracle Reports to perform comprehensive administration, management, configuration, tuning, and diagnostics of complete reporting environment.

Large number of metrics for monitoring and tuning.

Administration dashboard for instant access to start, stop, restart, grouping, servlet, plug-in registration, and more.

Significant reduction of configuration parameters, and categorization.

Extensive real-time and historical performance metrics.

Reports Server auditing.

Oracle Internet Directory reassociation

Portal metadata repository and association.

Direct access to documentation and collateral from Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Enterprise Manager Application Server (AS) Control and manually editing configuration files.

New trend graphs, key statistics. Anticipation of common problems with early symptoms.

N/A

Job Administration and Scheduling

For more information, see Section 7.7, "Administering and Scheduling Jobs".

Advanced job queue administration. Comprehensive job queue management user interface in Oracle Enterprise Manager (search and filters, resubmit the job, view errors, and more).

Basic job queue user interface.

Rich calendar-based scheduling user interface. Comprehensive Reports Server job scheduling in Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Reports job scheduling done through Oracle Reports Queue Manager (rwrqm), Oracle Portal user interface, or command line only.

Security

For more information, see Section 7.8, "Securing Oracle Reports Services".

Oracle Enterprise Manager advanced user interface. Administrators can use Oracle Enterprise Manager to more easily define and manage granular security policies for reports, Web commands, and folder access.

Basic UI in OracleAS Portal for defining the policies. Hard-coded Web command access to the Oracle Reports seeded roles. Access policies at file (report) level only, not folder level.

7.2 Configuring Reports Server for Oracle Enterprise Manager

Reports Server is automatically registered with Oracle Enterprise Manager during installation of Oracle Fusion Middleware.

If you add any Reports Servers or other Oracle Reports components after installing Oracle Fusion Middleware, do the following:

Restart the WLS_REPORTS managed server by stopping it and and start it again. This is necessary for completing registration of the new Reports Server configuration MBeans.

Refresh the Oracle Enterprise Manager page to make the new Oracle Reports components available in Oracle Enterprise Manager.

7.3 Viewing the Component Topology

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides better framework to view the topology of the components.

To view the topology of the instance in Oracle Enterprise Manager:

In the target navigation pane, view the complete Farm and all components in a hierarchical view.

In the target navigation pane, under the Farm node, expand Farm_ClassicDomain > Reports and click the Reports Application, Reports Bridge, Reports Server, or Reports Tools component nodes to display their home pages.

When you select a target, such as a Reports component, the target's home page is displayed in the content pane and the target's menu is displayed at the top. Alternatively, you can right-click on the target to view its menu.

7.4 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Oracle Reports Components

To start, stop, and restart Oracle Reports components:

Navigate to the component's home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Control to view the status history of the component, and activate Start Up, Shut Down.., or Restart...

To start, stop, and restart in-process servers:

Navigate to the component's home page and select reports (Managed_Server_Name) > Administration > Start /Stop /Restart In-process Reports Server.

7.5 Configuring Oracle Reports Components

Beginning in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), it is recommended that configuration should be done only through Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager and JMX Console, you can view and update configuration using the following menu selections in Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Table 7-2 Configuration Menu Selections

Select
To Display

Reports > Administration > Basic Configuration

Reports Server Basic Configuration page.

Reports > Administration > Advanced Configuration

Reports Server Advanced Configuration page. Includes Help icon for detailed page information.

Reports > Administration > Forms/Reports Common Configuration

Forms Reports Common Component Configuration page (rwbuilder, rwserver, rwrun, and font/printer related information).

In target navigation pane, Farm_ClassicDomain > Reports > Reports Tools component node

Reports Tools Component Configuration page (rwbuilder, rwrun, rwclient, rwconv, rwrqm configuration file info, rwnetwork configuration file info, and PDS info).

Reports Bridge > Administration > Bridge Configuration

Reports Bridge Configuration page.

On Reports Application page, for example reports (WLS_REPORTS): Reports > Administration > Basic Configuration

Reports Application Basic Configuration page.

On Reports Application page, for example reports (WLS_REPORTS): Reports > Administration > Advanced Configuration

Reports Application Advanced Configuration page. Includes Help icon for detailed page information.

On Reports Server home page:

Reports > Logs > Log Configuration

Reports Server Log Configuration page.

On Reports Tools home page:

Reports > Logs > Log Configuration

Reports Tools Log Configuration page.

On Reports Application home page:
Reports > Logs > Log Configuration

Reports Application Log Configuration page.

On Reports Bridge home page:
Reports Bridge> Logs > Log Configuration

Reports Bridge Log Configuration page.

Note:

For those pages that include a Help icon, click the Help icon to access the page-level help. Complete the elements on the page using the descriptions in the Help topic for the page.

While you are accessing the Reports application configuration pages in Enterprise Manager, if an application is shut down from Enterprise Manager, you may see an error message that states that the Reports configuration Mbeans are not found. This message is displayed because the Reports configuration Mbeans are not available when an application is down. When you refresh the page or return to the page again, Enterprise Manager displays a user-friendly message about the Reports application being down and the inability of Enterprise Manager to edit the configuration of the applilcation. When you start the Reports application again, the editing of its configuration becomes possible.

Starting with the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11.1.1.3.0 release, the version of the Reports application in Enterprise Manager is shown as reports (11.1.1.2.0) (WLS_REPORTS).

7.5.1 Configuring a Mail Server

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides the option to configure the Mail Server element from Enterprise Manager. To configure the Mail Server element, complete the following steps:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Server Home Page.

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Basic Configuration

The Reports Server Basic Configuration page is displayed.

In the Reports Server Parameters content pane, enter the name of the mail server in the Mail Server field.

If the mail server is secured, enter the SSL port number in the Mail Server Port field.

Select the Enable SSL for Mail Server checkbox if the mail server is secure.

Enter the mail server username and CSF key of the password in the Mail Server Username and Mail Server Password fields, respectively.

Click Apply.

7.6 Defining Oracle Enterprise Manager Administration Roles

In 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Oracle Enterprise Manager supports three kinds of administration roles: Administrator, Operator, and Monitor. An Administrator role has full privilege for performing any operations, including security-related operations. Whereas, an Operator has a few privileges and the monitor has a limited set of privileges. If a user doesn't have permission, the functionality is either invisible or greyed out.

7.7 Administering and Scheduling Jobs

The improved user interface in Oracle Enterprise Manager provides advanced job queue management (search and filters, resubmit the job, view errors, and more), as well as rich calendar-based scheduling for Reports Server jobs.

Displaying Jobs

Displaying a Consolidated Job Queue

Performing Operations on Jobs

Scheduling Jobs

7.7.1 Displaying Jobs

To retrieve information about one or more jobs (for example, status, errors for failed jobs, trace information):

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Server Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Reports Jobs > Jobs Page.

The Jobs page displays for the category of jobs selected in the Show list.

From the Show list, select the category of jobs you want to view (for example, Failed Jobs).

Enter desired information in the Owner, Output Type, and Output Format fields to customize the list of jobs displayed.

7.7.2 Displaying a Consolidated Job Queue

New in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) is the database-based shared job repository, which provides the ability to display a consolidated view of job queues using Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Server Home page of any Reports Server that participates in a high availability (HA) group.

From the Reports menu, select Reports Jobs > Jobs Page.

The Jobs page displays for the category of jobs selected in the Show list.

From the Show list, select Finished Jobs.

From the Output Format list, select either a Reports Server name (to view the jobs for that Reports Server), or the group name (to view the jobs for all Reports Servers in the group.

You can also use rwservlet and the SHOWJOBS Web command to display a consolidated job queue, as shown in Section A.8.8, "SHOWJOBS".

Note:

By default, the jobs of all the nodes that are participating in the high availability (HA) configuration are shown. This makes it easy to administer the consolidated job queue (for example, for killing a particular job, or getting the information about a job). The administrator does not have to view the job queues for each Reports Server separately.

It is possible to see the jobs of a particular Reports Server by choosing the server name in the drop-down list. It does not matter which node the load balancer directs the request to, you can always see the job information of any Reports Server participating in the group, even if one or more of the Reports Servers in the group are down. This is made possible by the database-based shared job repository. Additionally, each of the Reports Servlets (corresponding to each in-process Reports Server) contains the list of the other in-process Reports Servers that are part of the HA scenario.

7.7.3 Performing Operations on Jobs

To perform operations on jobs, such as resubmitting (retrying) a job:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Server Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Reports Jobs > Jobs Page.

The Jobs page displays for the category of jobs selected in the Show list.

Select Finished Jobs to list all the finished jobs with full information about the finished job.

Perform any available operation on any job.

For example, select a finished job and click Rerun Report to rerun the job.

Note:

When you try to perform a Reports operation from Oracle Enterprise Manager, ensure that the id store used by the Reports server contains the same user name/password that you used to log in to Enterprise Manager.

7.7.4 Scheduling Jobs

To define job scheduling options:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to Reports Server Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Reports Jobs > Schedule New Job.

The Reports Job Scheduler page displays.

Complete the elements using the descriptions in the Help topic for the page. Click the Help icon on the page to access the page-level help.

Note:

For elements that specify a time, the time will automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time (DST), if necessary. For example, if a job is scheduled to run daily at 5:00 a.m., it will run at that time beginning with the scheduled start date, and adjusting when DST begins or ends so that it will continue to run at 5:00 a.m. as expected. Time entries in past jobs queue are not modified (for example, job enqueue time, start time, finish time).

Click Submit to schedule a job.

Navigate to the Scheduled Jobs page (see Section 7.7.1, "Displaying Jobs") and notice the newly scheduled job in the list.

Note:

If you select a scheduled job and click Edit, you can change the options for the scheduled job. When you click Submit, the message Job Id nnn has been re-scheduled successfully displays. Oracle Enterprise Manager cancels the original scheduled job and moves it to the Failed Jobs queue, and creates a new scheduled job with the modified parameters. The new job has a different job ID than the original job.

7.8 Securing Oracle Reports Services

In 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Reports Server is secure out-of-the-box using the Oracle Platform Security Services, which accomplishes both authentication and authorization. Oracle Reports uses this Java EE-based security model to allow you to create security policies for running report jobs and Web commands.

In prior releases, Reports Server authentication was restricted to use only Oracle Internet Directory. Authorization of Reports Server required an Oracle Portal-based security model (using Portal metadata repository for checking authorization). If you want to revert to the security mechanism of prior releases, refer to Section 7.8.1.1, "Switching to Oracle Portal Security".

In Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), administrators can use Oracle Enterprise Manager to more easily define and manage granular security policies and file system access:

Enabling and Disabling Security

Defining Security Policies for Reports

Defining Security Policies for Directories

Defining Security Policies for Web Commands

Defining Read/Write Access to Directories

Enabling and Disabling Single Sign-On

Using Oracle Access Manager

Managing Credentials

7.8.1 Enabling and Disabling Security

To enable or disable security for the Reports Server or Reports Application:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the component's home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Advanced Configuration page is displayed.

In the Reports Security region, check or uncheck Enable Security.

7.8.1.1 Switching to Oracle Portal Security

The steps for deploying reports in Oracle Portal is the same in 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) as in prior releases, as described in Chapter 16, "Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal". However, the security mechanism underlying the deployment has changed. In that, authorization is enabled out of the box, but during installation if only Oracle Internet Directory is specified and Portal is not installed, authorization using Oracle Portal is disabled. The default installation of 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) accomplishes both authentication and authorization through Oracle Platform Security Services

You can continue to use the security features in Oracle Portal from prior releases for backward compatibility. To switch from the new 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) Oracle Platform Security Services to pre-11g Oracle Portal metadata repository-based security:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Server Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Server Advanced Configuration page is displayed.

In the Reports Security section, check Enable Security, then select Security features available through Oracle Portal.

Click Apply.

Note:

If you enable Oracle Portal security features, then Oracle Portal must also be configured during installation for authorization to occur:

If Oracle Portal is configured during installation, authentication is accomplished using the Oracle Internet Directory and authorization is accomplished using Oracle Portal (which stores authorization policies).

If Oracle Portal is not configured during installation, authentication is accomplished using the Oracle Internet Directory and authorization does not occur.

7.8.2 Defining Security Policies for Reports

As administrator, you can specify the reports to which a particular user/role has access by creating security policies for each report. In the security policy, you can also specify the server, destination name (desname), destination type (destype), and other parameters. An authenticated user is authorized against these security policies.

To define security policies for reports for Reports Server or Reports Application (in-process Reports Server):

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the component Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Manage Reports Security Policies > Reports Policies.

Click Create or Edit.

The Security Policy Configuration for Reports page is displayed.

Enter appropriate values for the elements on the page to define a security policy for directory access using the descriptions in the Help topic for the page.

Click the Help icon on the page to access the page-level help.

Perform the following to complete the elements on the page,

From the Server Name parameter checkbox, select one or more servers to which the security policy has to be applied. If you want to apply the security policy to all servers, select All.

In the Reports Definition Files or Directories parameter, enter one or more report definition file names or the directories for which you are defining security policies. For example, to specify a directory, enter: /myreports/runtime/reports/*. Separate multiple entries with a comma (,).

Click OK.

All fields on this page require a restart to take effect.

Run a report as the specified role and other roles to test that security policies for authentication and authorization are enforced as you have defined. For example, run a report from your browser using the following URLs:

http://host:port/reports/rwservlet?report=report_name.rdf&destype=cache&desformat=html&userid=user/password@mydb&server=ReportsServer_instancename

http://host:port/reports/rwservlet?report=report_name.rdf&userid=user/password@mydb&destype=file&desformat=pdf&desname=report_name.pdf

where

host is the machine where the Oracle Instance is set up

port is the OHS main port

Note:

The security policies defined in Oracle Enterprise Manager are stored in the policy store configured by the user. The idstore contains information on the users and the policy store contains the security policies configured by the user.

7.8.3 Defining Security Policies for Directories

In certain cases, you will want to give a particular user access to multiple related reports. Rather than specify a security policy for each report, you can collect all the reports in a single directory, then specify a security policy for the directory. Again, the security policy is checked when the user provides the user name and password.

As an example, imagine that there are 15 finance reports, for which you want to give access to the FINANCE role, and there are 12 Human Resources reports for which you want to give access to the HR role. Rather than specify 15 security policies for FINANCE role, and 12 policies for HR role (one policy per report), you can collect all finance reports in one directory, and collect all the HR reports in another directory, then specify only 2 policies (one per directory). Instead of specifying the report name, you will specify the directory name in the security policy.

To define a security policy for directories:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Server Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Manage Reports Security Policies > Reports Policies.

Click Create or Edit.

The Security Policy Configuration for Reports page is displayed.

Enter appropriate values for the elements on the page to define a security policy for directory access using the descriptions in the Help topic for the page.

Click the Help icon on the page to access the page-level help.

Perform the following to complete the elements on the page,

From the Server Name parameter checkbox, select one or more servers to which the security policy has to be applied. If you want to apply the security policy to all servers, select All.

In the Reports Definition Files or Directories parameter, enter one or more report definition file names or the directories for which you are defining security policies. For example, to specify a directory, enter: /myreports/runtime/reports/*. Separate multiple entries with a comma (,).

Click OK.

All fields in this page require a restart to take effect.

Now, to use the defined directory access control at the Reports Server level, refer to Section 7.8.1, "Enabling and Disabling Security" to confirm that security is turned on.

Note:

The security policies defined in Oracle Enterprise Manager are stored in the policy store configured by the user. The idstore contains information on the users and the policy store contains the security policies configured by the user.

7.8.4 Defining Security Policies for Web Commands

You can also specify the Web commands to which a particular user/role has access by creating security policies for each Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) Web command. The security policy is checked when the user provides the user name and password.

To define security policies for Web commands:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Application Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Manage Reports Security Policies > Web Command Policies.

Click Create or Edit to enter appropriate values for the elements on the page.

The Security Policy Configuration for Web Commands page is displayed.

Enter appropriate values for the elements on the page to define a web command security policy using the descriptions in the Help topic for the page.

Click the Help icon on the page to access the page-level help.

Perform the following steps to complete the elements on the page,

From the Server Name parameter checkbox, select one or more servers to which the security policy has to be applied. If you want to apply the security policy to all servers, select All.

From the Web Commands parameter checkbox, select one or more Web commands authorized for the specified servers and grantees. If you want to specify all Web commands, select All.

Click OK.

All fields on this page require restart to take effect.

Run a report as the specified role and other roles to test that security policies for authentication and authorization are enforced as you have defined. For example, run the showjobs Web command from your browser using the following URL:

http://host:port/reports/rwservlet/showjobs?server=ReportsServer_instancename

where,

host is the machine where the Oracle Instance is set up.

port is the OHS port.

Note:

The security policies defined in Oracle Enterprise Manager are stored in the policy store configured by the user. The idstore contains information on the users and the policy store contains the security policies configured by the user.

7.8.5 Defining Read/Write Access to Directories

As an administrator, you can specify read/write access for Reports Server, Reports Application (in-process Reports Server), or Oracle Reports Runtime to directories. This feature only checks whether Reports Server, Reports Application, or Oracle Reports Runtime is authorized to read from or write to a specified directory, and is unrelated to security policies that check the user name and password.

Read access. To avoid the security issue of exposing sensitive content of files, you can specify the directories from which Reports Server, Reports Application, or Oracle Reports Runtime is allowed to read.

For example, a malicious user may specify the following keywords to run a report on Windows:

distribute=yes&destination=C:\Temp

This would generate an error stating that there was an error in the syntax of the file. To avoid this, enable file system access control to specify read directories that do not include system directories.

Write access. To avoid the security issue of a malicious user potentially overwriting a system file by sending report output to a system directory, you can specify the directories to which Reports Server, Reports Application, or Oracle Reports Runtime is allowed to write. Attempts to write to other directories will return an error.

For example, a user may run a report to the following destination on Windows:

desname=C:\Temp

This would overwrite a system file unless file system access control was enabled to specify write directories that do not include system directories.

To define read/write access to directories for Reports Server, Reports Application, or Oracle Reports Runtime:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the component's home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Advanced Configuration page displays.

In the File System Access Control section, check Enable File System Access Control, then enter the names of the Read Directories and Write Directories to which Reports Server, Reports Application, or Oracle Reports Runtime should have access. These entries set the read and write sub-elements of the folderaccess element in the configuration file.

Read Directories: To avoid the security issue of exposing sensitive content of files, enter the names of the directories from which Reports Server is allowed to read. Separate directory names with a semicolon (;).

Write Directories: Enter the names of the directories to which Reports Server is allowed to write. Attempts to write to other folders will return an error.

7.8.6 Enabling and Disabling Single Sign-On

If you plan to take advantage of Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On, you can use Oracle Enterprise Manager to set the SINGLESIGNON parameter in the rwservlet.properties configuration file. SINGLESIGNON=YES by default on installation. For more information about Single Sign-On, refer to Chapter 17, "Configuring and Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On".

To enable Single Sign-On:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Application Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Application Advanced Configuration page displays.

In the Reports Security section, check Enable Single Sign-On.

Click Apply.

7.8.7 Using Oracle Access Manager

Oracle Access Manager is a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware that you can use in place of OracleAS Single Sign-On 10g to implement centralized authentication, policy-based authorizations, delegated administration, and so on.

You can use the Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Assistant to upgrade from OracleAS Single Sign-On 10g to Oracle Access Manager 11g. For more information about upgrading to Oracle Access Manager 11g, see the "Upgrading Your Oracle Single Sign-On Environment" chapter in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Identity Management.

7.8.8 Managing Credentials

This section explains how to use the oracle Enterprise Manager to manage credentials in a domain credential store.

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager and navigate to WebLogic Domain > Security > Credentials, to display the Credentials page.

Use the button Delete to remove a selected item (key or map) in the table. Note that deleting a credential map, deletes all keys in it. Similarly, use the button Edit to view or modify the data in a selected item.

To display credentials matching a given key name, enter the string to match in the box Credential Key Name, and then click the blue button to the right of it. The result of the query is displayed in the table.

To redisplay the list of credentials after examining the results of a query, select WebLogic Domain > Security > Credentials.

To add a new key to a credential map:

Click Create Map to display the Create Map dialog.

In this dialog, enter the name of the map for the credential being created.

Click OK to return to the Credentials page. The new credential map name is displayed with a folder icon in the table.

Note:

In CSF, the Reports Server can access credentials only from the Reports folder, hence you must create credentials under the Reports folder.

To add a new key to a credential map:

Click Create Key to display the Create Key dialog.

In this dialog, select a map from the pull-down list Select Map where the new key will be inserted, enter a key in the text box Key, select a type from the pull-down list Type (the appearance of the dialog changes according to the type selected), enter the required data.

Click OK when finished to return to the Credentials page. The new key is shown under the map icon corresponding to the map you selected.

For more information about Reassociating the Credential Store, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide.

7.9 Managing Fonts

In Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), administrators can use Oracle Enterprise Manager to simplify configuring fonts and diagnosing font issues:

Configuring Fonts

Diagnosing Font Issues

For more information about fonts, refer to Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports".

7.9.1 Configuring Fonts

To configure font subsetting and aliasing information:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the component's home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Forms/Reports Common Configuration.

The Forms Reports Common Component Configuration page displays.

Use the Screenprinter Definition Parameters (Default Resolution and Default Font) to modify the screenprinter.ppd file.

Use the Printer Configuration and Font Configuration sections to modify the uifont.ali.

For more information about fonts, refer to Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports".

7.9.2 Diagnosing Font Issues

To diagnose issues with fonts in your report output:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the component's home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Advanced Configuration page displays.

In the Diagnostics section, change the Log Options to TRACE:1 and click Apply.

Run your report again.

From the Reports menu, select Log > View Log Messages to view the log messages.

7.10 Monitoring Performance

Oracle Enterprise Manager uses Dynamic Monitoring Service (DMS) metrics service to allow you to easily monitor the performance metrics and Reports Server information:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the component's home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

Examine the Reports Engines statistics table for detailed information about the engines that are running in Reports Server. This table provides information about the number of jobs that are running in that engine, process ID, running and idle time, and remaining life of the engine. The Reports Engines statistics table is shown on the Reports Server Home page and the Reports Application Home page.

Examine the Response and Load chart for an overall picture of the load.

To view scheduled jobs status:

From the Reports menu, select Reports Jobs > Jobs Page.

In the Show list, select Scheduled Jobs.

Examine the page for additional information about the scheduled jobs.

To view Oracle Reports performance:

From the Reports menu, select Monitoring > Performance Summary.

The Performance Summary page displays, showing metrics such as Average Response Time, Job Load, and Failed Jobs Ratio.

Click Show Metric Palette to display all metrics available.

Additionally, many new metrics are available in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1). Refer to the online help for detailed descriptions of each of the available metrics.

7.10.1 Problems Viewing Reports Metrics When Reports is Configured for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

When you use Oracle Enterprise Manager to monitor an instance of Oracle Reports that has been configured to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), some performance metrics for Oracle Reports may not display.

To correct this problem, you must allow Oracle Enterprise Manager to recognize the Certificate Authority that was used by the website to support HTTPS. You must add the Certificate of that Certificate Authority to the list of Certificate Authorities recognized by Oracle Enterprise Manager.

To configure Oracle Enterprise Manager to recognize the Certificate Authority:

Obtain the Certificate of the Web Site's Certificate Authority, as follows:

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, connect to the HTTPS URL of the application server you are attempting to monitor.

Double-click the lock icon at the bottom of the browser screen, which indicates that you have connected to a secure website.

The browser displays the Certificate dialog box, which describes the Certificate used for this website. Other browsers offer a similar mechanism to view the Certificate detail of a web Site.

Click the Certificate Path tab and select the first entry in the list of certificates.

Click View Certificate to display a second Certificate dialog box.

Click the Details tab on the Certificate window.

Click Copy to File to display the Certificate Manager Export wizard.

In the Certificate Manager Export wizard, select Base64 encoded X.509 (.CER) as the format you want to export and save the certificate to a text file with an easily-identifiable name, such as reports_certificate.cer.

Open the certificate file using your favorite text editor.

The content of the certificate file will look similar to the content shown in Example 7-2.

Update the list of Certificate Authorities, as follows:

Locate the b64InternetCertificate.txt file in the following directory:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/EMAGENT/<emagent_name>/sysman/config/b64InternetCertificate.txt

This file contains a list of Base64 Certificates.

Edit the b64InternetCertificate.txt file and add the contents of the Certificate file you just exported to the end of the file, taking care to include all the Base64 text of the Certificate including the BEGIN and END lines.

Copy the text file that contains the certificate to any location. You must specify this location when running the orapki utility.

Use the orapki utility to update the monwallet Oracle wallet by using the following command:

ORACLE_HOME/bin/orapki wallet add

-pwd <password>

-wallet ORACLE_INSTANCE/EMAGENT/<emagent_name>/sysman/config/monwallet

-trusted_cert

-cert certificate_location

When you are prompted for a password, enter the password for the monwallet wallet. The default password is welcome.

In the example, replace certificate_location with the full path to the text file that contains the certificate you saved earlier in this procedure. For example:

/dua0/oracle/reports_certificate.cer

In the ORACLE_INSTANCE/EMAGENT/emagent_name/sysman/emd/targets.xml file, for oracle_repapp, oracle_repserv targets, change http references to https and http port references to https port, as in Example 7-1.

Example 7-1 Changing HTTP References

Change:

<Property NAME="HTTPPort" VALUE="<http port>"/><Property NAME="HTTPProtocol" VALUE="http"/><Property NAME="Servlet" VALUE="http://host.domain.com:<httpport>/reports/rwservlet"/>

to the following:

<Property NAME="HTTPPort" VALUE="<https port>"/><Property NAME="HTTPProtocol" VALUE="https"/><Property NAME="Servlet" VALUE="https://host.domain.com:<httpsport>/reports/rwservlet"/>

Bounce Enterprise Manager Agent by running the following commands:

./opmnctl stopproc ias-component=emagent_name

./opmnctl startproc ias-component=emagent_name

Restart Enterprise Manager.

After you restart Oracle Enterprise Manager, it detects your addition to the list of Certificate Authorities, and you can successfully monitor the Oracle Reports metrics using the secure Oracle Enterprise Manager Console.

Example 7-2 Example Content of an Exported Certificate

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----MIIDBzCCAnCgAwIBAgIQTs4NcImNY3JAs5edi/5RkTANBgk... base64 certificate content ...------END CERTIFICATE------

7.11 Managing Log Files

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides improved diagnosability through logging and tracing enhancements.

All Oracle Reports log files follow Oracle Diagnostic Logging (ODL) format, the standard across Oracle Fusion Middleware, for log format, message types, and log management directives. The log file entries are in Text format (default) or XML format. For detailed information, refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

For information about log file enhancements, see Section 24.3.2, "Log Files"

Note:

If you change the log path for the in-process server engine (that is, oracle.reports.engine logger), ensure that you make similar changes in the logmetadata.xml file. This file resides in the same directory as logging.xml.

7.11.1 Viewing and Searching Log Files

To view and search log files in Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the desired component's home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology"): Reports Server, Reports Application, Reports Bridge, or Reports Tools.

From the Reports menu, select Logs > View Log Messages.

The Oracle Enterprise Manager Log Messages page is displayed.

View the trend metrics; that is, how many errors of each type (Incident Error, Error, Warning, Notification, Trace) have been logged in the log files for the component.

Use the search options available in the page to search inside log files with various parameters, such as specific message type or time duration.

To modify the information logged in log files to diagnose issues, see Section 7.18.1, "Specifying Logging Information".

7.11.2 Configuring Log Levels

To configure Log Levels in Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the component's home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Logs > Log Configuration.

The Log Configuration page is displayed.

Select the Log Levels tab

Select the appropriate log level for each Logger Name from the ODL Level drop-down list.

Click Apply

7.11.3 Editing Log Files

To edit the log files in Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the component's home page

From the Reports menu, select Logs > Log Configuration

The Log Configuration page is displayed

Select the Log Files tab

From the list of log files that is displayed, select the file which you want to edit

Click Edit Configuration...

The Edit Log File pop-up window is displayed

Edit the required parameters.

Click OK

Note:

If you change the Log File Format in the Edit Log File window, you must change the file extension in the *Log Path field, or manually delete the existing content from the log file. Therefore, the same diagnostic log file does not contain messages of different formats.

7.12 Modifying Reports Server Audit Configuration

To modify Reports Server Audit Configuration in Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to Domain Home page

From the WebLogic Domain menu, click Security > Audit Policy.

From the Audit Level drop-down list, select Custom.

Select ReportsServer and click the plus (+) symbol to expand the User Sessions and Authorization node to edit the corresponding configuration settings.

7.13 Registering Pluggable Destinations with Reports Server

To register a pluggable destination with Reports Server:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Server Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Server Advanced Configuration page displays.

In the Reports Pluggable Destinations section, enter appropriate Name and Class values for the new pluggable destination.

For example, to register the SecurePDF pluggable destination:

Name: SecurePDF

Class: oracle.reports.plugin.destination.securepdf.SecurePdfDestination

Click Add Destination, then click Apply.

This adds the new destination element to the Reports Server configuration file (rwserver.conf), which adds the specified destination to the Report Server's list of valid destinations for report output.

You can also click Add to add the properties for the destination in the Registered properties.

Note:

The jars where pluggable destination classes are available must be available in the REPORTS_CLASSPATH environment variable, or in the WebLogic Server classpath (in case of in-process servers)

7.14 Configuring Proxy Information

Some features of Oracle Reports Services support retrieving or sending information through a firewall. For example, the URL engine, the XML data source, the Text data source, and the mail destination features all retrieve or send information through the firewall. For these features to function properly, Reports Server requires certain proxy information.

To specify proxy information:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Server or Reports Application Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Advanced Configuration page displays.

On the Advanced Configuration page, set proxy hosts and ports available for various protocols, such as http, https, ftp, or file. You can also specify the addresses for which proxies can be bypassed.

7.15 Managing and Monitoring a Reports High Availability (HA) Solution

Oracle Fusion Middleware consists of many components that can be deployed in distributed topologies. The underlying paradigm used to enable high availability for Oracle Fusion Middleware is clustering, which unites various Oracle Fusion Middleware components in certain permutations to offer scalable and unified functionality, and redundancy should any of the individual components fail. For more information, see Section 2.5, "Setting Up a High Availability Environment".

7.15.1 Configuring Reports Server for High Availability

Refer to Section 2.5.3, "Configuring Reports Server for High Availability".

7.15.2 Displaying a Consolidated Job Queue

Refer to Section 7.7.2, "Displaying a Consolidated Job Queue".

7.15.3 Specifying a Shared Cache Directory

To specify a shared cache directory for high availability (HA):

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Application Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Application Advanced Configuration page displays.

In the High Availability Parameters section, in the Cluster Cache Directory field, enter the path to the shared cache directory for HA, then click Apply.

To see the changes, reload the WLS node.

7.16 About the Oracle Fusion Middleware System MBean Browser

The Oracle Fusion Middleware System MBean Browser is a part of Oracle Fusion Middleware Control, and it is used to update configuration settings for middle tier components.

This section contains the following topics:

When should I use the Oracle Fusion Middleware System MBean Browser?

About Reports Configuration MBeans

7.16.1 When should I use the Oracle Fusion Middleware System MBean Browser?

You use the System MBean Browser to enter or modify Oracle Reports configuration settings that are not available in Fusion Middleware Control Oracle Reports pages.

Note:

You should not use the System MBean Browser unless you are an advanced middle tier administrator.

7.16.2 About Reports Configuration MBeans

Configuration MBeans are defined for each of the Oracle Reports configuration files. Table 7-3 lists the configuration MBeans for Oracle Reports.

Table 7-3 Reports Configuration MBeans

Configuration MBeans
Associated Configuration File

ServerConfigMXBean

rwserver.conf/rwbuilder.conf

JDBCPDSConfigMXBean

jdbcpds.conf

DiscoveryServiceConfigMXBean

rwnetwork.conf

TextPDSConfigMXBean

textpds.conf

XMLPDSConfigMXBean

xmlpds.conf

CgicmdConfigMXBean

cgicmd.dat

RWServletConfigMXBean

rwservlet.properties

BridgeConfigMXBean

rwbridge.conf

ScreenprinterConfigMXBean

screenprinter.ppd

Note:

All Reports environment variables that are set in the registry are not exposed using MBeans. However, if they are specified in the server configuration file ENVID, the environment variables are exposed by ReportsServerConfigMXBean. Similarly, all environment variables used in server start/stop shell scripts are not exposed using MBeans.

7.17 Modifying Reports Configuration Settings Using the System MBean Browser

To modify Oracle Reports configuration settings using the System MBean Browser:

Start Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control and display the Farm Home page.

Select Fusion Middleware > ReportsDomain > WLS_REPORTS. The WLS_REPORTS page is displayed.

From the WebLogic Server menu, choose System MBean Browser. Fusion Middleware Control displays the System MBean Browser page.

Click the plus (+) symbol in the left column to expand a node in the navigation tree and drill down to the MBean you wish to access. The navigation tree expands to display links for viewing or updating settings. Each node in the navigation tree represents settings in a configuration file.

Click a node in the navigation tree, and click the Attributes tab to display the details for a group of attributes. Attribute details include name, description of each attribute, access details and its current value.

Update an attribute value in one of the following ways:

Using the current page:

Enter a new attribute value into the Value field for the appropriate row.

Click Apply to apply the changes.

Displaying a page to view or update the setting:

Click the link in the Name column to display a new page.

Enter a new attribute value in the Value field.

Click Apply to apply the changes.

Click Return to close the page and display the navigation tree.

Repeat the previous steps to view or update another attribute value.

Note:

Only attribute values with write or read-write permissions can be modified.

7.18 Diagnosing Issues

To help diagnose issues, you can use the Oracle Enterprise Manager logging functionality:

Specifying Logging Information

Diagnosing Font Issues

7.18.1 Specifying Logging Information

To specify information to be saved in log files for Reports Server or Reports Application (in-process Reports Server):

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the component Home page (see Section 7.3, "Viewing the Component Topology").

From the Reports menu, select Logs > Log Configuration.

Alternatively, from the Reports Menu, click Administration > Advanced Configuration.

From the Reports Application Diagnostics window, click the link to Advanced Log Configuration.

The Log Configuration page is displayed.

Select the Log Levels tab.

In the Oracle Diagnostic Logging Level (Java Level) section, change the log levels as desired (see Table 24-4, "11g ODL Message Types vs 10.1.2 Trace Options").

Select the Log Files tab.

Select the log handler that you want to modify and click the Edit Configuration tab

Enter a new path in the Log Path field to change the log file location, if necessary.

Change the Maximum Log File Size (MB) and Maximum Size of all Log Files (MB) properties as desired.

In Oracle Enterprise Manager, the rotation policy for log files can be set by specifying the Max Log size and Max number of files properties. For example, if Max Log size is set to 10MB and Max number of files is set to 10, log file rotation automatically takes place when the first log file (diagnostics.log) reaches 1 MB (Max Log size / Max number of files = 10MB/10). ODL then renames this file to diagnostic1.log and starts logging to a new diagnostics.log. When it reaches a size of 1 MB, it is renamed to diagnostics2.log and logging continues in diagnostics.log. When the number of files reaches 10, the earliest log file is purged (diagnostics1.log) and a new diagnostics11.log is created. In this example, the maximum size of all log files is limited to 10 MB and the maximum number of files to 10, removing the risk of creating huge log files of arbitrary size and the machine running out of space, bringing the production system down.

Restart the component (see Section 7.4, "Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Oracle Reports Components") for the changes to take effect.

To observe the effects of these changes in the Oracle Enterprise Manager log viewer, see Section 7.11.1, "Viewing and Searching Log Files".

7.18.2 Diagnosing Font Issues

Refer to Section 7.9.2, "Diagnosing Font Issues".

8 Configuring Oracle Reports Services

When you install Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Reports is configured automatically for you. There will likely be adjustments you wish to make to customize your environment, but you will not be required to set up the entire environment, or even most of it.

This chapter is included largely for reference, should you wish to have a better understanding of the default configuration. It lists services-related configuration files and describes in detail the content of most of them. It includes the following main sections:

Oracle Reports Services Configuration Files

Reports Server Configuration File

Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File

Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration File

Network Configuration File

Configuring the URL Engine

Entering Proxy Information

Configuring Reports Server with the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager

Configuring Oracle Reports to Communicate with Oracle BPEL Process Manager

Optimizing the Deployment of Reports

Sample system-jazn-data.xml File

Configuring Reports Managed Server

Another aspect of configuration is the setting of environment variables. These are set for you automatically during installation. For reference, environment variables are described in Appendix B, "Environment Variables".

8.1 Oracle Reports Services Configuration Files

This section identifies the configuration files associated with Oracle Reports Services. In most cases, you can leave these files untouched. Because they control many aspects of your server environment, you could put that environment at risk if you change a file in some unsupported way. Always keep a back-up of the current version of any configuration file you plan to change.

Note:

Reports application is deployed in no-stage mode in following location:

DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/tmp/_WL_user/reports_version/random_string

You might see Reports application configuration files in the configuration directory in the above specified location, but they are stale files; do not edit them. Any modifications done to the Reports application configuration files through Oracle Enterprise Manager or System MBean browser are not reflected in the files located under the configuration directory.

The correct location of Reports application configuration file is:

DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS_REPORTS/applications/reports_version/configuration

The configuration files associated with Oracle Reports Services are listed and described in Table 8-1.

Note:

The paths specified in Table 8-1 are the same for both Windows and UNIX environments, though they are expressed here using the Windows backslash convention (\).

Table 8-1 Oracle Reports Services Configuration Files

Component
Configuration File

Reports Server (rwserver)

ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\rwserverconf.xsd

For Standalone servers:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name\rwserver.conf

For In-process servers:

$DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/rwserver.conf

The rwserverconf.xsd file contains data type definitions for rwserver.conf and rwbuilder.conf elements and attributes.

The rwserver.conf file defines initial values for the Reports Server Cache, the Oracle Reports engine, and security; registers valid destination types; and sets other server-related values. This file is automatically created when you start up the server.

For more information, see Section 8.2, "Reports Server Configuration File".

Reports Server network configuration file: ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\
server_name\rwnetwork.conf

ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\rwnetworkconf.xsd

The rwnetworkconf.xsd contains data type definitions for rwnetwork.conf elements and attributes.

For more information, see Section 8.5, "Network Configuration File".

Oracle Reports Builder (rwbuilder)

Oracle Reports Runtime (rwrun)

ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\rwserverconf.xsd
ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsToolsComponent\ReportsTools\rwbuilder.conf

The rwserverconf.xsd file contains data type definitions for rwserver.conf and rwbuilder.conf elements and attributes. See Section 8.2.1, "Reports Server Configuration Elements".

The rwbuilder.conf file configures the Reports Server that is embedded in Oracle Reports Builder and Oracle Reports Runtime. All run requests must go through Reports Server, meaning that Oracle Reports Builder requires a server to run reports. Oracle Reports Builder automatically starts a Reports Server to handle its requests. When you run a report from Oracle Reports Builder, this file provides the configuration for the in-process Reports Server instance that is invoked. Like the rwserver.conf file, this file relies on the rwserverconf.xsd file for its data type definitions, though the following elements do not apply: persistFile and security.

Reports Builder network configuration file: ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsToolsComponent\ReportsTools\rwnetwork.conf

ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\rwnetworkconf.xsd

The rwnetworkconf.xsd contains data type definitions for rwnetwork.conf elements and attributes.

For more information, see Section 8.5, "Network Configuration File".

Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet)

ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\rwservlet.xsd
$DOMAIN_HOME\config\fmwconfig\servers\<WLS_SERVER_NAME>\applications\reports_<version>\configuration\rwservlet.properties

The rwservlet.xsd file contains data type definitions for rwservlet.properties parameters.

For more information, see Section 8.3, "Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File".

Reports Servlet network configuration file: $DOMAIN_HOME\config\fmwconfig\servers\<WLS_SERVER_NAME>\applications\reports_<version>\configuration\rwnetwork.conf

ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\rwnetworkconf.xsd

The rwnetworkconf.xsd contains data type definitions for rwnetwork.conf elements and attributes.

For more information, see Section 8.5, "Network Configuration File".

Oracle Reports Bridge (rwbridge)

ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\bridgeconfig.xsd
ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsBridgeComponent\bridge_name\rwbridge.conf

The bridgeconfig.xsd file contains data type definitions for rwbridge.conf elements and attributes.

For more information, see Section 8.4, "Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration File".

Reports Bridge network configuration file: ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsBridgeComponent\bridge_name\rwnetwork.conf

Note: The directory, ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsBridgeComponent is not created by default. Instead, it is created when a user creates a Reports Bridge through opmnctl.

ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\rwnetworkconf.xsd

The rwnetworkconf.xsd contains data type definitions for rwnetwork.conf elements and attributes.

For more information, see Section 8.5, "Network Configuration File".

8.2 Reports Server Configuration File

The configuration settings for the Reports Server component of Oracle Reports Services are stored in the XML file rwserver.conf and rwbuilder.conf, located in the directories specified in Table 8-1.

Both files are supported by the rwserver.template file in ORACLE_HOME\reports\conf, which contains default server configuration values on both Windows and UNIX.

The rwserver.conf file is the default server configuration file. The rwbuilder.conf file configures the server instance used in-process by Oracle Reports Builder.

The rwserver.conf and rwbuilder.conf files are nearly identical. The only difference between them is that rwbuilder.conf does not use the persistFile or security configuration elements, described later in this section.

Both of these files are created automatically, under the following circumstances:

The rwserver.conf file is created when a new Reports Server component is created.

The rwbuilder.conf file is pre-configured out-of-the-box.

This section describes:

Reports Server Configuration Elements

Dynamic Environment Switching

8.2.1 Reports Server Configuration Elements

The rwserverconf.xsd file provides the following data type definitions for configuring rwserver.conf and rwbuilder.conf elements and attributes:

ORBPorts

pluginParam

cache

cluster

connection

destination

environment

envVariable

engine

job

jobRecovery

jobStatusRepository

log

jobRepository

notification

oidconnection

orbClient

persistFile

identifier

property

queue

folderAccess

security

proxyServer

domain

bypassProxy

proxyServers

proxyInfo

webLayout

dbProxyKey

dbProxyConnKeys

jobThresholds

server

These elements along with their related attributes and sub-elements are discussed in the following subsections.

Note that these are XML elements, and XML is case-sensitive. Additionally, when you add any of these elements to the rwserver.conf or rwbuilder.conf configuration file, you must follow the order of elements as described in rwserverconf.xsd.

8.2.1.1 ORBPorts

The ORBPorts element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="ORBPorts">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="value" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the ORBPorts element may be specified as shown in this example:

To specify a port range:

<ORBPorts value="17000-17010"/>

To specify specific ports:

<ORBPorts value="17000,17010,17020,17030,17040"/>

Required/Optional

Optional. By default, CORBA objects use any available port for communication. Since Reports Server uses CORBA for communication, it will use any available free port for communication. If you want Reports Server to use predefined ports instead of random ports, you must include the ORBPorts element in the server configuration file.

Description

The ORBPorts element specifies either a range of ports or specific ports for CORBA communication. When ORBPorts is specified, Reports Server will choose one of the ports from the list specified for ORB internal communication. One port is needed for Reports Server and one for each engine.

Note:

The ORBPorts element is used to assign specific ports to Reports Server and engines for running report and other requests. Do not confuse these ports with those you see in Oracle Enterprise Manager through the Ports link, which are ports reserved for Reports Server discovery mechanism and the Oracle Reports Bridge component.

You cannot specify port numbers for individual engines. Each engine picks up the next port number in the list. Suppose you have the maxengine attribute of the engine element set to 5 for rwEng, and URLEng is also enabled, then you must specify a minimum of 7 ports in the ORBPorts element (1 for Reports Server + 5 for rwEng + 1 for rwURLEng).

The ORBPorts element attribute is described in Table 8-2.

Table 8-2 Attribute of the ORBPorts Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

value

Range of values

or

Numbers separated by commas

The port range that can be used for Reports Server and engine communication through CORBA.

Note:

The ORBPorts element should be defined only if you have enabled TCP port filtering on your server where Reports Server is running. If port filtering is enabled, you can open few ports for Reports Server, then use ORBPorts to specify them in the server configuration file for Reports Server/engine communication. If any of the ports are not available, Reports Server or engines may fail to start and an error displays.

8.2.1.2 pluginParam

The pluginParam element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="pluginParam">
  <xs:complexType mixed="true">
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="name" use="required" type="xs:ID"/>
    <xs:attribute name="value" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="type" default="text">
      <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:NMTOKEN">
          <xs:enumeration value="text"/>
          <xs:enumeration value="file"/>
          <xs:enumeration value="url"/>
        </xs:restriction>
      </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the pluginParam element may be specified as shown in this example:

<pluginParam name="mailServer" value="mail.oracle.com">
  <property name="enableSSL" value="yes"/>
  <property name="mailUserName" value=%MAILUSER%">
  <property name="mailPassword" value=%xyz%">
</pluginParam>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have as many pluginParam elements as you require.

Description

The pluginParam element provides a means of specifying plug-ins that can be used by several built-in destinations such as e-mail, JDBC pluggable data source (PDS), Text PDS, and so on. It is not used by the FTP and WebDAV built-in destinations, and is not available to custom pluggable destinations, such as fax. Now every server has its own textpds.conf, jdbcpds.conf and xmlpds.conf files.

You can specify any plug-in parameter and name it in any way as long as it is supported or required by the built-in destination.

The pluginParam element attributes are described in Table 8-3.

Table 8-3 Attributes of the pluginParam Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

name

Set for an e-mail destination in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Mail Server.

string

The name of the plug-in parameter.

See Properties below for information about specifying the enableSSL property when name="mailServer".

value.

string

The value of the specified plug-in parameter.

type

text

file

url

Default: text

Describes the type of plug-in being specified.

For text, specify the string that is required to identify the named plug-in parameter, for example, the name of a mail server. Text means the content of the pluginParam element is text, so the getPluginParam() method will return the exact content specified in the element.

For file, specify the directory path and filename of the plug-in parameter file. Use the standards for specifying directory paths appropriate to Reports Server's host machine (either Windows or UNIX). File means that the content of the pluginParam element is a filename, and the getPluginParam() method will return the content read from the file specified.

For url, specify the full, absolute URL required by the plug-in parameter, for example, the full URL to an FTP site. url means the content of the pluginParam element is a URL, and the getPluginParam() method will return the content read from that URL. The URL you use must reside on the same side of the firewall as Oracle Reports Services.

Note that when you have a default type (text), it is not necessary to specify it in the pluginParam string. The example that heads this section does not specify a type because the plug-in parameter, a mail server name, is the default type, text.

Properties

You can also optionally enter multiple property sub-elements for the pluginParam element. The only requirement is that they be name/value pairs recognized by the specified plug-in parameter. For example:

<pluginParam name="mailServer" value="%MAILSERVER%">
  <property name="enableSSL" value="yes"/>
</pluginParam>

In this example, the property sub-element specifies the enableSSL property, which is only applicable to mailServer. If the specified mailServer is SSL-enabled, it rejects plain connection requests, so it is necessary to use SSL Sockets to establish a connection with the specified mailServer and send emails, by default, the value of enableSSL is no for compatibility with prior releases.

8.2.1.3 cache

The cache element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="cache">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="class" default="oracle.reports.cache.RWCache"
                  type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the cache element may be specified as shown in this example:

<cache class="oracle.reports.cache.RWCache">
  <property name="cacheSize" value="50"/>
  <property name="cacheDir" value="D:\orawin\reports\server\cache"/>
</cache>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have a maximum of one cache element in your server configuration file. If no cache element is specified, the default is used (oracle.reports.cache.RWCache).

Description

The cache element specifies the Java class that defines the server's cache implementation. You can use the default cache Java class or develop your own implementation through the Oracle Reports Services Cache API.

Note:

For more information on the cache API, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

The cache element attribute is described in Table 8-4.

Table 8-4 Attribute of the cache Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

class

See the Description column

Default: oracle.reports.cache.RWCache

A fully qualified Java class that implements the oracle.reports.cache.Cache interface.

Properties

You can also optionally enter multiple property sub-elements for the cache element. The only requirement is that they be name/value pairs recognized by the implementation class you register under cache. For example, if you use the default cache Java class that is provided with Oracle Reports Services, your configuration entry might look like this:

<cache class="oracle.reports.cache.RWCache">
  <property name="cacheSize" value="50"/>
  <property name="cacheDir" value="D:\orawin\reports\server\cache"/>
</cache>

In the preceding example, cacheSize is measured in megabytes, and cacheDir, which points to the location of the cache, is specified for a Windows platform. On UNIX, use UNIX standards, for example:

<property name="cacheDir" value="home/john/HRInstance/reports/server/cache"/>

The default cache Java class also provides the following properties:

JOCCacheDir uses the Java object cache. For example:

<property name="JOCCacheDir" value="\\host\shared"/>

maxCacheFileNumber is the maximum number of files allowed in the cache. For example:

<property name="maxCacheFileNumber" value="250"/>

Specify this property value in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Maximum Cached Files.

ignoreParameters lists any report parameters you want to be ignored when Reports Server constructs the cache key. (The cache key is used by Reports Server to determine if an incoming job request matches existing output in the cache.)

<property name="ignoreParameters" value="param1,param2"/>

To configure the Java Object Cache (JOC) Cache Directory, use the following:

<cache class="oracle.reports.cache.RWCache">
<property name="JOCCacheDir" value="\\host\shared"/>
</cache>

Where host is the machine where the shared folder is available, and shared is the folder name.

8.2.1.4 cluster

Note:

In Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), Reports Server clustering was deprecated (see A Guide to Functional Changes Between Oracle Reports 6i and 11g for more details), and the cluster element is not valid.

For information about Oracle Fusion Middleware techniques for high availability, refer to Section 2.5, "Setting Up a High Availability Environment".

8.2.1.5 connection

The connection element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="connection">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="orbClient" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>

    <xs:attribute name="idleTimeOut" default="15">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

    <xs:attribute name="maxConnect" default="50">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the connection element may be specified as shown in this example:

<connection idleTimeOut="20" maxConnect="50" >
  <orbClient id="RWClient" publicKeyFile="clientpub.key"/>
</connection>

Required/Optional

Optional. If you do not specify a connection element in your server configuration file, default values will be used (see Table 8-5). You can have a maximum of one connection element in your server configuration file.

Description

The connection element defines the rules of engagement between the server and the clients connected to it.

The connection element attributes are described in Table 8-5.

Table 8-5 Attributes of the connection Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

idleTimeOut

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Connection Idle Timeout (min).

Number

Default: 15

Allowable amount of time in minutes the connection can be idle.

maxConnect

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Maximum Connections.

Number

Default: 50

The maximum number of requests that Reports Server can service simultaneously. Requests in excess of the maxConnect value return a Java exception.

The connection element also includes the orbClient sub-element, described in Section 8.2.1.17, "orbClient".

8.2.1.6 destination

The destination element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="destination">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="class" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="destype" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the destination element may be specified as shown in this example:

<destination destype="oraclePortal" class="oracle.reports.server.DesOraclePortal">
  <property name="portalUserid"
            value="portal_db_username/portal_password@portal_db_connection"
            encrypted="no"/>
</destination>

Required/Optional

Optional. If you do not enter a destination element in the server configuration file, the provided destination classes will be used (printer, e-mail, file, cache, and Oracle Portal—which is an exception in that it requires an entry in the server configuration file so that you may specify the userid and password the server will use to log in to the portal). You can have from zero to multiple destination elements in your server configuration file.

Description

Use the destination element to register destination types with the server.

You need not register the following default destinations:

Cache

E-mail

Printer

File

FTP

WebDAV

You may want to register the following default destination:

Oracle Portal: The entry for this destination is created by default in the server configuration file, but it is commented out. To start using this destination, you must uncomment the destination entry, and also provide appropriate property values (for example, the value for the portalUserid property).

You must register any new destination types you create through the Oracle Reports Services Destinations API.

Note:

For more information on the destination API, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

Configuring destinations is discussed in detail in Chapter 13, "Configuring Destinations for Oracle Reports Services".

The destination element attributes are described in Table 8-6.

Table 8-6 Attributes of the destination Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

class

string

A fully qualified Java class that is a subclass of Reports Server Destination Java class (oracle.reports.server.Destination). Allowable values include:

oracle.reports.server.DesMail

oracle.reports.server.DesFile

oracle.reports.server.DesPrinter

oracle.reports.server.DesOraclePortal

destype

string

Identifies the destination type; for example:

destype="printer"

Properties

You can also optionally enter multiple property sub-elements for the destination element. The only requirement is that they be name/value pairs recognized by the Java class that is a subclass of the Reports Server Destination Java class. For example:

 <destination destype="oraclePortal" class="oracle.reports.server.DesOraclePortal">
     <property name="dbuser" value="$$PORTAL_DB_USERNAME$$"/>
     <property name="dbpassword" value="csf:$$CSF_ALIAS$$:$$PORTAL_DB_PASSWORD_KEY$$"/>
     <property name="dbconn" value="$$PORTAL_DB_TNSNAME$$"/>
   </destination>

In this example, the property sub-element provides connect information to enable Reports Server to access Oracle Portal. The encrypted attribute is included to automatically invoke encryption on the portalUserid value the next time Reports Server is started.

Note:

For portalUserid database connection strings, both the thin (scott/tiger@testhost.mydomain.com:1521:iasdb) and Oracle Call Interface (scott/tiger@ordb) JDBC formats are supported.

Should your destination implementation require additional information, specify the information in the pluginParam element.

8.2.1.7 environment

The environment element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="environment">
  <xs:complexType>
     <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element ref="envVariable" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
     </xs:sequence>
     <xs:attribute name="id" use="required" type="xs:ID"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the environment element may be specified as shown in this example:

<environment id="JP">
  <envVariable name="NLS_LANG" value="Japanese_Japan.JA16SJIS"/>
  <envVariable name="NLS_CURRENCY" value="¥"/>
  <envVariable name="DISPLAY" value="MyServer.MyCompany.com:0.0"/>
</environment>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have as many environment elements as you require.

Description

The environment element defines the characteristics (that is, environment variables) that you want to use to establish a particular runtime environment. You may include as many environment elements as you need (for example, one for each language/territory you must support). Inside an environment element, you can add as many envVariable elements as required.

By referencing the environment element's id, you invoke its settings. You can reference an environment element id from:

The defaultEnvId attribute of the engine element in the Reports Server configuration file, to apply the corresponding environment settings to that engine when it starts up. For more information, refer to Section 8.2.1.9, "engine".

The command line keyword, ENVID, of your report's job request, which makes the environment settings only effective for that particular report job request.

The environment element attribute is described in Table 8-7.

Table 8-7 Attribute of the environment Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

id

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Default Env ID.

string

The name of the environment.

The environment element includes one or more envVariable sub-elements, described in Section 8.2.1.8, "envVariable".

8.2.1.8 envVariable

The envVariable element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="envVariable">
  <xs:complexType>
     <xs:attribute name="name" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
     <xs:attribute name="value" use="optional" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the envVariable element may be specified as shown in this example:

<envVariable name="NLS_LANG" value="Japanese_Japan.JA16SJIS"/>
<envVariable name="NLS_CURRENCY" value="¥"/>
<envVariable name="DISPLAY" value="MyServer.MyCompany.com:0.0"/>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

Each envVariable is specified as a name–value pair. They can be either standard environment variables or user-defined environment variables.

envVariable is a sub-element of the environment element.

The envVariable element attributes are described in Table 8-8.

Table 8-8 Attributes of the envVariable Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

name

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Add.

string

The name of the environment you wish to use (for example, NLS_LANG).

value

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Add.

string

The value you want to assign to the environment variable identified with the name attribute (for example, Japanese_Japan.JA16SJIS).

8.2.1.9 engine

The engine element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="engine">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>

    <xs:attribute name="id" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="class" use="required" type="xs:string"/>

    <xs:attribute name="maxEngine"  use="required">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

    <xs:attribute name="minEngine" use="required">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="0"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

    <xs:attribute name="engLife"  use="required">
    <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
        <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
        </xs:restriction>
       </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

    <xs:attribute name="maxIdle" default="30">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

    <xs:attribute name="callbackTimeOut"  default="90000">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="60000"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

    <xs:attribute name="engineResponseTimeOut">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

    <xs:attribute name="initEngine" type="xs:integer"/>
    <xs:attribute name="jvmOptions" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="classPath" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="defaultEnvId" type="xs:string"/>

  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the engine element may be specified as shown in this example:

<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
    maxEngine="5" minEngine="1" engLife="50" maxIdle="15" callbackTimeOut="90000">
  <property name="sourceDir" value="D:\orawin\reports\myReport"/>
  <property name="tempDir" value="D:\orawin\reports\myTemp"/>
</engine>

Required/Optional

Required. You must have at least one engine element in your configuration file.

Description

The engine element identifies the fully qualified Java class that starts an engine and provides a number of attributes that set operational controls on the engine. You can use the default engines provided with Oracle Reports Services or develop your own implementation through the Oracle Reports Services Engine API. As an example of a custom engine, you may have developed an engine to execute an operating system command should an event occur in your database.

Note:

For more information on the engine API, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

The engine element attributes are described in Table 8-9.

Table 8-9 Attributes of the engine Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

id

string

A keyword, unique within a given configuration XML file that identifies a particular engine element. This can be a text string or a number, for example:

id="rwEng"

class

string

Default: oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl

A fully qualified Java class that implements two interfaces: oracle.reports.engine.Engine and oracle.reports.engine.EngineInterface.

maxEngine

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Maximum Engines.

number

Default: 1

The maximum number of this type of engine that can run on the server.

minEngine

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Minimum Engines.

number

Default: 0

The minimum number of this type of engine that is maintained by the server.

engLife

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Maximum Job Before Restart.

number

Default: 50

The number of jobs the engine can run before the engine is terminated, and, if necessary, a new engine is started. This feature is available to thwart memory leaks.

maxIdle

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Maximum Idle Before Shutdown (min).

number

Default: 30

The number of minutes of allowable idle time before the engine is shut down However, the current number of engines should be higher than minEngine.

For example, if minEngine is 0, maxIdle is 30, and one engine has been running but unused for 30 minutes, that engine will shut down. If, under the same conditions, minEngine is 1, the active engine will not shut down, even if it has been idle for 30 minutes.

callbackTimeOut

number

Default: 90000

The number of milliseconds of allowable waiting time between when the server launches an engine and the engine calls the server back.

If the machine that hosts the server is very fast, you can reduce this number for faster performance.

engineResponseTimeOut

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Engine Response Timeout (min).

number

Default: null (no timeout)

The maximum amount of time (in minutes) for an engine to update the status of the job while running a report in your environment. If it takes longer than this amount of time to update the job status for some reason (for example, due to the engine hanging or a long blocking SQL query), Reports Server terminates the job.

initEngine

number

Default: 1

The number of engines you want Reports Server to start at initialization.

When running a report using rwrun, retain the default value of initEngine="1". Because rwrun can run only one report at a time, any other setting may result in the report not being run.

jvmOptions

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: JVM Options.

string

The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) options to be used by Reports Server when it starts an engine in the JVM. For example, you can use this attribute to specify the starting heap size and maximum heap size for the JVM, additional classpath entries, and so on.

If this attribute is not specified, the engine running in the server environment uses the JVM options specified by the value of the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS environment variable. For more information, see Section B.1.53, "REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS".

classPath

string

The directory path to the Java class specified in the class attribute. To specify the directory, use the conventions required by the server platform, for example:

Windows:

classPath=
"%ORACLE_HOME%\myEngine.jar"

UNIX:

classPath="$ORACLE_HOME/myEngine.jar"

defaultEnvId

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Default Env ID.

string

(Optional attribute) The default environment within which Reports Server starts an engine. The attribute takes an ID associated with an environment element in the server configuration file.

When defaultEnvId is specified, Reports Server starts an engine with the environment variables specified in the referenced environment element plus whatever environment variables that Reports Server is running under.

If defaultEnvId is not specified, Reports Server spawns engines with the environment settings in force at startup time.

For more information, refer to Section 8.2.2, "Dynamic Environment Switching".

Properties

You can also optionally enter multiple property sub-elements for the engine element. The only requirement is that they be name/value pairs recognized by the Java class that implements the Oracle Reports engine.

Table 8-10 Properties of the engine Element

Property
Valid Values
Description

sourceDir

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Reports Source Directory.

directory path

The default directory you will use for report definition files. It overrides path information specified in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable.

The directory specified by sourcedir is not given access by default. It used only to search for files, and Oracle Reports handles any associated security settings separately if and when the target files are located.

See the example that follows this table.

tempDir

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Reports Temp Directory.

directory path

The name and location of the temporary directory Oracle Reports Services will use for its temporary files. If this value is unspecified for a default engine, Oracle Reports Services uses the temporary directory specified in the REPORTS_TMP environment variable. If REPORTS_TMP is not specified, Oracle Reports Services uses your operating system's default temporary directory.

See the example that follows this table.

keepConnection

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Keep Database Connection.

YES|NO

Default: YES

Used by the default runtime engine implementation (that is, oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl).

YES The default runtime engine retains the existing database connection information.

NO The default runtime engine discards the existing database connection information and reconnects with the userid specified for the job.

The keepConnection property does not affect reports deployed using either rwbuilder or rwrun.

This property will be migrated if a rwserver.conf file used in previous releases (for example, 9.0.2.x) runs in the current environment.

diagnosis

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Enable Engine Diagnostics.

YES|NO

Introduced in Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) for engine logging. Diagnoses whether or not a specific function in a report run completed successfully. The diagnostic log provides information on important checkpoints or tasks in the engine during a report run. This information is useful in cases where the engine stops responding, resulting in "hanging" jobs.

YES Diagnostic information is written to the diagnostic.log file.

The engine diagnosis option provides more detailed information than report tracing, which is typically used to debug the execution of a report to provide information such as the file currently formatting, or report trigger currently running.

See the example that follows this table.

Example of sourcedir and tempDir properties: If you use the default engine Java class that is provided with Oracle Reports Services, your engine configuration entry might look like this (in a Windows environment):

<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
    maxEngine="5" minEngine="1" engLife="50" maxIdle="15" callbackTimeOut="90000">
  <property name="sourceDir" value="D:\orawin\reports\myReport"/>
  <property name="tempDir" value="D:\orawin\reports\myTemp"/>
</engine>

The classPath attribute is not specified because this configuration uses the default engine class.

Example of diagnosis property: To enable the engine diagnosis option, your engine configuration element might look like this:

<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="2"
    maxEngine="8" minEngine="1" engLife="1" maxIdle="3" callbackTimeOut="90000">
  <property name="diagnosis" value="yes"/>
</engine>

8.2.1.10 job

The job element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="job">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="engineId" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="jobType" default="report" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="securityId" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="retry" default="0">
        <xs:simpleType>
            <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
                <xs:minInclusive value="0"/>
            </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the job element may be specified as shown in this example:

<job jobType="report" engineId="rwEng" securityId="rwSec" retry="3"/>

Required/Optional

Required. You must have at least one job element.

Description

The job element works in collaboration with the engine and security elements. Use job to identify a job type and specify which engine and which security implementation should be used with that type of job. For example, you may have developed an engine to execute an operating system command should an event occur in your database. Using Oracle Reports Services's event-driven publishing API, you identify the event as a specific job type. When the event occurs, the job type information is sent to Reports Server, which looks up the job type under the job element in its configuration file, and follows the direction provided in the element's attributes to the engine (and, if applicable, security implementation) specified for that type of job.

The job element attributes are described in Table 8-11.

Table 8-11 Attributes of the job Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

engineId

string

References the ID entered for the engine that will process this job type. Available IDs are specified under the engine element in the server configuration file using the id attribute. The id is a unique keyword (that you devise) within a given configuration XML file that identifies a particular engine.

jobType

string

Default: report

Describes the type of job to be processed by the server. You can enter any type of job, as long as Reports Server has an engine to process it.

The database authentication functionality provided in Oracle Reports is available only when jobType=report. This is the job type of the default engine (rwEng) provided with Oracle Reports Services. The database authentication functionality is not implemented when jobType specifies a different value (for example, for a custom engine that you develop yourself). This is because a custom engine may require a different format for the connect string, while the Oracle Reports database authentication functionality limits the connect string to the Oracle Reports format user/password@dbname used for the default engine.

securityId

string

References the ID entered for the security mechanism that will be applied to this job type. Available IDs are specified under the security element in the server configuration file.

retry

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Job Retries.

integer

Default: 0

When jobType="report", specifies the number of times to retry a job after the initial run, if the job fails due to an engine crash or unexpected error. The job is resubmitted to another engine the number of times specified.

This attribute is ignored if the job is explicitly cancelled or when jobType="rwurl" (URL engine).

If an invalid value is specified, this attribute is ignored and the default value of 0 is used.

If JOBRETRY is specified on the command line, it takes precedence, and the retry attribute is ignored.

8.2.1.11 jobRecovery

The jobRecovery element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="jobRecovery">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="auxDatFiles" default="no">
      <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:NMTOKEN">
          <xs:enumeration value="yes"/>
          <xs:enumeration value="no"/>
        </xs:restriction>
      </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the jobRecovery element may be specified as shown in this example:

<jobRecovery auxDatFiles="yes"/>

Required/Optional

Optional. To enable the job recovery mechanism, add the jobRecovery element to the server configuration file. The job recovery mechanism is disabled by default.

Description

The jobRecovery element includes the auxDatFiles attribute. When auxDatFiles=yes, Oracle Reports enables a more resilient job recovery mechanism for maximal retrieval of jobs in case the original.dat file is corrupt due to some reason. When auxDatFiles=yes, Reports Server creates the following two auxiliary files in addition to server_name.dat (the main.dat file):

datfilename_offset.dat contains the auxiliary information of jobs in the main.dat file, which helps in retrieving jobs from the main.dat file.

datfilename_sc.dat contains all scheduled jobs information (in addition to the information stored in main.dat file).

If the job recovery mechanism is enabled, Reports Server on startup reads the main.dat file with the help of the datfilename_offset.dat file using the auxiliary information stored in it. If the main.dat file is corrupt and Reports Server cannot retrieve all the jobs information, it starts reading the datfilename_sc.dat file and recovers the scheduled jobs for this file. Thus, datfilename_sc.dat serves as a backup file, which results in maximum possibility of recovery of scheduled jobs in case of corruption of the main.dat file.

If Reports Server fails to find the datfilename_offset.dat file (for example, when the jobRecovery element is enabled for first time) when the job recovery mechanism is enabled, it reads the jobs from the main.dat file and creates the other two auxiliary files from scratch.

The server_name.dat, datfilename_offset.dat, and datfilename_sc.dat files form a unique triplet, and the auxiliary files are valid only when the job recovery mechanism is enabled. If the auxiliary files are found when the job recovery mechanism is disabled, Reports Server deletes these files from the file system to maintain the integrity between these files. For this reason, you must always handle these three files together (for example, if you are copying a file from one machine to another, you must copy these three files together).

The jobRecovery element attribute is described in Table 8-12.

Table 8-12 Attribute of the jobRecovery Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

auxDatFiles

yes

no

Default: no

See above.

8.2.1.12 jobStatusRepository

The jobStatusRepository element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="jobStatusRepository">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="class" default="oracle.reports.server.JobRepositoryDB"
                  type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the jobStatusReposity element may be specified as shown in this example:

<jobStatusRepository>
<property name="dbuser" value="<dbuser>"/>
<property name="dbpassword" value=csf:reports:"<dbkey>"/>
<property name="dbconn" value="<dbconn>"/>
</jobStatusRepository>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have a maximum of one jobStatusRepository element in your server configuration file.

Description

The jobStatusRepository element specifies the Java class that implements a job status repository. It provides an additional means (over the persistFile element) of storing job status information.

The persistFile is a binary file and, therefore, cannot be used to publish job status information within your application. The jobStatusRepository element provides a means of including status information in your application by providing additional ways of storing it.

The default class, oracle.reports.server.JobRepositoryDB, stores information in a database. Use the Oracle Reports APIs to create your own implementation of the Reports Server Job Repository interface (oracle.reports.server.JobRepository) that stores information wherever you wish.

The jobStatusRepository element attribute is described in Table 8-13.

Table 8-13 Attribute of the jobStatusRepository Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

class

Set to the default value in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Enable Job Repository DB.

string

Default: oracle.reports.server.JobRepositoryDB

A fully qualified Java class that implements the Reports Server Job Repository Java class (oracle.reports.server.JobRepository).

Properties

You can also optionally enter multiple property sub-elements for the jobStatusRepository element for passing options into the repository. The only requirement is that they be name/value pairs recognized by the class you specify in the server configuration file.

The jobStatusRepository element might look like this in your server configuration file:

<jobStatusRepository>
<property name="dbuser" value="<dbuser>"/>
<property name="dbpassword" value=csf:reports:"<dbkey>"/>
<property name="dbconn" value="<dbconn>"/>
</jobStatusRepository>

Note:

Oracle Reports uses the dbconn property of the jobstatusrepository element to connect to the database when updating the log information about job queues.

8.2.1.13 log

The log element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="log">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="option" default="noJob">
      <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:NMTOKEN">
          <xs:enumeration value="allJobs"/>
          <xs:enumeration value="succeededJobs"/>
          <xs:enumeration value="failedJobs"/>
          <xs:enumeration value="noJob"/>
        </xs:restriction>
      </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the log element may be specified as shown in this example:

<log option="allJobs"/>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have a maximum of one log element in your server configuration file.

Description

The log element is available for backward compatibility. It invokes the generation and population of a reports log file. The log file is automatically generated and stored in the following path (the path is the same for Windows and UNIX):

$ORACLE_INSTANCE       /diagnostics/logs/ReportsSeverComponent/<reports_server_name>/rwserver_diagnostic.log

The log element attribute is described in Table 8-14.

Table 8-14 Attribute of the log Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

option

allJobs

succeededJobs

failedJobs

noJob

Default: noJob

Describes the type of jobs that are logged. This is in addition to the default server activities that are logged. Choose from the following options:

allJobs: All jobs will be logged

succeededJobs: Only jobs that ran successfully will be logged

failedJobs: Only jobs that failed will be logged

noJob: No jobs will be logged

8.2.1.14 jobRepository

The jobRepository element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="jobRepository">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the jobRepository element may be specified as shown in this example:

<jobRepository>
<property name="dbuser" value="dbuser"/>
<property name="dbpassword" value="csf:reports:dbpasswdKey"/>
<property name="dbconn" value="dbconn"/>
</jobRepository>

Required/Optional

Required in a high availability (HA) environment. Optional in a non-HA environment. You can have a maximum of one jobRepository element in your server configuration file.

Description

The jobRepository element enables you to store all job information in the database instead of the file system (that is, in DAT files). This element is mandatory if you want to use high availability (HA), because Reports Servers in the group share job information, which is possible only if the job information is stored in the database, and not individual DAT files.

The jobRepository element has no attributes.

Properties

jobRepository requires only one property sub-element, repositoryconn. and the jobRepository element enables you to store all job information in the database or the file system (that is, in DAT files).

8.2.1.15 notification

The notification element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="notification">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="class" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="id" default="mailNotify" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the notification element may be specified as shown in this example:

<notification id="tellMe02" class="oracle.reports.server.MailNotify"/>

Required/Optional

Optional. If you do not enter a notification element in the configuration file, the notification function is disabled. You can have from zero to multiple notification elements in your configuration file.

Description

Use the notification element to specify a Java class that defines the type of notification that should be sent when a job succeeds or fails. You can use the default notification class, which provides for notification through e-mail, or design your own with the Oracle Reports Notification API.

Note:

For more information on the notification API, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

The notification element attributes are described in Table 8-15.

Table 8-15 Attributes of the notification Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

id

string

Default: mailNotify

A keyword, unique within a given configuration XML file, that identifies a particular notification element. This can be a text string or a number, for example:

id="tellMe01"

class

See the Description column

Default: oracle.reports.server.MailNotify

A fully qualified Java class that implements the Reports Server Notification Java class oracle.reports.server.Notification.

If you use the default email notification implementation, use the pluginParam element to specify the outgoing SMTP mail server to be used to send the mail. Use the command line keyword notifysuccess and notifyfailure to specify the email address where notification should be sent (for more information, see Appendix A, "Command-Line Keywords"). For example, you can include these commands in your runtime URL:

notifysuccess=recipient's e-mail address&notifyfailure=recipient's e-mail address

With the default e-mail implementation, you can specify only one address for each type of notification. You can specify one or both types of notification. You can send notification each to the same address or each to a different addresses.

A notification element in the server configuration file might look like this:

<notification id="mailNotify" class="oracle.reports.server.MailNotify">
  <property name="succNoteFile" value="succnote.txt"/>
  <property name="failNoteFile" value="failnote.txt"/>
<notification/>

The succNoteFile and failNoteFile properties are set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page: Email notification file for success and Email notification file for failure.

Some mail servers may validate the sender's domain name. If the notification fails because of this domain name validation, then you must add the following property as part of the notification element:

<property name="sender" value="valid email address"/>

With the default notification implementation, it's not necessary to specify a path to the success or failure text files, provided they're in the default location: ORACLE_HOME\reports\templates. Otherwise, enter the directory path along with the filenames according to the requirements of the platform that hosts the server.

8.2.1.16 oidconnection

The oidconnection element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="oidconnection">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="increment" default="10" type="xs:integer"/>
    <xs:attribute name="init" default="10" type="xs:integer"/>
    <xs:attribute name="timeout" default="0" type="xs:integer"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the oidconnection element may be specified as shown in this example:

<oidconnection init="10" increment="10" timeout="600"/>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

The oidconnection element specifies Oracle Internet Directory connection pooling parameters for Reports Server. In a production environment, you can use this parameter to provide granular control over Oracle Internet Directory connection pooling of Reports Server, namely:

The number of connections to keep open in the pool when Reports Server is initialized.

Upon exhausting the available connections, the number of new connections to be added to the pool when a new request arrives.

The timeout for closing idle open Oracle Internet Directory connections to reduce the resource usage.

The oidconnection element attributes are described in Table 8-16.

Table 8-16 Attributes of the oidconnection Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

init

number

Default: "10"

Initial number of Oracle Internet Directory connections to be created when Reports Server is initialized.

increment

number

Default: "10"

Number of connections to be incremented when all connections are used up.

timeout

number

Default: "0" (which specifies no timeout)

Time in seconds for which a connection can be idle before it is closed.

Note:

Setting much lower or higher values than the default values for these attributes can have a performance impact on Oracle Reports Services. In a typical production environment, the default values are recommended.

For Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet), you can specify Oracle Internet Directory connection pooling parameters using the oidconnection element in the rwservlet.properties file.

8.2.1.17 orbClient

The orbClient element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="orbClient">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="id" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="publicKeyFile" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the orbClient element may be specified as shown in this example:

<orbClient id="RWClient" publicKeyFile="clientpub.key"/>

Required/Optional

Optional. If you do not specify the orbClient element in your server configuration file, the default values will be used.( see Table 8-17)

Description

The orbClient element specifies the name of the public key file that the client will use to connect to Reports Server. Reports Server uses the public key to verify the signature sent by the client when it tries to connect to Reports Server. Reports Server only accepts clients whose signature can be verified through this public key. You can have from zero to multiple orbClient elements in your server configuration file.

orbClient is a sub-element of the connection element

The orbClient element attributes are described in Table 8-17.

Table 8-17 Attributes of the orbClient Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

id

string

Default: RWClient

Identifies the Reports Client to be served by the public and private key.

publicKeyFile

filename.key

Default: clientpub.key

Identifies the public key file that the client will use to connect to Reports Server. Reports Server uses the public key to verify the signature sent by the client when it tries to connect to Reports Server. Reports Server only accepts clients whose signature can be verified through this public key. The default file is stored in the rwrun.jar file.

Oracle Reports Services provides default client public and private key files, clientpub.key and clientpri.key. These key files are in place for all components of Oracle Reports Services You can regenerate public and private key files to replace the default key pair. To do this, at the command prompt use the following command:

On Windows:

rwgenkey.bat path_and_client_public_key_file_name path_and_client_private_key_file_name

On UNIX:

rwgenkey.sh path_and_client_public_key_file_name path_and_client_private_key_file_name

If you regenerate these keys, you can specify the public key file locations with the publicKeyFile attribute, and replace the private key file in ORACLE_HOME\jlib\zrclient.jar. To do this, you must unjar the file, place the regenerated private key into it, and rejar the file.

8.2.1.18 persistFile

The persistFile element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="persistFile">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="fileName" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the persistFile element may be specified as shown in this example:

<persistFile fileName="neptune.dat"/>

Required/Optional

Optional. If you do not specify a file, the server will create one of its own with the default name server_name.dat. You can have a maximum of one persistFile element.

Description

The persistFile element identifies the file that records all job status. It is used by Reports Server to restore the server to the status it held before shutdown.

It is named persistFile because the file remains intact, or persists, even when the server is brought down and restarted.

The server persistent file is created automatically the first time you start the server or the first time you start the server after the current server persistent file has been deleted or renamed. If you want to rename this file but continue using it, enter the new name in the server configuration file before you actually rename the file, then restart the server.

The persistFile element attribute is described in Table 8-18.

Table 8-18 Attribute of the persistFile Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

fileName

string

Default: server_name.dat

The name and, optionally, the path of the server persistent file. You can leave the path off if the file is kept in its default directory:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\reports\server\

The path is the same for Windows or UNIX.

8.2.1.19 identifier

The identifier element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="identifier">
  <xs:complexType mixed="true">
    <xs:attribute name="encrypted" default="no">
      <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:NMTOKEN">
          <xs:enumeration value="yes"/>
          <xs:enumeration value="no"/>
        </xs:restriction>
      </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the identifier element may be specified as shown in this example:

<identifier encrypted="yes">fpoiVNFvnlkjRPortn+sneU88=NnN</identifier>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have a maximum of one identifier element in your server configuration file.

Description

The identifier element is automatically written to the configuration file by the Reports Configuration Assistant when you first install Oracle Reports. The Reports Configuration Assistant sets the values in the form SERVERACCESSKEY/12312312313, where SERVERACESSKEY is the user name and the random generated number (12312312313) is the password. This user name and password is then encrypted and written to rwserver.template and targets.xml during the time of configuring Oracle Reports Services. Any Reports Server started after the installation will have this identifier information stored in its configuration file.

For a non-secured Reports Server, the values of the identifier element is used when:

Connecting to a Reports Server through the Reports Queue Manager.

Shutting down a Reports Server through the command line.

In either of these cases, you must provide the authid in the command line that matches the values specified in the identifier element. To provide a specific password (as the password is a pseudo random number), you must do the following:

Edit the server configuration file, rwserver.conf.

Replace the encrypted username/password values generated with custom values.

Set encrypted=no.

For example:

<identifier encrypted="no">username/password</identifier>

Restart Reports Server. Reports Server sets encrypted=yes when it restarts.

Edit the targets.xml file and specify the same username and password values that were included in the rwserver.conf file.

You should restart Reports Server, immediately, after making this change. Reports Server automatically encrypts the user name and password and resets encrypted to yes. The values should now read as follows:

<identifier encrypted="yes">fpoiVNFvnlkjRPortn+sneU88=NnN</identifier>

For a secure Reports Server, the authentication is done by the security infrastructure; that is, by using the Oracle Internet Directory repository. Thus, you cannot pass the values in the identifier element to shut down a Reports Server or launch Reports Queue Manager through the console window.

Note:

This user name and password is also used for accessing Web commands, such as getjobid, getserverinfo, showjobs, and showenv when DIAGNOSTIC=NO in the rwservlet.properties file. When DIAGNOSTIC=NO, Web commands are disabled for everyone except those administrators who have this user name and password.

For more information on Reports Queue Manager, see the Reports Queue Manager online Help. For more information on rwservlet.properties, refer to Section 8.3, "Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File".

8.2.1.20 property

The property element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="property">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="name" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="value" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="encrypted" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

See the following element descriptions for information about specifying the property element in rwserver.conf:

Section 8.2.1.3, "cache"

Section 8.2.1.6, "destination"

Section 8.2.1.9, "engine"

Section 8.2.1.12, "jobStatusRepository"

8.2.1.21 queue

The queue element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="queue">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="maxQueueSize" default="1000">
        <xs:simpleType>
          <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="100"/>
          </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the queue element may be specified as shown in this example:

<queue maxQueueSize="1000"/>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have a maximum of one queue element in your server configuration file. If you have no queue element, the default maxQueueSize, 1000, will remain in effect.

Description

Use the queue element to specify the maximum number of jobs that can be held in a completed job queue. Oracle Reports Services has three queue components:

a queue of scheduled jobs

a queue of jobs in progress

a queue of completed jobs

The queue element provides the allowable value for each of these components.

This element is applicable only to the completed job queue. Thus, if the number of jobs exceeds the specified maximum value, that completed job queue will automatically purge its oldest jobs. The scheduled job queue and the in-progress job queue remain unaffected.By default reports server queue size is 1000 jobs.

If you increase the queue size to more than 3000, and use Reports Queue Manager (rwrqm.exe) to monitor the queue, Queue Manager may fail. When a queue size of 3000 or greater is required, use Oracle Enterprise Manager or Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) to manage and monitor the Reports Server jobs queue.

Note:

For more information, see the Reports Queue Manager online Help.

The queue element attribute is described in Table 8-19.

Table 8-19 Attribute of the queue Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

maxQueueSize

Set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Reports Server Basic Configuration page: Queue Size.

Number

Default: 1000

The maximum number of jobs that can be held in a given reports job queue.

8.2.1.22 folderAccess

The folderAccess element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="folderAccess">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="read" type="xs:string"/>
      <xs:element name="write" type="xs:string"/>
    </xs:sequence>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the folderAccess element may be specified as shown in this example:

<folderAccess>
 <read>c:\myreports;c:\orawin\reports\samples<\read>
   <write>c:\myoutputs<\write>
<\folderAccess>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

The folderAccess element defines read and write access to file system folders for both secured and non-secured Reports Server, Reports Application (in-process Reports Server), or Oracle Reports Runtime.

The folderAccess element has no attributes. It includes two sub-elements:

read: specifies the folder(s) to which the Reports Server, Reports Application (in-process Reports Server), or Oracle Reports Runtime has read access only. The value of this sub-element is set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Advanced Configuration page: Enable File System Access Control > Read Directories.

write: specifies the folder(s) to which the Reports Server can write. The value of this sub-element is set in Oracle Enterprise Manager on the Advanced Configuration page: Enable File System Access Control > Write Directories.

In the example above, the report definition files located in c:\myreports and c:\orawin\reports\samples are allowed to run only. Similarly, when destype=file, the output file can be created only in c:\myoutputs (desname=c:\myoutput\test.pdf).

Note: Blank or * in the read or write sub-element specifies global access. Separate directory names with a semicolon (;).

8.2.1.23 security

The security element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="security">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="class" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="id" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the security element may be specified as shown in this example for 11g:

<security id="rwJaznSec" class="oracle.reports.server.RWJAZNSecurity"/>

For backward compatibility, the security element may be specified as:

<security id="rwSec" class="oracle.reports.server.RWSecurity">
<property name="oidAppEntity" value="$$Self.oidAppEntity$$"/>
<property name="oidUrl" value="$$Self.oidUrl$$"/>
<property name="oidPasswdKey" value="$$Self.oidPasswdKey$$"/>
<property name="portalUserName" value="$$Self.portalUserName$$"/>
<property name="portalConnection" value="$$Self.portalConnection$$"/>
<property name="portalPasswdKey" value="$$Self.portalPasswdKey$$"/>
</security

Required/Optional

Optional. If you do not enter a security element in the configuration file, Reports Server is not secure. You can have from zero to multiple security elements in your configuration file.

Description

The security element identifies the fully qualified Java class that controls server access. You can use the default security class provided with Oracle Reports Services, or develop your own implementation through the Reports Server Security API.

Note:

For more information on the security API, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

The security element attributes are described in Table 8-20.

Table 8-20 Attributes of the security Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

id

string

A keyword, unique within a given configuration XML file that identifies a particular security element. This can be a text string or a number, for example for 11g:

id="rwJaznSec"

For backward compatibility,

id="rwSec"

class

See the Description column

Default for 11g: oracle.reports.server.RWJAZNSecurity

Default for backward compatibility: oracle.reports.server.RWSecurity

A fully qualified Java class that implements Reports Server Security Java interface (oracle.reports.server.Security). The default relies on security features available through Oracle Portal.

You can associate multiple properties with the security element. The only requirement is that they be name/value pairs recognized by the Java class that implements Reports Server security.

The value of all the properties is set by the Installer upon installation. Reports Server uses this entity to connect to Oracle Internet Directory and Portal. Components of the Oracle Fusion Middleware can all connect to Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle Portal, but each component may have different privileges in the directory. Hence, each component needs to identify itself through its own entity name to Oracle Internet Directory when it connects. The Oracle Reports Services entity is of the following format:

reportsApp_hostname_GUID

For example:

reportsApp_testhost.mydomain.com_BBEFDCDAC2343600E0340800020C7BBCC

8.2.1.24 proxyServer

The proxyServer element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="proxyServer">
 <xs:complexType>
  <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
  <xs:attribute name="port" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
  <xs:attribute name="protocol" default="all">
   <xs:simpleType>
    <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
     <xs:enumeration value="http"/>
     <xs:enumeration value="https"/>
     <xs:enumeration value="ftp"/>
     <xs:enumeration value="file"/>
     <xs:enumeration value="all"/>
    </xs:restriction>
   </xs:simpleType>
  </xs:attribute>
 </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the proxyServer element may be specified as shown in this example:

<proxyServer name="www-proxy.us.oracle.com" port="80" protocol="all"/>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

Element that specifies the name, port and protocol of proxy server to be used in order to connect to external network.

The proxyServer element attributes are described in Table 8-20.

Table 8-21 Attributes of the proxyServer Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

name

string

the host name of the proxyserver. example.

port

string

the port where the proxyserver is listening on.

protocol

http/https/ftp/file/all

the protocol used by the proxyserver.

8.2.1.25 domain

The domain element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="domain">
 <xs:complexType mixed="true">
 </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the domain element may be specified as shown in this example:

<bypassProxy>
<domain><localhost</domain>
<domain>127.0.0.1</domain>
</bypassProxy>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

Element that specifies the name of the proxy server for which proxy setting should not be used. The domain element has no attributes.

8.2.1.26 bypassProxy

The bypassProxy element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="bypassProxy">
 <xs:complexType>
  <xs:sequence>
   <xs:element ref="domain" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
  </xs:sequence>
 </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the bypassProxy element may be specified as shown in this example:

<bypassProxy>
     <domain>localhost</domain>
     <domain>127.0.0.1</domain>
</bypassProxy>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

The element that provides a list of domains which specifies name of the proxy server for which proxy setting should not be used

The bypassProxy element has no attributes. It includes the domain sub-element (see Section 8.2.1.25, "domain").

8.2.1.27 proxyServers

The proxyServers element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="proxyServers">
 <xs:complexType>
  <xs:sequence>
   <xs:element ref="proxyServer" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
  </xs:sequence>
 </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the proxyServers element may be specified as shown in this example:

<proxyServers>
 <proxyServer name="xyz.abc.com" port="80" protocol="http"/>
<proxyServer name="www-proxy1.xyz.abc.com" port="80" protocol="ftp"/>
<proxyServer name="www-prox21.xyz.abc.com" port="80" protocol="https"/>
</proxyServers>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

Element that specifies a list of proxy servers used by reports server.

The proxyServers element has no attributes. It includes the proxyServer sub-element (see Section 8.2.1.24, "proxyServer").

8.2.1.28 proxyInfo

The proxyInfo element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="proxyInfo">
 <xs:complexType>
  <xs:sequence>
   <xs:element ref="proxyServers"/>
   <xs:element ref="bypassProxy"/>
  </xs:sequence>
 </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the proxyInfo element may be specified as shown in this example:

<proxyInfo>
  <proxyServers>
    <proxyServer name="www-proxy.us.oracle.com" port="80" protocol="all"/>
  </proxyServers>
  <bypassProxy>
    <domain>localhost</domain>
    <domain>127.0.0.1</domain>
  </bypassProxy>
</proxyInfo>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

Element specifying proxy servers used by reports and the bypass hosts for which proxy should not be used.

The proxyInfo element has no attributes. It includes two sub-elements:

proxyServers: see Section 8.2.1.27, "proxyServers"

bypassProxy: see Section 8.2.1.26, "bypassProxy"

8.2.1.29 webLayout

The webLayout element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="webLayout">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="port" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="docroot" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the webLayout element may be specified as shown in this example:

<webLayout port="8888" docroot="$DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/tmp/_WL_user/reports_<version>/<random_string>/war"/>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

webLayout element is required to run a report to weblayout using Reports Builder.

The webLayout element attributes are described in Table 8-22.

Table 8-22 Attributes of the webLayout Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

port

string

the OHS main port.

docroot

string

the location of the web.war where Reports Application is deployed

8.2.1.30 dbProxyKey

The dbProxyKey element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="dbProxyKey">
 <xs:complexType>
  <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
  <xs:attribute name="database" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
 </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the dbProxyKey element may be specified as shown in this example:

<dbProxyConnKeys>
  <dbProxyKey name=key1 database=db1/>
  <dbProxyKey name=key2 database=db2/>
</dbroxyConnKeys>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

The dbProxyKey consists of the name and database parameters. It is obtained from the server configuration file based on the database mentioned in the userid commandline parameter.

The dbProxyKey element attributes are described in Table 8-23.

Table 8-23 Attributes of the dbProxyKey Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

name

string

the name of the key.

database

string

the name of the database.

8.2.1.31 dbProxyConnKeys

The dbProxyConnKeys element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="dbProxyConnKeys">
 <xs:complexType>
  <xs:sequence>
   <xs:element ref="dbProxyKey" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
  </xs:sequence>
 </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the dbProxyConnKeys element may be specified as shown in this example:

<dbProxyConnKeys>
<dbProxyKey name=key1 database=db1/>
<dbProxyKey name=key2 database=db2/>
</dbProxyConnKeys>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

The dbProxyConnKeys element has no attributes. It includes the dbProxyKey sub-element (see Section 8.2.1.30, "dbProxyKey").

8.2.1.32 jobThresholds

The jobThresholds element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="jobThresholds">
 <xs:complexType>
  <xs:attribute name="longRunning" default="180">
   <xs:simpleType>
    <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
     <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
    </xs:restriction>
   </xs:simpleType>
  </xs:attribute>
  <xs:attribute name="potentialRunAway" default="180">
   <xs:simpleType>
    <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
     <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
    </xs:restriction>
   </xs:simpleType>
  </xs:attribute>
 </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the jobThresholds element may be specified as shown in this example:

  <jobThresholds longRunning="180" potentialRunAway="180"/>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

jobThreshold consists of two attributes, longRunning and PotentialRunAway. For more information, See Table 8-24.

Table 8-24 Attributes of the jobThresholds Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

longRunning

seconds

the cut-off time for a job after which it is considered a long run job.

a job that takes relatively longer time.

potentialRunAway

seconds

the cut-off time for a currently running job after which it is considered as a potential runaway job.

a job which has relatively lesser chance of successful completion.

8.2.1.33 server

The server element is defined in rwserverconf.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="server">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="cache" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="engine" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
      <xs:element ref="environment" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
      <xs:element ref="security" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
      <xs:element ref="oidconnection" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="destination" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
      <xs:element ref="job" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
      <xs:element ref="notification" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
      <xs:element ref="log" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="jobStatusRepository" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="jobRepository" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="trace" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/-->
      <xs:element ref="connection" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="ORBPorts" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="queue" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="folderAccess" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="persistFile" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="jobRecovery" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/-->
      <xs:element ref="identifier" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="proxyInfo" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="pluginParam" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
      <xs:element ref="webLayout" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="dbProxyConnKeys" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="jobThresholds" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="version" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwserver.conf, the server element may be specified as shown in this example:

<server>
  one or more element specifications
</server>

Required/Optional

Required. You can have a maximum of one server element in a given configuration file.

Description

The server element opens and closes the content area of the server configuration file. In terms of the file's hierarchy, all the other elements are subordinate to the server element.

The server element attribute is described in Table 8-25.

Table 8-25 Attribute of the server Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

version

string

the version of the Reports Server

8.2.2 Dynamic Environment Switching

Dynamic environment switching enables you to dynamically change the environment after Reports Server is started, or for a specific job request. This means that one instance of Reports Server can serve reports with any arbitrary environment settings, such as language, currency, and display settings.

To enable dynamic environment switching, you must add an environment element to your Reports Server configuration file to establish a particular runtime environment. Once you have an environment element established, you can switch to its settings in either of the following ways:

Set the value of the defaultEnvId attribute of the engine element in the Reports Server configuration file to the id of the environment element, to apply the environment settings to that engine when it starts up. For more information, refer to Section 8.2.1.9, "engine".

Set the value of the ENVID command line keyword to the id of the environment element, to make the environment settings effective for the current report job request. For more information, refer to Section A.6.5, "ENVID".

8.2.2.1 Examples

The following examples illustrate the use of dynamic environment switching.

Example 1

Suppose that you want to run reports in Japanese from your Reports Server. An environment conducive to running reports in Japanese would include:

NLS_LANG = Japanese_Japan.JA16SJIS

The currency unit (NLS_CURRENCY) would be set to Yen (¥), the currency of Japan.

If Reports Server is running on UNIX, then DISPLAY must be set.

To begin, you would have to add an environment element to your Reports Server configuration file that looks something like the following:

<environment id="JP">
  <envVariable name="NLS_LANG" value="Japanese_Japan.JA16SJIS"/>
  <envVariable name="NLS_CURRENCY" value="¥"/>
  <envVariable name="DISPLAY" value="MyServer.MyCompany.com:0.0"/>
</environment>

Once the environment element is in place, you could request a report with Japanese output in either of the following ways:

Use the defaultEnvId attribute of the engine element in the Reports Server configuration file as follows:

<engine id="rwEng" initEngine="1" minEngine="0" maxEngine="10" engLife="50" maxIdle="30" defaultEnvId="JP"/>

The value JP identifies the environment element in the Reports Server configuration file. The initial engines will be spawned with the environment settings specified in this environment element.

Set the ENVID command line keyword, as follows:

http://machine_name:port/reports/rwservlet?SERVER=server_name
&REPORT=Japanese.rdf&USERID=username/passwd@db&DESFORMAT=htmlcss
&DESTYPE=cache&ENVID=JP

When the URL is submitted to Reports Server, it detects the optional ENVID keyword and matches the specified id (in this case, JP) to the corresponding id of the environment element in its configuration file. If Reports Server already has an engine running with these characteristics, it will reuse the existing engine to process the job. If not, then it spawns an engine using the current environment plus the three environment variables specified in the JP environment element. If spawning a new engine would cause Reports Server to exceed its maxEngine setting, Reports Server shuts down an engine before starting a new one. An engine may be shut down even though it has not exceeded its engLife setting. Once Reports Server has an engine with the correct environment running, the job is processed by that engine and the output is routed to the specified DESTYPE.

If you do not pass ENVID with the job, Reports Server processes the request using an engine started with the defaultEnvId environment. If defaultEnvId is not specified for the engine element in your Reports Server configuration file, then the engine will inherit the settings with which the Reports Server instance was started.

Example 2

The following example illustrates how to use this environment switching feature to run an Arabic report on the same Reports Server that was used to run the Japanese report in Example 1.

Add another environment element to the Reports Server configuration file as shown below:

<environment id="AR">
 <envVariable name="NLS_LANG" value="Arabic_United Arab Emirates.AR8ISO8859P6"/>
 <envVariable name="NLS_CALENDAR" value="Arabic Hijrah "/>
</environment>

The Arabic report has to be submitted to Reports Server with the following command line:

http://machine_name:port/reports/rwservlet?SERVER=server_name
&REPORT=arabic.rdf&USERID=username/passwd@db&DESFORMAT=htmlcss
&DESTYPE=cache&ENVID=AR

Since the job is submitted with ENVID=AR, Reports Server finds or starts an engine with the environment specified by element AR in the Reports Server configuration file. The job is processed by the new engine and the output is distributed to the specified destination.

Example 3

The following example illustrates how the environment switching feature could be used in conjunction with a JSP report; that is, without Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet).

Suppose that you have the following environment elements in the Reports Server configuration file:

<environment id="UK">
 <envVariable name="NLS_LANG"  value="AMERICAN_UNITED KINGDOM.WE8ISO8859P1"/>
</environment>

<environment id="US">
 <envVariable name="NLS_LANG" value="AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1"/>
</environment>

If your JSP report uses a format mask such as the following, it means the currency, grouping, and decimal symbols can change according to the environment:

<rw:field id="sal" src="sal" formatMask="L999G999D999"/>

To run the report using the UK symbols for currency, grouping, and decimal, you would use the following URL:

http://myserver:port/test/myjsp?USERID=scott/tiger@orcl&ENVID=UK

Note: You could place ENVID=UK into a key in the cgicmd.dat key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File").

8.2.2.2 Usage Notes

Although this feature is ideal for handling reports of various languages, its application can be much broader. You could use it in any situation where a report requires a particular environment to execute correctly.

Reports Server will start one or more engines per environment id as and when it gets requests for specific environments. The total number of engines, however, cannot exceed the maxEngine specified for that engine type. It is recommended that you set maxEngine to a value greater or equal to the number of environment elements specified in the Reports Server configuration file.

defaultEnvId can also be applied to pluggable engines other than rwEng. Reports Server will spawn the pluggable engine with the specified environment id.

For engines used by the in-process Reports Server, the order of precedence for environment variables from highest to lowest is as follows:

reports.sh (UNIX only)

Note:

If you have modified your current reports.sh file, you should save it and, after installing Oracle Reports, merge your modifications into the version of reports.sh installed with the latest version. The latest reports.sh contains some required changes.

environment element in the Reports Server configuration file

Go to the WebLogic Administration Console, navigate to the Server Start tab and specify the oracle.home and oracle.instance parameters.

The system settings and registry (Windows only)

For engines used by the standalone server, the order of precedence for environment variables from highest to lowest is as follows:

reports.sh (UNIX only)

Note:

If you have modified your current reports.sh file, you should save it and, after installing Oracle Reports, merge your modifications into the version of reports.sh installed with the latest version. The latest reports.sh contains some required changes.

environment element in the Reports Server configuration file

The environment set in the console where you start rwserver.sh

The system settings and registry (Windows only)

If the same environment variable that is set in ENVID is also set in reports.sh (ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin/reports.sh), Reports Server obtains the environment variable value from reports.sh and not from ENVID.

For example, say you want to set the REPORTS_PATH environment variable to a different engine by using the environment switching feature. However, the reports.sh file also has the same REPORTS_PATH environment variable set. Reports Server will now use only REPORTS_PATH set by reports.sh and not the REPORTS_PATH set in ENVID when you pass any request.

To work around this issue, you must:

Open reports.sh and comment the environment variable value. For example, comment the REPORTS_PATH value set in the reports.sh file.

Open the rwserver.conf file.

Copy the environment variable value in the reports.sh file to the rwserver.conf file. For example:

<environment id="default">
  <envVariable name=REPORTS_PATH value="$ORACLE_
  HOME/reports/templates:$ORACLE_
  HOME/reports/samples/demo:$ORACLE_HOME/reports/integ:$ORACLE_
  HOME/reports/printers"/>
</environment>

<environment id="testenv">
 <envVariable name="REPORTS_PATH"
 value="/private/file_path:$ORACLE_HOME/reports/templates:$ORACLE_
 HOME/reports/samples/demo:$ORACLE_HOME/reports/integ:$ORACLE_HOME/
 reports/printers"/>
</environment>

Add the defaultEnvId value to the appropriate tag in the rwserver.conf file.For example, add the defaultEnvId attribute to the engine element so that the engine starts with the default REPORTS_PATH.

<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
  maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50" maxIdle="30"
  callbackTimeOut="90000" defaultEnvId="default">

Now run the report.

8.3 Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File

The configuration settings for the Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) component of Oracle Reports Services are stored in the XML file rwservlet.properties, located in the directory specified in Table 8-1.

For Windows, note that rwservlet.properties uses double backslashes (\\) instead of single backslashes to specify a directory path. The first slash "escapes" the second, which would otherwise have another meaning in this file. For example, in a Windows-based rwservlet.properties file, the path:

d:\InstanceHome\config\ReportsServerComponent\ServerName\filename.ext

becomes:

d:\\InstanceHome\\config\\ReportsServerComponent\\ServerName\\filename.ext

For UNIX, use that platform's standard for specifying directory paths, for example:

InstanceHome/config/ReportsServerComponent/ServerName/filename.ext

8.3.1 Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration Elements

The rwservlet.xsd file provides the following data type definitions for configuring rwservlet.properties elements:

rwservlet

server

singlesignon

inprocess

reports_servermap

cookie

defaultcharset

webcommandaccess

allowhtmltags

helpurl

imageurl

reloadkeymap

dbauth

sysauth

errortemplate

diagtags

cluster

oidconnection

allowauthid

enabledbproxy

These elements along with their related attributes and sub-elements are discussed in the following subsections.

Note that these are XML elements, and XML is case-sensitive. Additionally, when you add any of these elements to the rwservlet.properties configuration file, you must follow the order of elements as described in rwservlet.xsd.

8.3.1.1 rwservlet

The rwservlet element is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="rwservlet">
  <xs:complexType>
   <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="server" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="singlesignon" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="inprocess" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="reports_servermap" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="cookie" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="defaultcharset" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="webcommandaccess" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
      <xs:element name="allowhtmltags" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="helpurl" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="imageurl" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="reloadkeymap" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="dbauth" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="sysauth" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="errortemplate" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="diagtags" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="cluster" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="oidconnection" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="allowauthid" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element name="enabledbproxy" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
    </xs:sequence>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the rwservlet element may be specified as shown in this example:

<rwservlet>
  one or more element specifications
</rwservlet>

Required/Optional

Required. You can have a maximum of one rwservlet element in a given configuration file.

Description

The rwservlet element opens and closes the content area of the Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) configuration file. In terms of the file's hierarchy, all the other elements are subordinate to the rwservlet element.

The rwservlet element includes the following sub-elements in its definition:

server

singlesignon

inprocess

reports_servermap

cookie

defaultcharset

webcommandaccess

allowhtmltags

helpurl

imageurl

reloadkeymap

dbauth

sysauth

errortemplate

diagtags

cluster

oidconnection

enabledbproxy

8.3.1.1.1 server

The server sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="server" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the server element may be specified as shown in this example:

<server>myserver</server>

Description

The server element specifies the name of the in-process server. If a Reports Server name is not specified, for example, in the runtime URL, rwservlet starts the in-process server (if not started already) with the name specified by the server element, and submits the job to it.

If the server element is not specified, the default in-process server name is: rep_hostname.

When the inprocess element specifies no, rwservlet tries to bind to an external server with the name specified by the server element.

8.3.1.1.2 singlesignon

The singlesignon sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="singlesignon" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the singlesignon element may be specified as shown in this example:

<singlesignon>yes</singlesignon>

Description

The singlesignon element specifies whether or not OracleAS Single Sign-On is enabled:

yes (default): OracleAS Single Sign-On is enabled.

no: OracleAS Single Sign-On is not enabled.

For more information about OracleAS Single Sign-On, refer to Chapter 17, "Configuring and Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On".

8.3.1.1.3 inprocess

The inprocess sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="inprocess" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the inprocess element may be specified as shown in this example:

<inprocess>yes</inprocess>

Description

The inprocess element specifies whether or not to run Reports Server within the same process as Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet):

yes (default): Reports Server run within the same process as Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet).

no: Reports Server does not within the same process as Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet).

Note:

The pros and cons of running an in-process server are explored in Chapter 2, "Understanding the Oracle Reports Services Architecture".

For troubleshooting printing and font issues when using the in-process server, see Section D.1.10, "Printing and Font Errors When Using In-process Reports Server".

8.3.1.1.4 reports_servermap

The reports_servermap sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="reports_servermap" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0"
            maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the reports_servermap element may be specified as shown in this example:

<reports_servermap>
  dev_cluster:dev_server;prd_cluster:prd_server;qa_cluster:qa_server
</reports_servermap>

Description

In Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), Reports Server clustering was deprecated. An Oracle Forms Services application from prior releases that includes a Reports Server cluster name will fail to bind to the Reports Server cluster it references.

To resolve this issue, the reports_servermap element maps a cluster name to a Reports Server name. This avoids the necessity to change the cluster name in all Oracle Forms Services applications.

An Oracle Forms Services application can call Oracle Reports in the following ways:

Using RUN_REPORT_OBJECT. If the call specifies a Reports Server cluster name instead of a Reports Server name, the REPORTS_SERVERMAP environment variable must be set in the Oracle Forms Services default.env file.

If your Oracle Forms Services application uses multiple Reports Server cluster names, you can map each of those cluster names to a different Reports Server using REPORTS_SERVERMAP, as follows:

REPORTS_SERVERMAP=cluster1:repserver1;cluster2:repserver2;cluster3:repserver3

For example, if your Oracle Forms Services application includes 3 clusters with names dev_cluster, prd_cluster, and qa_cluster in 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), you can map these cluster names to respective server names in later releases, as follows:

REPORTS_SERVERMAP=dev_cluster:dev_server;prd_cluster:prd_server;qa_cluster:qa_server

For more information, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Forms Services Deployment Guide.

Using WEB.SHOW_DOCUMENT. In this case, the request is submitted to rwservlet. If the call specifies a Reports Server cluster name instead of a Reports Server name, the reports_servermap element must be set in the rwservlet.properties file. For example:

<reports_servermap>
  cluster:repserver
</reports_servermap>

where

cluster is the Reports Server cluster name that was present in prior releases (Oracle Reports 9i and 10g Release 1 (9.0.4)).

repserver is the Reports Server name in later releases.

When reports_servermap is set in rwservlet.properties, any request to cluster in the Oracle Forms Services application is redirected to repserver.

8.3.1.1.5 cookie

The cookie element is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="cookie">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="cookieexpire" use="required" type="xs:integer"/>
    <xs:attribute name="encryptionkey" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the cookie element may be specified as shown in this example:

<cookie cookieexpire="30" encryptionkey="reports"/>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

The cookie element specifies an expiration time and encryption key for cookies, which save encrypted user names and passwords on the client-side when users first authenticate themselves. When the server receives a cookie from the client, the server compares the time saved in the cookie with the current system time. If the time difference is longer than the number of minutes defined in cookieexpire, the server rejects the cookie and returns to the client the authentication form along with an error message. Users must re-authenticate to run the report.

The cookie element attributes are described in Table 8-26.

Table 8-26 Attributes of the cookie Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

cookieexpire

Integer

Default: 30

The lifetime (in minutes) of the database and system authentication cookie.

encryptionkey

any character string

The encryption key to be used to encrypt the user name and password of the database and system authentication cookies.

8.3.1.1.6 defaultcharset

The defaultcharset sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="defaultcharset" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the defaultcharset property may be specified as shown in this example:

<defaultcharset>JA16EUC</defaultcharset>

Description

The defaultcharset element specifies the character encoding for decoding non-ASCII escaped characters in the request URL or non-ASCII characters in the Parameter Form input. This ensures that rwservlet uses the required encoding when decoding the parameter name and value.

You can set the defaultcharset element to either:

The database's NLS_CHARACTERSET (for example, JA16EUC).

The IANA-defined character set (for example, EUC-JP).

Note:

To use non-ASCII characters in user parameter names and values when using the Event-Driven Publishing API, you must ensure that the defaultcharset element in the rwservlet.properties file matches the value of the DEFAULTCHARSET parameter in your parameter list. For more information, see Section 21.1.3, "Including non-ASCII Characters in Parameter Names and Values".

8.3.1.1.7 webcommandaccess

The webcommandaccess element is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="webcommandaccess">
   <xs:simpleType>
    <xs:restriction base="xs:NMTOKEN">
        <xs:enumeration value="L0"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="L1"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="L2"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="NO"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="YES"/>
     </xs:restriction>
  </xs:simpleType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the webcommandaccess property may be specified as shown in this example:

<webcommandaccess>L1</webcommandaccess>

Description

The webcommandaccess element specifies access permission for rwservlet keywords (Web commands) for a non-secure server.

Note:

For secure Reports Server, Reports Server verifies the user's privileges based on the entries in Oracle Internet Directory.

Valid settings are:

L0: no Web commands allowed.

L1: only end user Web commands allowed (GETJOBID, KILLJOBID, SHOWAUTH, SHOWJOBID).

L2: administrator Web commands (DELAUTH, GETSERVERINFO, KILLENGINE, PARSEQUERY, SHOWENV, SHOWJOBS, SHOWMAP, SHOWMYJOBS) are also allowed. AUTHID is required to run administrator commands.

NO: for backward compatibility with DIAGNOSTIC=NO in 10g (rwservlet.properties).

YES: for backward compatibility with DIAGNOSTIC=YES in 10g (rwservlet.properties).

For L2 Web command access, you do not need to pass the authid. The authid parameter is required only for the STOPSERVER command irrespective of the webcommandaccess value.

8.3.1.1.8 allowhtmltags

The allowhtmltags sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="allowhtmltags" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the allowhtmltags element may be specified as shown in this example:

<allowhtmltags>yes</allowhtmltags>

Description

The allowhtmltags element specifies whether or not to allow HTML code to be entered in the URL when running a report:

no (default): HTML code in the URL is disallowed.

yes: HTML code in the URL is allowed.

Note:

Any HTML code included as part of a report request URL might lead to a security compromise as it causes certain browsers to execute any script or code in the URL.

8.3.1.1.9 helpurl

The helpurl sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="helpurl" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the helpurl element may be specified as shown in this example:

<helpurl>http://myserver/help_file/help_topic.htm</helpurl>

Description

The helpurl element specifies the name of a help file to be used instead of the default (ORACLE_HOME\reports\templates\help.htm).

The rwservlet HELP keyword (Web command) displays either the default help file, or the help file specified by the helpurl element.

Note:

For more about the HELP keyword, see Section A.6.12, "HELP".

8.3.1.1.10 imageurl

The imageurl sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="imageurl" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the imageurl property may be specified as shown in this example:

<imageurl>http://machine_name:port/reports/rwservlet</imageurl>

Description

The imageurl element specifies the location of reports' dynamically generated images.

This element applies to JSPs that do not run through Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet). It ensures that dynamically generated images, such as charts, will be viewable only by the person who runs the report. JSPs, and other report types, that run through rwservlet automatically have this protection.

8.3.1.1.11 reloadkeymap

The reloadkeymap sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="reloadkeymap" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the reloadkeymap element may be specified as shown in this example:

<reloadkeymap>yes</reloadkeymap>

Description

The reloadkeymap element specifies whether the key map file (cgicmd.dat) should be reloaded each time rwservlet receives a request:

no (default): Key map file is not reloaded when rwservlet receives a request.

yes: Key map file is reloaded when rwservlet receives a request.

This is useful if you frequently make changes to the map file and want the process of loading your changes to be automatic. Runtime performance will be affected according to how long it takes to reload the file.

Typically, this element specifies no in a production environment and yes in a testing environment.

8.3.1.1.12 dbauth

dbauth is the html template used to enter the database information. If the user does not enter the database information while giving reports request, the reports servlet challenges the user to enter the db info in the HTML template.

The dbauth sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="dbauth" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the dbauth element may be specified as shown in this example:

<dbauth>rwdbauth.htm</dbauth>

It is not necessary to enter the path to a template when it is stored in the default template directory:

ORACLE_HOME\reports\templates

Description

The dbauth element specifies the location and filename of the HTML templates, if you wish to customize the login dialog boxes with your company logo, linked buttons, or any other HTML you care to use. By default, the file name is rwdbauth.htm.

8.3.1.1.13 sysauth

sysauth is the HTML template used to enter the authentication information.

The sysauth sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="sysauth" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the sysauth element may be specified as shown in this example:

<sysauth>rwsysauth.htm</sysauth>

It is not necessary to enter the path to a template when it is stored in the default template directory:

ORACLE_HOME\reports\templates

Description

The sysauth element specifies the location and filename of the HTML templates, if you wish to customize login dialog boxes for a secure report with your company logo, linked buttons, or any other HTML you care to use. By default, the file name is rwsysauth.htm.

8.3.1.1.14 errortemplate

The errortemplate sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="errortemplate" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the errortemplate element may be specified as shown in this example:

<errortemplate>rwerror.htm</errortemplate>

It is not necessary to enter the path to the error message template when it is stored in the default template directory:

ORACLE_HOME\reports\templates

Description

The errortemplate element specifies the name and location of your error message template. By default, the file name is rwerror.htm.

The error message template provides the visual setting within which the error message is displayed. You may wish to customize the appearance of error messages, for example with your company logo, or with an icon you plan to associate with errors. You may wish to add buttons that link your users to a help system, your company home page, or back to the last browser window. You can do this by using the errortemplate element to specify your own HTML framework for automatically generated error messages.

The character set of the default error message template (rwerror.htm) is iso-8859-1 to ensure consistency across all platforms.

8.3.1.1.15 diagtags

The diagtags element is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="diagtags">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="diagbodytags" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="diagheadtags" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Description

The diagtags element specifies additional HTML encoding in the <body> and <head> tags in the output files associated with diagnostic and debugging output. You can use these to include formatting options to make diagnostic and debugging output easier to read.

The diagtags element attributes are described in Table 8-27.

Table 8-27 Attributes of the diagtags Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

diagbodytags

HTML code for <body> tag

HTML code to add between the <body> and </body> tags.

diagheadtags

HTML code for <head> tag

HTML code to add between the <head> and </head> tags.

8.3.1.1.16 cluster

Note:

For information about Oracle Fusion Middleware-level techniques for high availability, refer to Section 2.5, "Setting Up a High Availability Environment".

8.3.1.1.17 oidconnection

The oidconnection element is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="oidconnection">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="oidcon_appentity" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="oidcon_passwdkey" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="oidcon_url" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="oidcon_init" type="xs:integer"/>
    <xs:attribute name="oidcon_increment" type="xs:integer"/>
    <xs:attribute name="oidcon_timeout">
        <xs:simpleType>
    <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
        <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
    </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the oidconnection element may be specified as shown in this example:

<oidconnection>
  oid_appentity="reportsapp.idc.oracle.com>
  oidcon_init="10"
  oidcon_increment="10"
  oidcon_timeout="1">
</oidconnection>

Description

The oidconnection element specifies Oracle Internet Directory for rwservlet.

For Reports Server, you can specify Oracle Internet Directory connection pooling parameters using the oidconnection element in the server configuration file, as described in Section 8.2.1.16, "oidconnection".

The oidconnection element attributes are described in Table 8-28.

Table 8-28 Attributes of the oidconnection Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

oidcon_appentity

N/A

Default: Set at install time

Oracle Internet Directory App entity created at install time for internal use of Reports.

oidcon_passwdkey

N/A

Default: Set at install time

Random password key created to connect to Oracle Internet Directory for internal use of Reports.

oidcon_url

N/A

Default: Set at install time

Oracle Internet Directory Url to connect to oid

oidcon_init

number

Default: 10

Initial number of Oracle Internet Directory connections to be created when rwservlet is initialized.

oidcon_increment

number

Default: 10

Number of connections to be incremented when all connections are used up.

oidcon_timeout

number

Default: 0 (no timeout)

Time in seconds for which a connection can be idle.

8.3.1.1.18 allowauthid

The allowauthid sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

 <xs:element name="allowauthid" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Description

allowauthid is the element to be added in rwservlet.properties either to enable or disable passing of the authid through an URL.

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the allowauthid element may be specified as shown in this example:

  <allowauthid> yes </allowauthid>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Default

By default the allowauthid is set to Yes. If the authid is set to No, authorization through an URL is disabled and Single Sign-On should be used to enter the username and password.

8.3.1.1.19 enabledbproxy

The enabledbproxy sub-element of rwservlet is defined in rwservlet.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="enabledbproxy" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>

Description

enabledbproxy is the element to be added in the rwservlet.properties file to make the dbproxy feature work through the rwservlet.

Example

In rwservlet.properties, the enabledbproxy element may be specified as shown in this example:

  <enabledbproxy> yes </enabledbproxy>

Required/Optional

Optional.

Default

By default, the enabledbproxy is set to Yes.

8.3.2 Specifying an Alternate Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File

Perform the following steps to specify an alternate Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File:

Log in to the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

Under Domain Structure in the left pane, click Environment. The Summary of Environment page is displayed.

In this page, click Servers. The Summary of Servers page is displayed.

From the list of servers, click WLS_REPORTS. The Settings for WLS_ REPORTS page is displayed.

Click the Server Start tab.

Add the following entry in the Arguments field:

-DServletPropFile=your_servlet_properties_file

Click Save.

Restart WLS_REPORTS.

By default, Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) uses the rwservlet.properties file as the configuration file. If you are running multiple Oracle WebLogic Server instances with reports installed on the same Oracle Fusion Middleware and wish to use different configuration files, you can do so by adding the following parameter in the WLS_REPORTS startup parameter section in the WebLogic Server Administration Console:

-DServletPropFile=your_servlet_properties_file

8.4 Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration File

The Oracle Reports Bridge configuration settings for the Reports Server component of Oracle Reports Services are stored in the XML file rwbridge.conf.

The bridgeconfig.xsd file contains data type definitions for rwbridge.conf elements and attributes. See Section 8.4.1, "Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration Elements".

These files are located in the directories specified in Table 8-1.

8.4.1 Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration Elements

The bridgeconfig.xsd contains the data type definitions for the various Oracle Reports Bridge configuration file (rwbridge.conf) elements and attributes.

The Oracle Reports Bridge acts as a gateway for packets that are broadcast by Reports Server and Reports Client across Farms. For example, in a sample setup, Oracle Reports components are installed on different Farms: Oracle Reports Servlet is in Farm A and Reports Server is in Farm B. To achieve this configuration, the Oracle Reports Bridge has to be started on each Farm. Bridge configuration will include the host and port settings. The Oracle Reports Bridge in Farm A will contact the Oracle Reports Bridge in Farm B through reliable TCP to retrieve the server information on Farm B, and vice versa. For more information, see Section 2.3.4.1.2, "Server Discovery Across Subnets".

To start and stop the Oracle Reports Bridge, refer to Chapter 6, "Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Services".

Oracle Reports creates the configuration file rwbridge.conf when the Oracle Reports Bridge is started for the first time. This file is generated based on the settings in the rwbridge.template file.

In the configuration file, rwbridge.conf, modify the identifier element to specify the username/password and set the encrypted attribute to no. This indicates that the password is not encrypted. This password will be encrypted once the Oracle Reports Bridge is started.

For example:

<identifier encrypted="no">scott/tiger</identifier>

Usage Notes

If the identifier element is commented, then it is possible to stop the Oracle Reports Bridge without specifying authid.

It is not possible to stop the Oracle Reports Bridge remotely.

See Also:

Section 8.4.1.2, "identifier"

The bridgeconf.xsd file provides the following data type definitions for configuring rwbridge.conf elements and attributes:

bridge

identifier

remoteBridge

remoteBridges

Note:

The configuration elements described in this section can be configured in Oracle Enterprise Manager:

Select Reports > Administration > Bridge Configuration to display the Reports Bridge Component Configuration page.

8.4.1.1 bridge

The bridge element is defined in bridgeconfig.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="bridge">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="identifier" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
      <xs:element ref="remoteBridges" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
    </xs:sequence>

    <xs:attribute name="version" use="required" type="xs:string"/>

    <xs:attribute name="port" default="14011">
      <xs:simpleType>
      <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
        <xs:minInclusive value="14001"/>
        </xs:restriction>
      </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

    <xs:attribute name="timeout" use="required">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
                <xs:minInclusive value="100"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>

    </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

<bridge version="11.1.1.1.0" port="14011" timeout="12000">
   <!--networkConfig file="rwnetwork.conf" ></networkConfig-->
   <!--identifier encrypted="no"
       >%USERNAME%/%PASSWORD%</identifier-->
   <!--trace traceOpts="trace_all"></trace-->
   <!-- Specify one or more remote bridges inside remoteBridges element -->
   <!--remoteBridges>
      <remoteBridge host="%HOST%" port="%PORT%"></remoteBridge>
   </remoteBridges-->
</bridge>

Required/Optional

Required. You can have a maximum of one open tag and one close tag in the bridge element in a given configuration file.

Description

The bridge element opens and closes the content area of the bridge configuration file. In terms of the file's hierarchy, all the other elements are subordinate to the bridge element.

The bridge element attributes are described in Table 8-29.

Table 8-29 Attributes of the bridge Element

Attributes
Valid Values
Description

version

11.1.1.1.0

The bridge version.

port

The allotted range for Oracle Reports Bridge component; that is, 14011 to 14020.

The port on which the bridge will listen.

timeout

1000

Value in milliseconds (ms). The bridge will wait for this period for a response from a remote bridge.

Note:

The default port value for the bridge configuration file is assigned when you install Oracle Fusion Middleware. The rwbridge.template file contains this default port, which is used to generate the configuration file for the bridge. The configuration file name for a bridge is ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsBridgeComponent/<bridge name>/rwbridge.conf.

If you want to customize the port number for the bridge, you must specify a valid port range reserved for the Oracle Reports Bridge bridge (14011 to 14020).

8.4.1.2 identifier

The identifier element is defined in bridgeconfig.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="identifier">
  <xs:complexType mixed="true">
      <xs:attribute name="encrypted" default="no">
      <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:NMTOKEN">
          <xs:enumeration value="yes"/>
          <xs:enumeration value="no"/>
        </xs:restriction>
      </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

<identifier
  encrypted="yes">fpoiVNFvnlkjRPortn+sneU88=NnN</identifier>

Required / Optional

Optional. If this element is commented, then the Oracle Reports Bridge will not perform a security check when the bridge shutdown command is issued.

Description

The identifier element ensures that the Oracle Reports Bridge performs a security check before shutting down.

To set the value of the identifier element:

Uncomment the identifier element in the bridge configuration file.

Set the value to the administrator username/password, set the attribute encrypted=no, so that the username/password will be encrypted when the Oracle Reports Bridge is restarted.

For example:

<identifier encrypted="no">scott/tiger</identifier>

Start the Oracle Reports Bridge.

Once this element is set, only the administrator will be able to shut down the bridge by specifying the username/password in the command line.

See Also:

Section 6.2.1, "Starting, Stopping, and Restarting the Oracle Reports Bridge from the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server"

8.4.1.3 remoteBridge

The remoteBridge element is defined in bridgeconfig.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="remoteBridge">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="host" use="required" type="xs:string"/
    <xs:attribute name="port" use="required">
       <xs:simpleType>
    <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
    <xs:minInclusive value="14001"/>
    </xs:restriction>
    </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

<remoteBridge host="myhost.mydomain.com" port="14022"></remoteBridge>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have one or more remoteBridge elements in your bridge configuration file.

Description

The remoteBridge element specifies the host and port on which remote bridges are running.

Figure 8-1 Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration (Two-Way)

If you specify the optional remoteBridge element(s) in the repbrg_bridgename.conf, then the bridge will act as a two-way bridge. That is, the bridge can get server references from remote bridges.

Figure 8-2 Oracle Reports Bridge Configuration (One-Way)

If you do not specify the optional remoteBridge element(s) in the repbrg_bridgename.conf, then the bridge will act as a one-way bridge. That is, the bridge can only serve remote bridges. It cannot connect to remote bridges to get the server reference.

The remoteBridge element attributes are described in Table 8-30.

Table 8-30 Attributes of the remoteBridge Element

Attributes
Valid Values
Description

host

Host name/IP address of the remote bridge.

The host name or the IP address of the machine where the remote bridge is running.

port

Port number of the remote bridge.

The port number of the remote bridge element.

8.4.1.4 remoteBridges

The remoteBridges element is defined in bridgeconfig.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="remoteBridges">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element ref="remoteBridge" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
    </xs:sequence>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

<remoteBridges>
  <remoteBridge host="myhost.mydomain.com" port="14022"></remoteBridge>
</remoteBridges>

Required/Optional

Optional. If this entry is not specified, then this bridge will not contact any remote bridge to get a Reports Server reference. However, remote bridges can contact this bridge to get the references of Reports Servers running in this farm.

Description

The remoteBridges element can contain zero or more remoteBridge elements.

8.5 Network Configuration File

The network configuration settings for the Oracle Reports Bridge component of Oracle Reports Services are stored in the XML file rwnetwork.conf.

The rwnetworkconf.xsd contains data type definitions for rwnetwork.conf elements and attributes. See Section 8.5.1, "Network Configuration Elements".

These files are located in the directories specified in Table 8-1.

8.5.1 Network Configuration Elements

The rwnetworkconf.xsd file provides the following data type definitions for configuring rwnetwork.conf elements and attributes:

discoveryService

multicast

namingService

8.5.1.1 discoveryService

The discoveryService element is defined in rwnetwork.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="discoveryService">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:choice>
      <xs:element ref="multicast"/>
      <xs:element ref="namingService"/>
    </xs:choice>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Required/Optional

Required. You can have a maximum of one open tag and one close tag in the discoveryService element in a given configuration file.

Description

The discoveryService element opens and closes the content area of the network configuration file. In terms of the file's hierarchy, all the other elements are subordinate to the discoveryService element.

The discoveryService element has no attributes. It includes two sub-elements:

multicast: see Section 8.5.1.2, "multicast"

namingService: see Section 8.5.1.3, "namingService"

8.5.1.2 multicast

The multicast element is defined in rwnetwork.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="multicast">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="channel" default="228.5.6.7" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="port"  default="14021">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
    <xs:attribute name="timeout" use="required">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="100"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
    <xs:attribute name="retry"  default="3">
         <xs:simpleType>
         <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
         </xs:restriction>
         </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

<multicast channel="228.5.6.7" port="one of the port in alotted AS ports"
           timeout="1000" retry="3"/>

Required/Optional

Conditional. The namingService and multicast elements are mutually exclusive; that is, only one of these elements can be configured at a time.

Description

The multicast element contains the necessary information to identify where Reports Server is running the built-in broadcast mechanism. By default, multicast is specified in rwnetwork.conf.

The multicast element attributes are described in Table 8-31.

Table 8-31 Attributes of the multicast Element

Attributes
Valid Values
Description

channel

Broadcast channel

The broadcast channel used by the Reports Server.

port

Broadcast port

The broadcast port used by the Reports Server.

timeout

Time (in milliseconds) it should wait for response. The optimum value for this setting is 1000.

The Reports Client will wait for the specified timeout period for a response from the Reports Server.

retry

Retry count

The Reports Client will retry for the specified number of times, if there is no response from the Reports Server after the timeout period.

Note:

It is strongly recommended that you do not change the default channel and port unless it is absolutely necessary. The default port value for rwnetwork.conf is assigned when you install Oracle Fusion Middleware.

If you want to customize rwnetwork.conf, you must specify a valid port range reserved for Reports Server (14021 to 14030). If you are using the Oracle Reports Bridge for discovering Reports Servers across subnets, you should set the timeout and retry values carefully for the bridge to function correctly. Refer to Table 8-31 for setting the timeout value.

8.5.1.3 namingService

The namingService element is defined in rwnetwork.xsd as follows:

<xs:element name="namingService">
  <xs:complexType>
    <xs:attribute name="name" use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="host"  use="required" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:attribute name="port" use="required">
        <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
            <xs:minInclusive value="1"/>
        </xs:restriction>
        </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
  </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Example

<namingService name="Cos" host="mymachine.mydomain.com" port="14021"/>

Required/Optional

Conditional. The namingService and multicast elements are mutually exclusive; that is, only one of these elements can be configured at a time.

Description

The namingService element contains the necessary information required to be able to identify the host name and the port where the COS naming service is running. Specify this element only when the built-in broadcast mechanism is not suitable for your environment, as in the following scenarios:

Oracle Reports is installed on a machine that is connected to a network using VPN.

You want to avoid broadcast traffic on your network.

For more information, see Section 2.3.4.2, "Server Discovery Using the COS Naming Service".

The namingService element attributes are described in Table 8-32.

Table 8-32 Attributes of the namingService Element

Attributes
Valid Values
Description

name

Cos

The descriptive name of the naming service.

host

Host name/IP

The host name of the machine where the naming service is running.

port

Port number

The port number of the machine where the naming service is running.

8.6 Configuring the URL Engine

Reports Server includes a URL engine that can take the contents of any URL and distribute them. The URL engine enables you to leverage the powerful scheduling and distribution capabilities of Reports Server to distribute content from any publicly available URL to various destinations such as e-mail, Oracle Portal, and WebDAV. Since Reports Server's destinations are pluggable, you can also add your own custom destinations for the URL content.

Furthermore, if you use the URL engine in conjunction with Reports Server's event-based APIs, database events can trigger the content distribution. For example, suppose you have created a JSP report for high fidelity Web publishing of data stored in a table containing employee expense data. You could then use the URL engine and the event-based API to e-mail that JSP whenever the expense application stores new or updated employee expense data in the table.

If the URL engine is not activated, you can activate it by doing the following:

Add an engine element for the URL engine to the server configuration file. For example, your engine element might be as follows:

<engine id="rwURLEng"
             class="oracle.reports.engine.URLEngineImpl"
             initEngine="1"
             maxEngine="1"
             minEngine="0"
             engLife="50"
             maxIdle="30"
             callbackTimeOut="60000"
/>

Add a job element that associates the appropriate job types with the URL engine to the server configuration file. For example, your job element might be as follows:

<job jobType="rwurl" engineId="rwURLEng"/>

Stop and restart Reports Server.

Note:

When you restart your Reports Server with these new elements, you should see the number of engines increase accordingly in the Reports Server status message box. In the preceding example, the number of engines would increase by one (the value of initEngine) when you restart Reports Server.

To learn about sending requests to the URL engine, refer to Chapter 18, "Running Report Requests".

8.7 Entering Proxy Information

Some features of Oracle Reports Services support retrieving or sending information through a firewall. For example, the URL engine, the XML data source, the Text data source, and the mail destination features all retrieve or send information through the firewall. For these features to function properly, Reports Server requires certain proxy information.

In Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), proxy information is stored in the Reports Server configuration file (rwserver.conf). You can specify proxy information in either of the following ways:

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager (recommended)

Editing the Server Configuration File

8.7.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

To specify proxy information using Oracle Enterprise Manager, refer to Section 7.14, "Configuring Proxy Information".

8.7.2 Editing the Server Configuration File

To specify proxy information by editing the server configuration file (rwserver.conf) directly, add the proxyServer element, as described in Section 8.2.1.24, "proxyServer".

8.8 Configuring Reports Server with the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager

The best way to start, shut down, monitor, and manage Reports Server is through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN) and Oracle Enterprise Manager.

OPMN provides a centralized mechanism for initializing, maintaining, and shutting down your Oracle Fusion Middleware components, including Reports Server. Out-of-the-box, Oracle Reports components are managed with OPMN for death detection and recovery, providing an enhanced health check mechanism in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1).

You can conveniently monitor your Reports Servers through Oracle Enterprise Manager and, if the process fails for any reason, OPMN restarts Reports Server for you automatically.

During installation of Oracle Fusion Middleware, Reports Servers are automatically configured in OPMN and registered with Oracle Enterprise Manager.

8.8.1 opmn.xml

Components are configured with OPMN in the opmn.xml file located in INSTANCE_HOME/config/OPMN/opmn/opmn.xml This section describes how to configure the following components through OPMN:

Module Specification

Standalone Reports Server Specification

Oracle Reports Bridge Specification

COS Naming Service Specification

See Also:

For a detailed description of OPMNconfiguration and the contents of opmn.xml:

Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide

8.8.1.1 Module Specification

The module tag is included by default in opmn.xml and tells OPMN to load a particular module. In the case of Reports Server, the OracleAS Reports Services module must be loaded. This module is loaded with the following information, by default, in opmn.xml:

<module path="/private/oraclehome/opmn/lib/libopmnreports"><module-id id="ReportsServices"/></module>

8.8.1.2 Standalone Reports Server Specification

In the case of the standalone Reports Server, the Reports Server is running in its own component. Therefore, you must specify a separate component for Reports Server to control the server through OPMN. For example:

<ias-component id="<ServerName>">
 <process-type id="ReportsServerComponent" module-id="ReportsServices">
   <process-set id="<ServerName>" restart-on-death="true" numprocs="1">
      <environment>
         <variable id="PATH" value="<PATH environment variable> "/>
      </environment>
      <module-data>
         <category id="general-parameters">
            <data id="batch" value="yes"/>
         </category>
         <category id="restart-parameters">
            <data id="reverseping-timeout" value="120"/>
         </category>
      </module-data>
      <start timeout="75" retry="2"/>
      <stop timeout="120"/>
      <restart timeout="75"/>
      <ping timeout="30" interval="30"/>
   </process-set>
 </process-type>
</ias-component>

Note:

The timeout values in the preceding example are all in number of seconds.

The key segments of this specification for Oracle Reports are described below.

<ias-component id="<RSName>" ...>

This tag specifies the name of Reports Server. It must match the Reports Server internal name from targets.xml

See Also:

Chapter 19, "Managing and Monitoring OracleAS Reports Services" for more information on targets.xml.

<process-type id="ReportsServer" module-id="ReportsServices">

This tag defines the process for the named Reports Server and associates it with the OracleAS Reports Services process module.

<process-set id="<RSName>" restart-on-death="true" numprocs="1">

This tag defines the process characteristics for the named Reports Server. It indicates whether Reports Server should be restarted when it fails. It also specifies the number of Reports Servers started for this process set, which has to be 1 because the process-set id identifies a single Reports Server name.

<variable id="PATH" value="your_shell_path"/>

The first tag specifies the value for the PATH environment variable for the process. This variable must be set for the start script to find uname. This environment element is not needed on the Microsoft Windows platform.

<category id="general-parameters"><data id="batch" value="yes"/></category>

This group of tags gathers together all of the data (parameters) common to the process. In this particular example, it provides a way to specify that the BATCH parameter be sent to Reports Server. batch=yes|no is an option to the start and stop commands of Reports Server. If it is not configured, this option is not passed in to Reports Server.

<category id="restart-parameters"><data id="reverseping-timeout" value="120"/></category>

This group of tags indicates the restart parameters category, which defines parameters to be used in detecting whether the process has failed and needs to be restarted. If a notification is not received within the specified reverseping-timeout period, then the process is considered failed and will be restarted.

See Also:

For more information on opmn.xml and its contents:

Oracle Application Server Administrator's Guide

8.8.1.3 Oracle Reports Bridge Specification

The Oracle Reports bridge runs within its own component. Therefore, you must specify a separate ias-component tag for the Oracle Reports bridge to control the bridge through OPMN.For troubleshooting scenarios and diagnosis, see Section D.8, "Diagnosing Oracle Reports Bridge Problems"

The following are examples for a minimum bridge configuration as well as a full bridge configuration.

Example 8-1 Minimum Configuration for Oracle Reports Bridge

<ias-component id="your_bridge_name" status="enabled" id-matching="false"
xmlns="http://www.oracle.com/ias-instance">
 <process-type id="ReportsBridge" module-id="ReportsBridgeServices">
   <process-set id="your_bridge_name" restart-on-death="true" numprocs="1">
      <environment>
         <variable id="PATH" value="your_oracle_home_directory/jdk/jre/bin" append="true"/>
         <variable id="PATH" value="your_shell_path" append="true"/>
         <variable id="CLASSPATH" value="your_oracle_home_directory/jlib/zrclient.jar" append="true"/>
         <variable id="CLASSPATH" value="your_oracle_home_directory/reports/jlib/rwrun.jar" append="true"/>
      </environment>
   </process-set>
 </process-type>
</ias-component>

Example 8-2 Full Configuration for Oracle Reports Bridge

<ias-component id="your_bridge_name" status="enabled" id-matching="false">
 <process-type id="ReportsBridge"module-id="ReportsBridgeServices">
   <process-set id="your_bridge_name" restart-on-death="true" numprocs="1">
      <environment>
         <variable id="PATH" value="your_shell_path" append="true"/>
         <variable id="CLASSPATH" value="your_oracle_home_directory/jlib/zrclient.jar" append="true"/>
         <variable id="CLASSPATH" value="your_oracle_home_directory/reports/jlib/rwrun.jar" append="true"/>
      </environment>
      <module-data>
         <category id="restart-parameters">
            <data id="reverseping-timeout" value="120"/>
         </category>
         <category id="start-parameters">>
            <data id="jvm-options" value="="-Xms128mb -Xmx256mb"/>
            <data id="bridge-options" value="start_options_if_any"/>
         </category>
        <category id="stop-parameters">
            <data id="jvm-options" value="-Xms128mb -Xmx256mb"/>
            <data id="bridge-options" value="stop_options_if_any"/>
        </category>
      </module-data>
      <start timeout="120" retry="3"/>
      <stop timeout="120"/>
      <restart timeout="120" retry="0"/>
   </process-set>
 </process-type>
</ias-component>

8.8.1.4 COS Naming Service Specification

By default, Oracle Reports uses the built-in broadcast mechanism for Reports Server discovery. Alternatively, Oracle Reports clients can use the Common Object Service (COS) naming service for Reports Server discovery to submit report requests when the built-in broadcast mechanism is not suitable for your environment, as in the following scenarios:

Oracle Reports is installed on a machine that is connected to a network using VPN.

You want to avoid broadcast traffic on your network.

For more information, see Section 2.3.4.2, "Server Discovery Using the COS Naming Service".To control the COS naming service through OPMN, the opmn.xml file must include a custom ias-component tag, as follows:

<ias-component id="namingservice">
<process-type id="namingservice" module-id="CUSTOM">
      <environment>
         <variable id="PATH" value="ORACLE_HOME\jdk\bin"/>
      </environment>
   <process-set id="namingservice" numprocs="1">
      <module-data>
         <category id="start-parameters">
            <data id="start-executable" value="ORACLE_HOME\jdk\bin\orbd"/>
            <data id="start-args" value="-ORBInitialPort port"/>>
         </category>
      </module-data>
   </process-set>
 </process-type>
</ias-component>

Where,

ORACLE_HOME is your Oracle Home directory.

port is the port on which you want to start the COS naming service. This port must be specified in your rwnetwork.conf file as specified in Section 8.5.1.3, "namingService".

Additionally, to make sure that OPMN starts the COS naming service before it attempts to start Reports Server, opmn.xml must include the following dependency:

<ias-component id="<reports_server_name>" status="enabled" id-matching="false">
<process-type id="ReportsServer" module-id="ReportsServices">
...
<managed-process ias-component="namingservice" process-type="namingservice"
process-set="namingservice" autostart="true"/>
...
</process-type>
</ias-component>

To use OPMN to control the COS naming service, perform the following steps:

Stop Reports Server and WLS_REPORTS.

Edit the opmn.xml file and add an ias-component tag. For example:

...
<ias-component id="namingservice">
<process-type id="namingservice" module-id="CUSTOM">
   <environment>
    <variable id="PATH" value="G:\FRHome_2\jdk\bin"/>
   </environment>
  <process-set id="namingservice" numprocs="1">
   <module-data>
    <category id="start-parameters">
     <data id="start-executable" value="G:\FRHome_2\jdk\bin\orbd"/>
     <data id="start-args" value="-ORBInitialPort 8988"/>
    </category>
   </module-data>
  </process-set>
 </process-type>
</ias-component>
...

Add a dependency to the Reports Server ias-component tag. For example:

<category id="general-parameters">
  <data id="batch" value="yes"/>
</category>
<category id="restart-parameters">
          <data id="reverseping-timeout" value="120"/>
</category>
  </module-data>
   <dependencies>
            <managed-process ias-component="namingservice"
            process-type="namingservice" process-set="namingservice"
            autostart="true"/>
   </dependencies>
<stop timeout="120"/>
<restart timeout="600"/>
<ping timeout="30" interval="30"/>
</process-set>
</process-type>
</ias-component>
...

Note:

In Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), you cannot add a dependency on WLS_REPORTS because the in-process server and WLS_REPORTS are not managed by OPMN.

Navigate to your ORACLE_INSTANCE/opmn/bin directory.

Run one of the following commands:

If OPMN is up and running, to reload the changes made to the opmn.xml file: opmnctl reload

If OPMN is not running: opmnctl start

Start the COS naming service using either of the following commands:

opmnctl startproc ias-component=namingservice

or

opmnctl startproc process-type=namingservice

Modify the rwnetwork.conf file to use the COS naming service instead of the default broadcast mechanism, as described in Section 8.5.1.3, "namingService".

Start WLS_REPORTS and Reports Servers.

To stop the COS naming service, use the following command:

opmnctl stopproc ias-component=namingservice

To restart the COS naming service, use the following command:

opmnctl restartproc ias-component=namingservice

Troubleshooting: If a COMM_FAILURE error displays when Reports Server is started, either the naming service is not started properly or the port is not specified properly. To resolve this error, check whether the naming service process orbd is running. If not, start it. If the orbd process is running, check the port specified for namingService in the rwnetwork.conf file. It should be same as the port on which orbd is started.

When you execute the command opmnctl stopall, Reports Server may not stop gracefully, and may be killed by OPMN. This is because OPMN does not check the dependency while stopping the process. If OPMN stops the COS naming service before stopping Reports Server, Reports Server will not shut down gracefully. This is harmless, and can be ignored.

8.8.2 Creating a New Reports Server

You can use the following OPMN commands to create new Reports Server.

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl createcomponent
       -adminUsername weblogic
       -adminHost ${ADMIN_HOST}
       -adminPort ${ADMIN_PORT}
       -oracleHome ${ORACLE_HOME}
       -oracleInstance ${ORACLE_INSTANCE}
       -instanceName  $INSTANCE_NAME
       -componentName  <servername>
       -componentType  ReportsServerComponent

For example, to create a new Server named test_server, run the following commands on the commandline:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl createcomponent
  -adminUsername weblogic
  -adminHost host.domain.com
  -adminPort 7001
  -oracleHome /path/oracle_home
  -oracleInstance /path/instance_home
  -instanceName  myinst
  -componentName  test_server
  -componentType  ReportsServerComponent

After creating the Reports Server, restart the WLS_REPORTS managed server by stopping it and and start it again. This is necessary for completing registration of the new Reports Server configuration MBeans.

8.8.3 Creating a New Bridge Component Type

You can use the following OPMN commands to create new Bridge Component Type.

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl createcomponent
       -adminUsername weblogic
       -adminHost ${ADMIN_HOST}
       -adminPort ${ADMIN_PORT}
       -oracleHome ${ORACLE_HOME}
       -oracleInstance ${ORACLE_INSTANCE}
       -instanceName  $INSTANCE_NAME
       -componentName  <Bridgename>
       -componentType  ReportsBridgeComponent

For example, to create a new Bridge Component Type named test_bridge, run the following commands on the commandline:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/opmnctl createcomponent
  -adminUsername weblogic
  -adminHost host.domain.com
  -adminPort 7001
  -oracleHome /path/oracle_home
  -oracleInstance /path/instance_home
  -instanceName  myinst -componentName  test_bridge
  -componentType  ReportsBridgeComponent

Note:

After running the command the new server / bridge will be automatically registered with OPMN.

8.9 Overview of SOA Integration

With 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Oracle Reports is integrated with the Oracle Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) suite, which includes Oracle BPEL Process Manager to automate and monitor reporting requirements.

8.9.1 About BPEL

Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) is the emerging standard for assembling a set of discrete services into an end-to-end process flow, radically reducing the cost and complexity of process integration initiatives. Oracle BPEL Process Manager, a key component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, enables enterprises to orchestrate disparate applications and web services into business processes. The ability to quickly build and deploy these processes in a standards-based manner delivers critical functionality for developing a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).

For more information about Oracle BPEL Process Manager, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle SOA Suite.

Users can submit Oracle Reports jobs from the Oracle BPEL Process Manager business process, get the status of report execution, and also invoke an Oracle BPEL Process Manager business process from reports. For example, submit a report request when an order gets approved.

Using Oracle Reports with Oracle BPEL Process Manager involves the following steps:

Define a business process by using Oracle JDeveloper.

Call the Oracle Reports web service to start executing the report at an appropriate stage in your business process.

Submit the reports job synchronously or asynchronously.

Obtain the status of the report job at any time.

8.10 Configuring Oracle Reports to Communicate with Oracle BPEL Process Manager

Oracle Reports exposes web service named RWWebService. For more information about this web service, see Chapter 19, "Using the Oracle Reports Web Service". Oracle Reports web services, which are synchronous in nature, can be used in a BPEL process as a Partner link.

To invoke an Oracle Reports web service asynchronously in a BPEL process, do the following:

Create an intermediate asynchronous BPEL process that uses the synchronous Oracle Reports web service and provides an interface to the caller for making a callback.

Deploy this intermediate asynchronous BPEL process as a service in the SOA suite, which can be used as a Partner link.

You can access the WSDL of the Oracle Reports web service at the following location:

http://yourwebserver:port/reports/rwwebservice?

WSDL contains information about the different ways of invoking RWWebservice. You can access the XSD file at the following location:

http://yourwebserver:port/reports/rwwebservice?xsd=1

You can save the XSD file on your local machine and use it when creating a BPEL process.

8.10.1 Using RWWebservice to Submit Jobs to the Reports Server

To submit jobs to the Oracle Reports server using RWWebService, perform the following steps:

Install Oracle JDeveloper. For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle JDeveloper.

Install OracleAS SOA.

Start the SOA suite.

Create a connection from Oracle JDeveloper to the SOA suite.

Create a new application.

Create a new asynchronous BPEL process project and use the RWWebservice.xsd file to define the input and output parameters of the BPEL process.

Create a Partner link that refers to the RWWebService WSDL:

When prompted by Oracle JDeveloper, click Yes to create Partner link types.

Select Partner Role.

Create a scope in your process.

Within the scope, create an Invoke activity and use it to invoke the runJob operation on the RWWebService Partner link.

Create input and output variables automatically. The input parameter provides input to the runJob operation of RWWebService, and the output parameter contains the output of the runJob operation.

Within the scope, before the Invoke activity, create an Assign activity:

In this Assign activity, map the user input parameters to the parameters that RWWebService requires.

Set Param0 = reports job command (string).

Set Param1 = true (boolean, specifying that the job submission must be synchronous).

Within the scope, after the Invoke activity, create an Assign activity. In this Assign activity, map the output variable of the Invoke activity to the result variable that is written back to the client.

Compile and deploy the BPEL process on the SOA suite.

Use the Oracle BPEL Process Manager console to run the BPEL process.

You can use this BPEL process in another BPEL process and submit jobs to the reports server asynchronously from a BPEL process.

Important:

For completing steps from 2 to 11 mentioned in Section 8.10.1, see the following documents:

Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle SOA Suite

Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle SOA Suite

Oracle Fusion Middleware Tutorial for Running Fusion Order Demo for Oracle SOA Suite

8.10.2 Submitting Jobs to the Reports Server from a BPEL Process Asynchronously

To submit jobs to the Oracle Reports server from a BPEL process asynchronously, do the following:

Create a new asynchronous BPEL process project and use the RWWebservice.xsd file to define the input and output parameters of the BPEL process.

Create a Partner link that refers to the WSDL of the newly created BPEL process:

When prompted by Oracle JDeveloper, click Yes to create Partner link types.

Select Partner Role.

Create a scope in your process.

Within the scope, create an Invoke activity and use it to invoke the runJob operation on the intermediate process Partner link.

Create input variables automatically. The input parameter provides input to the runJob operation of the intermediate BPEL process.

Create a Receive activity to receive the callback from the intermediate process.

Within the scope, before the Invoke activity, create an Assign activity:

In this Assign activity, map the user input parameters to the parameters that the intermediate BPEL process requires.

Set Param0 = reports job command (string).

Set Param1 = true (boolean, specifying that the job submission must be synchronous).

Within the scope, after the Invoke activity, create a Receive activity.

Create input variables automatically. The input parameter receives a response from the runJobresponse operation of the intermediate BPEL process.

Within the scope, after the Invoke activity, create an Assign activity. In this Assign activity, map the input variable of the Receive activity to the result variable that is written back to the client.

Compile and deploy the BPEL process on the SOA suite.

Use the Oracle BPEL Process Manager console to run the BPEL process.

8.11 Optimizing the Deployment of Reports

Before you deploy a report on a machine that is either slow or is running on a load, you may want to configure the following:

Ping timeout (OPMN-side): Ping timeout is the measure that OPMN uses to determine the time that it must wait for a callback from an standalone Reports Server before considering it as a timeout.

The default timeout period is 150. This period is calculated from: ping timeout, ping interval, and number of retries. The default values for these are:

ping timeout = 30 seconds
ping interval = 20 seconds
number of retries = 3

Note:

The number of retries is applicable only when OPMN successfully connects to Standalone Reports Serverand receives regular ONS notifications from the process.

Based on these values, there will be three ping attempts with a timeout of 30 seconds each at 20 second intervals. The first ping is done after the specified ping interval. Thus, from the time the Standalone Reports Server is started by OPMN, approximately 150 (20 + 3*30 + 2*20) seconds will elapse before the process is considered unresponsive and restarted. However, if after OPMN connects to Standalone Reports Server but server is too slow in sending regular ONS notifications, then the 30 second timeout applies.

You can configure the ping timeout by adding a ping entry with sufficient timeout configured to the machine's load in following element in opmn.xml:

<ias-component id="<reports_server_name>">
...
...
<restart timeout="720" retry="2" />
...
<ping timeout="110" interval="30" />
...

Note:

In 11g, Oracle WebLogic Server is not managed by OPMN, hence there will be no ping or death detection for In-Process Server running inside WLS_REPORTS.

Reports Server start or restart timeout (OPMN.xml): Start or restart timeout is the measure that OPMN uses to determine the time that it must wait for Reports Server process type to start or restart (process-type id="ReportsServer" in opmn.xml) before considering it as a timeout.

The default timeout period is 600. The default values for these are:

<start timeout="600" retry="2"/>
<restart timeout="600"/>

When running on a loaded machine, an attempt to start all Reports Servers by OPMN may result in a start timeout for some Reports Servers as some of them were not able to finish the start up activities completely. Note that Reports Server also starts the number of engines specified in the initengine property of the engine element in the rwserver.conf file. Starting up these engine processes might take some time in loaded machines. In parallel to finetuning the Reports Server process start or restart property, you must also finetune the callbackTimeout property in rwserver.conf, as explained in the next bullet item.

Callback timeout (Reports Server-side): Callback timeout is the measure that Reports Server uses to determine the time that it must wait for a response from the engine before timing out. You can specify this value in the rwserver.conf file. This time out period is in milliseconds.

For example:

<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
  maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50" maxIdle="30"
  callbackTimeOut="90000">

Note:

Increase the callbackTimeOut value when the machine is very slow.

8.12 Sample system-jazn-data.xml File

The system-jazn-data.xml is an XML file which is configured by the user to use as an ID store and/or policy store. The file is located in $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig.

Sample system-jazn-data.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<jazn-data>
  <jazn-realm>
    <realm>
      <name>jazn.com</name>
        <users>
          <user>
            <name>weblogic</name>
            <guid>23AAB190021911DDBF86C74F01C202FB</guid>
            <credentials>PN0Qr+/dpDRV+jSWP378EdjxWDS0PuAs=</credentials>
          </user>
          </users>
      </realm>
    </jazn-realm>
    <policy-store>
      <applications>
        <application>
          <name>reports</name>
            <app-roles>
              <app-role>
                <name>rw_administrator</name>
                <display-name>Reports Administrator</display-name>
                <class>oracle.security.jps.service.policystore.ApplicationRole</class>
                <members>
                  <member>
                    <class>oracle.security.jps.internal.core.principals.JpsXmlUserImpl</class>
                    <name>weblogic</name>
                  </member>
                  <member>
                    <class> weblogic.security.principal.WLSUserImpl </class>
                    <name>weblogic</name>
                  </member>
                </members>
              </app-role>
              <app-role>
                <name>rw_operator</name>
                <display-name>Reports Operator</display-name>
                <class>oracle.security.jps.service.policystore.ApplicationRole</class>
              </app-role>
              <app-role>
                <name>rw_monitor</name>
                <display-name>Reports Monitor</display-name>
                <class>oracle.security.jps.service.policystore.ApplicationRole</class>
              </app-role>
            </app-roles>
            <jazn-policy>
              <grant>
              <grantee>
                <principals>
                  <principal>
                    <class>oracle.security.jps.service.policystore.ApplicationRole</class>
                    <name>rw_administrator</name>
                  </principal>
                </principals>
              </grantee>
              <permissions>
                <permission>
                  <class>oracle.reports.server.ReportsPermission</class>
                  <name>report=* server=* destype=* desformat=* allowcustomargs=true</name>
                  <actions>*</actions>
                </permission>
                <permission>
                  <class>oracle.reports.server.WebCommandPermission</class>
                  <name>webcommands=* server=*</name>
                  <actions>execute</actions>
                </permission>
              </permissions>
            </grant>
            <grant>
              <grantee>
                <principals>
                  <principal>
                    <class>oracle.security.jps.service.policystore.ApplicationRole</class>
                    <name>RW_BASIC_USER</name>
                  </principal>
                </principals>
              </grantee>
              <permissions>
                <permission>
                  <class>oracle.reports.server.ReportsPermission</class>
                  <name>report=test.rdf server=* destype=* desformat=* allowcustomargs=true</name>
                  <actions>*</actions>
                </permission>
                <permission>
                  <class>oracle.reports.server.WebCommandPermission</class>
                  <name>webcommands=showmyjobs,getjobid,showjobid server=*</name>
                  <actions>execute</actions>
                </permission>
              </permissions>
            </grant>
          </jazn-policy>
        </application>
</applications>
</policy-store>

8.13 Configuring Reports Managed Server

By default, the Oracle Reports application is deployed on a Managed Server.

You can modify the start-up properties of a Reports Managed Server through the SetDomainEnv.sh file or the WebLogic Server Administration Console. However, some properties like -Xmx and -Xms, which are already defined in the setDomainEnv.sh file would take precedence and the changes made through the WebLogic Server Administration Console do not take effect. Also, the start-up properties of WLS_REPORTS that are modified using the WebLogic Server Administration Console do not take effect when WLS_REPORTS is started using startManagedServer.sh. Hence it is recommended that you use SetDomainEnv.sh (for UNIX) or SetDomainEnv.bat (for Windows) to modify the start-up properties for Managed Servers.

You can modify the system or runtime properties for a Managed Server using the SetDomainEnv.sh (for UNIX) or SetDomainEnv.bat (for Windows) which is located in $DOMAIN_HOME/bin.

You can modify the runtime properties using the EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES variable inside the [ "${SERVER_NAME}" = "WLS_REPORTS" ] block.

You must add any new environment variable for WLS_REPORTS Managed Server inside the if[ "${SERVER_NAME}" = "WLS_REPORTS" ] block in the SetDomainEnv.sh script.

As the default setting is done for all components that use setDomainEnv.sh, the -Xmx and -Xms settings are added multiple times to the command line of a Managed Server. Hence you must add the -Xmx and -Xms settings at the end of EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES variable in the [ "${SERVER_NAME}" = "WLS_REPORTS" ] block.

For example, consider the following snippet:

if [ "${SERVER_NAME}" = "WLS_REPORTS" ] ; then     EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES="-Xms256m Xmx512m ... -Doracle.home=/fmwhome/as1 ... ${EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES}"

If you want to add the -Djobid=random property and change the -Xmx and -Xms settings for WLS_REPORTS to 512m and 1024m, you must modify the snippet as follows:

if [ "${SERVER_NAME}" = "WLS_REPORTS" ] ; then     EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES=" -Doracle.home=/fmwhome/as1 ... ${EXTRA_JAVA_PROPERTIES} -Xms512m -Xmx1024m -Djobid=random"

Note:

WLS_REPORTS is the name of the Managed Server where the Reports application is deployed during installation. For expand cluster cases, Managed Servers can be named as WLS_REPORTS1, WLS_REPORTS2, and so on.

8.14 Enabling HTTPS for Oracle Reports

For enabling HTTPS for Oracle Reports, the WebLogic Plug-In Enabled option in the WebLogic Administration Console should be selected for the WLS_REPORTS server by performing the following steps:

Log in to the WebLogic Administration Console.

If you have not already done so, in the Change Center pane, click Lock & Edit.

In the Domain Structure pane, expand the Environment node, and select Servers.

A list of servers configured in the domain is displayed.

Click the WLS_REPORTS server.

Expand the Advanced link near the bottom of the page.

Select the WebLogic Plug-In Enabled option.

Click Save.

Part III

Managing Runtime Behavior

Part III contains information that will help you to manage the runtime behavior of Oracle Reports:

Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports"

Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports"

Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports"

Chapter 12, "Font Model and Cross-Platform Deployment"

Chapter 13, "Configuring Destinations for Oracle Reports Services"

Chapter 14, "Configuring and Using the Pluggable Data sources"

Chapter 15, "Securing Oracle Reports Services"

Chapter 17, "Configuring and Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On"

Chapter 16, "Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal"

9 Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports

This chapter provides information about fonts in Oracle Reports:

Using Fonts

Adding Fonts

Font Configuration Files

Font Aliasing

Font Types

Verifying Report Output on Different Platforms

Running a Unicode Report using TTF/TTC Fonts

Diagnosing Font Issues

Troubleshooting Font Issues

9.1 Using Fonts

In Oracle Reports, fonts come into play in several areas:

Fonts in Oracle Reports Builder (at build time)

Fonts in Report Output (at runtime)

Fonts in the User Interface

9.1.1 Fonts in Oracle Reports Builder

Oracle Reports Builder provides a list of fonts that are available on the system in the font picker box.

Figure 9-1 Font list in Oracle Reports Builder

On Windows, the font list is derived from the fonts that are installed on the system along with the fonts available on the current default printer. A small printer icon before the font name identifies printer fonts. True Type fonts are associated with a TTF icon.

On UNIX, the font list is derived by querying the X-server display on which the application is running for the available fonts. The command is similar to the UNIX xlsfonts command, which lists all of the available fonts for the X-server display. From this font list, Oracle Reports Builder generates a list of usable fonts with the valid style, weight, width, size, and encoding characteristics to match the character set. The character set is driven by the NLS_LANG environment variable. Oracle Reports Builder includes only those fonts with an encoding of iso8859-1, unless specified differently in the toolkit resource file, Tk2Motif*fontMapCs. For more information on Tk2Motif*fontMapCs, refer to Section 9.3, "Font Configuration Files".

9.1.2 Fonts in Report Output

During report formatting, fonts associated with the layout objects are first checked against the font alias file, uifont.ali, (refer to Section 9.3, "Font Configuration Files"). If an entry in the font alias file is found, the mapped font is used instead of the original one. The mapped font is then searched for in the list of fonts available on the system or printer. If a particular font is not found, Oracle Reports will look for the nearest matching font under the same character set which can be used instead.

With the new font model supported on UNIX in 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), report output is in most cases the same on UNIX as on Windows, allowing for simplified cross-platform deployment. Oracle Reports reads the font metrics from the appropriate TTF files from the font directory to correctly format the report output. This eliminates the issue of text misalignment due to font metrics mismatches. Fonts for which TTF files are available are found automatically. Note that if a TTF font file is not found, then the font lookup mechanism reverts to the pre-11g implementation. With the new font model, there is no change in the builder. The Font Model does a role only during the runtime and not at the design time.

9.1.2.1 Font lookup

On Windows, the font lookup mechanism is simple due to the availability of printer drivers, which have the capability of uploading fonts from the system as needed. Any output from Oracle Reports running on Windows will contain fonts from either one of the following:

The system

The printer

For this reason, Oracle Reports considers both the printer and the system fonts when looking for the available fonts.

On UNIX, the fonts available for generating output are either one of the following:

the fonts available on the printer, specifically the fonts defined in the PPD or TFM files

if no printer is specified, the fonts available in ScreenPrinter, screenprinter.ppd.

the TTF font used in the layout objects is used to calculate metrics, which prevents misalignment in the multibyte language report output.

See Also:

Section 9.3, "Font Configuration Files"

Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter"

Section 12.2.1, "Font Lookup"

9.1.3 Fonts in the User Interface

Text in the user interface of Oracle Reports Builder, like the window title, menu items, message boxes, and data model object names, use fonts taken from the system resource files for the current language. These system resource files are supplied with Oracle Reports installation. In Oracle Reports, you can map these fonts in the [rwbuilder] section of uifont.ali. If found, the mapped font is used instead of the original font. Otherwise, Oracle Reports uses the original font.

On UNIX, these fonts are defined in Tk2Motif.rgb under Tk2Motif*fontList. If the font is not defined, then the default font (fixed for default character set) is used instead. The default system font need not be the one defined in Tk2Motif.rgb. If the defined font does not match the character set on which the application is running, some other available font will be used following the font lookup algorithm discussed in the previous section.

In order to maintain the look and feel of the Windows, Oracle Reports makes extensive use of the system font, which is obtained from the Windows system parameters. For non-Unicode environments, the font is obtained from the icon objects. You can change it by modifying the fonts through Display Property > Appearance. Select Icon from the drop down box and select the desired font name and size. For Japanese Unicode systems, the font is MS Gothic. For Korean, it's MS Sans Serif. For simplified, traditional, and Hong Kong it's Arial. For other languages, it's Lucida Sans Unicode.

You can also change the Windows tool tip font by changing the icon font as described above. This change is not completely reflected across Oracle Reports Builder because some tool tip fonts are taken from the resource file.

In Oracle Reports, fonts for the Web Source view are selected by making an entry in the alias file under the [rwbuilder] section. The entry required for this change should only be aliased to the character set and not to any specific font. For example, if you want to use Arial Unicode MS when NLS_LANG is set to UTF8, then you should create an entry like this one:

.....UTF8 = "Arial Unicode MS".....

Refer to Section 9.4, "Font Aliasing" for more information.

The supported styles are: Plain, Italic, Oblique, Underline, Outline, Shadow, Inverted, Overstrike, and Blink.

The supported weights are: Ultralight, Extralight, Light, Demilight, Medium, Demibold, Bold, Extrabold, and Ultrabold.

You should not use fonts with a weight of Regular because this weight is not supported and may cause Oracle Reports Builder to display undesirable results.

9.2 Adding Fonts

In Oracle Reports, fonts can be added for use:

At build time (in Oracle Reports Builder)

At runtime (in the output)

In the user interface

Note:

You must restart the Reports Server after adding fonts to the Reports font directory.

9.2.1 Adding Fonts to Oracle Reports Builder

To build a report in a certain font, the font must be available in Oracle Reports Builder from the font picker when you are designing the report. In order for the fonts to appear in the font picker, the fonts should be added to the system or the display on which Oracle Reports Builder is running. Please review your operating system documentation for adding fonts before attempting this procedure.

To add Type1 fonts on UNIX:

Get the font-related files from the vendor. These include the PFB, PFA, and the AFM files.

Convert the PFB binary file to PFA ASCII font using one of the available convertors. Typically, you can get such converters as shareware, for example, t1ascii.

Copy the PFA files to the directory where the fonts have to be installed following the instructions for our platform.

Verify the installation of the fonts by entering the xlsfonts -u command. This command lists all the fonts that are available for that system.

If you are using a UNIX emulator like reflection X, the fonts installed on the system may not appear in the xlsfonts command. The reason for this behavior is that it is taking fonts from the font path or the font server, which is configured for this emulator. If using a font server, ensure that, after installing the font, you add the font directory to the font server configuration file and restart the font server. In the emulator, specify the font path to this font server wherever the fonts are installed. If you are still not able to see the fonts in xlsfonts, ensure that the new font directory is the first element of the catalogue in the configuration file.

Figure 9-2 xlsfonts sample output

Start Oracle Reports Builder on the display that points to the font server on which these fonts are installed or to the display where the fonts are installed.

9.2.2 Adding Fonts for Report Output

For generating output in Oracle Reports, only the fonts that are specified in the printer definition file are used. To use a newly added font in your output, you should first add it to Oracle Reports Builder so that you can assign the font to layout objects when designing the report. Refer to Section 9.2.1, "Adding Fonts to Oracle Reports Builder" for further information.

Note:

If you use fonts in Oracle Reports Builder that are not available on your runtime platform, you should alias those fonts on the runtime platform. Refer to Section 9.4, "Font Aliasing" for more information.

The process for adding fonts is different on Windows and UNIX:

Adding fonts on UNIX

Adding fonts on Windows

9.2.2.1 Adding fonts on UNIX

To add TTF fonts:

Copy all the TTF and TTC files, which are used in the report, to the REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY. The default font directory is $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts.

Remove any unnecessary aliasing from the uifont.ali file. For example, Arial is aliased to Helvetica, by default. If your report uses the Arial font, you must remove the aliasing from the uifont.ali file.

To add PostScript fonts:

Copy the AFM file for the new font to ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM.

Add the entry for this new font to the *Font information section in the printer definition (PPD) file:

*Font new_font_name Standard '(00.1001)" Standard ROM
*Font ...

Ensure that the new_font_name given in the PPD file is the same as the AFM file, because Oracle Reports searches for this file based on the font name in the PPD file. Also make sure that the AFM file name does not include the.afm extension.

For example, if the AFM file name is CodedreineunBold, then the PPD file should contain:

*Font CodedreineunBold: Standard "(00.1001)" Standard ROM

If necessary, make changes in the alias file for mapping to this font.

If the layout objects are associated with the same font name as the new font, then mapping is not required. If the fonts for the layout objects are different and the new fonts are desired in the output file instead of the original ones, then you must map the original fonts to the new ones.

For example, if the layout objects' font is Helvetica and you want newly installed fonts in the output, then you could add the following to the [Printer:PostScript1] section:

Helvetica = CodedreineunBold

Please note the section will be different if you are using a different PostScript level in your uiprint.txt. Refer to Section 9.4, "Font Aliasing".

To add PCL fonts:

In order to use a new font in Oracle Reports, you must have the HPD (printer definition) and TFM files for your printer. The HPD file can be copied from an existing one. You must be sure that the file is suitable for your printer; fonts referenced in this file should be available on your printer. If the TFM files (fonts) are not available on Oracle Reports installation, you must contact your font/printer supplier. The new TFM files must be added to the HPD file under a unique font name.

In the HPD, you will have to add the new font entry. For example if the new font is Codedreineun then include a new line such as:

FONT= Codedreineun
/tfm=9nb17035.tfm

Copy the associated TFM file into the TFM directory:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/TFM

Modify the alias file, if necessary, as described in Section 9.2.2.1, "Adding fonts on UNIX" for the PostScript printers. The section in which the mapping is done should be [PCL].

9.2.2.2 Adding fonts on Windows

For adding a new font on Windows, refer to your operating system documentation on adding a new font. If the new font has a character set that is compatible with Oracle Reports Builder, the new font will appear in the font picker.

9.3 Font Configuration Files

This section describes all of the files associated with font configuration for Oracle Reports:

uiprint.txt (UNIX only)

screenprinter.ppd (UNIX only)

uifont.ali

PPD and AFM files (UNIX only)

HPD and TFM files (UNIX only)

Tk2Motif.rgb (UNIX only)

Note:

Beginning in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), configuration of fonts should be done only through Oracle Enterprise Manager. Refer to Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager", Section 7.9.1, "Configuring Fonts" for information about updating configuration settings through Oracle Enterprise Manager.

uiprint.txt (UNIX only)

The printer configuration file contains a list of printers installed for the application along with the type of the printer, its version, and the printer definition file. The list of available fonts for runtime is taken from the printer definition file. If no printer is present, Oracle Reports chooses a PostScript printer as the default and default.ppd file as the printer definition file.

See Also:

Section 10.3.1, "Editing uiprint.txt File"

Section 10.4.6, "uiprint.txt"

Example:

Printer: Printer_driver:Driver_specifying_language_and_level:Printer_
description:Printer_definition_file:

Each line contains five fields separated by colons.

If you are using PCL printing, then this entry should contain the name of an HPD file.

screenprinter.ppd (UNIX only)

screenprinter.ppd is used when a printer is not available on UNIX. For more information, see Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter".

uifont.ali

The uifont.ali file is found in the following location on Windows and UNIX:

On Windows: ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\frcommon\tools\common

On UNIX: ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

This file contains mapping information for fonts that can be substituted for other fonts at runtime.

Caution:

Do not alter the sections as Oracle Reports parses the uifont.ali file looking for keywords. The sections can be in any order. Any font configuration should be done only through Oracle Enterprise Manager. Refer to Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager", Section 7.9.1, "Configuring Fonts"for information about updating configuration settings through Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Some general rules for the uifont.ali file are:

Font or character set names require double quotation marks around two or more words, or spaces.

Comments are specified using # in the first column.

Comment out lines instead of deleting them to be able to use them in the future.

Font aliasing is a font name-to-font name or character set-to-CID font (from Adobe) only.

Font subsetting is for TrueType fonts only.

Font subsetting uses the font name and subsets using the TrueType font file name.

Font embedding is for Type1 fonts only. These fonts have two files. One for metrics, containing either.afm or.pfm file extension and the binary containing the.pfb file extension.

Font embedding uses the font name and embeds using the Type 1 font file names (both the AFM and PFB files are required in this order).

The general format for aliasing in uifont.ali is:

"original_font"="font_to_be_aliased"

where original_font is the font name or its other attributes that will be mapped to the font name or attributes of font_to_be_aliased.

The fonts along with their attributes can be described as:

Face.Size.Style.Weight.Width.CharSet=Face.Size.Style.Weight.Width.CharSet

The Face must be the name (string/identifier) of a font face, such as Courier. The Style, Weight, Width, and CharSet may either be a numeric value or a predefined identifier or string. For example, both Plain and 0 are valid Style values and refer to the same style. The Size dimension must be an explicit size, in points.

These attributes take effect for font aliasing, font subsetting, and font embedding.

For example, in the case of font subsetting it is:

Font_name=font_file_name
Face.Size.Style.Weight.Width.CharSet=font_file_name

The following is a list of recognized names and their numeric equivalents:

Table 9-1 Style Names and Their Numeric Equivalents

Style Name
Numeric Equivalent

Plain

0

Italic

1

Oblique

2

Underline

4

Outline

8

Shadow

16

Inverted

32

Blink

64

Table 9-2 Weights and Their Numeric Equivalents

Weight Name
Numeric Equivalent

Ultralight

1

Extralight

2

Light

3

Demilight

4

Medium

5

Demibold

6

Table 9-3 Widths and Their Numeric Equivalents

Width Name
Numeric Equivalent

Ultradense

1

Extradense

2

Dense

3

Semidense

4

Normal

5

Expand

7

Extraexpand

8

Ultraexpand

9

Styles may be combined; you can use the plus sign (+) to delimit parts of a style. For example:

Arial..Italic+Overstrike = Helvetica.12.Italic.Bold

This mapping indicates that any Arial that has both Italic and Overstrike styles will be mapped to a 12-point, bold, italic Helvetica font.

For multibyte language support, you must alias a character set with a CID font (Section 9.5.7, "CID Fonts") from the Asian font pack from Adobe. For example, in your Japanese report you have aliased a multibyte Shift-JIS characterset be aliased to HeiseiKakuGo-W5-Acro CID font with the following entry:

JA16SJIS = "HeiseiKakuGo-W5-Acro"

All strings are case-insensitive in mapping. Font faces are likely to be case-sensitive on lookup, depending on the platform and surface. As a result, take care with the names used. For example, if the font name arial is used on the left-hand side (the original font), all layout objects with fonts such as arial or Arial are mapped to the aliased font.

Refer to Section 9.4, "Font Aliasing" for more information.

PPD and AFM files (UNIX only)

PostScript Printer Definition (PPD) files and Adobe Font Metrics (AFM) files are supplied by Adobe and by printer vendors. The PPD files contain information about the printer, and the AFM files contain metrics information of the fonts. Along with other parameters, these files are read for the information about the available fonts for the printer, which Oracle Reports will use. For all the fonts listed in the PPD file, Oracle Reports searches for the corresponding AFM file according to the font name and loads all of the fonts for which there is an available AFM.

From the fonts perspective, you should modify these files when you add new fonts for the printer and want these changes reflected in Oracle Reports.

Example:

*% Font Information =====================
*DefaultFont: Error
*Font AvantGarde-Demi: Standard "(001.001)" Standard
*Font AvantGarde-DemiOblique: Standard "(001.001)" Standard
*Font Courier: Standard "(001.004)" Standard
*Font Courier-Bold: Standard "(001.004)" Standard

The AFM files contain information such as the font attributes (style, weight, width, encoding scheme), whether the font is fixed pitch or proportional, and how large each character is.

After looking for the font names from the PPD files, Oracle Reports searches for the AFM files with the same name as the font according to the search criteria described in Section 9.3.1, "File Searching". For example, if Oracle Reports finds AvantGarde-Demi: Standard in the PPD file, it will search for an AFM file named AvantGarde-Demi in the AFM directory.

Please note that the AFM files are not font files; they are metrics files that provide Oracle Reports with information on how to properly format the character for the printer. If you have an AFM file, but the font is not available on the printer, then Oracle Reports cannot generate the font.

Since the AFM files are NOT fonts themselves, if you wish to have more PostScript printer fonts available, you must do the following:

Purchase the fonts and have them installed on the printer.

Obtain revised AFM and PPD files from the font/printer vendor.

Obtain matching X Server display fonts (if necessary).

HPD and TFM files (UNIX only)

PCL (Hewlett-Packard Printer Control Language) uses HPD (Hewlett-Packard Document) and TFM (TEX Font Metrics) files. The HPD files contain a list of fonts available for the printer and each font refers to a TFM file. The HPD file is an ASCII file, which can be edited, but the TFM file is a binary file, which cannot be edited. Even though TFM files are binary and uneditable, you can perform string operations to read some specific keywords from these files. Oracle Reports recognizes the font name that is in the TFM files and not the one specified in the HPD file. The font vendor should provide TFM files and new fonts should be added to the HPD file for your printer when installed.

Tk2Motif.rgb (UNIX only)

This file contains resource settings for all Oracle Motif tools based on Oracle Toolkit. For font specific resource settings, Tk2Motif*fontMapCs and Tk2Motif*fontList are used.

Tk2Motif*fontMapCs governs the base character set of fonts that the application will use, which are on the X-window display.

If Tk2Motif*fontMapCs: iso8859-2=EE8ISO8859P2, then NLS_LANG should be set to EE8ISO8859P2 and only fonts with encoding as iso8859-2 will be used for the application. If the system does not find any fonts with the above encoding, it will fail with a REP-3000 error.

Tk2Motif*fontList specifies the default system font that will be used by the application. The following means that the Helvetica font with medium weight and normal width of size 12 will be used:

Tk2Motif*fontList: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal-*-120*

The syntax for the above entries can be found in Tk2Motif.rgb (ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin) file as comments.

9.3.1 File Searching

The criteria for searching files is dependent upon the type of file and the various environment variables defined.

Table 9-4 File Information

File Name
Type
Description

uiprint.txt

UNKNOWN

Printer configuration file

uifont.ali

FONTALIAS

Font aliasing file

PPD

PPD

PostScript printer definition file

AFM

AFM

Adobe font metrics file

HPD

HPD

HP glue file

TFM

TFM

HP glue file

Oracle Reports will first look for the variable in TK_type, then in the ORACLE_type, and then in the global directory. For instance, the PPD files are searched for in the directory specified by TK_PPD, then in ORACLE_PPD, and then in ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD, and then in $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD.

For example, looking for uiprint.txt, Oracle Reports will first look at the environment variable TK_UNKNOWN, then look at ORACLE_UNKNOWN, and then in the default directory.

9.4 Font Aliasing

Font aliasing is a mechanism in Oracle Reports that allows a font or its associated attributes like style, weight, width, size and character set to be mapped to another desired font or its associated attributes. Its primary use is when applications are ported from one platform to another and the font associated with some or all of the objects in the layout on the source platform do not exist on the target platform. In such cases font aliasing will be helpful as the nonexistent fonts can be mapped to another available one producing the required results. For example, when moving from Windows to Motif one would use font aliasing to map the Windows Arial to a font available on Motif, such as Helvetica.

The font enhancements introduced in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) make font aliasing unnecessary in almost all cases. In prior releases, a report may have been created with fonts that are readily available on Windows, but not on UNIX (for example, Arial font). In such cases, it was necessary to alias the Windows fonts to other fonts with a similar style available on UNIX (for example, Helvetica). Now, with support for TTF and TTC files on UNIX, a font such as Arial is supported on both Windows and UNIX, eliminating the need for aliasing.

This section includes the following topics:

Specifying Aliasing Information

Font Aliasing Mechanism

Font Alias File Sections

Font Aliasing File Verification

9.4.1 Specifying Aliasing Information

If font aliasing is necessary, use Oracle Enterprise Manager to define the aliasing, instead of directly editing the uifont.ali file as in prior releases. For information about using Oracle Enterprise Manager for font configuration, see Section 7.9.1, "Configuring Fonts".

9.4.2 Font Aliasing Mechanism

For font aliasing, Oracle Reports searches for entries under the related section in the alias file that matches the original font attributes given in the report. Refer to Section 9.4.3, "Font Alias File Sections" for more information about the sections of the font alias file. If an exact match is found, Oracle Reports maps the original font on the left to the target font on the right.

For example:

Arial.8.Italic.Medium.Normal.WE8ISO8859P1=
Helvetica.12.Plain.Light.Normal.WE8ISO8859P1

If an Arial font with all of the attributes listed on the left is found, it will be mapped to a Helvetica font with all of the attributes listed on the right.

Any field can have a blank entry, which means it will be matched regardless. For instance:

Arial..... = Helvetica.12.Plain.Light.Normal.WE8ISO8859P1

In this case, all of the Arial fonts, irrespective of size and other attributes, are mapped to Helvetica with size 12, style Plain, weight Light, having Normal width under character set WE8ISO8859P1.

Another way to specify an aliasing rule is:

Arial = "OCR B"

This method will preserve the other attributes of the present font but will change the font name to OCR B. You must be certain in such cases about the availability of mapped fonts with the attributes of other fonts. For example, in this rule the Arial font with style Italic might be mapped to the OCR B font with Plain style because the OCR B font does not have the Italic style present.

After a mapped font is read from the uifont.ali file, Oracle Reports looks for the font following the font lookup procedure, which is described in Section 9.1.2.1, "Font lookup". If the mapped font is found on the system, then Oracle Reports uses this font. Otherwise, it looks for the original font in the system.

Font attributes are searched for with the font face, size, style, weight, and width under the specified character set.

In Oracle Reports, fonts for the Web Source view and PL/SQL editor can be mapped by providing a mapping specification in the [rwbuilder] section. This feature is mainly intended for supporting Unicode fonts in these editors.

9.4.3 Font Alias File Sections

The uifont.ali file consists of various sections which contains font mapping instructions for a particular area, as shown in Table 9-5. Since Oracle Reports looks in specific sections for specific purposes, it is crucial that you place your mapping entries in the appropriate section for what you are trying to accomplish.

Table 9-5 Font Mapping File Sections

Section Name
Description

Global

Applies everywhere.

Printer

Only applies to printer output.

Printer:PostScript1

Applies to PostScript Level 1 printers.

Printer:PostScript2

Applies to PostScript Level 2 printers.

Printer:PCL5

Applies to PCL 5 printers.

Display

Only applies to the display (the screen).

Display:Motif

Applies only to the Motif display.

Display:CM

Applies only to character-mode display.

PDF

Used for font aliasing (from Oracle Reports 6i) and multibyte language support (from Oracle Reports).

PDF:Embed

(Oracle Reports only) Used for Type 1 font embedding.

PDF:Subset

(Oracle Reports only) Used for True Type font subsetting.

RWBUILDER

(Oracle Reports only) Fonts for the Web source and PL/SQL editor can be mapped in this section.

printer_name

A section for a specific printer, such as:

[Printer:PostScript1:2op813a]

See Also:

"Repairing Fonts Not Appearing Correctly in Web Source View" in Section 9.9, "Troubleshooting Font Issues".

If you want to look at the uifont.ali file, it is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

On Windows: ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\frcommon\tools\common

On UNIX: ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

The section for font aliasing in the uifont.ali file is [PDF], which defines font mappings using the following formats:

Single byte fonts:

[PDF]
"font_name"="font_name"

Multibyte fonts:

[PDF]
character_set = "font_name"

or

"font_name".....character_set="font_name"

Here is an example of a font aliasing entry in the uifont.ali file:

[ PDF ]
/*Alias TrueType to available Type1 font */
"Kino MT" = UtopiaBold
/*Alias multibyte to available CID font */
.....SJIS = "HeiseiKakuGo-W5-Acro"

where:

"Kino MT" = UtopiaBold substitutes every Kino MT character found with the UtopiaBold equivalent.

.....SJIS = "HeiseiKakuGo-W5-Acro" substitutes every multibyte character set found with the HeiseiKakuGo-W5-Acro (CID) equivalent.

Order of precedence

When aliasing a particular font, only one section is read based upon the context in which the font is used. Hence, if three sections apply, only one is read. For example, suppose you have three sections: [Printer], [Printer:PostScript], and [Printer:PostScript:2op813a]. When generating output, if the printer is 2op813a, only the mapping rules in section [Printer:PostScript:2op813a] are read. For printers other than 2op813a, Oracle Reports would use the [Printer:PostScript] section.

The more specific sections of the alias file take precedence over the more general sections. For example, a specific printer section, such as [Printer:PostScript1:2op813a] would take precedence over the [Printer:PostScript1] section, which would take precedence over the [Printer] section, which would take precedence over the [Global] section.

The uifont.ali file is the configuration file controlling all of the Oracle Reports PDF font enhancements. The uifont.ali file is text readable; that is, you can edit it with a standard text editor. Exercise caution when editing the file. The uifont.ali file should be saved as a text file with no formatting or special characters that may corrupt the file.

Note:

Although you can manually edit the uifont.ali file, it is recommended that you use Oracle Enterprise Manager for all font-related configuration tasks.

9.4.4 Font Aliasing File Verification

To verify whether the uifont.ali file is correct, you can run the font check utility, which can be found in the ORACLE_HOME/bin directory. It is always advisable to run this utility on the modified uifont.ali file to catch any errors:

On Windows:

fnchk.exe filename

On UNIX:

mfontchk filename

where filename is the name of the modified uifont.ali file. If you don't specify any file name, it will check the default file based on the environment variables.

If the alias file has errors, the utility returns an error message along with the file on which the error was found. For example:

Parsing font alias file "$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/uifont.ali"
Ms san serif

Error at line 85: Invalid font specification
Parse of font alias file failed

The above error indicates that there is a syntax error in uifont.ali in the mapping rule for MS San Serif font on line 85.

9.5 Font Types

This section discusses the fonts and character sets relevant to Oracle Reports:

Character Sets

Unicode

Type1 Fonts

TrueType Fonts

TrueType Collection

Barcode Fonts

CID Fonts

9.5.1 Character Sets

The character set component of the NLS environment variables specifies the character set in which data is represented in your environment. When data is transferred from a system using one character set to a system using another character set, it is processed and displayed correctly on the second system, even though some characters might be represented by different binary values in the character sets.

If you are designing a multilingual application, or even a single-language application that runs with multiple character sets, you must determine the character set most widely used at runtime and then generate with the NLS environment variable (NLS_LANG) set to that particular character set.

If you design and generate an application in one character set and run it in another character set, performance can suffer. Furthermore, if the runtime character set does not contain all the characters in the generate character set, then question marks appear in place of the unrecognized characters. Portable Document Format (PDF) supports multibyte character sets. There might be situations where you create an application with a specific font but find that a different font is being used when you run that application. You would most likely encounter this when using an English font (such as MS Sans Serif or Arial) in environments other than Western European. This occurs because Oracle Reports checks to see if the character set associated with the font matches the character set specified by the language environment variable (NLS_LANG). If the two do not match, Oracle Reports automatically substitutes the font with another font whose associated character set matches the character set specified by the language environment variable. This automatic substitution assures that the data being returned from the database gets displayed correctly in the application. Note: If you enter local characters using an English font, then Windows does an implicit association with another font. There might be cases, however, where you do not want this substitution to take place. You can avoid this substitution by mapping all desired fonts to the WE8ISO8859P1 character set in the font alias file (uifont.ali).

9.5.2 Unicode

Unicode is a global character set that allows multilingual text to be displayed in a single application. This enables multinational corporations to develop a single multilingual application and deploy it worldwide. For information about using Unicode in your multilingual applications, refer to Section 23.5, "Unicode".

9.5.3 Type1 Fonts

PostScript font formats Adobe Type 1 fonts are stored in two common formats:.pfa (PostScript Font ASCII) and.pfb (PostScript Font Binary). These contain descriptions of the character shapes, with each character being generated by a small program that calls on other small programs to compute common parts of the characters in the font. In both cases, the character descriptions are encrypted. Before such a font can be used, it must be rendered into dots in a bitmap, either by the PostScript interpreter, or by a specialized rendering engine, such as Adobe Type Manager, which is used to generate low-resolution screen fonts on Apple Macintosh and on Microsoft Windows systems.

The Type 1 binary files (.pfa and.pfb) contain character information, while the metric files (.afm (Adobe Font Metric) and.pfm (Printer Font Metric)) contain the metric information to form the character. These metrics files are ASCII files with a well-defined easy-to-parse structure.

9.5.4 TrueType Fonts

The personal computer brought about a need for scalable font technology, thought to be an important part of any future operating system. TrueType is this scalable font technology that enables you to view the same output without the jagged aliasing caused by scaling that is apparent when bitmapped fonts are used.

This technology involves two parts:

The Rasterizer

TrueType fonts

The Rasterizer is an application that is included in both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. It acts as an interpreter and translates the font information into a form that the video display can render.

The TrueType fonts themselves contain information that describes the outline of each character in the typeface. Higher quality fonts also contain hinting codes. Hinting is a process that makes a font that has been scaled down to a small size look its best. Instead of simply relying on the vector outline, the hinting codes ensure that the characters line up well with the pixels so that the font looks as smooth and legible as possible.

Adobe wanted both Apple and Microsoft to license its PostScript code, which was capable of handling this role, but both companies were concerned about having a third party control key parts of their operating systems. Apple and Microsoft agreed to a cross-licensing and product development deal, with Microsoft creating a PostScript-style graphics engine and Apple creating a font system. Apple developed what was to become TrueType, which proved superior to other competing technologies on performance and rendering quality. Apple and Microsoft announced their strategic alliance against Adobe, where Apple would do the font system, Microsoft the printing engine. Apple released TrueType in March 1991 and the first TrueType fonts:

Times Roman

Helvetica

Courier

Microsoft introduced TrueType into Windows with version 3.1 in early 1992. They created a core set of fonts:

Times New Roman

Arial

Courier

Both Apple's and Microsoft's TrueType fonts showed that scalable fonts could generate bitmaps virtually as though each size had been designed by hand.

9.5.5 TrueType Collection

A TrueType Collection (TTC) is an efficient way of sharing common font data, such as character information and glyphs. This data sharing results in an optimized file size as the common glyphs are stored in a single file structure, instead of within each font. The end result is a single file that is a combination of two or more fonts. For example, certain Japanese fonts in a font family may share a common set of kanji characters. They can be included in a TTC file.

For example, the TTC file, msgothic.ttc, is a collection file consisting of three fonts. They are MS Gothic, MS PGothic, and MS UI Gothic.

9.5.6 Barcode Fonts

Barcode fonts can be quite confusing. Some industries have chosen a specific barcode type. If this is what you need, then using the appropriate barcode font should work. For example, if you are interested in putting barcode on retail packages or books, the choice of a barcode is simple. Retail packages in North America use the UPC-A bar code. European retail articles use the EAN barcode .

All book ISBN numbers use the Bookland barcode (an EAN 13 bar code with a 5 digit supplement). Fonts are one way to obtain barcode, but not the only way. Oracle Reports offers another solution for producing barcodes using a Java barcode bean. The Java barcode bean is capable of creating barcodes based on the most popular barcode types.

9.5.7 CID Fonts

Character IDentifier (CID) fonts are a format of composite (multibyte) Type1 fonts used to better address the requirements of Far East markets. Adobe developed the CID-keyed font file format to support large character set fonts for use with PostScript. It is the ideal format for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean fonts and can also be used for roman fonts with very large character sets. CID-keyed refers to the character identifier (CID) numbers used to index and access the characters in the font. A CID (character identifier) font consists of a large font file containing all the character outlines and a small CMap file that contains a list of characters, encodings, and character identifiers. The combination of the font file and the CMap file yields a font that is a specific character set and encoding information. Each CID font can support many character set and encoding combinations.

9.6 Verifying Report Output on Different Platforms

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) uses the widely available font formats like TTF and TTC on both Windows and UNIX to generate report output that in most cases looks identical on both platforms, with no configuration necessary.

Oracle Reports reads the font metrics from the appropriate TTF files to correctly format the report output. This eliminates the issue of text misalignment due to font metrics mismatches. Fonts for which TTF files are available are found automatically. Note that if a TTF font file is not found, then the font lookup mechanism reverts to the pre-11g implementation.

Run a sample TTC font type report on Windows:

Open the TTC font type report in Reports Builder.

Select File > Generate to File > PDF and save the output.

Run the same TTC font type report on UNIX:

First check whether the TTC font used by the report is already available on the UNIX server machine in $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts (for example, MSGOTHIC.TTC). If it is not available, copy it from the Windows machine (C:\WINDOWS\Fonts).

Run the report using the following command line:

http://host:port/report=report_name.rdf&destype=cache&desformat=pdf&userid=user/password@db

Compare the output on UNIX with that on Windows to confirm that they are almost identical.

Tip:

On UNIX, set the DPI as in Windows. For example, if you change the UNIX DPI from 96 to 600, which is the Windows DPI value, the PDF and RTF outputs on UNIX will be identical to that of Windows.

However, the HTML ouput file is large because the DPI value of the screen printer is changed. This problem occurs only if a valid printer is not set and the screen resolution (screenprinter.ppd) is used for both PDF and HTML drivers. For example, if the valid/dummy printer is set to TK_PRINTER with the DPI resolution 600, the same value as that of Windows, the HTML and PDF outputs on UNIX will be identical to that of Windows.

Example

Here is an example of how to produce report HTML output that looks the same on Windows and UNIX if the DPI of Windows is 600:

If you do not have a valid printer, add the following entry in the uiprint.txt file:

Font:ASCII: DPI changed PPD file:default.ppd:

Change the Default Resolution to 600 in the datap462.ppd file as follows:

*DefaultResolution: 600dpi

Note:

Do not change the resolution of screenprinter.ppd.

If you have a valid printer, configure the printer in the uiprint.txt file and change the DefaultResolution to 600.

Run the report after placing the fonts in the font folder.

9.7 Running a Unicode Report using TTF/TTC Fonts

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) uses the new font mechanism to run a Unicode report on UNIX using the TTF / TTC fonts, generating report output that in most cases looks identical on both platforms.

Run a sample Unicode report on Windows:

In Oracle Enterprise Manager, select Reports > Administration > Forms/Reports Common Configuration to display the Forms Reports Common Component Configuration Page.

Add the following entry under the [PDF:Subsetting] section:

"Arial Unicode MS"="ARIALUNI.TTF"

Ensure there is no aliasing defined for Arial in the Global section. If there is, comment it out:

#Arial=Helvetica

Add the font ARIALUNI.TTF to REPORTS_PATH.

Set NLS_LANG in the Windows registry to AMERICAN_AMERICA.UTF8.

Open the sample report in Reports Builder.

Select File > Generate to File > PDF.

Save the report output.

Run the same Unicode report on UNIX:

Check whether the Unicode font used by the report is already available on the UNIX server machine in $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts and in the REPORTS_PATH (for example, ARIALUNI.TTF). If it is not available, copy it from the Windows machine to $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts.

Set NLS_LANG in reports.sh to AMERICAN_AMERICA.UTF8.

Run the report using the following command line:

http://host:port/report=report_name.rdf&destype=cache&desformat=pdf&userid=user/password@db

For example:

http://host:port/report=Unicode.rdf&destype=cache&desformat=pdf&P_LANG_ID=JA&userid=oe/oe@mydb

Compare the output on UNIX with that on Windows to confirm that they are identical.

9.8 Diagnosing Font Issues

To diagnose font usage and issues, you can view the log files in either of the following ways:

Using the Command Line

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

9.8.1 Using the Command Line

To view the log files using the command line:

Open the diagnostics log file:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsServerComponent/
server_name/rwEng-id_diagnostics.log

Notice that the font used for each object in the report is logged without any ambiguity. If a TTF font file was not found, it is logged and noted that the pre-11g mechanism was used for finding the appropriate font, which is also logged.

9.8.2 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

Refer to Section 7.11.1, "Viewing and Searching Log Files" in Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager"

9.9 Troubleshooting Font Issues

To help resolve font issues that may occur in your applications, this section provides the following troubleshooting information:

Checking Whether the Desired Font Is Used in a PostScript File

Creating Output

Reading the Output File

Verifying the Output File

Correcting Printed Font

Checking Environment Variables

Repairing Fonts Not Appearing Correctly in Web Source View

Understanding Limitations

Resolving Common Problems

Checking Whether the Desired Font Is Used in a PostScript File

PostScript files have a list of fonts, which is created after reading the PPD file. If you examine the PostScript file, you can check the fonts by looking for the following tags:

DocumentNeededResource has the list of fonts referenced in the PPD file.

DocumentSuppliedResource has the list of fonts for which the PostScript driver was able to find the AFM file.

%%Page paragraph before the field's %IncludeResource:font has the font name which will be used for the field.

For PCL output files, you can check whether a particular font was used or not. Depending on this information the font settings in Oracle Reports or the printer can be modified.

Example:

The test results below are based on a Lexmark Optra printer. The fonts and their numbers as well as the control commands are examples and may vary with other printers.

Font information The Lexmark has a small menu with the option of printing all available fonts (PCL Emulation Fonts). This includes both resident fonts (defaults) and Flash fonts (installed on the printer separately)

Table 9-6 Sample Font Information

Font Name
Style
Weight
Example Output

R0 Courier

0

0

... <ESC>(<symset><ESC>(s0p<pitch>h0s0b4099T...

R39 Courier Bold

0

3

... <ESC>(<symset><ESC>(s0p<pitch>h0s3b4099T...

R40 Courier Italic

1

0

... <ESC>(<symset><ESC>(s0p<pitch>h1s0b4099T...

R55 Century Schoolbook Roman

0

0

... <ESC>(<symset><ESC>(s1p<point>v0s0b24703T ...

Table 9-7 Sample Flash Font Information

Font Name
Symbol Set
Style
Weight
Example Output

F2 OCR-A

0O

0

0

... <ESC>(0O<ESC>(s0p<pitch>h0s0b4200T ...

F3 OCR-B

1O

0

3

... <ESC>(1O<ESC>(s0p<pitch>h0s0b4206T ...

In these examples, there are many more fonts and each font has its own code. OCRB for example has code 4206. This number is important later on.

Creating Output

When having problems getting the correct font, simplify the report and thereby the output. This can be done by creating a straightforward report using select sysdate from dual as the query and limiting the number of fonts. This will avoid long runs and create much smaller output files.

Reading the Output File

The resulting PCL-file is a binary file but is reasonably readable in the VI editor. The first small part and the end part is binary, but the middle part is readable and contains data that can be interpreted.

Verifying the Output File

The only interesting information is in the readable, middle part of the file. Find the text (this is the text displayed in the reports output) and check out the part preceding the text.

It looks like this:

....;SD1,14,2,0,3,10.34,5,0,6,0,7,4099;LB here is your text

In the preceding example, the font is selected with code 4099. For the Lexmark printer, this is selecting Courier.

In one example, the font OCR-B (code 4206) was needed. The font did not come out until that specific code was generated just before the selected text. It looks like this:

....;SD1,14,2,0,3,8.57,5,0,6,0,7,4206;LBThis is OCRB font....

Correcting Printed Font

If the output file contains the correct code, but the font does not appear on the printer, the printer probably does not have the font available. This will also occur if the code in the output file (deduced from TFM file) is not the same as the one the printer is expecting. On the Lexmark printer, the font was replaced by the default font on the printer.

If the output file does not contain the code for the font, Oracle Reports did not generate the code to the output file. Check for the HPD and TFM files.

Checking Environment Variables

DEBUG_SLFIND can help you ascertain which of these files was used. With reference to the fonts, you can find the list of AFM/TFM files the application looked at after reading the printer definition file and which font files it read after the aliasing. In this manner, you can also determine whether a font is mapped or not. Usually the order of file reading will be as follows.

First read the printer definition file.

Read all the associated font files for the font supplied by this printer definition file.

Read in the alias file.

If there is a mapping of file then read in font information files for those fonts and finally again read the AFM file for the fonts that are used in generating the output.

TK_DEBUG_POSTSCRIPT will affect PostScript output. It can be set to any combination of these strings:

Functions list each toolkit function called in comments in the PostScript output.

Long produces long, slow, intelligible PostScript.

Memory displays memory usage at the bottom of each page.

Any of the options can appear in the environment variable, abbreviated down to one letter. You can set it to any combination of these, separated by "/". This variable is case insensitive. For example, Func/L/Mem would give you all three options.

Note that the output that results from using this variable will not be supported by Oracle for customer use. It exists for diagnostics purposes only.

Note:

Set the environment variable DEBUG_SLFIND to any file name and run the report. The debug information is written in that particular file.

Usage: # setenv DEBUG_SLFIND mydebug.txt

For more information, see Appendix B, "Environment Variables".

Repairing Fonts Not Appearing Correctly in Web Source View

Text in the user interface of Oracle Reports Builder, such as the window title, uses fonts taken from the system resource files for the current language. These system resource files are supplied with the Oracle Reports installation. In Oracle Reports, you can map these fonts in the [rwbuilder] section of uifont.ali. If found, the mapped font is used instead of the original font; if not, Oracle Reports uses the original font.

Note:

The mapped font needs to be a fixed-width font.

In the Web Source view of the Report Editor, the following languages may appear garbled: Arabic, Central European languages, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Thai, and Turkish. To work around this issue, you can set the font names for Oracle Reports Builder in uifont.ali as follows:

[rwbuilder]
.....AR8MSWIN1256="Courier New"
.....CL8MSWIN1251="Courier New"
.....EE8MSWIN1250="Courier New"
.....EL8MSWIN1253="Courier New"
.....IW8MSWIN1255="Courier New"
.....JA16SJIS="MS Gothic"
.....TH8TISASCII="Andale Duospace WT"
.....TR8MSWIN1254="Courier New"

You can download a copy of the Andale Duospace WT (fixed width) font from Oracle Metalink (http://metalink.oracle.com). The ARU number is 2766564.

Understanding Limitations

On Windows:

For Unicode, Windows provides True Type Big Fonts. These fonts contain the characters necessary to display or print text from more than one language. For example, if you try to type, display, or print Western European, Central European, and Arabic text on a field and see unexpected characters, then you are probably not using a Big Font. Big Fonts for single-byte languages provided by Microsoft Windows are Arial, Courier New, and Times New Roman. For more information, go to Microsoft's Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.aspx.

Wingdings fonts may not appear when NLS_LANG is set to UTF8.

The only Wingdings fonts available when using UTF8 are the characters between ASC 32 and 127. ASC 252 would display a blank because it is not supported by UTF8.

Any of the following font sets would provide a reasonable work around.

Webdings - chr(97)

Wingdings2 - chr(80)

Wingdings2 - chr(87)

On UNIX:

AFM support is only for single byte PostScript file generation except for the Japanese encoding. The encoding schemes supported for the AFM files are AdobeStandardEncoding, ExtJIS12-88-CFEncoding, FontSpecific, HRoman, ISOLatinHebrew, JIS12-88-CFEncoding, and JIS12e-88-CFEncoding.

AFM version that is supported is 2.0.

X11 does not support the underline font attribute. Output to file should work according to steps given below.

In JDK, a bug causes the bold Korean font to appear incorrectly. Oracle Reports Services uses the JRE and therefore all bold Korean strings in graphs within reports show up incorrectly.

PostScript printing will not load the fonts to the printer. So for the desired fonts to appear in the printed output, it is necessary that those fonts should be installed on the printer.

For PCL output, only TFM font formats are supported.

The display system on UNIX (for example, X11) is totally independent of any application or printer. There is no direct connection between printing and displaying. There can be a font displayed on your screen that is not printed.

Display and printer fonts are somewhat similar but have more differences than similarities.

X fonts (display fonts) are bitmap display glyphs, which are displayed on an X terminal by an X Server.

Printer fonts are PostScript fonts (mathematical descriptions of fonts, not bitmaps) that are present in a PostScript printer and are generated by a PostScript Interpreter on that printer.

Font size changes after applying a template.

Creating a template with font set to Times New Roman size 10 (for all fields) and making the report use this template, makes the Paper Design view of the Report Editor display a different font size.

The reason for this behavior is that defaulting couldn't fit the layout into the desired area.

First it reduced the size of text fields and then reduced the size of the fonts. This is much better than wrapping the fields and keeping the template font size.

Also, for templates, the font chosen may be different to that in the template since it matches first on the character set. So if the template font doesn't support the current character set, the font will change to one that does. This is mostly visible if you have an English template, which you use in a Hebrew/Arabic environment.

Resolving Common Problems

Problem:  Letters are truncated from the right margin on printed label reports.

You have printed a mailing label report on a Windows machine and notice that the last letter, or last few letters, on each line are being truncated. The letters are not missing when you preview the report. You have tried changing the page formatting and font settings, but this has failed to resolve the problem.

Solution: If the report displays correctly using a DESTYPE of Preview, this is not a problem with the printer driver. The problem may be occurring due to the frame properties.

If a frame around the layout objects has a Horizontal Elasticity setting of Fixed and the data exceeds the frame size, it can cause this truncation of data.

Try testing the results after setting the Horizontal Elasticity property to Expand or Variable.

Problem: When generating to file as HTMLCSS, a column is dropped off in the output.

You are generating a report to an HTMLCSS file format and it appears to be fine in the Paper Design view of the Report Editor. When you click the newly created file it comes up in your browser, but the last column is missing from the report output.

If you re-run the report again, it still looks fine in the Paper Design view and the column is there as it should be. Clicking on the file again appears to have the column dropped off and missing from the report output. PDF appears fine in Paper Design view and the Adobe Acrobat reader.

Solution:  

Close Oracle Reports Builder and other open applications.

Choose Windows Control Panel > Display > Settings.

Set your fonts to be Small Fonts, click Apply button and then click OK to reconfigure your Windows font settings.

Reboot your computer in order for the new font settings to take effect.

You can now go back into Windows Control Panel > Display > Settings to verify that you have small fonts as a default for your system.

When you click the HTMLCSS file, your browser shows the report correctly with all of the columns intact.

When viewing HTMLCSS files with your browser, it is recommended to have Small Fonts as the default setting for your Windows system.

If you have Large Fonts as your default, your HTMLCSS file may not display correctly.

Problem: How to choose bitmap fonts sizes of less than 8 point in Oracle Reports Builder.

Solution: There are times when a font size of 6 or less is required for reporting purposes. Keeping in mind that font mapping and sizing is actually a product of operating system font files and driver/printer specifications, it is possible to change many fonts to minimal sizes such as 6 or less.

Oracle Reports typically allows fonts to be downsized to a size of 8. This is accomplished by opening a report in Oracle Reports Builder, going to the Layout Model view, and selecting the report objects that you wish to change. Once the object is selected, go to the font size list next to the font picker and select your font size.

Typically, your size will be limited to a range from 8 to 72 for True Type fonts, less for other fonts.

You can enter a size smaller or larger than the sizes in the list. To do this, again select the object, place your cursor in the font size field, press Delete to remove the current size number, enter the font size you desire, and then press the TAB key. The change takes effect immediately.

Once again, keep in mind that not all font sizes are possible. Also, some combinations of fonts and attributes are not practical. Simply having the ability to choose a font size does not mean that the font will be legible when printed. Fonts that involve small sizes, combined with bold, italic, or other attributes, may also present legibility problems when printed or displayed due to the limitations of the printer driver, printer, font metrics, language, code sets, NLS_LANG, and, of course, human eyesight.

Problem: The report output font size is different in Windows and UNIX.

A simple report designed on Windows uses the Arial and a font size of 8. This report was ported to Sun Solaris and was found to have a different font size in the output on Solaris. In the UNIX environment, the report is uses the Helvetica font and a font size of 9. The Arial font has been mapped to the equivalent font, Helvetica, on UNIX using uifont.ali.

Solution: 

First look for the font size available for Helvetica on the UNIX system by either using the xlsfont command or any other UNIX font utility.

You should map variable sized fonts on Windows to variable sized fonts on UNIX. For example, modify the mapping for MS Windows Arial.8 = Helvetica.8 (assuming that size 8 is available for Helvetica on the UNIX system) and ensure that uifont.ali is in the correct directory.

It's probable that the Helvetica font installed on your machine is bit mapped (rasterized) and so it doesn't automatically scale to any arbitrary size. If so, you must install a scalable Type 1 font, which should allow you to choose any point size.

There may always be differences between fonts on different systems even if the fonts installed are the same because the font configuration files may be different on these systems.

Problem: When printing, fonts are replaced by non True Type fonts. In the Paper Design view, the fonts are fine.

Solution: Check the printer settings (advanced) and ensure that it doesn't say:

True Type Font: Substitute with Device Font

UNIX

Problem: While running Oracle Reports on X-windows emulators, fonts installed on UNIX do not appear in the font lookup box.

Solution: On X-windows emulators, where the font path is usually a font directory on the local machine, the fonts that were installed on will not be available and only the fonts in the local font directory will be used by the Oracle Reports font lookup box. In such cases, you should start a font server on a remote machine where the fonts were installed and point the font path entry to this font server. For starting the font server and setting the font path entry, consult the system manual and X-windows emulator help.

For finding the font path or font server that is currently being used, use the UNIX command xset -.

10 Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports

Oracle Reports provides a rich set of features out-of-the-box for printing on various platforms. Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. This chapter provides information about printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports. In particular, it covers:

UNIX Printing Overview

Setting Up a Printer on UNIX

Configuring the Printing Environment

Printer-Related Files

Enhanced Printing on Linux Using CUPS

Globalization Support

Debugging Options

Removing DISPLAY and Printer Dependencies on UNIX

Frequently Asked Questions

10.1 UNIX Printing Overview

This section explains how to print from Oracle Reports on UNIX and highlights the key differences between the UNIX and Windows platforms. It also explains the operating system requirements for any application to print successfully.

General Printing Mechanism

Oracle Reports Printing Mechanism on UNIX and Windows

Printing Support

10.1.1 General Printing Mechanism

To understand how printing works for Oracle Reports on UNIX, it is useful to have the Microsoft Windows printing mechanism as a reference point. Microsoft Windows provides an application level API that supports different types of printers based on the installed printer drivers. Applications can interact with various printer drivers through these standard APIs. For example, to change the paper margin, an application needs to call the appropriate Microsoft Windows API method, which conveys the desired changes to the printer driver. On Microsoft Windows, printer drivers are printer specific; that is, you must install a specific printer driver for a printer. These printer drivers know how to communicate to the printer and provide services to applications that send output to the printer. Applications can access the printer properties, change their properties, and perform printing through these standard APIs.

Motif and character-based UNIX operating systems do not have their own standard interface to printers like Microsoft Windows. Individual applications are responsible for sending their output in a streamed file to the printer and adhering to the specifications of the printer. On UNIX platforms, Oracle Reports output must be formatted properly (for example, PostScript or PCL) before sending it as a stream to the printers. To print on UNIX, Oracle Reports mimics the behavior of the Microsoft Windows printer drivers internally. The next section describes more precisely how this mechanism works on UNIX.

10.1.2 Oracle Reports Printing Mechanism on UNIX and Windows

Figure 10-1 and Figure 10-2 depict the differences between Oracle Reports printing on UNIX and on Microsoft Windows.

Figure 10-1 Oracle Reports printing on UNIX

Figure 10-2 Oracle Reports printing on Microsoft Windows

To support printing on UNIX, Oracle Reports internally creates logical printer drivers. A logical printer driver simulates the behavior of Microsoft Windows printer drivers and provides a printing service interface for Oracle Reports on UNIX. Through the logical printer driver, Oracle Reports can access the printer properties and perform printer-related operations. These logical drivers:

Support PostScript and PCL printing specifications, which are the most popular printing standards.

Read the printer description files (for example, PPD or HPD) to get the printer descriptions.

Embed the various printer commands in the generated PostScript or PCL output. For example, to change paper margin, the logical printer driver needs to write the corresponding printer commands in the generated output. These commands differ depending on whether you use a PostScript or a PCL printer. When the generated PostScript or PCL file is sent to the printer through the printing executable (for example, lpr), the printer interprets the commands in the file and processes them accordingly.

To function correctly, the logical printer drivers require the following input:

The printer queue name that is used to spool the print request.

The printer description file that contains the printer properties.

The driver type required by the specified printer queue, PostScript or PCL.

You provide this information in a file called uiprint.txt. Oracle Reports uses this file to get a list of the printer queue names available for printing. In uiprint.txt, you must specify the printer queue name, the type of driver needed for the queue, the version of the driver, and any special printer description file that the print driver needs for that specific printer (for example, a PPD file for the PostScript driver). Once this information is available, the internal logical printer drivers are constructed and they use the definition files provided to access the printer properties.

10.1.3 Printing Support

Oracle Reports supports the following printing standards on UNIX:

PostScript Level 1 and 2

PCL Level 3

ASCII (for character mode printing)

The printers you use with Oracle Reports should be compatible with these versions.

10.2 Setting Up a Printer on UNIX

This section describes:

Installing a Printer on UNIX

Verifying the Printer Setup for Oracle Reports

10.2.1 Installing a Printer on UNIX

The installation of a printer queue is slightly different depending upon your flavor of UNIX. Some platforms may have user interface tools to help in the installation. Please refer to your UNIX platform documentation for the steps on adding a printer queue.

The following sample script adds a printer queue on the Solaris 2.6 platform. The domain information expldomain and printer names printer1 and printer2 are hard coded in this example. The printer is a Xerox DCS model.

#!/bin/sh
echo "Please enter the Printer Name Either printer1 or printer2\n"
read PRINTER
LOGFILE=/var/adm/config.log
PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:$PATH
export PRINTER LOGFILE PATH
lpsystem -t bsd expldomain >$LOGFILE 2>&1
lpadmin -p "$PRINTER" -s expldomain!"$PRINTER"  -I any >$LOGFILE 2>&1
mkdir -p /usr/Xerox_DCS /usr/Xerox_DCS/original
chown -R 755 /usr/Xerox_DCS /usr/Xerox_DCS/original
cp /usr/bin/lp /usr/Xerox_DCS/original
mv /usr/bin/lp /usr/bin/lp.Xerox
ln -s /tmp /usr/Xerox_DCS/tmp
echo "$PRINTER" > /usr/Xerox_DCS/printer.db
cp  /usr/local/packages/dc99cc23.txt  /usr/Xerox_DCS
ln -s /usr/Xerox_DCS/dc99cc23.txt /usr/bin/lp
lpadmin -d "$PRINTER"

10.2.2 Verifying the Printer Setup for Oracle Reports

To verify that your printer queue installed correctly:

Ensure that the PPD or HPD file used with the installed printer queue is available in the following location:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD
ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/HPD

Ensure that the font metrics, AFM or TFM files, installed on the printer are available in the following location:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM
ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/TFM

10.3 Configuring the Printing Environment

This section explains the various configuration steps to be performed on UNIX after printer installation.

Editing uiprint.txt File

Environment Variables

Print Property Dialog Boxes

10.3.1 Editing uiprint.txt File

As discussed in Section 10.1, "UNIX Printing Overview", Oracle Reports creates logical printer drivers. To create these internal printer drivers, it needs information from you like the available printer queue, the type of driver to be used with the queue, the version of the driver, and the printer description file. uiprint.txt is the main file for providing this information. It is located in:

INSTANCE_HOME/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt

uiprint.txt is the printer configuration file and Oracle Reports reads it when it creates the internal printer drivers. You should modify this file for each instance of Oracle Reports.

The format of entries in uiprint.txt is:

Printer:DriverType:DriverVersion:PrinterDescription:PrinterDescriptionFile:

This one line entry, in prescribed format, in uiprint.txt defines a printer to be used by Oracle Reports. Each line contains five fields separated by colons. Table 10-1 describes each element of the uiprint.txt entry.

Table 10-1 uiprint.txt Entry Elements

Element
Description

Printer

Specifies the name of the printer (or printer queue), as used with the lpr or lp command.

To get a list of all available printers, use the following command:

lpstat -a

To check the status of the printer, use the lpstat command:

Solaris

lpstat -p printername

Linux

lpstat -p printername

HP-UX

lpstat -d printername

HP Tru64

lpstat -p printername

IBM AIX

lpstat -pprintername

No space is allowed after -p on IBM AIX.

DriverType

Specifies the type of printer driver used for the printer. The driver can be PostScript, PCL, or ASCII.

DriverVersion

Specifies the version of the driver type that should be used. This can be 1 or 2 for PostScript printers, and PCL Version 5 for PCL.

PrinterDescription

Specifies the description of the printer, for example, the speed and the location of the printer. This information is used for display in the printer-related dialog box.

PrinterDescriptionFile

Specifies the printer description file to be used with the printer. It can be one of the following types:

When using a PostScript printer, this entry contains the name of a PPD file. PPD stands for PostScript Printer Description. If Oracle Reports cannot find the specified PPD file, it uses default.ppd. Oracle Reports searches for PPD files in the following locations serially:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommom/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

When using a PCL printer, this entry contains the name of an HPD file. If Oracle Reports cannot find the specified HPD file, it uses ui4.hpd. Oracle Reports searches for HPD files in:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/HPD

When using an ASCII printer, this entry would be set to none. This field is ignored for all ASCII printers.

Usage Note:

All the fields in the uiprint.txt entry must be filled and every line must end with a colon.

At least one entry must be defined in uiprint.txt. Alternatively, you can set the related printer variables (TK_PRINTER and PRINTER). Without these, Oracle Reports is unable to perform any printer-related task.

See Also:

Section 10.3.2, "Environment Variables" for more information on printer-related environment variables.

The internal printer drivers provide a drawing surface for Oracle Reports. In addition to using this surface for printing, Oracle Reports uses it internally whenever output is generated to a file. Hence, you must have a valid entry in uiprint.txt or to set one of the printer-related environment variables. To simplify the selection of printers for your users, we recommended that you list all printers accessible to users in uiprint.txt.

Example:

Following are two example entries for uiprint.txt:

colprt14:PostScript:2:RMSC Atrium HPLaserJet5:default.ppd:
colprt15PCL:5:RMSC 1st Floor HPLaser4:ui4.hpd:

10.3.2 Environment Variables

This section lists the environment variables related to printing:

See Also:

Appendix B, "Environment Variables" for more information on the environment variables that can be set in Oracle Reports.

TK_PRINTER / PRINTER

TK_PRINTER

TK_PRINT_STATUS

REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER

TK_HPD and ORACLE_HPD

TK_PPD and ORACLE_PPD

TK_TFM and ORACLE_TFM

TK_AFM and ORACLE_AFM

10.3.3 Print Property Dialog Boxes

On UNIX, Oracle Reports Builder provides several dialog boxes for printer-related operations.

10.3.3.1 Page Setup dialog box

The Page Setup dialog box enables you to specify how the printed page appears. The available options depend on the type of printer driver being used. The internal printer drivers use this dialog box to get all the information necessary, (for example, scale, rotation, width, and height) for formatting a page on a printer.

10.3.3.2 Print Job dialog box

Each print job has unique characteristics depending on the printer driver being used. The Print Job dialog box displays just prior to print job execution and prompts you for the print job information required to send the job to the printer.

10.4 Printer-Related Files

This section explains the different printing related files. It gives an overview of these files and also provides information for editing these files for common printing needs.

Overview of Files

PPD Files

HPD Files

Font Metrics Files

uifont.ali

uiprint.txt

Editing the Printer-Related Files

10.4.1 Overview of Files

Table 10-2 lists files used by Oracle Reports for printing on UNIX.

Table 10-2 Printer-Related Files Overview

File Name/Extension
Description

.ppd

PostScript Printer Definition file

.hpd

HP glue file

.afm

Adobe font metrics file

.tfm

PCL font metrics file

uifont.ali

font aliasing file

uiprint.txt

printer configuration file

10.4.2 PPD Files

PostScript is Adobe's page description programming language. PPD files define what capabilities a printer has for applications like Oracle Reports. For example, a PPD file might define which paper tray to use, what paper sizes are available, what is the physical dimension of the paper, and what font is available. Currently, Oracle Reports reads the paper sizes and fonts available on the printer as well as its default resolution from this file. In the future, more information may be used, such as memory for proper image partitioning.

The only reason to modify the PPD file is to allow Oracle Reports to recognize newly added fonts or memory. You can also change the DefaultPageSize to your preferred page size.

Note:

Page sizes, like all PPD entries, are case sensitive. Other entries in the PPD file should generally be left undisturbed.

When you select a printer that is not listed in uiprint.txt or change the type of printer to a PostScript type in the Choose Printer dialog box, you are prompted for the PPD file for the printer. You must choose the PPD file for a printer that most closely resembles the printer being used. PPD file names typically bear some resemblance to the printer model name.

In uiprint.txt, a PPD file must be specified for each printer. If an invalid PPD file is specified for the current printer (for example, no PPD file is found or the PPD file format is wrong), Oracle Reports will use default.ppd for that printer. You should make default.ppd a copy of another PPD file that better reflects the most likely default, local printer.

Oracle Reports includes a common set of PPD files, but sometimes you may need to get specific PPD files for your printers from the vendor. Table 10-3 shows some examples of PPD files that are shipped with Oracle Reports:

Table 10-3 Common PPD Files Shipped with Oracle Reports

PPD File Name
Corresponding Printer

appl230.ppd

Apple LaserWriter v23.0

datap462.ppd

Dataproducts LZR-2665

declps32.ppd

Digital PrintServer 40

default.ppd

Default Level 1 PostScript Printer

hpljet41.ppd

HP LaserJet 4/4M PostScript 600DPI

lwntx470.ppd

Apple LaserWriter II NTX

nccps801.ppd

NEC Colormate PS/80

tkphzr33.ppd

Tektronix Phaser III PXi v2011.108

l530_523.ppd

Linotronic 530

screenprinter.ppd

Default PPD file to be used when a printer is not available on UNIX.

If you need a PPD file that is not among those shipped with Oracle Reports, you must do one of the following (in order of preference):

Ask the printer vendor for the PPD file.

Download the PPD file from Adobe's Web site.

Copy an existing PPD file and edit it.

Ask Adobe for the PPD specs and write the PPD file.

The PostScript file only has the font information not the font metrics. Oracle Reports refers to the AFM file installed for the font metrics information. The font vendors provide these AFM files. Oracle Reports ships AFM files for some of the most commonly used fonts. The printer must have the required font installed in order to correctly print the PostScript file generated by Oracle Reports.

10.4.2.1 Local Customization of PPD files

A PPD file is a static representation of the features of a printer. It contains default factory settings. Once a printer is installed, features such as additional memory, paper trays, and fonts may be added to the device. The task of managing a device is a dynamic issue that requires keeping track of fonts downloaded to disk, error handlers, RAM-based fonts and procedure sets, default device setup, and so forth. This kind of device management is beyond the scope of PPD files. However, there are some provisions for customizing the information contained in PPD files to adapt them to local instances of printers or to specific applications when necessary.

Instead of modifying the original PPD file, another approach would be having a new file having the local customization of certain parameters and refer to the primary file for the remaining information. The local customization file must contain a reference to the primary PPD file in this format:

*Include: "filename"

where filename is the name of the primary PPD file. This referencing allows a system administrator to later replace the primary PPD file without forcing users to edit their local customization files. A file referenced by the *Include keyword is treated as though it were in the including (local customization) file.

For example, suppose that the default.ppd file is defined as:

*PPD-Adobe: "4.0"
*Include: "datap462.ppd"

*% Page definitions
*DefaultPageSize: Letter
…………………………
*DefaultPageRegion: Letter

The primary PPD file is datap462.ppd.

Administrators should change the name of the included file to conform to their site's default printer type.

When a local customization file includes a primary PPD file, there might be several instances of the same keyword in the composite file. Hence, the location of the primary file in the customization file (beginning or end) is important and effects the changes made by the customization file.

10.4.3 HPD Files

HPD files provide functionality for PCL printers that is similar to what PPD files provide for PostScript printers. HPD or HP glue files provide information on what fonts are available for a PCL printer. The HPD file format can be found in the HP PCL5 Developer's Guide.

Just as PostScript has AFM files, every HP font must have an associated TFM file. The font vendor should provide TFM files and new fonts should be added to the HPD file for your printer when installed. For a new font, you should specify the following fields in the HPD file:

FONT={fontname}
/tfm={tfm-filename}

where

fontname is a descriptive name for the font.

tfm-filename is the base file name for the TFM file.

If the TFM file isn't specific enough, you can also specify the following after the FONT field:

/ptsize={size {size ...}}

If the specified font is a bit mapped font but is listed in the TFM file as a scalable font, you can limit the point sizes used by listing the acceptable sizes as follows:

/symset={symset {symset ...}}

This field limits the supported symbol sets to those listed. See the HP PCL documentation for a list of recognized symbol sets.

Oracle Reports also supports the defaultpaper field for printing to PCL format. This field can be used to set the defaultpaper to be used by the Toolkit. The format of this field is:

<defaultpaper={papername}>

For example, the following sets the paper name to A4:

<defaultpaper=A4>

The paper name is case insensitive. If you specify defaultpaper in more than one place, then the last instance of defaultpaper is used. If you specify a paper name that is not supported by the printer, defaultpaper is ignored and LETTER is used as the paper name instead. Similarly, if the paper name is incorrect, then LETTER is used.

10.4.4 Font Metrics Files

Oracle Reports supports two kinds of font metrics files:

AFM files

TFM files

10.4.4.1 AFM files

Each AFM files contains the font-related metrics for a single font. The metrics include various font attributes such as style, weight, width, and character set. AFM files and a description of the AFM file format are typically available from the font or printer vendors.

To install the AFM file, just copy it to the AFM file location, which is listed in Section 10.2.2, "Verifying the Printer Setup for Oracle Reports". The name of the file must match name of the font without the.afm extension. For example, if the font name is CodedreineunBold, the file name must be CodedreineunBold.

To verify the font name, you can look for the fontname string in the AFM file. Please note that the AFM files are not font files, they are metrics files, which give information on how to properly format the characters for the printer. If you have an AFM file for a font, but the font is not present on the printer, Oracle Reports cannot generate the correct output on the printer because of the font metrics mismatch. You must ensure that the font used to design the report is also available on the printer.

10.4.4.2 TFM files

PCL uses HPD and TFM files. The HPD file contains the list of available fonts for the printer and each font refers to a TFM file. TFM files serve the same purpose as Adobe's AFM files, with each file listing information about a single font. The HPD file is an ASCII file, which can be edited, but the TFM file is a binary file, which cannot be edited.

To use a new font in Oracle Reports and have it appear correctly in PCL output, you need the HPD and TFM files for the printer. You can copy an HPD file from an existing one, after you ensure it is suitable for your printer. The fonts specified in the HPD file must be available on the printer.

Oracle Reports includes a common set of TFM files. If you need other font metrics files for your printer, you should obtain them from your font or printer vendor. To install the TFM file, just copy it to the TFM file location, which is listed in Section 10.2.2, "Verifying the Printer Setup for Oracle Reports".

10.4.5 uifont.ali

The uifont.ali file defines the font aliases used by Oracle Reports. It is an extremely useful tool for cross-platform development because it enables you to define which fonts to substitute when a particular font is unavailable. uifont.ali is located in:

On Windows: ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\frcommon\tools\common

On UNIX: ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

To alias a font, use the following syntax:

source_font = destination_font

For each font, you may also specify the following attributes:

face.size.style.weight.width.character_set

Styles may also be combined using a plus sign + to delimit the styles. For example:

Arial.Italic+Overstrike = Helvetica.12.Italic.Bold

This entry maps any Arial font that has both Italic and Overstrike styles to a 12-point, bold, and italic Helvetica font. Font faces can be case sensitive depending on the platform and the surface; that is, printer or system.

See Also:

Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports" for more font-related information.

10.4.6 uiprint.txt

uiprint.txt provides a convenient way for you to provide details about the printer queue, such as the type of printer driver and the printer description. You should edit uiprint.txt for each instance of Oracle Reports.

See Also:

Section 10.3.1, "Editing uiprint.txt File" for more information about uiprint.txt.

10.4.7 Editing the Printer-Related Files

This section describes how to edit the various print-related files:

Editing PPD files

Editing HPD files for PCL printing

10.4.7.1 Editing PPD files

In some cases, you may need to change certain attributes in your PPD file. The sections that follow describe some of the attributes that you would commonly want to change:

Changing the default paper size

Changing the printer margin settings

Adding a new font entry to PPD files

Overriding the printer tray setting

10.4.7.1.1 Changing the default paper size

Suppose that you need the page size to be A4 for some of your reports. On UNIX platforms, the printer driver is specified in uiprint.txt and the default page size is not necessarily set to A4. For example, hpljet41.ppd has LETTER as the default page size. Note that the default page size setting for each printer queue is taken from the corresponding PPD file.

To set A4 as the default page size, you would do the following:

Edit uiprint.txt to include a PostScript Printer Description file (extension is .ppd) that supports the A4 page size. For example, you might include hpljet41.ppd.

As a backup, make a copy of hpljet41.ppd.

Add an entry to uiprint.txt:

Printer_name: PostScript:1: the printer on floor1:hpljet41.ppd

Edit hpljet41.ppd and change these settings as follows:

DefaultPageSize: A4
DefaultPageRegion: A4
DefaultImageableArea: A4
DefaultPaperDimension: A4

10.4.7.1.2 Changing the printer margin settings

To change the margins, you must modify the ImageableArea section in the PPD file. ImageableArea provides the bounding box of the area in which the printer may print for the page size named mediaOption. There will be one statement for each named page size supported by the device. *DefaultImageableArea provides the mediaOption name of the default imageable area. Since there can be only one default page size, this value should be the same as the value of *DefaultPageSize, *DefaultPageRegion, and *DefaultPaperDimension.

The syntax for defining imageable area is as follows:

*ImageableArea mediaOption: "llx lly urx ury "
*DefaultImageableArea: mediaOption | Unknown

ll stands for lower left corner and ur for upper right corner. The bounding box value of *ImageableArea is given as four real numbers, representing the x and y coordinates of the lower left and upper right corners of the region, respectively, in the PostScript language default user space coordinate system. The x and y axes of a given page size correspond to the x and y axes of that page size in the *PaperDimension entry.

The imageable area is defined as the part of the page where the printer may actually make marks. On some printers, the imageable area of a given page size varies as a result of the current resolution, amount of memory, the direction of paper feed, and other factors. In PPD files where the imageable area of a given page size can vary, the imageable area recorded for that page size will be the intersection of all possible imageable areas for that page size. This formula ensures that the available imageable area is never smaller than that shown in the PPD file and all marks made within the imageable area will be visible. It does, however, also mean that the imageable area in the current configuration might actually be larger than the imageable area shown in the PPD file.

The following table contains the option keywords currently registered for mediaOption, which designates a given page size on a device:

Table 10-4 mediaOption Keywords

mediaOption (Paper Size)
Size (pts)
Size (mm)
Size (inches)

Letter

612 * 792

215.9 * 279.4

8.5 * 11

Legal

612 * 1008

215.9 * 355.6

8.5 * 14

Ledger

1224 * 792

431.8 * 279.4

17 * 11

Tabloid

792 * 1224

279.4 * 431.8

11 * 17

A3

842 * 1191

297 * 420

11.69 * 16.54

A4

595 * 842

210 * 297

8.27 * 11.69

A5

420 * 595

148 * 210

5.83 * 8.27

B4

729 * 1032

257 * 364

10.12 * 14.33

B5

516 * 729

182 * 257

7.17 * 10.12

Example

To change the margins of an A4 page in the default.ppd, you would perform the following steps:

Modify the default page from Letter to A4 in the following sections:

*% Page definitions
*DefaultPageSize: A4
*PageSize A4: " "

*% These entries set up the frame buffer. Usually used with manual feed.
*DefaultPageRegion: A4
*PageRegion A4: "A4"

*% These provide the physical dimensions of the paper (by keyword)
*DefaultPaperDimension: A4
*PaperDimension A4: "595 842"

Add the margin definition in the following sections:

*% Imageable (writable) areas for each page size, in pixels
*DefaultImageableArea: A4
*ImageableArea A4: "2 2 593 840 "

Note:

All PPD entries are case sensitive.

10.4.7.1.3 Adding a new font entry to PPD files

On PostScript printers, Oracle Reports only enables you to use fonts known to be available on the printer. Since printers are rarely available for personal requests on multiprocess operating systems, Oracle Reports gets a complete list of fonts from the PPD file.

When a new font is installed on the printer, a corresponding font entry needs to be added to the printer's PPD file. The format for a font entry is:

*Font {fontname}: {encoding} "({version})" {charset}

where

{fontname} is the Adobe font face name as specified in PostScript.

{encoding} is the PostScript encoding name.

{version} is the FontInfo version number.

{charset} is the Adobe character set.

The encoding value has slightly different meanings depending on the font type. If the encoding cannot be determined, the value of encoding may be set to unknown. Fonts are usually re-encoded by applications to provide other encodings; the charset value for each font indicates which encodings are possible for that font. For more information, please refer to the PPD specification from Adobe.

When new fonts are added to the printer, the matching AFM files must also be added to the font metrics directory. Oracle Reports requires the AFM files to get the actual font attributes and properly place text on the printed page.

Example

Suppose you add a new font, CodedreineunBold, and want to edit the PPD file to include the new font.

In the PPD file, search for:

*% Font Information

For the new font, append the following at the end of the paragraph:

*Font CodedreineunBold: Standard "(00.1001)" Standard ROM

10.4.7.1.4 Overriding the printer tray setting

The PostScript output generated by Oracle Reports has the tray information embedded into it. The PPD file defines the default tray to be used and is followed by the definitions of valid trays for the printer. To print to a different tray, the DefaultInputSlot entry in the PPD file must be updated.

In the PPD file, you should find a section that lists the default tray and the valid input slots. The section typically starts with a line like this one:

*OpenUI *InputSlot:   <PickOne>

The default tray entry looks like the following:

*DefaultInputSlot: Lower

The defined slots typically follow the default entry and look like the following:

*InputSlot Upper/Multipurpose Tray: "
...
*InputSlot Lower/Paper Cassette: "

The section ends with a line like the following:

*CloseUI: *InputSlot

You can set DefaultInputSlot to be any of the values in the list of defined slots.

10.4.7.2 Editing HPD files for PCL printing

In some cases, you may need to change certain attributes in you HPD file. The sections that follow describe some of the attributes that you would commonly want to change:

Changing the paper size

Adding a new font entry

10.4.7.2.1 Changing the paper size

For example, to change the papersize to A4, add the following to the HPD file used:

 <defaultpaper=A4>

10.4.7.2.2 Adding a new font entry

As with PostScript's AFM files, every HP font must have a TFM file in order for Oracle Reports to use it. The font vendor should provide TFM files. You should add new fonts to the HPD file when you install them.

You must specify the following settings in the HPD file for any new font:

FONT={fontname}        # {fontname} is a descriptive name for the font
/tfm={tfm-filename}    # {tfm-filename} is the base filename for TFM file

Note:

The font name entries in HPD files must be unique.

10.5 Enhanced Printing on Linux Using CUPS

Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) is the default printing system on most Linux distributions. This section describes how to set up CUPS for printing from Reports Server.

CUPS printing is disabled by default. To enable CUPS printing, set the environment variable REPORTS_CUPS_PRINTING to YES. For more information, see Appendix B, "REPORTS_CUPS_PRINTING".

The primary advantage of CUPS is that it is a standard and modularized printing system that can process numerous data formats on the print server and also supports Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). With this feature, it is possible to directly print PDF files from Reports Server and it also simplifies network printing.

Figure 10-3 shows how Oracle Reports interacts with CUPS.

Figure 10-3 Interaction Between Oracle Reports and CUPS Server

With this configuration, printers must be configured on all the CUPS running on all the machines where Reports Server is running.

Several text files are used to configure CUPS. For more configuration-related information, see the CUPS Software Administrators Manual at http://www.cups.org/doc-1.1/sam.html#CONTENTS.

By default, CUPS does not allow access from other network machines. To configure CUPS to allow access from remote machines, perform the following steps:

Enter the following command to open a CUPS configuration file:

open /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

Add a Listen instruction, as follows:

Scroll to the bottom of the configuration file where the other Listen instructions are declared.

Copy Listen 127.0.0.1:631 and paste it above or below the original.

Replace 127.0.0.1 with the Linux server's IP address.

Configure each printer, as follows:

In the configuration file, locate:

<Location /printers/your_printer_queue>

Comment the instruction Deny From All.

Change Allow from 127.0.0.1 to Allow from All.

Repeat for all printer or fax queues that you wan to make accessible.

Save the configuration file and restart CUPS.

To stop CUPS, enter the following command:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/cups stop

To start CUPS, enter the following command:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/cups start

The Red Hat Advanced Server provides a configuration wizard to help you set up your printers. To use the configuration wizard for this task, perform the following steps:

While logged on as the root user, open a command prompt and enter:

redhat-config-printer

to display the Printer configuration window.

Select the New tab to launch the Add a new print queue wizard.

Follow the wizard prompts to:

Enter a queue name.

Select the queue type.

Select the printer model.

Review your selections and click Apply to create your new print queue.

Test your printer on CUPS, as follows:

Launch a browser on RedHat with the URL http://localhost:631.

Select the Printers tab. The printer you just created will be listed.

Click Print Test Page to test your printer setup. If the test page does not print, repeat the configuration steps. Ensure that your printer type and model selections are correct.

Note:

lpadmin can also be used to add a printer from the command line. Refer to the Linux man page for this command for more details.

10.5.1 Setting Up a Single Server for Printing

The default CUPS configuration is to use localhost as the print server. To make the CUPS use a remote server, you must change the server name in the /etc/cups/client.conf file.

Figure 10-4 illustrates adding printers to a single CUPS server, and configuring all other machines running Reports Server to route their print requests to the remote CUPS server.

Figure 10-4 Routing Print Requests to a Single Remote CUPS Server

For information about the various other printing models, refer to the CUPS Software Administrators Manual at http://www.cups.org/doc-1.1/sam.html#CONTENTS

Note:

When Oracle Reports adds a printer to the CUPS server, it assigns a printer name, which is the name that must be used when referring that printer. Internally, the name is translated to the proper call depending on the device URI used in the configuration.

10.6 Globalization Support

This section explains multibyte character set printing support in Oracle Reports. It also explains the IX and PASTA utilities, which are supported only for Oracle Reports when installed and used in conjunction with Oracle Applications.

Multibyte Character Set Printing

Overview of IX and PASTA

10.6.1 Multibyte Character Set Printing

Oracle Reports does not currently support Unicode character sets in PostScript output. As an alternative, you can use Oracle Reports PDF output (desformat=pdf), which supports multibyte character sets, and print it.

Oracle Reports supports a set of encoding schemes for the AFM files for the multibyte character sets.

See Also:

Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports" and Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports" for more font-related information.

The fonts must be installed on the printer that prints the PostScript report output.

Example

Suppose you build a report and its generated PostScript output contains a Chinese character set. First, you need AFM and PPD files that adhere to the encoding scheme for multibyte character sets. The destination printer must also have the required Chinese fonts installed because the PostScript file generated by Oracle Reports on UNIX does not have fonts embedded in it. The PostScript file contains only the font name and the font metrics taken from the AFM files. If you try to send the report to a printer that does not have the Chinese fonts installed, it will not print the Chinese characters properly.

10.6.2 Overview of IX and PASTA

When installed and used with Oracle Applications, Oracle Reports includes utilities for font embedding in PostScript output.

For character-mode reports, the utility is called PASTA. For bit-mapped reports, the utility IX enables you to embed the fonts in the PostScript output, thereby allowing you to print even if the font is not installed on the printer. Both PASTA and IX are supported only for Oracle Reports used with Oracle Applications.

When used for character-mode reports, PASTA takes tagged character mode output (generated through an appropriate prt file) and generates a PostScript rendition of it. IX enables Oracle Reports to print PostScript bit-mapped reports for all character sets, including UTF8, on a PostScript printer. With this functionality, PostScript printing in Unicode as well as all native languages on UNIX is supported. The IX library is turned off by default with the Oracle Reports patch.

Please refer to your Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide for the setup and usage information for IX and PASTA with Oracle Reports. If you are a member of Oracle Metalink (http://metalink.oracle.com), you can also get this information from MetaLink notes 189708.1 and 159225.

If you have problems with PASTA, you can use the following technique to isolate the problem:

Unset the PASTA environment variable.

Try to perform the steps that caused the problem again.

If the problem reproduces without the environment variable set, then it should be treated as a normal Oracle Reports printing problem and the diagnostic steps provided in this document should be applied.

If the problem reproduces only with the PASTA environment variable set, then follow the diagnostic process given in the Oracle Applications documentation.

10.7 Debugging Options

This section explains the different environment variables and techniques available in Oracle Reports for the debugging of UNIX printing problems.

DEBUG_SLFIND

TK_DEBUG_POSTSCRIPT

10.7.1 DEBUG_SLFIND

If this environment variable is set, the file-finding routine lists what was searched for and where Oracle Reports searched for it. This information is a tremendous help if your current configuration does not work. You can send the output to a file, stdout (for standard output), or to stderr (for output to standard error). If you try to send the output to a file and it cannot be written to, Oracle Reports uses stderr instead.

We recommend sending the output to a file because it is faster and the output can be quite large. Sample output from DEBUG_SLFIND is shown below. Notice how the debug information generated helps you identify the various setup issues, such as which PPD and AFM files are being referred to and their location.

You can see all of the following in this output:

The various environment variables, such as TK_PPD and TK_AFM, and their values.

The resource files, such as the PPD and AFM, and their locations, which helps you to determine if any are the missing.

The default location of various resource files under ORACLE_HOME.

slsfindfile(): checking environment variable TK_PPD(8).
slsfindfile(): environment variable not set
slsfindfile(): checking environment variable ORACLE_PPD(10).
slsfindfile(): environment variable not set
slfpath(): looking up path
/oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD/
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD/default.ppd
slsfindfile():returned
/oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD/default.ppd
slfindfile(): type = 39 (AFM)slfindfile(): name = Courier-Bold
slsfindfile(): checking environment variable TK_AFM(8).
slsfindfile(): environment variable not set
slsfindfile(): checking environment variable ORACLE_AFM(10).
slsfindfile(): checking ORACLE_HOME environment variable.
slsfindfile(): environment variable set to /oraclehome (len=18)
slfpath(): looking up path/oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM/
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM/Courier-Bold
slsfindfile():returned /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM/Courier-Bold
slfindfile(): name = uiprint.txt
slsfindfile(): checking ORACLE_HOME environment variable.
slfpath(): looking up path/oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin
slfexist(): testing /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt
slsfindfile(): returned /oraclehome/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt

10.7.2 TK_DEBUG_POSTSCRIPT

This variable effects the PostScript output generated by Oracle Reports. Table 10-5 shows the settings for this variable.

Table 10-5 Settings for TK_DEBUG_POSTSCRIPT

Setting
Description

Functions (Func)

Function lists each toolkit function called in comments in the PostScript output.

Long (L)

Long produces more intelligible PostScript output but runs much more slowly than normal PostScript generation.

Memory (Mem)

Memory displays memory usage at the bottom of each page.

Any of the options can appear in the environment variable, abbreviated down to one letter. You can set it to any combination of these, separated by "/". This variable is case insensitive. For example, Func/L/Mem would give you all three options.

Note:

The PostScript output from this variable is for your own debugging purposes. You need not provide this output to Oracle Support for investigation.

10.8 Removing DISPLAY and Printer Dependencies on UNIX

Prior to Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4) on UNIX, you had to set the DISPLAY environment variable in order for Reports Server to use the windowing system display surface for creating images and getting pixel resolution. This dependency is removed with Oracle Reports 10g.

Additionally, earlier releases required a valid printer on UNIX for fonts. When no valid printer was available, Oracle Reports Services used the screen fonts, which again required setting the DISPLAY environment variable. Now, Oracle Reports Services includes a default screen printer surface, ScreenPrinter, that emulates a screen or printer for fonts in the absence of an available printer. As a result, Oracle Reports Services no longer requires a printer on UNIX.

By default, the environment variable REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY is set to YES, which specifies that Oracle Reports Services should:

remove the dependency on the DISPLAY environment variable (UNIX only)

use ScreenPrinter for surface resolution for images and font information (UNIX only)

enable the Advanced Imaging Support (all platforms)

If you wish to revert to the dependency on the DISPLAY environment variable as in releases prior to 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), you can set REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=NO.

See Also:

Section B.1.42, "REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY"

10.8.1 ScreenPrinter

The PostScript printer driver screenprinter.ppd provides surface resolution for images and specifies font information. This driver is the first entry in uiscreenprint.txt. The file locations (UNIX only) are:

uiscreenprint.txt : ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin
screenprinter.ppd : ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

Note:

Beginning in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), configuration of screenprinter.ppd should be done only through Oracle Enterprise Manager. Refer to Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager", Section 7.9.1, "Configuring Fonts"for information about updating configuration settings through Oracle Enterprise Manager.

ScreenPrinter is used for:

Surface resolution when REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=YES.

Removal of the printer dependency.

If, when generating report output, there is no valid printer queue available (not found from TK_PRINTER,ORACLE_PRINTER,PRINTER, or uiprint.txt), the surface based on screenprinter.ppd will be created and used to get font information. You can modify the Fonts section of screenprinter.ppd to include new fonts, and modify the DefaultResolution field to change the resolution (DefaultResolution is 96).

Note:

If you do add new fonts, ensure that the new AFM metrics files are placed in the AFM directory.

The font look up algorithm on UNIX is:

if a valid printer available then
  look up font information from the printer
else
 create a screenPrinter surface
 look up font information from ScreenPrinter
 if ScreenPrinter creation fails then
    REP-1800 : Formatter Error if REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY is set
  else
    use Screen Fonts

Note:

In certain multibyte languages like Chinese, you may want to use screen fonts. However, this would necessitate setting the DISPLAY variable for running the report.

To revert to DISPLAY and use screen fonts (old font look up algorithm):

Set REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=NO

Remove the screenprinter.ppd entry in the uiscreenprint.txt file.

See Also:

Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports"

10.8.2 Advanced Imaging Support

The quality of images contributes considerably to the overall appearance of a report, particularly for a Web report. You may prefer different image formats in your report output depending on the needs of your project. For example, an aeronautical firm might prefer the higher quality of JPEG or PNG images in their Web reports instead of GIF images. On the other hand, if you are building a Web portal, you might prefer GIF images because of their smaller size and faster download. Similarly, you may wish to import images of these various formats into your report.

Depending on the format of your output, you may choose from a variety of formats for your images.

Table 10-6 Image Format Options by Output Type

Report Output
Available Image Format Choices

HTML, HTMLCSS

PNG, JPEG, JPG, GIF

PDF

PNG, JPEG, JPG, GIF

RTF

PNG, JPEG, JPG, BMP

Note:

As you choose your image format, you should take into account the quality and size considerations. Typically, the higher the quality of the image format, the greater the size. For example, PNG and JPEG are higher quality than GIF, but they may also require more storage space.

To enable advanced imaging, you must set the REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY environment variable to YES. The REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT environment variable lets you choose the default image type. Users can override the default choice for images with the OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT command line keyword. For example:

rwclient server=my_rep_server report=images.rdf destype=file desformat=html
desname=images.html userid=scott/tiger outputimageformat=PNG

Enabling advanced imaging also enables you to import images of these same formats into your report.

Usage Notes

UNIX only: Enabling advanced imaging means that you can no longer use the old Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) and Oracle Graphics Data (OGD) formats in HTML or HTMLCSS output. If you require these formats for input sources, you should set REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=NO. This limitation does not apply on the Windows platform.

Running a report with JPEG images (REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT=JPEG) to RTF output causes an increase in the RTF file size that is not directly proportionate to the image size. This occurs because the binary image stream is first converted to HEX characters and then written to RTF. This conversion increases the file size. This is consistent with the RTF specification and is expected behavior. However, an RTF file with JPEG images is of a smaller size when compared to an RTF file with BMP images.

See Also:

Section A.7.3, "OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT"

Section B.1.42, "REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY"

Section B.1.58, "REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT"

10.9 Frequently Asked Questions

This section addresses some commonly encountered problems with UNIX printing.

Common Printing Error Messages

PCL Printing Issues

PostScript Printing Issues

Font-Related Printing Issues

Printed Output Issues

Note:

Reports Server uses rwlpr for submitting a print job. For rwlpr logging for Windows, when you enable tracing for Reports Server using either traceModule=all or traceModule=server, a printing diagnostic log (server_name-rwlpr-jobid.log) is created in the log directory ($ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsServerComponent/<reports server name>) for destype=printer. This log file will contain information regarding the messages that can be used to diagnose any printing issues, such as spooler problem.

10.9.1 Common Printing Error Messages

REP-00177 - Error while running in remote server

REP-1800 - Formatter error

REP-3300 - Fatal error in component name

UI-9 - This function call is out of context.

REP-3002: Internal error initializing printer information

Cause:

These errors generally indicate a printer configuration issue.

Action:

Check the printer queues that have been defined at the operating system level in your setup. You can use:

lpc status

lpstat -a

If a valid printer queue is installed, check for the following:

uiprint.txt must have a valid entry for the printer.

Oracle Reports must be able to open and read the uiprint.txt file:

The person running the report must have operating system level read permissions on uiprint.txt. Oracle Reports must be able to open the uiprint.txt. UNIX operating systems do have an open file limit. If you are over that limit, Oracle Reports might not be able to open uiprint.txt.

The printer description files specified in uiprint.txt must exist in your installation in:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

The printer specified in uiprint.txt must be enabled at the operating system level. A quick test is to try printing any file from the command line using lp or lpr. If you can print using one of these commands and get the output on the printer, then the printer is enabled.

The printer queue and uiprint.txt entry syntax must be valid.

If the printer validation fails, refer to the environment variables TK_PRINT_STATUS and REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER in Appendix B, "Environment Variables".

REP-00826 - Invalid printer driver xxx specified by parameter desformat.

REP-00177 - Error while running in remote server (When run through CGI)

Cause:

An invalid value was specified for DESFORMAT for the specified report execution mode.

Action:

The DESFORMAT parameter specifies which output format is needed. Valid formats are:

For bitmapped reports, any of the output formats supported by Oracle Reports (PostScript, PCL, PDF, HTML, XML, HTMLCSS, ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET, SPREADSHEET) is valid for DESFORMAT. You should not give the PRT file names here. While running to a file, the DESFORMAT parameter needs to be set to a valid printer queue. Oracle Reports uses the printer definition file associated with the printer to format the output.

For character mode reports, DESFORMAT sets up the output for ASCII printers and passes escape characters. For running character mode reports, ensure that you change the MODE parameter to Character and use any valid .PRT file.

Table 10-7 maps the command line options (DESTYPE, DESNAME, and DESFORMAT) to the printer by what you are trying to achieve.

Table 10-7 DESTYPE, DESNAME, and DESFORMAT Settings By Case

Case
DESTYPE
DESNAME
DESFORMAT

Generating to a file

FILE

file_name.ps

printer_name

Printing

PRINTER

printer_name

DISTRIBUTE=YES

printer_name

MODE=CHARACTER

file_name.prt

REP-01800 - Formatter error.

REP-00177 - Error while running in remote server

(When run through CGI)

Cause:

The error indicates that a printer configuration issue has occurred on a UNIX server. Even if there is not a physical printer available on the system, you have to set it up as if there was one.

Action:

Verify that there is a valid entry in uiprint.txt.

If you have multiple printer queue entries in uiprint.txt and you want to set the default printer, verify that the environment variable is set to a printer that is listed in uiprint.txt. If the related environment variable is not set, then the first entry in uiprint.txt is used. For more information on printer-related environment variables, refer to Appendix B, "Environment Variables".

If there is no printer available for your system, refer to Section 10.3, "Configuring the Printing Environment" for alternatives.

Error while printing to a printer with spaces in its name

Cause:

If you are on Solaris 2.8 and have printers that have spaces in the names, you may encounter a bug that causes an error resulting from the lpr/lp command including quotes around the printer name.

Action:

To resolve this issue, you must do either one of the following:

Remove the spaces in the printer's name.

Install the Solaris 2.8 patch from Sun Microsystems that fixes the lpr/lp command so that quotes can be used in printers names.

and

Modify the section of rwlpr.sh that provides the workaround for including quotes, in order to make accessible any printer that has a space in the name. The rwlpr.sh file is located in the $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin directory.

Specifically, make the following changes:

#either LPR or LP Command was found
if [ -x $PRNCMDPATH ]
 then
   if [ `basename $PRNCMDPATH` = "lpr" ]
   then
    #if [ `/usr/bin/uname -r` = "5.8" ]
    #then
      #$PRNCMDPATH `echo $@ | tr -d "\""`
    #else
      $PRNCMDPATH "$@"
    #fi
  else
   # parse and Fix the command Line as Required by lp
   #if [ `/usr/bin/uname -r` = "5.8" ]
   #then
     #getLpCommandLine `echo $@ | tr -d "\""`
   #else
     getLpCommandLine "$@"
   #fi
   $PRNCMDPATH
  fi
  # exit with the command's exit code , This will tell the
  # server Print module if the command completed successfully
  # or not.
  exit $?
fi
done

Printing on Solaris 2.9

If you print a report using the DESTYPE=PRINTER and the DESNAME=printer_name command line options on Solaris 2.9, you will encounter the following errors:

REP-0069: Internal error
REP-57054: Inprocess job terminated with error
REP-50157: Error while sending file to printer 2op837a.Exit with error code 1

To resolve this issue, you must do the following:

Note:

Create a backup of the rwlpr.sh file before proceeding. On Solaris, rwlpr.sh is the printing script file located in the $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin directory. This script file supports lp and lpr commands by default.

Navigate to the following line at the end of the file:

#either LPR or LP Command was found

Add an OR operator to the existing if...else condition.

if [ `uname -r` = "5.8" ] || [ `uname -r` = "5.9" ] # If Solaris Release 5.8 / 5.9
   ...
   else
   # parse and Fix the command Line as Required by lp
                                        ...
     if [ `uname -r` = "5.8" ] || [ `uname -r` = "5.9" ]# If Solaris Release
     5.8/ 5.9

The if...else if condition checks for the Solaris Release version. Based on the version number, it strips the quotes from the printer name and passes it to the print command.

10.9.2 PCL Printing Issues

Why do fields that appear as gray on my PC print as white on a UNIX PCL printer?

PCL color printing is not supported. When the pattern is set to transparent, PCL printing uses the white pen (in PCL language) to draw. When the pattern is set to a solid pattern, it uses the black pen. This behavior occurs irrespective of what color is set for the foreground or background. PostScript printing logic is different. It uses the foreground color set when the pattern is solid and the background color set when the pattern is transparent.

What PCL level is supported in Oracle Reports?

The Oracle Reports PCL driver currently supports the features of PCL Level 3. It does support HPD files for later PCL versions, but it will not honor the additional features introduced since PCL Level 3.

10.9.3 PostScript Printing Issues

What is the work around for duplex printing on PostScript printers?

You should have a printer with a duplex option and an appropriate PPD file. The example that follows was tested with a PPD file for the Kyocera FS-9000 printer. You also need the UNIX sed tool named to filter the output file.

The problem with duplexing is that it is enabled at the job level, but it gets reset in the page setup because the paper size and printer tray information are generated for every page. To work around this problem, you need a script that removes the page level setup information to avoid resetting the duplex setting. A side effect of this work around is that you cannot switch the printer tray between pages.

Write a sed script with the following three lines:

/^%%BeginPageSetup/,$ {
   /^%%BeginFeature/,/^%%EndFeature/d
}

Save the script to a file named duplexsed.

Copy duplexsed to an appropriate directory, such as ORACLE_HOME/bin.

Set the environment variable TK_PRINT as follows:

TK_PRINT="sed -f $ORACLE_HOME/bin/duplexsed | lpr -l -s -P'%n' -#'%c'"
export TK_PRINT

Note:

Print commands differ for various kinds of UNIX. Check your installation guide and man pages for your platform. Refer to Appendix B, "Environment Variables" for a description of TK_PRINT.

The command stored in TK_PRINT is only executed if DESTYPE=PRINTER. If DESTYPE=FILE, you still get a PostScript file with page level setup information. You can run the duplexsed script against the PostScript file to correct it.

What PostScript level is supported in Oracle Reports?

Oracle Reports supports PostScript Level 1 and 2.

How do you dynamically change the printer tray setting in the midst of a print job?

In some cases, you may want to switch printer trays in the middle of a report. For example, you might want the first page of a report printed on letterhead stationary and subsequent pages printed on plain white paper. For character mode reports, you can achieve this result through a combination of editing the .prt file and changing the report's properties. For bit-mapped reports, you use the SRW.SET_PRINTER_TRAY built-in procedure. On UNIX, this functionality is supported for PostScript output but not PCL output. For PCL, Oracle Reports ignores the commands for changing orientation and paper tray. Although dynamically changing the orientation and printer tray for PCL is not supported on UNIX, you can change them at runtime through the print dialog box for PCL.

By using the Before Report, Between Pages, or format triggers you can switch to different printer trays as your report formats. This enables you to easily print pages of the same report on different sheets of paper.

Note:

For a description of the SRW built-in package, including the SRW.SET_PRINTER_TRAY built-in procedure, see the Oracle Reports online Help.

Example

From the BEFORE REPORT trigger, you can set the printer tray for the very first page:

function BeforeReport return boolean is
begin
    srw.set_printer_tray('UPPER PAPER TRAY');
    return (TRUE);
end;

To set the printer tray dynamically for subsequent pages, add a format Trigger to an item that prints on each page of the report. The following code checks for even pages and sets the page number accordingly:

function B_tbpFormatTrigger return boolean is
page_num number;
begin
   srw.get_page_num(page_num);
  begin
 if mod(page_num, 2) = 0 then
   srw.set_printer_tray('UPPER PAPER TRAY');
  else
   srw.set_printer_tray('LOWER PAPER TRAY');
 end if;
  return (true);
end;
end;

Why does the external print command ignore the tray select option while trying to print the PostScript output generated by Oracle Reports?

Suppose that you enter the following print command:

lp -dprinter -oupper $report_print_file1

In this case, the -oupper option in the lp command is ignored. The reason for this behavior is that Oracle Reports generates tray information in its PostScript output. The tray selection in the PostScript overrides the specification on the command line. If you want the tray information on the command line to be respected, you must remove the tray information from the PostScript file. You can do this by searching for and removing the following from your PostScript file:

%%BeginFeature: *InputSlot name of printer tray
....
%%EndFeature

For more information on switching printer trays, refer to How do you dynamically change the printer tray setting in the midst of a print job?

10.9.4 Font-Related Printing Issues

See Also:

Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports" for more font-related information.

Chapter 12, "Font Model and Cross-Platform Deployment" for resolving cross-platform font issues.

How do you check whether a font is used in Oracle Reports printing?

PostScript files have a list of fonts, which is created after reading the PPD file. If you examine the PostScript file, you can check the fonts by looking for the following tags:

DocumentNeededResource has the list of fonts referenced in the PPD file.

DocumentSuppliedResource has the list of fonts for which the PostScript driver was able to find corresponding AFM files.

%%Page before the field's %IncludeResource:font has the font name that will be used for the field.

For PCL output files, you can check whether a particular font was used. Depending on this information, the font settings in Oracle Reports or the printer can be modified.

What is the real difference between running reports to Screen and Preview?

Formatting a report to Screen, for screen fonts, guarantees that the report will look good in the Paper Design view of the Report Editor. If an attempt is made to print a report formatted with screen fonts, though, it is likely to come out with some differences because screen fonts typically map very poorly to printer fonts. If Preview is selected instead of Screen, the report is formatted with printer fonts and the output on the screen is almost certain to match the printed output.

Will there be any font issues if I do not have a valid printer installed?

Prior to Oracle Reports 10g on UNIX, you had to set the DISPLAY environment variable in order for Reports Server to use the windowing system display surface for creating images and getting pixel resolution. This dependency is removed with Oracle Reports 10g.

Additionally, earlier releases required a valid printer on UNIX for fonts. When no valid printer was available, Oracle Reports Services used the screen fonts, which again required setting the DISPLAY environment variable. Now, Oracle Reports Services includes a default screen printer surface, ScreenPrinter, that emulates a screen or printer for fonts in the absence of an available printer. As a result, Oracle Reports Services no longer requires a printer on UNIX.

See Also:

Section 10.8, "Removing DISPLAY and Printer Dependencies on UNIX".

10.9.5 Printed Output Issues

Why does my report look okay on the screen but have truncated data when printed?

Any one of a number of possible causes may account for the truncation of fields.

Check the field and determine if it is allowed to expand.

In Oracle Reports Builder, double-click the field in the Paper Design or Paper Layout view to display the Property Inspector.

Find the Horizontal Elasticity property.

If it is set to Fixed, you should change it to Variable or Expand.

Run the report to the printer.

If it still truncates, it could be that the field requires multiple lines.

Return to the Property Inspector for the field and check its Vertical Elasticity.

If it is set to Fixed, you should change it to Variable or Expand.

Run the report to the printer again.

If the right most fields on the page are always the ones truncating, it could be an issue with the printable area of the printer. If you are using a PCL printer, then you will have to estimate the size of the printable area and resize your margins accordingly:

Open the report in Oracle Reports Builder.

Go to the Paper Layout view.

Click the Margin tool on the top tool bar. A thick black line appears indicating where the body of your report ends and the margin begins.

Click and drag the black line to the left approximately 0.5 inches.

Save and run the report to the printer again.

If necessary, repeat steps 4 and 5 to determine approximately where the printable area boundary is located and then ensure that your report body fits within that area.

If you are using a PostScript printer, you can get the printable area boundary to appear in the Paper Layout view as follows:

Open the report in Oracle Reports Builder.

Choose File > Page Setup.

Verify that the margins are small and that the orientation is correct.

Click OK. The Paper Layout view should now be able to read the boundary.

Go to the Paper Layout view.

Click the Margin tool on the top tool bar. A thick black line appears indicating where the body of your report ends and the margin begins. A black hashed line also appears indicating the boundary of the printable area.

Ensure that the thick black line is inside of the black hashed line. If it is not, click and drag the black line inside the printable area.

Click the Margin tool to leave margin mode.

If necessary, reposition your fields to fit within the new body boundaries.

Save and run the report to the printer.

For PCL, if it is still truncating, try using a fixed space font instead of a proportional font. Sometimes PCL printers have problems interpreting proportional space fonts and it leads to truncation. You should try using a fixed space font, such as Courier, and possibly font aliasing.

See Also:

Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports" for more font-related information.

Note:

Default layouts are built against a generic printer. Each printer has its own printable area. As a result, you may have to reset the report to fit the printer. Ideally, if you know the various printers you will be using, you can design the report from the start to fit the printer with the smallest printable area.

11 Using PDF in Oracle Reports

Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) is a universal file format that preserves all the fonts, formatting, graphics, and color, of any source document regardless of the application and platform used to create it. Oracle Reports was one of the first report generation tools to embrace this technology and generate quality PDF documents.

This chapter contains the following main sections:

What's New In This Release?

PDF Features Included in Oracle Reports

Generating a Unicode PDF File

Generating a Bidirectional (BiDi) PDF File

Generating a Multibyte PDF File

Generating a Barcode PDF File

11.1 What's New In This Release?

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides significant font handling enhancements, as outlined in Table 11-1 (a subset of Table 1-1, "11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality"):

Table 11-1 11g Font Features vs. 10g Functionality

11g New Features
Equivalent 10g Functionality

Cross-platform support for TrueType Fonts (TTF) and TrueType Collections (TTC). Report output is in most cases identical on UNIX as on Windows, allowing for simplified cross-platform deployment.

Oracle Reports reads the font metrics from the appropriate TTF files to correctly format the report output. This eliminates the issue of text misalignment due to font metrics mismatches. Fonts for which TTF files are available are found automatically. Note that if a TTF font file is not found, then the font lookup mechanism reverts to the pre-11g implementation.

New environment variables REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING and REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY.

Possible mismatches between fonts in report output on UNIX and Windows due to different font mechanisms on Windows and UNIX. Font aliasing was required, along with PDF font subsetting.

Support for older font file types (for example, AFM) supported. Difficult to get these font types for all fonts. Conversion of TTF to AFM required in many cases, but even these files did not provide the exact output as on Windows.

Support for all character sets in PDF. With the new font model, no misalignment will be seen in the PDF subsetted report output. Support for Unicode font subsetting in PDF on UNIX.

Only multibyte reports supported. PFM and PFA files must be created to resolve text misalignments in UNIX output. Dependence on AFM files.

Variable width font output was especially problematic, because Reports was unable to get width of characters beyond the first 256 characters in the file, and assumed fixed width for all these characters, resulting in misalignment.

Simplified font management and configuration through Oracle Enterprise Manager. Use Oracle Enterprise Manager to modify aliasing and subsetting entries in uifont.ali (such as global aliasing, PDF aliasing, and PDF subsetting). Defalut Resolution, and Default Font to modify the PPD file.

Configure fonts in uifont.ali and configuration files.

PDF, password protection, and security. Specify new command line arguments to password-protect PDF reports generated from Oracle Reports. You can also suppress certain permissions to provide security for the generated PDF reports.

No capability to encrypt PDF reports or specify security permissions.

Font diagnostics. Easy to understand tracing for diagnosis of font issues. Reporting of fonts used, and other debugging tools.

Difficult to diagnose issues.

11.2 PDF Features Included in Oracle Reports

Oracle Reports supports PDF 1.4 and is capable of generating high fidelity PDF reports on all platforms. The PDF features supported by Oracle Reports include:

Compression

Font-Related Features

Precedence of Execution

Encryption, Password Protection, and Permissions Security

Accessibility

Taxonomy

Graph Support

11.2.1 Compression

PDF compression decreases the PDF file size, thereby reducing the time spent in downloading the PDF file.

The amount of space saved using compression varies based on the contents of the report, for example, the number of images versus the size of the content.

Images: PDF compression does not significantly affect the size of files containing images in it, as image files are typically already compressed.

Formatted data: Highly formatted data can achieve higher compression rates. However, actual compression rates will vary for each report.

Compressed files are about one fifth the size of the original file. Testing has shown that the best case compression ratio of one-eighth to the worst case compression ratio of one-half was achieved based on the contents in the original file.

11.2.1.1 Setup

By default, PDF output generated by Oracle Reports is compressed. To specify the level of compression, use PDFCOMP on the command line. For more information, see Section A.7.24, "PDFCOMP".

Although compressed files download quickly, the time taken to generate a compressed file is much more when compared to a non-compressed file.

Figure 11-1 Compressed Output Versus Non-Compressed Output

Note:

Compression rate depends on the report's content; thus, the time taken to generate the PDF file as well as the PDF file size will vary from report to report.

11.2.2 Font-Related Features

This section outlines the PDF font-related features supported by Oracle Reports:

Font Aliasing

Font Subsetting

Font Embedding

Font Feature Summary

11.2.2.1 Font Aliasing

Font aliasing enables you to substitute one font for another; that is, font-to-font substitution. This font-to-font substitution is usually used when porting applications (in this case, your PDF file) across platforms. You can alias multibyte fonts as well as character sets. For font aliasing considerations when designing multilingual applications, see Section 23.2.1.3.2, "Font Aliasing Considerations".

The font enhancements introduced in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) make font aliasing unnecessary in almost all cases. In prior releases, a report may have been created with fonts that are readily available on Windows, but not on UNIX (for example, Arial font). In such cases, it was necessary to alias the Windows fonts to other fonts with a similar style available on UNIX (for example, Helvetica). Now, with support for TTF and TTC files on UNIX, a font such as Arial is supported on both Windows and UNIX, eliminating the need for aliasing.

Font aliasing occurs at the time of generating the PDF file. The PDF file will contain only the necessary font information required to display the output. The fonts used will not be embedded in the PDF file.

Note:

The fonts must be available on the machine displaying the PDF output. The fonts need not be available on the machine generating the PDF file.

At the time of viewing the report, Adobe Acrobat replaces the aliased fonts based on the following:

If the fonts do not exist on the machine displaying the output, Adobe Acrobat substitutes it with the Adobe Sans MM font.

If the Adobe Sans MM font does not match, the output may display dots for the data.

Font aliasing will work with any or all of the following:

Single byte fonts, including Eastern European fonts for both ASCII and IS0-Latin character sets.

Adobe multibyte Character ID (CID) fonts listed in Table 11-2, which are available as a free download from Adobe.

Type1 PostScript fonts.

TrueType fonts.

Table 11-2 outlines the mapping between Oracle NLS_CHARACTERSET, CMap name, and CID font name used in PDF font aliasing for multibyte fonts.

Table 11-2 CID Font Mapping for PDF Font Aliasing

Language
Oracle
NLS_CHARACTERSET Name
CMap Name
CID Font Name

Japanese

JA16SJIS

JA16EUC

90ms-RKSJ-H

EUC-H

"KozMinPro-Regular-Acro" (*)

"HeiseiKakuGo-W5-Acro" (**)

"HeiseiMin-W3-Acro" (**)

Korean

KO16KSC5601

K016MSWIN949

KSC-EUC-H

KSCms-UHC-H

"HYSMyeongJoStd-Medium-Acro" (*)

"HYGothic-Medium-Acro" (**)

"HYSMyeongJo-Medium-Acro" (**)

Traditional Chinese

ZHT32EUC

ZHT16BIG5, ZHT16MSWIN950

ZHT16HKSCS

CNS-EUC-H

ETen-B5-H

HKscs-B5-H

"MSungStd-Light-Acro" (*)

"MHei-Medium-Acro" (**)

"MSung-Light-Acro" (**)

"MSungStd-Light-Acro" (*)

Simplified Chinese

ZHS16CGB231280

ZHS16GBK

GB-EUC-H

GBK-EUC-H

"STSongStd-Light-Acro" (*)

"STSong-Light-Acro" (**)

(*) These fonts are available in Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 and later.

(**) These fonts are available in Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 and later.

It is recommended that you use Version 5.0 CID fonts (*) in order to avoid unexpected font mapping, which results in multibyte characters overlapping. Version 5.0 fonts are compatible with Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 and later.

11.2.2.1.1 Setup

If font aliasing is necessary, use Oracle Enterprise Manager to define the aliasing, instead of directly editing the uifont.ali file as in prior releases. For information about using Oracle Enterprise Manager for font configuration, see Section 7.9.1, "Configuring Fonts".

For more information about the uifont.ali file, refer to uifont.ali in Section 9.3, "Font Configuration Files":

11.2.2.1.2 Troubleshooting

If font aliasing does not work, verify that:

In Acrobat Reader 6.0 and later, choose File > Document Properties > Fonts. (In prior releases, beginning with Acrobat Reader 3.0, choose File > Document Info > Fonts). Verify that the aliased font has been added to the list. If it is not included, then font aliasing did not occur. The fonts were not found or the entry in the uifont.ali file is incorrect.

The fonts specified for the report are available on the machine where the report will be viewed.

The [PDF] section name in the uifont.ali file has not been modified as Oracle Reports parses the file for the section name.

The version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader used for viewing is 3.0 or higher, as required for multibyte character reports to display properly.

11.2.2.2 Font Subsetting

With font subsetting, the PDF file includes the font information needed to render the PDF, regardless of the availability of that font on the machine used to view the report. PDF font subsetting works for single byte, multibyte, and Unicode fonts and is the preferred method of creating multibyte reports.

When you subset a font in a PDF file, the font information is embedded into the PDF output for only those characters that are needed for the report output.

Note:

You can modify the PDF file if you have:

The fonts used in the report installed on your machine.

A PDF writer.

11.2.2.2.1 Setup

Before using font subsetting, you must:

Include the font file paths in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable. Oracle Reports looks for fonts in the path specified in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable when generating a PDF file.

Include the font subsetting entries in the uifont.ali file. Oracle Reports subsets the fonts only when the font entries listed in the uifont.ali file exist in the PDF file being generated.

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\frcommon\guicommon\tk\admin

The section for font subset in the uifont.ali file is [PDF:Subset] and the entry is:

[PDF:Subset]
font_name = "font_file_name"

where

font_name is the font name, which must be enclosed in quotes if it contains more than one word.

font_file_name is the font file name, which must always be enclosed in quotes, and is case-sensitive. If it does not exactly match the existing font file name, Oracle Reports generates a REP-1924 error.

The font files can be saved in any folder; for example, ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/font_folder. The font file's path is added by default to the $REPORTS_PATH environment variable.

Note:

The font_file_name is not the font name displayed in Oracle Reports Builder.

Example 1

[PDF:Subset]
Arial = "Arial.ttf"

To use TrueType fonts in a TrueType Collection (.ttc) file, the syntax for the entry in the [PDF:Subset] section in uifont.ali is:

[PDF:Subset]
font_name = "ttc_file_name[,table_directory_number]"

where

font_name is the font name, which must be enclosed in quotes if it contains more than one word.

ttc_file_name is a TrueType Collection file name.

table_directory_number is the Table Directory number for the TrueType font in a TrueType Collection file, using a zero-based index (for example, "MS PGothic" = "msgothic.ttc,1" indicates that Oracle Reports should use the second font in the TrueType Collection file). If the table_directory_number is omitted or if you supply an invalid value, Oracle Reports will always subset the first font program in the TrueType Collection file.

Example 2

[PDF:Subset]
"MS PGothic" = "msgothic.ttc,1"
"MS UI Gothic" = "msgothic.ttc,2"

Table 11-3 shows the font name and Table Directory number values for common East Asian TrueType Collection files on the Windows platform.

Table 11-3 Common East Asian TrueType Collection Files on the Windows Platform

TTC File Name
Font Name
Table Directory Number

batang.ttc

Batang

BatangChe

Gungsuh

GungsuhChe

0

1

2

3

gulim.ttc

Gulim

GulimChe

Dotum

DotumChe

0

1

2

3

mingliu.ttc

MingLiU

PMingLiU

0

1

msgothic.ttc

MS Gothic

MS PGothic

MS UI Gothic

0

1

2

msmincho.ttc

MS Mincho

MS PMincho

0

1

simsun.ttc

SimSun

NSimSun

0

1

You can view the fonts used in your reports as follows:

In Acrobat Reader 6.0 and later, choose File > Document Properties > Fonts. (In prior releases, beginning with Acrobat Reader 3.0, choose File > Document Info > Fonts.)

The Document Font dialog box displays Original Font, Type, Encoding, Actual Font (or the font used), and Type.

Figure 11-2 Font Subsetting

Note:

In the case of font subsetting:

The Encoding column will display Identity-H.

The Actual Font column will display Embedded Subset.

The Type column will display TrueType.

11.2.2.2.2 Backward Compatibility

Two environment variables allow for backward compatibility with the font mechanisms of prior releases:

REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING specifies whether to use the new 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) font model, or revert to the Toolkit font handling mechanism of 10g Release 2 (10.1.2). By default, REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING=YES.

REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET specifies whether to include the enhanced TTF font subsetting feature introduced in Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2). By default, REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET=YES to ensure that the PDF file generated is accessible and searchable.

You can set environment variable REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET=NO to revert to the implementation of font subsetting used in releases prior to Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2); that is, Type3 fonts.

If you set REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET=NO, use Adobe Acrobat Reader and perform the following steps to ensure optimum viewing:

Choose Edit > Preferences > Page Display.

Select Smooth Text, Smooth Line Art, and Smooth Images.

(Laptop/LCD Screens) Select the Use CoolType check box.

Click OK.

Note:

These steps are valid for Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0.

11.2.2.2.3 Troubleshooting

If font subsetting does not work, verify the following:

The fonts you use in the report have bold, italic, and bold italic versions. If you have used italic or bold styles in the report, with PDF font subsetting, and you do not see italic or bold styles in the output, check the Windows TTF files. On Windows, there are some fonts that have bold, italic, and bold italic versions. For example, Arial has arialbd.ttf (Arial bold), ariali.ttf (Arial italic), and arialbi.ttf (Arial bold italic), while some other fonts, such as Arial Unicode MS (arialuni.ttf), do not have any bold or italic versions. For fonts that do not have bold or italic versions, Windows synthesizes bold or italic styles from the main font file while displaying, as does Oracle Reports on Windows. These styles are preserved in HTML/HTMLCSS, RTF, and PDF (without PDF subsetting or embedding) outputs. However, while doing the PDF subsetting or embedding, since actual font glyphs are included in the report, Oracle Reports needs the TTF files that contain styles; that is, to include the bold style for Arial in the report, it would need arialbd.ttf. But for fonts such as Arial Unicode MS that do not have such TTF files, PDF subsetted output will not have bold or italic styles.

The Actual Font value is Embedded Subset and Type is TrueType (in Acrobat Reader 6.0 and later, choose File > Document Properties > Fonts; in prior releases, beginning with Acrobat Reader 3.0, choose File > Document Info > Fonts). If this is not specified, then font subsetting is not implemented. The problem could be either that the fonts were not found or the entry in the uifont.ali file is incorrect.

The font file names are valid.

The case of the font file name matches the case defined in the file.

The font types are TrueType; that is, filename.ttf or filename.ttc.

The font name is enclosed in double quotes if it consists of two or more words.

The font name does not contain embedded parenthesis.

The font files are located in the path specified by the REPORTS_PATH environment variable. When generating a PDF file, Oracle Reports looks for fonts in the path specified in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable.

The font names are correct and are available on the machine where the PDF file is generated.

The [PDF:Subset]section name in the uifont.ali file has not been modified. Oracle Reports parses the file looking for the section name.

The version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader used for viewing is 3.0 or higher, as required for multibyte character reports to display correctly.

The value of the REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET environment variable is set to YES. If REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET=NO, Oracle Reports reverts to the earlier implementation of font subsetting, using Type3 fonts to create a PDF document. Type3 fonts are imaged characters that look slightly bolder than they would if expressed as a Type1 font. See Section 11.2.2.2.2, "Backward Compatibility" for more information on improving the viewing quality.

11.2.2.3 Font Embedding

PDF font embedding is the process of including the entire font set along with the data in the PDF file. PDF font subsetting and font embedding are mutually exclusive.

Note:

Font embedding will work only if the fonts are included in the PDF file. Font embedding increases your PDF file size.

PDF font embedding in Oracle Reports is for Type1 fonts only (single byte fonts) and not for TrueType fonts. Convert TrueType fonts to Type1 fonts using available 3rd party tools in order to include specific Type1 fonts in your report.

PDF font embedding with Oracle Reports occurs between a font and a set of font file names.

Note:

You must ensure that you have the necessary font licenses before embedding any fonts in your output.

11.2.2.3.1 Setup

The setup for PDF embedding includes:

A command line keyword: PDFEMBED

A uifont.ali File Entry:[PDF:Embed]

PDFEMBED

The command line keyword PDFEMBED is used to specify whether Oracle Reports will embed the Type1 PostScript fonts specified in the uifont.ali file into the PDF output. For more information, see Section A.7.25, "PDFEMBED".

uifont.ali File Entry

The section for font aliasing in the uifont.ali file is [PDF:Embed].

(Windows only) The entry in the uifont.ali file should be:

font_name = "font_name.pfm font_name.pfb"

(UNIX only) The entry in the uifont.ali file should be:

font_name = "font_name.afm font_name.pfa"

Example 11-1 Font Embedding

[PDF:Embed]
Symbol = "Symbol.pfm Symbol.pfb"

In Example 11-1, the Symbol font is embedded into the PDF file. This ensures portability by:

Creating the report with the Symbol font.

Embedding the Symbol font in the PDF file (Figure 11-3).

Figure 11-3 Font Embedding

11.2.2.3.2 Troubleshooting

If PDF font embedding does not work, verify the following:

In Acrobat Reader 6.0 and later, choose File > Document Properties > Fonts. (In prior releases, beginning with Acrobat Reader 3.0, choose File > Document Info > Fonts). Verify that the embedded font has been added to the list. If the font has not been added, then font embedding did not occur. The problem could be either that the fonts were not found or the entry in the uifont.ali file is incorrect.

The correct font file name is used.

The font path specified in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable is correct. When generating the PDF file, Oracle Reports looks for fonts in the paths specified in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable.

The font type is a Type1 font.

The font name is enclosed within double quotes if it consists of 2 or more words.

The [PDF:Embed] section name in the uifont.ali file has not been modified. Oracle Reports parses the file looking for the section name.

The format to specify the embedded font is valid:

font_name="fontfilename.pfm/.afm fontfilename.pfb/.pfa".

For example (Windows):

UtopiaMediumItalic = "UtopiaMediumItalic.pfm UtopiaMediumItalic.pfb"

The font name is correct and available on the machine where the PDF file is generated.

11.2.2.4 Font Feature Summary

Table 11-4 summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of font aliasing, font embedding, and font subsetting.

Table 11-4 Comparison of PDF Font Features

PDF Type
Advantages
Disadvantages
PDF Type

Font Aliasing

Multibyte support.

Good display.

Small file size (Japanese example; 23KB for font aliasing when compared to 130KB for font subsetting).

Unicode character set not supported.

Asian Font Packs are required on the client machine, if the client's operating system and Acrobat Reader are not the native version.

Limited fonts support. For example, there is no support for font emphasis.

Font Aliasing

Font Embedding

Guaranteed display.

Only single byte support provided.

Large file size.

Font Embedding

Font Subsetting

Unicode support.

Guaranteed display.

Generated file is searchable and editable using Adobe Acrobat.

No styles (Italic and Bold) support.

Font Subsetting

11.2.3 Precedence of Execution

The precedence order for the same font in multiple places within the uifont.ali file is as follows:

Font aliasing takes precedence over font embedding (highest).

Font subsetting takes over font embedding (intermediate).

Font embedding takes no precedence (lowest).

For example, if you have included the same font entries for both font embedding and font subsetting, then font subsetting will override font embedding. This is assuming you have not set the command line option PDFEMBED=NO.

For all font features —font aliasing, font subsetting, and font embedding—include the specific entries first followed by the generic entries. For example, if you want to subset Arial Plain, Arial Bold, Arial Italic, and Arial Bold-Italic fonts, your entries should be in the following order:

[ PDF:Subset ]
Arial..Italic.Bold.. = "Arialbi.ttf"
Arial...Bold.. = "Arialb.ttf"
Arial..Italic... = "Ariali.ttf"
Arial..... = "Arial.ttf"

If the plain Arial..... = "Arial.ttf" entry appears first, then all the styles of the Arial font in the layout will be subset as Arial Plain font. Here is a sample of a portion of the uifont.ali file for all the PDF entries containing all three PDF sections:

Sample 1

[ PDF ]
Palatino = "Kino MT.ttf"
[ PDF:Subset ]
Garmond..Italic.Bold.. = "Garmacbi.ttf"
Garmond...Bold.. = "Garmacb.ttf"
Garmond..Italic... = "Garmaci.ttf"
Garmond..... = "Garamac.ttf"
[ PDF:Embed ]
Arial = "Arial.pfm Arial.pfb"

Sample 2

[PDF]
Arial.10.Italic = "Times New Roman".12.Italic.Bold
"Courier New" = Symbol
[PDF:Embed]
"Times New Roman".14..Bold = "TimesBold.pfm TimesBold.pfb"
[PDF:Subset]
Verdana...Italic.Bold = "Verdanaz.ttf"
Verdana...Bold = "Verdanab.ttf"

11.2.4 Encryption, Password Protection, and Permissions Security

Beginning with Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), you can encrypt and password-protect PDF reports generated by Oracle Reports.

This optional functionality avoids unauthorized reading and changing of PDF reports. The encrypted PDF reports are readable by Acrobat Reader 5.0 and later, and other readers supporting PDF 1.4. This functionality is also compatible with reports developed with prior releases of Oracle Reports.

Oracle Reports uses the Adobe Standard Security Handler to encrypt PDF reports. This standard security handler allows up to two passwords (owner and user) and 8 types of access permissions to be specified for a document.

To provide encryption, password protection, and permissions security in PDF reports, Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) introduces the following command line keywords:

PDFUSER

PDFOWNER

PDFSECURITY

Note:

To generate PDF encrypted report output using Oracle Reports Builder (rwbuilder), you must pass at least one of these command line keywords in the command while starting the rwbuilder.

In Oracle Reports Builder, select Generate to File>PDF to generate the PDF encrypted output.

Table 11-5 describes the effect of the possible combinations of the PDFOWNER and PDFUSER command line keywords.

Table 11-5 Effect of PDFUSER and PDFOWNER Keyword Combinations

PDFUSER specified?
PDFOWNER specified?
Effect

Yes

Yes

When an end user attempts to open PDF report output in Acrobat Reader (5.0 or later), a password prompt displays to request the password specified by PDFUSER or PDFOWNER to open the document, decrypt it, and display it on the screen. If the end user attempts to change permissions on the PDF report output in Acrobat Writer (6.0 or later), a password prompt displays to request the password specified by PDFOWNER to change the document's passwords and permissions.

Yes

No

When an end user attempts to open PDF report output in Acrobat Reader (5.0 or later), a password prompt displays to request the password specified by PDFUSER to open the document, decrypt it, and display it on the screen. If the end user attempts to change permissions on the PDF report output in Acrobat Writer (6.0 or later), a password prompt displays to request the same password specified by PDFUSER to change the document's passwords and permissions.

No

Yes

When an end user attempts to open PDF report output in Acrobat Reader (5.0 or later), Oracle Reports opens the document, decrypts it, and displays it on the screen. If the end user attempts to change permissions on the PDF report output in Acrobat Writer (6.0 or later), a password prompt displays to request the password specified by PDFOWNER to change the document's passwords and permissions.

No

No

Any end user can open PDF report output in Acrobat Reader (5.0 or later), and also change the document's passwords and permissions in Acrobat Writer (6.0 or later). No password prompts display.

For information about suppressing specific permissions for encrypted PDF report using the PDFSECURITY command line keyword, see Section A.7.27, "PDFSECURITY".

The encrypted PDF document's passwords and permissions, as specified by PDFUSER, PDFOWNER, and PDFSECURITY, are stored with the PDF document. An end user with authorization to change these values can do so as follows:

In Acrobat Writer 6.0 or later, open the PDF document.

Select Document > Security > Restrict Opening and Editing.

In the password prompt, enter the appropriate password (as specified in Table 11-5).dialog box that displays, make desired changes to passwords and permissions.

In the dialog box that displays, make desired changes to passwords and permissions.

Support for PDF Security in Distribution

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) supports PDF encryption in distribution and bursting of reports. With this feature, you can set individual passwords and security permissions for each PDF that you generate.

To use this feature, you must add atleast one property (pdfuser, pdfowner, and pdfsecurity) in the distribution xml file.

 <destinations>
  <file id="F1" name="personal_report" format="pdf">
   <property name="pdfsecurity" value="NOCOPY"/>
   <property name="pdfuser" value="mypdf"/>
   <property name="pdfowner" value="employee"/>
    <include src="mainSection"/>
   </file>
 </destinations>

For more information about the distribution xml file, see Section 20.3, "Introduction to Distribution XML Files" and Section 20.5, "Distribution XML File Examples".

11.2.5 Accessibility

Oracle Reports provides several ways for you to include accessibility features in your PDF file. The PDF format file follows the tagged-PDF standard defined in PDF 1.4. This standard along with Acrobat Reader 5 (or higher) provides you with features for inclusion in the paper layout.

For information on enabling accessibility-related features offered through Oracle Reports from the command line, see Section A.5.1, "ACCESSIBLE". For information about using the Oracle Reports accessibility properties designed to make PDF report output accessible to the disabled community (Alternative Text, Headers, ID, Report Language, and Table Caption properties), see the Oracle Reports online Help.

Additionally, refer to Chapter 43, "Building an Accessible JSP-based Web Report" in the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual, and to the Oracle accessibility site on OTN (http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/index.html), where you can learn more about accessibility and find the Creating Accessible Enterprise Reports Using Oracle Reports white paper.

11.2.6 Taxonomy

A PDF document can include global information about itself such as the document's title, author, creation and modification dates. This global information proves useful at the time of cataloging or searching for documents in external databases.

Oracle Reports provides report-level properties to enable such a classification, known as taxonomy. They are:

Title

Author

Subject

Keywords

Table 11-6 Taxonomy Properties

Property Name
Type
Description
Default Value

Title

String

Document title.

PDF document name

Author

String

Document's author.

Oracle Reports

Subject

String

Document's subject.

None

Keywords

String

Specifies keywords that can be used to categorize the document.

None

Refer to the Oracle Reports online Help for more information on the taxonomy properties.

11.2.7 Graph Support

Oracle Reports provides the capability to specify the dots per inch (DPI) value for the image resolution of the graph in PDF output. This enables you to scale the graph without compromising on the image quality.

For more information, see Section B.1.50, "REPORTS_GRAPH_IMAGE_DPI" and Section B.1.52, "REPORTS_JPEG_QUALITY_FACTOR".

11.3 Generating a Unicode PDF File

This section outlines the steps involved in generating a PDF file with a Unicode character set. Before using the font features covered in this section, refer to Table 11-4 to determine which feature best suits your application needs.

11.3.1 Font Subsetting

The steps involved in generating a Unicode PDF file using the font subsetting feature are as follows:

Set NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.UTF8.

Set REPORTS_PATH to the font directory in which the TrueType font exists. For example, C:\WINNT\fonts.

Open the uifont.ali file and edit the [PDF:Subset] section to specify the TrueType font name.

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\
frcommon\guicommon\tk\admin

Example

[ PDF:Subset ]
"Andale Duospace WT J" = "Aduoj.ttf"
"Albany WT J"="AlbanWTJ.ttf"

The specified font should cover the Unicode range that your report uses.

Create a report having MLS data and set its font to the Unicode font.

Run a report having MLS data with DESTYPE=FILE DESFORMAT=PDF.

11.4 Generating a Bidirectional (BiDi) PDF File

This section outlines the steps involved in generating a PDF file for bidirectional (BiDi) languages. Before using the font features covered in this section, refer to Table 11-4 to determine which feature best suits your application needs.

Oracle Reports provides two environment variables that resolve font re-shaping and numeric options with bidirectional (BiDi) languages, such as Hebrew and Arabic. They are:

REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM

This environment variable switches the layout algorithm for bidirectional (BiDi) languages (for example, Arabic or Hebrew). The valid values for this environment variable are ORACLE, ENHANCED or UNICODE.

See Also:

Section B.1.31, "REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM"

REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL

This environment variable specifies the numeric format for Arabic PDF output.

See Also:

Section B.1.29, "REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL"

11.4.1 Font Subsetting

The following example assumes you are using Arabic environment. The steps involved in generating a PDF file for bidirectional (BiDi) languages using the font subsetting feature are as follows:

Set NLS_LANG=ARABIC_EGYPT.AR8MSWIN1256 (or AR8ISO8859P6 on UNIX).

Set REPORTS_PATH to the font directory in which the TrueType font exists. For example, C:\WINNT\fonts.

Open the uifont.ali file and edit the [PDF:Subset] section to specify the TrueType font name.

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\
frcommon\guicommon\tk\admin

Example

[PDF:Subset]
"Andale Duospace WT J" = "Aduoj.ttf"
"Albany WT J"="AlbanWTJ.ttf"

Create a report having Arabic data and set it to the font specified in the example.

Run a report with DESTYPE=FILE DESFORMAT=PDF.

11.5 Generating a Multibyte PDF File

This section outlines the steps involved in generating a PDF file with multibyte fonts. Before using the font features covered in this section, refer to Table 11-4 to determine which feature best suits your application needs.

In PDF font subsetting output, you may see a Wave Dash (U+301C) instead of a Fullwidth Tilde (U+FF5E). This is due to incompatibility in character mapping between Microsoft and other vendors. To avoid this issue, you can use either JA16SJISTILDE or JA16EUCTILDE character set for PDF font subsetting. This issue, however, is not observed with the PDF font aliasing feature.

11.5.1 Font Aliasing

Refer to Table 11-2 for a summary of mapping between Oracle NLS_CHARACTERSET, CMap name, and its CID font name used in PDF font aliasing for multibyte fonts.

The steps involved in generating a PDF file for multibyte fonts using font aliasing are as follows:

Set NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS (or JA16EUC on UNIX).

Open the uifont.ali file located and set the font alias under the [PDF]section.

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\
frcommon\guicommon\tk\admin

Example

[ PDF ]
.....JA16SJIS = "KozMinPro-Regular-Acro"
"MS UI Gothic".....JA16SJIS = "KozMinPro-Regular-Acro"

Create a report having Japanese data with the Japanese font (MS UI Gothic).

Run a report with DESTYPE=FILE DESFORMAT=PDF.

If your Acrobat Reader is a non-Japanese version installed on a non-Japanese operating system, you must install the Japanese font pack from Adobe's site.

If you view the PDF file with the Japanese version of Acrobat Reader 4.0/5.0 on the Japanese version of Windows, you need not install the Japanese font pack.

11.5.2 Font Subsetting

The steps involved in generating a PDF file for multibyte fonts using the font subsetting feature are as follows:

Set NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS (or JA16EUC on UNIX)

Set the REPORTS_PATH environment to the font directory in which the TrueType font exists. For example, C:\WINNT\Fonts.

Open the uifont.ali file and edit the [PDF:Subset] section to specify the TrueType font name.

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\
frcommon\guicommon\tk\admin

Example

[ PDF:Subset ]
"Andale Duospace WT J" = "Aduoj.ttf"
"Albany WT J"="AlbanWTJ.ttf"
"MS UI Gothic" = "msgothic.ttc"

Create a report having Japanese data and set it to the font specified in the example.

Run a report with DESTYPE=FILE DESFORMAT=PDF.

11.6 Generating a Barcode PDF File

This section outlines the steps involved in generating a PDF file with barcode information. Before using the font features covered in this section, refer to Table 11-4 to determine which feature best suits your application needs.

11.6.1 Font Embedding

The steps involved in generating a barcode PDF file using the font embedding feature are as follows:

Set the REPORTS_PATH environment variable to the font directory containing the Type1 font.

Open the uifont.ali file and include the following under the font embed [PDF:Embed] section.

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\
frcommon\guicommon\tk\admin

Example

[ PDF:Embed ]
SAdHC39a = "SAdHC39a.pfm SAdHC39a.pfb"

Create a report having Barcode data and set its font to the one specified in the example.

Run a report with DESTYPE=FILE DESFORMAT=PDF.

11.6.2 Font Subsetting

The steps involved in generating a barcode PDF file using the font subsetting feature are as follows:

Set the REPORTS_PATH environment variable to the directory containing the TrueType font. For example, C:\WINNT\Fonts.

Open the uifont.ali file and edit the [PDF:Subset] section to specify the TrueType font name.

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\
frcommon\guicommon\tk\admin

Example

[ PDF:Subset ]
SAdHC39a = "SAdHC39a.ttf"

Create a report having barcode data and set it to the font specified in the example.

Run a report with DESTYPE=FILE DESFORMAT=PDF.

12 Font Model and Cross-Platform Deployment

Modern business needs warrant a seamless integration and interaction across any platform and infrastructure. Oracle Reports enables businesses to develop and deploy information to all levels within and outside of the organization. However, since any enterprise reporting tool is bound to use some platform-specific functionality like the system fonts or printer fonts, there exists a possibility that the look-and-feel of the report changes when the report is ported from one platform to another; for example, from the development platform (commonly Windows) to the deployment platform (commonly a UNIX-based platform).

This chapter introduces the new font model and its features. The new font model offers many new features and benefits. For more information, see Section 12.1, "What's New In This Release?". a

If the new font model is not used, the user needs to manually configure the font settings as present in pre-11g and apply a few fixes manually when deploying your reports on UNIX platforms.

This chapter also covers those scenarios where the choice of platform may affect the look-and-feel of the report output. Each report output format (for example, PDF, HTMLCSS, and RTF) that is open to cross-platform issues is covered in a separate section. These sections provide step-by-step instructions that will ensure that your report output looks the same on all platforms. These guidelines are followed by troubleshooting information and FAQs. Since multibyte and Unicode reports involve some additional steps, separate sections are devoted to those topics. This chapter is applicable to Oracle9i Reports, Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), and 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), except as specifically noted.

Before you proceed, it is strongly recommended that you are familiar with the concepts and terminology outlined in the following chapters:

Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services"

Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports"

Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports"

Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports"

Appendix B, "Environment Variables"

This chapter includes the following sections:

What's New In This Release?

Overview of the Font Model

Overview of Cross-Platform Issues

Font Availability On Different Platforms

Fixing Font-Related Issues

Generating HTMLCSS, RTF, or Web Output

Generating Single-Byte PDF Output

Generating Multibyte PDF Output

Generating Unicode PDF Output

Generating PostScript Output

Note:

This chapter lists only those scenarios and guidelines that need additional work to ensure similar outputs across platforms.

12.1 What's New In This Release?

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides significant font handling enhancements, as outlined in Table 12-1 (a subset of Table 1-1, "11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality") :

Table 12-1 11g Font Features vs. 10g Functionality

11g New Features
Equivalent 10g Functionality

Cross-platform support for TrueType Fonts (TTF) and TrueType Collections (TTC). Report output is in most cases identical on UNIX as on Windows, allowing for simplified cross-platform deployment.

Oracle Reports reads the font metrics from the appropriate TTF files to correctly format the report output. This eliminates the issue of text misalignment due to font metrics mismatches. Fonts for which TTF files are available are found automatically. Note that if a TTF font file is not found, then the font lookup mechanism reverts to the pre-11g implementation.

New environment variables REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING and REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY.

Possible mismatches between fonts in report output on UNIX and Windows due to different font mechanisms on Windows and UNIX. Font aliasing was required, along with PDF font subsetting.

Support for older font file types (for example, AFM) supported. Difficult to get these font types for all fonts. Conversion of TTF to AFM required in many cases, but even these files did not provide the exact output as on Windows.

Support for all character sets in PDF. With the new font model, no misalignment will be seen in the PDF subsetted report output. Support for Unicode font subsetting in PDF on UNIX.

Only multibyte reports supported. PFM and PFA files must be created to resolve text misalignments in UNIX output. Dependence on AFM files.

Variable width font output was especially problematic, because Reports was unable to get width of characters beyond the first 256 characters in the file, and assumed fixed width for all these characters, resulting in misalignment.

Simplified font management and configuration through Oracle Enterprise Manager. Use Oracle Enterprise Manager to modify aliasing and subsetting entries in uifont.ali (such as global aliasing, PDF aliasing, and PDF subsetting), printer resolution, and the default font used.

Configure fonts in uifont.ali and configuration file.

PDF, password protection, and security. Specify new command line arguments to password-protect PDF reports generated from Oracle Reports. You can also suppress certain permissions to provide security for the generated PDF reports.

No capability to encrypt PDF reports or specify security permissions.

Font diagnostics. Easy to understand tracing for diagnosis of font issues. Reporting of fonts used, and other debugging tools.

Difficult to diagnose issues.

12.2 Overview of the Font Model

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) uses a new font model that supports the TTF and TTC font types on UNIX platforms. Oracle Reports uses the new font model during runtime, and it uses the old Motif toolkit during design time. The font model applies to all destination formats and supports font aliasing and font subsetting. If the REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING environment variable is set to NO, the old toolkit mechanism is used.

The new font model offers the following features and benefits:

Simplifies setup, configuration, and discovery of fonts.

Supports TrueType Fonts (TTF) and TrueType Collections (TTC) on UNIX.

Supports Unicode font subsetting in PDF on UNIX.

Includes a simple font lookup algorithm and an enhanced formatter.

Automatically recognizes new fonts.

Supports all character sets in PDF.

Provides font-related diagnostics and tracing information.

Supports backward-compatibility with the previous font model based on the motif toolkit.

Uses commonly available TTF and TTC fonts as on Windows.

Eliminates the need to convert TTF to AFM or TFM files.

Note:

It is recommended that you use the Windows version of Oracle Reports Builder to design reports.

12.2.1 Font Lookup

On Windows, the font lookup mechanism is simple due to the availability of printer drivers, which have the capability of uploading fonts from the system as needed. Any output from Oracle Reports running on Windows will contain fonts from either one of the following:

The system

The printer

For this reason, Oracle Reports considers both the printer and the system fonts when looking for the available fonts.

On UNIX, the fonts available for generating output are either one of the following:

the fonts available on the printer, specifically the fonts defined in the PPD or TFM files

if no printer is specified, the fonts available in ScreenPrinter, screenprinter.ppd.

See Also:

Section 9.3, "Font Configuration Files"

Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter"

12.2.1.1 Font Lookup Algorithm

llustrates the process of determining the available fonts for generating report output on UNIX.

Figure 12-1 Font Algorithm

The following steps describe how Oracle Reports generates a list of the available fonts for generating output (for example, for the screen, printer, or file):

Oracle Reports checks whether the REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING environment variable is set.

If the variable is set, it checks whether the TTF and TTC fonts used in the layout objects are present in REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY.

If the TTF and TTC fonts are present in REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY, Oracle Reports uses the TTF font in calculating metrics, which prevents misalignment in the multibyte language report output.

If the TTF and TTC fonts are not in the REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY, Oracle Reports reverts to the old toolkit mechanism, which finds the nearest matching Type 1 font on the machine.

Note:

If the REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING variable is not set, the old motif toolkit mechanism is used.

12.2.2 Configuring the New Font Model

To configure the new font model, complete the following steps:

Ensure that the REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING environment variable is set to yes. The default value is yes.

Copy all the TTF and TTC files, which are used in the report, to the REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY. The default font directory is $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts.

Remove any unnecessary aliasing from the uifont.ali file. For example, Arial is aliased to Helvetica, by default. If your report uses the Arial font, you must remove the aliasing from the uifont.ali file.

Note:

If you choose to use the old motif toolkit, you must consider cross-platform issues and apply workaround solutions. It is recommended that you use the new font model for developing and deploying reports on UNIX.

12.2.3 Font Diagnosis and Tracing

The new font model in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides improved font diagnosability and tracing.

You can configure log levels for persistent loggers and active runtime loggers. Log levels allow you to limit the amount of tracing information included in your tracing output.

For example, if you set Oracle Diagnostic Logging Level (Java Level) = Trace:1 (FINE), the following font-related information is included in your log files and tracing output:

Name of the font directory

Fonts available in the font directory

Fonts used by objects in a paper layout that are not available in the font directory

For more information about diagnosing font issues, see Section 9.8, "Diagnosing Font Issues".

12.3 Overview of Cross-Platform Issues

Oracle Reports is available on many platforms, including Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, and IBM AIX. You can use Oracle Reports to develop and deploy reports on any of these platforms interchangeably. The most common scenario is that the report is developed on Windows, and is deployed on a UNIX-based environment, such as Linux (see Figure 12-2). This may result in a slight change in the look-and-feel of the deployed report. For example, when you are developing the report on Windows, you allocate enough space to each text object or field in your report. However, when you deploy and run the report on Linux, you may see that the text does not fit within the allocated space in the output. Such issues that are the direct result of change in platform are referred to as cross-platform issues. A possible cause of such issues is that the fonts available on the development platform are not available on the deployment platform. As a result, when the report is executed on the deployment platform, a substitute font needs to be used for formatting the report output. Since any two fonts are likely to have certain differences, the report output on the development and deployment platforms looks different.

Another likely scenario in which you may encounter cross-platform issues is when the platform on which the report is finally viewed (see Figure 12-2) does not have the proper fonts installed. Thus, even if the development and deployment platforms display the report output correctly, the platform on which the end-user views the report will not display the proper look-and-feel of the report.

Figure 12-2 Sample Cross-Platform Deployment Scenario

12.3.1 Font Availability On Different Platforms

A font is a set of printable or displayable text characters in a specific style and size. Fonts are needed for displaying the report on the screen as well as for printing it. The metrics for these fonts are picked up by Oracle Reports while formatting the report; that is, while executing the report command. Based on the font metrics, the report is formatted and the output is produced.

The font metrics are provided by specific files that must be available on the system where you are running Oracle Reports Services. On Windows, these font metrics are provided by True Type Font (TTF) files or True Type Collection (TTC) files. On UNIX platforms, the font metrics are taken from Adobe Font Metrics (AFM) files or TeX Font Metrics (TFM) files. The font availability and the metrics can vary based on the operating system used. This difference in fonts used and the rendering can affect the visual appearance of the generated output.

Example 1: Tahoma, a commonly used font in single-byte regions, is available on Windows but not on UNIX. For example, a reports developer has used Tahoma font while designing the report. The output of the report looks good on the development platform; that is, Windows. The report is then ported to the deployment platform (say Linux). When you submit a request to the Reports Server to execute this report, the Reports Server looks for Tahoma font metrics. It will be unable to find the metric file, since Tahoma is a Windows-specific font. Another font that closely resembles Tahoma will be used instead. This will affect the report output since a different font has been used.

Example 2: The development as well as deployment platform is Windows. So Reports Servers on both the development and deployment platforms are able to access Tahoma font since both run on Windows. However, suppose an end-user views the output on Linux. All reports output formats (HTML, HTMLCSS, RTF, and PDF) merely refer to the fonts and do not embed the fonts in the output unless you specifically use the font embedding feature in PDF. As a result, the client system will look for the Tahoma font to display the report output on client machine. Since Tahoma is not available on Linux, the user will encounter cross-platform issues while viewing the output.

12.3.2 Fixing Font-Related Issues

As we have seen, many cross-platform issues are caused by the non-availability of fonts either on the production environment (where the Reports Server is running) or on the client system. These font availability issues must be resolved by a 3-step approach:

Development platform: Ensure that you develop the report keeping in mind the font availability on the deployment platform. All font files that are available on Windows (TTF files) may not be available on UNIX (AFM or TFM files). If you have the correct AFM or TFM font file available on the UNIX platform, you can continue to use it (AFM for PostScript printing and TFM for PCL). For fonts with AFM files not readily available on UNIX, or if you encounter any font issues in the report output such as text misalignment, you can convert and generate an AFM file from the Windows TTF file using freely available third party utilities, such as ttf2pt1. Do not attempt to convert to a TFM file, as this may not produce reliable results.

Deployment platform: Ensure that the fonts used in the report are available. For PDF output, use font aliasing to substitute the unavailable font with the closest available font. Global font aliasing can be used for all output formats. Same comment holds for all the subsequent sections where you have asked to provide examples.

Client platform: Ensure that you account for font unavailability on the client system. For example, in the case of PDF output, you can use Font Subsetting or Font Embedding, as described in Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports". In the case of HTML, HTMLCSS or RTF output formats it is not possible to embed the fonts, so it is best to design the report using fonts that are known to be available on all platforms.

12.4 Generating HTMLCSS, RTF, or Web Output

Table 12-2 shows the cross platform deployment scenario where the destination format is HTMLCSS, RTF, or the Web.

Table 12-2 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 1

Development Platform
Deployment Platform
Destination Format

Windows

UNIX

HTMLCSS, RTF, or Web

This section discusses designing and deploying a report for HTMLCSS, RTF, or Web output in the following subsections:

Designing Your Report

Deploying Your Report

Frequently Asked Questions

12.4.1 Designing Your Report

To prepare your report before you deploy it on a UNIX platform:

Create a new report. While creating your report ensure that you leave additional padding space for boilerplate and field objects. This is to ensure that the box's size accounts for any possible increase in the text width when the report is run on the deployment platform.

Use only those fonts in your report that:

Are available on UNIX. All font files that are available on Windows (TTF files) may not be available on UNIX (AFM or TFM files). If you have the correct AFM or TFM font file available on the UNIX platform, you can continue to use it (AFM for PostScript and TFM for PCL).

Note:

AFM support is extended only to single-byte PostScript file generation, with the exception of Japanese encoding.

The encoding schemes supported for the AFM files are:

AdobeStandardEncoding

ExtJIS12-88-CFEncoding

FontSpecific

HRoman

ISOLatinHebrew

JIS12-88-CFEncoding

JIS12e-88-CFEncoding

Can scale well. For example, MS Sans Serif does not scale well to a different size, whereas Tahoma does. The reason is that the MS Sans Serif font is a raster font that does not scale well to any size and usually has rounding issues. On the other hand, Tahoma font is a TrueType font that is very similar in visual appearance to the MS Sans Serif font. Additionally, Tahoma is a vector font that can be scaled to any size and rotated to any angle.

12.4.2 Deploying Your Report

Deploying a Report in 11g that uses the New Font Model

Ensure that the REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING environment variable is set to yes. The default value is yes.

Copy all the TTF and TTC files, which are used in the report, to the REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY. The default font directory is $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts.

Remove any unnecessary aliasing from the uifont.ali file. For example, Arial is aliased to Helvetica, by default. If your report uses the Arial font, you must remove the aliasing from the uifont.ali file.

Run the Report.

Deploying Reports in Pre-11g Version that uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

For fonts with AFM files not readily available on UNIX, or if you encounter any font issues in the report output such as text misalignment, you can convert and generate an AFM file from the Windows TTF file using freely available third party utilities, such as ttf2pt1. Do not attempt to convert to a TFM file, as this may not produce reliable results.

To deploy your report on a UNIX platform when AFM font files are not available:

Locate the TTF files corresponding to the fonts used in your report. Convert these TTF files to AFM to ensure that you will have the AFM files for the fonts used in your report.

Use a True Type to Type 1 font converter utility to convert the TTF files to AFM files. For example, ttf2pt1.

Post-conversion, remove the .afm extension in the AFM file name. For example:

Table 12-3 Post Conversion Font File Names

Before Converting
After Converting
After Renaming

arial.ttf

arial.afm

Arial

cour.ttf

cour.afm

CourierNew

Copy the converted AFM files to the $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM directory.

Edit the screenprinter.ppd file with any text editor.

Note:

If you have defined a default printer by including an entry in ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt, you must add the appropriate entries in the printer's PPD file for a PostScript printer or in the HPD file for a PCL printer.

Beginning with Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), if you have not set up a default printer:

A default printer surface that mimics the screen (screenprinter.ppd) is used for formatting.

You must add the necessary font and resolution entries in the screenprinter.ppd file.

The PPD and HPD files are located at:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

$ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin

Oracle Reports searches for HPD or PPD files initially in the Oracle Instance location and then in the Oracle Home location.

Refer to Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter" for more information on the screenprinter.ppd file.

Ensure that the PPD/HPD file used contains an entry for each AFM or TFM file that you use in your report. PPD/HPD files are configuration files containing printer driver settings and the list of all the fonts supported by the printer.

Navigate to the to the Font Information section in the PPD file and add the necessary entries for the font files in the following format:

*FONTNAME:ENCODING:VERSION:LOCATION

For example:

*Font Arial: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM
*Font CourierNew: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM

Ensure that the AFM file name exactly matches the font name specified in the PPD file as Oracle Reports searches for this file based on the font name in the PPD file.

Ensure that the fonts used in your report are not aliased.

For example, edit the uifont.ali file and comment the entries in the [Global] section, where Arial and Courier New are aliased to Helvetica and Courier, respectively.

[ Global ] # Put mappings for all surfaces here.
# Mapping from MS Windows
#Arial = helvetica
#"Courier New" = courier

This ensures that Arial and Courier New are not aliased to any other font.

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

On windows: ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\frcommon\tools\common

On UNIX: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

Use font aliasing only if you are unable to generate the AFM file for a particular font. You can then alias the missing font to the closest match. The fonts must be made available on the machine displaying the report output and not necessarily on the machine generating the report output.

Run the report.

http://mywebserver.com:reports/rwservlet?server=myserver+report="/home/myreports/test.rdf"+authid=hr/hr@mydb+desformat=htmlcss+destype=cache

The HTMLCSS output of your report will look exactly the same as the one generated on Windows.

12.4.2.1 Troubleshooting Information

If you encounter deployment issues, review the following troubleshooting information:

If you do not get the correct fonts in the HTMLCSS output, set the environment variable DEBUG_SLFIND to a log file name, for example, debug.txt, and run the report. The font files that are looked up while parsing the PPD file as well as the fonts used will be written to the log file debug.txt. Specifically, check for the following:

The PPD file that you modified should be picked up. If it is not picked up it is a configuration issue. Refer to Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports".

The AFM files that you have copied to AFM directory should be picked up next.

See Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports" for more information on DEBUG_SLFIND.

12.4.3 Frequently Asked Questions

This section covers frequently asked questions (FAQs) pertaining to deploying a report to HTMLCSS, RTF or the Web.

Question

When I design a report on Windows with font styles such as italic and bold, then run the report on UNIX, I do not see the output as it appeared on Windows. Why?

Answer

On UNIX, report formatting is done using fonts' corresponding AFM files. By default, these AFM files are picked from the $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM directory, provided as part of the installation. If the font style used in report does not have a corresponding AFM file on UNIX, the closest matching AFM file is used. For example, if you design a report on Windows with Courier Italic font, then run the report on UNIX, you may see only plain Courier font in the output. This happens because there is no AFM file available for Courier Italic font in the $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM directory, so instead Courier is picked. To work around this issue, you can alias your font's style to the same style for some other font that has AFM available. For example, you could alias Courier Italic to Times Italic in the global section of uifont.ali. Moreover, on Windows, there are some fonts that have bold, italic, and bold italic versions; for example, Arial has arialbd.ttf (Arial bold), ariali.ttf (Arial italic), and arialbi.ttf (Arial bold italic). Therefore, if you are using any font that has bold, italic, and bold italic TTF files available, you can generate AFM files from these files using ttf2pt1 and use these AFM files on UNIX.

Question

My report was created in Windows and is deployed on HP-UX 11. Although the font style on HP-UX 11 is correct, the spacing between the lines is inconsistent and some text is unable to fit in the allocated space. How can I fix the spacing so that my text fits correctly?

Answer

Ensure that you have set up the corresponding AFM files for all the fonts used in your document. Refer to Section 12.4.1, "Designing Your Report" for more information.

Question

My report is designed on Windows. When it is deployed on a different platform, it displays garbled output. For example, some fields display, ***** instead of the actual content. Is this a spacing issue?

Answer

Oracle Reports cannot find the AFM files of the font that you have used in your report. You can verify this by opening the report's HTML source and searching for the font that you have used.

Oracle Reports then uses the closest matching font whose metrics are bigger than the original font. Therefore, when the characters cannot fit in the box, a **** is displayed in the field, instead of the actual output.

Ensure that:

You have set up the AFM files for all the fonts used in your report. Refer to Section 12.4.1, "Designing Your Report" for more information.

You have left approximately 10% extra padding space for fields and text boilerplates.

Question

When my report is run on UNIX, the HTML or the HTMLCSS output looks shrunk. However, the same report run on Windows looks fine. What can I do to ensure that my report looks the same on UNIX as it did on Windows?

Answer

If you see shrinkage or expansion in your HTMLCSS output and you are on Oracle9i Reports, then set the environment variable REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE to any value ranging from 72 through 200 in reports.sh and restart the Reports Server.

For example:

REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE =72
export REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE

There will not be any HTMLCSS output shrinkage/expansion in Oracle Reports 10g as a fixed resolution is picked up from screenprinter.ppd. This resolution is editable.

*DefaultResolution: 96dpi (recommended)

Question

Can I use the overstrike property when I deploy a report in Solaris?

Answer

A limitation of AFM files is that it does not support the overstrike property.

Question

My report contains right-aligned fields that displays both positive and negative numbers. For example, 12345.67, -12345.67. However, when the report is generated to HTMLCSS output, the alignment is not correct. How can I fix the alignment? Is this a platform-specific issue?

Answer

This is not exactly a platform-specific issue. When the spaces in the HTMLCSS output are replaced by &nbsp; this problem will be resolved. To ensure that you do not face this issue, you must upgrade to the Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1).

12.5 Generating Single-Byte PDF Output

Table 12-4 shows the cross-platform deployment scenario where the destination format is single-byte PDF created using PDF font subsetting. For more information on PDF font features, refer to Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports".

Table 12-4 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 2

Development Platform
Deployment Platform
Destination Format

Windows

UNIX

PDF (single byte)

This section discusses designing and deploying a report for single-byte PDF output in the following subsections:

Designing Your Report

Deploying Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

Frequently Asked Questions

12.5.1 Designing Your Report

To prepare your report before you deploy it on a UNIX platform:

Create a new report.

Use only those fonts in your report that:

Are available on UNIX. All font files that are available on Windows (TTF files) may not be available on UNIX (AFM or TFM files). If you have the correct AFM or TFM font file available on the UNIX platform, you can continue to use it (AFM for PostScript and TFM for PCL).

Note:

AFM support is extended only to single-byte PostScript file generation, with the exception of Japanese encoding.

The encoding schemes supported for the AFM files are:

AdobeStandardEncoding

ExtJIS12-88-CFEncoding

FontSpecific

HRoman

ISOLatinHebrew

JIS12-88-CFEncoding

JIS12e-88-CFEncoding

Can scale well. For example, MS Sans Serif does not scale well to a different size, whereas Tahoma does. The reason is that the MS Sans Serif font is a raster font that does not scale well to any size and usually has rounding issues. On the other hand, Tahoma font is a TrueType font that is very similar in visual appearance to the MS Sans Serif font. Additionally, Tahoma is a vector font that can be scaled to any size and rotated to any angle.

12.5.2 Deploying Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

For fonts with AFM files not readily available on UNIX, or if you encounter any font issues in the report output such as text misalignment, you can convert and generate an AFM file from the Windows TTF file using freely available third party utilities, such as ttf2pt1. Do not attempt to convert to a TFM file, as this may not produce reliable results.

To deploy your report on a UNIX platform using PDF font subsetting:

Locate the TTF files corresponding to the fonts used in your report. Convert these TTF files to AFM to ensure that you will have the AFM files for the fonts used in your report.

Use a True Type to Type 1 font converter utility to convert the TTF files to AFM files. For example, ttf2pt1.

Post-conversion, remove the .afm extension in the AFM file name. For example:

Table 12-5 Post Conversion Font File Names

Before Converting
After Converting
After Renaming

arial.ttf

arial.afm

Arial

cour.ttf

cour.afm

CourierNew

Copy the Windows TTF files that you have used in your report to the fonts directory on your UNIX machine. For example, $ORACLE_HOME/reports/fonts.

Add the path to the TTF files in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable. This ensures that the font files can be referenced by Reports Runtime.

Edit the screenprinter.ppd file with any text editor.

Note:

If you have defined a default printer by including an entry in ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt, you must add the appropriate entries in the printer's PPD file for a PostScript printer or in the HPD file for a PCL printer.

Beginning with Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), if you have not set up a default printer:

A default printer surface that mimics the screen (screenprinter.ppd) is used for formatting.

You must add the necessary font and resolution entries in the screenprinter.ppd file.

The PPD and HPD files are located at:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

$ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin

Oracle Reports searches for HPD or PPD files initially in the Oracle Instance location and then in the Oracle Home location.

Refer to Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter" for more information on the screenprinter.ppd file.

Ensure that the PPD/HPD file used contains an entry for each AFM or TFM file that you use in your report. PPD/HPD files are configuration files containing printer driver settings and the list of all the fonts supported by the printer.

Navigate to the to the Font Information section in the PPD file and add the necessary entries for the font files in the following format:

*FONTNAME:ENCODING:VERSION:LOCATION

For example:

*Font Arial: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM
*Font CourierNew: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM

Ensure that the AFM file name exactly matches the font name specified in the PPD file as Oracle Reports searches for this file based on the font name in the PPD file.

Copy the converted AFM files to the $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM directory.

Ensure that the uiprint.txt has the entry for the appropriate PPD file:

printer name:PostScript:2:test:ppd file

For example:

printer1:PostScript:2:test:hpljet42.ppd

Edit the hpljet42.ppd file with any text editor.

Note:

Copy the PPD file from ORALCE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin /PPD to the following location:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

Ensure that the PPD/HPD file used contains an entry for each AFM or TFM file that you use in your report.

Navigate to the Font Information section and add the necessary entries for the new AFM files in the following format:

*FONTNAME:ENCODING:VERSION:LOCATION

For example:

*Font Arial: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM
*Font CourierNew: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM

Ensure that the AFM file name is the same as the font name given in the PPD file. Oracle Reports searches for this file based on the font name in the PPD file.

Ensure that the fonts used in your report are not aliased.

For example, edit the uifont.ali and comment the entries in the [Global] section where Arial and Courier New are aliased, by default, to Helvetica and Courier respectively.

[ Global ] # Put mappings for all surfaces here.
# Mapping from MS Windows
#Arial = helvetica
#"Courier New" = courier

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

On windows: ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\FRComponent\frcommon\tools\common

On UNIX: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

Use font aliasing only if you are unable to generate the AFM file for a particular font. You can then alias the missing font to the closest match. The fonts must be made available on the machine displaying the report output and not necessarily on the machine generating the report output.

Add the appropriate entries in the [PDF:Subset] section to subset the fonts used in your report.

For example:

[ PDF:Subset ]
"arial" = "arial.ttf"
"courier new" = "cour.ttf"

For PDF file portability, you can use either font subsetting or font embedding. File portability ensures that the PDF report does not depend on the machine where it is viewed to have the fonts installed.

Run the report to PDF and view it. The PDF should contain the fonts used in your report. For example, Arial and Courier New fonts.

To verify the fonts used, do the following:

In Acrobat Reader 6.0, choose File >Document Properties > Fonts.

In Acrobat Reader 3.0 and above, choose File >Document Info > Fonts.

The Original Font column displays the Arial and Tahoma fonts. The PDF document should not contain any font alignment issues.

12.5.2.1 Troubleshooting Information

If you encounter deployment issues, review the following troubleshooting information:

If you do not get the correct fonts in the PDF output, set the environment variable DEBUG_SLFIND to a log file name (for example, debug.txt) and run the report. The font files that are looked up while parsing the PPD file as well as the fonts used will be written to the specified file. Specifically, check for the following:

The PPD file that you modified should be picked up. If it is not picked up it is a configuration issue. Refer to Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports".

The AFM files that you have copied to AFM directory should be picked up next.

See Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports" for more information on DEBUG_SLFIND.

12.5.3 Frequently Asked Questions

This section contains frequently asked questions (FAQs) pertaining to deploying a report to single-byte PDF output.

Question

My PDF report page count varies when it is deployed in Windows and UNIX platforms. What must I do to fix it?

Answer

Your report uses the default printer for formatting. Ensure that the same resolution and the same fonts used are made available to both the printers. One way of achieving this would be to generate AFM files from Windows TTF font files and then copy the Windows TTF files and AFM files to UNIX in the appropriate folders. Also set the same resolution as Windows in PPD/HPD files. Follow the process specified in the prior steps.

Question

The page count of my report varies when run on different installations of UNIX. How can I ensure that the page count of my report is the same regardless of the installation?

Answer

In UNIX, Oracle Reports uses the PPD/HPD file of the default printer in the installation for formatting. The resolution and list of fonts will be picked up from this PPD/HPD files. Beginning with Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), if there is no default printer setup in the installation, then screenprinter.ppd will be used. This PPD file emulates the screen. Earlier versions of Oracle Reports used the DISPLAY environment variable instead. Ensure that the two installations use the same AFM/TFM files and font files, so that the number of pages of PDF output will be the same.

12.6 Generating Multibyte PDF Output

Table 12-6 shows the cross platform deployment scenario where the destination format is multibyte PDF created using PDF font subsetting. For more information on PDF font features, refer to Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports".

Table 12-6 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 4

Development Platform
Deployment Platform
Destination Format

Windows

UNIX

PDF (multibyte)

This section discusses designing and deploying a report for multibyte PDF output in the following subsections:

Designing Your Reportin Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

Deploying Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

Frequently Asked Questions

12.6.1 Designing Your Reportin Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

To prepare your report before you deploy it on a UNIX platform:

Create a new report with a TrueType multibyte font. For example, Simplified Arabic font with the AR8ISO8859P6 character set.

Use only those fonts in your report that:

Are available on UNIX. All font files that are available on Windows (TTF files) may not be available on UNIX (AFM or TFM files). If you have the correct AFM or TFM font file available on the UNIX platform, you can continue to use it (AFM for PostScript and TFM for PCL).

Note:

AFM support is extended only to single-byte PostScript file generation, with the exception of Japanese encoding.

The encoding schemes supported for the AFM files are:

AdobeStandardEncoding

ExtJIS12-88-CFEncoding

FontSpecific

HRoman

ISOLatinHebrew

JIS12-88-CFEncoding

JIS12e-88-CFEncoding

Can scale well. For example, MS Sans Serif does not scale well to a different size, whereas Tahoma does. The reason is that the MS Sans Serif font is a raster font that does not scale well to any size and usually has rounding issues. On the other hand, Tahoma font is a TrueType font that is very similar in visual appearance to the MS Sans Serif font. Additionally, Tahoma is a vector font that can be scaled to any size and rotated to any angle.

12.6.2 Deploying Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

For fonts with AFM files not readily available on UNIX, or if you encounter any font issues in the report output such as text misalignment, you can convert and generate an AFM file from the Windows TTF file using freely available third party utilities, such as ttf2pt1. Do not attempt to convert to a TFM file, as this may not produce reliable results.

To deploy your report on a UNIX platform:

Locate the TTF files corresponding to the fonts used in your report. Convert these TTF files to AFM to ensure that you will have the AFM files for the fonts used in your report.

Use a True Type to Type 1 font converter utility to convert the TTF files to AFM files. For example, ttf2pt1.

Post-conversion, remove the .afm extension in the AFM file name. For example:

Table 12-7 Post Conversion Font File Names

Before Converting
After Converting
After Renaming

simpo.ttf

simpo.afm

SimplifiedArabic

Copy the Windows TTF file used in your report to the fonts directory on your UNIX machine. For example, $ORACLE_HOME/fonts.

Add the path to the TTF file in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable.

Copy the AFM file to the $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM directory.

Edit the screenprinter.ppd file with any text editor.

Note:

If you have defined a default printer by including an entry in ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt, you must add the appropriate entries in the printer's PPD file for a PostScript printer or in the HPD file for a PCL printer.

Beginning with Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), if you have not set up a default printer:

A default printer surface that mimics the screen (screenprinter.ppd) is used for formatting.

You must add the necessary font and resolution entries in the screenprinter.ppd file.

The PPD and HPD files are located at:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

$ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin

Oracle Reports searches for HPD or PPD files initially in the Oracle Instance location and then in the Oracle Home location.

Refer to Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter" for more information on the screenprinter.ppd file.

Ensure that the PPD/HPD file used contains an entry for each AFM or TFM file that you use in your report. PPD/HPD files are configuration files containing printer driver settings and the list of all the fonts supported by the printer.

Navigate to the to the Font Information section in the PPD file and add the necessary entries for the font files in the following format:

*FONTNAME:ENCODING:VERSION:LOCATION

For example:

*Font Arial: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM
*Font CourierNew: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM

Ensure that the AFM file name exactly matches the font name specified in the PPD file as Oracle Reports searches for this file based on the font name in the PPD file.

Ensure that the uiprint.txt has the entry for the appropriate PPD file: printername: PostScript:2:test:ppd_file.

For example:

printer1:PostScript:2:test:hpljet42.ppd

Edit the hpljet42.ppd file with any text editor.

Note:

Copy the PPD file from ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD to the following location:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

Ensure that the PPD/HPD file used contains an entry for each AFM or TFM file that you use in your report.

Navigate to the Font Information section and add the necessary entries for the new AFM files in the following order:

*FONTNAME:ENCODING:VERSION:LOCATION

For example:

*Font SimplifiedArabic: Standard "(001.01)" Standard ROM

Ensure that the fonts used in your report are not aliased.

Edit uifont.ali and comment the entries, if any, where Simplified Arabic font is aliased to some other font. For example: "SimplifiedArabic"="Arial".

Note:

The uifont.ali file is located in the following directory on Windows and UNIX:

Windows: ORACLE_INSTANCE%\config\FRComponent\frcommon\tools\common

UNIX: ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

Use font aliasing only if you are unable to generate the AFM file for a particular font. You can then alias the missing font to the closest match. The fonts must be made available on the machine displaying the report output and not necessarily on the machine generating the report output.

In the [PDF:Subset] section, add the appropriate entries to subset the fonts.

For example:

[ PDF:Subset ]      "SimplifiedArabic" = "simpo.ttf"

For PDF file portability, you can use either font subsetting or font embedding. File portability ensures that the PDF report does not depend on the machine where it is viewed to have the fonts installed.

Run the report to PDF and view it.

http://mywebserver.com:reports/rwservlet?server=myserver+report=
"/home/myreports/test.rdf"+authid=hr/hr@mydb+desformat=PDF+destype=cache

The PDF should contain the font that you have used in your report. For example, the David font.

To verify the fonts used, do the following:

In Acrobat Reader 6.0, choose File >Document Properties > Fonts.

In Acrobat Reader 3.0 and above, choose File >Document Info > Fonts.

The Original Font column should display the David font.

12.6.2.1 Troubleshooting Information

If you encounter deployment issues, review the following troubleshooting information:

If you do not get the correct fonts in the PDF output, set the environment variable DEBUG_SLFIND to a log file name, for example, debug.txt, and run the report. The font files that are looked up while parsing the PPD file as well as the fonts used will be written to the log file debug.txt. Specifically, check for the following:

The PPD file that you modified should be picked up. If it is not picked up it is a configuration issue. Refer to Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports".

The AFM files that you have copied to AFM directory should be picked up next.

See Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports" for more information on DEBUG_SLFIND.

12.6.3 Frequently Asked Questions

This section contains frequently asked questions (FAQs) pertaining to deploying a report to multibyte PDF output.

Question

What are the cross-platform issues for the PDF output when using CID multibyte fonts?

Answer

To enable multibyte language support in PDF reports with CID multibyte fonts, you must make sure that the Asian font package is installed for your Acrobat Reader on the machine where you are going to view these PDF files. The Asian font package is available at the Adobe Web site.

Question

Why is the formatting of my report not correct when using multibyte fonts on UNIX, or why do I see misaligned text in the report?

Answer

If you have used ttf2pt1 to create the AFM file, ttf2pt1 has a limitation in that it creates AFM files with metrics information for only the first 256 characters of the font. The first 256 characters are for Latin-1 characters. So, if your font contains more than 256 characters, metrics information will not be available for the additional characters. Oracle Reports uses default metrics information contained in the AFM file when it encounters characters in the report that are not in the AFM file. These default metrics may not match the exact metrics of the characters used in the report. For this reason, formatting will not be correct. To avoid this situation when you are using characters beyond the first 256 characters of the font, you can use fixed width fonts where all the characters have the same width. For example, Miriam Fixed is a fixed width font for Hebrew and can be used to avoid formatting issues.

12.7 Generating Unicode PDF Output

Table 12-8 shows the cross-platform deployment scenario where the destination format is Unicode PDF created using PDF font subsetting. For more information on PDF font features, refer to Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports".

Table 12-8 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 5

Development Platform
Deployment Platform
Destination Format

Windows

UNIX

PDF (Unicode)

This section discusses designing and deploying a report for Unicode PDF output in the following subsections:

Designing Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

Deploying Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

Frequently Asked Questions

12.7.1 Designing Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

To prepare your report before you deploy it on a UNIX platform:

Create a new report using a Unicode font. For example, Arial Unicode MS font.

Use only those fonts in your report that:

Cover the entire Unicode range that your report uses.

Are available on UNIX. All font files that are available on Windows (TTF files) may not be available on UNIX (AFM or TFM files). If you have the correct AFM or TFM font file available on the UNIX platform, you can continue to use it (AFM for PostScript and TFM for PCL).

Note:

AFM support is extended only to single-byte PostScript file generation, with the exception of Japanese encoding.

The encoding schemes supported for the AFM files are:

AdobeStandardEncoding

ExtJIS12-88-CFEncoding

FontSpecific

HRoman

ISOLatinHebrew

JIS12-88-CFEncoding

JIS12e-88-CFEncoding

Can scale well. For example, MS Sans Serif does not scale well to a different size, whereas Tahoma does. The reason is that the MS Sans Serif font is a raster font that does not scale well to any size and usually has rounding issues. On the other hand, Tahoma font is a TrueType font that is very similar in visual appearance to the MS Sans Serif font. Additionally, Tahoma is a vector font that can be scaled to any size and rotated to any angle.

12.7.2 Deploying Your Report in Pre-11g Version That Uses Motif Tool Kit Mechanism

For fonts with AFM files not readily available on UNIX, or if you encounter any font issues in the report output such as text misalignment, you can convert and generate an AFM file from the Windows TTF file using freely available third party utilities, such as ttf2pt1. Do not attempt to convert to a TFM file, as this may not produce reliable results.

To deploy your report on a UNIX platform:

Locate the TTF files corresponding to the fonts used in your report. Convert these TTF files to AFM to ensure that you will have the AFM files for the fonts used in your report.

Use a True Type to Type 1 font converter utility to convert the TTF files to AFM files. For example, ttf2pt1.

Post-conversion, remove the .afm extension in the AFM file name. For example:

Table 12-9 Post Conversion Font File Names

Before Converting
After Converting
After Renaming

arialuni.ttf

arialuni.afm

ArialUnicodeMS

Copy the Windows TTF file used in your report to the fonts directory on your UNIX machine. For example, $ORACLE_HOME/fonts.

Add the path to the TTF file in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable. For example, arialuni.ttf.

Copy the AFM file to the $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM directory. For example, ArialUnicodeMS.

Edit the screenprinter.ppd file with any text editor.

Note:

If you have defined a default printer by including an entry in ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt, then you will have to make the appropriate entries in the printer's PPD file for a PostScript printer or in the HPD file for a PCL printer.

Beginning with Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), a default printer surface that mimics the screen (screenprinter.ppd) is used for formatting if you have not set up a default printer. You will also need to make the necessary font and resolution entries in the screenprinter.ppd file, if you have not set up a default printer.

The PPD and HPD files are located at:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin

$ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin

Oracle Reports searches for HPD or PPD files initially in the Oracle Instance location and then in the Oracle Home location.

Refer to Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter" for more information on the screenprinter.ppd file.

Ensure that the PPD/HPD file used contains an entry for each AFM or TFM file that you use in your report. PPD/HPD files are configuration files containing printer driver settings and the list of all the fonts supported by the printer.

Navigate to the to the Font Information section in the PPD file and add the necessary entries for the font files in the following format:

*FONTNAME:ENCODING:VERSION:LOCATION

For example:

*Font Arial: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM
*Font CourierNew: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM

Ensure that the AFM file name exactly matches the font name specified in the PPD file as Oracle Reports searches for this file based on the font name in the PPD file.

Ensure that the uiprint.txt has the entry for the appropriate PPD file.

printer name:PostScript:2:test:ppd file

In this example:

printer1:PostScript:2:test:hpljet42.ppd

Edit the hpljet42.ppd file with any text editor.

Note:

Copy the PPD file from ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD to the following location:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

Ensure that the PPD/HPD file used contains an entry for each AFM or TFM file that you use in your report.

Navigate to the Font Information section and add the necessary entries for the new AFM files in the following order:

*FONTNAME:ENCODING:VERSION:LOCATION

For example:

*Font ArialUnicodeMS: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM

In the [PDF:Subset] section, add the following entries to subset the fonts used in your report.

For example:

[ PDF:Subset ]
"Arial Unicode MS" = "arialuni.ttf"

Use the PDF subsetting feature to generate multibyte PDF output from your reports and to ensure your PDF report is portable. Thus, there is not dependency on the machine deploying the report to have the fonts installed.

Run the report to PDF and view it.

http://mywebserver.com:reports/rwservlet?server=myserver+report=
"/home/myreports/test.rdf"+authid=hr/hr@mydb+desformat=PDF+destype=cache

The PDF should contain the unicode font used in your report. For example, Arial Unicode MS.

12.7.2.1 Troubleshooting Information

If you encounter deployment issues, review the following troubleshooting information:

If you do not get the correct fonts in the PDF output, set the environment variable DEBUG_SLFIND to a log file name (for example, debug.txt) and run the report. The font files that are looked up while parsing the PPD file as well as the fonts used will be written to the log file debug.txt. Specifically, check for the following:

The PPD file that you modified should be picked up. If it is not picked up it is a configuration issue. Refer to Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports".

The AFM files that you have copied to AFM directory should be picked up next.

See Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports" for more information on DEBUG_SLFIND.

12.7.3 Frequently Asked Questions

This section contains frequently asked questions (FAQs) pertaining to deploying a report to Unicode PDF output.

Question

Why is the formatting of my report not correct when using Unicode on UNIX, or why do I see misaligned text in the report?

Answer

If you have used ttf2pt1 to create the AFM file, ttf2pt1 has a limitation in that it creates AFM files with metrics information for only the first 256 characters of the font. So, if you are using multiple languages in the report with a Unicode font like Arial Unicode MS, when you create the AFM file for UNIX, there will not be metrics information for the characters beyond the first 256 characters. Oracle Reports uses default metrics information contained in the AFM file when it encounters characters in the report that are not in the AFM file. These default metrics may not match the exact metrics of the characters used in the report. For this reason, formatting will not be correct. To avoid formatting issues when you are using characters beyond the first 256 characters of the font, you can use fixed width fonts where all the characters have the same width.

12.8 Generating PostScript Output

Table 12-10 shows the cross-platform deployment scenario where the destination format is PostScript.

Table 12-10 Cross Platform Deployment - Scenario 3

Development Platform
Deployment Platform
Destination Format

Windows

UNIX

PostScript

This section discusses designing and deploying a report for PostScript output in the following subsections:

Designing Your Report

Deploying Your Report

Frequently Asked Questions

12.8.1 Designing Your Report

To prepare your report before you deploy it on a UNIX platform:

Create a new report.

Use only those fonts in your report that:

Are available on UNIX. All font files that are available on Windows (TTF files) may not be available on UNIX (AFM or TFM files). If you have the correct AFM or TFM font file available on the UNIX platform, you can continue to use it (AFM for PostScript and TFM for PCL).

Note:

AFM support is extended only to single-byte PostScript file generation, with the exception of Japanese encoding.

The encoding schemes supported for the AFM files are:

AdobeStandardEncoding

ExtJIS12-88-CFEncoding

FontSpecific

HRoman

ISOLatinHebrew

JIS12-88-CFEncoding

JIS12e-88-CFEncoding

Can scale well. For example, MS Sans Serif does not scale well to a different size, whereas Tahoma does. This is because MS Sans Serif is a raster font that does not scale well to any size and usually has rounding issues. On the other hand, Tahoma is a TrueType font that is very similar in visual appearance to MS Sans Serif. Additionally, Tahoma is a vector font that can be scaled to any size and rotated to any angle.

Do not include Unicode characters. Oracle Reports does not support Unicode character sets in Post Script output on the UNIX platform. As an alternative, you can use either of the following:

Oracle Reports PDF output (desformat=pdf), which supports multibyte character sets, as discussed in Section 10.6.1, "Multibyte Character Set Printing".

Oracle Reports utilities IX and PASTA for font embedding in PostScript output when Oracle Reports is installed and used with Oracle Applications, as discussed in Section 10.6.2, "Overview of IX and PASTA".

To have the PostScript output look same on the design platform (Windows) and deployment platform (Unix), the paper size should be same on both the platforms. On Windows, if you want to change the default paper size from Letter to any other size (for example, A4), perform the following steps:

Choose Settings > Control Panel > Printers.

Right-click the default printer and select Properties.

Click Printing Preferences in the General tab.

Click Advanced in the Paper/Quality tab.

Select the Paper Size and click OK.

Click OK until the main dialog box displays to set the default paper size.

12.8.2 Deploying Your Report

For fonts with AFM files not readily available on UNIX, or if you encounter any font issues in the report output such as text misalignment, you can convert and generate an AFM file from the Windows TTF file using freely available third party utilities, such as ttf2pt1. Do not attempt to convert to a TFM file, as this may not produce reliable results.

To deploy your report on a UNIX platform:

Locate the TTF files corresponding to the fonts used in your report. Convert these TTF files to AFM to ensure that you will have the AFM files for the fonts used in your report.

Use a True Type to Type 1 font converter utility to convert the TTF files to AFM files. For example, ttf2pt1.

Post-conversion, remove the .afm extension in the AFM file name. For example:

Table 12-11 Post Conversion Font File Names

Before Converting
After Converting
After Renaming

arial.ttf

arial.afm

Arial

Copy the AFM file to the $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM directory.

Ensure that the TK_PRINTER environment variable or the PRINTER environment variable is set to the default printer name. For example, printer1.

Ensure that uiprint.txt has the entry for the appropriate PPD file in the format, printer name: PostScript:2:test:ppd file. In this example:

printer1:PostScript:2:test:hpljet42.ppd

Edit the file hpljet42.ppd using any text editor. Specifically, edit the DefaultPageSize, DefaultPageRegion, and DefaultPaperDimension to change the default paper from Letter to A4, in the following way:

…..
*DefaultPageSize: A4
…..
*DefaultPageRegion: A4
…..
*DefaultPaperDimension: A4
….

Note:

Copy the PPD file from ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin /PPD to the following location:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

Ensure that the PPD file used contains an entry for each AFM file that you use in your report.

Navigate to the Font Information section and add the necessary entries for the new AFM files in the following order:

*FONTNAME:ENCODING:VERSION:LOCATION

For example:

*Font Arial: Standard "(Version 2.76)" Standard ROM

Run the report to printer and verify that it is printed to A4 Paper.

http://mywebserver.com:reports/rwservlet?server=myserver+report="c:\test.rdf"+a
uthid=hr/hr@mydb+desformat=postscript+destype=cache

12.8.3 Frequently Asked Questions

This section contains frequently asked questions (FAQs) pertaining to deploying a report to PostScript output.

Question

Does Oracle Reports support Unicode PostScript file generation?

Answer

Currently, Oracle Reports supports Unicode character sets in PostScript output only on the Windows platform. On UNIX platforms, you can use either of the following:

Oracle Reports PDF output (desformat=pdf), which supports multibyte character sets, as discussed in Section 10.6.1, "Multibyte Character Set Printing".

Oracle Reports utilities IX and PASTA for font embedding in PostScript output when Oracle Reports is installed and used with Oracle Applications, as discussed in Section 10.6.2, "Overview of IX and PASTA".

Question

Does Oracle Reports embed the font in the PostScript output file?

Answer

Oracle Reports does not embed the font in the PostScript output file. It writes the font name and the metrics that were calculated using AFM files. Therefore, for the report to appear without any font alignment issues, ensure that the necessary fonts are installed on the printer.

Question

The page count of my report varies when run on different installations of UNIX. How can I ensure that the page count of my report is the same regardless of the installation?

Answer

In UNIX, Oracle Reports uses the PPD/HPD file of the default printer in the installation for formatting. The resolution and list of fonts will be picked up from this PPD/HPD files. Beginning with Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), if there is no default printer setup in the installation, then screenprinter.ppd will be used. This PPD file emulates the screen. Earlier versions of Oracle Reports used the DISPLAY environment variable instead. Ensure that the two installations use the same AFM/TFM files and font files, so that the number of pages of PDF output will be the same.

13 Configuring Destinations for Oracle Reports Services

Two things to consider when you run a report are how the report should be output (destination) and who should receive it (distribution). Distribution is discussed in Chapter 20, "Creating Advanced Distributions". This chapter explores how Oracle Reports Services handles output processing to default and custom destinations. It provides an overview of output processing and information on registering destination types with the Oracle Reports Services.

It includes the following sections:

What's New in this Release

Overview of Output Processing

Registering Destination Types with the Server

Submitting Reports to Pluggable Destinations from Oracle Forms Services

13.1 What's New in this Release

11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides the Pluggable Destinations from Oracle Forms Services enhancement.

13.1.1 Pluggable Destinations from Oracle Forms Services.

In prior releases, a pluggable destination defined for Reports Server cannot be used when running a report from Oracle Forms Services (specifically from RUN_REPORT_OBJECT) because the REPORT_DESTYPE property in Oracle Forms Services allows for only a pre-specified set of values.

In Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), this limitation is removed: report requests can be submitted to all destinations, including any Oracle Reports-registered pluggable destinations from Oracle Forms Services. This enhancement introduces a new Oracle Forms Services command line parameter: PLUGDESTYPE. Oracle Forms Services passes the pluggable destination DESTYPE in the PLUGDESTYPE parameter as part of the REPORT_OTHER property. When this parameter is present, it overrides whatever is specified in DESTYPE command line argument (or REPORT_DESTYPE for Oracle Forms Services).

For more information, see Section 13.4, "Submitting Reports to Pluggable Destinations from Oracle Forms Services"

13.2 Overview of Output Processing

Report output is controlled by the DESTYPE value that you specify at runtime, which, in turn, is determined by the destination output types you have registered in your server configuration file (rwserver.conf) using the destination element. For more information, see Section A.5.31, "DESTYPE" and Section 8.2.1.6, "destination".

You need not register the following default destinations:

Cache

E-mail

Printer

File

FTP

WebDAV

You may need to register the following default destination:

Oracle Portal: The entry for this destination is created by default in the server configuration file, but it is commented out. To start using this destination, you must uncomment the destination entry, and also provide appropriate property values (for example, the value for the portalUserid property).

You must register any new destination types you create through the Oracle Reports Services Destinations API.

Note:

For more information on the destination API, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

Configuring destinations is discussed in detail in Chapter 13, "Configuring Destinations for Oracle Reports Services".

You can also define custom output types, such as fax, Oracle's Internet File System (iFS), or any new destination type you define using the Oracle Reports Services Destinations API. This API enables you to define new destination types and build handlers to usher your reports to custom destinations.

Note:

For more information on the available APIs for Oracle Reports, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

The Oracle Reports Services architecture standardizes the way output is generated and delivered. It takes responsibility for delivering report output to the appropriate destination (through the Reports Server), yet generates output independent of its destination (through the Oracle Reports engine). This provides a significant improvement in efficiency by allowing one run of a report to be used in a number of different ways. It also opens up the output processing architecture to allow for any number of destination types.

In the past, the Reports Runtime engine was totally responsible for delivering the output. Consequently, it had to know how to communicate with output destinations. This resulted in a tight coupling between the engine and the supported destinations.

Oracle Reports Services eliminates this tight coupling and its attendant restrictions. The runtime engine now treats all destinations alike. It doesn't know the destination type for which the output is being produced. The server hands output off to destination handlers that prepare the material for delivery to their associated destination types. You can use predefined destination types (with predefined handlers) or create a handler for a custom destination type you intend to support. Almost any type of destination can be plugged into Oracle Reports.

Figure 13-1 illustrates the main components of the Oracle Reports Services output processing architecture.

Figure 13-1 Main components of destination/distribution architecture

Requests flow through the output processing architecture in the following sequence:

The user submits a request from a client or browser to the Reports Server.

The server passes it along to the runtime engine.

The runtime engine creates/processes the destination objects (which include file lists for specific destinations as well as any properties related to those destinations) and the report output; the runtime engine sends the destination objects to the Reports Server and the report output to cache.

The Reports Server sends the destination objects to the Reports Server's destination component.

The destination component of the Reports Server fetches the report output from cache.

The Reports Server destination component sends the report and the destination objects (which specify how the destination device should handle the output) to the appropriate destination handler.

13.3 Registering Destination Types with the Server

Before Oracle Reports Services can send a report to a particular destination type, the type must be a default type (printer, e-mail, cache, or file) or a type registered in the server configuration file, rwserver.conf. The configuration file contains a destination element for registering destination types that are valid for your reports. You can register anywhere from zero to any number of destination types.

Registering a destination type with the server involves:

Setting Up a Destination Section in the Server Configuration File

Entering Valid Values for a Destination

These tasks are described in the following sections.

13.3.1 Setting Up a Destination Section in the Server Configuration File

To set up a destination section in the rwserver.conf file:

Open the server configuration file with your preferred text editor.

You'll find the server configuration file in the following directory (Windows and UNIX use the same path):

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name\rwserver.conf

If the configuration file does not have a destination section, create one underneath the element that precedes it in the configuration file's data type definition file (rwserverconf.dtd) section.

Note:

The server configuration file follows the order of elements defined in the file's related document type definition file (ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\rwserverconf.dtd). Place destination after the elements that precede it, whichever are present in your server configuration file.

Use the following syntax to register all the destination types you will use for outputting reports:

<destination destype="output_type_1" class="java_class_1">
<property name="valid_destype_property" value="valid_value"/>
<property name="valid_destype_property" value="valid_value"/>
</destination>
<destination destype="output_type_2" class="java_class_2">
<property name="valid_destype_property" value="valid_value"/>
</destination>

The valid values for these tags are discussed in the following sections.

13.3.2 Entering Valid Values for a Destination

This section outlines the destinations supported by Oracle Reports.

13.3.2.1 Destination destypes and classes

The destype and class attributes are required for valid registration of a nondefault output type. They specify the destination types and their associated Java classes. The predefined (default) destination types and classes that come with Oracle Reports Services are listed in Table 13-1:

Table 13-1 Standard Destination Types and Classes

Destination
destype
Class

Oracle Portal content area

oraclePortal

oracle.reports.server.
DesOraclePortal

SMTP-compliant e-mail

mail

oracle.reports.server.DesMail

file

file

oracle.reports.server.DesFile

cache

cache

oracle.reports.server.DesCache

printer

printer

oracle.reports.server.DesPrint

FTP

ftp

oracle.reports.plugin.destination.ftp.DesFTP

WebDAV

WebDAV

oracle.reports.plugin.destination.webdav.DesWebDAV

See Also:

Section A.5.31, "DESTYPE" for examples of pushing a report using the oraclePortal destype.

You are not limited to the predefined destypes and classes provided with the server. You can register custom destination types, such as a fax, once you have defined a custom handler (through the Destinations API).

Note:

For more information on the available APIs for Oracle Reports, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

13.3.2.2 Destination Property name/value Pairs

The server configuration file allows the association of an unlimited number of properties with a registered destination. Destination properties consist of name/value pairs that define some aspect of an output type's configuration. They are expressed in terminology recognized by the destination type. For example, a destination with a destype of oraclePortal would recognize the name/value pair:

<property name="portalUserid" value="portal_id/portal_password@portal_schema"
encrypted="no"/>

This example defines the values to be associated with a portal user ID. It includes the encrypted attribute, which indicate that the values within this element should be encrypted; encrypted="no", which indicates that the values are not yet encrypted. The next time the Reports Server starts, it will automatically encrypt the values and reset encrypted to yes.

Note:

Elements and attributes allowable in server configuration file are determined by the syntax defined in the rwserverconf.xsd file (ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\rwserverconf.xsd). This is discussed in detail in Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services".

What is valid for a destination type's properties depends entirely on the destination type. These values do not come from Oracle Reports and are not put to use by the Reports Server. They come from the destination type itself and use terms the destination recognizes. It is up to the developer to understand the requirements of a custom destination and to know what properties to associate with a given custom output type.

When we begin to discuss distribution, you may note that within the distribution XML file, the destype element also allows for the use of property name/value pairs. It is important to make a distinction between properties entered for a destination element in the server configuration file and those entered for a destype element in the distribution XML file:

Properties entered for a destination element in the server configuration file should deal only with configuring an output type, for example setting an allowable number of retries for a destination fax.

Properties entered for a destype element in the distribution XML file should deal only with specifying a runtime parameter, for example the identity of the fax's intended recipient.

13.3.3 Example Destination

The following example illustrates a destination element for pushing content into Oracle Portal:

<destination destype="oraclePortal" class="oracle.reports.server.DesOraclePortal">
  <property name="portalUserid" value="<username_pwd_tnsname_for_logon_to_portal>"
     encrypted="yes"/>
</destination>

13.4 Submitting Reports to Pluggable Destinations from Oracle Forms Services

To submit requests to any Oracle Reports-registered pluggable destinations from Oracle Forms Services:

Create or install a pluggable destination for Reports Server (refer to the Oracle Reports Plugin Exchange on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) at http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/pluginxchange/index.html).

In Oracle Forms, create a form and set it up to run a report to Reports Server (refer to Integrating Oracle Reports in Oracle Forms Services white paper at http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/forms/pdf/10g/frm10gsrw10g.pdf).

The parameters to submit the request should be set as follows:

set_report_object_property(report_id, REPORT_DESTYPE, PLUGDEST);
...
set_report_object_property(report_id, REPORT_OTHER, 'PLUGDESTYPE=pluggable destination' );
...

Observe in Reports Server that the report output is sent to the pluggable destination.

When the PLUGDESTYPE parameter is specified, DESTYPE (in Oracle Reports) and REPORT_DESTYPE (in Oracle Forms) will be ignored and the value of PLUGDESTYPE will be used.

14 Configuring and Using the Pluggable Data sources

This chapter describes configuring and using several types of pluggable datasources:

Configuring and Using the JDBC PDS

Configuring and Using Text PDS

Configuring and Using XML PDS

14.1 Configuring and Using the JDBC PDS

The JDBC pluggable data source (PDS) enables you to access any JDBC data sources, such as:

An RDBMS like Oracle, DB2, Sybase, or SQL Server

A non-relational data source like Microsoft Excel

Any ODBC data source through the JDBC-ODBC bridge

The JDBC PDS is installed by default with Oracle Reports to allow access to all of the JDBC supported data sources.

This chapter contains the following sections:

JDBC Configuration File

Defining and Running a JDBC Query

Running a JDBC Report Using Oracle Reports Services

TroubleShooting Information

Adding Your Own JDBC Driver

14.1.1 JDBC Configuration File

The jdbcpds.conf file is the Oracle Reports JDBC PDS configuration file. It is located in the following directories:

For Reports Server:
ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name

For Oracle Reports Builder:
ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsToolsComponent\ReportsTools

For Reports Application (in-process Reports Server) deployed in Oracle WebLogic Server:
DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS_REPORTS/applications/reports_version/configuration

This file is preconfigured for the:

Pre-installed drivers; that is, Oracle JDBC Thin, Oracle JDBC OCI (thick), and JDBC-ODBC.

DataDirect Merant drivers available on Oracle Technology Network, (http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html).

You must add or modify relevant entries in the jdbcpds.conf file to include any other JDBC drivers that you want to use.

Oracle Reports Builder displays a list of drivers in the JDBC Query Connection dialog box based on the entries in the jdbcpds.conf file. Use this list to select specific drivers for your report's JDBC query.

Oracle Reports Builder reads and caches the entries in the jdbcpds.conf when it is invoked. Restart Oracle Reports Builder to view the result of any changes made to the jdbcpds.conf file, for example, adding a new JDBC driver entry.

The jdbcpds.conf file has two sections:

An Internal DTD section describing the XML format and driver configuration information

Caution:

This section should not be modified.

An XML section detailing the driver information like driver name, connect string format, driver class, and so on.

Note:

You can modify or add your driver information in this section.

Example

The following sample illustrates the contents of the jdbcpds.conf file:

  <!-- Add or modify the following section for your driver information -->
    <!-- Following drivers are available out-of-box in OracleAS -->

    <jdbcpds>
xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/reports/pdsjdbc"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.oracle.com/reports/pdsjdbc file:c:\orawin/reports/dtd/jdbcpds.xsd"
   >
     <driverInfo>
      <driver name = "oracleThin"
              sourceDatabase = "oracle"
              subProtocol = "oracle:thin"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol:@databaseName"
              class= "oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
              JDBCConnectionHandling">
      </driver>

      <driver name = "oracle"
              sourceDatabase = "oracle"
              subProtocol = "oracle:oci8"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol:@databaseName"
              class = "oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
              JDBCConnectionHandling">
      </driver>

      <driver name = "jdbc-odbc"
              sourceDatabase = "odbc"
              subProtocol = "odbc"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol:databaseName"
              class = "sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
              JDBCConnectionHandling">
      </driver>

      <driver name = "sqlserver-merant"
              sourceDatabase = "sqlserver"
              subProtocol = "merant:sqlserver"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName"
              class = "com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
              JDBCConnectionHandling">
      </driver>

      <driver name = "sybase-merant"
              sourceDatabase = "sybase"
              subProtocol = "merant:sybase"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName"
              class = "com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sybase.SybaseDriver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
              JDBCConnectionHandling"
              loginTimeout = "0">
      </driver>

      <driver name = "db2-merant"
              sourceDatabase = "db2"
              subProtocol = "merant:db2"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName"
              class = "com.oracle.ias.jdbc.db2.DB2Driver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
              JDBCConnectionHandling"
              loginTimeout = "0">
      </driver>

      <driver name = "informix-merant"
              sourceDatabase = "informix"
              subProtocol = "merant:informix"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName"
              class = "com.oracle.ias.jdbc.informix.InformixDriver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
               JDBCConnectionHandling">
      </driver>

  </driverInfo>
 </jdbcpds>

Table 14-1 outlines the various attributes that can be associated with a driver.

Table 14-1 Driver Attributes

Attribute Name
Description
Sample

name

A unique user-defined value used to refer to a specific JDBC driver in Oracle Reports.

sybase-merant

sourceDatabase

Database referenced by the driver. The valid entries are:

oracle

sqlserver

sybase

db2

informix

odbc

other

oracle

subProtocol

Driver sub protocol added with the database URL before creating a database connection. This is driver-specific information and can be found in the driver documentation. Example: The sub protocol used for connecting to the Merant driver:

Sybase is merant:sybase

SQL Server is merant:sqlserver

merant:sybase

connectString

Format of the driver's connect string format is mainProtocol:sub Protocol://databaseURL. For example, jdbc:subProtocol://databaseName. Do not specify the actual values for subProtocol or databaseName,use the fixed placeholder names instead.

mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName

class

Driver class name used to register to REPORTS_CLASSPATH and load the driver. This is driver-specific information and can be found in the driver documentation.

com.oracle.ias.jdbc.informix.InformixDriver

connection

Driver's connection handling class. The JDBC PDS can have different connection handling classes for each driver. Oracle Reports' default connection handling class, which is sufficient for most drivers, is oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.JDBCConnectionHandling

Refer to the Oracle Reports Java API Reference for more information on how to extend your JDBC Connection class

oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds. JDBCConnectionHandling

loginTimeout (Optional)

Driver-specific parameter. Specify the value in seconds. Please refer to the driver documentation for more information.

0

property

Specify any additional properties of your driver as Attribute Name and Value.

-

When you submit your report's connection details, the connection information is combined with the driver's configuration information specified in the jdbcpds.conf file. The resulting connection information is submitted to the database as a complete connection URL. Refer to Table 14-3, Table 14-4, Table 14-5, Table 14-6, and Table 14-7 for more information on sample connection information.

Figure 14-0 shows a list of all drivers configured in the jdbcpds.conf file.

Figure 14-1 JDBC Connect Dialog Box in Oracle Reports Builder

14.1.1.1 Verifying Pre-installed Driver Entries

Drivers like SQL Server and Excel with JDBC-ODBC, Oracle JDBC Thin, and Oracle JDBC OCI (thick) are installed and configured with Oracle Reports. These drivers do not require any additional JAR files to be installed.

Oracle JDBC Thin driver

Oracle JDBC OCI (thick) driver

JDBC-ODBC driver

You can use SQL Server / Excel with the JDBC-ODBC driver. This entry is preconfigured in the jdbcpds.conf file. Before you can use SQL Server or Excel with JDBC-ODBC, you must create an ODBC data source. Refer to Windows help, for more information on how to create an ODBC data source.

Note:

Oracle Fusion Middleware provides Merant DataDirect drivers which can also be used to access SQL Server.

14.1.1.2 Installing and Configuring Merant DataDirect Drivers

Oracle provides a set of Merant DataDirect drivers (Version 3.2) that can be downloaded from OTN (http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html). The driver configuration file; that is, jdbcpds.conf contains relevant entries for the Merant DataDirect drivers. Additionally, the JDBC Connect dialog (Table 14-1) lists the entries for the set of Merant DataDirect drivers provided by Oracle.

However, you must install the appropriate JAR files and specify them in Oracle Reports specific classpath entries, in order to make them available to Oracle Reports Builder and Oracle Reports Services

The drivers provided by Oracle for use with Oracle Fusion Middleware / Oracle Developer Suite are:

Sybase Driver

DB 2 Driver

SQL Server Driver

Informix Driver

Custom Driver

You can also install and configure a Custom Driver for use with Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Developer Suite.

The following procedure outlines the generic steps involved in configuring the Merant DataDirect drivers. To configure specific Merant DataDirect drivers refer to the appropriate sections.

To configure the Merant DataDirect drivers:

Install the relevant JAR files in your Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Developer Suite directory.

Include an entry in REPORTS_CLASSPATH to make the files available to Oracle Reports Builder and Oracle Reports Services.

Note:

The REPORTS_CLASSPATH variable is located in the reports.sh file for all UNIX platforms.

Refer to the relevant driver in this section for information on the required JAR files.

Oracle Reports Builder: Prefix the driver location to the existing entries in REPORTS_CLASSPATH.This variable is located in the registry for Windows users and in the reports.sh file for UNIX users. Refer to the relevant driver in this section for an example.

rwbuilder.conf: Append the driver location to the engine classPath attribute in the rwbuilder.conf configuration file. Refer to the relevant driver in this section for an example.

Reports Server: Append the driver location to the classPath attribute of the engine, in the Reports Server configuration file. Refer to the relevant driver in this section for an example

jdbcpds.conf: Located in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name directory. Refer to Table 14-1 for more information on the parameters. Refer to the relevant driver in this section for an example.

14.1.1.2.1 Sybase Driver

Install the relevant JAR files in your Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Developer Suite directory.

Jar files required: YMutil.jar, YMsybase.jar, and YMbase.jar.

Include an entry in the REPORTS_CLASSPATH to make the files available to Oracle Reports Builder and Oracle Reports Services.

Note:

The REPORTS_CLASSPATH variable is located in the reports.sh file for all UNIX platforms.

Oracle Reports Builder: Prefix the driver location to the existing entries in REPORTS_CLASSPATH.This variable is located in the registry for Windows users and in the reports.sh file for UNIX users.

Example:
D:\sybase_installed\YMutil.jar;D:\sybase_installed\YMsybase.jar;D:\sybase_
installed\YMbase.jar;existing classpath entries

rwbuilder.conf: Append the driver location to the engine classPath attribute in the rwbuilder.conf configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1"   minEngine="0" engLife="50" maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000"  classPath="D:\sybase_
installed\YMutil.jar;D:\sybase_installed\YMsybase.jar;D:\sybase_
installed\YMbase.jar;">
...
</engine>

Reports Server: Append the driver location to the classPath attribute of the engine in the Reports Server configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1"   minEngine="0" engLife="50" maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000"        classPath="D:\sybase_
installed\YMutil.jar;D:\sybase_installed\YMsybase.jar;D:\sybase_
installed\YMbase.jar;">
...
</engine>

jdbcpds.conf: Located in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name directory. Refer to Table 14-1 for more information on the required parameters.

Example:
<driver   name = "sybase-merant"
          sourceDatabase = "sybase"
              subProtocol = "merant:sybase"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName"
              class = "com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sybase.SybaseDriver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
              JDBCConnectionHandling"
              loginTimeout = "0">
 </driver>

14.1.1.2.2 DB 2 Driver

Install the relevant JAR files in your Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Developer Suite directory.

JAR files required: YMutil.jar, YMdb2.jar, and YMbase.jar

Include an entry in REPORTS_CLASSPATH to make the files available to Oracle Reports Builder and Oracle Reports Services.

Note:

The REPORTS_CLASSPATH variable is located in the reports.sh file for all UNIX platforms.

Oracle Reports Builder: Prefix the driver location to the existing entries in REPORTS_CLASSPATH. This variable is located in the registry for Windows users and in the reports.sh file for UNIX users.

Example:
D:\db2_installed\YMutil.jar;D:\db2_installed\YMdb2.jar;D:\db2_
installed\YMbase.jar;existing classpath entries

rwbuilder.conf: Append the driver location to the engine classPath attribute in the rwbuilder.conf configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50"        maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000" classPath="D:\db2_installed\YMutil.jar;D:\db2_
installed\YMdb2.jar;D:\db2_installed\YMbase.jar">
...
</engine>

Reports Server: Append the driver location to the classPath attribute of the engine in the Reports Server configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50"        maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000" classPath="D:\db2_installed\YMutil.jar;D:\db2_
installed\YMdb2.jar;D:\db2_installed\YMbase.jar">
...
</engine>

jdbcpds.conf: Located in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name directory. Refer to Table 14-1 for more information on the parameters.

Example:
<driver   name = "db2-merant"
              sourceDatabase = "db2"
              subProtocol = "merant:db2"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName"
              class = "com.oracle.ias.jdbc.db2.DB2Driver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
              JDBCConnectionHandling"
              loginTimeout = "0">
  </driver>

14.1.1.2.3 SQL Server Driver

Install the relevant .jar files in your Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Developer Suite directory.

Jar files required: YMutil.jar, YMsqlserver.jar, and YMbase.jar

Include an entry in the REPORTS_CLASSPATH to make the files available to Oracle Reports Builder and Oracle Reports Services.

Note:

The REPORTS_CLASSPATH variable is located in the reports.sh file for all UNIX platforms.

Oracle Reports Builder: Prefix the driver location to the existing entries in REPORTS_CLASSPATH.This variable is located in the registry for Windows users and in the reports.sh file for UNIX users.

Example:
D:\sqlserver_installed\YMutil.jar;D:\sqlserver_
installed\YMsqlserver.jar;D:\sqlserver_installed\YMbase.jar;existing
classpath entries

rwbuilder.conf: Append the driver location to the engine classPath attribute in the rwbuilder.conf configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50"        maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000" classPath="D:\sqlserver_
installed\YMutil.jar;D:\sqlserver_installed\YMsqlserver.jar;D:\sqlserver_
installed\YMbase.jar;">
...
</engine>

Reports Server: Append the driver location to the classPath attribute of the engine in the Reports Server configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50"        maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000" classPath="D:\sqlserver_
installed\YMutil.jar;D:\sqlserver_installed\YMsqlserver.jar;D:\sqlserver_
installed\YMbase.jar;">
...
</engine>

jdbcpds.conf: Located in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name directory. Refer to Table 14-1 for more information on the parameters.

Example:
<driver  name = "sqlserver-merant"
              sourceDatabase = "sqlserver"
              subProtocol = "merant:sqlserver"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName"
              class = "com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver"
              connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
              JDBCConnectionHandling">
</driver>

14.1.1.2.4 Informix Driver

Install the relevant JAR files in your Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Developer Suite directory.

JAR files required: YMutil.jar, YMinformix.jar, and YMbase.jar

Include an entry in the REPORTS_CLASSPATH to make the files available to Oracle Reports Builder and Oracle Reports Services.

Note:

The REPORTS_CLASSPATH variable is located in the reports.sh file for all UNIX platforms.

Oracle Reports Builder: Prefix the driver location to the existing entries in REPORTS_CLASSPATH.This variable is located in the registry for Windows users and in the reports.sh file for UNIX users.

Example:
D:\informix_installed\YMutil.jar;D:\informix_
installed\YMinformix.jar;D:\informix_installed\YMbase.jar;existing
classpath entries

rwbuilder.conf:Append the driver location to the engine classPath attribute in the rwbuilder.conf configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50"        maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000" classPath="D:\informix_
installed\YMutil.jar;D:\informix_installed\YMinformix.jar;D:\informix_
installed\YMbase.jar">
...
</engine>

Reports Server: Append the driver location to the classPath attribute of the engine in the Reports Server configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50"        maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000" classPath="D:\informix_
installed\YMutil.jar;D:\informix_installed\YMinformix.jar;D:\informix_
installed\YMbase.jar">
...
</engine>

jdbcpds.conf: Located in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name directory. Refer to Table 14-1 for more information on the parameters.

Example:
<driver name = "informix-merant"
sourceDatabase = "informix"
subProtocol = "merant:informix"
connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName"
class = "com.oracle.ias.jdbc.informix.InformixDriver"
connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.
JDBCConnectionHandling">
</driver>

14.1.1.2.5 Custom Driver

Any driver that is not provided by Oracle must be installed and configured. For example, you can use BEA JDBC drivers if you have license. To install and configure a custom driver, complete the following steps:

Install the relevant JAR files in your Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Developer Suite directory.

Include an entry in REPORTS_CLASSPATH to make the files available to Oracle Reports Builder and Oracle Reports Services.

Note:

The REPORTS_CLASSPATH variable is located in the reports.sh file for all UNIX platforms.

Jar files required: Refer to the relevant driver documentation.

Oracle Reports Builder: Prefix the driver location to the existing entries in REPORTS_CLASSPATH. This variable is located in the registry for Windows users and in the reports.sh file for UNIX users.

Example:
driver location\1st jar file;driver location\2nd jar file2;existing classpath entries

rwbuilder.conf: Append the driver location to the engine classPath attribute in the rwbuilder.conf configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50"        maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000" classPath="driver location\1st jar file;driver
location\2nd jar file;">
...
</engine>

Reports Server: Append the driver location to the classPath attribute of the engine in the Reports Server configuration file.

Example:
<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="1" minEngine="0" engLife="50"        maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="60000" classPath="driver location\1st jar file;driver
location\2nd jar file;">
...
</engine>

jdbcpds.conf: Located in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name directory. Add relevant driver configuration information to the jdbcpds.conf file. Refer to Table 14-1 for more information on the required parameters.

Example:
<driver  name = "<driver name>"
       sourceDatabase = "<sourceDatabase>"
              subProtocol = "<subProtocol>"
              connectString = "mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName"
              class = "<driver class name>"
              connection ="<connection handling class">
</driver>

Note:

This value can still be connection = "oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.JDBCConnectionHandling"for your custom drivers, if you do not want to implement a custom connection dialog

14.1.2 Defining and Running a JDBC Query

After configuring the relevant JDBC drivers, you can define and run a JDBC query using either SQL or a stored procedure.

To define a JDBC query:

Start Oracle Reports Builder.

Invoke the Reports Wizard.

Select the data source type as JDBC Query and click Next. For more information on how to work with the Report Wizard, refer to the Oracle Reports online Help.

Figure 14-2 Select a Data Source Type

In the Data Source Definition window, click Query Definition.

Define one of the following:

A SQL query:

SELECT * FROM DEPARTMENT;

A stored procedure:

Enter the complete call syntax of your database's stored procedure. For example:

TestProc(40)

For more information on the call syntax, refer to your database documentation.

JDBC PDS submits the calling statement to the driver as specified, to invoke the stored procedure.

Figure 14-3 Calling a stored procedure

Table 14-2 Specifying an Excel Data Source

Query (Single Worksheet)
Query (Muitiple Worksheets)

SELECT * FROM [SHEET1$] or SELECT COL1, COL2, ...COLn FROM [SHEET1$]

Where SHEET1$ is the name of a .xls file

Where the first worksheet row value is taken as a column name for the query

Note: If a value is not mentioned in any of the columns in the first row, then the default name is FcolumnNumber. For example, the 8th column will be F8, the ninth column will be F9, and so on.

SELECT * FROM [WORKSHEETNAME$]

Where [WORKSHEETNAME$] is the name of the worksheet

Where the first worksheet row is taken as a column name for the query

Note: If a value is not mentioned in any of the columns in the first row, then the default name is FcolumnNumber. For example, the 8th column will be F8, the ninth column will be F9, and so on.

Specify a sign-on parameter name. This sign-on parameter is associated with the connection information when run against a database. The default sign-on parameter name is P_JDBCPDS (see Section A.7.10, "P_JDBCPDS"):

Enter a new sign-on name and click Connect. Use this sign-on parameter to specify a database connection when you are running your report using Oracle Reports Services.

Enter the connection information (user name, password, and database name) for the driver type. Refer to Table 14-3, Table 14-4, Table 14-5, Table 14-6, and Table 14-7 for sample connection information.

Select the driver type. The driver list is displayed based on the values entered in the jdbcpds.conf file.

Click Connect to gain access to the database using the new sign-on. The connect string formed internally is a combination of:

The connectString driver attribute (Table 14-1) defined in the jdbcpds.conf file

The connection information supplied in the Connect dialog will be used to fill the database name portion of the connect string.

Click OK to execute the JDBC query.

The Reports Wizard displays the query description (Figure 14-4).

Figure 14-4 Query Description

Follow the steps in the wizard to define the layout and to run the report based on your JDBC query.

14.1.2.1 Sample Connection Information

Table 14-3, Table 14-4, Table 14-5, Table 14-6, Table 14-7,Table 14-8, and Table 14-9 lists sample connection information for use with:

Pre-installed drivers; that is, Oracle JDBC Thin, Oracle JDBC OCI (thick), and JDBC-ODBC.

DataDirect Merant drivers available on Oracle Technology Network, (http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html).

Table 14-3 Oracle Thin Driver

Property
Value

Username

Reports

Password

Welcome

Database

hostname: The TCP/IP address or TCP/IP host name of the server you are connecting to.

port: The TCP/IP port number.

property: The connection properties. Refer to the driver documentation for a list of connection properties and their valid values.

Example: server1.us.oracle.com:1300:session1

Table 14-4 Oracle Thick Driver

Property
Value

Username

Reports

Password

Welcome

Database

n123

where n123 is a tnsname entry in the tnsnames.ora file

Table 14-5 JDBC-ODBC Driver

Property
Value

Username

N/A

Password

This password is set at the time of establishing an ODBC connection.

Database

SQLSVR

where SQLSVR is the ODBC Data entry in the ODBC data source.

Table 14-6 Sybase

Property
Value

Username

Reports

Password

Welcome

Database

hostname: The TCP/IP address or TCP/IP host name of the server you are connecting to.

port: The number of the TCP/IP port.

Example: server1.us.oracle.com:1300

Table 14-7 DB2

Property
Value

Username

Reports

Password

Welcome

Database

hostname: The TCP/IP address or TCP/IP host name of the server you are connecting to.

port: The TCP/IP port number.

property: The connection properties. Refer to the driver documentation for a list of connection properties and their valid values.

Example1: server1:1654

Example2: server2:1721;PackageName=pkg1

Table 14-8 SQL Server

Property
Value

Username

Reports

Password

Welcome

Database

hostname: The TCP/IP address or TCP/IP host name of the server you are connecting to.

port: The TCP/IP port number.

Example1: server1:1654

Table 14-9 Informix

Property
Value

Username

Reports

Password

Welcome

Database

hostname: The TCP/IP address or TCP/IP host name of the server you are connecting to.

port: The TCP/IP port number.

InformixServer name: The Informix server name.

Database name: The database name you are connected to.

Example2: server_name:2003;InformixServer=myinformix_server;DatabaseName=scott/tiger@mydb

14.1.3 Running a JDBC Report Using Oracle Reports Services

When you run a report containing a JDBC query (Reports Server or rwrun engine), use the sign-on parameter to submit the connection information for the JDBC data source. This sign-on parameter is defined for your JDBC query in Reports Builder during design time.

For example, if your report has a JDBC query to a Sybase data source, a JDBC query to a DB2 data source, and a SQL query to an Oracle data source, then the request could be defined as:

http://your_ias_
server:port//reports/rwservlet?report=my.rdf&userid=user/pwd@oracledb
&desformat=pdf&destype=cache&p_sybasepds=sybaseuser/pw@sybasehost:port
&p_db2pds=db2user/pwd@db2host:port

where:

userid is the value for connecting the SQL query to the Oracle database. You need not specify the userid if your report does not have a SQL query or a REF CURSOR query.

p_sybasepds is the sign-on parameter associated with the Sybase JDBC query.

p_db2pds is the sign-on parameter associated with the DB2 JDBC query defined in the report at design time.

The default sign-on parameter name P_JDBCPDS will be used if you have not specified a name in the JDBC Query dialog box while designing the report in Reports Builder.

14.1.4 TroubleShooting Information

This section lists:

JDBC PDS error messages (Error Messages)

JDBC query troubleshooting (Trace Information).

14.1.4.1 Error Messages

Table 14-10, Table 14-11, and Table 14-12 lists troubleshooting information related to the JDBC PDS.

Table 14-10 Error Messages Related to the Database Connection

Error Message
Cause
Action

Connection class {0} can't be loaded

Invalid connection class specified in the jdbcpds.conf file for the selected driver.

Ensure that the driver connection class specified in the jdbcpds.conf file is both valid and available.

Failed to connect to the datasource

Invalid connection information.

Ensure the validity of the username, password, database, and driver type.

Invalid sign-on parameter {0}

Invalid sign-on parameter for the specified query or procedure.

Ensure the sign-on parameter is available and valid for the report's JDBC query type.

Invalid value is given to the sign-on parameter {0}

Invalid connect string for the specified sign-on parameter.

Ensure that the specified connect string for this sign-on parameter is valid for the selected driver.

Table 14-11 Error messages Related to Executing the Data Source

Error Message
Cause
Action

Reference parameter of type Date is not supported by JDBC driver used.

The driver used to connect to database does not support the Date data type as a reference parameter.

Use either:

The String data type as the reference parameter.

A different JDBC driver that supports the Date data type as a reference parameter.

Invalid lexical parameter {0} is used in the query

Invalid lexical parameter used in the query or procedure.

Ensure that the query or procedure uses valid lexical parameters. Create a new parameter if it is not available.

SQL Error:

SQL syntax error in the specified query or procedure.

Ensure that the syntax of the query or procedure is valid. Refer to the relevant data source's documentation.

Invalid query/procedure for the specified datasource.

Invalid query or procedure syntax.

Ensure that the syntax of the query or procedure is valid. Refer to the relevant data source's documentation.

Invalid reference parameter value

Invalid reference parameter value.

Verify that the reference column types and values are correct.

No query/procedure is entered.

The query or procedure text field is empty.

Enter a valid query or procedure in the text field.

Database URL:

Invalid database URL.

Verify the validity of the specified database name and the selected driver type.

Either the number of columns or the types of columns does not match the query definition

The data fetched does not match the number of columns or column types specified in the query definition.

Ensure that the number of columns and the column types match the query definition.

The column type {0} used in the query/procedure is not supported by Reports JDBC query.

This column type is not supported by the Oracle Reports JDBC query interface.

Ensure that only column types supported by the Oracle Reports JDBC query interface are used. Refer to the JDBC specification and Oracle Reports documentation for a list of all supported types.

Table 14-12 Isolating Driver / PDS Issues

Error Message
Cause
Action

The inline DTD section of the configuration file jdbcpds.conf has been modified.

The format of the inline DTD section in the jdbcpds.conf file has been altered.

If the DTD format is modified, ensure the validity of configuration file against the JDBC PDS requirement.

Line Number:

An error was found on the specified line of the jdbcpds.conf file.

Correct the error on the specified line.

Configuration file jdbcpds.conf is not found

The jdbcpds.conf file is not found under the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name directory.

Ensure that the jdbcpds.conf file is available in the file is available in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name directory.

Parsing error in the configuration file jdbcpds.conf. Number of errors:{0}

The XML section in the jdbcpds.conf file does not conform with its inline DTD.

Ensure that the XML section in the jdbcpds.conf file refers to the correct inline DTD.

No entry is present for the driver {0} in the jdbcpds.conf file.

The driver used in the query is not specified in the jdbcpds.conf file.

Ensure that the entry for the required driver along with the related driver information is in the jdbcpds.conf file.

14.1.4.2 Trace Information

Use the detailed trace information generated by Oracle Reports to debug your JDBC query.

Design time (building a JDBC query) and run time (running a JDBC query)

The trace information generated is helpful to find out the following:

Lexical and bind parameters.

Final connect string formed to connect to the driver.

Metadata information received from the driver.

Final query submitted to the database.

See Example 14-1 for sample design-time trace output.

See Example 14-2 for sample run-time trace output.

For more information on the location of the logging.xml file, see Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution"

Sample trace output

Example 14-1 Building a JDBC Query from JDBC Query Dialog

Connection handling trace showing final connect string
[2003/4/7 5:41:38:686] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): handleConnectButtonEvent : start
[2003/4/7 5:41:38:686] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): handleConnectButtonEvent : subProtocol :sybase-merant
[2003/4/7 5:41:38:686] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): handleConnectButtonEvent :
connection class :oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.JDBCConnectionHandling
[2003/4/7 5:41:38:696] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): handleConnectButtonEvent : combine
string :jdbc:merant:sybase://server1.us.oracle.com:1300
[2003/4/7 5:41:38:696] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : setJDBCQueryType: sybase
[2003/4/7 5:41:41:350] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCUIEventHandler : handleConnectEvent : Valid Connection
com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sybase.SybaseConnection@56fc16
[2003/4/7 5:41:41:350] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCUIEventHandler :
handleConnectEvent : END com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sybase.SybaseConnection@56fc16

Design time metadata of query
[2003/3/31 6:35:46:363] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCUIEventHandler : handleOKEvent : Serialize XML<jdbcpds DTDVersion="
1.0"><JDBCQuery>jdbcpdspkg.proc_with_param(1,2,3,4,5)</JDBCQuery><QueryDefinition>1</QueryDefinition><driverType>oracle
</driverType><connectionClass>oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.JDBCConnect
ionHandling</connectionClass><SignOnParameter>P_JDBCPDS</SignOnParameter><jdbcElements><elementname = "EMPNO"  type = "2"
typeName = "NUMBER"  columnSize = "4"  columnScale = "0" /><element name = "ENAME"
type = "12"   typeName ="VARCHAR2"  columnSize = "10"  columnScale = "0"
/><element name = "JOB"  type = "12"   typeName = "VARCHAR2"  columnSize = "9"
columnScale ="0" /><element name = "MGR"  type = "2"   typeName = "NUMBER"
columnSize = "4"  columnScale = "0" /><element name = "HIREDATE"  type = "93"
typeName = "DATE"  columnSize = "16"  columnScale = "0" /><element name = "SAL"
type = "2"   typeName = "NUMBER"  columnSize = "7"  columnScale= "2" /><element
name = "COMM"  type = "2"   typeName = "NUMBER"  columnSize = "7"  columnScale =
"2" /><element name = "DEPTNO"  type = "2" typeName = "NUMBER"  columnSize = "2"
columnScale = "0" /></jdbcElements><referenceColumns></referenceColumns></jdbcpds>
[2003/3/31 6:35:46:383] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCUIEventHandler :handleOKEvent
END

Example 14-2 Running a JDBC Query

[2003/3/18 5:45:17:707] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : startRuntime
method : START

Describing the JDBC Query:
[2003/3/18 5:45:17:707] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds):  JDBCDataSource : describe :  START
[2003/3/18 5:45:17:707] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds):  applyXML: Extract the Serilzed XML
containing Query Meta Data <jdbcpds DTDVersion=" 1.0"><JDBCQuery>select * from
emp</JDBCQuery><QueryDefinition>0</QueryDefinition><driverType>oracle</driverType>
<connectionClass>oracle.reports.plugin.datasource.jdbcpds.JDBCConnectionHandling</
connectionClass>...

ConnectionHandling At Runtime:
[2003/3/18 5:45:17:737] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : startRuntime :
Create a new connection and handle it
[2003/3/18 5:45:17:737] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds):  JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
handleConnection : START
[2003/3/18 5:45:17:778] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
handleConnection : set driver
[2003/3/18 5:45:17:778] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
handleConnection : Check if Connection for the sign on parameter is pooled
[2003/3/18 5:45:17:778] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource
:handleConnection :  connection available in pool
[2003/3/18 5:45:17:778] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): handleConnection : END
[2003/3/18 5:45:17:778] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : startRuntime : END

Runtime execution of jdbc query
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:836] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : execute : run Query
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:836] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase : START
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:836] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase: start Query stringto be submitted
jdbcpdspkg.proc_with_param(1,2,3,4,5)
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:836] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase : check connection
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:836] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase : QSource Id: 1
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:836] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource:
executeOracleProcedure:Start
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:836] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource:
executeOracleProcedure:Procedure to be submitted { call
jdbcpdspkg.proc_with_param(?,?,?,?,?,?) }
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:836] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource:
executeOracleProcedure:  Set parameters for the procedure call
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:836] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource:
executeOracleProcedure:  execute procedure
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:847] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : execute : query
execution over andresulset object is oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleResultSetImpl@751a9e
[2003/3/31 6:36:2:847] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : execute : END

Running Report trace with Result set info

2003/4/7 5:26:6:996] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : execute : replace
lexical columns withactual string for the query
[2003/4/7 5:26:6:996] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : execute : run Query
[2003/4/7 5:26:6:996] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase : START
[2003/4/7 5:26:6:996] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase: start Query stringto be submitted select * from reports
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:6] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase : check connection
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:6] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase : QSource Id: 4
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:6] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase : Query source is SQL query
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:6] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource:executeQuery
Start
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:6] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): executeQuery prepareStatement select *
from reports
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:6] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): executeQuery : bind parameters set for
the query
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:6] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): executeQuery : JDBC Query executed
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:387] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource :
getOutputFromDatabase : Query result  col 0  test col 1  10
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:387] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCExecuteQuerySource:executeQuery
Start
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:387] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): executeQuery prepareStatement select
* from reports
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:387] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): executeQuery : bind parameters set
for the query
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:387] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): executeQuery : JDBC Query executed
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:767] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : execute : query
execution over andresulset object is com.oracle.ias.jdbc.base.BaseResultSet@56c3cf
[2003/4/7 5:26:7:767] Debug 50103 (jdbcpds): JDBCDataSource : execute : END

14.1.5 Adding Your Own JDBC Driver

Note:

Oracle Reports exposes the PDS API and also contains a tutorial that describes in detail how to implement or customize your own PDS. For more information, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK), available on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK. Using this API, you can implement an unlimited number of PDSs to access any kind of data sources that you have.

The main tasks you must perform to add your JDBC PDS are:

Configuring the jdbcpds.conf File

Installing the Driver's JAR Files

14.1.5.1 Configuring the jdbcpds.conf File

For information on how to configure the jdbcpds.conf file, refer to Section 14.1.1, "JDBC Configuration File".

14.1.5.2 Installing the Driver's JAR Files

For information on how to install the driver's JAR files, refer to Section 14.1.1.2.5, "Custom Driver" .

14.2 Configuring and Using Text PDS

Text PDS is configured and available out-of-the-box for Oracle Reports.

14.2.1 Text Configuration File

The textpds.conf file is the Oracle Reports Text PDS configuration file which can be changed, added, or deleted. The file is located at the following directories:

For Reports Server:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name\textpdf.conf

For Oracle Reports Builder:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsToolsComponent\ReportsTools\textpdf.conf

For Reports Application (in-process Reports Server) deployed in Oracle WebLogic Server:
DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS_REPORTS/applications/reports_version/configuration

Example

The following example illustrates the contents of textpds.conf file:

<!--XML section.Please edit this section to give your file format information-->
<textPDS
    xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/reports/pdstext"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.oracle.com/reports/pdstext file:c:\orawin/reports/dtd/textpds.xsd"
    >

<!--Data definition for Apache Log file format-->
  <fileFormat  name = "Apache Log File" comment = "#" delimiter = "default"
               type ="variable" nullValue = "-">
    <columnInfo>
<column    name = "Remote Host"      type = "string" />
      <column    name = "Remote Log Name"  type = "string"/>
      <column    name = "Remote User"      type = "string"/>
      <column    name = "time"             type = "date"    cellWrapper = "\[]"
                 pattern = "dd/MMM/yyyy:hh:mm:ss zzz"/>
      <column    name = "Request"          type = "string"  cellWrapper = "&quot;"/>
      <column    name = "status"           type = "number"/>
      <column    name = "bytes"            type = "number"/>
    </columnInfo>
  </fileFormat>

<!--Data definition for Comma Delimited file format-->
 <fileFormat  name = "Example Variable Width Comma Delimited" comment = "#"
              delimiter = "," type = "variable">
     <columnInfo>
      <column    name = "var_cd_col1"     type = "string" />
      <column    name = "var_cd_col2"     type = "string"/>
      <column    name = "var_cd_col3"     type = "string"/>
     </columnInfo>
  </fileFormat>

  <!--Data definition for Fixed Width format-->
  <fileFormat  name = "Example Fixed Width Space Delimited" comment = "#"
               delimiter = ""  type = "fixed">
     <columnInfo>
      <column    name = "fw_sd_col1"     type = "string" startpos = "1"  width = "13"/>
      <column    name = "fw_sd_col2"     type = "number" startpos = "14" width = "10"/>
      <column    name = "fw_sd_col3"     type = "date"   startpos = "25" width = "10"/>
    </columnInfo>
 </fileFormat>
</textPDS>

Table 14-13 outlines the various values that can be associated with a File Formats.

Table 14-13 File Format Attributes

Attribute Name
Description

name

A File Format name, this name appears in the Data Definition drop down list

Comment

A Comment character, this will be used in the DataSource.

Delimiter

A Column Delimiter. The Data Source file contains data in rows. Each row has fields or tokens corresponding to the Columns specified in the configuration file. Each field or token will be separated by a Column delimiter (See cellWrapper)

type

A File Format Type which can be either a fixed or variable. In case of variable file format, the column width is variable. In case of fixed file format, the column width is fixed and is specified using the attributes startpos and width for each column.

nullValue

This is a null value character.

Table 14-14 outlines the various values that can be associated with a Column.

Table 14-14 Column Attributes

Attribute Name
Description

name

This is the name of the Column Heading

type

This is the Column Data type. There are three data types that are supported:

String

Number

Date

cell Wrapper

This is an optional attribute. If specified, this character will override the File Format delimiter for the column for which it is specified.

pattern

This is an optional attribute. Currently it is used only for date fields. It specifies the pattern in which date field is to be expected.

14.3 Configuring and Using XML PDS

XML PDS is configured and available out-of-the-box.

14.3.1 XML PDS Configuration File

The xmlpds.conf file is the Oracle Reports XML PDS configuration file. It is located at the following directories:

For Reports Server:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name

For Oracle Reports Builder:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsToolsComponent\ReportsTools

For Reports Application (in-process Reports Server) deployed in Oracle WebLogic Server:
DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS_REPORTS/applications/reports_version/configuration

Note:

The only parameter that can be changes is the columnLength. The default size of the column is 4000 bytes

Example

The following example illustrates the contents of xmlpds.conf file:

<xmlpds     xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/reports/pdsxml"   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"   xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.oracle.com/reports/pdsxml file:c:\orawin/reports/dtd/xmlpds.xsd"   >     <columnInfo>         <columnLength>4000</columnLength>     </columnInfo></xmlpds>

14.4 Specifying the encoding of an XML PDS Report

When you create a report against an XML data source, you must ensure that the encoding of the data source and its DTD matches the encoding of Reports Builder.

For example, when you create an XML report against a table encoded in a Japanese character set, the group element name is encoded in Japanese. To match the data source, you should encode the group's element name in the DTD in Japanese. The XML and DTD files can be in any encoding that supports Japanese, such as Shift_JIS, EUC-JP, or UTF-8.

If you do not match the XML data source and DTD encoding to the Reports Builder encoding, you will see the following error:

ERR-063001 xxx.dtd null

Note:

You will not see this error if you use a XML schema instead of a DTD.

To avoid this problem, ensure that both the XML data source and DTD for your XML report use the same encoding that you have in the character encoding part of the NLS_LANG environment variable in effect for your Reports Runtime.

For example, if NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS for your Reports Runtime, then both your XML data source and DTD should use Shift_JIS.

15 Securing Oracle Reports Services

The celebrated openness of the Internet brings with it concerns about controlling who has access to what confidential company information. Oracle Reports provides a number of security options that enable you to ensure that the appropriate users are getting important data in a secure fashion. This chapter contains the following sections:

Introduction to Oracle Reports Security

Out-of-the-Box Behavior

Authentication in Oracle Reports

Authorization in Oracle Reports

End-to-End Security Scenarios

Recommended Production Scenario for JPS-Based Security

Recommended Production Scenario for Portal-Based Security

Managing Users and Security Policies

Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory and Reassociating Reports

Forms and Reports Security Recommendations

Intermediate-level Security for Forms and Reports

Database Proxy Authentication

Oracle Portal-Based Security for Backward Compatibility

Security Interfaces

15.1 Introduction to Oracle Reports Security

This section introduces security features and concepts in Oracle Reports. It also describes the new security features introduced in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1).

This section discusses the following topics:

Overview

What's New in This Release?

Resources Protected

Credential Store

15.1.1 Overview

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) uses a standards-based Java EE security model through Oracle Platform Security Services. This provides a flexible, simple to administer security mechanism. It can be used with standalone Oracle Reports install or any Forms-Reports combination. The policy store and the identity store used for authentication and authorization can be standard JAZN-XML based or any LDAP server, including Oracle Internet Directory through JAZN-LDAP, providing flexibility.

Note:

JAZN-XML is an XML file which is configured by the user to use as an id store and/or policy store.

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) accomplishes authentication through Single Sign-On, Oracle Internet Directory, Embedded ID Store, and JAZN-XML File-based ID Store. For authorization, Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) supports Oracle Internet Directory, File-based, and Portal-based methods. In prior releases, Reports Server authentication was restricted to use only Oracle Internet Directory. If you want to revert to the security mechanism of prior releases, you can do so in Oracle Enterprise Manager, as described in Section 7.8.1.1, "Switching to Oracle Portal Security". If you want to use OracleAS Single Sign-On without implementing data source security or Oracle Portal, refer to Chapter 17, "Configuring and Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On".

Alternatively, you might have your own application for launching reports with its own login mechanism and user/group repository, or have your own mechanism for protecting data sources (for example, you might choose to use a different LDAP server to store user and group information). In this case, Oracle Reports Services provides interfaces that allow you to integrate it with these non-Oracle components, as described in Section 15.14, "Security Interfaces".

15.1.2 What's New in This Release?

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) uses Oracle Platform Security Services, enabling a new security mechanism that provides the features and functionality described in Table 15-1 (a subset of Table 1-1, "11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality"):

Table 15-1 11g Security Features vs. 10g Functionality

11g New Features
Equivalent 10g Functionality

A standards-based Java EE security model through Oracle Platform Security Services. This provides a flexible, simple to administer security mechanism.

For more information, see Section 15.1, "Introduction to Oracle Reports Security"

Reports Server authentication restricted to use only Oracle Internet Directory. Authorization of Reports Server required Oracle Portal-based security model (using Portal metadata repository for checking authorization).

Oracle Enterprise Manager advanced user interface. Administrators can use Oracle Enterprise Manager to more easily define and manage granular security policies for reports, directories, Web commands, and read/write access to directories.

For more information, see Section 7.8, "Securing Oracle Reports Services" in Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager"

Basic UI in Oracle Portal for defining the policies. Hard-coded Web command access to the Oracle Reports seeded roles. Access policies at file (report) level only, not folder level.

Read/write access to directories at Reports Server level. Administrators can control the input folders from which reports can be served and output folders to which the output of reports servers can be pushed. This ensures there is no security vulnerability.

For more information, see Section 15.4.6, "Defining Read/Write Access to Directories"

REPORT_RESTRICT_DIRECTORIES as an interim feature.

Database proxy authentication. Support for database authentication using proxy users:

Additional security through control of users that are allowed to connect to the database through Oracle Reports.

Scalability, through reuse of a single database connection.

Not Applicable

Security check for distribution destinations. Ability to define security policies for distribution jobs. For example, you can define a security policy that specifies report output may not be burst to ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format; if the distribution XML file specifies ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format, the attempt to generate a report to this output format displays an error.

No security check performed for destinations specified in the distribution XML file.

Security check for system parameters. A security check is performed for all system parameters, including those specified in the report definition as well as on the command line.

No security check performed for system parameters.

Security auditing. Audit authentication and authorization on the Reports Server.

Security for report output from Oracle Forms Services. With no configuration required, support for intermediate-level security even when Oracle Forms Services and Oracle Reports Services are not secured.

For more information, see Section 15.11, "Intermediate-level Security for Forms and Reports", Section 17.6, "Oracle Forms Services Security Considerations" and Section 18.8.2, "Generating Random and Non-Sequential Job IDs".

Anyone is able to see anyone else's report output by "guessing" the job ID based on sequential job ID assignment.

15.1.3 Resources Protected

Oracle Reports Services encompasses functionality for three main areas of security:

Application Security (that is, controlling access to the report application, where users launch report requests)

Resource Security (that is, controlling access to reports and Reports Servers)

Data Source Security (that is, for controlling access to a particular database)

15.1.3.1 Application Security

Generally, users must log on to an application or site (for example, your own corporate Web site, Oracle WebCenter Portal) from which they can access and run their reports. This launcher application is typically protected by some sort of login facility, such as OracleAS Single Sign-On. Once they successfully gain entry into the launcher application, resource security takes over and determines which reports and destinations a given user or group may request.

For application security, OracleAS Single Sign-On provides a single point of user log in and, optionally, data source security. In a typical configuration, the user logs on through OracleAS Single Sign-On to gain access to a report application, where they access and run their reports.

15.1.3.2 Resource Security

Resource security ensures that only authorized users or groups execute a specific report. It also keeps users or groups from accessing particular Reports Servers for the execution of the report. Certain servers might be reserved for a particular group of users, or may simply be inaccessible during certain times for maintenance activities.

Once it is determined that a user has the necessary privileges to execute a given report through the specified Reports Server to the specified destination, then the user's privileges to the data source accessed by the report must be ascertained.

Optionally, or for backward compatibility, you can configure Oracle Portal to provide resource security for reports and Reports Servers out of the box. In a typical configuration, the administrator or developer specifies which users and groups could access which reports and Reports Servers from Oracle Portal.

15.1.3.3 Data Source Security

Data source security defines the users or roles that can access the data within the given data source. A report might access multiple data sources and the current user must have privileges on all of the data sources accessed by the report in order to run it and view the output. The data source administrator (typically a DBA) grants access to data sources. Data source security must be established and in place prior to configuring your reports environment.

You can provide for data source security in two different ways with Oracle Reports Services:

You can associate data source connection information with a Single Sign-On user. In this case, the first time a user attempts to access the data source, Oracle Delegated Administration Services prompts them to create a resource for their data source connection. After the user creates this data source resource, OracleAS Single Sign-On associates it with the user in Oracle Internet Directory. Once the data source resource is associated with the Single Sign-On user, it becomes part of their Single Sign-On identity and they can access the data source without having to log in to it separately. This method has two key advantages. First, it enables each user to gain access to the data source through their Single Sign-On identity without having to login separately. Second, it enables a single report URL to be used by many users because the data source login information is stored with the user's identity and therefore does not have to be hard coded into the report's URL or a key mapping.

In your report URLs or key mappings, you can code AUTHID and the necessary connection parameters (for example, USERID,SSOCONN) for your report. This functionality is much the same as it was in previous releases of Oracle Reports Services. For a complete discussion of URL syntax, refer to Section 18.1, "The Reports URL Syntax". For a complete discussion of key mapping, refer to Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File".

See Also:

Section 17.3.3, "Enabling and Disabling Data Source Security"

Section 17.3.3.1, "SSOCONN"

15.1.4 Credential Store

A Credential Store is the repository of security data that certify the authority of entities used by Java 2, JavaEE and ADF applications. Applications can use the credential store, a single, consolidated service provider to store and manage the credentials securely.

A domain includes one credential store. Application-specific credentials are supported and migrated to credentials in the domain credential store when the application is deployed. Thus, all servers and all applications deployed in a domain use a common credential store, the domain credential store.

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) uses credential store to store a password as a key. You can also use the credential store to configure database connection information for jobStatusRepository and jobRepository elements.

For example:

Portal password is stored in the reports credential map with key in the following syntax:

"portalpasswd_DomainName_InstanceName"

Note:

You must create credentials under the Reports folder as the server accesses credentials from this folder in CSF.

15.1.4.1 Credential Types

Oracle Platform Security supports the following types of credentials according to the data they contain:

A password Credential encapsulates a user name and a password

A generic credential encapsulates any customized data or arbitrary token, such as a symmetric key.

In Credential Store Framework (CSF), a credential is uniquely identified by a map name and a key name. Typically, the map name corresponds with the name of an application and all credentials with the same map name define a logical group of credentials, such as the credentials used by the application. All map names in a credential store must be distinct. If the credential store is intended to be the repository of X.509 certificates, it is recommended the use of an Oracle Wallet or a Java keystore. The credential store does not allow the storage of end-user digital certificates.

Note:

CSF keys are stored in rwserver.conf and rwservlet.properties file.

For more information on how to manage credentials in a domain credential store through Oracle Enterprise Manager, see Section 7.8.8, "Managing Credentials".

For more information about Wallet-Based and LDAP-Based Credential Stores and Configuring the Credential Store, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide.

15.2 Out-of-the-Box Behavior

It is recommended that you specify information about Oracle Internet Directory while installing Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1). For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Quick Installation Guide for Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer.

If you specified Oracle Internet Directory information during the installation of Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), authentication based on Single Sign-On is enabled for both in-process servers and standalone servers. In addition, Portal-based security is enabled, so you can use Portal-based authorization if Portal is configured.

Note:

If you did not specify Oracle Internet Directory information during the installation of Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), no authentication is enabled. Therefore, both in-process servers and standalone servers are not secure.

15.3 Authentication in Oracle Reports

This section describes authentication features, tasks, and concepts that are specific to Oracle Reports.

It discusses the following topics:

OracleAS Single Sign-On Authentication

Non-SSO Authentication

Authentication Scenarios for JPS-Based Security

Authentication Scenario for Portal-Based Security

Authentication Methods

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) supports the following authentication methods:

OracleAS Singe Sign-On. For more information, see OracleAS Single Sign-On Authentication.

Non-SSO, including the following:

Oracle Internet Directory (rwsec, or JPS-OID configured)

Embedded ID store (in-process servers)

JAZN-XML File-Based ID store (standalone servers)

Note:

For more information about non-SSO authentication methods, see Non-SSO Authentication.

The following table summarizes the authentication methods for JPS-based security that Oracle Reports supports.

Table 15-2 Authentication Methods for JPS-Based Security

Type of Reports Server
Oracle Internet Directory
WebLogic ID Store
Single Sign-On
File-Based

In-process servers

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Standalone servers

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

The following table summarizes the authentication methods for Portal-based security that Oracle Reports supports.

Table 15-3 Authentication Methods for Portal-Based Security

Type of Reports Server
Authentication Based on Oracle Internet Directory
Single Sign-On

In-process servers

Yes

Yes

Standalone servers

Yes

Yes

15.3.1 OracleAS Single Sign-On Authentication

OracleAS Single Sign-On makes use of an encrypted cookie to track authenticated application users. When rwservlet receives a request to execute a report on a secured Reports Server, it queries the Oracle HTTP Server (through the getRemoteUser call) to determine whether the user has already logged on through OracleAS Single Sign-On (that is, a Single Sign-On cookie exists for the user):

If the user has logged on already (that is, the cookie exists), then rwservlet gets the user's identity from the Oracle HTTP Server.

If the user has not logged on already (that is, the cookie does not exist yet), then the Oracle HTTP Server redirects the user to OracleAS Single Sign-On, which prompts the user to login. Once the user is authenticated, the Single Sign-On cookie is created and the user is redirected back to rwservlet, which then proceeds as described in the previous bullet item.

15.3.1.1 Report Request Flow with Single Sign-On

In this scenario, a report request is sent to a secured Reports Server with Single Sign-On enabled.

Figure 15-1 Authentication Process with Single Sign-On

The following numbered steps map to the numbers in Figure 15-2:

User requests the report (through a URL).

The report request is made through one of the following methods:

The user chooses a link on a Web page or a bookmark that contains a URL that requests the report.

Note:

The URL may optionally contain or reference (that is, through the key map file) a Single Sign-On parameter (SSOCONN) with a value of the form:

key_name/data_source_type/parameter_name

In the case of an Oracle database, the Single Sign-On value would look something like the following:

mykey/OracleDB/userid

If you do not specify a data source type and parameter name, an Oracle database is assumed.

From within Oracle Portal (if configured), the user requests to run the report object (for example, clicks the Run link). The user must be logged into Oracle Portal and, consequently, OracleAS Single Sign-On. As part of its security, Oracle Portal validates that the user has the required security permissions to see the report object. For example, if the report object is on a page, the user must have appropriate privileges to see the page and the reports object. Otherwise, Oracle Portal will not display the page or the report object to the user.

Oracle HTTP Server routes the request to rwservlet deployed on Oracle WebLogic Server.

The URL redirects the user to either rwservlet or the JSP depending upon whether this report has been set to execute through rwservlet or a JSP.

rwservlet asks OracleAS Single Sign-On to authenticate the user.

OracleAS Single Sign-On server requests the user name and password.

Oracle HTTP Server displays the login page to the user, and the user provides user name and password.

User name and password are passed on to OracleAS Single Sign-On.

OracleAS Single Sign-On verifies the credentials with Oracle Internet Directory.

If the user is authenticated, OracleAS Single Sign-on server passes the "user authenticated" message to rwservlet.

If you used SSOCONN in your URL, rwservlet checks the Single Sign-On key against Oracle Internet Directory to see if it already has been mapped to a data source connection string (for example, scott/tiger@my_or_db).

If you used SSOCONN and Oracle Internet Directory already has a connection string associated with the key, then rwservlet uses that connection string for the data source connection of the report.

Note:

Because of this feature, many users can use the same report URL even if they all use different data source connection strings.

If you used SSOCONN but Oracle Internet Directory does not already contain a connection string for the key, the Oracle Delegated Administration Services Create Resource page displays for the user to enter their data source connection string. See Figure 15-3.

Oracle Delegated Administration Services stores the string in Oracle Internet Directory for future use and rwservlet uses the newly entered connection string for the data source connection string of the report.

Figure 15-2 Oracle Delegated Administration Services Create Resource

15.3.2 Non-SSO Authentication

If any of the non-SSO authentication methods is used (based on Oracle Internet Directory, File-based in case of JPS-based security, and Embedded ID store), then any user accessing a secured instance of the Reports Server is challenged to identify themselves by rwservlet or Reports clients through their own authentication mechanism.

Table 15-4 Non-SSO Authentication Methods

ID Store
Authentication

Oracle Internet Directory (rwsec, or JPS-OID configured)

Authentication against Oracle Internet Directory

Embedded ID store (in-process servers)

Authentication against embedded ID store of WebLogic Server

JAZN-XML File-based ID store (standalone servers)

Authentication against file-based ID store

Because the HTTP 1.0 protocol is stateless (that is, each call to the server is effectively independent of all others), users may want to authenticate themselves for each report request unless a cookie is maintained. To allow users to authenticate themselves only once per session, rwservlet has its own client-side cookie, the AUTHID cookie, in which it stores the required authentication information for the current session. Once the user is authenticated, an encrypted cookie is created in the browser to enable the user to submit multiple report jobs without re-authenticating for each request.

Note:

If you want to force users to authenticate themselves for a specific report, you can use the SHOWAUTH command line keyword. Alternatively, you can include a %S in the corresponding report entry in the key map file. This file is usually called cgicmd.dat and is located in $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/cgicmd.dat. %S forces users to enter their username and password each time the report is called. For more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File".

The AUTHID cookies are terminated when the user closes their browser session, but you should not rely strictly on this method of terminating the cookie. You should limit the lifetime of the cookie within a given session. For example, a user might log on and then go to lunch, leaving the browser session open. To minimize the potential for a security breach in this situation, the administrator may specify the COOKIEEXPIRE parameter as an attribute of the element cookie in the rwservlet.properties file.

For example, you can specify the cookie element in the rwservlet.properties file as follows:

<cookie cookieexpire="30" encryptionkey="reports"/>

When rwservlet receives a job request, it compares the time saved in the cookie with the current system time. If the time is longer than the number of minutes defined in the environment variable (for example, 30 minutes), the cookie is rejected and the user is challenged to provide authentication information.

See Also:

Section 8.3, "Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File" for more information about the COOKIEEXPIRE parameter and the rwservlet.properties file.

15.3.2.1 Report Request Flow with Non-SSO (Oracle Internet Directory-Based, File-Based, or Embedded ID Store)

In this scenario, the report request is sent to a secured Reports Server with Single Sign-On disabled. Non-SSO authentication methods include Oracle Internet Directory-based, File-based, and Embedded ID store. In this case, rwservlet or a JSP report might be called through the use of a bookmark or from an Oracle Portal component.

Figure 15-3 Authentication Process Without Single Sign-On

The following numbered steps map to the numbers in Figure 15-4:

User requests the report (through a URL).

The user must somehow gain access to the URL that launches the report request (for example, through a link on a Web page or a bookmark), and choose the URL.

Oracle HTTP Server routes the request to rwservlet deployed on Oracle WebLogic Server.

rwservlet asks for user credentials (that is, user name and password).

rwservlet checks for the AUTHID parameter in the URL or an existing Oracle Reports AUTHID cookie. If it finds the AUTHID parameter, it uses that to authenticate the user. If it does not find the AUTHID parameter, it looks for an existing Oracle Reports AUTHID cookie. (If the report is launched from Oracle Portal, AUTHID is added to the URL automatically.) If neither the AUTHID parameter nor an Oracle Reports AUTHID cookie is found, rwservlet sends the System Authentication page to the Oracle HTTP Server, to display to the user.

Oracle HTTP Server displays the login page to the user, and the user provides user name and password.

On the login page, the user must supply a user name and password. This information is stored in an Oracle Reports AUTHID cookie for future reference.

User name and password are passed on to rwservlet.

If only partial data source credentials are provided in the URL (for example, USERID=scott@orqa), the Database Authentication page displays with the partial credentials shown. The user must supply the remainder of the data source credentials before proceeding further. Note that you can control which Database Authentication page is used through the DBAUTH parameter in the rwservlet.properties file. If no data source credentials are provided, the Database Authentication page does not display and it is assumed the report does not require a data source.

See Also:

Section 8.3, "Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File" for more information about the DBAUTH parameter and the rwservlet.properties file.

The data source credentials are stored in an Oracle Reports USERID cookie for future reference. Note that pluggable data source (PDS) credentials are not stored in Oracle Reports USERID cookies.

rwservlet forwards user name and password to Reports Server.

rwservlet constructs a command line with the necessary information from the previous steps and passes it to Reports Server.

Reports Server authenticates the user (that is, verifies the user name and password) against the ID Store.

Reports Server validates the user credentials against the ID store (Oracle Internet Directory, embedded ID store or file-based Oracle Internet Directory). If the validation check fails for any reason, then an error condition is returned to the user and the process terminates.

15.3.3 Authentication Scenarios for JPS-Based Security

This section discusses the following authentication scenarios:

If Reports is using JPS security, JPS-OID for security policies, and an embedded ID store

If Reports is using JPS security and JPS-OID as ID store

Note:

By default, an in-process server uses the embedded ID store of Oracle WebLogic Server as the ID store and the system-jazn-data.xml file as the policy store. Standalone servers use the system-jazn-data.xml file as both ID store and policy store.

15.3.3.1 If Reports is using JPS security, JPS-OID for security policies, and an embedded ID store

It is recommended that you move users in your current ID store, such as embedded ID store, to Oracle Internet Directory, which is an LDAP-based ID store. Subsequently, you can map users to application roles. For information about moving users to Oracle Internet Directory, see the section "Migrating Identities Manually" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide. For information about mapping users to application roles, see Mapping Users to Application Roles.

15.3.3.2 If Reports is using JPS security and JPS-OID as ID store

You must map users in Oracle Internet Directory to the default application roles. For information about mapping users to application roles, see Mapping Users to Application Roles.

Note:

In the above authentication scenarios, if Single Sign-On is enabled, the Single Sign-On screen is displayed. If Single Sign-On is disabled, the Reports sysauth screen is displayed. In either case, users are authenticated against Oracle Internet Directory. If you have not moved your users to Oracle Internet Directory, then users are authenticated against the embedded ID store for in-process servers. For standalone servers, such users are authenticated against the file-based ID store.

15.3.4 Authentication Scenario for Portal-Based Security

If you are using Portal-based security, Oracle Internet Directory-based authentication is used.

You can map users to application roles. For information about mapping users to application roles, see Mapping Users to Application Roles.

Note:

In the above authentication scenarios, if Single Sign-On is enabled, the Single Sign-On screen is displayed. If Single Sign-On is disabled, the Reports sysauth screen is displayed. In either case, users are authenticated against Oracle Internet Directory.

15.4 Authorization in Oracle Reports

If you are using JPS-based security, you can use either Oracle Internet Directory or JAZN-XML method for authorization. If you are using Portal-based security, the Portal-based authorization is used.

In the case of JPS-based security, an in-process server uses system-jazn-data.xml as the policy store, by default. Hence, Reports policies are stored in system-jazn-data.xml under the reports application entry. Users are authorized based on this policy store. For standalone servers, all the policies are stored in the system-jazn-data.xml file and authorization is done against these policies.

Note:

The authorization process involves checking whether a particular user is in the ID store used by JPS. If Single Sign-On is used for authentication, Ensure that the same users are configured in the ID store used by JPS. Alternatively, ensure that JPS points to the ID store used by Single Sign-On. Otherwise, authorization does not work.

The following table summarizes the supported authorization methods if Oracle Reports uses JPS-based security.

Table 15-5 Authorization Methods for JPS-Based Security

Types of Report Server
Oracle Internet Directory
File Based

In-process

Yes

Yes

Standalone

Yes

Yes

If Portal-based security is configured, the following authorization methods are used.

Table 15-6 Authorization Method for Portal-Based Security

Types of Report Server
Authorization

In-process

Portal-based

Standalone

Portal-based

Note:

If Oracle Portal is configured to perform authorization, and the report request is launched from within Oracle Portal rather than rwservlet, Oracle Reports will similarly validate the user's privileges on the report before running it. Even for unauthenticated (PUBLIC) users viewing public pages, Oracle Reports Services verifies that the PUBLIC user account has appropriate privileges on the report.

15.4.1 Authorization Process

Authorization occurs after a user is authenticated using Single Sign-On or Non-SSO (Oracle Internet Directory-based, File-based in case of JPS-based security, and Embedded ID store) methods. Once the user is authenticated, the report request must go through the authorization process, as shown in Figure 15-4.

Figure 15-4 Authorization Process Flow

The following numbered steps map to the numbers in Figure 15-5:

Reports Server validates the user privileges against the policies defined in the Policy Store.

Reports Server validates the user privileges against the policies defined in Policy Store (JAZN-XML, LDAP, or Portal repository) by the user.

Reports Server checks whether the user has the necessary privileges to run the report on the parameters specified in the Policy Store. If the validation check fails for any reason, then an error condition is returned to the user and the process terminates.

Note:

If the user is executing rwservlet Web commands such as showjobs and getserverinfo, instead of executing a report, Reports Server verifies and authorizes the user based on Policy Store settings.

If the user is authorized to execute the report, Reports Server executes the report request and passes the report output to rwservlet.

Reports Server delegates the job to an engine that accesses the data source, retrieves the data, and formats the report.

Report output is passed to Oracle HTTP Server.

Report output is passed to the user.

The completed output is sent to the specified destination. Depending upon the destination, the output may be served back to the browser (as shown in Figure 15-5), sent to a printer, stored in a file for future reference, sent to an FTP server, and so on.

15.4.2 Additional Step When Using JPS for Authorization

Reports policies are granted to application roles. You must associate all users in your ID store (embedded ID store of Oracle WebLogic Server or an external Oracle Internet Directory) with one of the Reports application roles.

You must add the oracle.security.jps.enterprise.user.class property in the jps-config-jse.xml file.

In Enterprise Manager, you can complete this task as follows:

Navigate to the WebLogic Domain menu.

Choose Security > Application Roles.

The Application Roles page is displayed. In this page, you can map users to application roles.

Alternatively, you can complete this task by manually editing the $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/system-jazn-data.xml file. This step is required if you want to use JPS to authorize your users in Oracle Internet Directory.

Search for the "reports" application in the XML file and add a user in the members section. For example, to add a user called orcladmin, add:

<member>
<class>weblogic.security.principal.WLSUserImpl</class>
<name>orcladmin</name>
</member>

15.4.3 Defining Security Policies for Reports

Out-of-the-box, default users, roles, and permissions are already created. As administrator, you can specify the reports to which a particular user has access by defining a security policy for each report. In the security policy, you can also specify the server, destination name (desname), destination type (destype), and other parameters. The security policy is checked when the user provides the user name and password.

15.4.3.1 Defining Security Policies for JPS-Based Security

Refer to Section 7.8.2, "Defining Security Policies for Reports" to use Oracle Enterprise Manager to update the report security policies.

15.4.3.2 Defining Security Policies for Portal-Based Security

For Portal-based security, you can create a security policy in Oracle Portal. For more information, see the "Securing Oracle Portal" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Portal.

15.4.4 Defining Security Policies for Directories for JPS-Based Security

In certain cases, you will want to give a particular user access to multiple related reports. Rather than specify a security policy for each report, you can collect all the reports in a single directory, then specify a security policy for the directory. Again, the security policy is checked when the user provides the user name and password.

Refer to Section 7.8.3, "Defining Security Policies for Directories" to use Oracle Enterprise Manager to update the directory security policies.

15.4.5 Defining Security Policies for Web Commands for JPS-Based Security

You can also specify the Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) Web commands to which a particular user/role has access by creating security policies for each Web command. The security policy is checked when the user provides the user name and password.

Refer to Section 7.8.4, "Defining Security Policies for Web Commands" to use Oracle Enterprise Manager to update the Web command security policies.

15.4.6 Defining Read/Write Access to Directories

As administrator, you can specify read/write access for Reports Server, Reports Application (in-process Reports Server), or Oracle Reports Runtime to directories. This feature only checks whether the Reports Server, Reports Application (in-process Reports Server), or Oracle Reports Runtime is authorized to read from or write to a specified directory, and is unrelated to the security policies for users/roles, which check the user name and password.

Refer to Section 7.8.5, "Defining Read/Write Access to Directories" to use Oracle Enterprise Manager to specify the read/write permissions defined in the server configuration file (rwserver.conf) under the new optional element folderAccess.

15.4.7 Searching Application Policies in Enterprise Manager

Application policies are the authorization policies that an application uses for controlling access to its resources. You can enter search keyword for principals or permissions to query application security grants. You can use an application stripe to search if the application uses a stripe that is differerent from the name of the application.

To search for application policies in Enterprise Manager, complete the following steps:

Log in to Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Application home page.

From the Reports menu, select Security > Application Policies.

The Application Policies page is displayed.

Check the Select Application Stripe to Search option .

In the drop-down menu, select reports.

In the Principal field, enter the name of the principal.

In the Permissions field, enter the permissions.

Click the right arrow button to search application security grants.

15.4.8 Searching Application Roles in Enterprise Manager

Application roles are the roles used by security-aware applications that are specific to the application. These roles are seeded by applications in WebLogic Domain policy store when the applications are registered.

To search for application roles in Enterprise Manager, complete the following steps:

Log in to Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Application home page.

From the Reports menu, select Security > Application Roles.

The Application Roles page is displayed.

Check the Select Application Stripe to Search option .

In the drop-down menu, select reports.

In the Role Name field, enter the name of the application role to search.

Click the right arrow button to search application roles.

15.5 End-to-End Security Scenarios

This section describes end-to-end security scenarios that involve both authentication and authorization.

The following table describes JPS-based security scenarios.

Table 15-7 JPS-Based Security Scenarios

Security Scenario
Description

JPS-OID Authorization with Single-Sign-On Authentication for Reports Servlet

This scenario involves the following:

Single Sign-On for authentication

JPS-OID for authorization (policies)

To use this combination of authentication and authorization, complete the following steps:

Enable Single Sign-On. For more information, see Enabling and Disabling Single Sign-On.

Enable JPS-based security. On the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page in Enterprise Manager, select the Enable Security check box, and then select the Oracle Platform Security for Java option.

Ensure that all users that are present in the Oracle Internet Directory used by Single Sign-On are in the ID store used by JPS. Alternatively, configure JPS to point to the ID store used by Single Sign-On.

Add the following property in the jps-config-jse.xml file:

<property name="oracle.security.jps.enterprise.user.class" value="weblogic.security.principal.WLSUserImpl"/>

Configure JPS Oracle Internet Directory as a policy store. For more information, see Configuring an External Oracle Internet Directory as Policy Store When Using JPS-Based Security.

Create security policies. Refer to Section 7.8.2, "Defining Security Policies for Reports" to use Oracle Enterprise Manager to update the report security policies defined in Oracle Internet Directory.

Map users to application roles. For more information about mapping users to application roles, see Mapping Users to Application Roles.

JPS-OID Authorization with JPS-OID as ID Store for Other Reports Clients

This scenario involves the following:

JPS-OID for authentication

JPS-OID for authorization (policies)

To use this combination of authentication and authorization, complete the following steps:

Enable JPS-based security. On the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page in Enterprise Manager, select the Enable Security check box, and then select the Oracle Platform Security for Java option.

Add the following property in the jps-config-jse.xml file:

<property name="oracle.security.jps.enterprise.user.class" value="weblogic.security.principal.WLSUserImpl"/>

Configure JPS-OID as an ID store. For more information, see Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory as ID Store When Using JPS-Based Security.

Configure JPS-OID as a policy store. For more information, see Configuring an External Oracle Internet Directory as Policy Store When Using JPS-Based Security.

Create security policies. Refer to Section 7.8.2, "Defining Security Policies for Reports" to use Oracle Enterprise Manager to update the report security policies defined in Oracle Internet Directory.

Map users to application roles. For more information about mapping users to application roles, see Mapping Users to Application Roles.

JAZN-XML Authorization with Single Sign-On Authentication for Reports Servlet

This scenario involves the following:

Single Sign-On for authentication

JAZN-XML for authorization (policies)

To use this combination of authentication and authorization, complete the following steps:

Enable Single Sign-On. For more information, see Enabling and Disabling Single Sign-On.

Enable JPS-based security. On the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page in Enterprise Manager, select the Enable Security check box, and then select the Oracle Platform Security for Java option.

Ensure that all users that are present in the Oracle Internet Directory used by Single Sign-On are in the ID store used by JPS. Alternatively, configure JPS to point to the ID store used by Single Sign-On.

Add the following property in the jps-config-jse.xml file:

<property name="oracle.security.jps.enterprise.user.class" value="weblogic.security.principal.WLSUserImpl"/>

Create security policies. Refer to Section 7.8.2, "Defining Security Policies for Reports".

Map users to application roles. For more information about mapping users to application roles, see Mapping Users to Application Roles.

If the system-jazn-data.xml file is used as the policy store, search for the "reports" application in the system-jazn-data.xml file. To use JPS to authorize users in Oracle Internet Directory, add the corresponding users in the member section of the system-jazn-data.xml file. For more information, see Section 15.4.2, "Additional Step When Using JPS for Authorization".

JAZN-XML Authorization with JPS-OID Authentication for Other Reports Clients

This scenario involves the following:

JPS-OID for authentication

JAZN-XML for authorization (policies)

To use this combination of authentication and authorization, complete the following steps:

Enable JPS-based security. On the Reports Server Advanced Configuration page in Enterprise Manager, select the Enable Security check box, and then select the Oracle Platform Security for Java option.

Add the following property in the jps-config-jse.xml file:

<property name="oracle.security.jps.enterprise.user.class" value="weblogic.security.principal.WLSUserImpl"/>

Configure JPS-OID as an ID store. For more information, see Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory as ID Store When Using JPS-Based Security.

Create security policies. Refer to Section 7.8.2, "Defining Security Policies for Reports" to update the report security policies defined in Oracle Internet Directory.

Map users to application roles. For more information about mapping users to application roles, see Mapping Users to Application Roles.

If the system-jazn-data.xml file is used as the policy store, search for the "reports" application in the system-jazn-data.xml file. To use JPS to authorize users in Oracle Internet Directory, add the corresponding users in the member section of the system-jazn-data.xml. For more information, see Section 15.4.2, "Additional Step When Using JPS for Authorization".

The following table describes Portal-based security scenarios.

Table 15-8 Portal-Based Security Scenarios

Security Scenario
Description

Portal-Based Authorization with Single-Sign-On Authentication for Reports Servlet

This scenario involves the following:

Single Sign-On for authentication

Portal-based authorization (policies)

To use this combination of authentication and authorization, complete the following steps:

Enable Single Sign-On. For more information, see Enabling and Disabling Single Sign-On.

Ensure that Portal-based security is enabled. If you have enabled JPS-based security, switch to Portal-based security. In the Advanced Configuration Page in Enterprise Manager, select the Enable Security check box and then the Security features available through Oracle Portal option under the Reports Security section.

Create security policies in Oracle Portal. For more information about creating security policies in Oracle Portal, see the Securing Oracle Portal chapter in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Portal.

Map users to application roles. For more information about mapping users to application roles, see Section 16.1, "Creating Reports Users and Named Groups"

Portal-Based Authorization with Oracle Internet Directory as ID Store for Other Reports Clients

This scenario involves the following:

Oracle Internet Directory for authentication

Portal-based for authorization (policies)

To use this combination of authentication and authorization, complete the following steps:

Configure Oracle Internet Directory as an ID store. For more information, see Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory as ID Store.

Ensure that Portal-based security is enabled. If you have enabled JPS-based security, switch to Portal-based security. In the Advanced Configuration Page in Enterprise Manager, select the Enable Security check box and then the Security features available through Oracle Portal option under the Reports Security section.

Create security policies in Oracle Portal. For more information about creating security policies in Oracle Portal, see the Securing Oracle Portal chapter in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Portal.

Map users to application roles. For more information about mapping users to application roles, see Section 16.1, "Creating Reports Users and Named Groups"

15.6 Recommended Production Scenario for JPS-Based Security

For JPS-based security, the following production scenario is recommended:

For authentication, Oracle Internet Directory as ID store, or Single Sign-On

Oracle Internet Directory as Policy store for authorization

If you are not using Single Sign-On, use Oracle Internet Directory for authentication.

15.7 Recommended Production Scenario for Portal-Based Security

For Portal-based security, the following production scenario is recommended:

Oracle Internet Directory as ID store for authentication, or Single Sign-On

Portal-based authorization

If you are not using Single Sign-On, use Oracle Internet Directory for authentication.

15.8 Managing Users and Security Policies

This section describes how to manage users and security policies for in-process servers and standalone servers.

It discusses the following topics:

Adding Users to WebLogic Embedded ID Store for In-Process Servers

Adding Policies to Policy Store for In-Process Servers

Mapping Users to Application Roles

Adding Users to system-jazn-data.xml for Standalone Servers

Adding Policies to Policy Store for Standalone Servers

15.8.1 Adding Users to WebLogic Embedded ID Store for In-Process Servers

To add users to the ID store for an in-process server, complete the following steps:

Navigate to the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

From the Domain Structure window on the left pane of the console, select Security Realms > myrealm.

The Settings for myrealm page is displayed.

Click the Users and Groups tab.

Click New to add users.

The User Properties page is displayed.

Enter the parameters, and select the DefaultAuthenticator from the Provider drop-down list.

Click OK.

15.8.2 Adding Policies to Policy Store for In-Process Servers

To add policies to the policy store for an in-process server, complete the following steps:

Log in to Enterprise Manager

Navigate to the Reports Application home page.

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Manage Reports Security Policies.

The Security Policy Configuration page is displayed.

Click Create to add or edit Reports policies, Web command policies or both.

The Security Configuration for Reports page is displayed.

Enter appropriate values in the Security Configuration for Reports page.

Click OK

For more information about security policies, see Section 7.8.2, "Defining Security Policies for Reports".

15.8.3 Mapping Users to Application Roles

After configuring the users, you must map users present in the ID store to one or more application roles. You can configure an application role for an in-process server either through Oracle Enterprise Manager or manually.

In Enterprise Manager, you can complete this task as follows:

Navigate to the WebLogic Domain menu.

Choose Security > Application Roles.

The Application Roles page is displayed. In this page, you can map users to application roles.

If the system-jazn-data.xml file is used as the policy store, you can add the following under the reports entry in the system-jazn-data.xml file to configure users to application roles manually:

<app-role>
   <name>rw_administrator</name>
   <display-name>Reports Administrator</display-name>
   <class>oracle.security.jps.service.policystore.ApplicationRole</class>
   <members>
      <member>
      <class>weblogic.security.principal.WLSUserImpl</class>
      <name>weblogic</name>
     </member>
   </members>
</app-role>

For a sample system-jazn-data.xml file, see Sample system-jazn-data.xml File

15.8.4 Adding Users to system-jazn-data.xml for Standalone Servers

If the system-jazn-data.xml file is used as the ID store, you can users to ID store for a standalone server by completing the following steps:

Add users to the system-jazn-data.xml file by replacing <jazn-realm/> with the following:

<jazn-realm>
   <realm>
     <name>jazn.com</name>
       <users>
         <user>
           <name><weblogic</name>
             <credentials>!passwd</credentials>
          </user>
         </users>
     </realm>
   </jazn-realm>

For a sample system-jazn-data.xml file, see Sample system-jazn-data.xml File

15.8.5 Adding Policies to Policy Store for Standalone Servers

You can add policies to a policy store for a standalone server through Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to your Reports Application home page.

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Manage Security Policies.

Click Create to add reports and web command policies.

Assign roles to the application policies.

Click OK.

For more information about security policies, see Section 7.8.2, "Defining Security Policies for Reports".

15.9 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory and Reassociating Reports

This section describes how to configure external Oracle Internet Directory for in-process servers and standalone servers and to reassociate Reports with Oracle Internet Directory and another Portal.

It discusses the following topics:

Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for In-Process Servers

Reassociating Reports with Oracle Internet Directory

Reassociating Oracle Reports to Oracle Portal

Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for Standalone Servers

15.9.1 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for In-Process Servers

You can migrate from the default embedded ID store of WebLogic Server to an external Oracle Internet Directory to configure the ID store and Policy store settings. Note that configuration of an external Oracle Internet Directory is a post-installation procedure.

15.9.1.1 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory as ID Store When Using JPS-Based Security

If you are using JPS-based security, you can configure an external Oracle Internet Directory as ID store through the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console.

To configure an external Oracle Internet Directory as an ID store through Oracle WebLogic Server, complete the following steps:

Navigate to the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

From the Domain Structure window, select Security Realms.

The Summary of Security Realms page is displayed.

Select a Realm from the Realms table.

From the settings for the realm page, click the Providers tab.

Select New from the list of Authentication Providers.

Enter a name in the Name field. From the Type drop-down list, select OracleInternetDirectoryAuthenticator, and click OK.

Select the new authenticator, and set the Control Flag to Sufficient.

Select the Provider Specific tab, and enter valid values in the appropriate fields.

Select the default Authenticator and set the Control Flag to OPTIONAL.

Click Save.

Restart the Admin Server.

Select the Security Realm > Users and Groups. Ensure that all users of external Oracle Internet Directory are seen on this page.

Now, users trying to access the in-process servers are authenticated based on the users specified in the external Oracle Internet Directory.

15.9.1.2 Configuring an External Oracle Internet Directory as Policy Store When Using JPS-Based Security

If you are using JPS-based security, you can configure an external Oracle Internet Directory as policy store though Oracle Enterprise Manager.

To configure the policy store in Oracle Enterprise Manager, complete the following steps:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the WebLogic domain.

From the WebLogic Domain menu, select Security > Security Provider Configuration.

Click Configure.

Provide the Oracle Internet Directory and JPS root node details and click OK.

Note:

If the JPS root node does not exist on Oracle Internet Directory, you must create it. For more information, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Internet Directory.

The policies configured in the system-jazn-data.xml file are migrated to the external Oracle Internet Directory.

15.9.2 Reassociating Reports with Oracle Internet Directory

If you have configured an external Oracle Internet Directory, you must reassociate Reports to map to the new Oracle Internet Directory.

To map Reports to associate with the new Oracle Internet Directory using Oracle Enterprise Manager, complete the following steps:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to your Reports Application home page.

From Reports menu select Administration > Reports OID Association.

The Reports OID Association Details Page is displayed.

Click the Associate tab.

Specify the Oracle Internet Directory Host, Oracle Internet Directory Port, Username and Password.

Click OK.

Note:

Associating or deassociating Oracle Internet Directory affects all the Reports components associated with that particular Oracle Instance home. If Reports components are associated with different Oracle Instance homes, you must associate or deassociate Oracle Internet Directory individually for each Oracle Instance home.

15.9.3 Reassociating Oracle Reports to Oracle Portal

Ensure that you have associated Reports with the Oracle Internet Directory. To reassociate Oracle Reports to new Oracle Portal, complete the following steps:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the WebLogic Domain Home page.

From the WebLogic Domain menu, select Security > Credentials.

Add Portal Credentials in the Credential Store.

Add a new key value pair in the reports map. For example, add a key as hrportalPasswdKey and key value as the portal schema password.

For more information, see Section 7.8.8, "Managing Credentials".

Navigate to the Reports Server home page.

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Server Advanced Configuration page is displayed.

In the Portal Information section, enter valid values for Portal Connection, Portal Username, and Portal Password Key.

Click Apply.

Note:

Reassociating Oracle Reports to Oracle Portal affects only the particular server on which the changes are made. You must repeat the procedure to reassociate each Reports server in the Oracle Instance home to an Oracle Portal.

15.9.4 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for Standalone Servers

You can migrate from the default ID store (JAZN-XML) to an external Oracle Internet Directory to configure the ID store and Policy store settings. Note that the configuration of an external Oracle Internet Directory is a post-installation step.

To configure an external Oracle Internet Directory as an ID store or policy store, you must modify the $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/jps-config-jse.xml file manually.

15.9.4.1 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory as ID Store

To configure an external Oracle Internet Directory as an ID store, modify the $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/jps-config-jse.xml file as described in the following procedure.

Note:

This is just an example. You must replace the example values provided in the entries with your install-specific values.

Under <jpsContext name="default">, add the following:

<serviceInstanceRef ref="idstore.oid"/>

Comment out the following:

<!--serviceInstanceRef ref="idstore.xml"/-->

Under <serviceInstances>, add the following entries:

<serviceInstance name="idstore.oid" provider="idstore.ldap.provider">
             <property name="subscriber.name"
 value="dc=us,dc=abc,dc=com"/>
             <property name="idstore.type" value="OID"/>
             <property name="cleartext.ldap.credentials"
 value="cn=password"/>
             <property name="ldap.url"
 value="ldap://abc.us.com:389"/>
             <extendedProperty>
                 <name>user.search.bases</name>
                 <values>
                    <value>cn=users,dc=us,dc=abc,dc=com</value>
                 </values>
             </extendedProperty>
             <extendedProperty>
                 <name>group.search.bases</name>
                 <values>
                   <value>cn=groups,dc=us,dc=abc,dc=com</value>
                 </values>
             </extendedProperty>
             <property name="username.attr" value="uid"/>
             <propperty name="groupname.attr" value="cn"/>
  </serviceInstance>

Under < serviceProviders>, add the following:

<serviceProvider type="IDENTITY_STORE" name="idstore.ldap.provider"
 class="oracle.security.jps.internal.idstore.ldap.LdapIdentityStoreProvider">
        </serviceProvider>
             <description>Prototype LDAP-based ID store</description>

15.9.4.2 Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory as Policy Store

To configure an external Oracle Internet Directory as a policy store, modify the $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/jps-config-jse.xml file as described in the following procedure.

Note:

This is just an example. You must replace the example values provided in the entries with your install-specific values.

Under <jpsContext name="default"> add the following:

<serviceInstanceRef ref="policystore.ldap"/>

Comment out the following:

 <!--serviceInstanceRef ref="policystore.xml"/-->

Under <serviceInstances>, add the following:

<serviceInstance provider="ldap.policystore.provider" name="policystore.ldap">
            <property value="OID" name="policystore.type"/>
            <property name="security.principal" value="cn=orcladmin" />
            <property name="security.credential" value="password" />
            <property value="cn=PRDomain" name="oracle.security.jps.farm.name"/>
            <property value="cn=sta796_sa_root" name="oracle.security.jps.ldap.root.name"/>
            <property value="ldap://abc.us.com:389" name="ldap.url"/>
        </serviceInstance>

Under <serviceProviders>, add the following:

<serviceProvider type="POLICY_STORE" name="ldap.policystore.provider"
 class="oracle.security.jps.internal.policystore.ldap.LdapPolicyStoreProvider">
             <description>Prototype LDAP-based ID store</description>
        </serviceProvider>

Save and restart WLS_REPORTS.

15.10 Forms and Reports Security Recommendations

The following security model is recommended for applications using Reports and Forms.

If Reports is Using Portal-Based Security

It is recommended that Forms and Reports are associated to same Oracle Internet Directory.

For more information see, Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for In-Process Servers, and Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for Standalone Servers

It is recommended that you enable Single Sign-On

Perform the following steps to enable Single Sign-On:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Application page.

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Application Advanced Configuration page is displayed.

From the Reports Security window, select the Enable Single Sign-On check box.

Click Apply.

If Reports is using JAZN security

If Reports is using JPS-based security, by default, an in-process server uses the embedded ID store of WebLogic Server as the ID store and an XML-based Policy store. A standalone server uses JAZN-XML. Forms uses Oracle Internet Directory based authentication for security. In this scenario:

It is recommended that you configure Reports to use Oracle Internet Directory-based ID store. Forms and Reports should use the same Oracle Internet Directory.

For more information about configuring external Oracle Internet Directory, see, Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for In-Process Servers, and Configuring External Oracle Internet Directory for Standalone Servers

It is recommended that you migrate reports policies from JAZN-XML to JAZN-OID. Forms and Reports should use the same Oracle Internet Directory.

It is recommended that you enable Single Sign-On

Perform the following steps to enable Single Sign-On:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to the Reports Application page.

From the Reports menu, select Administration > Advanced Configuration.

The Reports Application Advanced Configuration page is displayed.

From the Reports Security window, select the Enable Single Sign-On check box.

Click Apply.

15.11 Intermediate-level Security for Forms and Reports

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides new security measures for reports run from Oracle Forms Services in non-secure mode:

Oracle Reports allows you to generate random and non-sequential job IDs to make it impossible to predict the job ID for a particular job. For more information, see Section 18.8.2, "Generating Random and Non-Sequential Job IDs".

Prior to 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Oracle Reports generated sequential job IDs, making it easy to predict the job ID. This meant that unauthorized or malicious users could potentially view the job output using GETJOBID through rwservlet to obtain job output that belongs to another user.

Web commands (rwservlet keywords) are now categorized for added security:

End user Web commands: GETJOBID, KILLJOBID, SHOWAUTH, SHOWJOBID

Administrator Web commands: DELAUTH, GETSERVERINFO, KILLENGINE, PARSEQUERY, SHOWENV, SHOWJOBS, SHOWMAP, SHOWMYJOBS. AUTHID is required to run administrator commands

L0: no Web commands allowed.

L1: only end user Web commands allowed (GETJOBID, KILLJOBID, SHOWAUTH, SHOWJOBID).

L2: administrator Web commands (DELAUTH, GETSERVERINFO, KILLENGINE, PARSEQUERY, SHOWENV, SHOWJOBS, SHOWMAP, SHOWMYJOBS) are also allowed. AUTHID is required to run administrator commands.

NO (for backward compatibility with DIAGNOSTIC=NO in 10g rwservlet.properties). No Web commands allowed.

YES (for backward compatibility with DIAGNOSTIC=YES in 10g rwservlet.properties). Administrator Web commands (DELAUTH, GETSERVERINFO, KILLENGINE, PARSEQUERY, SHOWENV, SHOWJOBS, SHOWMAP, SHOWMYJOBS) are also allowed. AUTHID is required to run administrator commands.

Note:

For L2 Web command access, you do not need to pass the authid. The authid parameter is required only for the STOPSERVER command irrespective of the webcommandaccess value.

Administrators are allowed to run both end user and administrator Web commands. For a non-secure Reports Server, the user ID and password for administrators can be set in the identifier element of the Reports Server configuration file.

The new webcommandaccess parameter in the Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) configuration file (rwservlet.properties) defines access levels for executing rwservlet keywords (Web commands). These values can be set using Oracle Enterprise Manager, as described in Section 7.8.4, "Defining Security Policies for Web Commands".

15.12 Database Proxy Authentication

Oracle Reports11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides support for database authentication using proxy users:

Additional security through control of users that are allowed to connect to the database through Oracle Reports.

Scalability, through reuse of a single database connection.

You can use the pre-11g security mechanism of Oracle Internet Directory integration for authentication without using Oracle Platform Security Services in either of the following ways:

15.12.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

In Oracle Enterprise Manager, select Reports > Administration > Manage Reports Security Policies to display the Reports Security Policies page.

15.12.2 Using DAS and Editing the Server Configuration File

Step 1. Using Delegated Administration Service (DAS)

To define a user in Oracle Internet Directory:

Determine the configuration values of Oracle Internet Directory for application identity store. For example:

host:port: stbpo44.oracle.com:3060
user name: cn=orcladmin
password: welcome1

Use the DAS URL if you want to add new users or use the existing users on Oracle Internet Directory. For example

http://stbpo44.oracle.com:7788/oiddas

Step 2. Configure the standalone Report Server to use the RWSecurity to enable the non-Oracle Platform Security Services way of using Oracle Internet Directory (as in 10g Release 2 (10.1.2)).

Navigate to the Reports Server component.

Check out rwserver.conf.

Enable the RWSecurity element.

Make sure that the security id for the job element reflects the security id of the RWSecurity element.

Save rwserver.conf.

Add the following line in rwservlet.properties:

<singlesignon>no</singlesignon>

Restart the Reports Server component (see Chapter 6, "Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Services").

Test authentication using the following URL:

http://host:port/reports/rwservlet/showjobs?server=reports_server_name

15.12.3 Configuring Proxy User Authentication in the Database

You can configure proxy user authentication in the database as follows:

Create a proxy user in the database. All clients connecting to the middle tier share this user connection.

Run the following:

CREATE USER proxy_user1 IDENTIFIED BY welcome1;

Assign the following minimum privileges to proxy_user1:

GRANT CONNECT, RESOURCE, CREATE ANY DIRECTORY, DROP ANY DIRECTORY TO proxy_user1

The actual user already exists in the database.

Log in as the actual user, and assign privileges to the proxy user to connect to the database on behalf of the actual user.

ALTER USER scott GRANT CONNECT THROUGH proxy_user1;

Or you can define the roles that the proxy user can connect to the database as.

ALTER USER scott GRANT CONNECT THROUGH proxy_user WITH ROLE admin;

Repeat Step A or Step C for all actual database users.

The proxy user with minimum privileges is created. However, this proxy user can connect as the actual user with the assigned role. The middle tier can connect to the database as the proxy user first, and then connect as an actual user through the proxy user account.

15.12.4 Obtaining Proxy Access Information

You can configure a new resource in Oracle Internet Directory in the user RAD or default RAD. You can use this key to obtain proxy access information, including user name, password , and database information from Oracle Internet Directory. This information allows you to connect to the database.To create a key in the default RAD, complete the following steps:

Log in to the Oracle Internet Directory configuration page (http://oidhost:port/oiddas).

Click the Configuration tab.

Click Preferences.

In the Preferences page, create a new Resource of type OracleDB under Default Resource Access Information, as shown in the Figure 15-5.

Figure 15-5 Oracle Internet Directory Configuration

When creating the resource, in the Resource Access Information section, enter the database proxy user name, database proxy password, and the database value in the respective fields.

A new key is created, and you can pass this key as a value for the dbproxyConn parameter. The number of proxy user connections and their access levels are set by the database administrator.

15.12.5 Configuration Settings in Reports Configuration Files

To use the database proxy feature, you must add and modify configuration settings in the Reports configuration files.

15.12.5.1 rwserver.conf

In the rwserver.conf file, the dbproxy key is set as follows:

<dbProxyConnKeys>
      <dbProxyKey name="key1" database="db1"/>
      <dbProxyKey name="key2" database="db2"/>
 </dbProxyConnKeys>

This configuration is optional. The dbproxy key is taken from the rwserver.conf file if the dbproxyConn parameter is not passed on the command line. The dbproxykey is obtained from this configuration, based on the database that you specified in the userid command-line parameter.

15.12.5.2 rwservlet.properties

To use the database proxy feature through rwservlet, edit the enabledbproxy setting in the rwservlet.properties file as follows:

<enabledbproxy>yes</enabledbproxy>

By default, enabledbproxy is set to no. For rwclient, this configuration setting is not required.

15.13 Oracle Portal-Based Security for Backward Compatibility

Prior to 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Oracle Internet Directory was used for authentication and Oracle Portal for authorization. Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) accomplishes both authentication and authorization through Oracle Platform Security Services.

For backward compatibility, 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) supports:

Security with OracleAS Portal 10g and Portal Classic 11g. You can configure Oracle Portal for authorization using Oracle Enterprise Manager, as described in Section 7.8.1.1, "Switching to Oracle Portal Security".

Users and groups created in 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) identity management (IM).

Non-secured mode of operation with Reports Server.

15.13.1 Security Features Provided by Oracle Portal

Oracle Portal provides a number of security features available to Oracle Reports Services that enable you to ensure that the appropriate users are getting important data in a secure fashion. With Oracle Portal security features in place, your users see only the data they're supposed to see.

Use Oracle Portal to control:

Who has access to each report

When a report can be run

Which servers and printers can be used to run a report

Which report parameters a user can edit with what range of values

Oracle Portal is a browser-based, data publishing and developing solution that offers Web-based tools for publishing information on the Web and building Web-based, data-driven applications.

Oracle Portal is tightly integrated with Oracle Reports Services to create a robust and secure data publishing environment. Oracle Portal provides easy-to-use wizards for setting up Oracle Reports Services security. These include wizards for defining user access to reports, Reports Servers, printers, output formats, and report parameters.

Once you define access control information, it's stored in the Oracle Portal repository. As an Oracle Portal user, you can then, optionally, publish registered RDFs and JSPs to an Oracle Portal page. As with all Oracle Portal functionality, using Portal to deliver your reports is not required. You can deliver reports through command lines, as you may always have, and still benefit from the access control features available to you through Oracle Portal.

Access to Oracle Reports Services' security features is not dependent on whether you also use Portal to publish report links or report content. Even if you don't publish through Portal, you can still take advantage of the Oracle Reports Services' security features available in Oracle Portal to control user access to all of your reports.

When you expose a report as a portlet through Oracle Portal, Oracle Reports leverages OracleAS Single Sign-On, which eliminates the need for users to enter multiple log ins, first to the portal then to each of the reports exposed through portlets within the portal. With OracleAS Single Sign-On, when you log in, Oracle Portal automatically logs you into all registered portlet providers and subsystems.

For more information, refer to Chapter 16, "Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal".

15.14 Security Interfaces

The Security API of the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) enables you to integrate your own security model with the Reports Server. Oracle Reports Services enables you to plug in any security you wish, using the provided API.

The Security API can control:

Who has access to each report

When a report can be run

Which servers and printers can be used to run a report

Which report parameters a user can edit with what range of values

The RSDK includes a tutorial that shows you how to integrate your own security using an XML file to store the authorization information. At the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:

Implement a security class with Oracle Reports Services

Register a security class with Oracle Reports Services

Use the security class with Oracle Reports Services

For the tutorial and more information, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

16 Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal

The steps for deploying reports in Oracle Portal is the same in 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) as in prior releases. However, the security mechanism underlying the deployment has changed. You can continue to use the security features in Oracle Portal from prior releases for backward compatibility, but you can now also choose to use the new Oracle Platform Security Services security mechanism. For more information, see Chapter 15, "Securing Oracle Reports Services".

This chapter describes how to use Oracle Portal to deploy your Oracle Reports Services reports. It includes the following sections:

Creating Reports Users and Named Groups

Registering Oracle Reports Components

Publishing Your Report as a Portlet

Troubleshooting Information

Before you deploy reports, both Oracle Portal and Oracle Reports Services must be installed and configured.

See also:

The following resources for further information:

Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services" for information on configuring Oracle Reports Services

The Oracle Portal Administrator's Guide for information on configuring Oracle Portal

The Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide for information on installing both components

The Oracle Fusion Middleware documentation CD

The Oracle Technology Network, (http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html)

16.1 Creating Reports Users and Named Groups

If you use the security features in Oracle Portal to control access to your reports, you must register all of your Reports users in Oracle Internet Directory and assign security privileges to all of them through Oracle Portal.

Note:

If you have a large user population already entered into an LDAP-compatible directory, you can use Oracle Internet Directory features to synchronize the directories and save yourself the effort of entering your users individually. You'll find information about Oracle Internet Directory's Directory Integration Server in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Internet Directory.

In Oracle Portal, security privileges can be granted to individual users and to named groups of users. Named groups are useful for streamlining the process of granting access privileges. You can assign a set of access privileges to a named group, and grant the entire set of privileges to an individual simply by adding that person to the group.

Note:

When you use features like Oracle Portal Security, Portal Destination, and Job Status Repository, the JDBC database connections made by Oracle Reports Services may override the initial NLS_LANG setting. This change may in turn affect the behavior of the running report, such as bidirectional output in PDF. On UNIX platforms, you can work around this issue by using the environment switching functionality to dynamically set the environment for reports. Refer to Section 8.2.2, "Dynamic Environment Switching" for more information.

The next sections provide overview information on how to create users and groups in Oracle Portal. They include:

Default Reports-Related Groups

Creating Users and Groups

16.1.1 Default Reports-Related Groups

When you install Oracle Portal, Reports-related groups are created for you automatically. These include the following groups:

RW_BASIC_USER

RW_POWER_USER

RW_DEVELOPER

RW_ADMINISTRATOR

You must assign appropriate privileges to these groups to enable group members to perform specific functions on reports through Oracle Portal. For example, for each report object that you want members of a group (for example, RW_BASIC_USER) to be able to run, you have to grant the Execute privilege to that group from the Access tab of the report object. Similarly, if you want members of a group (for example, RW_ADMINISTRATOR) to be able manage Reports Servers, printers, and reports, you have to grant the Manage privilege to that group from the Access tab of those objects.

While you can assign object privileges to individual users, we recommend that every person who will access your reports belong to one of these groups or a group that you create yourself. If users try to run reports without being a member of one of these groups, by default, they are assigned the privileges of a basic user.

Note:

The RW_ groups are created automatically by configuring Oracle Portal, or you can create them manually. You can also run Web commands if they are in the IASADMINS group.

The following commands can be run by members of any group:

getfile

showmyjobs

killmyjobs

getjobid

showjobid

help

Only members of the RW_DEVELOPER group can run the following commands:

showmap

showenv

showjobs

parsequery

Members of the RW_ADMINISTRATOR group can run any command.

16.1.1.1 RW_BASIC_USER

Should the security check fail, members of the RW_BASIC_USER group see less detailed error messages than the users in other Oracle Reports groups, such as:

Security Check Error

Typically, you will want to assign this group minimal privileges. For example, you probably will want to give RW_BASIC_USER the privilege to execute reports and no more.

16.1.1.2 RW_POWER_USER

In addition to the privileges of the RW_BASIC_USER group, the RW_POWER_USER group sees error messages that are more detailed than those displayed to basic users. For example, if members of this group are not permitted to run to HTML, but they try anyway, they might get the message:

Cannot run report to HTML

This is more detailed than the message an RW_BASIC_USER would receive for the same error.

16.1.1.3 RW_DEVELOPER

In addition to the privileges of the RW_POWER_USER group, the RW_DEVELOPER group can run the following Web commands that show the system environment:

showmap

showenv

showjobs

parsequery

Typically, you would assign privileges to this group needed by a developer who is testing reports. Depending upon your installation, you might even assign them limited administrative privileges.

16.1.1.4 RW_ADMINISTRATOR

In addition to the privileges of the RW_DEVELOPER group, the RW_ADMINISTRATOR group has access to the administrator's functionality in the Oracle Reports Queue Manager, which means members of this group can manage the server queue, including rescheduling, deleting, reordering jobs in the server, and shutting down a server. Members of the RW_ADMINISTRATOR group can run any command. The RW_ADMINISTRATOR group also has the privilege to run Web commands through rwservlet.

Typically, you will want to assign to this group some (but probably not all) of the same privileges assigned to the PORTAL_ADMINISTRATORS group.

Note:

Initially, only members of the PORTAL_ADMINISTRATORS group have MANAGE privileges for Oracle Reports objects. They can CREATE, UPDATE, and DELETE the registered report definition files, servers, and printer objects in Oracle Portal. In addition to all the links activated for the developer user, administrators can navigate to the Access tab on the Component Management Page, accessible in Oracle Portal. This is where the administrator can specify who will have access to this report. People with administrator privileges can assign security privileges for other people and receive full error messages from Oracle Reports Services.

16.1.2 Creating Users and Groups

Oracle Portal uses the Delegated Administration Service (DAS) interface to Oracle Internet Directory to register users for access to Portal. You can enter the DAS interface through Portal to create new users. The creation of new users and groups is discussed in the Oracle Portal Administrator's Guide available on the Oracle Fusion Middleware documentation CD.

When you create groups, you must assign appropriate privileges to them to enable group members to perform any desired functions on reports through Oracle Portal. For example, for each report object that you want members of a group (for example, RW_BASIC_USER) to be able to run, you have to grant the Execute privilege to that group from the Access tab of the report object. Similarly, if you want members of a group (for example, RW_ADMINISTRATOR) to be able manage Reports Servers, printers, calendars, and reports, you have to grant the Manage privilege to that group from the Access tab of those objects.

Ideally, you should provide a user with the necessary privileges on objects by assigning them to a group that has appropriate privileges for their role. For example, if you are creating a user who needs to be able to run but not manage reports, you could assign her to RW_BASIC_USER. If need be, you may assign object privileges to individual users (for example, JSMITH) rather than groups, but this approach is more difficult and time consuming to manage.

16.1.3 Portal Password in Credential Store

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) uses credential store to store Portal password as a key. You can also use the credential store to configure database connection information for jobstatusrepository and jobRepository elements.

Portal password is stored in the reports credential map with key in the following syntax:

"portalpasswd_DomainName_InstanceName"

Note:

If you modify the Portal password, you must update the value of the key in the Reports credential store.

16.2 Registering Oracle Reports Components

Before you begin, you must have a sufficient level of privileges in Oracle Portal to access the portlets and complete the tasks required for setting access controls. In order to manage reports in Oracle Portal, you must belong to both the PORTAL_ADMINISTRATORS and RW_ADMINISTRATOR groups. If you only belong to RW_ADMINISTRATOR, you will encounter errors when you attempt to create report objects.

For more information on joining privilege groups in Oracle Portal, refer to the Oracle Portal Administrator's Guide.

This section outlines the necessary steps to go about:

Registering a Reports Server

Registering a Report

Registering a Printer

Creating an Availability Calendar

To perform actions on existing Oracle Portal portlets, refer to:

The Manage Portlet

16.2.1 Registering a Reports Server

Before you can define access controls for a Reports Server, you must register your server within Oracle Portal. Registration provides Oracle Portal with the information it needs to identify and locate all available Reports Servers. This becomes particularly important when you register individual reports; during this process you are required to choose from a list of Reports Servers, and servers must be registered to appear on this list.

Table 16-1 Sample Values

Property
Sample Value

Name (internal name)

myrep_server

Display Name

My Reports Server

Portal DB Provider

PORTAL_APP

Reports Server Name

rep_machine_name, for example, rep_myserver1

Oracle Reports Web Gateway URL for JSP reports

http://myias.mycomp.com:7778/

Oracle Reports Web Gateway URL for RDF reports

http://myias.mycomp.com:7778/reports/rwservlet

Availability Calendar

COMCAL

To register a Reports Server:

Log in as an administrator to Oracle Portal.

Navigate to the Builder page.

Click the Administer tab.

Click the Oracle Reports Security Settings link in the Oracle Reports Security portlet. The Oracle Reports Security portlet enables you to use the security features in Oracle Portal at the time of defining access to the server, printer, calendar, and reports definition file.

Click the Create Reports Server Access link in the Reports Server Access portlet.

On the resulting page, the Name (internal name) and the Portal DB Provider fields contain default values. To include custom values:

Enter a unique name in the Name field that will identify the Reports Server internally in Oracle Portal, for example, MY_REPORTS_SERVER. This name must follow the Oracle Portal rules for a valid component name; that is:

It must be no more than 30 characters

It must contain only alphanumeric characters (no spaces or special characters allowed).

The first character must be a letter (not a number).

Enter the name you want to display for this server in the Display Name field. The Display Name is the name that is exposed to your users through Oracle Portal.

Note:

The Display Name, unlike the internal Name, can have spaces in it.

Select the Portal DB Provider that will own the Reports Server from the Portal DB Provider list of values. The Portal DB Providers displayed are those in which you have privileges to build components.

Note:

All the components you add to or create in Oracle Portal must belong to a Portal DB Provider. Refer to the Oracle Portal online Help, for more information on how to create a Portal DB Provider.

Click Next.

On the Server Definition page:

Enter the name of the Reports Server in the Reports Server Name field. This is the unique name assigned to the server at the time of server creation through OPMN.

(Optional) Enter a description for the Reports Server in the Description field.

Enter the URL location of your JSP files in the Oracle Reports Web Gateway URL for JSP reports field. The URL should be in the following format:

http://your_web_server.domain:port/

For example:

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/

Enter the URL location of Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) in the Oracle Reports Web Gateway URL for RDF reports field. The URL should be in the following format:

http://your_web_server.domain:port/virtual_path_to_rwservlet/rwservlet

See Also:

Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services" for more information on specifying the virtual path.

For example:

http://myias.mycomp.com:7778/reports/rwservlet

(Optional) Select the Run Only Registered Report Definition Files check box. This ensures that only the report definition files registered with Oracle Portal can be executed on this Reports Server.

Leave this box unchecked if you want this Reports Server to accept any report definition file, including those not registered in Oracle Portal, as long as the user who submits the report request has access privileges to this Reports Server.

Select the printer(s) that you want to make available to this Reports Server from the Printers list. Use control-click (Windows) or click (UNIX) to select multiple printers.

Click Next.

(Optional) Enter a Custom Destination Type, if you have defined a custom destination type.

See Also:

Chapter 13, "Configuring Destinations for Oracle Reports Services" for more information on custom destination types.

Click Next.

(Optional) Enter the Availability Calendar name or click the list button to select the Availability Calendar that determines the days and times this Reports Server is and is not available to accept report requests.

See Also:

Section 16.2.4, "Creating an Availability Calendar"

Click Finish.

The resulting page summarizes your settings for this Reports Server. On this page, you can edit your settings, get detailed registration information about the Reports Server, or delete it altogether.

See Also:

Section 16.2.5, "The Manage Portlet" for more information on the fields and descriptions listed in the Manage portlet (that is, Develop, Manage, and Access tabs).

Click Close to close this page and return to the Oracle Reports Security page.

You have registered a Reports Server. Now you can register a report.

16.2.2 Registering a Report

Registering a report is a required step that enables you to define who can run a report, when a report is available to run, which server(s) can be used to process report requests, how a report is delivered, and the printer(s) to which a report can be sent.

In addition to using registration to designate which users have access to a report, you can also specify, through a Oracle Portal parameter form, how users are to interact with the report.

User parameters are created in Oracle Reports Builder at the time of designing the report. You can assign values to these parameters when you run the report in Oracle Portal.

Note:

You can use the parameter settings available through Oracle Portal to duplicate or create a subset of the parameters defined in Oracle Reports Builder at design time. At runtime, the Reports Server disregards any parameters that you set in Oracle Portal not defined in Oracle Reports Builder at design time.

Registering a report within Oracle Portal creates an Oracle Portal component that can be deployed as a portlet through Portal. We recommend that you register only one instance of a report file in Oracle Portal. If you define multiple Oracle Portal report objects for one report, all are given security checks at runtime. If any of them fail the security check, then all fail, and the job will not run.

Table 16-2 Sample Values

Property
Sample Values

Name (internal name)

Employee_Report

Display Name

Employee Report

Portal DB Provider

PORTAL_APP

Oracle Reports File Name

employee_report.jsp

Execute

as JSP

Name (Optional Parameters)

userid

Display Name (Optional Parameters)

User Identification

To register a report:

Log in as an administrator to Oracle Portal.

Navigate to the Builder page.

Click the Administer tab.

Click the Oracle Reports Security Settings link in the Oracle Reports Security portlet.

Click the Create Reports Definition File Access link in the Reports Definition File Access portlet.

On the resulting page, the Name (internal name) and the Portal DB Provider fields contain default values. To include custom values:

Enter a unique name in the Name field that will identify the report internally in Oracle Portal, for example, MY_REPORT. This name must follow the Oracle Portal rules for a valid component name; that is:

It must be no more than 30 characters

It must contain only alphanumeric characters (no spaces or special characters allowed).

The first character must be a letter (not a number).

Enter the name that you want to display for this report in the Display Name field. The Display Name is the name that is exposed to your users through Oracle Portal.

Note:

The Display Name, unlike the internal Name, can have spaces in it.

Select the Portal DB Provider that will own the Reports Server from the Portal DB Provider list of values. The Portal DB Providers displayed are those in which you have privileges to build components.

Note:

All the components you add to or create in Oracle Portal must belong to a Portal DB Provider. Refer to the Oracle Portal online Help, for more information on how to create a Portal DB Provider.

Click Next.

Enter or select information as follows:

Select the Reports Server(s) to be available to run this report from the Reports Servers list of values. Use control-click (Windows) or click (UNIX) to select multiple servers.

Enter the report file name, including its extension in the Oracle Reports File Name field.

The report definition file can be an .rdf, .jsp, or .xml file. If the path to this file is included in your REPORTS_PATH environment variable, do not enter it here. If the path is not included in REPORTS_PATH, include it here along with the filename. Do this for all report definition files except those you will run as standalone JSPs. For JSPs, you must define the name as virtual_path/reportname.jsp.

See Also:

Appendix B, "Environment Variables" for more information on Oracle Reports-related environment variables.

Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services" for more information on specifying the virtual path.

(Optional) Enter a description for this report in the Description field.

In the Execute field, select either through servlet or as JSP. The selection you make here will affect the choices that are available on the next wizard page.

through servlet: If you plan to run the report through Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet).

as JSP: If you will run a deployed JSP report.

Click Next.

Select the Destination settings on the Required Parameters page.These settings are only applicable if you run your report through Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet). At runtime, anywhere you have indicated multiple selections using control-click, a list of values will be offered to your users from which they can set their own runtime information:

Types specifies the destination types acceptable for this report. Select the destination types from among Cache, File, Mail, OraclePortal, OracleWireless, Printer, FTP, WebDAV, or custom destination types. If the server you associate with this report supports custom destination types, which you indicated when you registered the Reports Server in Oracle Portal, the types you indicated will display on this list.

Formats defines the acceptable output format(s) for this report. Choose from HTML, HTMLCSS, PDF, XML, RTF, Delimited, Spreadsheet, PostScript, and Character.

Printers specifies the registered printer(s) to which this report can be sent. The printers that appear on this list are determined by those you chose when you set up access to the Reports Server(s) you are associating with this report. When users choose a Reports Server on the runtime parameter form, only those printers that are associated with the selected Reports Server and that are accessible to those users are listed.

Select the Parameter Form Template and click Preview Template to see what the selected template looks like:

Parameter Form Template specifies the template that will define the look and feel of the Portal parameter form from which you will run the report. This value is used only when the report is exposed through the Portal. Choose a template from the list of values.

Note:

For information about adding your own templates to this list, see the Oracle Portal online Help.

Click Next.

Define the limits for the report's existing parameters on the Optional Parameters page:

Enter the name or user parameter to restrict the values available to users in the Name field. For example, SALES_REGION or COPIES.

Enter the display name of the system or user parameter. This name will be used to identify the parameter on the runtime parameter form.

Enter the name of the list of values, or select the values from a predefined list of values. The list must already exist. For information on creating a list of values, see the Oracle Portal online Help.

Enter the lowest value that you wish to set for a range of values in the Low Value field.

Enter the highest value that you wish to set for a range of values in the High Value field.

Click More Parameters if you wish to add more rows for additional parameters and values.

Click Next.

(Optional) Enter the Availability Calendar name or click the list button to select an existing Availability Calendar.

Use the availability calendar to limit the days and times this report can be run.

See Also:

Section 16.2.4, "Creating an Availability Calendar"

Click Next.

(Optional) Enter a validation trigger to create a programmatic restriction.

Use validation triggers to create conditional restrictions that cannot be defined on either the Required Parameters page or the Optional Parameters page. Validation triggers are PL/SQL functions.

The function that you specify as a validation trigger must return a boolean value (TRUE or FALSE). If the function returns TRUE, the job is run. If the function returns FALSE, an error message is displayed and the job is not run.

Click Finish to close the wizard and complete report registration.

The resulting page summarizes your registration information and provides the opportunity to perform additional actions on your report.

See Also:

Section 16.3, "Publishing Your Report as a Portlet" for more information on how to run your report from Oracle Portal.

Click the Access tab and select the Publish as Portlet box. This adds the report to the Portlet Repository, allowing you to add it to a page and publish your report as a portlet.

Click Customize to view the report's Runtime Parameter Form.

Table 16-3 summarizes the options available on this page.

Table 16-3 Options on the Runtime Parameter Form

Option
Description

Run Report

Click to run this report with the specified parameter values.

Save Parameters

Click to save the parameter value selections.

Server

Select the Oracle Reports Server that you want to receive this report request. Only the servers that you chose at the time of registering the Report are displayed in this list box.

Printer

Select the printer that you want to print your report output. Only the printers that you chose at the time of registering the report are displayed in this list box.

Destype

Select the destination type. Only the destination types that you chose at the time of registering the report are displayed in this list box.

Desformat

Select the destination format. Only the destination format that you chose at the time of registering the report are displayed in this list box.

Desname

Enter the name of the output file when DESTYPE=FILE, or enter the e-mail addresses when the DESTYPE=MAIL. Separate multiple addresses with commas. The destination name is required when you choose FILE or MAIL as the DESTYPE.

SSOCONN

Enter one or more Single Sign-On connection strings. Separate multiple strings with a comma (but no spaces). For more information on SSOCONN, refer to Section 17.3.3.1, "SSOCONN".

Visible to user

Check each parameter that you want to make available in the runtime parameter form when users run this report request. If the box in not checked, then the parameter is not displayed to users.

Servlet Command Key

Optionally, enter the key from the cgicmd.dat key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File") that identifies the command line to run for this report.

Portlet Width

Use this field to control the width of the portlet. You can enter the value as a percentage of the page (for example, 90%) or in pixels (e.g, 700).

If no value is specified, Oracle Reports Services uses its default value (640 pixels wide).

Portlet Height

Use this field to control the height of the portlet. You can enter the value as a percentage of the page (for example, 50%) or in pixels (e.g, 400).

If no value is specified, Oracle Reports Services uses its default value (320 pixels high).

Additional User Parameters

Use this field to enter additional user parameters. For example, you can use this field to enter the path and name of the distribution XML file that defines how this report should be distributed.

Use the same syntax you would use to specify these values in a command line request or within the cgicmd.dat key map file file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File"). If you wish to enter multiple additional parameters, simply separate each entry with a space.

For more information on the distribution XML file, see Chapter 20, "Creating Advanced Distributions".

16.2.3 Registering a Printer

It is not required that you register a printer within the security framework of Oracle Portal. You can run a report on any printer as long as it is available to the Reports Server. However, you might want to confine Oracle Portal users to a subset of those printers, constrain the use of a printer for certain periods of time, or identify a particular printer to be used for printing output of certain reports.

Printer registration with Oracle Portal is meaningful for reports that you run through Oracle Portal as well as those you run through a standalone URL.

Once printers are registered within Oracle Portal, you can associate them with a Reports Server. Many printers can be registered. However, only printers associated with particular Reports Servers are available to print when you register a report with Oracle Portal and choose those Reports Servers.

You can choose to restrict even further the registered subset of printers that a registered report can be sent to. For example, an Reports Server might be connected to the printer in the office of the CEO, but its selection should not be available to employees running the general ledger report, unless it is the CEO who is running the report. A subset of printers can be listed to the Oracle Portal user running a report request to select where output should be sent.

Table 16-4 Sample Values

Property
Sample Value

Name (internal name)

myrep_printer

Display Name

My Reports Printer

Portal DB Provider

PORTAL_APP

OS Printer Name

\\mydomain\printer1

Availability Calendar

COMCAL

To register a printer:

Log in as an administrator to Oracle Portal.

Navigate to the Builder page.

Click the Administer tab.

Click the Oracle Reports Security Settings link in the Oracle Reports Security portlet. The Oracle Reports Security portlet enables you to use the security features in Oracle Portal at the time of defining access to the server, printer, calendar, and reports definition file.

Click the Create Reports Printer Access link in the Reports Printer Access portlet.

On the resulting page, the Name (internal name) and Portal DB Provider fields contain default values. To include custom values:

Enter a unique name in the Name field that will identify the printer internally in Oracle Portal, for example, MY_PRINTER. This name must follow the Oracle Portal rules for a valid component name; that is:

It must be no more than 30 characters

It must contain only alphanumeric characters (no spaces or special characters allowed).

The first character must be a letter (not a number).

Enter the name that you want to display for this printer in the Display Name field. The Display Name is the name that is exposed to your users through Oracle Portal.

Note:

The Display Name, unlike the internal Name, can have spaces in it.

Select the Portal DB Provider that will own the printer from the Portal DB Provider list of values. The Portal DB Providers displayed are those in which you have privileges to build components.

Note:

All components you add to or create in Oracle Portal must belong to a Portal DB Provider. Refer to the Oracle Portal online Help, for more information on how to create a Portal DB Provider.

Click Next.

On the resulting page, fill in desired values:

In the OS Printer Name field, enter the operating system printer name, for example:

UNIX: printer_name

Windows: \\printer_server\printer_name (for a remote printer)
printer_name (for a local printer)

This printer must be available to the Reports Server.

Note:

Printer availability is set through the operating system on the Report Server's host machine.

(Optional) Enter a description of the Printer in the Description field.

Click Next.

(Optional) Select an Availability calendar to restrict the days and times the printer can be used.

See Also:

Section 16.2.4, "Creating an Availability Calendar"

Click Finish.

The resulting page summarizes your settings for this printer. On this page, you can edit your settings, get detailed registration information about the printer, or delete it altogether.

See Also:

Section 16.2.5, "The Manage Portlet" for more information on the fields and descriptions listed in the Manage portlet (that is, Develop, Manage, and Access tabs).

Click Close to close this page and return to Oracle Portal's Oracle Reports Security page.

You have completed registering a printer with Oracle Portal. This registration is meaningful for reports that are run through Oracle Portal as well as those run outside of Oracle Portal.

16.2.4 Creating an Availability Calendar

Defining availability calendars is an optional step that enables you to further restrict access to reports, servers, and printers by specifying when they can and cannot be accessed. Availability calendars are not necessary if the reports, the Reports Servers, and printers are always available for processing.

This section provides information on:

Creating a Simple Availability Calendar

Creating a Combined Availability Calendar

You can associate only one availability calendar with a report, a Reports Server, or a printer. If your production environment requires more than one availability rule, then you can combine availability calendars.

16.2.4.1 Creating a Simple Availability Calendar

A simple availability calendar defines a single availability rule (for example, Sunday through Saturday from 12:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.).

To create a simple availability calendar:

Log in as an administrator to Oracle Portal.

Navigate to the Builder page.

Click the Administer tab.

Click the Oracle Reports Security Settings link in the Oracle Reports Security portlet.

Click the Create Reports Simple Calendar Access link in the Reports Calendar Access portlet on the Oracle Reports Security page.

On the resulting page, the Name (internal name) and Portal DB Provider fields contain default values. To include custom values:

Enter a unique name in the Name field that will identify the availability calendar internally in Oracle Portal, for example, MY_CALENDAR. This name must follow the Oracle Portal rules for a valid component name; that is:

It must be no more than 30 characters

It must contain only alphanumeric characters (no spaces or special characters allowed).

The first character must be a letter (not a number).

In the Display Name field, enter the name you want to display for this availability calendar when it is exposed through Oracle Portal. Unlike the internal name, the display name can have spaces in it.

Select a Portal DB Provider from the provider list of values. All components added to or created in Oracle Portal must belong to a Portal DB Provider. This list contains the names of only those providers with which you have privileges to build components.

Note:

For information on creating a Portal DB Provider, see the Oracle Portal online Help.

Click Next.

Optionally, enter a description of the calendar under Description.

Click Next.

On the Date/Time Availability page, define the parameters for the calendar:

Under Duration, specify the length of time that comprises a unit of duration (or duration period). For example, if you plan to set this calendar up to allow report access from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on a given day, then both Start and End would be the same month, day, and year, but the hour and minute setting for Start would be 9:00 AM and for End would be 5:00 PM. In this example, the duration of availability of a report on a given day is from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Under Repeat, specify how frequently the duration period is repeated:

Occurs only once indicates that the duration period does not repeat, and associated components are no longer available when the period expires. For example, if you select Occurs only once and set a duration period of one year, then the associated components cease to be available after one year.

Yearly indicates that the duration period restarts each year. If you select Yearly and have the same start and end date in your Duration setting, but your Start hour is set to 9:00 AM and your End hour is set to 5:00 PM, then the Reports components associated with this availability calendar will be available one day a year between 9:00 and 5:00.

Monthly indicates that the duration period restarts each month between the Start and End dates specified under Duration. If you select Monthly and have the same date and year in both Start and End—July 25, 2001—but set the Start hour for 9:00 AM and the End hour for 5 PM, then the associated components will be available between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM on the 25th of each month.

The by Date/Day setting applies only to Monthly. With by Date/Day, you specify whether the duration period is set by the particular date (for example, always on the 25th through the 29th of the month) or by the particular day(s) (for example, always on Monday through Friday—which happen this month to fall on the 25th through the 29th).

Weekly indicates that the duration period restarts on a weekly basis between the days specified under Duration.

Daily indicates that the duration period restarts each day between the hours specified under Duration.

Frequency fills in the missing value for the phrase: Repeat every n (years, months, weeks, days—depending on what you selected under Repeat). For example, if you set the duration period to repeat weekly, then set Frequency to 2, the duration period restarts every two weeks, or every other week.

Optionally, check Repeat Until and assign a termination date/time for the calendar. Availability for all associated Reports components ends on the Repeat Until date/time.

Note:

No validation is run on your calendar. If the duration period exceeds the repetition setting, no error message will be generated. For example, if you set the duration period for 10 days and the repetition for weekly, the periods will overlap, but you will not be notified of the overlap.

Click Next.

On the Summary page, click the Show Calendar button to preview your availability calendar. If you wish to change some settings, click the Previous button and make your changes.

On the Summary page, click Finish to complete the availability calendar.

The resulting page summarizes your settings for this calendar. On this page, you can edit your settings, get detailed information about the calendar, or delete it.

Click Close to close this page and return to Oracle Portal's Oracle Reports Security page.

You can combine this calendar with other calendars or apply it "as is" to registered Oracle Reports Services components.

16.2.4.2 Creating a Combined Availability Calendar

A combined availability calendar combines two or more availability calendars into a single availability calendar. This is useful when you want to set up an availability period, then exclude specific days, such as holidays, from that period.

When you combine calendars, you can indicate that all the days on one of them be excluded from all the days on the other. For example, one calendar could describe availability Monday through Friday; another could describe availability only on Wednesday. You could combine these, excluding the Wednesday calendar, so that the combined calendar describes availability Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

Conceivably, you could create a simple calendar that covers the weekdays of an entire year, then multiple additional simple calendars, where one excludes New Years, another excludes a second holiday, another excludes a third, and so on. You could combine all these calendars, excluding all the holiday calendars, so that components were available only on the days your company is open for business, between certain times of day, throughout the year.

To combine availability calendars:

Log in as an administrator to Oracle Portal.

Navigate to the Builder page.

Click the Administer tab.

Click the Oracle Reports Security Settings link in the Oracle Reports Security portlet.

Click the Create Reports Combined Calendar Access link in the Reports Calendar Access portlet.

Specify an internal name, display name, and Portal DB Provider for the calendar:

Enter a unique name in the Name field that will identify the combined availability calendar internally in Oracle Portal, for example, MY_COMBINED_CALENDAR. This name must follow the Oracle Portal rules for a valid component name; that is:

It must be no more than 30 characters

It must contain only alphanumeric characters (no spaces or special characters allowed).

The first character must be a letter (not a number).

Enter the name you want to display for this combined availability calendar in the Display Name field. The Display Name is the name that is exposed to your users through Oracle Portal.

Note:

The Display Name, unlike the internal Name, can have spaces in it.

Select a Portal DB Provider from the provider list of values. All components that you add to or create in Portal must belong to a Portal DB Provider. This list contains the names of only those providers with which you have privileges to build components.

Note:

For information on creating a Portal DB Provider, see the Oracle Portal online Help.

Click Next.

(Optional) Enter a description of the Availability Calendar in the Description field.

Click Next.

On the Selection page, highlight the calendars on the Availability Calendars list that you want to combine. The calendars are listed by their internal names, not their display names. Use control-click (Windows) or click (UNIX) to select multiple calendars.

This page lists the availability calendars that have been defined for the same Portal DB Provider under which you are creating this combined availability calendar.

Click the right arrow to move the selected calendars to the Selected Availability Calendars list.

Click Next.

On the Exclude page, highlight the calendar(s) on the Availability Calendars list whose dates you want to exclude. Use control-click (Windows) or click (UNIX) to select multiple calendars.

These are the calendars with dates on which you wish to withdraw availability.

Click the right arrow to move the selected calendars to the Excluded Availability Calendars list.

Click Next.

On the Summary page, click the Show Calendar button to preview your calendar.

If your exclusion isn't showing up, select a different view. For example, instead of the monthly view, select the weekly.

If you want to change the combination, close the calendar and click the Previous button one or more times to return to the desired page.

Click Finish to complete creation of the combined calendar.

The resulting page summarizes your settings for this calendar. On this page, you can edit your settings, get detailed information about the calendar, or delete it.

See Also:

Section 16.2.5, "The Manage Portlet" for more information on the fields and descriptions listed in the Manage portlet (that is, Develop, Manage, and Access tabs).

Click Close to close this page and return to Oracle Portal's Oracle Reports Security page.

You can combine this calendar with other calendars or apply it "as is" to registered Oracle Reports Services components.

16.2.5 The Manage Portlet

Use the Manage portlet page to perform actions on existing Oracle Portal portlets; for example, executing, editing, copying, dropping, or viewing information about the portlet.

The actions you can perform on the portlet depend on your privileges. Also, not all actions listed here are available for all portlets. The name of the portlet on which you can perform these actions appears in the upper left corner of the page.

Table 16-5 details the fields and descriptions listed in the Develop tab.

Table 16-5 The Develop Tab

Field
Description

(portlet Type and Name)

Displays the portlet's type and name; for example:

Form (table) my_formfor a form

based on a table called my_form.

Provider

Displays the name of the provider in which the portlet was created.

Version(s) Status (Not applicable to all portlets)

Displays all the versions of the portlet and the current status of each version. Click a status to edit the portlet version.

Note: If there are no hyperlinks, you do not have privileges to edit the portlet.

Last Changed

Displays the name of the user who created or last edited the portlet, and the date and time when the portlet was created or last edited.

Run Link (Not applicable to all portlets)

Displays the URL for the procedure or procedures that, when executed, display the portlet. You can copy and paste this URL into another Web page to create a link to the portlet.

Note: A procedure that executes the portlet without parameters has the suffix .show. A procedure that executes the portlet with parameters has the suffix .show_parms.

PL/SQL source (Not applicable to all portlets)

The portlet builder wizards create a PL/SQL package to represent each portlet:

Package Spec: Displays the portlet's PL/SQL specification.

Package Body: Displays the portlet's PL/SQL body.

Call Interface (Not applicable to all portlets)

Click Show to display the arguments that a portlet can accept that the end user can change at runtime. Also shown are examples of calling the portlet from a PL/SQL Stored Procedure and through a URL. When you run the package containing the portlet in PL/SQL or by calling it from a URL, you can edit the call interface to accept different arguments.

Note: To view portlet source code, you must have Customize or Execute privileges on the portlet or the provider that owns it.

Edit Data Link (Not applicable to all portlets)

Click to connect to the URL containing the data, and to see and edit that data.

Edit

Click to edit the most recent version of the portlet. For example, you can reselect any table columns on which the portlet is based, change any fields or text that appear in the portlet, or choose a new look and feel.

Edit as New

Click to create and then edit a new version of this portlet. The existing portlet version does not change.

Edit Data (Not applicable to all portlets)

Click to see the spreadsheet and be able to edit the data within it.

Run

Click to run the current PRODUCTION version of the portlet.

Note: If a valid package for the portlet doesn't exist, the portlet will not run.

Run As Portlet

Displays how the portlet will look as a portlet in a portal window (may look different than a full page display).

Customize

Click to display the customization form for the portlet. The customization form enables you to specify values that will be used to display the portlet.

Note: If the current portlet is a form, Browse appears instead of Customize on this page.

Add to Favorites

Click to add the portlet to the Favorites list on your Oracle Portal Home page.

About

Displays stored attributes for the portlet.

Delete

Click to drop the portlet from the database.

Table 16-6 details the fields and descriptions listed in the Manage tab.

Table 16-6 The Manage Tab

Field
Description

Show/Hide SQL Query Info (Not applicable to all portlets)

Select to display or hide the SQL Query when running the portlet, for debugging purposes.

Show Locks on this portlet (Not applicable to all portlets)

Displays any locks currently active on the portlet (for example, if somebody else is editing it).

Export

Click to export the portlet from the database.

Copy

Click to copy the portlet from the database.

Rename

Click to rename the portlet (within the same provider).

Generate

Click to compile the PL/SQL package.

Monitor

Click to view a chart of all requests for the portlet and the users who made the request.

Table 16-7, Table 16-8, Table 16-9, Table 16-10, Table 16-11, Table 16-12, and Table 16-13 details the fields and descriptions listed in the Access tab.

Table 16-7 Portal Access

Field
Description

Publish as Portlet (Not applicable to all portlets)

Click to make the portlet available as a portlet.

Note: To publish the portlet as a portlet, you must have the Publish Portlet privilege and you must make the provider that owns the portlet available through Expose as Provider on the Access provider page (Manage tab).

Table 16-8 Privilege Mode

Field
Description

Inherit Privileges from Provider

Select to allow the provider access privileges to override the portlet access privileges.

Clear the check box and click Apply to allow the portlet access privileges to override the provider access privileges. In the Grant Access section, you can selectively grant or remove portlet access privileges for different users or groups (for example, Manage, Edit, View, Customize, or Execute).

Note: To grant portlet access privileges to a user or group, you must have Manage access privileges on the portlet or provider that owns the portlet.

Table 16-9 Grant Access

Field
Description

Grantee

Enter the user or group to whom you want to grant the provider access privilege.

Execute

Choose the privilege you want to grant.

Add

Click to grant the provider access privilege.

Table 16-10 Change Access

Field
Description

Grantee

Displays the Oracle Portal user or group to whom the privilege is assigned. Click Error! Unknown switch argument.next to a grantee to delete all privileges.If you want to grant privileges to all Oracle Portal users, choose Public as the Grantee.

Type

Displays whether the grantee is an Oracle Portal user or group.

Privilege

Displays the privilege currently granted. To change a privilege, choose a new one and click Apply.

Table 16-11 Cell Privilege Mode

Field
Description

Inherit Privileges from portlet

(Not applicable to all portlets)

Select to allow the portlet access privileges to override cell access privileges.

Clear the checkbox and click Apply to allow cell access privileges to override the portlet access privileges. In the Alter Access section, you can selectively change cell access privileges for different users or groups (for example, Manage, Edit, View, Customize, or Execute).

Note: To alter cell access privileges for a grantee, you must have Manage access privileges on the portlet or provider that owns the portlet.

Table 16-12 Alter Access

Field
Description

Grantee (Not applicable to all portlets)

Enter the user or group to whom you want to grant the cell access privilege.

Alter (Not applicable to all portlets)

Click to alter cell access privileges.

Table 16-13 Cache Invalidation

Field
Description

Clear Cache

Clears the cached version of the data, so that the next data request will be filled from the database.

The script content on this page is for navigation purposes only and does not alter the content in any way.

16.3 Publishing Your Report as a Portlet

After you have registered your Oracle Reports, you can expose your report in a portal by performing the following steps:

Create a provider for your reports. This step defines a provider to contain the reports you wish to make available to users in the portal. Alternatively, you can use the existing providers included, by default, with Oracle Portal.

Refer to Section 16.3.1, "Creating a Provider for Your Reports".

Add the report as an item linkFoot 1  or as a portletFoot 2  to a page and optionally customize it. This makes the report available to users on a page and enables the page designer to set the report parameters and schedule it to run automatically. You can also distribute report output to Oracle Portal.

Refer to:

Section 16.3.2, "Adding the Report Portlet to a Page"

Section 16.3.3, "Adding the Report as an Item Link to a Page"

Section 16.3.4, "Running Reports on Oracle Portal as an Item Link on a Nondefault Installation"

Section 16.3.5, "Distributing Report Output to Oracle Portal"

16.3.1 Creating a Provider for Your Reports

If you do not already have a provider defined to contain your reports, you must create one. For more information on creating a provider, see the Oracle Portal online Help.

Note:

The provider that contains your reports must be a database provider and must have the Expose as Provider setting selected on its Access page.

16.3.2 Adding the Report Portlet to a Page

After you have registered your report with Oracle Portal, you can publish it as a portlet on your portal page.

Note:

You must have enabled the Publish as Portlet box to ensure that you can publish your report as a portlet.

To publish a report as a portlet:

If you are not already on the Builder page, click Builder at the top of the page.

Click the Build tab.

In the Page Groups portlet, choose the name of the page group in which you want to place your report portlet.

Create a new page by clicking Create a Page or edit an existing page by entering the name of an existing page and clicking Edit.

If you are creating a new page, follow the steps in the wizard and click the question mark in the upper right corner for additional information about the available settings. Click Finish when you are done.

See Also:

Section 16.3.3, "Adding the Report as an Item Link to a Page" for information on how to add the Oracle Reports item to a page.

If you are editing an existing page, skip to the next step.

In the page region where you wish to add your report portlet, click the Add Portlet tool.

Tip:

Hints for each tool will display when you roll your mouse over them.

Drill down through the Portlet Repository to the provider that contains the report portlet. The report portlet is listed in the Portlet Repository under the Portal DB Provider to which it belongs. The location of the provider depends on how the Portlet Repository has been organized. If the Portal DB Provider is a fairly new provider, it may be under the New page of the Portlet Repository.

Click the name of your report portlet to add it to the Selected Portlets list.

Click OK.

Click Customize in the upper right corner of your report portlet.

Enter parameter values in the Parameter tab and, if desired, schedule the job to run automatically in the Schedule tab.

You can control the size of the portlet by specifying the Portlet Width and Portlet Height parameters on the Customize page for the Reports Definition File object. The value of these parameters may be a percentage (%) or a number of pixels.

For example, you can enter:

Portlet Width: 90%

Portlet Height: 480

If no value is specified, Oracle Reports Services uses its default value (640 pixels wide and 320 pixels high).

If the Portlet Width and Portlet Height fields are visible to users, then they can also adjust each portlet's width and height through Customize. The user's value will override the value set in the Customize page of the Reports Definition File Object component.

You can choose whether to make a report's parameters visible to users on the Customization page of a Reports Definition File Access component.

To make a report's parameters visible to users:

Click Customize at the bottom of the Develop tab for the report.

Select Visible to user for each parameter you want to expose.

Note:

You can also set the default value of the parameter from this page.

If the parameter you are exposing has a corresponding Oracle Portal page parameter, and you leave the parameter value empty in the Customize page, the portlet inherits the page parameter's value. If the user enters a value for the report portlet's parameter, that value will override the page parameter value.

16.3.3 Adding the Report as an Item Link to a Page

You can add an Oracle Reports component to a page as an item link using the Oracle Reports item type. If you have installed Oracle Portal with the nondefault language setting, refer to Section 16.3.4, "Running Reports on Oracle Portal as an Item Link on a Nondefault Installation".

Note:

This item type must be included from the hidden list of item types and can be configured only if you are the page group administrator.

If you are not already on the Builder page, click Builder at the top of the page.

Click the Build tab.

In the Page Groups portlet, choose the name of the page group in which you want to place your report item link.

Create a new page by clicking Create a Page or edit an existing page by entering the name of an existing page and clicking Edit.

If you are creating a new page, follow the steps in the wizard and click the question mark in the upper right corner for additional information about the available settings. Click Finish when you are done.

If you are editing an existing page, skip to the next step.

Click the Add Item link. The Oracle Reports item type is available as a hidden item type. To include it as an available item type, click the configure the list of available item types link.

Select Oracle Reports in the Hidden Item Types list and click the right arrow (>) to move it to the Visible Item Types list. Alternatively, you can click >> to move all items in the Hidden Item Types list to the Visible Item Types list.

Click OK.

Select the Oracle Reports item type in the Content Item Types menu and click Next to display the Add Oracle Reports page.

Enter a Display Name that users of your portal will view when clicking your report.

Select from the list of available default Oracle Reports components.

Select Display Parameter Form if your report requires any user inputs before your report is displayed.

Select Link That Displays Item In New Browser Window to ensure that the report is viewed in a separate page.

Click Finish. The Oracle Reports item now displays as a link in your page.

Click the link to run the report and provide any parameters required, if Display Parameter Form is selected.

16.3.4 Running Reports on Oracle Portal as an Item Link on a Nondefault Installation

When you install Oracle Portal with a nondefault language setting, some entries required to publish a report as an item link on a portal page are not installed automatically. You must install the language of your choice by using the rwlang.sql script.

Thus, you must run the script rwlang.sql (ORACLE_HOME/portal/admin/plsql/wwd/) if both of the following are true:

You have selected at least one language in addition to the default ("US") at the time of installing Oracle Portal.

You want to publish a report as an item link in Oracle Portal.

Note:

This is a one time post-installation task and will ensure that you can publish a report as an item link on Oracle Portal.

To run the script:

Change the directory to ORACLE_HOME/portal/admin/plsql/wwd/.

Run sqlplus.

Log on to Oracle Portal using the portal schema.

This is the portal schema used to install Oracle Portal PL/SQL packages.

Run the rwlang.sql script with the following parameters:

@rwlang.sql language_list

where

language_list is the list of languages separated by commas.

For example, to install French and Japanese:

@rwlang.sql f,ja

Usage Note

There should be no space before or after the comma (,) because sqlplus treats the language list as two parameters, instead of one parameter separated by a comma (,).

The header of the rwlang.sql script contains the complete list of all language abbreviations. Edit the script file using any text editor to find out the various abbreviations.

16.3.5 Distributing Report Output to Oracle Portal

To distribute to the ORACLEPORTAL destination from Reports Server:

Create a distribution file (for example, distribution.xml) to distribute report output to Oracle Portal. For example:

<destinations>
  <destype id="customforPortal" name="oraclePortal">
    <property name="outputpage" value="Test_Reports"/>
    <property name="statuspage" value="result"/>
    <property name="pagegroup" value="test_reports"/>
    <property name="itemtitle" value="TestReport"/>
    <include src="report"/>
  </destype>
</destinations>

Note:

In this example, you must ensure that pagegroup test_reports exists in Oracle Portal or specify an existing pagegroup name.

Run a report with the following URL:

http://host:port/reports/rwservlet?server=reports_server
&report=report_name&destination=distribution_file
&distribute=yes&userid=user/password@db

In Oracle Portal, go to the page specified in the URL and make sure the report is visible.

Footnote Legend

Footnote 1: An individual piece of content (text, hyperlink, image, and so on) that resides on a page in an item region.
Footnote 2: A reusable, pluggable Web component that typically displays portions of Web content.

16.4 Connecting to Oracle Portal

By default, Reports Server can only use Oracle Portal users to connect to Oracle Portal. It cannot use an ordinary userid, such as scott/tiger, unless you first assign appropriate privileges to its schema.

To assign the appropriate privileges to a schema other than the Oracle Portal schema, you must run the following script from SQL*Plus as an Oracle Portal user:

ORACLE_HOME/portal/admin/plsql/wor/rwgrant.sql

Once the script is loaded, it prompts you to enter the connection string for the new schema (for example, repapp/repapp@orcl). The script then assigns the appropriate privileges to this new schema. You can then specify this connection string in the destination element in the Reports Server configuration file to connect to Oracle Portal.

16.5 Troubleshooting Information

This section contains information on the various steps that you can take to rectify issues that occur.

16.5.1 Resolving Reports-Portal Integration Error When Attempting Create Resource

In Oracle Portal, when configuring Oracle Reports Security settings for Reports Definition File Access, you may encounter an error when editing a report definition file, when you click Run or Run as Portlet.

500 Internal Server Error
Unexpected Error. Please contact Administrator

This error occurs when all of the following conditions are true:

Running in an Interop deployment (which allows for a mixed 9.0.2/9.0.4 environment), with 9.0.4 MT (mid-tier), 9.0.4 IM (Identity Management), and 9.0.2 MR (metadata repository) configured to run together.

Running Oracle Reports within Oracle Portal, using the SSOCONN parameter.

The connection resource specified in the SSOCONN parameter has not been created in the Oracle Internet Directory server.

To implement the workaround, perform the following steps:

In the 9.0.4 IM ORACLE_HOME, open the following file in a text editor:

ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf/mod_osso.conf

Add the following flag:

OssoRedirectByForm on

For example:

<IfModule mod_osso.c>
OssoIpCheck off
OssoIdleTimeout off
OssoConfigFile
/private1/iasinst/install_set1/904infra/Apache/Apache/conf/osso/osso.conf
OssoRedirectByForm on
</IfModule>

17 Configuring and Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On

Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On (OracleAS Single Sign-On) enables you to establish a unique identity for each user, and tie that identity to the resources and data sources unique to that user. For example, a user might log in to an environment such as Oracle Portal, which enables them to access certain reports and printers for which they have the necessary privileges. When they choose to run a report from this environment, they can access the necessary data sources for the report because their data source credentials are stored with the single user identity used to login to Oracle Portal. Thus, logging in once provides them access to all of the resources and data sources they require to run their reports.

Because Oracle Reports Services provides a flexible approach to security, you can implement many variations of this configuration. For example, you might choose not to store data source credentials with the single user identity. Or you might prefer to use direct URLs for launching reports rather than a platform like Oracle Portal. If your reports are public and do not require any security, then you might choose to turn off report security altogether.

This chapter describes how you can implement and administer various configurations of OracleAS Single Sign-On with Oracle Reports Services.

Prerequisites

Configuring Out-of-the-Box OracleAS Single Sign-On

Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On

Choosing the Connecting Entity for Oracle Internet Directory

Changing the Reports Servlet Port to Be Protected by Single Sign-On

Oracle Forms Services Security Considerations

17.1 Prerequisites

OracleAS Single Sign-On can be implemented only in a secure server environment. This means that you must have a security policy in place in your Reports Server configuration file before you can consider implementing OracleAS Single Sign-On with Oracle Reports Services. For more information, refer to Chapter 15, "Securing Oracle Reports Services".

With OracleAS Single Sign-On, your administrator establishes a user identity for each user. The administrator does this in Oracle Internet Directory, through its user interface, the Oracle Delegated Administration Services. You can access Oracle Delegated Administration Services standalone or through Oracle Portal. In either case, the information is saved to Oracle Internet Directory.

The user identity is comprised of the user name and password. Once users are established, data source connection strings may be associated with them. At login, users must enter their user names and passwords (their user identities), which will in turn give them access to all of the data sources associated with those identities. OracleAS Single Sign-On issues a session cookie that effectively acts as a key that opens all authorized doorways for that session.

Note:

For detailed information about the requirements and procedures required for setting up SSO-related components, such as Oracle Internet Directory, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Internet Directory and the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle HTTP Server.

17.2 Configuring Out-of-the-Box OracleAS Single Sign-On

To run a report, you must login with a valid OracleAS Single Sign-On userid and password. The Reports Server is configured by default with the OracleAS Single Sign-On instance installed as part of Oracle Fusion Middleware. The Oracle Internet Directory instance installed with Oracle Fusion Middleware is used as the default repository for user and group information. If you want to configure the Reports Server to use a different Oracle Internet Directory instance or disable security, refer to Section 17.3, "Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On". For information on how to add users to Oracle Internet Directory, refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Internet Directory. In addition, for each Oracle Fusion Middleware installation, the Reports Server instances connect to Oracle Internet Directory as an application entity that is unique to the Oracle Fusion Middleware installation. For more information on this behavior, refer to Section 17.3.4, "Connecting to Oracle Internet Directory".

If a user is not already logged in to OracleAS Single Sign-On, they are prompted to log in when they attempt to run a report to the Reports Server through rwservlet. If the user parameters for a report include SSOCONN, OracleAS Single Sign-On will search for the user's data source credentials in Oracle Internet Directory. If none are found, then OracleAS Single Sign-On prompts the user to create a new resource. For more information on rwservlet, refer to Section A.2.5, "rwservlet". For more information on SSOCONN, refer to Section 17.3.3.1, "SSOCONN".

The Reports Server is also configured to operate with Oracle Portal by default. You can optionally add reports to the portal and enable users to launch them from the portal. Since users must login to the portal in this case, they are not prompted to login again when they launch their reports because they have already been identified to OracleAS Single Sign-On by logging in to the portal.

You can also optionally define access controls for resources associated with the Reports Server (for example, reports, printers, Reports Servers, and calendars) in Oracle Portal. To control access to resources, you must add them to the portal and specify their access options. The resource access controls you specify in Oracle Portal apply to reports that you run outside of the portal as well. For example, if a user tries to run a report through rwservlet, it will be subject to any access controls you have put in place through Oracle Portal.

See Also:

Chapter 16, "Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal" for more information about the integration between Oracle Portal and Oracle Reports Services.

17.2.1 Oracle Identity Management and OracleAS Single Sign-On Infrastructure

Oracle Reports Services can take advantage of the capabilities in OracleAS Single Sign-On, which is part of the Oracle Identity Management infrastructure.

17.2.1.1 OracleAS Single Sign-On

With the increasing number of Web-based, e-business applications that companies deploy for use by their employees, customers, and partners, many businesses must now consider Single Sign-On functionality. Single Sign-On refers to the ability to log on to a single security system once, rather than logging on separately to multiple security systems. With Single Sign-On, each user maintains a single identity and password for all data and associated resources to which they need access.

Within a given Web application, Oracle Reports Services eases the user's experience with OracleAS Single Sign-On. OracleAS Single Sign-On ensures that each user authenticates only once.

Note:

It is recommended that you use Single Sign-on to hide authid in URLs. For more information see, Section 8.3.1.1.18, "allowauthid".

17.2.1.1.1 Single Sign-On Components

Figure 17-1 provides an overview of the Single Sign-On component architecture.

Figure 17-1 Single Sign-On Architecture

The components of the Single Sign-On environment include:

A client Web browser

Oracle HTTP Server

The Oracle HTTP Server processes requests from the client browser.

Note:

At the highest level, all communication to and from Oracle HTTP Server may be configured to use SSL. The Oracle HTTP Server incorporates an OpenSSL module to provide support for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and HTTP Secure Sockets Layer (HTTPS). Once this is set up in the Oracle HTTP Server (see Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle HTTP Server), rwservlet automatically detects the SSL port number.

Reports Servlet

Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) is a component of Oracle Reports Services that runs inside Oracle WebLogic Server. When a report request comes to the Oracle HTTP Server, Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) passes the job request to Reports Server.

Reports Server

Reports Server (rwserver) processes client requests, which includes ushering them through authentication and authorization checking, scheduling, caching, and distribution.

OracleAS Single Sign-On

OracleAS Single Sign-On is responsible for managing users' Single Sign-On sessions. It verifies login credentials by looking them up in Oracle Internet Directory.

Oracle Internet Directory

Oracle Internet Directory is Oracle's highly scalable, native LDAP version 3 service and hosts the Oracle common user identity. OracleAS Single Sign-On authenticates users against the information stored in Oracle Internet Directory. As noted in earlier sections, when Single Sign-On is enabled for Oracle Reports Services, it checks Oracle Internet Directory for user and group privilege information. It also retrieves data source connection information from Oracle Internet Directory.

Oracle Delegated Administration Services

The Delegated Administration Service provides a comprehensive interface for making updates to Oracle Internet Directory. Oracle Reports Services displays Oracle Delegated Administration Services when it encounters a Single Sign-On key that does not already have a data source connection string associated with it in Oracle Internet Directory.

For more information, refer to Chapter 17, "Configuring and Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On".

The script content on this page is for navigation purposes only and does not alter the content in any way.

17.3 Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On

This section describes some of the administrative tasks you may need to perform as you maintain security for Oracle Reports Services.

Enabling and Disabling OracleAS Single Sign-On

Enabling and Disabling Reports Server Security

Enabling and Disabling Data Source Security

Connecting to Oracle Internet Directory

17.3.1 Enabling and Disabling OracleAS Single Sign-On

To take advantage of OracleAS Single Sign-On out-of-the-box, the SINGLESIGNON parameter in the Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) configuration file (rwservlet.properties) is set to YES, which specifies that you will use OracleAS Single Sign-On to authenticate users. Oracle considers this to be the normal security deployment model and you should set <singlesignon>no</singlesignon> only if you plan to run in a completely custom security configuration.

Use Oracle Enterprise Manager to change configuration settings, rather than directly editing configuration files. To enable or disable OracleAS Single Sign-On, see Section 7.8.6, "Enabling and Disabling Single Sign-On".

17.3.2 Enabling and Disabling Reports Server Security

In 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Reports Server is secured out-of-the-box using the Portal-based security, by default. However, you can enable JPS-based security, including JAZN-XML authorization. For more information, see Chapter 15, "Securing Oracle Reports Services".

Use Oracle Enterprise Manager to change configuration settings, rather than directly editing configuration files. To enable or disable security, see Section 7.8.1, "Enabling and Disabling Security".

During Oracle Fusion Middleware installation, you are asked to select an identity store, a policy store, and a credential store. By default, these are file-based stores. After installation, you can change either of these to LDAP-based stores, such as Oracle Internet Directory. For more information, see "Understanding Identities, Policies, and Credentials" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide.

17.3.3 Enabling and Disabling Data Source Security

To enable data source security through OracleAS Single Sign-On, you must do the following:

Include SSOCONN in the URL that launches the report.

Populate Oracle Internet Directory with data source connection information using one of three methods.

If you wish to implement data source security through OracleAS Single Sign-On for your own pluggable data sources, you must perform the following additional task:

Add a new resource type to Oracle Internet Directory.

The sections that follow explain how to perform these operations.

17.3.3.1 SSOCONN

To enable data source security through OracleAS Single Sign-On, the URL must contain or reference (that is, through the key map file) an OracleAS Single Sign-On parameter (SSOCONN) with a value of the form:

key_name/data_source_type/conn_string_parameter

key_name maps to a string stored in Oracle Internet Directory that provides the necessary information to connect to the database. When Oracle Reports encounters a key_name, it checks to see if the current user has a corresponding key stored in Oracle Internet Directory. If so, Oracle Reports uses the string stored in that key to connect to the data source. If not, Oracle Reports checks to see if the key_name maps to a publicly available key. If so, Oracle Reports uses that key. If not, Oracle Delegated Administration Services prompts the user to create a new resource.

See Also:

Section 17.3.3.2, "Populating Oracle Internet Directory" for more information about populating Oracle Internet Directory with resources.

data_source_type is the kind of data source to which you are connecting, to identify the format in the string associated with key_name. The data_source_type value must be a valid resource type stored in Oracle Internet Directory. Oracle Reports provides default resource types for the following:

Oracle database (OracleDB)

JDBC PDS (JDBCPDS)

You can also create additional resource types in Oracle Internet Directory for your own pluggable data sources.

See Also:

Section 17.3.3.3, "Adding a New Resource Type" for more information about adding resource types.

conn_string_parameter specifies the Oracle Reports system or user parameter to be used to pass the connection string to Oracle Reports. For example, in the case of the OracleDB data source, Oracle Reports receives the connection string through the USERID parameter and uses it to connect to the specified Oracle database. Similarly, for JDBCPDS, P_JDBCPDS is used. If you have your own custom pluggable data sources, you must define your own user parameter for passing the connection string to Oracle Reports and specify it as conn_string_parameter for SSOCONN.

See Also:

Section A.8.15, "SSOCONN"

17.3.3.1.1 Oracle Database Example

In the case of an Oracle database, the URL to call a report with SSOCONN would look something like the following:

http://myhost.mycompany.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=rs_cped
&report=my.rdf&destype=cache&ssoconn=mykey/OracleDB/userid&desformat=html

17.3.3.1.2 JDBC Pluggable Data Source Example

In the case of a JDBC data source, the Single Sign-On value would look something like the following:

http://myhost.mycompany.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=rs_cped
&report=Jdbcthin.rdf&destype=cache&desformat=html&ssoconn=jd1/jdbcpds/p_jdbcpds

In this case, jd1 is an Oracle Internet Directory resource name.

See Also:

Section 14.1, "Configuring and Using the JDBC PDS" for more information on how to configure a JDBC data source.

Usage Notes

When you use SSOCONN in a command line, you cannot:

Specify AUTHID in the same command line.

Run against a Reports Server that is not secure.

Have SINGLESIGNON set to NO in rwservlet.properties.

Performing any of these actions with SSOCONN in the command line results in an error.

17.3.3.2 Populating Oracle Internet Directory

For data source security to function with OracleAS Single Sign-On, you must store the data connection information for each user in Oracle Internet Directory or make the resource a default one available to every user. You can populate Oracle Internet Directory with this information in any one of the following ways:

Oracle Delegated Administration Services

User Prompt

Batch Loading

Making a Resource Available to All Users

17.3.3.2.1 Oracle Delegated Administration Services

If you want to enter only the credentials for a small number of users (for example, for a development environment), you can use Oracle Delegated Administration Services (DAS) to directly enter connection string information into Oracle Internet Directory for each user.

Note:

Before a user can access Oracle Delegated Administration Services, an administrator must have already entered a user identity in Oracle Internet Directory for the user. This step can be done by batch loading information that is already entered into an LDAP directory in some other source.

See Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Internet Directory for information on batch loading.

During Oracle Fusion Middleware installation, you specify the location of Oracle Delegated Administration Services. You use this URL to access Oracle Delegated Administration Services for administrative purposes. Once in Oracle Delegated Administration Services, you enter the information through the Resource Access Information section of the Preferences tab for the user. See Figure 17-2. Note that, for the Preferences tab to appear, there must already be a resource in place.

Figure 17-2 Delegated Administration Services Preferences

If you want to enter data source information for a large number of users, you should use either the user prompt or batch methods of populating Oracle Internet Directory.

17.3.3.2.2 User Prompt

If you prefer to have users enter their own connection string information, you do not have to prepopulate Oracle Internet Directory with data source connection information at all. If you use SSOCONN when launching the report but Oracle Internet Directory does not already contain a connection string for the key and the key is not publicly available to all users, the Oracle Delegated Administration Services Create Resource page is displayed to the user, who must enter their data source connection string. See Figure 17-3. Oracle Delegated Administration Services stores the string entered by the user in Oracle Internet Directory for future use and rwservlet uses the newly entered connection string for the data source connection string of the report.

Note:

Because of this feature, many users can use the same report URL even if they all use different data source connection strings.

Figure 17-3 Oracle Delegated Administration Services Create Resource

Note:

In the Create Resource dialog, if you want to enter a JDBC connection string, you can do so by entering hostname:port:sid in the Database field.

17.3.3.2.3 Batch Loading

Resources for Oracle Reports Services are created in Oracle Internet Directory under the following entry:

orclresourcename=resource_name, cn=Resource Access Descriptor,
orclownerguid=guid, cn=Extended Properties, cn=OracleContext,
dc=us,dc=oracle,dc=comFoot 1

Before You Begin You must create orclownerguid=guid in the Oracle Internet Directory entry before you can proceed with the batch loading of resources. If you used Oracle Delegated Administration Services to create your users, orclownerguid=guid was created automatically and you can proceed to Batch Loading Resources.

If you seeded users into Oracle Internet Directory with an LDIF file, then, before following the steps in Batch Loading Resources, you must complete the following steps:

Get the users' GUIDs.

Depending on how your users are created in Oracle Internet Directory, you can use any number of methods to get their GUIDs. You can get user GUIDs using the Oracle Internet Directory LDAP API. You can also get it using the ldapsearch command:

D:\Oracle\BIN>ldapsearch -h host_name -p port_num -L -D cn=orcladmin
-w orcladmin's_password -b "cn=users,dc=us,dc=oracle,dc=com" -s sub "objectclass=*" dn orclguid

Create the user entry orclownerguid=guid under cn=Extended Properties, cn=OracleContext, dc=us, dc=oracle, dc=com.

Modify the sample script, ORACLE_HOME\reports\samples\scripts\createuser.ldif by replacing the place holder with real values.

Load createuser.ldif using ldapadd. For example:

D:\Oracle\BIN>ldapadd -D cn=orcladmin -w welcome1
-h host_name -p port_num -f createuser.ldif

Once you have created orclownerguid=guid, proceed to Batch Loading Resources.

Batch Loading Resources Follow the steps below to batch load data source resources for your users:

Create the user's resource entry orclresourcename=resource_name, cn=Resource Access Descriptor under orclownerguid=guid, cn=Extended Properties, cn=OracleContext, dc=us, dc=oracle, dc=com, where orclownerguid=guid is the GUID created in Before You Begin.

Modify the sample script, ORACLE_HOME\reports\samples\scripts\createresource.ldif by replacing the place holder with real values.

Load createresource.ldif using ldapadd. For example:

D:\Oracle\BIN>ldapadd -D cn=orcladmin -w orcladmin's_password -h host_name -p port_num -f createresource.ldif

17.3.3.2.4 Making a Resource Available to All Users

If you want to make a resource publicly available to all of your users, you can do so by following these steps:

Launch Oracle Delegated Administration Services and go to the Home tab.

Login as the administrator (orcladmin).

Click the Configuration tab.

Click the Preferences sub tab and you should see a page similar to the one in Figure 17-4.

Figure 17-4 Oracle Internet Directory Configuration Preferences Page

Under Default Resource Access Information, click Create.

In the Create Resource page, enter the resource name and select the Resource type from the drop-down list. For example, JDBCPDS.

Click Next.

Enter the connection information. For example, scott/tiger@mydb.

Click Submit.

Click OK.

That resource should now appear under Default Resource Access Information and be available to all users.

17.3.3.3 Adding a New Resource Type

If you want to add a new resource type to support your own pluggable data source, you must perform the following procedure:

Launch Oracle Delegated Administration Services and go to the Home tab.

Login as the administrator (orcladmin).

Click the Configuration tab.

Click the Preferences sub tab and you should see a page similar to the one in Figure 17-4.

Under Configure Resource Type Information, click Create and you should see a page similar to the one in Figure 17-5.

Figure 17-5 Create Resource Type page

Fill in at least the required fields. Field descriptions are provided in Table 17-1.

Table 17-1 Create Resource Type Properties

Property
Description

Resource Type Name

Is the name of the new resource type. This name is used when you want to reference the resource type, for example, in the data_source_type portion of the SSOCONN string.

Display Name

Is the name to be used when the resource type appears in the user interface.

Description

Is a textual description that explains the purpose of the resource type and any other documentary information you want to enter for it.

Authentication Class

Mandatory field, not used by Oracle Reports Services. Enter dummy text as a value for this field.

Connection String Format

Defines how Oracle Reports Services should construct the connection string using the values stored in Oracle Internet Directory for the resource. For example:

for the Oracle database or a JDBC data source your connection string format might be:

orclUserIDAttribute/orclPasswordAttribute @orclFlexAttribute1

This string indicates that the user name is followed by a slash, the password, an at sign (@), and then additional attribute 1 (for example, for the TNS name of the database). A connection string that adheres to this format would look similar to this one:

scott/tiger@db1

User Name/ID Field Name

Is the display name of the user name field that contains the value for orclUserIDAttribute. The display name appears on the Create Resource page (Figure 17-3) next to the field for orclUserIDAttribute. Typically, you would enter something like Username or User Name for this display name.

Password Field Name

Is the display name of the password field that contains the value for orclPasswordAttribute. The display name appears on the Create Resource page (Figure 17-3) next to the field for orclPasswordAttribute. Typically, you would enter something like Password or password for this display name.

Additional Field 1-3

Is the display name of the additional fields, which contain the values of orclFlexAttribute1, orclFlexAttribute2, and orclFlexAttribute3. You must specify these fields for whatever values your connection string requires beyond user name and password. For example, you might use one of them to contain a server or domain name.The display name appears on the Create Resource page (Figure 17-3) next to the field for orclFlexAttribute1, orclFlexAttribute2, or orclFlexAttribute3. Typically, you would enter something descriptive of the field's contents, such as Server or Domain, for this display name.

Click Submit. Your resource type is created and you can now reference it in the data_source_type portion of the SSOCONN value.

See Also:

Section 17.3.3.1, "SSOCONN".

17.3.4 Connecting to Oracle Internet Directory

As described in Chapter 15, "Securing Oracle Reports Services", Oracle Reports Services must connect to Oracle Internet Directory to verify user privileges and obtain existing data source connection information. In connecting to Oracle Internet Directory, you must consider:

Choosing the Connecting Entity for Oracle Internet Directory

Choosing the Oracle Internet Directory Instance

17.3.4.1 Choosing the Connecting Entity for Oracle Internet Directory

When Oracle Reports Services connects to Oracle Internet Directory, it does so as an application entity. By default, each Oracle Reports Services application entity is unique to its Oracle Fusion Middleware installation. Every Reports Server started from the same Oracle Fusion Middleware installation (that is, ORACLE_HOME) uses the same application entity to connect to Oracle Internet Directory. This setup ensures that each Reports Server can only access information in Oracle Internet Directory that is relevant to its instance of Oracle Fusion Middleware.

For example, suppose you have two instances of Oracle Fusion Middleware, one for your Finance group and one for your Human Resources group. A Reports Server from the Finance group's Oracle Fusion Middleware instance would be prevented from accessing information relevant only to the Human Resources group, and vice versa. Thus, information stored in Oracle Internet Directory is more secure by default.

In previous releases of Oracle Reports Services, all Reports Servers connected to Oracle Internet Directory as the same application entity. As a result, it was not possible to restrict a Reports Server's access to information in Oracle Internet Directory.

To revert to the less restrictive security mode, refer to the Oracle Reports Services chapter of the Oracle Fusion Middleware Release Notes.

17.3.4.2 Choosing the Oracle Internet Directory Instance

By default, the Reports Server is configured to use the Oracle Internet Directory instance installed with Oracle Fusion Middleware. If you are building your system anew, this arrangement is fine. However, if you have an existing Oracle Internet Directory instance that you want to use for the Reports Server, you have to make some adjustments to your configuration.

Changing Oracle Internet Directory instances must be done as part of a complete change of your Oracle Fusion Middleware middle tier. For more information about this process, refer to the chapter on reconfiguring Application Server instances in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

Footnote Legend

Footnote 1: dc=us,dc=oracle,dc=com is merely an example in this instance. You would normally enter your own values for these items.

17.4 Choosing the Connecting Entity for Oracle Internet Directory

You can merge several application entities so that the Reports Servers installed in separate ORACLE_HOMEs can share available SSOCONN resources. To achieve this merge, you must execute an LDIF file with the ldapmodify command. The LDIF file should contain the following:

dn: dn of the group representing the logical grouping of all report instances
changetype: modify
add: uniquemember
uniquemember: dn of the Reports Application Entity

where:

dn of the group representing the logical grouping of all report instances is
cn=Virtual Application Group, orclApplicationCommonName=reports_application_
entity_name**, cn=Reports, cn=Products, cn=OracleContext

dn of the Reports Application Entity is
orclApplicationCommonName=reports_application_entity_name**, cn=Reports, cn=Products, cn=OracleContext

** reports_application_entity_name is in the format reportsApp_hostname_GUID. For
example, reportsApp_serv1.us.oracle.com_C7543D42A9E26726E034080020A46EE

Example

Entry in the LDIF file:

dn: cn=Virtual Application Group,
  orclApplicationCommonName=reportsApp_Group.us.oracle.com_C7543D42A9E26726E0340
  80020A46EE2, cn=Reports, cn=Products, cn=OracleContext
changetype: modify
add: uniquemember
uniquemember:
  orclApplicationCommonName=reportsApp_serv1.us.oracle.com_A8654E53B0F37837F1451
  91131B57FF3, cn=Reports, cn=Products, cn=OracleContext

Corresponding ldapmodify command on the command line:

ldapmodify -D cn=orcladmin -w welcome1 -h reportsApp_Group.us.oracle.com -p 389 -f mergeentity.ldif

17.5 Changing the Reports Servlet Port to Be Protected by Single Sign-On

After you install Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), the following ports are registered, by default:

If WebCache is installed, the WebCache port is registered.

If only Oracle HTTP Server (no webcache) is installed, the Oracle HTTP Server port is registered.

To change the Reports Servlet port that must be protected by Single Sign-On:

Navigate to the OracleAS Single Sign-On Partner Application Administration page: http://oidhost:oidport/pls/orasso

In the Oracle Single Sign-On Server Administration home page, click Single Sign-On Server Administration. The Single Sign-On Server Administration page is displayed.

Click Administer Partner Applications. The Administer Partner Applications home page is displayed.

Select the host and port related to Reports Servlet, and click Edit. The Partner Application Login page is displayed.

Enter new parameters in Name, Home URL, Success URL, Logout URL fields.

Click Apply.

Note:

If you are using an SSL port, specify HTTPS instead of HTTP. For more information, see Section 8.14, "Enabling HTTPS for Oracle Reports".

17.6 Oracle Forms Services Security Considerations

The default configuration for Oracle Fusion Middleware Forms Services does not run in OracleAS Single Sign-On (SSO) mode. The default configuration for Oracle Reports Services does run in SSO mode.

Oracle Forms Services applications calling integrated Oracle Reports Services using the RUN_REPORT_OBJECT built-in procedure will not experience any problems when Oracle Forms Services is running in non-SSO mode and Oracle Reports Services is running in Single Sign-On mode as long as the Reports Server and the requested report are not registered in Oracle Portal.

Other Requirements:

The property Reports Server must be set explicitly for all report objects in the Oracle Forms Services module.

If a Reports Server other than the default is being used, that server must be started (using Oracle Enterprise Manager).

The system variable REPORTS_PATH must be modified in the file ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin/reports.sh to reference the path of the reports to be run.

The first time Reports Server is started, it creates a configuration file called rwserver.conf located in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name directory.

The default status of Reports Server is secure. To change the Reports Server status to non-secure, modify ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name\rwserver.conf by commenting out the <security> tag and removing securityId from the <job> tags.

After making these modifications, the Reports Server must be stopped and restarted (using Oracle Enterprise Manager).

If Oracle Forms Services is configured to run in Single Sign-On mode, then report requests are sent with the authid provided, based on the Single Sign-On user login.

Protected reports and Reports Servers can be registered in Oracle Portal.

Table 17-2 lists the possible Forms/Reports combinations and expected results:

Table 17-2 Outcome of Forms/ Reports Integration when Forms is running in SSO Mode or Non-SSO Mode

Report Type
Registered, Secure Reports Server (runs only registered reports)
Registered, Secure Reports Server (runs any reports)
Non-Secure Reports Server

Reports with public access

report generated

report generated

report generated

Reports with specific user access

report generated

report generated

report generated

Reports with no specific user access

report not generated

report not generated

report generated

Non-registered reports

report not generated

report not generated

report generated

17.6.1 What's New In This Release?

As discussed above, a large number of applications use Oracle Reports in a non-secure mode with Oracle Forms Services. In this mode, the end user need not provide an AUTHID to run a report from Oracle Forms Services; the URL command needs to include only JOBID and the Reports Server name. If unauthorized or malicious users discover the job ID, they can view the job output using GETJOBID through rwservlet to obtain job output that belongs to another user. Prior to 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Oracle Reports generated sequential job IDs, making it easy to predict the job ID. With 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Oracle Reports allows the users to generate random and non-sequential job IDs to make it impossible to predict the job ID for a particular job. For more information, see Section 18.8.2, "Generating Random and Non-Sequential Job IDs".

Additionally, 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides support for database authentication using proxy users:

Additional security through control of Oracle Forms Services connections based on users and roles.

Scalability, through reuse of a single database connection.

Part IV

Sending Requests to the Server

Part IV provides detailed, practical information about publishing reports, including how to run requests; how to set up sophisticated, automatic report distributions; how to customize reports at runtime through XML customization files, and how to use database triggers to automatically invoke reports:

Chapter 18, "Running Report Requests"

Chapter 20, "Creating Advanced Distributions"

Chapter 22, "Customizing Reports with XML"

Chapter 19, "Using the Oracle Reports Web Service"

Chapter 21, "Using Event-Driven Publishing"

18 Running Report Requests

This chapter discusses various ways to send report requests to the Reports Server. It includes the following sections:

The Reports URL Syntax

Report Request Methods

Deploying Your Reports

Publishing a Report in Oracle Portal

Specifying a Report Request from a Web Browser

Sending a Request to the URL Engine

Running Reports Through a Web Service

Calling Oracle Reports from Oracle Forms Services

Running Reports Using Oracle BPEL Process Manager

Scheduling Reports to Run Automatically

Additional Parameters

Reusing Report Output from Cache

Using a Key Map File

18.1 The Reports URL Syntax

This section provides quick reference information on formulating a URL for publishing a report. It covers two deployment types:

Oracle Reports Servlet

JSP

The information is largely the same for both Windows and UNIX environments. Differences are noted.

18.1.1 Oracle Reports Servlet

The syntax for the URL to run a report through Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) is:

http://web_server.domain_name:port/alias/rwservlet?parameters

Table 18-1 lists and describes the components of the URL.

Table 18-1 Components of a URL That Calls Oracle Reports Servlet

Component
Description

web_server

The name you gave the Oracle HTTP Server when you installed it.

domain_name

Your organization's domain name.

port

The port number on which the Oracle HTTP Server listens for requests. When no port is specified, the default is used (80).

alias

The virtual path that stands in for the absolute path to the files a URL will access.

rwservlet

Invokes Oracle Reports Servlet.

?

Identifies the beginning of the command line options.

parameters

All the command line options, or the key to the key map file where command line options are specified.

The URL that calls Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) could look like this:

http://neptune.world.com:80/reports/rwservlet?keyname

where keyname refers to a command listed under a unique header (the key name) in the cgicmd.dat key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File"). Note that this works differently for JSP files, which use the keyword/value pair cmdkey=value to specify key names for command lines that are stored in the cgicmd.dat file.

When you use Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet), you can also execute JSP report files if the JSP files contain paper layouts. When you run the report, specify Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) in the URL and call the JSP with the command line option: report=myreport.jsp.

For example:

http://neptune.world.com:80/reports/rwservlet?report=myreport.jsp&destype=cache&desformat=html

You'll find more information about command line keywords and values in Appendix A, "Command-Line Keywords".

18.1.2 JSP

The syntax for a JSP-based report URL is:

http://web_server.domain_name:port/alias/myreport.jsp?parameters

Table 18-2 lists and describes the components of the JSP-based report URL.

Table 18-2 Components of a JSP-based Report URL

Component
Description

web_server

The name you gave the Oracle HTTP Server when you installed it.

domain_name

Your organization's domain name.

port

The port number on which the Oracle HTTP Server listens for requests. When no port is specified, the default is used (80).

alias

The virtual path that stands in for the absolute path to the files a URL will access.

myreport.jsp

The report *.jsp file that you want this URL to execute.

?

Identifies the beginning of the command line options.

parameters

All the command line options, or the key to the key map file where command line options are specified.

The URL used to invoke a JSP-based report could look like this:

http://neptune.world.com:80/jsp/myreport.jsp?

You can specify a key in the URL that refers to a command in the cgicmd.dat file that contains additional command line parameters. In this case, you must use the name value pair: cmdkey=keyname. This can appear anywhere in your URL after the start of the query string (marked by a question mark). For example:

http://neptune.world.com:80/jsp/myreport.jsp?userid=scott/tiger@hrdb&cmdkey=key1

In your URL, use an ampersand (&) with no spaces to string parameters together.

When you use a JSP, you can also use Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet). When you run the report, specify Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) in the URL and call the JSP with the command line option: report=myreport.jsp.

For example:

http://neptune.world.com:80/reports/rwservlet?report=myreport.jsp&destype=cache&desformat=html

For more information about command line keywords, see Appendix A, "Command-Line Keywords".

18.2 Report Request Methods

There are a number of request methods available to you for running your report requests. These include:

The rwclient command line

The rwclient command line (rwclient.sh on UNIX) is available for running report requests from a command line in a non-Web architecture. It references an executable file that parses and transfers the command line to the specified Reports Server. It can use command line options similar to those used with the Reports Runtime component file, rwrun (rwrun.sh on UNIX).

On Windows, a typical rwclient command line request looks like this:

rwclient report=my_report.rdf userid=username/password@my_db server=server_name destype=cache desformat=html

On UNIX, the same command would look like this:

rwclient.sh report=my_report.rdf userid=username/password@my_db server=server_name destype=cache desformat=html

See Appendix A, "Command-Line Keywords" for more information about command line options.

A URL

To run a report from a browser, use the URL syntax. Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) converts the URL syntax into an rwclient command line request that is processed by Oracle Reports Services. You can give your users the URL syntax needed to make the report request from their browser, or you can add the URL syntax to a Web site as a hyperlink. The remainder of this chapter discusses this method in more detail.

Through Oracle Portal

The Oracle Portal component enables you to add a link to a report in an Oracle Portal page or portlet, or to output report results directly into a portlet. Each report link points to a packaged procedure that contains information about the report request. Oracle Reports Services system administrators use Oracle Portal wizards to create the packaged procedure making it more convenient and secure to publish the report through the Web. Authorized users accessing the Oracle Portal page group simply click the link to run the report. System administrators can run the report directly from the wizard. See the Oracle Portal online Help for more information.

Refer to Section 18.4, "Publishing a Report in Oracle Portal" for more information about how to publish your report as a portlet.

A packaged procedure

SRW.RUN_REPORT is a built-in procedure that runs a Reports Runtime command. When you specify SRW.RUN_REPORT, set the SERVER option to the Reports Server name to cause the SRW.RUN_REPORT command to behave as though you executed a rwclient command.

For more information, see Chapter 21, "Using Event-Driven Publishing". For a description of SRW.RUN_REPORT, refer to the Oracle Reports online Help.

A Web service

You can expose Oracle Reports Services as a Web service and then call it from any Web service aware environment (for example, a Java application).

For more information, see Chapter 19, "Using the Oracle Reports Web Service".

18.3 Deploying Your Reports

Once you have created your report, you can deploy it so that end users can view it. This section describes how to deploy a report with a paper layout (that is, REP, RDF, XML, or JSP report) and how to deploy a report with a Web layout (that is, a JSP report).

Note:

For an example on building and testing a JSP-based Web report, refer to the Oracle Reports Tutorial and the "Building a simple Parameter Form for a JSP-based Web report" in the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual.

The following table describes which method you can use to deploy your report, depending on the type of report.

Table 18-3 Methods for Deploying a Report

Type of Report
Method
Reason for Using

Report with paper layout (REP, RDF, XML)

Deploying a Report with a Paper Layout

Method for deploying a report with only a paper layout.

JSP report with a paper layout

Deploying a Report with a Paper Layout

Simplest method for deploying a paper report of any type. However, if the JSP report has both a paper and Web layout, we recommend you refer to Section 18.3.3, "Deploying a JSP Report to the Web and to Paper".

JSP report with a paper and Web layout

Deploying a JSP Report to the Web and to Paper

Strongly recommended for those who want to publish a report to both the Web and to paper.

Note:

rwrun and rwclient execute the paper layout of your report. The report is processed and executed even though your JSP has only a paper layout. If your JSP has only a web layout but not a paper layout, running the JSP report using rwrun or rwclient obtains a blank output. If you have a JSP with paper layout, it is recommended that you save the JSP as RDF and then run the RDF using rwrun or rwclient.

18.3.1 Deploying a Report with a Paper Layout

Once you've created your paper report, you can deploy it to the Reports Server so that users can run the report. The steps in this section show you how to deploy a report of type RDF, REP, XML or JSP.

Note:

JSP reports can be deployed either to the Web or to paper, depending on the layout the report designer used for the JSP report. This section discusses how to deploy a JSP report with a paper layout. If you want to deploy a JSP report with a paper and Web layout, follow the steps in Section 18.3.3, "Deploying a JSP Report to the Web and to Paper".

If your report depends on Java classes (for example, Barcode classes, a Web Service stub, and so on), you must configure the process to access these classes. That is, if your JSP report with a paper layout contains a Java class, you must set the classPath property of the engine element in the server configuration file ($ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/server_name/rwserver.conf for Standalone servers and $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/rwserver.conf for In-process servers).

To deploy your paper report:

Transfer the report file ( RDF, REP, XML, or JSP) and its associated files (for example, PLL, PLX or referenced images) to the deployment directory on your application server.

Note:

To transfer the file, you can use any method available, such as FTP or WebDAV.

Ensure the directory on the application server where you've transferred the file is listed in the Reports Server access path. If it is not, use the REPORTS_PATH environment variable, or set the sourceDir property of the Reports engine element in the server configuration file.

18.3.2 Running a Report with a Paper Layout

Now that you have deployed your paper report, you can run it from a Web browser.

In a browser, for example, you can type the following URL in the Location
field:

http://your_web_server:port_num/reports/rwservlet?server=server_name&report=
myreport.rdf&userid=username/password@my_db&desformat=pdf&destype=cache

In this example, your report displays in PDF format (desformat=PDF) in the browser.

For more information on running a report from the browser, refer to Section 18.5, "Specifying a Report Request from a Web Browser".

18.3.3 Deploying a JSP Report to the Web and to Paper

There are two ways you can deploy your JSP reports: through the existing Oracle Reports application, or through a Java EE application you create yourself. Using an existing application is useful when you are developing and testing your JSP-based Web reports. When you are ready to deploy your reports, however, we recommend you use an application you've created yourself.

Note:

The easiest way to deploy JSP reports is to copy them to the following directory:

$DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_REPORTS\tmp\_WL_user\reports_release\dir_name\war

The procedure described in this section for building your own EAR file and deploying it is only indicative; it is not comprehensive. For the detailed procedure, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Deploying Applications to Oracle WebLogic Server.

About JSP reports with both paper and Web layouts

With Oracle Reports Builder, you can create a JSP report with a paper layout, a Web layout, or both. You execute these reports using different processes:

JSP reports with paper layouts are executed through the Oracle Reports engine.

JSP reports with Web layouts are executed through the Java EE container.

If your report depends on Java classes (for example, Barcode classes, a Web Service stub, and so on), you must configure the process to access these classes. That is, if your JSP report with a paper layout contains a Java class, you must set the classPath property of the engine element in the server configuration file ($ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/server_name/rwserver.conf for Standalone servers and $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/rwserver.conf for In-process servers.)

If your JSP report with a Web layout contains a Java class, you can either add the classes or JAR to the WAR file, or change the Java EE container classpath. For more information, refer to the Oracle Containers for Java EE documentation.

Note:

For an example on building a report with a paper and Web layout, see "Building a Report with a Barcode" in the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual. For a simple JSP-based Web report example, refer to the Oracle Reports Tutorial.

The steps in this section show you how to deploy a JSP report with a paper and Web layout using a Java EE application. To deploy your JSP report with a paper and Web layout, you can create a new Oracle Reports Java EE application. You can create this application in an existing instance or a new instance of Oracle WebLogic Server.

18.3.3.1 Creating a New Java EE Application

In this section, you will create a new Java EE application for Oracle Reports. You will create a Web application archive (WAR file) that will contain the application information, then deploy it as an Enterprise archive (EAR file). To create a new Java EE application, you can use Oracle JDeveloper, another Java development tool, or you can create it manually. If you do not use Oracle JDeveloper to create the application, you must make a few modifications to the application, as well as to your JSP report.

To create a Java EE application:

Note:

If you are not familiar with creating a Java EE application, refer to Sun Microsystem's Web site (http://java.sun.com/javaee). For more information on using Oracle JDeveloper, refer to the Oracle JDeveloper online Help.

Before you create your EAR file, ensure that your application contains all the necessary directories, such as WEB-INF and the web.xml file.

Note:

The WEB-INF directory must contain the JSP tag library for Oracle Reports, called reports_tld.jar. In Oracle Fusion Middleware, you can find the tag library here:

DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/tmp/_WL_user/reports_version/random_string/war/WEB-INF/lib/reports_tld.jar

Ensure that your JSP-based Web report points to the location of the JSP tag library for Oracle Reports. Otherwise, the report will not run.

To point to the location of the JSP tag library, include the taglib directive in the JSP file:

<%@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/lib/reports_tld.jar" prefix="rw" %>

Create a new EAR file, either manually or using a tool such as Oracle JDeveloper. Ensure you create the WAR file according to the appropriate Java EE format.

If your JSP report contains a paper layout and you want to deploy your report to paper, open the web.xml file.

Note:

On Oracle Fusion Middleware, the web.xml file is located here:

DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/tmp/_WL_user/reports_version/random_string/war/WEB-INF/lib/reports_tld.jar

If you are deploying a JSP report that only contains a Web layout, continue to Step 7.

Add the following code to the web.xml file.

<servlet>
  <servlet-name>rwservlet</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>oracle.reports.rwclient.RWClient</servlet-class>
  <load-on-startup>yes</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>rwservlet</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/rwservlet*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

This new definition will redirect all URLs starting with /rwservlet to the Oracle Reports Servlet you've defined.

Note:

You can change the Oracle Reports Servlet name and URL.

Save the web.xml file.

Create an EAR file from the WAR file. Once these files are compiled, note where they are saved.

18.3.3.2 Deploying Java EE Application Using WebLogic Server

After you have created the WAR and EAR files, you can deploy them to the Oracle Fusion Middleware, which will serve the application to the Web. You can deploy these files using Oracle Enterprise Manager using either an existing WebLogic Server instance or a new WebLogic Server instance. For more information about deploying Java EE application in Oracle WebLogic Server, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Deploying Applications to Oracle WebLogic Server.

18.3.4 Running a JSP-Based Web Report from a Browser

If your JSP report is a Web report, you can run your JSP-based Web report from a Web browser. In a browser, type the following URL in the Location field:

http://your_computer_name:port/MyReportApp/JSPreportname.jsp?userid=user ID/password@database_name

Note:

In the above URL, MyReportApp is the name of the application you created.

If you wish you modify your JSP-based Web report at this point, you can either:

Replace the report in this location.

Re-create the WAR file with the modified JSP-based Web report, then redeploy the application. For more information, refer to Section 18.3.3.1, "Creating a New Java EE Application".

For more information on running a report from a browser, refer to Section 18.5, "Specifying a Report Request from a Web Browser".

18.3.5 Running a JSP report with a Paper Layout

If your JSP report has a paper layout, you can run your JSP report from a browser using the following URL:

http://your_web_server:portnum/MyReportApp/rwservlet?report=myreport.jsp&userid=
username/password@my_db&server=server_name&desformat=pdf&destype=cache

In this example, your report displays as a PDF (desformat=PDF) in the browser.

For more information on running a report from a browser, refer to Section 18.5, "Specifying a Report Request from a Web Browser".

18.3.6 Running with the WE8MSWIN1252 Character Set on UNIX

There are no UNIX fonts built into the WE8MSWIN1252 character set. This may cause Oracle Reports to fail when NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8MSWIN1252. Therefore, you must map the code page of the installed fonts (defined in the Tk2Motif.rgb file) to the WE8MSWIN1252 character set. TK2Motif.rgb is located in the ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin directory.

Note:

This mapping is required for Oracle Reports Builder, Reports Converter in non-batch mode (BATCH=NO), Reports Server and Reports Runtime with REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=NO. Reports Server and Reports Runtime uses REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY to determine the fonts needed.

Example1

Tk2Motif*fontMapCs: ISO8859-1=WE8MSWIN1252 (if there are ISO8859-1 fonts installed).

18.4 Publishing a Report in Oracle Portal

One of the best ways to publish your report is through the declarative, secure interface of Oracle Portal. To publish a report in Oracle Portal, refer to Chapter 16, "Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal". Specifically, you must first register your Oracle Reports components in Oracle Portal (see Section 16.2, "Registering Oracle Reports Components"), then expose your report in a portal (see Section 16.3, "Publishing Your Report as a Portlet").

Note:

When you use features like Oracle Portal Security, Portal Destination, and Job Status Repository, the JDBC database connections made by Oracle Reports Services may override the initial NLS_LANG setting. This change may in turn affect the behavior of the running report, such as bidirectional output in PDF. On UNIX platforms, you can work around this issue using the environment switching functionality to dynamically set the environment for reports. Refer to Section 8.2.2, "Dynamic Environment Switching" for more information.

18.5 Specifying a Report Request from a Web Browser

You can provide the user with the URL syntax needed to make a report request, or you can add the URL syntax to a Web page as a hyperlink.

URL syntax can be presented in the following forms:

Full URL request, for example:

http://your_webserver.domain_name:port/alias/rwservlet?report=myreport.rdf&userid=
username/password@my_db&server=server_name&desformat=html&destype=cache

If you require additional command line keywords, then refer to Appendix A, "Command-Line Keywords" for a list of valid rwservlet command line keywords.

Simplified URL request using key mapping, for example:

http://your_webserver.domain_name:port/alias/rwservlet?key1

18.6 Sending a Request to the URL Engine

If you have activated the Reports Server's URL engine, you can send job requests to the URL engine by using the following command line options:

urlParameter identifies the URL to be placed in the cache. For example, http://www.oracle.com or a JSP report.

jobType is the name of a job type (for example, rwurl) in the server configuration file that is associated with a URL engine.

Note:

For information on activating the URL engine, refer to Section 8.6, "Configuring the URL Engine".

For example, a request that specifies an external URL for urlParameter might look like the following:

http://your_webserver:portnum/reports/rwservlet?server=
ReportsServer+jobType=rwurl+urlParameter=
"http://www.oracle.com"+destype=mail+desname=foo@bar.com+desformat=htmlcss

Alternatively, a request that specifies a JSP report for urlParameter would look like the following:

http://your_webserver:portnum/reports/rwservlet?server=
ReportsServer+jobType=rwurl+destype=cache+urlParameter=
"http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%2Ffoo.jsp%3Fuserid%3Dscott%2Ftiger@oraDB%3Fserver%3DreportsServer"

Note:

If the URL has special characters, they must be encoded as per the x-www-form-urlencoded format.

18.7 Running Reports Through a Web Service

In many cases, reports are integrated components of some larger application rather than a standalone application themselves. Hence, it can be useful to generate report requests from within an application. We accomplish this goal by exposing Oracle Reports Services as a Web service. This Web service may then be called from within any Web service-aware environment (for example, a Java application). For example, suppose that you have a Java-based expense reporting form and you want to allow users to generate a PDF version of their expense reports from it each time that they complete an expense form in your system. By creating a Java proxy Oracle Reports Web Service, you could then easily reference it from your Java development environment (for example, Oracle JDeveloper) and add a button that invokes Oracle Reports Services to generate the PDF file.

See Also:

Chapter 19, "Using the Oracle Reports Web Service" for more information on the Oracle Reports Web service and installing and using the sample proxy and Java client.

18.8 Calling Oracle Reports from Oracle Forms Services

The tight product integration between Oracle Reports and Oracle Forms Services enables you to pass blocks of data between the two products and removes the need for subsequent queries. This technique, referred to as query partitioning, ensures that Oracle Reports is responsible for formatting data and ignores dynamic alteration of queries through triggers and lexical parameters.

Oracle Forms Services uses the shared Java Virtual Machine (JVM) controller for all report requests, reducing memory consumption.

Note:

Unless data parameters are unreasonably large or the queries particularly complicated, the perceived performance improvements should be negligible. Additionally, only top level groups in a report can accept data parameters passed from forms.

A typical integration between Oracle Forms Services and Oracle Reports is an application that provides a form to fill in data, which is used to generate a report. The steps that occur during this process are similar to the following example:

The end user enters values in a form. Some or all of these values are parameter inputs to the associated report.

The end user clicks a button, which generates the report as follows:

Oracle Forms Services populates all the parameters to execute the report.

Oracle Forms Services calls the RUN_REPORT_OBJECT built-in to send a request to Oracle Reports.

Oracle Reports returns the job id, and Oracle Forms Services queries on the status of this job id.

When the job status is FINISHED, Oracle Forms Services calls the WEB.SHOW_DOCUMENT built-in to submit a request to open the report output.

The WEB.SHOW_DOCUMENT built-in opens the following URL in the browser:

http://host:port/reports/rwservlet/getjobidn?server=server_name

Note:

For secure mode, the URL will also include authid=authid

For additional information on calling a report from an Oracle Forms Services application, refer to the Integrating Oracle Reports Services 11g in Oracle Forms Services 11g white paper on OTN (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/forms/techlisting10g.html).

18.8.1 Communication Between Reports and Forms Installed on Different Instances

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) communicates with Forms. If Forms and Reports are configured on different Oracle Instances, you must complete the following steps in Forms to facilitate communication with Reports Servers. FORMS_ORACLE_INSTANCE refers to the Oracle Instance where Forms is configured.

From your present working directory, run the following command:

cd $FORMS_ORACLE_INSTANCE/config

Create the ReportsTools directory as follows:

mkdir -p ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools

Copy the tools-logging.xml file as follows:

cp $ORACLE_HOME/reports/conf/ReportsTools/tools-logging.xml $FORMS_ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/logging.xml

Copy the tools-log-template.xml file as follows:

cp $ORACLE_HOME/reports/conf/ReportsTools/tools-log-template.xml $FORMS_ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/component-logs.xml

Copy the rwnetwork.conf file as follows:

cp $ORACLE_HOME/reports/conf/rwnetwork.conf $FORMS_ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/rwnetwork.conf

Replace the following macros in the copied files:

$$Instance.directory$$ with $FORMS_ORACLE_INSTANCE

$$Self.component_type$$ with ReportsToolsComponent

$$Self.name$$ with ReportsTools

$$Instance.oracle_home$$ with the path to the ORACLE_HOME directory

If Forms and Reports are configured on different OHS Servers, you must route the web requests from OHS instance where Forms is configured to the Reports Servlet as follows:

Copy the reports_ohs.conf file as follows:

cp $ORACLE_HOME/reports/conf/reports_ohs.conf $FORMS_ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/OHS/ohs1/moduleconf/.

Replace the macros $$managedserverhost$$ and $$managaerserverport$$ with host and port of the WLS_REPORTS managed server.

Restart the OHS that is running in FORMS_ORACLE_INSTANCE.

18.8.2 Generating Random and Non-Sequential Job IDs

With 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Oracle Reports allows you to generate random and non-sequential job IDs to make it impossible to predict the job ID for a particular job. To generate random and non-sequential job IDs for in-process servers, you must pass "-Djobid=random" via JVM options to Oracle WebLogic Server.

For standalone servers, you can generate random and non-sequential job IDs by passing the "-Djobid=random" via JVM options in the command line or by setting the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS variable. For more information, see Section B.1.53, "REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS".

This prevents malicious users from viewing non-secure report output by typing the job id in a URL.

18.9 Running Reports Using Oracle BPEL Process Manager

With 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), Oracle Reports is integrated with the Oracle Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) suite, which includes Oracle BPEL Process Manager to automate and monitor reporting requirements.

You can submit Oracle Reports jobs from the Oracle BPEL Process Manager business process, get the status of report execution, and also invoke an Oracle BPEL Process Manager business process from your reports. This makes it easy to include reporting requirements in the business process; for example, submit a report request when an order gets approved.

For more information, see Section 8.10, "Configuring Oracle Reports to Communicate with Oracle BPEL Process Manager", and also Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle SOA Suite.

18.10 Scheduling Reports to Run Automatically

You can use the server to run reports automatically from Reports Queue Manager (rwrqm on Windows, or rwrqv.sh on Solaris), Oracle Portal, or with the SCHEDULE command line keyword. The scheduling feature enables you to specify a time and frequency for the report to run.

Refer to the Reports Queue Manager online Help for more information about scheduling your reports.

If you publish a report as a portal component on an Oracle Portal page, then you can schedule the report request to run automatically and push the resulting report output to specified pages. Refer to the Oracle Portal online Help for more information.

The SCHEDULE command line keyword is available for use with the rwclient and rwservlet commands. See Section A.8.3, "SCHEDULE" for more information.

18.11 Additional Parameters

When you send a request to the Reports Server through rwcgi ,the following additional parameters, the values of which you cannot change, are implicitly passed along with your request:

Table 18-4 Additional Parameters Passed With a Report Request

Name
Description

ACCEPT_LANGUAGE

The comma separated list of languages accepted by the browser/user.

REMOTE_ADDR

The remote IP address from which the user is making the request.

REMOTE_HOST

The remote host name from which the user is making the request.

SCRIPT_NAME

The virtual path of the script being executed.

SERVER_NAME

The host name or IP address of the server on which Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) is running.

SERVER_PORT

The port number of the server on which Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) is running.

SERVER_PROTOCOL

The name and revision of the information protocol with which the request was sent.

USER_AGENT

The description of the remote client's browser.

18.12 Reusing Report Output from Cache

When you run a report, a copy of the report output is saved in the Oracle Reports Services cache. Subsequently, if an identical report is run (that is, with the same cache key), then the current request is recognized as a duplicate job.

There are several scenarios where reports caching takes effect:

When a new job request "A" comes to the Reports Server, and there is another job "B" that has the same cache key in the Current Jobs Queue (where it is waiting for an available engine or is in the middle of execution), then job "A" will use the output from job "B".

The job cache key excludes the destype, desname, server, and tolerance parameters, and includes almost all other parameters.

This level of cache happens automatically. You need not specify any other parameters in the command line for it to work.

If the user specifies TOLERANCE=n (where n is a number in units of minutes) in the new job request "A", then Reports Server will try to find a job in the Finished Jobs Queue than was successfully completed within n minutes. If Reports Server finds such a job, then the new job request "A" will return the output of job "B".

Note:

Refer to Section A.8.22, "TOLERANCE" for more information.

Oracle Reports Services cache results are persistent. If the Reports Server is shut down, once it is up again all the previous cache results are recovered and ready to use again.

18.12.1 Usage Note

You can set the cache size through Reports Queue Manager (rwrqm on Windows, or rwrqv.sh on Solaris) or through the cache element in the server configuration file (rwserver.conf). Reports Server attempts to keep the total size of cache files below the set limit, deleting the oldest cache files. In addition, you can empty the cache through Reports Queue Manager.

For more information on setting the cache, refer to the Reports Queue Manager online Help, and see Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services".

18.13 Using a Key Map File

If you choose to provide users with a URL or add a hyperlink to a Web site, then you can use a key map file to simplify or hide parameters in your URL requests. This section provides the following information:

Understanding Key Mapping

Enabling Key Mapping

Adding Key Mapping Entries to a Key Map File

Using a Key with Non-JSP Reports

Using a Key with a Report Run as a JSP

18.13.1 Understanding Key Mapping

The key map file contains command strings for running reports, each headed by a unique key identifier. Except when you run a report as a JSP, you reference only this key in the runtime URL. Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) sends the key value to the key map file (cgicmd.dat), which in turn returns the command associated with the specified key to rwservlet for processing. By using key mapping, the command line options are all hidden from the user.

Key mapping is useful for:

Shortening the URL, making it more convenient to use.

Remapping the runtime commands without having to change the original URL.

Standardizing several typical run configurations for your company.

Hiding certain parameters from users (for example, the database connect string).

Restricting the parameters users can use to run a report.

When you specify a key name from the key map file (cgicmd.dat), it must always be at the beginning of the query string (after the question mark) in a report request URL. An exception to this is if you use the CMDKEY command line keyword, and express the key name as its value: CMDKEY=keyname. In this case, you can place the key name anywhere in the query string within the report request URL. The CMDKEY keyword can be used with jobs run as JSPs and with the rwservlet command.

Note:

See Section A.5.14, "CMDKEY" for more information.

18.13.2 Enabling Key Mapping

Key mapping is enabled when a valid file with the standard file name, cgicmd.dat, is present in the default location: $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/cgicmd.dat directory on the Web server machine (on either Windows or UNIX).

18.13.3 Adding Key Mapping Entries to a Key Map File

To add key mapping entries to a key map file:

Navigate to the cgicmd.dat file on the machine that hosts your Reports Server, and open it with a text editor.

You'll find this file in the following directory on both Windows and UNIX:

$DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/cgicmd.dat

Add a key mapping entry. For example:

key1: report=your_report.rdf userid=username/password@my_db desformat=html SERVER=server_name destype=cache

In this example, key1 is the name of the key.

Except for the special parameters that are described in the file itself, the command line options follow the syntax rules of rwclient. See Section A.2.1, "rwclient" for more information.

Add or update the hyperlinks on your Web page.

For more information, see Section 18.5, "Specifying a Report Request from a Web Browser".

18.13.4 Using a Key with Non-JSP Reports

When you place a key name in a report request URL, it must always be the first value within the query string (immediately after the question mark). For example:

http://…/rwservlet?keyname

The key name is case-sensitive; that is, it must exactly match the case specified in the key mapping file (cgicmd.dat).

The following example shows a key mapping for a restricted run with a parameter form.

The URL might be:

http://web_server.domain_name:port/reports/rwservlet?run_report&par1&par2&parN

The key mapping file (cgicmd.dat) might contain:

run_report: report=myreport deptno=%1 myparam=%2 %*

This generates the equivalent of the following command line request:

rwclient report=myreport deptno=par1 myparam=par2 parN

18.13.5 Using a Key with a Report Run as a JSP

When you run a report as a JSP and want to call a command key in the cgicmd.dat file, you must use the cmdkey keyword in your URL. The cmdkey value (keyname) is case-sensitive; that is, it must exactly match the case specified in the cgicmd.dat file. For example, your JSP URL might look like this:

http://…/myreport.jsp?cmdkey=keyname

Note:

You can also use cmdkey with the rwservlet command.

When you use cmdkey with a JSP or rwservlet, you can place it anywhere within the query string. For example:

http://…/example.jsp?parameter1=value1&cmdkey=keyname
http://…/rwservlet?parameter1=value1&cmdkey=keyname

Usage Note

When using key mapping, the order in which the parameters are substituted from the URL into the key is determined by the placement of cmdkey in the URL. For example, suppose you have a key such as the following in the cgicmd.dat file:

mykeys: DEPTNO=%1 MYPARAM=%2

Now, you execute a JSP report that references this key as follows:

http://neptune.world.com:80/jsp/myreport.jsp?userid=scott/tiger@hrdb
  &cmdkey=mykeys&10&test

Because of the placement of cmdkey in this URL, the 10 corresponds to %1 and test corresponds to %2. Even though they are not the first and second parameters in the URL, 10 and test are the first and second parameters to follow cmdkey in the URL. In this example, the URL becomes:

http://neptune.world.com:80/jsp/myreport.jsp?userid=scott/tiger@hrdb
  &DEPTNO=10&MYPARAM=test

19 Using the Oracle Reports Web Service

A Web service is an application that is built on standard Internet and XML technologies and has the following characteristics :

Includes public interfaces and bindings defined and described using XML.

Publishes these public interfaces and bindings across the network for use by other programs.

A Web service accepts a request, performs its function based on the request, and returns a response. The request and the response can be part of the same operation, or they can occur separately, in which case the consumer need not wait for a response. Both the request and the response usually take the form of XML, a portable data-interchange format, and are delivered over a wire protocol, such as HTTP.

Web service transactions are usually conducted between businesses. A business that is a provider of one service can also be a consumer of another service. A Web service consumer can also be a client device, such as a thin client connecting to the Web service provider over a lightweight protocol.

This chapter discusses the Oracle Reports Web service and contains the following sections:

Overview

Getting Started

Oracle Reports Web Service Operations

Using RWWebServiceUtil to Test RWWebService

19.1 Overview

Oracle Reports provides several ways of submitting a job request to the server-infrastructure for processing:

rwservlet

rwservlet translates and delivers a job request between HTTP and the Reports Server, such as when submitting from a Web browser or through the event-driven publishing API.

rwclient

rwclient parses and transfers a command line to run a a report on a remote Reports Server.

Oracle Forms

Oracle Forms is a rapid application development (RAD) tool, used to build highly scalable Internet database applications.

Integrating the Oracle Reports technology into custom applications, especially Java applications, requires the implementation of the mechanisms used by rwservlet, rwcgi, rwclient, and Oracle Forms to submit jobs to the server from within those applications.

The RWWebService servlet provides the necessary public interfaces and bindings, and is required to be exposed and to function as a Web service. This functionality enables any application developer to include Oracle Reports in their application.

19.2 Getting Started

This section outlines the steps necessary for:

Invoking the RWWebService Servlet

Viewing the WSDL

19.2.1 Invoking the RWWebService Servlet

To invoke the RWWebService servlet:

Start a Oracle WebLogic Server instance, where the Oracle Reports instance resides.

Enter the following URL in the address field of your browser: http://yourwebserver:port/reports/rwwebservice

This takes you to the RWWebService endpoint. The RWWebService endpoint page enables you to do the following:

View the Oracle Reports Web service WSDL.

Run any RWWebService command using a Web based UI.

19.2.2 Viewing the WSDL

The Web Service Description Language (WSDL) is an XML format for describing available services as a set of endpoints operating on messages containing either document-oriented or procedure-oriented information. The operations and messages are described abstractly, and then bound to a concrete network protocol and message format to define an endpoint.

Note:

Oracle Reports Web service does not support dynamic discovery of the WSDL by publishing to the Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) server.

Click the WSDL link on the RWWebService Web page to view the Oracle Reports Web service's WSDL document.

Note:

Use Internet Explorer to view the WSDL XML output.

The last entry in the WSDL is the service description and contains the location of the WebService:

 <soap:address location="http://yourwebserver:8888/reports/rwwebservice" />

Figure 19-1 Viewing the WSDL

Ensure that the URL and port number defined, http://yourwebserver:port/reports/rwwebservice, is correct.

Note:

The hostname specified should be the hostname where the Oracle WebLogic Server instance is running and not where the Reports Server is running.

Oracle Reports WSDL

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- Published by JAX-WS RI at http://jax-ws.dev.java.net. RI's version is Oracle JAX-WS 2.1.4. -->
<!-- Generated by JAX-WS RI at http://jax-ws.dev.java.net. RI's version is Oracle JAX-WS 2.1.4. -->
<definitions xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/" xmlns:tns="http://oracle.reports/rwclient/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/" targetNamespace="http://oracle.reports/rwclient/" name="RWWebService">
<types>
<xsd:schema>
<xsd:import namespace="http://oracle.reports/rwclient/" schemaLocation="http://localhost:8888/reports/rwwebservice?xsd=1"/>
</xsd:schema>
</types>
<message name="getServerInfo">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:getServerInfo"/>
</message>
<message name="getServerInfoResponse">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:getServerInfoResponse"/>
</message>
<message name="getJobInfo">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:getJobInfo"/>
</message>
<message name="getJobInfoResponse">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:getJobInfoResponse"/>
</message>
<message name="getAPIVersion">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:getAPIVersion"/>
</message>
<message name="getAPIVersionResponse">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:getAPIVersionResponse"/>
</message>
<message name="killJob">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:killJob"/>
</message>
<message name="killJobResponse">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:killJobResponse"/>
</message>
<message name="runJob">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:runJob"/>
</message>
<message name="runJobResponse">
<part name="parameters" element="tns:runJobResponse"/>
</message>
<portType name="RWWebService">
<operation name="getServerInfo">
<input message="tns:getServerInfo"/>
<output message="tns:getServerInfoResponse"/>
</operation>
<operation name="getJobInfo">
<input message="tns:getJobInfo"/>
<output message="tns:getJobInfoResponse"/>
</operation>
<operation name="getAPIVersion">
<input message="tns:getAPIVersion"/>
<output message="tns:getAPIVersionResponse"/>
</operation>
<operation name="killJob">
<input message="tns:killJob"/>
<output message="tns:killJobResponse"/>
</operation>
<operation name="runJob">
<input message="tns:runJob"/>
<output message="tns:runJobResponse"/>
</operation>
</portType>
<binding name="RWWebServicePortBinding" type="tns:RWWebService">
<soap:binding transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http" style="document"/>
<operation name="getServerInfo">
<soap:operation soapAction=""/>
<input>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</input>
<output>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</output>
</operation>
<operation name="getJobInfo">
<soap:operation soapAction=""/>
<input>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</input>
<output>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</output>
</operation>
<operation name="getAPIVersion">
<soap:operation soapAction=""/>
<input>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</input>
<output>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</output>
</operation>
<operation name="killJob">
<soap:operation soapAction=""/>
<input>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</input>
<output>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</output>
</operation>
<operation name="runJob">
<soap:operation soapAction=""/>
<input>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</input>
<output>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</output>
</operation>
</binding>
<service name="RWWebService">
<port name="RWWebServicePort" binding="tns:RWWebServicePortBinding">
<soap:address location="http://localhost:8888/reports/rwwebservice"/>
</port>
</service>
</definitions>

19.3 Oracle Reports Web Service Operations

Oracle Reports exposes the RWWebService servlet as a Web service with its public interfaces and bindings defined and described using XML. These public interfaces and bindings are published across the network through the WSDL.

19.3.1 Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Test RWWebService

To test the RWWebservice through Oracle Enterprise Manager, complete the following steps:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Navigate to your WebLogic Domain.

From the WebLogic Domain menu, select Web Services > Test Web Service

The Test Web Service page is displayed.

Enter the URL of a WSDL and click Parse WSDL.

Select the webservice operation that you want to invoke.

Enter valid values in appropriate fields.

Click Test Web Service.

The Webservice Response is displayed.

In case you want to edit the values, click the Request tab and complete the step 6 and 7.

The operations supported by the RWWebService endpoint are:

getAPIVersion

getServerInfo

getJobInfo

killJob

runJob

19.3.1.1 getAPIVersion

The getAPIVersion() operation returns the version details of the Reports Server in XML format. This operation takes no parameters.

Note:

getAPIVersion is the only operation that returns the entire SOAP response along with the result (in a string). The other operations, for example, runJob return the response as an XML block embedded within the SOAP response.

To view the getAPIVersion response:

Navigate to the Test Web Service page in Oracle Enterprise Manager. See steps 1-3 in Section 19.3.1, "Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Test RWWebService".

From the Operation drop-down list, select getAPIVersion.

The Test page does not display any parameters.

Click Test Web Service.

The SOAP response is displayed in the Response tab.

The following is a sample response of a getAPIVersion operation:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <SOAP-ENV:Body>
    <ns1:getAPIVersionResponse
      xmlns:ns1="http://oracle.reports.rwclient/RWWebService.wsdl"
      SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
      <return xsi:type="xsd:string">11.1.1.1.0</return>
    </ns1:getAPIVersionResponse>
  </SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

19.3.1.2 getServerInfo

The getServerInfo(String serverName, String authId) operation takes two parameters and returns the Reports Server information in an XML format.

The valid parameters are :

serverName: A valid non-null server name. This operation returns an error if the specified server is not running in the network.

authId: A string in the form of username/password, must be specified for a secured server. This parameter is ignored for a non-secure server.

To view the getServerInfo response:

Navigate to the Test Web Service page in Oracle Enterprise Manager. See steps 1-3 in Section 19.3.1, "Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Test RWWebService".

From the Operation drop-down list, select getServerInfo.

The Test page displays the relevant parameter fields in the Input Arguments section.

Enter the Reports Server name (arg0) and authId (arg1).

Click Test Web Service.

The SOAP response is displayed in the Response tab.

The following is a sample output of the getServerInfo operation:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'ISO-8859-1' standalone = 'yes'?>
<serverInfo name="repserv" version="11.1.1.1.0">
   <host>incq246bc</host>
   <processId>2588</processId>
   <startTime>27-May-2003 10:09:34</startTime>
   <queue maxQueueSize="1000"/>
   <engine id="rwEng" activeEngine="1" runningEngine="0"/>
   <engine id="rwURLEng" activeEngine="1" runningEngine="0"/>
   <performance>
      <property name="successfulJobs" value="6"/>
      <property name="currentJobs" value="0"/>
      <property name="futureJobs" value="0"/>
      <property name="transferredJobs" value="0"/>
      <property name="failedJobs" value="0"/>
      <property name="AverageResponseTime" value="2124"/>
      <property name="executionTimeToDate" value=""/>
   </performance>
</serverInfo>

19.3.1.3 getJobInfo

The getJobInfo(Integer jobId, String serverName, String authId) operation returns the job information in XML format.

The valid parameters are:

jobId: JobId of the job for which information is required.

serverName: A valid non-null Server name value must be supplied. This operation returns an error if the specified server is not running in the network.

authId: A string in the form of username/password, must be specified for a secured server. For a non-secure server this parameter is ignored.

To view the getJobInfo response:

Navigate to the Test Web Service page in Oracle Enterprise Manager. See steps 1-3 in Section 19.3.1, "Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Test RWWebService".

From the Operation drop-down list, select getJobInfo.

The Test page displays the relevant parameter fields in the Input Arguments section.

Enter the jobId (arg0), Reports Server name (argm1), and authId (arg2).

Click Test Web Service.

The SOAP response is displayed in the Response tab.

The following is a sample output of a getJobInfo operation for job id=3:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'ISO-8859-1' standalone = 'yes'?>
<serverQueues>
   <job id="3" queueType="past">
      <name>test.rdf</name>
      <type>report</type>
      <status code="4">Finished successfully</status>
      <owner>RWUser</owner>
      <server>repserv</server>
      <destination>
         <desType>cache</desType>
         <desFormat>html</desFormat>
         <file>21748116.htm</file>
         <file>217481161.jpg</file>
         <file>217481160.jpg</file>
      </destination>
      <timingInfo>
         <queued>27-May-2003 10:21:50</queued>
         <started>27-May-2003 10:21:50</started>
         <finished>27-May-2003 10:21:51</finished>
      </timingInfo>
   </job>
 </serverQueues>

19.3.1.4 killJob

The killJob(Integer jobId, String serverName, String authId) operation kills the job based on the job id specified and returns the status of the operation in XML format.

The valid parameters are:

jobId: JobId of the job for which information is required.

serverName: A valid non-null Server name value must be supplied. This operation returns an error if the specified server is not running in the network.

authId: A string in the form of username/password, must be specified for a secured server. For a non-secure server this parameter is ignored.

To view the killJob response:

Navigate to the Test Web Service page in Oracle Enterprise Manager. See steps 1-3 in Section 19.3.1, "Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Test RWWebService".

From the Operation drop-down list, select killJob.

The Test page displays the relevant parameter fields.

Enter the jobId (arg0), Reports Server name (arg1), and authId (arg2).

Click Test Web Service.

The SOAP response is displayed in the Response tab.

The following is a sample output of a killJob operation for Job ID=3:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'ISO-8859-1' standalone = 'yes'?>
<serverQueues>
   <job id="3" queueType="past">
      <name>test.rdf</name>
      <type>report</type>
      <status code="7">Canceled upon user request</status>
      <owner>RWUser</owner>
      <server>repserv</server>
      <destination>
         <desType>cache</desType>
         <desFormat>html</desFormat>
      </destination>
      <timingInfo>
         <queued>27-May-2003 10:21:50</queued>
         <started>27-May-2003 10:21:50</started>
         <finished>27-May-2003 10:22:00</finished>
      </timingInfo>
   </job>
</serverQueues>

19.3.1.5 runJob

The runJob(String commandLine, Boolean synchronous) operation runs a job to the Reports Server specified as part of the commandLine parameter.

Note:

Oracle Reports Web service does not return the job output or the actual report.

The valid parameters are:

commandLine: The complete command line syntax for submitting a job. For example:

server=repserv report=test.rdf destype=file desname=output.pdf desformat=pdf         userid=scott/tiger@oraDB

Note:

The command line parameter cannot include paramform=yes. You have to pass the actual values for the parameter as part of the commandLine argument.

synchronous: A Boolean object to indicate if the job should be run synchronously.

To view the runJob response:

Navigate to the Test Web Service page in Oracle Enterprise Manager. See steps 1-3 in Section 19.3.1, "Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to Test RWWebService".

From the Operation drop-down list, select runJob.

The Test page displays the relevant parameter fields.

Enter the command line syntax (arg0), whether the job should run synchronously (T/F, Y/N) (arg1).

Click Test Web Service.

The SOAP response is displayed in the Response tab.

The following is a sample output of a runJob operation:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'ISO-8859-1' standalone = 'yes'?>
<serverQueues>
   <job id="7" queueType="current">
      <name>test.rdf</name>
      <type>report</type>
      <status code="1">Waiting in the queue</status>
      <owner>RWUser</owner>
      <server>repserv</server>
      <destination>
         <desType>file</desType>
         <desName>output.pdf</desName>
         <desFormat>pdf</desFormat>
      </destination>
      <timingInfo>
         <queued>27-May-2003 10:22:00</queued>
         <started>27-May-2003 10:22:00</started>
         <finished>27-May-2003 10:22:00</finished>
      </timingInfo>
   </job>
</serverQueues>

19.4 Using RWWebServiceUtil to Test RWWebService

Oracle Reports installation provides a sample RWWebServiceUtil webservice testing utility class. This is available in ORACLE_HOME /reports/jlib/rwrun.jar. RWWebServiceUtil can be used to test various operations supported by RWWebService.

The following procedure outlines the necessary steps involved in using this utility:

Include rwrun.jar in the classpath.

Run RWWebServiceUtil as a normal java program as following:

$ORACLE_HOME\jdk\bin\java oracle.reports.rwclient.RWWebServiceUtil

It displays the following usage:

-endpoint       url of the webservice
-method         web service operation to invoke

runJob,getJobInfo,getServerInfo,killJob,getAPIVersion

   Input Parameters for runJob
    -cmdline        command line to be used while submitting the job
    -sync           boolean value to specify if job should be submitted
                    in synchronous manner or asynchronous manner

   Input Parameters for getJobInfo
    -server         server to be used for processing the request
    -jobid          jobid in numeric format
    -authid         user/password for authentication, if server is secure

   Input Parameters for getServerInfo
    -server         server to be used for processing the request
    -authid         authid for authentication, if server is secure

   Input Parameters for killJob
    -server         server to be used for processing the request
    -jobid          jobid in numeric format
    -authid         authid for authentication, if server is secure

You can use this utility to submit jobs to reports server using the following command:

$ORACLE_HOME\jdk\bin\java
oracle.reports.rwclient.RWWebServiceUtil -endpoint
http://yourmachine:port/reports/rwwebservice -method runjob -cmdline
"report=test.rdf desformat=pdf destype=file desname=/tmp/output.pdf
server=ReportsServer" -sync true

This submits the request to the server and returns a soap response in the following format:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'UTF-8' standalone = 'yes'?>
   <serverQueues>
      <job id="2" queueType="past">
         <name>/home/vnanda/test.rdf</name>
         <type>report</type>
         <status code="4">Report  finished successfully.</status>
         <owner>RWUser</owner>
         <server>reportsserver</server>
         <destination>
            <desType>file</desType>
            <desName>/tmp/output.pdf</desName>
            <desFormat>pdf</desFormat>
            <file>output1.pdf</file>
         </destination>
         <timingInfo>
            <queued>Feb 17, 2009 9:41:36 AM</queued>
            <started>Feb 17, 2009 9:41:36 AM</started>
            <finished>Feb 17, 2009 9:41:38 AM</finished>
         </timingInfo>
      </job>
   </serverQueues>

Similarly, you can invoke other operations on RWWebService using the RWWebServiceUtil.

20 Creating Advanced Distributions

When you wish to define an advanced distribution for your report, you can design the distribution by developing a distribution XML filer. In this file, you can specify the destination and format of output for each section of a report. In one distribution XML file, you can specify many different destinations, including custom (pluggable) destinations that you design (see Section 20.4.9, "destype").

Note:

An example distribution XML file (distribution.xml) is shipped with Oracle Reports in the $ORACLE_HOME/reports/samples/demo directory. You can reuse this file for your own purposes so that you do not have to create one from scratch.

This chapter provides information on creating a distribution XML file and some example use cases. It includes the following main sections:

Distribution Overview

What's New In This Release?

Introduction to Distribution XML Files

Elements of a Distribution XML File

Distribution XML File Examples

Using a Distribution XML File at Runtime

Limitations with Using Distribution

20.1 Distribution Overview

Although distribution XML files are not required for specifying the distribution of report output, they are useful for complex distributions. For example, there may be times when you want to publish the output of one report in a variety of ways. You might want to send an executive summary of a report to senior management while e-mailing detailed breakdowns to individual managers. In this case, you might produce a single report with two report sections: a portrait-sized summary section and a landscape-sized detail section. You would associate the detail section with a data model group that lists the managers, then alter the destination to burst the report on each instance of the group to send each department's output to its related manager.

The distribution XML file simplifies distribution complexity by enabling you to define multiple outputs for a given report in one XML file, then call that file from a command line or URL.

In order to use the same report definition file to burst and distribute to data-driven formats such as XML and DELIMITEDDATA, as well as to layout-driven formats such as PDF and ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET, you must ensure the following requirements are met:

The distribution XML file must specify the include element. For example:

&lt;include src="mainSection"/&gt;

The Repeat On property must be set appropriately for the section(s) specified in the distribution XML file.

The section(s) specified in the distribution XML file in the report paper layout must not be empty.

20.2 What's New In This Release?

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) expands bursting and distribution to all output formats, as well as other new features, as described in Table 20-1 (a subset of Table 1-1, "11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality"):

Table 20-1 11g Distribution and Bursting Features vs. 10g Functionality

11g New Features
Equivalent 10g Functionality

Full support for bursting and distribution to all destinations and output formats, including:

all out-of-the-box and pluggable destinations

data-driven formats such as XML and DELIMITEDDATA, as well as layout-based formats such as the new ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format

Limited destinations and output formats for bursting and distribution.

System parameters in report definition honored for distribution. Distributed output honors the DESTYPE, DESFORMAT, and DESNAME system parameters specified in the report definition.

For example, if you define system parameters in the report:

DESTYPE=FILE, DESFORMAT=PDF, and DESNAME=/tmp/a.pdf

the report output is generated and distributed using these values without the parameter values needing to be specified in the distribution XML file or on the command line.

Additionally, if users change the values of DESTYPE, DESFORMAT, or DESNAME on the Runtime Parameter Form during runtime, or if Oracle Reports sets the value of these system parameter based on a runtime calculation, the parameter values are honored when the report is distributed.

Values for system parameters DESTYPE, DESFORMAT, and DESNAME specified in the report definition are not honored for distributed output; to change the default values of these system parameters for distributed reports, they must be specified in the distribution file or on the command line.

Security check for distribution destinations. Ability to define security policies for distribution jobs. For example, you can define a security policy that specifies report output may not be burst to ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format; if the distribution XML file specifies ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET format, the attempt to generate a report to this output format displays an error.

No security check performed for destinations specified in the distribution XML file.

Other improvements such as tolerance support for burst jobs and improved diagnostics.

N/A

20.3 Introduction to Distribution XML Files

This section discusses the use of XML files related to distribution:

The distribution.dtd File

Using Variables Within Attributes

20.3.1 The distribution.dtd File

When you create a distribution XML file, you follow the syntax defined in the distribution.dtd file located in the following directory on both Windows and UNIX:

ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd

As you look through the following sections, it may be useful to you to print the distribution.dtd file and refer to it as you review the descriptions of the elements and attributes.

Note:

Information provided in the distribution XML file is case-sensitive. You must preserve case of various elements and attributes as specified in the distribution.dtd file.

The distribution.dtd file lists all elements that are valid within a distribution XML file. Each of these elements have attributes. Attributes that come with default values need not be specified, unless you wish to override the default.

You can create a dynamic distribution by introducing variable values into many different attributes. Variable values reference columns that are present in the report that is using the distribution XML file.

20.3.2 Using Variables Within Attributes

You can use variables within attributes by entering &amp;column_name or &amp;&lt;column_name&gt; in the place of a static value.

Note:

The ampersand (&) and less-than symbol (<) have specific meanings in XML, but they are also required symbols for certain Oracle Reports command line options (for example, lexical parameters require the ampersand symbol). To avoid conflict with the XML meanings of these symbols when you set up variables, specify the encoded version of the ampersand (&amp;) and less-than and greater-than symbols (&lt; and &gt;). For example:

Here is what the variable looks like improperly coded in an XML file:

<mail id="a1" to="&<manager>@mycompany.com" …

Here is what the variable looks like properly coded in an XML file:

<mail id="a1" to="&amp;&lt;manager&gt;@mycompany.com" …>

There is no special requirement for the greater-than symbol (>) used with variables, but for consistency, we recommend that you use the encoded version (&gt;).

The variable syntax you use depends on whether the value is expressed by itself or in combination with other values or strings. For example, a value for a to attribute in a mail element might be expressed as either:

<mail id="a2" to="&amp;email" …>

or

<mail id="a3" to="&amp;&lt;first_name&gt;.&amp;&lt;last_name&gt;@myco.com …>

In the first example (id="a2"), the variable's referenced column (email) contains a full e-mail address and does not require additional information. The second example (id="a3") uses a combination of variable values (first_name and last_name) and static text to construct an e-mail address (static text is the period after first_name and @myco.com). In both cases, you will get dynamic e-mail addressing. The example you use will depend on whether the variable contains all the information you need or requires additional information in order to be complete.

For more complex layouts, you can also reference report columns you created with PL/SQL formulas. For example, in your report you may define the PL/SQL column:

PL/SQL formula CF_MAILID: return(:first_name||'.'||:last_name)

You'd reference this column in the distribution XML file as:

to="&amp;&lt;CF_MAILID&gt;@mycompany.com"

20.4 Elements of a Distribution XML File

The elements of a distribution XML file include:

destinations

foreach

mail

body

attach

include

file

printer

destype

property

Most of these elements have attributes that define the behavior of the element. The following sections describe the distribution XML file elements and their associated attributes. Section 20.5, "Distribution XML File Examples" provides use cases that demonstrate the distribution XML file elements and attributes in typical scenarios.

20.4.1 destinations

Example

<destinations>

  one or more distribution specifications

</destinations>

Required/Optional

Required. You must have no more or less than one destinations element in your distribution XML file.

Description

The destinations element opens and closes the content area of the distribution XML file. In terms of the distribution XML file's tagging hierarchy, all the other elements are subordinate to the destinations element.

20.4.2 foreach

Example

<foreach>
  <mail id="a1" to="my_addressee@mycompany.com" subject="Fourth Quarter Results">
    <attach format="pdf" name="dept_&amp;&lt;department_ID&gt;.pdf'
        srcType="report" instance="this">
      <include src="mainSection"/>
    </attach>
  </mail>
</foreach>

or

<mail id="a4" to="recipient@mycompany.com" subject="Regional Results">
  <foreach>
    <attach format="pdf" name="report.pdf" srcType="report" instance="all">
      <include src="mainSection"/>
    </attach>
  </foreach>
</mail>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have as many foreach elements as you require.

Description

Use the foreach element to burst your distribution against a repeating group. You can use foreach only when the associated report definition file (either RDF, JSP, or XML) has its Repeat On property for the section that will be burst set to an appropriate group. The foreach element specifies that the distribution defined between its open and close tags should be performed for each repeating group.

The Repeat On property can be set for a report section (Header, Main, and Trailer) to associate a data model break group to a section. By setting the Repeat On property for a section, you can generate multiple instances of a section, or a repeating section.

When you implement bursting and distribution in a report, you can generate section-level distribution by setting the Repeat On property for a section to a data model break group, which generates an instance of the section for each column record of that break group. Then, you can distribute each instance of the section as appropriate (for example, to individual managers in the MANAGER group).

If you set the Repeat On property for more than one of the Header, Main, and Trailer sections of a report, all Repeat On property values must be set to the same data model break group. If the Repeat On property for any one of the Header, Main, and Trailer sections is set to a different data model break group, Oracle Reports raises the following messages:

REP-177: Error while running in remote server
REP-34320: Report sections used in destination '<destination id>' do not repeat on the same group

You can also use the foreach element as a sub-element of the mail element, as depicted in the second example provided at the start of this section. (In this example, assuming that mainSection repeats on G_DEPARTMENT_ID, the example will produce a single attachment with all the instances of the report's mainSection in a single file.)

The foreach element works closely with the instance attribute of the attach and file elements. While foreach specifies that the distribution should be performed according to record groups, instance specifies whether the burst groups should be distributed in one file (instance="all") or distributed as separate files: one file for each group instance (instance="this").

When used with the mail element, foreach can mean different things according to its position relative to the mail element:

When foreach precedes the mail element and instance="this", each group instance is dispatched as a separate mail. For example:

<foreach>
  <mail id="a1" to="managers@mycompany.com" subject="results">
    <attach name="department_&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;.pdf" instance="this">
      <include src="mainSection" />
    </attach>
  </mail>
</foreach>

If the report is grouped according to department_id, and there are four departments, then there are four group instances. This means four e-mails per recipient, each e-mail with its own group instance attached: one e-mail has department 10's report attached; another e-mail has department 20's report attached; and so on. Each recipient receives all four e-mails.

When foreach follows the mail element and instance="this", each group instance is attached to one e-mail going to each recipient. For example:

<mail id="a1" to="managers@mycompany.com" subject="results">
  <foreach>
    <attach name="department_&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;.pdf" instance="this">
      <include src="mainSection" />
    </attach>
  </foreach>
</mail>

20.4.3 mail

Example

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Results">
  <body srcType="text">
    Attached are quarterly results.
  </body>
  <attach srcType="report">
    <include src="headerSection"/>
    <include src="mainSection"/>
  </attach>
</mail>

or

<mail id="a4" to="recipient@mycompany.com" subject="Regional Results">
  <foreach>
    <attach format="pdf" name="report.pdf" srcType="report" instance="this">
      <include src="mainSection"/>
    </attach>
  </foreach>
</mail>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have as many mail elements as you require.

Description

Use the mail element to specify distributions through an outgoing SMTP-based mail server. Use it to specify the recipients, the subject, and the priority of the e-mail.

Between an open and close tag of the mail element, there can be only one body sub-element and anywhere from zero to multiple attach and foreach sub-elements.

The mail element also has a set of related attributes. These are expressed within the mail tag. For example, the id, to, and subject attributes are expressed:

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Recent Hires">

Table 20-2 lists and describes the attributes of the mail element.

Table 20-2 Attributes of the mail Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

id

string

Required. A keyword, unique within a given distribution XML file, that identifies a particular mail element. This can be a combination of a text string and one or more numbers, for example id="a1". The id value must always start with an alpha character.

to

string

Required. Variable values allowed. The recipient(s) of the e-mail. Contains the full, formal e-mail address, for example:

to="jsmith@foo.com"

Multiple recipients must be separated with commas.

Can also contain variable values that reference columns used in the associated report. See Section 20.3.2 for more information.

cc

string

Optional. Variable values allowed. The recipient(s) to receive a copy of the e-mail.

bcc

string

Optional. Variable values allowed. The recipient(s) to receive a blind copy of the e-mail.

from

string

Optional. Variable values allowed. The sender of the e-mail.

replyTo

string

Optional. Variable values allowed. The e-mail account where replies should be sent.

subject

string

Default: Mail Sent from &amp;Report

Optional. Variable values allowed. The subject of the e-mail. In the absence of a specified subject, the subject line will read: Mail Sent from [Name of Report]

priority

highest|high|normal|low|lowest

Default: normal

The e-mail's delivery priority.

returnReceipt

true|false

Default: false

Indication of whether the reply to individual or account should be notified when the e-mail is received.

organization

string

Optional. Variable values allowed. The name of the organization distributing the e-mail, for example:

organization="Region 10 Sales"

Or

organization="&amp;department_name"

Note:

For the mail element to work properly, the Reports Server must know which outgoing SMTP mail server to send mail to. You specify this information in the Reports Server configuration file (rwserver.conf). This file has a pluginParam element where you can enter the name of a mail server. For example:

<pluginParam name="mailServer" value="%MAILSERVER%">
  <property name="enableSSL" value="yes"/>
</pluginParam>

For more information, see Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services".

20.4.4 body

Example

On Windows 

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Results">
  <body srcType="file">
    <include src="c:\mail\body.html"/>
  </body>
</mail>

On UNIX 

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Results">
  <body srcType="file">
    <include src="/mail/body.html"/>
  </body>
</mail>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have a maximum of one body element associated with a given mail element.

Description

The body element acts as a sub-element to the mail element. It specifies the content (or body) of the e-mail. With body, you can type a text string between the open and close tags of the body element or use an include sub-element to specify either an external file, a report, or a section of a report. For example:

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Results">
  <body srcType="text">
    Attached are quarterly results.
  </body>
…

or

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Results">
  <body srcType="file">
    <include src="d:/reports/admin/results.html"/>
  </body>
…

or

<mail id="a1" to="&amp;&lt;first_name&gt;.&amp;&lt;last_name&gt;@myco.com"
    subject="Quarterly Results">
  <body srcType="report" format="html">
    <include src="headerSection"/>
  </body>
…

The body element has three attributes: srcType, format, and instance, described in Table 20-3.

Table 20-3 Attributes of the body Sub-Element of mail

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

srcType

file|report|text

Default: report

The source for content of an e-mail. The content is displayed in the body of the e-mail. In the absence of a specified srcType, the default is used.

format

html|htmlcss|ascii|delimiteddata

Default: html

Required when srcType is report with a format other than html, the default; otherwise format is optional. The format of the content.

instance

this|all

Default: all

Used when the foreach element is also present. With a grouped report that is burst into separate reports, instance specifies whether the groups will be broken into separate content according to each group instance (this) or all contained within the same content (all).

20.4.5 attach

Example

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Results">
  <body srcType="text">
    Attached are quarterly results.
  </body>
  <foreach>
    <attach format="html" name="contacts.htm" srcType="report" instance="all">
      <include src="headerSection"/>
      <include src="mainSection"/>
    </attach>
  </foreach>
</mail>

or

<mail id="DEST1" to="tsmith@oracle.com" subject="Mail from dest" >
  <attach srcType="report" format="delimiteddata" name="myattach.txt"
    <include src="report"/>
  </attach>
</mail>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have as many attach elements as you require with a mail element. Note that attach is also a sub-element of foreach, and foreach requires that at least one of its sub-elements be used (out of mail,file,printer,destype, and attach).

Description

The attach element specifies attachments to the e-mail. Additionally, attach must have at least one include sub-element, and can have more than one if srcType="report".

Table 20-4 lists and describes the attributes of the attach element.

Table 20-4 Attributes of the attach Sub-Element of mail

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

format

pdf|html|htmlcss|rtf|ascii|xml|
delimiteddata|
spreadsheet|
enhancedspreadsheet|
dflt

Default: pdf

The format of the attached material, for example format="htmlcss". Required when srcType is report and the report format is other than pdf, the default; otherwise format is optional.

name

string

Optional. Variable values allowed. The filename of the attached material. Can also contain variable values that reference columns used in the associated report. See Section 20.3.2 for more information.

srcType

file|report|text

Default: report

The source of the attachment, either a file, a report, or text.

instance

this|all

Default: all

Used when the foreach element is also present. With a grouped report that is burst into separate reports, instance specifies whether the groups will be broken into separate content according to each group instance (this) or all contained within the same content (all).

Using these attributes in conjunction with the foreach element, you can design a destination that will repeat on a group instance and generate an e-mail for each group attachment. For example:

<foreach>
  <mail id="a2" to="first.name@myco.com,second.name@myco.com, third.name@myco.com,
      fourth.name@myco.com" subject="Department Summaries">
    <body srcType="text">
      Attached is the breakdown of department summaries for the last quarter.
    </body>
    <attach format="htmlcss" name="deptsum.html" srcType="report" instance="this">
      <include src="report"/>
    </attach>
  </mail>
</foreach>

By moving the location of the foreach element, you can generate one e-mail with multiple attachments: a separate one for each group instance.

<mail id="a2" to="first.name@myco.com,second.name@myco.com, third.name@myco.com,
    fourth.name@myco.com" subject="Department Summaries">
  <body srcType="text">
    Attached is the breakdown of department summaries for the last quarter.
  </body>
  <foreach>
    <attach format="htmlcss" name="deptsum.html" srcType="report" instance="this">
       <include src="report"/>
    </attach>
  </foreach>
</mail>

20.4.6 include

Example

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Q4">
  <body srcType="text">
    Attached are quarterly results.
  </body>
  <attach srcType="report" format="pdf">
    <include src="report"/>
  </attach>
</mail>

or

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Q4">
  <body srcType="text">
    Attached are quarterly results.
  </body>
  <attach srcType="report" format="htmlcss">
    <include src="headerSection"/>
  </attach>
</mail>

or

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Q4">
  <body srcType="text">
    Attached are quarterly results.
  </body>
  <attach srcType="file">
    <include src="d:/management/reports/current/Q4.htm"/>
  </attach>
</mail>

Required/Optional

Required when used with body and attach when srcType is report or file, but not when srcType is text. Also required for file, printer, and destype. In the instances where it is required, you must have one and can have more than one include.

Description

The include element is available for use with the body, attach, file, printer, and destype elements. It specifies the file, report, or report section to be included in the body of an e-mail, as an attachment to an e-mail, in the content of a file, in the printer output, or in the content of a custom destination type.

If you want to specify more than one section, but not the entire report, enter an include for each required section. For example:

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com" subject="Results">
  <body srcType="text">
    Attached are quarterly results.
  </body>
  <attach srcType="report" format="htmlcss">
    <include src="headerSection"/>
    <include src="mainSection"/>
  </attach>
</mail>

If the preceding body or attach element has srcType of file, the subsequent include can specify the file either with a directory path and filename or with just the filename, provided the file is located in a directory listed in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable. For example:

<mail id="a1" to="jsmith@foo.com">
  <body srcType="file">
    <include src="q4sales.pdf"/>
  </body>
</mail>

If you do specify a path, use the appropriate standard for your platform. For example:

On Windows: 

<include src="c:\management\reports\current\Q4.htm"/>

On UNIX: 

<include src="/management/reports/current/Q4.htm"/>

No other XML elements are placed between an include element's open and close tag.

Table 20-5 describes the src attribute of the include element.

Table 20-5 Attributes of the include Sub-Element When Used with body or attach

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

src

(path and) filename

report

headerSection

mainSection

trailerSection

Required. The source of material specified in the preceding attach, body, file, printer, or destype element.

Because the distribution XML file is called when you run a specific report, you need not specify the report's name or location in the src attribute when src="report".

(path and) filename: The preceding element must be either body or attach, with srcType=file. Provide the directory path and file name or just a file name if the file is located in a directory listed in the REPORTS_PATH environment variable.

Other values: When the preceding body or attach element specifies srcType=report, specify the entire report (report) or provide the section(s) of the report to be included in the body or to be attached (for example, headerSection,mainSection, or trailerSection).

20.4.7 file

Example

On Windows 

<file id="a7" name="c:\management\reports\report.pdf" format="pdf">
  <include src="report"/>
</file>

or

<file id="MyFiles2" name="c:\My_Departments_Report.txt" format="delimiteddata">
  <include src="report"/>
</file>

On UNIX 

<file id="a7" name="/management/reports/report.pdf" format="pdf">
  <include src="report"/>
</file>

or

<file id="MyFiles2" name="/My_Departments_Report.txt" format="delimiteddata">
  <include src="report"/>
</file>

On Windows or UNIX 

<foreach>
  <file id="a7" name="section&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;.pdf" format="pdf"
      instance="this">
    <include src="mainSection"/>
  </file>
</foreach>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have as many file elements as you require.

Description

Use the file element to specify distributions to a file. The file element has one sub-element: include. There must be at least one include sub-element and there may be more between an open and close tag of the file element.

When used with the foreach element and the instance="this" attribute, the file element can distribute each group instance of a grouped report to separate files. For example, if you group a report on department_id, and there are four departments, you can use the foreach/file/instance="this" combination to generate four files, each with a separate department's report. In this case, the file entry in the distribution XML file might look like this:

<foreach>
  <file id="a3" name="dept_&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;.pdf" format="pdf"
      instance="this">
    <include src="report"/>
  </file>
</foreach>

In this example, all report sections (header, main, and trailer) must repeat on the same group instance (for example, department_id).

Table 20-6 lists and describes the attributes of the file element.

Table 20-6 Attributes of the file Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

id

string

Required. A keyword, unique within a given distribution XML file, that identifies a particular file element. This can be a combination of a text string and one or more numbers, for example id="a1". The id value must always start with an alpha character.

name

string

Required. Variable values allowed. The location and filename of the destination file. Enter a directory path. Include the filename. For example:

Windows: name="d:\reports\q4sales.pdf"

UNIX: name="reports/q4sales.pdf

Can also contain variable values that reference columns used in the associated report. See Section 20.3.2 for more information.

format

pdf|html|htmlcss|rtf|ascii|xml|
delimiteddata|
spreadsheet|
enhancedspreadsheet|
bitmap

Default: pdf

The destination file format. For example:

format="htmlcss"

instance

this|all

Default: all

Used when the foreach element is also present. With a grouped report that is burst into separate reports, instance specifies whether the groups will be broken into separate files according to each group instance (this) or all contained within the same file (all).

20.4.8 printer

Example

On Windows

<printer id="a1" name="\\server_name\printer_name" copies="5">
  <include src="report"/>
</printer>

On UNIX

<printer id="a1" name="alias_to_registered_printer" copies="5" instance="all">
  <include src="report"/>
</printer>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have as many printer elements as you require.

Description

Use the printer element to specify distributions to a printer. The printer element has one sub-element: include. There must be at least one include sub-element and there may be more between the open and close tags of the printer element.

When used with the foreach element and the instance="this" attribute, the printer element can distribute each group instance of a grouped report to a separate print job. For example, if you group a report on department_id, and there are four departments, you can use the foreach/printer/instance="this" combination to generate four printed reports, each containing a separate department's report. In this case, the printer entry in the distribution XML file might look like this:

<foreach>
  <printer id="a7" name="\\server_name\printer_name" instance="this">
    <include src="report"/>
  </printer>
</foreach>

In this example, all report sections (header, main, and trailer) must repeat on the same group instance (for example, department_id).

Table 20-7 lists and describes the attributes of the printer element.

Table 20-7 Attributes of the printer Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

id

string

Required. A keyword, unique within a given distribution XML file, that identifies a particular file element. This can be a combination of a text string and one or more numbers, for example id="a1". The id value must always start with an alpha character.

name

string

Required. Variable values allowed. The destination printer. How you enter this information differs between Windows and UNIX.

For Windows, specify the printer server name and the printer name. For example:

name="\\server_name\printer_name"

For UNIX, specify the alias assigned to a registered printer. For example:

name="sales_printer"

Can also contain variable values that reference columns used in the associated report. See Section 20.3.2 for more information.

copies

string

Default: 1

Number of copies of each report or each report group instance to print.

instance

this|all

Default: all

Used when the foreach element is also present. With a grouped report that is burst into separate reports, instance specifies whether the groups will be broken into separate printed reports according to each group instance (this) or all contained within the same printed report (all).

20.4.9 destype

Example

<destype id="acustom1" name="fax">
  <include src="headerSection"/>
  <property name="number" value="914925551212"/>
</destype>

See Section 20.5, "Distribution XML File Examples" for examples of using the destype element in a distribution XML file to specify distribution to the following destinations: Oracle Portal, FTP, WebDAV, and fax.

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have as many destype elements as you require.

Description

Use the destype element to specify distribution to a custom destination, such as a fax machine or an FTP site. You also use destype to specify distribution to a portal created with Oracle Portal. The destype element allows for the use of two sub-elements: property and include. At least one include is required.

Note:

The inclusion of a custom destination type requires that you have a defined distribution handler in place to push report content to the custom output destination. Build a custom destination type through the Oracle Reports Services Destinations API.

For more information on the available APIs for Oracle Reports, refer to the Reports Software Development Kit (RSDK) on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN): on the Oracle Reports page (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html), click SDK.

When used with the foreach element and the instance="this" attribute, the destype element can distribute each group instance of a grouped report to a separate destype instance (for example, a separate fax). For example, if you group a report on department_id, and there are four departments, you can generate four destype instances, each containing a separate department's report. In this case, the destype entry in the distribution XML file might look like this:

<foreach>
  <destype id="a9" name="fax" instance="this">
    <include src="report"/>
    <property name="number" value="&amp;&lt;fax_number&gt;"/>
  </destype>
</foreach>

In this example, all report sections (header, main, and trailer) must repeat on the same group instance (for example, fax_number).

Custom destination types also have a set of related attributes. These are expressed within the destype tag. For example, the id, name, and instance attributes are expressed:

<foreach>
  <destype id="a1" name="name_of_destination_type" instance="all">
    <include src='report'/>
  </destype>
</foreach>

Table 20-8 lists and describes the attributes of the destype element.

Table 20-8 Attributes of the destype Element

Attribute
Valid Values
Description

id

string

Required. A keyword, unique within a given distribution XML file, that identifies a particular file element. This can be a combination of a text string and one or more numbers, for example id="a1". The id value must always start with an alpha character.

name

string

Required. The name of the custom destination. For example, for a fax, this might be:

name="fax"

For a portal built with Oracle Portal:

name="oraclePortal"

instance

this|all

Default: all

Used when the foreach element is also present. With a grouped report that is burst into separate reports, instance specifies whether the groups will be broken into separate destype instances according to each group instance (this) or all contained within the same destype instance (all).

For example, if you custom destination type is a fax, instance="this" would mean a separate fax for each group instance, and instance="all" would mean one fax for all groups.

20.4.10 property

Example

<foreach>
  <destype id="custom1" name="fax" instance="all">
    <include src="headerSection"/>
    <property name="number" value="914925551212"/>
  </destype>
</foreach>

Required/Optional

Optional. You can have as many properties as you require under a destype element.

Description

The property element allows for the inclusion of name/value pairs expressed in terms recognized by a custom destination type (destype). Properties are merely passed along to the destination handler. They serve no function within Oracle Reports Services. How you specify properties is entirely dependent on the requirements of your custom destination.

20.5 Distribution XML File Examples

This section provides examples, from simple to complex, of distribution XML elements. They are organized according to the main distribution.dtd elements:

foreach Examples

mail Examples

file Examples

printer Examples

destype Examples

20.5.1 foreach Examples

The examples in this section include:

Single E-Mail with Report Groups as Separate Attachments

Separate E-Mail for Each Group Instance

Separate E-Mails with Separate Sections as Attachments

Separate File for Each Section

Separate Print Run for Each Report

20.5.1.1 Single E-Mail with Report Groups as Separate Attachments

In this example, each attachment contains the corresponding instance from the header, main, and trailer sections. That is, if the report is grouped on department_id, and the first department is department 10, the first attachment will be a report with header, main, and trailer sections all containing department 10 information. This example is valid only if the header, main, and trailer sections repeat on the same group instance, in this case department_id.

<mail id="a1" to="managers@mycompany.com" subject="New Hires">
  <foreach>
    <attach format="html" srcType="report" instance="this">
      <include src="report"/>
    </attach>
  </foreach>
</mail>

First of all, assume in this example that managers@mycompany.com goes to a mailing list that distributes to each department manager. If there are four departments: 10, 20, 30, and 40, the first attachment will contain header, main, and trailer sections corresponding to department 10; the second to 20; and so on. This example will yield one e-mail per recipient, each with four attachments.

20.5.1.2 Separate E-Mail for Each Group Instance

In this example, each recipient will receive a separate e-mail for each grouped report. For example, if the report is grouped on department_id, and there are four departments, one recipient will receive four e-mails, each with a separate department's report attached.

<foreach>
  <mail id="weeklies" to="managers@mycompany.com">
    <attach format="htmlcss" srcType="report" instance="this">
      <include src="mainSection"/>
    </attach>
  </mail>
</foreach>

20.5.1.3 Separate E-Mails with Separate Sections as Attachments

In this example, different sections repeat on different groups. The distribution is set up so that each recipient will receive a separate e-mail with attachment for each grouped main section and for each grouped trailer section.

<foreach>
<mail id="a6" to="managers@mycompany.com" subject="Personnel Reports">
    <attach format="pdf" name="attach.pdf" srcType="report" instance="this">
      <include src="mainSection"/>
    </attach>
    <attach format="rtf" name="attach.rtf" srcType="report" instance="this">
      <include src="trailerSection"/>
    </attach>
  </mail>
</foreach>

20.5.1.4 Separate File for Each Section

In this example, a separate file is generated for each group instance. Groups repeat on department_id. Each file is named with the relevant department ID.

<foreach>
  <file id="a10" name="department_&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;.pdf" instance="this">
    <include src="mainSection"/>
  </file>
</foreach>

Assuming that there are four departments, 10 through 40, this example will result in the creation of four files, named in turn department_10.pdf, department_20.pdf, and so on.

The format attribute is not included in the file element because it is not required when the srcType is file or text. It is required when the srcType is report.

Note:

If you do not specify unique filenames through the use of variable values (see Section 20.3.2), in this example, each successively created file will overwrite the previously created file. That is, the department.pdf file for department 20 will overwrite the department.pdf file for department 10, and so on, until there is only one file left, department.pdf, with information from the last department report created (for example, department 40).

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) supports PDF encryption in distribution and bursting of Reports. With this feature, you can secure your Reports output through PDF Security in the following way.

<foreach>
  <file id="a10" name="department_&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;.pdf" instance="this">
    <property name="pdfuser" value="&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;"/>
     <include src="mainSection"/>
  </file>
</foreach>

To open the generated PDF output, you must provide the password as departmentid.

20.5.1.5 Separate Print Run for Each Report

The way you specify a printer name differs between Windows and UNIX. The first example is for Windows. The second is for UNIX.

20.5.1.5.1 Windows

In this example, assuming that the report is grouped on department_id, a report will be printed for each department.

<foreach>
  <printer id="a7" name="\\server_name\printer_name" instance="this">
    <include src="report"/>
  </printer>
</foreach>

20.5.1.5.2 UNIX

In this example, assuming that the report is grouped on department_id, a report will be printed for each department.

<foreach>
  <printer id="a7" name="printer_alias" instance="this">
    <include src="report"/>
  </printer>
</foreach>

20.5.2 mail Examples

The examples in this section include:

E-Mail with a Whole Report as the Body

E-Mail with a Section of a Report as the Body

E-Mail with Two Report Sections as the Body

E-Mail with External File as Body and Report as Attachment

E-Mail with Whole Report and Grouped Sections Attached

E-Mail to Relevant Manager and Department

20.5.2.1 E-Mail with a Whole Report as the Body

The report will comprise the content of this e-mail. That is, when recipients open this e-mail, they will see the report.

<mail id="a5" to="managers@mycompany.com" subject="Quarterly Report">
 <body srcType="report" format="html">
    <include src="report"/>
  </body>
</mail>

20.5.2.2 E-Mail with a Section of a Report as the Body

A section of a report will comprise the content of this e-mail. That is, when recipients open this e-mail, they will see a section of the report.

<mail id="a6" to="employees@mycompany.com">
 <body srcType="report" format="html">
  <include src="mainSection"/>
 </body>
</mail>

The subject attribute is not included in this mail element, so the default subject will be used: Mail Sent From &amp;Report. At runtime, the variable &amp;Report will be replaced with the name of the report.

20.5.2.3 E-Mail with Two Report Sections as the Body

Two sections of a report will comprise the body of this e-mail. That is, when recipients open this e-mail, they'll see two sections, headerSection and mainSection, joined together in one report.

<mail id="emp_addresses" to="employees@mycompany.com" subject="Employee Address List">
 <body srcType="report" format="html">
  <include src="headerSection"/>
  <include src="mainSection"/>
 </body>
</mail>

20.5.2.4 E-Mail with External File as Body and Report as Attachment

The contents of the body for this email will be an external file, and the report will go along as an attachment. The path to the file is expressed differently for Windows and UNIX.

20.5.2.4.1 Windows

<mail id="XQRSN" to="accounting@mycompany.com" subject="Salaries">
 <body srcType="file">
  <include src="c:\mail\body.html"/>
 </body>
 <attach format="pdf" name="salaries.pdf" srcType="report">
  <include src="report"/>
 </attach>
</mail>

20.5.2.4.2 UNIX

<mail id="XQRSN" to="accounting@mycompany.com" subject="Salaries">
 <body srcType="file">
  <include src="/mail/body.html"/>
 </body>
  <attach format="pdf" name="salaries.pdf" srcType="report">
   <include src="report"/>
 </attach>
</mail>

20.5.2.5 E-Mail with Whole Report and Grouped Sections Attached

In this example, recipients receive one e-mail with multiple attachments: one attachment for each group instance and an additional attachment that contains the entire report. If the report is grouped on department_id and there are four departments, recipients will receive five attachments: one for each department and one whole report.

<mail id="grx90" to="sales@mycompany.com">
 <body srcType="text">Attached you will find the summary report and breakdown by department of weekly totals.
 </body>
  <attach format="rtf" name="myAttach.rtf" srcType="report">
   <include src="report"/>
  </attach>
  <foreach>
   <attach format="pdf" name="myattach.pdf" srcType="report" instance="this">
    <include src="mainSection"/>
   </attach>
  </foreach>
</mail>

20.5.2.6 E-Mail to Relevant Manager and Department

In this example, the manager for department 10 gets department 10's report; the manager for department 20 gets department 20's report; and so on. For this tag set to be valid, the variable must refer to a column that is included in the "repeat on" group used with the attached section. That is, if the section repeats on G_department_id, manager must be a column in that group.

<foreach>
 <mail id="mgr1090" to="&amp;&lt;manager&gt;@mycompany.com">
  <attach format="pdf" name="attach.pdf" srcType="report" instance="this">
    <include src="mainSection"/>
   </attach>
  </mail>
</foreach>

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) supports PDF encryption in distribution and bursting of reports. With this feature, you can secure Reports output through PDF Security in the following way:

<foreach>
 <mail id="mgr1090" to="&amp;&lt;manager&gt;@mycompany.com">
   <property name="pdfuser" value="&amp;&lt;manager&gt;" />
  <attach format="pdf" name="attach.pdf" srcType="report" instance="this">
   <include src="mainSection"/>
  </attach>
 </mail>
</foreach

20.5.3 file Examples

Whenever you burst and distribute grouped reports to files, be sure to specify filenames with variable values based on the repeating group or some other variable information. Otherwise, you run the risk of having each successive file that is created overwrite the previously created file. For example, if you specify an output filename of department.pdf, and you output separate instances of each department's report, the second department.pdf file will overwrite the first department.pdf file; the third will overwrite the second, and so on. You will end up with only one report, that of the final department. Instead, with grouped reports that you want to output separately according to each group instance, use variable values to specify filenames, for example: name="department_&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;.pdf".

The examples in this section include:

File for Whole Report

File for Combined Report Sections

File for Each Group of Combined Sections

File for Each Report Group Instance

20.5.3.1 File for Whole Report

This example will yield one file named report.pdf that contains the entire report.

20.5.3.1.1 Windows

<file id="a1" name="c:\reports\report.pdf" format="pdf">
  <include src="report"/>
</file>

20.5.3.1.2 UNIX

<file id="a1" name="/reports/report.pdf" format="pdf">
  <include src="report"/>
</file>

20.5.3.2 File for Combined Report Sections

This example will yield one file named sections.pdf that contains a report consisting of the header section and the main section of the report.

<file id="a2" name="sections.pdf" format="pdf">
  <include src="headerSection"/>
  <include scr="mainSection"/>
</file>

20.5.3.3 File for Each Group of Combined Sections

In this example, a separate file will be created for each repeating group. Each file will contain a report that combines the relevant group main and trailer sections. The main and trailer sections must repeat on the same group, and the variable file name must refer to a column contained within the "repeat on" group. That is, if the report repeats on department_id, and you have four departments, 10 through 40, then one file will contain the main and trailer sections of department 10, the next will contain the main and trailer sections of department 20, and so on. The variable value under name must refer to a column that is within the G_department_id group.

<foreach>
 <file id="file9" name="department_&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;.pdf" instance="this">
  <include src="mainSection"/>
  <include src="trailerSection"/>
 </file>
</foreach>

20.5.3.4 File for Each Report Group Instance

In this example, assuming the report is grouped on department_id and there are four departments, 10 through 40, you will end up with four files respectively named: department_10.pdf, department_20.pdf, department_30.pdf, and department_40.pdf.

<foreach>
 <file id="a20" name="department_&amp;&lt;department_id&gt;.pdf" instance="this">
  <include src="report"/>
 </file>
</foreach>

20.5.4 printer Examples

The examples in this section include:

Print Whole Report

Print Two Sections of a Report

Print Grouped Report

Print Combined Sections for Each Group Instance

Print Relevant Instance of a Report to Its Relevant Printer

The way printer names are specified, differs between Windows and UNIX. Each example demonstrates both ways.

20.5.4.1 Print Whole Report

In this example, the entire report will be sent to the specified printer.

20.5.4.1.1 Windows

<printer id="a80" name="\\neptune\prtr20">
  <include src="report"/>
</printer>

20.5.4.1.2 UNIX

<printer id="a80" name="10th_floor_printer">
  <include src="report"/>
</printer>

20.5.4.2 Print Two Sections of a Report

In this example, two sections of a report will be sent to the printer.

20.5.4.2.1 Windows

<printer id="a1" name="\\neptune\prtr20">
  <include src="headerSection"/>
  <include src="mainSection"/>
</printer>

20.5.4.2.2 UNIX

<printer id="a1" name="10th_floor_printer">
  <include src="headerSection"/>
  <include src="mainSection"/>
</printer>

20.5.4.3 Print Grouped Report

In this example, one report will be printed. The report will be grouped by, for example, department_id. For this to work, all sections of the report must repeat on the same group.

20.5.4.3.1 Windows

<foreach>
 <printer id="prt20" name="\\neptune\prtr20" instance="all">
  <include src="report"/>
 </printer>
</foreach>

20.5.4.3.2 UNIX

<foreach>
<printer id="prt20" name="10th_floor_printer" instance="all">
<include src="report"/>
</printer>
</foreach>

20.5.4.4 Print Combined Sections for Each Group Instance

This example will yield a number of print jobs: one for each group instance. The combined sections must repeat on the same group. If the report repeats on department_id, and you have four departments, 10 through 40, you will end up with four print jobs: one for department 10; one for department 20; and so on. The main and trailer sections must both repeat on department_id.

20.5.4.4.1 Windows

<foreach>
 <printer id="prt20" name="\\neptune\prtr20" instance="this">
  <include src="mainSection"/>
  <include src="trailerSection"/>
 </printer>
</foreach>

20.5.4.4.2 UNIX

<foreach>
 <printer id="prt20" name="10th_floor_printer" instance="this">
   <include src="mainSection"/>
   <include src="trailerSection"/>
 </printer>
</foreach>

20.5.4.5 Print Relevant Instance of a Report to Its Relevant Printer

For this example to work, the repeat on group must contain a column of printer names appropriate to the host platform (for example, the printer_name column must contain an appropriate printer alias on UNIX and a printer server/name combination on Windows). For example, if the report is grouped by department_id, then G_department_id must also have a printer_name column. Assuming the printer_name is tied to a department, then department 10's report would be printed on department 10's printer; department 20's report would be printed on department 20's printer; and so on.

<foreach>
 <printer id="a60" name="&amp;printer_name" instance="this">
   <include src="mainSection"/>
 </printer>
</foreach>

Each group instance equals a separate print job. Each print job goes to the relevant department's printer

20.5.5 destype Examples

You can use destype to define a custom destination or pluggable destination that can be used by Oracle Reports during distribution. For more information, see Section 20.4.9, "destype". The examples in this section include the following destinations:

Oracle Portal Destination

FTP Destination

WebDAV Destination

Fax Destination

20.5.5.1 Oracle Portal Destination

This example shows the generic tag structure for sending report output to the Oracle Portal destination. When you push report output to Oracle Portal using DESTYPE=ORACLEPORTAL, the report output is created in the PAGEGROUP folder.

See Also:

Appendix A, "Command-Line Keywords" for more information on the properties shown in the examples.

<destinations>
  <destype id="customforPortal" name="oraclePortal">
    <property name="outputpage" value="sample_report"/>
    <property name="statuspage" value="Reports_Status"/>
    <property name="pagegroup" value="REPORTS_OUTPUT"/>
    <property name="itemtitle" value="MyReport"/>
    <include src="report"/>
  </destype>
</destinations>

20.5.5.2 FTP Destination

This example shows the generic tag structure for sending report output to the FTP destination.

<destinations>
         <foreach>
          <destype id="ftp1" name="ftp" instance="this" format="pdf">
   <property name="desname"
    value="ftp://username:passwd@ftpServer/dir/myreport_&amp;&lt;
    DEPARTMENT_NAME&gt;.pdf"/>
                    <include src="mainSection"/>
  </destype>
 </foreach>
</destinations>

20.5.5.3 WebDAV Destination

This example shows the generic tag structure for sending report output to the WebDAV destination.

<destinations>
 <foreach>
  <destype id="webdav1" name="webdav" instance="this" format="pdf">
   <property name="desname"
    value="http://user:passwd@WebDAVServer/dir/myreport_&amp;&lt;
    DEPARTMENT_NAME&gt;.pdf"/>
    <include src="mainSection"/>
  </destype>
 </foreach>
</destinations>

20.5.5.4 Fax Destination

This example shows the generic tag structure for sending report output to the fax destination.

<destype id="faxdest" name="fax">
  <property name="number" value="123456789"/>
  <include src="report"/>
</destype>

Alternatively, for ease of use, you can specify a custom, more specific tag structure:

<fax id="faxdest" number="123456789">
  <include src="report"/>
</fax>

Note:

All you must do after you modify the distribution.xsl file is, save it back to the same location under the same file name. Oracle Reports will automatically look for this file when resolving distributions.

20.6 Using a Distribution XML File at Runtime

The method for using a distribution XML file at runtime is essentially the same whether you use it in a URL or a command line. Include the options:

destination=filename.xml distribute=yes

where filename is the name of the distribution XML file. You are required to specify either the relative or absolute path of the XML file. For example, for Windows, you might specify:

destination=c:\%ORACLE_HOME%\reports\distribution\filename.xml distribute=yes

For UNIX, you might specify:

destination=$ORACLE_HOME/reports/distribution/filename.xml distribute=yes

For example, the full command in a URL would be similar to:

http://your_server:port/reports/rwservlet?report=rep.jsp&userid=db_credentials
&destination=$ORACLE_HOME/reports/distribution/distribution.xml&distribute=yes

The paths in these examples are used for illustrative purposes only. There is no requirement for where you store your distribution XML files. You can store them wherever you like.

Note:

In some cases, Microsoft Internet Explorer ignores the mimetype of a URL's return stream and instead sets the type by looking at the URL. This can be a problem when you are using the distribution feature of Oracle Reports Services because your URL might end with the destination parameter; for example:

...distribute=yes destination=c:\oracle\reports\distribution\mydist.xml

In this scenario, your URL ends with the extension .xml and Internet Explorer treats the return stream as XML, when in fact it is HTML. As a result, you will receive a browser error. To work around this issue, you should never use recognized file extensions at the end of a URL. In the preceding example, you could switch the positions of the distribute and destination parameters in your URL.

For detailed information on running reports from command lines and URLs and using the cgicmd.dat file, see Chapter 18, "Running Report Requests".

20.7 Limitations with Using Distribution

This section outlines the limitations with using distribution in Oracle Reports:

Delimited Output

Dynamic Format Values

20.7.1 Delimited Output

Report bursting and distribution does not support Delimited output format. You cannot specify DELIMITED as an output format in a distribution XML file or in the Distribution dialog box.

Note:

You can distribute a report in DelimitedData output format, specified either in a distribution XML file or in the Distribution dialog box in Reports Builder

20.7.2 Dynamic Format Values

XML distribution supports only static values for the format attribute (as seen in distribution.dtd). Thus, you cannot specify lexical parameters (to be resolved at runtime) for the format attribute. Hence the format cannot be dynamically determined either for the entire report or for a specific section.

21 Using Event-Driven Publishing

Modern business processes often require the blending of automation into the work environment through behind-the-scenes functions and procedures. Behind-the-scenes tasks can include the automatic production of output such as an invoice that prints automatically when an order is processed, a Web site that is automatically updated with current data, or an automatic e-mail with fresh report output when a transaction is completed.

Automatic output in response to events used to be a fairly complicated effort, particularly if you wished to produce the same results possible through interactive, RAD development tools, such as Oracle Reports Developer.

To address the requirement of automatic output, Oracle Reports Services includes a scheduling mechanism that enables the invocation of reports on a scheduled basis without requiring additional user interaction. But this leaves one requirement unresolved: the ability to automatically run a report in response to an event in the database, such as the insertion of a record or the change of a value.

With the Oracle Reports Services Event-Driven Publishing API, you can automatically run a report in response to an event in the database, such as the insertion of a record or the change of a value. The Event-Driven Publishing API is a PL/SQL API that allows for the automatic submission of jobs to Oracle Reports Services from within the database.

This chapter provides an overview of the Event-Driven Publishing API and includes examples of its use. It includes the following sections:

The Event-Driven Publishing API

Debugging Applications that Use the Event-Driven Publishing API

Invoking a Report from a Database Event

Integrating with Oracle Advanced Queuing

21.1 The Event-Driven Publishing API

The Event-Driven Publishing API is a PL/SQL package that provides the basic functions required for the development of procedures that respond to events in the database. Event-driven jobs are submitted using the HTTP protocol. The server assigns a unique job_ident record to every call, useful for tracking the status of the job.

21.1.1 Elements of the API

The API consists of several key elements:

The SRW Package contains all relevant functions and procedures for submitting jobs, checking job status, and cancelling jobs, as well as manipulating parameter lists.

The SRW_ParamList defines a parameter list. A parameter list is the main vehicle for passing values when submitting a job. A parameter list is required for each job submission. It must contain several key parameters.

The SRW_ParamList_Object is required for such features as Advanced Queuing, where a parameter list must be stored in the database so that it may be passed along with a message.

These API elements are discussed in more detail in the following sections.

The API is installed together with Oracle Reports Services Security and Oracle Portal, but neither is required. Installation scripts are also available separately should you want to install the API into a database that does not also hold Oracle Portal:

srwAPIins.sql installs the Event-Driven Publishing API.

srwAPIgrant.sql grants access privileges to the API. Run this script for each user to whom you will grant access to the API. If everyone may have access, you can run this once and grant access to PUBLIC.

srwAPIdrop.sql removes the API.

21.1.2 Creating and Manipulating a Parameter List

A parameter list is a PL/SQL variable of type SRW_PARAMLIST. A variable of this type is an array of 255 elements of type SRW_PARAMETER, which itself consists of two attributes: NAME and VALUE. The API provides procedures for manipulating parameter lists, including:

Add_Parameter

Remove_Parameter

Clear_Parameter_List

21.1.2.1 Add_Parameter

Whenever you use a parameter list for the first time, it must be initialized before you can add parameters to it. For example:

DECLARE

myPlist SRW_PARAMLIST;

BEGIN

myPlist := SRW_PARAMLIST(SRW_PARAMETER('',''));
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'myParameter','myValue');

END;

Both attributes of a parameter (NAME and VALUE) are of type VARCHAR2 and may not exceed a length of 80 characters for the NAME and 255 characters for the value.

The ADD_PARAMETER function has a fourth—optional—attribute, called MODE. MODE determines whether a parameter will be overwritten or an error raised in the event that a parameter with the same name already exists. To specify that an error will be raised in the event of duplicate names, use the constant CHECK_FOR_EXISTANCE. This is the default value for the MODE attribute. To specify that a parameter will be overwritten in the event of duplicate names, use the constant OVERWRITE_IF_EXISTS.

21.1.2.2 Remove_Parameter

Use REMOVE_PARAMETER to remove a parameter from a parameter list. Call the procedure, and pass the parameter list from which you want to remove a parameter along with the name of the parameter you want to remove.

For example:

DECLARE

myPlist SRW_PARAMLIST;

BEGIN

myPlist := SRW_PARAMLIST(SRW_PARAMETER('',''));
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'myParameter','myValue');
srw.remove_parameter(myPlist,'myParameter');

END;

21.1.2.3 Clear_Parameter_List

To remove ALL parameters from your list, use CLEAR_PARAMETER_LIST. For example:

DECLARE

myPlist SRW_PARAMLIST;

BEGIN

myPlist := SRW_PARAMLIST(SRW_PARAMETER('',''));
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'myParameter','myValue');
srw.clear_parameter_list(myPlist);

END;

This will remove all parameters from your list.

21.1.3 Including non-ASCII Characters in Parameter Names and Values

To use non-ASCII characters in user parameter names and values when using the Event-Driven Publishing API, you must include in your parameter list a parameter called DEFAULTCHARSET, with its value set to a valid character set name. This character set name can be specified with either the database's NLS_CHARACTERSET (for example, JA16SJIS) or IANA-defined character set name (for example, WINDOWS-31J). You must also ensure that the value of the DEFAULTCHARSET parameter matches the defaultcharset parameter specified in the rwservlet.properties file. Oracle Reports Services encodes non-ASCII user parameter names and values using the character set specified by DEFAULTCHARSET, allowing you to use the Event-Driven Publishing API for reports with non-ASCII characters in parameter names and values.

Note:

If you do not add a parameter called DEFAULTCHARSET to your parameter list, Oracle Reports Services encodes your user parameter names and values using the database's
NLS_CHARACTERSET.

21.1.4 Submitting a Job

A parameter list contains all vital parameters for submitting a job. The job type determines which parameters are required on the list to enable the Reports Server to process the request.

The listed parameters are the same ones that you must specify when you submit a job from a browser to Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet). In such a case, if the job is a report you will need at least the following parameters but may have more:

GATEWAY provides the URL to Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) you will use to process the request.

SERVER identifies the Reports Server to be used in conjunction with Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet).

REPORT identifies the report file to be run.

USERID identifies the name and user ID of the person running the report.

AUTHID provides authorization information in the event you are running against a secured server.

Each request returns a job_ident record that holds the information required to identify the job uniquely. This information is stored in variable of type SRW.JOB_IDENT. Be aware that this is a PACKAGE-TYPE and must be referenced SRW.JOB_IDENT; while the parameter list is an OBJECT-TYPE and must be referenced SRW_PARAMLIST.

For example:

DECLARE

myPlist SRW_PARAMLIST;
myIdent SRW.Job_Ident;

 BEGIN

myPlist := SRW_PARAMLIST(SRW_PARAMETER('',''));
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'GATEWAY','http://…');
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'SERVER','mySVR');
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'REPORT','myReport.RDF');
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'USERID','me/secret');
myIdent := srw.run_report(myPlist);

END;

The API method RUN_REPORT takes a parameter list that contains all vital information as input (through ADD_PARAMETER), creates and submits the request, and returns the job_ident record.

The job_ident record contains the following parameters:

MyIdent.GatewayURL

MyIdent.ServerName

MyIdent.JobID

MyIdent.AuthID

These parameters are needed by the SRW.REPORT_STATUS function to get status information for a submitted job.

21.1.5 Checking for Status

The Event-Driven Publishing API provides a two-way communication with the Reports Server. You submit a job to the server, and you can query the status of this job from the server using the SRW.REPORT_STATUS function.

This function will return a record of type SRW.STATUS_RECORD that holds the same information you would see in the job status display if you were using the executing the rwservlet Web command showjobs.

For example:

DECLARE

myPlist SRW_PARAMLIST;
myIdent SRW.Job_Ident;
myStatus SRW.Status_Record;

BEGIN

myPlist := SRW_PARAMLIST(SRW_PARAMETER('',''));
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'GATEWAY','http://…');
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'SERVER','mySVR');
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'REPORT','MyReport.RDF');
srw.add_parameter(myPlist,'USERID','me/secret');
myIdent := srw.run_report(myPlist);
myStatus := srw.report_status(myIdent);

END;

You can use the returned status record for fetching information about the status of your job.

21.1.6 Using the Servers' Status Record

The status record contains processing information about your job. It contains the same information found in the server queue (showjobs). Additionally, it contains information about the files produced for finished jobs and the lineage for scheduled jobs.

The most important information in the status record is the current job status and the status text, used in turn to check for runtime errors and their causes.

You can use timing information to determine if a job is subject to cancellation because it has exceeded its predicted time for completion.

One way to use the status record is to cancel a job. The Event-Driven Publishing API offers a method for cancelling a job that has been submitted to the server. This might be handy if you want to remove a job that has exceeded its allowed time to run or if you simply have scheduled jobs you want to cancel.

To cancel a job, use the following procedure:

DECLARE

myPlist SRW_PARAMLIST;
myIdent SRW.JOB_IDENT;
myStatus SRW.STATUS_RECORD;

BEGIN

myPlist := SRW_PARAMLIST(SRW_PARAMETER('',''));
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'GATEWAY','http://…');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'SERVER','mySVR');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'REPORT','myReport.RDF');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'USERID','me/secret');
myIdent := SRW.RUN_REPORT(myPlist);
myStatus := SRW.REPORT_STATUS(myIdent);
if myStatus.StatusCode != srw.RUNNING then
SRW.CANCEL_REPORT(myIdent);

END;

As evident in this example, you cancel a report by calling the CANCEL_REPORT procedure (SRW.CANCEL_REPORT) and passing it the job_ident record of the job you want to cancel. The procedure takes an optional parameter list to enable you to pass any additional parameters you might need.

21.2 Debugging Applications that Use the Event-Driven Publishing API

Because these processes all run behind the scenes, there is no actual place where debugging information is produced during normal execution. Therefore, the API has two procedures that toggle a special debugging mode that produces extensive debugging information through DBMS_OUTPUT:

SRW.START_DEBUGGING

SRW.STOP_DEBUGGING

To switch on debugging mode simply call SRW.START_DEBUGGING and to stop it call SRW.STOP_DEBUGGING. The debugging mode must be started immediately before you run your actual logic. It stays on as long as the current instance of the package is loaded.

One way you can display this information is by setting SERVEROUT to ON in SQL*PLUS before you run your script.

In addition to this method of debugging, the API has a set of pre-defined exceptions to be used for error handling. You'll find examples of these exceptions in the srw_test.sql script provided with your Oracle Reports Services installation.

21.3 Invoking a Report from a Database Event

Database triggers are the primary mechanism for invoking reports using the Event-Driven Publishing API. The Oracle database enables you to define various scopes of triggers that fire in response to various events. To submit a database-driven job, you use the code described in the previous sections within a database trigger.

There are many ways to use event-driven publishing. One way is to create security protocols using a trigger that fires whenever a grant is done or a user logs on or off. Another way is to create automated processes that respond to certain types of changes to data in a table. For example, a database trigger could fire when the status of an expense report changes to DONE; in turn, a report could automatically be sent to an employee's manager.

For example:

CREATE TRIGGER EXP_REP_TRG

AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE on EXP_REP FOR EACH ROW
myPlist SRW_PARAMLIST;
myIdent SRW.JOB_IDENT;

BEGIN

IF (:new.ExpStat = 'DONE') THEN

myPlist := SRW_PARAMLIST(SRW_PARAMETER('',''));
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'GATEWAY','http://…');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'SERVER','fooSVR');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'REPORT','foo.RDF');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'USERID','foo/bar');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'ExpenseID',:new.ExpID);
myIdent := SRW.RUN_REPORT(myPlist);

END IF;

END;

This trigger will fire after each update on the EXP_REP table. In the event the status changes to DONE, the report request is run.

If you want your request to run against a key specified in the cgicmd.dat key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File"), specify the CMDKEY parameter in lieu of the REPORT parameter. If the key contains user ID information, you can omit the USERID parameter as well. For example:

CREATE TRIGGER EXP_REP_TRG

AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE on EXP_REP FOR EACH ROW
myPlist SRW_PARAMLIST;
myIdent SRW.JOB_IDENT;

BEGIN

IF (:new.ExpStat = 'DONE') THEN

myPlist := SRW_PARAMLIST(SRW_PARAMETER('',''));
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'GATEWAY','http://…');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'SERVER','fooSVR');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'CMDKEY','keyvalue');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'ExpenseID',:new.ExpID);
myIdent := SRW.RUN_REPORT(myPlist);

END IF;

END;

Additionally, if you have defined an advanced distribution model through a distribution XML file, you can specify that file with the DESTINATION parameter. For example:

CREATE TRIGGER EXP_REP_TRG

AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE on EXP_REP FOR EACH ROW
myPlist SRW_PARAMLIST;
myIdent SRW.JOB_IDENT;

BEGIN

IF (:new.ExpStat = 'DONE') THEN

myPlist := SRW_PARAMLIST(SRW_PARAMETER('',''));
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'GATEWAY','http://…');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'SERVER','fooSVR');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'REPORT','foo.RDF');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'USERID','foo/bar');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'DISTRIBUTE','YES');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'DESTINATION','filename.xml');
SRW.ADD_PARAMETER(myPlist,'ExpenseID',:new.ExpID);
myIdent := SRW.RUN_REPORT(myPlist);

END IF;

END;

This is one way to move this kind of logic from your application into the database and use the database as a central storage for business processes.

Note:

You'll find additional examples of the Event-Driven Publishing API in action in the demo script srw_test.sql, included with your Oracle Reports Services installation.

21.4 Integrating with Oracle Advanced Queuing

Oracle Advanced Queuing is a means for building an asynchronous request/response mechanism around a so-called queue and two processes: ENQUEUE, which puts MESSAGES into a queue, and DEQUEUE, which reads the queue.

Advanced queuing provides sophisticated mechanisms for distributing messages across queues and for queue subscription. These mechanisms are all built on top of these basic elements (ENQUEUE, DEQUEUE, and MESSAGES).

With the Event-Driven Publishing API you can use these queues to store and transmit report jobs. You can even build your own queuing mechanism if the one provided with Oracle Reports Services does not fit your needs.

21.4.1 Creating a Queue That Holds Messages of Type SRW_PARAMLIST

A queue is a table in the database that holds, along with several administrative columns, an object column that represents a message. In our case the message is the parameter list.

The dbms_AQadm package, provided with Advanced Queuing, contains all the administrative functions required for setting up an advanced queuing system.

Use dbms_AQadm.Create_Queue_Table to create the physical table in the database. You must pass it a name for the table and a name for the object type that will define the message for this queue.

For example:

…
execute dbms_AQadm.Create_Queue_Table

(queue_Table=>'queuename._tab',
queue_Payload_Type=>'SRW_PARAMLIST_OBJECT',
compatible=>'9.0');

In earlier examples, we created the object type SRW_PARAMLIST_OBJECT that encapsulates the SRW_PARAMLIST type in object notation so it can be used as a message.

After creating the queue table, you must create the queue with dbms_AQadm.Create_Queue and start the queue with dbms_AQadm.Start_Queue.

For example:

…
execute dbms_AQadm.Create_Queue

(Queue_Name=>'queuename',Queue_Table=>'queuename._tab');

prompt … starting queue
execute dbms_AQadm.Start_Queue

(Queue_Name=>'queuename');

…

Note:

You'll find a complete example for setting up, creating, and starting a simple queue in the demo file srwAQsetup.sql, included with your Oracle Reports Services installation.

Having created and started the queue, what you need now is a procedure that creates a message in this queue and a procedure that reads out the queue and submits the job to the server. These are discussed in the following sections.

21.4.2 Creating the Enqueuing Procedure

The enqueuing procedure is responsible for putting a message into the queue. This procedure can be part of your application, called by a database-trigger, or provided through an external mechanism. In this section, we will provide an example of creating a stored procedure that puts a simple message in this queue.

Because our message is the parameter list itself, the procedure is fairly easy. We use the same code we used in earlier sections to create a parameter list. In addition to the variables we used, we define an object variable to hold the message we will put into the queue.

…
  plist_object SRW_ParamList_Object;
…

After creating the parameter list we create the actual message object using the object constructor.

…
plist_object := SRW_PARAMLIST_OBJECT(plist);
…

Then we enqueue the message using the enqueue procedure provided by Advanced Queuing.

…
dbms_aq.enqueue(queue_name => 'myQueue',

enqueue_options => enqueue_options,
message_properties => message_properties,
payload => PList_Object,
msgid => message_handle);

…

The message is put into the queue. Because we did not set up any message distribution, the message will stay in the queue until it is fetched by a dequeuing-procedure, which is discussed in the next section.

Note:

For the exact syntax of dbms_aq.enqueue refer to the Advanced Queuing API Reference document.

You'll find additional examples in the srwAQsetup.sql file included with your Oracle Reports Services installation.

21.4.3 Creating the Dequeuing Procedure

A dequeuing procedure reads out all available messages in a queue and processes them. In our case, we want to read out the message and submit a job to the server using the parameter list that was attached to the message.

To accomplish this, we follow this example:

BEGIN

dequeue_options.wait := 1;

loop

DBMS_AQ.DEQUEUE(queue_name => 'myQueue',

dequeue_options => dequeue_options,
message_properties => message_properties,
payload => PList_Object,
msgid => message_handle);

COMMIT;
plist := plist_object.params;
r_jid := SRW.RUN_REPORT(plist);

end loop;
exception when aq_timeout then

begin

NULL;

end;

END;

This code example will read out the queue until all messages have been processed. Time allowed for processing is determined by the timeout defined in the second line of code. This timeout defines the amount of seconds the dequeue procedure should wait for a message before creating a timeout exception.

The DBMS_AQ.DEQUEUE built-in is provided by Advanced Queuing for reading out messages. It puts the payload of the message, the object that holds the information, into the object defined by the payload parameter.

Using plist, we extract the information from the payload object. As mentioned before, our object holds a parameter list. It is stored in the attribute PARAMS inside the object. The extracted parameter list is then handed over to SRW.RUN_REPORT for submitting the job.

If you want to avoid the need for invoking this dequeuing procedure by hand, you can run it as a job inside the database.

22 Customizing Reports with XML

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is designed to improve the functionality of the Web by providing a method to promote detailed information identification. It is actually a metalanguage (a language used for describing other languages) and can be used to design customized markup languages for different type of documents.

XML documents are composed of both markup and content:

Elements are the building blocks of XML. An element instance is a structure that contains tags (a main tag and appropriate nested tags), attributes, and the element's content nested between the tags.

Tags are used to define the element and the content within it.

Attributes provide extra information for each tag.

XML customizations enable you to modify reports at runtime without changing the original report. With the addition of the CUSTOMIZE keyword to your runtime command line, you can call a customization file to add to or change a report's layout or data model. One XML customization file can perform all of these tasks or any combination of them. You can even use XML to build a report data model for inclusion in a custom JSP-based report.

By creating and applying different XML customizations, you can alter the report output on a per user or per user group basis. You can use the same report to generate different output depending upon the audience.

When you apply an XML customization to a report, you have the option of saving the combined definition to a file. As a result, you can use XML customizations to make batch updates to existing reports. You can quickly update a large number of reports without having to open each file in Oracle Reports Builder.

Oracle Reports Services extends the possible types of Oracle Reports XML customizations by enabling you to create an entire reports data model in XML. This includes the creation of multiple data sources, linking between data sources, and group hierarchies within each data source. Data model support through Oracle Reports XML customization means that any data model that can be created with Oracle Reports Builder can now be created by specifying XML. Additionally, all properties that can be set against data model objects can now be set using XML.

This chapter discusses the ways you can use XML to customize reports on the fly and to build data models. It includes the following sections:

Customization Overview

Creating XML Customizations

Creating XML Data Models

Using XML Files at Runtime

Debugging XML Report Definitions

This chapter lists and provides examples of the supported elements in the reports.dtd file. However, only some of the attributes of these elements are listed.

For more information, either on the additional attributes or on the Oracle Reports XML elements, tags, and attributes, refer to the following sources:

The reports.dtd file lists all the Oracle Reports XML elements, tags, and attributes and, where present, the attributes' default values. The reports.dtd file is located in ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\ on both Windows and UNIX platforms. Many of the sub-elements include symbols that denote usage rules. For example:

A plus sign (+) means you can have one or more of this type of element in your XML file.

An asterisk (*) means you can have from zero to many of this type of element in your XML file.

A question mark (?) means you can have either zero or one of this type of element in your XML file.

No mark means the element is required, and you can have one and only one of this type of element in your XML file.

If multiple sub-elements are enclosed in parentheses and followed by a symbol, the symbol applies to all enclosed sub-elements.

For descriptions of selected Oracle Reports XML tags, see topic "Oracle Reports XML tags" in the Reference section of the Oracle Reports online Help.

Build a report that includes the type of customization you are trying to build, save the report as XML, and view the saved file in a text editor. This provides an excellent means of seeing Oracle Reports XML in action and provides you with examples of the more complex models you may wish to build.

Note:

For reports developed in a release prior to Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) patch 2, you may find the PL/SQL package specification or body is missing when opening the XML reports. In this case, either:

If the RDF exists, regenerate the XML output file using Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) patch 2 or later.

Or, edit the XML to add type="packageSpec" and/or type="packageBody" in the function element, as follows:

<programUnits>
  <function name="a" type="packageSpec">
    <textSource>

22.1 Customization Overview

By using the Oracle Reports XML tags, you can customize reports created using Oracle Reports Builder.

Note:

Although it is possible to create an entire report manually using the Oracle Reports XML tags, only manually created customizations and data models are documented and supported.

Creating and applying an XML customization is a three-step process:

Create a customization file using Oracle Reports XML tags.

You can create this customization by building a report using Oracle Reports Builder then saving your report as XML. You can also build the customization manually, with any sort of text editor or a sophisticated XML editor, as long as you include the XML tags that are required for the particular Oracle Reports customization.

Store the XML customization in a location that is accessible to Oracle Reports Services.

Apply the XML customization to another report with the CUSTOMIZE command line keyword or the SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION built-in procedure, or run the XML customization by itself (if it contains a complete report definition) with the REPORT (or MODULE) command line keyword.

See Also:

Section A.5.21, "CUSTOMIZE"

Note:

For a description of the SRW built-in package, including the SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION built-in procedure, see the Oracle Reports online Help.

22.2 Creating XML Customizations

This section provides examples of various report customizations. It includes examples of:

Required XML Tags

Changing Styles

Changing a Format Mask

Adding Formatting Exceptions

Adding Program Units and Hyperlinks

Adding a New Query and Using the Result in a New Header Section

Encoding the URL

22.2.1 Required XML Tags

Every XML customization must contain the following required tag pair:

<report></report>

For example, the following is the most minimal XML customization possible:

<report name="emp" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
</report>

This XML customization would have a null effect if applied to a report because it contains nothing. It can be parsed because it has the needed tags, but it is useful only as an example of the required tags.

The <report> tag indicates the beginning of the report customization, its name, and the version of the Data Type Dictionary (DTD) file that is being used with this XML customization. The </report> tag indicates the end of the report customization.

The report tag's name attribute can be any name you wish, either the name of the report the XML file will customize, or any other name.

This example represents a minimal use of the <report> tag. The <report> tag also has many attributes, most of which are implied and need not be specified. The only required <report> attribute is DTDVersion.

Note:

To apply an XML customization file to modify an existing report trigger or to create a new report trigger, you must specify the relevant trigger attribute of the <report> tag:

For example, to modify or create a Before Report trigger, use the beforeReportTrigger attribute:

<report DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0" beforeReportTrigger="BeforeReport">

If you do not specify this attribute when you want to apply an XML customization file to modify or create a report trigger, the report trigger PL/SQL code will be treated as a local (independent) function when the XML customization file is applied to your report.

A full report definition requires both a data model and a layout and therefore also requires the following tags and their contents:

<data></data>

<layout></layout>

The data tag has no accompanying attributes. The layout tag has two attributes, both of which are required: panelPrintOrder and direction. If you use the default values for these attributes (respectively acrossDown and default), you need not specify them. Examples of the data and layout elements are provided in the following sections.

22.2.2 Changing Styles

The example in this section demonstrates the use of XML to change the fill and line colors used for report fields F_Mincurrent_pricePersymbol and F_Maxcurrent_pricePersymbol.

<report name="anyName" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
  <layout>
    <section name="main">
      <field name="F_Mincurrent_pricePersymbol"
             source="Mincurrent_pricePersymbol"
             lineColor="black"
             fillColor="r100g50b50"/>
      <field name="F_Maxcurrent_pricePersymbol"
             source="Maxcurrent_pricePersymbol"
             lineColor="black"
             fillColor="r100g50b50"/>
    </section>
  </layout>
</report>

We assume in this example that the section and field tags' name attributes match the names of fields in the Main section of the report this XML file will customize. In keeping with this assumption, the other attributes of the field tag will be applied only to the fields of the same name in the report's Main section.

22.2.3 Changing a Format Mask

The example in this section demonstrates the use of XML to change the format mask used for a report field f_trade_date.

<report name="anyName" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
  <layout>
    <section name="main">
      <field name="f_trade_date"
             source="trade_date"
             formatMask="MM/DD/RR"/>
    </section>
  </layout>
</report>

Notice that the field tag provides its own closure (/>). If the field tag used additional sub-tags, you would close it with </field>.

22.2.4 Adding Formatting Exceptions

The example in this section demonstrates the use of XML to add a formatting exception to highlight values greater than 10 in a report's f_p_e and f_p_e1 fields.

<report name="anyName" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
  <layout>
    <section name="main">
      <field name="f_p_e" source="p_e">
      <exception textColor="red">
       <condition source="p_e" operator="gt" operand1="10"/>
        </exception>
      </field>
      <field name="f_p_e1" source="p_e">
        <exception textColor="blue">
       <condition source="p_e" operator="gt" operand1="10"/>
        </exception>
      </field>
    </section>
  </layout>
</report>

In this example, the value for operator is gt, for greater than. Operators include those listed in Table 22-1:

Table 22-1 Values for the operator Attribute

Value
Usage

eq

equal

lt

less than

lteq

less than or equal to

neq

not equal to

gt

greater than

gteq

greater than or equal to

btw

between

notBtw

not between

like

like

notLike

not like

null

null

notNull

not null

Notice also that, unlike the previous example, the field tags in this example uses sub-tags, and, consequently, closes with </field>, rather than a self-contained closure (/>).

22.2.5 Adding Program Units and Hyperlinks

The example in this section demonstrates the use of XML to add a program unit to a report, which in turn adds a hyperlink from the employee social security number (:SSN) to employee details.

<report name="anyName" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
  <layout>
    <section name="header">
      <field name="F_ssn1" source="ssn1">
        <advancedLayout formatTrigger="F_ssn1FormatTrigger"/>
      </field>
    </section>
    <section name="main">
      <field name="F_ssn" source="ssn">
        <advancedLayout formatTrigger="F_ssnFormatTrigger"/>
      </field>
    </section>
  </layout>
  <programUnits>
    <function name="F_ssn1FormatTrigger">
      <textSource>

22.3 Creating XML Data Models

Oracle Reports Services introduces a greater level of sophistication in the types of data models you can create using Oracle Reports XML tags. Use XML for:

Creating Multiple Data Sources

Linking Between Data Sources

Creating Group Hierarchies Within Each Data Source

Creating Cross-Product (Matrix) Groups

Creating Formulas, Summaries, and Placeholders at Any Level

Creating Parameters

This section provides examples of these uses of XML.

In addition to these data model types, Oracle Reports Services provides support for using PL/SQL in your XML. This includes support for local program units, report-level triggers, and attached PL/SQL libraries.

22.3.1 Creating Multiple Data Sources

The <data> tag now supports the creation of multiple data sources as well as the new pluggable data sources. Each data source is enclosed within its own <dataSource> tag. The data type definition for the dataSource element is:

<!ELEMENT dataSource
  ((select|plugin|plsql),
  comment?,
  displayInfo?,
  formula*,
  group*)>
<!ATTLIST dataSource
  name CDATA #IMPLIED
  defaultGroupName CDATA #IMPLIED
  maximumRowsToFetch CDATA #IMPLIED>

The following example creates two SQL data sources and names them Q_1 and Q_2. It also creates all the necessary columns for the data sources and the default group—giving the group the specified defaultGroupName or defaulting its own name if defaultGroupName is not specified.

<report name="anyname" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
  <data>
    <dataSource name="Q_1" defaultGroupName="G_DEPARTMENTS">
      <select>
      select * from departments
      </select>
    </dataSource>
    <dataSource name="Q_2" defaultGroupName="G_EMPLOYEES">
      <select>
      select * from employees
    </select>
    </dataSource>
  </data>
</report>

22.3.2 Linking Between Data Sources

In the presence of multiple data sources, it may be desirable to link the data sources together to create the appropriate data model. Oracle Reports data model link objects have also been exposed through Oracle Reports XML. They support both group- and column-level links. You can specify any number of links to create the required data model.

The data type definition for the link element is:

<!ELEMENT link EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST link
  name CDATA #IMPLIED
  parentGroup CDATA #IMPLIED
  parentColumn CDATA #IMPLIED
  childQuery CDATA #IMPLIED
  childColumn CDATA #IMPLIED
  condition (eq|lt|neq|gt|gteq|like|notLike) "eq"
  sqlClause (startWith|having|where) "where">

The link element is placed within a data element and can link any two dataSource objects defined within the data element. For example:

<report name="anyname" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
  <data>
    <dataSource name="Q_1" defaultGroupName="G_DEPARTMENTS">
      <select>
        select * from departments
      </select>
    </dataSource>
    <dataSource name="Q_2" defaultGroupName="G_EMPLOYEES">
      <select>
        select * from employees
      </select>
    </dataSource>
    <link name="L_1" parentGroup="G_DEPARTMENTS"
          parentColumn="DEPARTMENT_ID" childQuery="Q_2"
          childColumn="DEPARTMENT_ID1" condition="eq" sqlClause="where"/>
  </data>
</report>

Within the link element, Oracle Reports defaulting mechanism recognizes DEPARTMENT_ID1 as an alias to the DEPARTMENT_ID column in the EMPLOYEES table without your having to explicitly create such an alias.

22.3.3 Creating Group Hierarchies Within Each Data Source

With Oracle Reports Services, the complete group hierarchy is available to you. You can specify all the columns within each group and break the order of those columns. You can use formulas, summaries, and placeholders to further customize the objects within groups.

The data type definition for the group element is:

<!ELEMENT group
  (field|exception|rowDelimiter|xmlSettings|displayInfo|dataItem|formula|
  summary|placeholder|filter|comment)*>
<!ATTLIST group
  name CDATA #IMPLIED
  fillColor CDATA #IMPLIED
  lineColor CDATA #IMPLIED
  formatTrigger CDATA #IMPLIED>

The following example demonstrates the use of a group element to create a break group under a data source.

<report name="anyname" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
  <data>
    <dataSource name="Q_1">
      <select>
        select * from employees
      </select>
      <group name="G_DEPARTMENTS">
        <dataItem name="DEPARTMENT_ID"/>
      </group>
      <group name="G_EMPLOYEES">
        <dataItem="EMPLOYEE_ID"/>
        <dataItem="FIRST_NAME"/>
        <dataItem="LAST_NAME"/>
        <dataItem="JOB_ID"/>
        <dataItem="MANAGER_ID"/>
        <dataItem="HIRE_DATE"/>
        <dataItem="SALARY"/>
        <dataItem="COMMISSION_PCT"/>
      </group>
    </dataSource>
  </data>
</report>

22.3.4 Creating Cross-Product (Matrix) Groups

Cross-product groups allow you to define a matrix of any number of groups in the data model. The dimension groups in a cross product may exist in the same data source or may be combined from different data sources to create a matrix. In support of this flexibility, the <crossProduct> tag is placed within the <data> tag after all the data sources and groups have been created.

The data type definition for the crossProduct element is:

<!ELEMENT crossProduct
  (xmlSettings|displayInfo|dimension|(formula|summary|placeholder)*|comment)*>
<ATTLIST crossProduct
  name CDDATA #IMPLIED
  mailText CDDATA #IMPLIED>

The following example demonstrates the creation of a single-query matrix.

<report name="anyname" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
  <data>
    <dataSource name="Q_1">
      <select>
        select * from employees
      </select>
      <group name="G_DEPARTMENTS">
        <dataItem name="DEPARTMENT_ID"/>
      </group>
      <group name="G_JOB_ID>
        <dataItem name="JOB_ID"/>
      </group>
      <group name="G_MANAGER_ID">
        <dataItem name="MANAGER_ID"
      </group>
      <group name="G_EMPLOYEE_ID">
        <dataItem name="EMPLOYEE_ID"/>
      <dataItem name="FIRST_NAME"/>
        <dataItem name="LAST_NAME"/>
        <dataItem name="HIRE_DATE"/>
        <dataItem name="SALARY"/>
        <dataItem name="COMMISSION_PCT"/>
      </group>
    </dataSource>
    <crossProduct name="G_Matrix">
      <dimension>
        <group name="G_DEPARTMENTS">
      </dimension>
      <dimension>
      <group name="G_JOB_ID">
      </dimension>
      <dimension>
      <group name="G_MANAGER_ID">
      </dimension>
    </crossProduct>
  </data>
</report>

22.3.5 Creating Formulas, Summaries, and Placeholders at Any Level

You can place formulas, summaries, and placeholders at any level within the data model. Additionally, you have complete control over all the attributes for each of these objects.

The following example demonstrates the creation of a report-level summary whose source is based on a group-level formula column.

<report name="anyname" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">
  <data>
    <dataSource name="Q_1">
      <select>
        select * from employees
      </select>
      <group name="G_EMPLOYEES">
        <dataItem="EMPLOYEE_ID"/>
        <dataItem name="EMPLOYEE_ID"/>
        <dataItem name="FIRST_NAME"/>
        <dataItem name="LAST_NAME"/>
        <dataItem name="HIRE_DATE"/>
        <dataItem name="SALARY"/>
        <dataItem name="COMMISSION_PCT"/>
        <dataItem name="DEPARTMENT_ID"/>
        <formula name="CF_REMUNERATION" source="cf_1formula"
          datatype="number" width="20" precision="10"/>
      </group>
    </dataSource>
    <summary name="CS_REPORT_LEVEL_SUMMARY" function="sum" width="20"
      precision="10" reset="report" compute="report"/>
  </data>
  <programUnits>
    <function name="cf_1formula" returnType="number">
      <textSource>

22.4 Using XML Files at Runtime

Once you have created your Oracle Reports XML customization file, you can use it in the following ways:

You can apply XML report definitions to RDF or other XML files at runtime by specifying the CUSTOMIZE command line keyword or the SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION built-in procedure. Refer to Section 22.4.1, "Applying an XML Report Definition at Runtime" for more information.

Note:

Oracle Reports does not support XML customizations of REP files.

You can run an XML report definition by itself (without another report) by specifying the REPORT (or MODULE) command line keyword. Refer to Section 22.4.2, "Running an XML Report Definition by Itself" for more information.

You can use rwconverter to make batch modifications using the CUSTOMIZE command line keyword. Refer to Section 22.4.3, "Performing Batch Modifications" for more information.

The following sections describe each of the cases in more detail and provide examples.

22.4.1 Applying an XML Report Definition at Runtime

To apply an XML report definition to an RDF or XML file at runtime, you can use the CUSTOMIZE command line keyword or the SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION built-in procedure. CUSTOMIZE can be used with rwclient, rwrun, rwbuilder, rwconverter, and URL report requests.

Note:

Refer to Section 22.4.3, "Performing Batch Modifications" for more information about using CUSTOMIZE with rwconverter.

22.4.1.1 Applying One XML Report Definition

The following command line sends a job request to Oracle Reports Services and applies an XML report definition, emp.xml, to an RDF file, emp.rdf. In this example, the CUSTOMIZE keyword refers to a file located in a Windows directory path. For UNIX, specify the path according to UNIX standards (that is, myreports/emp.xml).

rwclient REPORT=emp.rdf CUSTOMIZE=\myreports\emp.xml
  USERID=username/password@my_db DESTYPE=file DESNAME=emp.pdf
  DESFORMAT=PDF SERVER=server_name

When you use rwrun, the Reports Runtime command, the equivalent command line would be:

rwrun USERID=username/password@my_db REPORT=emp.rdf
   CUSTOMIZE=\myreports\emp.xml DESTYPE=file DESNAME=emp.pdf
   DESFORMAT=PDF

22.4.1.2 Applying Multiple XML Report Definitions

You can apply multiple XML report definitions to a report at runtime by providing a list with the CUSTOMIZE command line keyword. The following command line sends a job request to Oracle Reports Services that applies two XML report definitions, EMP0.XML and EMP1.XML, to an RDF file, EMP.RDF:

rwclient REPORT=emp.rdf
  CUSTOMIZE="(d:\corp\myreports\emp0.xml,d:\corp\myreports\emp1.xml)"
  USERID=username/password@my_db DESTYPE=file DESNAME=emp.pdf
  DESFORMAT=PDF SERVER=server_name

Note:

In this example, the CUSTOMIZE value demonstrates a directory path to files stored on a Windows platform. For UNIX, use that platform's standard for specifying directory paths (that is, forward slashes instead of backward).

If you were using Reports Runtime, then the equivalent command line would be:

rwrun REPORT=emp.rdf
  CUSTOMIZE="(D:\CORP\MYREPOORTS\EMP0.XML,D:\CORP\MYREPORTS\EMP1.XML)"
  USERID=username/password@my_db DESTYPE=file DESNAME=emp.pdf
  DESFORMAT=PDF

22.4.1.3 Applying an XML Report Definition in PL/SQL

To apply an XML report definition to an RDF file in PL/SQL, use the SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION and SRW.ADD_DEFINITION built-in procedures in the Before Parameter Form or After Parameter Form trigger. The following sections provide examples of these built-in procedures.

Note:

For a description of the SRW built-in package, including the SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION and SRW.ADD_DEFINITION built-in procedures, and more information about report triggers, see the Oracle Reports online Help.

22.4.1.3.1 Applying an XML Definition Stored in a File

To apply XML that is stored in the file system to a report, use the SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION built-in procedure in the Before Parameter Form or After Parameter Form triggers of the report.

On Windows:

SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION ('%ORACLE_HOME%\TOOLS\DOC\US\RBBR\COND.XML');

On UNIX:

SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION ('$ORACLE_HOME/TOOLS/DOC/US/RBBR/COND.XML');

When the report is run, the trigger executes and the specified XML file is applied to the report.

22.4.1.3.2 Applying an XML Definition Stored in Memory

To create an XML report definition in memory, you must add the definition to the document buffer using SRW.ADD_DEFINITION before applying it using the SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION built-in procedure.

The following example illustrates how to build up and apply several definitions in memory based upon parameter values entered by the user. The PL/SQL in this example is used in the After Parameter Form trigger of a report called videosales_custom.rdf.

The videosales_custom.rdf file contains PL/SQL in its After Parameter Form trigger that does the following:

Conditionally highlights fields based upon parameter values entered by the user at runtime.

Changes number format masks based upon parameter values entered by the user at runtime.

The following tips are useful when looking at this example:

Each time you use the SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION built-in procedure, the document buffer is flushed and you must begin building a new XML report definition with SRW.ADD_DEFINITION.

Notice the use of the parameters hilite_profits, hilite_costs, hilite_sales, and money_format to determine what to include in the XML report definition. The hilite_profits, hilite_costs, and hilite_sales parameters are also used in the formatting exceptions to determine which values to highlight.

Because of the upper limit on the size of VARCHAR2 columns (4000 bytes), you might need to spread very large XML report definitions across several columns. If so, then you might have to create several definitions in memory and apply them separately rather than creating one large definition and applying it once.

function AfterPForm return boolean is
begin
  SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<report name="vidsales_masks"
  author="Generated" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">');
  IF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN.00' THEN
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<layout>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<section name="main">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_TOTAL_PROFIT" source="TOTAL_PROFIT"
      formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_TOTAL_SALES" source="TOTAL_SALES"
      formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_TOTAL_COST" source="TOTAL_COST"
      formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY"
      source="SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY"
      source="SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY"
      source="SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</section>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</layout>');
  ELSIF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN' THEN
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<layout>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<section name="main">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_TOTAL_PROFIT" source="TOTAL_PROFIT"
      formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_TOTAL_SALES" source="TOTAL_SALES"
      formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_TOTAL_COST" source="TOTAL_COST"
      formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY"
      source="SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY"
      source="SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY"
      source="SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</section>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</layout>');
  END IF;
  SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</report>');
  SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;
  SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<report name="vidsales_hilite_costs" author="Generated"
    DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">');
  IF :HILITE_COSTS <> 'None' THEN
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<layout>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<section name="main">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_TOTAL_COST" source="TOTAL_COST">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<exception textColor="red">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<condition source="TOTAL_COST" operator="gt"
      operand1=":hilite_costs"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</exception>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</field>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</section>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</layout>');
  END IF;
  SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</report>');
  SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;
  SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<report name="vidsales_hilite_sales" author="Generated"
    DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">');
  IF :HILITE_SALES <> 'None' THEN
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<layout>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<section name="main">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_TOTAL_SALES" source="TOTAL_SALES">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<exception textColor="red">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<condition source="TOTAL_SALES" operator="gt"
      operand1=":hilite_sales"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</exception>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</field>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</section>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</layout>');
  END IF;
  SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</report>');
  SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;
  SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<report name="vidsales_hilite_profits" author="Generated"
    DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">');
  IF :HILITE_PROFITS <> 'None' THEN
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<layout>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<section name="main">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<field name="F_TOTAL_PROFIT" source="TOTAL_PROFIT">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<exception textColor="red">');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('<condition source="TOTAL_PROFIT" operator="gt"
      operand1=":hilite_profits"/>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</exception>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</field>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</section>');
    SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</layout>');
  END IF;
  SRW.ADD_DEFINITION('</report>');
  SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;
  return (TRUE);
end;

22.4.2 Running an XML Report Definition by Itself

To run an XML report definition by itself, you send a request with an XML file specified in the REPORT (or MODULE) option. The following command line sends a job request to Oracle Reports Services to run a report, emp.xml, by itself:

rwclient USERID=username/password@my_db
  REPORT=c:\corp\myreports\emp.xml
  DESTYPE=file desname=emp.pdf DESFORMAT=pdf
  SERVER=server_name

When you use rwrun, the Reports Runtime command, the equivalent command line would be:

rwrun USERID=username/password@my_db
  REPORT=c:\corp\myreports\emp.xml
  DESTYPE=file DESNAME=emp.pdf DESFORMAT=PDF

When you run an XML report definition in this way, you must specify an XML file extension. You could also apply an XML customization file to this report using the CUSTOMIZE command line keyword.

22.4.3 Performing Batch Modifications

If you have a large number of reports that has to be updated, you can use the CUSTOMIZE command line keyword with rwconverter to perform modifications in batch. Batch modifications are particularly useful when you must make a repetitive change to a large number of reports (for example, changing a field's format mask). Rather than opening each report and manually making the change in Oracle Reports Builder, you can run rwconverter once and make the same change to a large number of reports at once.

Note:

The rwconverter.bat file uses the start keyword to start the rwconverter process. If the start keyword is specified, then the process starts in asynchronous mode. The spawned rwconverter continues execution until completion. For using batch conversion of a large number of rdfs, all the processes start simultaneously. Therefore, it is recommended that you modify the rwconverter.bat file manually to remove the start keyword for running rwconverter in batch mode.

The following example applies two XML report definitions, translate.xml and customize.xml, to three RDF files, inven1.rdf, inven2.rdf, and manu.rdf, and saves the revised definitions to new files, inven1_new.rdf, inven2_new.rdf, and manu_new.rdf.

rwconverter username/password@my_db
  STYPE=rdffile SOURCE="(inven1.rdf, inven2.rdf, manu.rdf)"
  DTYPE=rdffile DEST="(inven1_new.rdf, inven2_new.rdf, manu_new.rdf)"
  CUSTOMIZE="(d:\apps\trans\translate.xml,d:\apps\custom\customize.xml)"
  BATCH=yes

Note:

In this example, the CUSTOMIZE value demonstrates a directory path to files stored on a Windows platform. For UNIX, use that platform's standard for specifying directory paths (that is, forward slashes instead of backward).

22.5 Debugging XML Report Definitions

The following features are available to help you debug your XML report files:

XML Parser Error Messages

rwbuilder

Writing XML to a File for Debugging

22.5.1 XML Parser Error Messages

The XML parser is part of Oracle's XML Development Kit (XDK), which is delivered with the core Oracle Database release. The XML parser is a Java package that checks the validity of XML syntax. The JAR files that contain the XML parser are automatically set up on install and are available to Oracle Reports.

The XML parser catches most syntax errors and displays an error message. The error message contains the line number in the XML where the error occurred as well as a brief description of the problem.

For more information on the XML parser, see the Oracle Technology Network, (http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html). Search for XML parser or XDK. Information is also available in the documentation that came with your Oracle Database.

22.5.2 rwbuilder

When designing an XML report definition, it is sometimes useful to open it in Oracle Reports Builder. In Oracle Reports Builder, you can quickly determine if the objects are being created or modified as expected. For example, if you are creating summaries in an XML report definition, then opening the definition in Oracle Reports Builder enables you to quickly determine if the summaries are being placed in the appropriate group in the data model.

To open a full report definition in Oracle Reports Builder, use the REPORT (or MODULE) keyword. For example:

rwbuilder USERID=username/password@my_db REPORT=c:\corp\myreports\emp.xml

To open a partial report definition in Oracle Reports Builder, use the CUSTOMIZE keyword. For example:

rwbuilder USERID=username/password@my_db REPORT=emp.rdf CUSTOMIZE=c:\myreports\emp.xml

Note:

In this example, the REPORT option specifies a directory path to files stored on a Windows platform. For UNIX, use that platform's standard for specifying directory paths (that is, forward slashes instead of backward slashes).

In both cases, Oracle Reports Builder is opened with the XML report definition in effect. You can then use the various views of Oracle Reports Builder to determine if the report is being created or modified as you expected.

22.5.3 Writing XML to a File for Debugging

If you are using SRW.ADD_DEFINTION to build an XML report definition in memory, then it can be helpful to write the XML to a file for debugging purposes. The following example demonstrates a procedure that writes each line that you pass to it to the document buffer in memory and, optionally, to a file that you specify.

PROCEDURE addaline (newline VARCHAR, outfile Text_IO.File_Type) IS
BEGIN
  SRW.ADD_DEFINITION(newline);
  IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN
    Text_IO.Put_Line(outfile, newline);
  END IF;
END;

For this example to work, the PL/SQL that calls this procedure must declare a variable of type TEXT_IO.File_Type. For example:

custom_summary  Text_IO.File_Type;

You must also open the file for writing and call the addaline procedure, passing it the string to be written and the file to which it should be written. For example:

custom_summary := Text_IO.Fopen(:file_directory || 'vid_summ_per.xml', 'w');
addaline('<report name="video_custom" author="Generated" DTDVersion="9.0.2.0.0">',
custom_summary);

Part V

Globalization Support and Bidirectional Support

Part V provides information about Reports-related globalization support settings and bidirectional support:

Chapter 23, "Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support"

23 Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support

When you design reports to be deployed to different countries, you must consider such things as character sets and text reading order. Oracle Reports Services includes the support that you require to address any issues related to these considerations: Globalization support for character sets and bidirectional support for text reading order.

Globalization support makes it possible to design applications that can be deployed in several different languages. Oracle supports most European, Middle Eastern, and Asian languages. globalization support enables you to:

Use international character sets (including multibyte character sets)

Display data according to the appropriate language and territory conventions

Extract strings that appear in your interface and translate them

Bidirectional support enables you to display data in either a left-to-right or right-to-left orientation, depending on the requirements of your audience.

This chapter provides a look at globalization support architecture, including globalization support settings relevant to Reports; explains how to specify character sets in a JSP; and offers information on bidirectional, Unicode, and translation support. It includes the following main sections:

Globalization Support Architecture

Globalization Support Environment Variables

Specifying a Character Set in a JSP or XML File

Bidirectional Support

Unicode

Translating Applications

Troubleshooting Globalization Issues

23.1 Globalization Support Architecture

Globalization support architecture consists of two parts:

Language-Independent Functions

Language-Dependent Data

23.1.1 Language-Independent Functions

Language-independent functions handle manipulation of data in an appropriate manner, depending on the language and territory of the runtime operator. Data is automatically formatted according to local date and time conventions.

23.1.2 Language-Dependent Data

With language-dependent data, you can isolate your data. This enables your application to deal only with translating strings that are unique to your application.

Because the language-dependent data is separate from the code, the operation of globalization support functions is governed by the data supplied at runtime. New languages can be added and language-specific application characteristics can be altered without requiring code changes. This architecture also enables language-dependent features to be specified for each session.

23.2 Globalization Support Environment Variables

Globalization support environment variables are automatically set to default values during Oracle Fusion Middleware installation.

Note:

With the environment switching feature, you are not limited to the default environment set at the time of installation, and you can configure multiple environments, including language settings, for a single Reports Server. For more information, refer to Section 8.2.2, "Dynamic Environment Switching".

Table 23-1 lists and describes globalization support-related environment variables that are relevant to Oracle Reports Services.

Table 23-1 Oracle Reports ServicesEnvironment Variables for Globalization Support

Variable
Description

NLS_LANG

Relevant to Oracle Reports Services. The language settings used by Oracle Reports Services. See Section 23.2.1, "NLS_LANG Environment Variable".

DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG

The language for Oracle Reports Builder. If not set, then NLS_LANG default values are used. See Section 23.2.2, "DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG and USER_NLS_LANG Environment Variables".

USER_NLS_LANG

The language for Reports Runtime. If not set, then NLS_LANG default values are used. See Section 23.2.2, "DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG and USER_NLS_LANG Environment Variables".

23.2.1 NLS_LANG Environment Variable

The NLS_LANG environment variable specifies the language, territory, and character set settings to be used by Oracle Reports Services. Specifically:

The language for messages displayed to the user

The default format masks used for DATE and NUMBER data types

The sorting sequence

The character set

Note:

This environment variable is set automatically when you install Oracle Fusion Middleware. Refer to Section 23.2.1.1, "Defining the NLS_LANG Environment Variable" for more information about changing the environment variable after installing Oracle Fusion Middleware.

The syntax for NLS_LANG is:

NLS_LANG=language_territory.charset

The values are defined as follows:

language

Specifies the language and its conventions for displaying messages (including error messages) as well as day and month names. If language is not specified, then the value defaults to American. See Section 23.2.1.2, "Defining the Language and Territory".

territory

Specifies the territory and its conventions for default date format, decimal character used for numbers, currency symbol, and calculation of week and day numbers. If territory is not specified, then the value defaults to America. See Section 23.2.1.2, "Defining the Language and Territory".

charset

Specifies the character set in which data is displayed. This should be a character set that matches your language and platform. This option also specifies the character set used for displaying messages. See Section 23.2.1.3, "Defining the Character Set".

Note:

When you use features like Oracle Portal Security, Portal Destination, and Job Status Repository, the JDBC database connections made by Oracle Reports Services may override the initial NLS_LANG setting. This change may in turn affect the behavior of the running report, such as aliasing PDF output in Asian languages. On UNIX platforms, you can work around this issue by using the environment switching functionality to dynamically set the environment for reports, as described in Section 8.2.2, "Dynamic Environment Switching".

Your NLS_LANG setting should take into account regional differences between countries that use (basically) the same language. For example, if you want to run in French (as used in France), then you set the NLS_LANG environment variable:

NLS_LANG=FRENCH_FRANCE.WE8ISO8859P1

If you want to run in French, but this time as used in Switzerland, you would set the NLS_LANG environment variable:

NLS_LANG=FRENCH_SWITZERLAND.WE8ISO8859P1

Note:

The language for the rwservlet pages such as showjobs,showenv, online Help, and error messages are delivered from the middle tier machine's locale (or LANG on UNIX) and not NLS_LANG. For example, if you have set your middle tier locale to French and NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS, the showjobs or error messages will be displayed in French, not in Japanese.

23.2.1.1 Defining the NLS_LANG Environment Variable

You define the NLS_LANG environment variable in the same way you define other environment variables on your Windows or UNIX operating system.

23.2.1.1.1 Windows

To define the NLS_LANG environment variable on Windows, do the following:

Open the Windows registry.

Note:

Back up your registry before you edit it.

Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE node, then expand the SOFTWARE node.

Expand the Oracle node, then click your Oracle Reports Services HOME node to display the Oracle environment variables in the right panel of the Registry Editor.

Double-click the NLS_LANG environment variable.

Type the new value for NLS_LANG in the Value data text box.

Click OK.

23.2.1.1.2 UNIX

To define the NLS_LANG environment variable on the UNIX platform, set it in the shell script reports.sh, located in your ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin directory.

23.2.1.2 Defining the Language and Territory

While the character set ensures that the individual characters needed for each language are available, support for national conventions provides correct localized display of data items.

The specified language determines the default conventions for the following characteristics:

Language for Oracle Reports Services messages and message from the Oracle Database.

Language for day and month names and their abbreviations (specified in the SQL functions TO_CHAR and TO_DATE).

Symbol equivalents for AM, PM, AD, and BC.

Default sorting sequence for character data when ORDER BY is specified (GROUP BY uses a binary sort unless ORDER BY is specified).

Writing direction (both right to left and left to right).

For example, if the language is set to French, then the following messages in English are converted to French:

English:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist
REP-0110: Unable to open file.

French:
ORA-00942: table ou vue inexistante
REP-0110: Impossible d'ouvrir le fichier

The specified territory determines the conventions for the following default date and numeric formatting characteristics:

Date format

Decimal character and group separator

Local currency symbol

ISO currency symbol

Week start day

Credit and debit symbol

ISO week flag

List separator

For example, if the territory is set to France, then the numbers are formatted using a comma as the decimal character.

23.2.1.3 Defining the Character Set

The character set component of the globalization support environment variables specifies the character set in which data is represented in your environment. When data is transferred from a system using one character set to a system using another character set, it is processed and displayed correctly on the second system, even though some characters might be represented by different binary values in the character sets.

23.2.1.3.1 Character Set Design Considerations

If you are designing a multilingual application, or even a single-language application that runs with multiple character sets, you must determine the character set most widely used at runtime and then set the NLS_LANG environment variable to that particular character set.

If you design an application in one character set and run it in another character set, performance can suffer. Furthermore, if the runtime character set does not contain all the characters in the design-time character set, then question marks appear in place of the unrecognized characters.

23.2.1.3.2 Font Aliasing Considerations

There may be situations where you create a multilingual application with a specific font but find that a different font is being used when you run that application. You would most likely encounter this when using an English font (such as MS Sans Serif or Arial) in environments other than Western European. This occurs because Oracle Reports Services checks to see if the character set associated with the font matches the character set specified by the language environment variable. If the two do not match, Oracle Reports Services automatically substitutes the font with another font whose associated character set matches the character set specified by the language environment variable. This automatic substitution assures that the data being returned from the database gets displayed correctly in the application.

Note:

If you enter local characters using an English font, then Windows does an implicit association with another font.

There might be cases, however, where you do not want this substitution to take place. You can avoid this substitution by mapping all desired fonts to the WE8ISO8859P1 character set in the font alias file (uifont.ali). For example, if you are unable to use the Arial font in your application, you can add the following line to your font alias file:

ARIAL.....=ARIAL.....WE8ISO8859P1

This example specifies that any Arial font should be mapped to the same value, but with the WE8ISO8859P1 character set.

For more information about font aliasing and uifont.ali, see Section 11.2.2.1, "Font Aliasing".

23.2.2 DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG and USER_NLS_LANG Environment Variables

If you must use two sets of resource and message files at the same time, then two other language environment variables are available. These can be used after Oracle Fusion Middleware installation is completed.

DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG

USER_NLS_LANG

The syntax for DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG and USER_NLS_LANG is the same as for the NLS_LANG environment variable. That is:

DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG=language_territory.charset
USER_NLS_LANG=language_territory.charset

If these environment variables are not specifically set, then NLS_LANG default values will be used. Use the DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG and USER_NLS_LANG environment variables in lieu of the NLS_LANG environment variable in the following situations:

You prefer to use Reports Builder in a particular language (for example, English), but you are developing an application for another language. DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG and USER_NLS_LANG environment variables allow you to use different language settings for the Oracle Reports Builder and Reports Runtime.

You are creating an application to run in a language for which a local language version of Oracle Reports Builder is not currently available.

23.3 Specifying a Character Set in a JSP or XML File

In Oracle Reports, Web-report templates are configured by default for Western European character encoding. For other languages, you must specify the character encoding for a JSP file by using both the charset attribute of the <meta> tag and the <%@page%> page directive.

To dynamically associate the appropriate character encoding with the JSP file, you can make the following modifications:

In the directory oracle_home/reports/templates/, edit the files rw*.html and blank_template.jsp:

Modify the page directive to read

<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=yourIANAencoding" %>

where,

yourIANAencoding is the IANA character encoding that corresponds to the character encoding part of your NLS_LANG environment variable.

Modify the <meta> tag inside the <head> tag to read:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html;charset=yourIANAencoding" />

In the directory oracle_home/reports/templates/, edit the file template.xsl:

Modify the <xsl:output> tag to read:

<xsl:output
     method="jsp"
     indent="yes"
     encoding="yourIANAencoding"
   />

where

yourIANAencoding is the IANA encoding that corresponds to the character encoding part of your NLS_LANG environment variable.

Add the following page directive:

<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=yourIANAencoding" %>

Add or modify the <meta> tag inside the <head> tag:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html;charset=yourIANAencoding" />

where

yourIANAencoding is the IANA encoding that corresponds to the character encoding part of your NLS_LANG environment variable.

The following example specifies a Japanese character set:

<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=Shift_JIS" %>
<META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=Shift_JIS">

Note:

To set the character set in a paper layout report that you plan to use to generate XML, you must include a character set for the report's XML Prolog Value property:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="&Encoding" ?>

&Encoding is then replaced at runtime with the appropriate setting.

The values expressed for the character set should call a character set that is compatible with the one specified for Oracle Reports Services. The values for character sets used on the Web (IANA-defined character sets) are different from the values expressed in the NLS_LANG environment variable. Table 23-2 lists commonly used IANA-defined character sets for the charset parameter:

Note:

IANA-defined character set values are not case-sensitive. You can enter them in uppercase or lowercase.

Table 23-2 Valid Values for the IANA-Defined Character Sets

Languages
Valid IANA-Defined Character Sets

AMERICAN

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, US-ASCII, UTF-8

ARABIC

ISO-8859-6, windows-1256, UTF-8

ASSAMESE

UTF-8

BANGLA

UTF-8

BENGALI

UTF-8

BRAZILIAN PORTUGESE

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

BULGARIAN

ISO-8859-5, windows-1251, KOI8-R, UTF8

CANADIAN FRENCH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

CATALAN

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

CROATIAN

ISO-8859-2, windows-1250, UTF-8

CZECH

ISO-8859-2, windows-1250, UTF-8

DANISH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

DUTCH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

EGYPTIAN

ISO-8859-6, windows-1256, UTF-8

ENGLISH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, US-ASCII, UTF-8

ESTONIAN

ISO-8859-4, ISO-8859-13, windows-1257, UTF-8

FINNISH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

FRENCH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

GERMAN DIN

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

GERMAN

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

GREEK

ISO-8859-7, windows-1253, UTF-8

GUJARATI

UTF-8

HEBREW

ISO-8859-8-I, windows-1255, UTF-8

HINDI

UTF-8

HUNGARIAN

ISO-8859-2, windows-1250, UTF8

ICELANDIC

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

INDONESIAN

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

ITALIAN

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

JAPANESE

EUC-JP, Shift_JIS, UTF-8

KANNADA

UTF-8

KOREAN

EUC-KR, UTF-8

LATIN AMERICAN SPANISH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

LATVIAN

ISO-8859-4, ISO-8859-13, windows-1257, UTF-8

LITHUANIAN

ISO-8859-4, ISO-8859-13, windows-1257, UTF-8

MALAY

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

MALAYALAM

UTF-8

MARATHI

UTF-8

MEXICAN SPANISH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

NORWEGIAN

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

ORIYA

UTF-8

POLISH

ISO-8859-2, windows-1250, UTF8

PORTUGESE

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

PUNJABI

UTF-8

ROMANIAN

ISO-8859-2, windows-1250, UTF-8

RUSSIAN

ISO-8859-5, windows-1251, KOI8-R, UTF-8

SIMPLIFIED CHINESE

GBK, GB18030, UTF-8

SLOVAK

ISO-8859-2, windows-1250, UTF-8

SLOVENIAN

ISO-8859-2, windows-1250, UTF-8

SPANISH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

SWEDISH

ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-15, windows-1252, UTF-8

TAMIL

UTF-8

TELUGU

UTF-8

THAI

TIS-620, UTF-8

TRADITIONAL CHINESE

Big5, Big5-HKSCS, UTF-8

TURKISH

ISO-8859-9, windows-1254, UTF-8

UKRANIAN

ISO-8859-5, windows-1251, KOI8-U, UTF-8

VIETNAMESE

windows-1258, UTF-8

23.4 Bidirectional Support

Bidirectional support enables you to design applications in those languages whose natural writing direction is right to left, such as Middle Eastern and North African languages. Bidirectional support enables you to control:

Layout direction, which includes displaying items with labels at the right of the item and correct placement of check boxes and radio buttons.

Reading order, which includes text direction (for example, right to left or left to right) .

Alignment, which includes switching point-of-origin from upper left to upper right.

When you are designing bidirectional applications, you might want to use the globalization support environment variables DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG and USER_NLS_LANG rather than inheriting the NLS_LANG settings. For example, if you want to use an American interface while developing an Arabic application in a Windows environment, then set these environment variables as follows:

DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.AR8MSWIN1256
USER_NLS_LANG=ARABIC_UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.AR8MSWIN1256

Note that, in this example, the DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG environment variable uses an Arabic character set. For more information, refer to Section 23.2, "Globalization Support Environment Variables".

On UNIX, you may continue to see misalignment of right-aligned text in PDF output for languages that read right to left. To work around this issue, use fixed width fonts instead of variable width fonts. For example, Miriam Fixed True Type font (Hebrew) is a fixed width font available on Windows 2000, and can be used for font subsetting on UNIX platforms to correct any font alignment issues with Hebrew fonts. For more information about resolving font issues across different platforms, see Chapter 12, "Font Model and Cross-Platform Deployment".

23.4.1 Enhanced BIDI Reshaping

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) has introduced a new Enhanced BIDI reshaping mechanism using the XDO APIs. This feature uses a new environment variable, REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING, which specifies whether or not to use the new BIDI reshaping mechanism. You must set the value of this environment variable to YES if you want to use the new enhanced BIDI algorithm. If you do not set the environment variable, or if you set the value of the environment variable to NO, it uses the old mechanism.

If you set the value of REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING to YES:

All the values that were supported in the old BIDI reshaping mechanism are supported for REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL environment variable.

The following values are supported for REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM environment variable:

UNICODE

ORACLE

UNICODE_VARIANT

The default value is UNICODE.

For more information on how to use this environment variable, see Section B.1.46, "REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING".

23.5 Unicode

Unicode is a global character set that allows multilingual text to be displayed in a single application. This enables multinational corporations to develop a single multilingual application and deploy it worldwide.

Global markets require a character set that:

Allows a single implementation of a product for all languages, yet is simple enough to be implemented everywhere.

Contains all major living scripts.

Supports multilingual users and organizations.

Enables worldwide interchange of data through the Internet.

This section discusses the following aspects of Unicode in Oracle Reports:

Unicode Support

Unicode Font Support

Enabling Unicode Support

23.5.1 Unicode Support

Oracle Reports Services provides Unicode support. On UNIX platforms, Unicode support has certain limitations; for example:

Unicode is not supported in PostScript output format on UNIX.

In other bitmap output formats, such as PDF and RTF, you may observe font issues such as character misalignment on UNIX.

For information on how to resolve such issues, refer to Section 12.3.2, "Fixing Font-Related Issues".

If you use Unicode, you are able to display multiple languages, both single-byte languages such as Western European, Eastern European, Bidirectional Middle Eastern, and multibyte Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) in the same application.

Use of a single character set that encompasses all languages eliminates the need to have various character sets for various languages. For example, to display a multibyte language such as Japanese, the NLS_LANG environment variable must be set to the following:

NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS

To display a single-byte language such as German, NLS_LANG must be set to the following:

NLS_LANG=GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8ISO8859P1

The obvious disadvantage of this scheme is that applications can only display characters from one character set at a time. Mixed character set data is not possible.

With the Unicode character set, you can set the character set portion of NLS_LANG to UTF8 instead of a specific language character set. This allows characters from different languages and character sets to be displayed simultaneously. For example, to display Japanese and German together on the screen, the character set portion of the NLS_LANG environment variable must be set to UTF8, along with the appropriate language_territory setting. For example:

NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.UTF8
NLS_LANG=GERMAN_GERMANY.UTF8
NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.UTF8

Unicode capability gives the application developer and end user the ability to display multilingual text in a report. This includes text from a database containing Unicode characters, multilingual boilerplate text, text in graphical user interface (GUI) objects, text input from the keyboard, and text from the clipboard.

Note:

If you develop applications for the Web, then you can use Unicode because of the Unicode support provided by Java through the browser.

23.5.2 Unicode Font Support

To enter text in a particular language, you must be running a version of the operating system that supports that language. Also, depending on the output format type, Oracle Reports Services relies on the operating system for the font for different languages, as described in Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports".

Windows provides True Type Big Fonts. These fonts contain the characters necessary to display or print text from more than one language. For example, if you try to type, display, or print Western European, Central European, and Arabic text on a field and see unexpected characters, then you are probably not using a Big Font. Big Fonts for single-byte languages provided by Microsoft Windows are Arial, Courier New, and Times New Roman. For more information, go to Microsoft's Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.aspx.

Oracle provides two Unicode fonts for Western European, Central European, Cyrillic, Greek, Turkish, Hebrew, Arabic, Baltic, Vietnamese, Thai, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese:

Albany WT fonts (proportional width) are available in Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) MRUA CD.

Andale Duospace WT fonts (fixed width) can be downloaded from Oracle Metalink (http://metalink.oracle.com). The ARU number is 2638552.

Third-party Unicode fonts are also available.

23.5.3 Enabling Unicode Support

To enable Unicode support, set the NLS_LANG environment variable as follows:

NLS_LANG=language_territory.UTF8

Refer to Section 23.2, "Globalization Support Environment Variables" for more information about environment variables.

23.6 Translating Applications

In any Oracle Reports Services application, you see many types of messages, including:

Error messages from the database

Runtime error messages produced by Oracle Reports Services

Messages and boilerplate text defined as part of the application

If the NLS_LANG environment variable is set correctly and the appropriate message files are available, then translation of messages for the first two items is done for you. To translate messages and boilerplate text defined as part of the application, you can use the Oracle translation tool, TranslationHub, and you might also find it useful to use PL/SQL Libraries for strings of code.

Note:

You'll find information about using TranslationHub on your Oracle Developer Suite documentation CD and on the Oracle Technology Network (http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html).

Manual translation is required for constant text within a PL/SQL block because that text is not clearly delimited, but is often built up from variables and pieces of strings. To translate these strings, you can use PL/SQL libraries to implement a flexible message structure.

You can use attachable PL/SQL libraries to implement a flexible message function for messages that are displayed programmatically by the SRW.MESSAGE built-in procedure, or by assigning a message to a display item from a trigger or procedure. The library can be stored on the host and dynamically attached at runtime. At runtime, based on a search path, you can pull in the attached library. For example, a library might hold only the Italian messages:

FUNCTION nls_appl_mesg(index_no NUMBER)
RETURN CHAR
IS
   msg CHAR(80);
BEGIN
   IF index_no = 1001 THEN
      msg := 'L''impiegato che Voi cercate non esiste...';
   ELSIF index_no = 1002 THEN
      msg := 'Lo stipendio non puo essere minore di zero.';
   ELSIF  ...
   .
   .
   ELSE
      msg := 'ERRORE: Indice messaggio inesistente.';
   END IF;
   RETURN msg;
END;

A routine like this could be used anywhere a character expression would normally be valid. For example, to display text with the appropriately translated application message, you might include the following code:

SRW.MESSAGE(1001,nls_appl_mesg(1001));

Note:

For a description of the SRW built-in package, including the SRW.MESSAGE built-in procedure, see the Oracle Reports online Help.

To change the application to another language, simply replace the PL/SQL library containing the nls_appl_mes function with a library of the same name containing the nls_appl_mesg function with translated text.

23.7 Troubleshooting Globalization Issues

To help resolve globalization issues that may occur in your multilingual applications, this section provides the following troubleshooting information:

Embedding a Character Set in a JSP file Dynamically

Setting Globalization Support Environment Variables

Repairing Garbled Fonts When Using the WE8ISO8859P15 Character Set

Opening or Running an Encoded JSP Report

Resolving ERR-063001 xxx.dtd null

Running Oracle Reports in a Japanese Environment on HP-UX

Embedding a Character Set in a JSP file Dynamically

In Oracle Reports, Web report templates are configured for Western European character encoding by default. However, for other languages, you can specify the character encoding for every JSP file by using both the charset attribute of the <Meta> tag and the <%@page%> page directive.

To dynamically associate the appropriate character encoding with the JSP file, you can make the following modifications:

Edit the rw*.html files and the blank_template.jsp file:

Modify the page directive to read

<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=yourIANAencoding" %>

where:

yourIANAencoding is the IANA-defined character set name that corresponds to the NLS_CHARACTERSET portion of the NLS_LANG variable.

Modify the <Meta> tag inside the <Head> tag to read:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html;charset=yourIANAencoding" />

Note:

The template files; that is, rw*.html, and blank_template.jsp, are located in the ORACLE_HOME/reports/templates/ directory.

Edit the template.xsl (ORACLE_HOME/reports/templates/) file:

Modify the <xsl:output> tag to read:

<xsl:output
     method="jsp"
     indent="yes"
     encoding="yourIANAencoding"
   />

where

yourIANAencoding is the IANA-defined character set name that corresponds to the NLS_CHARACTERSET portion of the NLS_LANG variable.

Add the page directive to the file:

<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=yourIANAencoding" %>

Add or modify the <META> tag inside the <HEAD> tag:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html;charset=yourIANAencoding" />

where

yourIANAencoding is the IANA-defined character set name that corresponds to the NLS_CHARACTERSET portion of the NLS_LANG variable.

Setting Globalization Support Environment Variables

The Tk2Motif.rgb file contains resource settings for the Motif version of the Oracle Toolkit. For example, it specifies the font mapping between the character set used by Oracle Reports, specified in NLS_CHARACTERSET, and X fonts.

Oracle Reports looks for this file in the directory ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/languag, where, language is derived from the language setting in NLS_LANG.

If the file does not exist, then Oracle Reports looks for the default version in ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin. This version is configured for WEISO8859P1, the Western European character set.

If your NLS_LANG or NLS_CHARACTERSET specifies a character set that is not normally used for the language you have set in NLS_LANG, then Oracle Reports generates an error.

For example, if you have set NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.JA16EUC, then Oracle Reports locates Tk2Motif.rgb in the directory ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin. The language setting in NLS_LANG is AMERICAN, and there is no language subdirectory associated with AMERICAN, so Oracle Reports uses the default file. Since this version is designed for WE8ISO8859P1, and your NLS_LANG character set is JA16EUC, Oracle Reports generates the error REP-3000.

To work around this problem, set the value of the environment variable TK_UNKNOWN to the location of your character set-specific Tk2Motif.rgb file.

For example, if NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.JA16EUC, then set TK_UNKNOWN=ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/JA. Even though your language is set to AMERICAN, Oracle Reports will use the Tk2Motif.rgb file in the JA language subdirectory.

Repairing Garbled Fonts When Using the WE8ISO8859P15 Character Set

You may see garbled output when you run a multibyte report on UNIX with we8iso8859p15 character set.

To work around this issue, you must do the following:

Make an entry for the fonts used in your default printer's .ppd file. This file is located in the following directory:

$ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin

Note:

The entries are for the fonts that appears garbled in the report output.

Set the encoding scheme in the font's AFM file to FontSpecific if it is AdobeStandardEncoding. Thus, the following entry in the AFM file:

EncodingScheme AdobeStandardEncoding

must change to:

EncodingScheme FontSpecific

Opening or Running an Encoded JSP Report

If your JSP report's character encoding (for example, EUC-JP) differs from the character set portion of the NLS_LANG environment variable (for example, JA16SJIS), then you will get the following errors:

when running the JSP file:

REP-6106 or 6104 with javax.servlet.jsp.JspException  (multibyte)
REP-0495 Unable to tokenize the query (singlebyte)

when opening the JSP file using Oracle Reports Builder:

REP-0069 Internal Error or REP-6106

To work around this issue, you must ensure that your JSP report's character encoding matches the IANA-defined character set corresponding to Oracle Reports' character set portion of the NLS_LANG variable.

For example:

JSP Report encoding:

<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=EUC-JP" %>
<META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=EUC-JP">

This JSP file needs to be encoded in the character set (EUC-JP).

Oracle Reports encoding:

NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16EUC

In this example, the JSP report's encoding (EUC-JP) matches Oracle Reports' character set portion of NLS_LANG; that is, JA16EUC.

Resolving ERR-063001 xxx.dtd null

When you create a report against an XML data source, you must ensure that the encoding of both the XML file (data source) as well as the DTD matches the encoding of Oracle Reports.

When you create an XML report against a table -- for example, a Japanese table-- the group element name is in the table's language that is Japanese. To match the data source, you should set the group's element name in the DTD to Japanese. The XML and DTD files can be in any encoding that supports Japanese, for example, Shift_JIS, EUC-JP, or UTF-8. However, when the encoding of the XML data source as well as the DTD differs from Oracle Reports, you will see the following error:

ERR-063001 xxx.dtd null

Note:

This error is not displayed if you use an XML schema to define the rules.

To work around this issue, you must ensure that both the data source XML files as well as the DTD file for an XML report is encoded in the character set portion of Reports Runtime NLS_LANG.

For example, if your NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS, then both your data source XML file as well as your DTD file should be encoded in Shift_JIS.

Running Oracle Reports in a Japanese Environment on HP-UX

If you want to use Oracle Reports in the HP-UX Japanese environment with NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS, you must modify the appropriate Tk2Motif.rgb file before using Oracle Reports because this file contains EUC encoded Japanese resources.

Convert the Tk2Motif.rgb file to Shift-JIS encoding, or remove the last seven entries from this file. Otherwise, Oracle Reports may fail.

Note:

The Tk2Motif.rgb file for the Japanese environment is:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/JA.

Part VI

Performance

Part VI provides information on diagnosing issues and tuning your Oracle Reports Services environment:

Chapter 24, "  Diagnosing and Tuning Oracle Reports"

24   Diagnosing and Tuning Oracle Reports

As your reporting requests grow in size and complexity and your user base increases, you must consider streamlining your report's performance (or your report's execution time) as much as possible. This maximizes its reach and minimizes its delivery time. Consider the following essentials before you tune the performance of your reports:

Performance and the trade-offs that occur when improving both perceived and measurable performance.

Costs involved.

Computing environment's complexity.

Investigating some of these areas can result in significant performance improvements. Some may result in minor performance improvements and others may have no affect on the actual report performance but can improve the perceived performance. Perceived performance refers to events that contribute to the end result (measured in terms of the final output). See Section 24.7.1, "Fetching Ahead" for an example of perceived performance.

This chapter provides a number of guidelines and suggestions for good performance practices in building, implementing, and tuning individual reports. The suggestions given are general in nature and not all suggestions might apply to all cases. However, implementing some or all of the points in a given application environment should improve the performance of report execution (real and perceived).

Note:

This chapter does not address Oracle Reports deployment or scalability issues. Refer to the Oracle Reports Services Scalability white paper on OTN (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/reports/index.html) for more information.

This chapter will help you look at your report in the broader context of:

The application requirements

The correctness of the underlying data model

The environment where this report will run (for example, client/server, the Web, or inside firewalls)

The degree of user interaction required

After identifying the context of your report, you can gear the tuning process towards optimizing and minimizing:

The calls to the data source

The amount of unnecessary formatting required for the layout

To achieve these objectives, you should focus your tuning on the following distinct aspects of your report:

Execution time. Determine where your report is spending a majority of its execution time. Once you have accomplished this, use one of several performance tools available: to evaluate the query, review database optimization, and examine for efficiency specific pieces of code used by the report.

Formatting and layout. Examine the formatting and layout of the report information.

Runtime parameters. Set runtime parameters to maximize performance and distribution of reports. See Section 24.7.2, "Bursting and Distribution" for information on how distribution maximizes your reports performance.

This chapter addresses these aspects in the following sections:

What's New In This Release?

Logging Enhancements

Performance Analysis Tools

Tuning Reports Server Configuration

Accessing the Data

Formatting the Data

General Layout Guidelines

Running the Report

24.1 What's New In This Release?

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides improved diagnosability through proactive alerts and notifications, and logging and tracing enhancements, as outlined in Table 24-1 (a subset of Table 1-1, "11g Functionality vs. 10g Functionality") :

Table 24-1 11g Diagnosability Features vs. 10g Functionality

11g New Features
Equivalent 10g Functionality

Log files in ODL format. All Oracle Reports log files follow Oracle Diagnostic Logging (ODL) format, the standard across Oracle Fusion Middleware, for log format, message types, and log management directives. The log file entries are in Text format (default) or XML format. Searching of log files from Oracle Enterprise Manager is easy and effective.

Not Applicable (N/A)

More comprehensive choices for tracing:

Multiple tracing levels for fine-grained control.

New tracing options: NOTIFICATION, WARNING, ERROR (standardized across Oracle Fusion Middleware components).

Better naming convention, mechanism to control file size.

N/A

Enhanced trace viewer and search. New tracing options, levels, log file sizes, and so on can all be specified, viewed, and searched using Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Tracing options specified in configuration files or on command line.

Extensive diagnostic enhancements. Improved actionable errors with cause and action, job search using ECID, critical errors logged even when tracing is off, better health check mechanisms, and hyperlinks to contextual help and error message registry.

N/A

24.2 Logging Enhancements

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) provides Logging enhancements in the following areas:

Security

Job Administration

Upgrade

High Availability

Fonts

Table 24-2 provides a list of enhanced log messages:

Table 24-2 Example enhanced logging messages.

Enhancement
Sample Output

Security

Start

SecurityHelper:start

JAZNSecurity

RWJAZNSecurity:jobCommandCheck Authorization check started

ReportsActionHandler

ReportsActionHandler:run Checking job command permission

JAZNSecurity

JAZNSecurity:jobCommandCheck Authorization check passed for job 1

JAZNSecurity

RWJAZNSecurity:authenticate Authenticated User weblogic successfully

Job Administration

ConnectionImpl

ConnectionImpl:runJob Calling findDuplicatedJob for jobid = 1

JobManager

JobManager:findDuplicatedJob Found no duplicated job for job 1

ConnectionImpl

ConnectionImpl:runJob No Duplicate jobs for jobid=1

Upgrade

Upgrade Framework

reports app is deployed to managed server WLS_REPORTS

Upgrade Framework

ReportsServerComponent component is configured in destination instance

Upgrade.Reports

Creating reports specific upgrade items

Upgrade.Reports

Creating reports specific upgrade items complete.

High Availability

JOC Caching

ReportsCacheHandler: putFile File <fileName> pushed to JOC

Font

For more information on font related log enhancements, see Section 12.2.3, "Font Diagnosis and Tracing"

24.2.1 Diagnosing Engine Crashes

This section discusses recommended settings in logging configuration to diagnose engine crashes.

Sometimes it is difficult to diagnose an engine crash as you do not find all log messages in the log file, especially when the log messages are generated just prior to an engine crash.

Due to performance reasons, the logging framework buffers the logs in memory and then flushes the logs periodically to log files. If an engine crashes suddenly, the logging framework may not get a chance to flush the logs from buffer to the file before the engine process exits. As a result, the logging information which had to be logged before an engine crash may not be available in the log file.

To diagnose an engine crash and to see all the log entries, perform the following steps:

For rwserver

Navigate to the Reports Server logging.xml file located at:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<server name>/logging.xml( For Standalone Servers)

$DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logging.xml ( For In-process Servers)

Set the value of autoFlushLevel for engine log handler to TRACE:32.

For example,

<log_handler name='rwengine_trace_handler' ....>
   <property name='autoFlushLevel' value='TRACE:32'/>
    ...

For rwrun

Navigate to the logging.xml file located at ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/logging.xml

Set the value of autoFlushLevel for engine log handler to TRACE : 32.

For example,

 <log_handler name='runtime_trace_handler' ...>
   <property name='autoFlushLevel' value='TRACE:32'/>
    ...

By default, NOTIFICATION :1 messages are flushed immediately. If you set the value of the autoFlushLevel parameter to TRACE : 32 for any message, the log messages are flushed to the file immediately. As continuous flushing affects performance, it is recommended that you set the autoFlushLevel for diagnostic purposes only.

24.3 Performance Analysis Tools

The first step towards tuning your report is determining where your report spends most of its execution time. Does it spend a large portion of the time retrieving the data, formatting the retrieved data, or waiting for runtime resources/distribution? Even if your report has the most streamlined and tuned layout possible, it may be of little consequence if most of the time is spent in retrieving data, due to inefficient SQL.

This section discusses the tools you can use to monitor the performance of your report:

Oracle Enterprise Manager

Log Files

About WLST

Logging-Related WLST Commands

Metrics Related WLST Commands

Audit Configuration WLST Commands

Tracing Report Execution

RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE Table

SHOWJOBS Command Line Keyword

Efficient SQL

PL/SQL

Java Stored Procedures

The Java Importer

24.3.1 Oracle Enterprise Manager

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager to manage and monitor your Reports Server is discussed in Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

24.3.2 Log Files

All Oracle Reports log files follow Oracle Diagnostic Logging (ODL) format, the standard across Oracle Fusion Middleware, for log format, message types, and log management directives. The log file entries are in Text format (default) or XML format. For detailed information, refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide

Default Location of Log Files

See Table 24-3 for default location of log files.

Table 24-3 Default Location of Log Files

Component
Location, file Name

Reports standalone server

Server log file:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsServerComponent/<server name>/rwserver_diagnostic.log

Engine log files:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsServerComponent/<server name>/rwEng-<num>_diagnostic.log

Communication log files:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsServerComponent/<server name>/zrclient_diagnostic.log

Reports In-process server and Servlet log files

In-process server:

$DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logs/reports/rwserver_diagnostic.log

In-process server engines:

$DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logs/reports/rwEng-<num>_diagnostic.log

Servlet:

$DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logs/reports/rwservlet_diagnostic.log

Reports Tools log files

(Reports Builder, Reports Runtime, Reports Client)

Runtime:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/runtime_diagnostic.log

Communication log files:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/zrclient_diagnostic.log

Reports Bridge log files

ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsBridgeComponent/<bridge name>/diagnostic.log

Tip:

If you are running multiple instances of Reports Tools Components like rwrun, rwbuilder, rwclient, you must add the property name keepOpen with the value false to the log handler element in the logging.xml file which is present at the following location:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/logging.xml

This enables the opening and closing of the log files every time a log entry is written.

Table 24-4 11g ODL Message Types vs 10.1.2 Trace Options

ODL Message Types: Levels
(11g)
Equivalent Trace Options
(10g Release 2 (10.1.2))
Notes

INCIDENT_ERROR: 1

TRACE_EXC

Exceptions (unexpected internal errors)

ERROR: 1

TRACE_ERR
(lower trace levels)

Errors

WARNING: 1

TRACE_WRN
(lower trace levels)

Warnings

NOTIFICATION: 1

TRACE_LOG
(lower trace levels)

Default level
Important events for server / engine

NOTIFICATION: 16

TRACE_STA
TRACE_INFO
(lower trace levels)

Server / engine state info
Configuration change notifications
Successful / failed jobs

TRACE: 1

TRACE_PRF
(lower trace levels)

Profiling information

TRACE: 8

TRACE_DST
(lower trace levels)

Functional areas tracing (distribution / font handling / printing etc)

TRACE: 16

TRACE_DBG
(lower trace levels)

Server - debug traces
Engine - engine diagnostics

TRACE: 32

TRACE_ALL equivalent to
{
TRACE_APP +
TRACE_BRK+
TRACE_PLS +
TRACE_SQL +
TRACE_TMS +
(lower trace levels)
}

All trace messages

The Oracle Reports log files contain the attributes listed in Table 24-5:

Table 24-5 Log File Attributes

Attribute
Description

Time stamp

Date and time when the message was generated.

Component ID

Reports messages have component ID of REP.

Message Type

The messages are categorized into the following 5 types: Error, Incident Error, Warning, Notification, Trace. (see below for more details).

Message Level

Each message is qualified by an integer value from 1 to 32 indicating the level.

Message Text

The message body.

Message ID

A unique numeric ID used in conjunction with the component ID (e.g., REP 50127). These IDs will be well documented and have proper Cause and Action associated with them.

Execution Context ID

A globally unique sequence number of the thread of execution in which the originating component participates. This is used to correlate messages from several components involved in the same thread of execution. This ID is included with all messages sent to other components. Oracle Reports generates this in case it is not passed from the originating component.

Module ID

The particular module that originated the messages. This can be any functional module in Oracle Reports (e.g., server, engine, builder).

Process ID

The operating system PID that is provided to identify the process that generated the message.

Thread ID

Identifier of the thread of execution that generated the message.

The Oracle Reports logging mechanism supports the 5 pre-defined ODL message types described in Table 24-6:

Table 24-6 ODL Message Types

Message Type
Description

Incident Error

Occurs when the program experiences an error for some internal or unexpected reason and the issue must be reported to Oracle Support.

Error

Occurs when there is any known problem that requires attention from System Administrator.

Warning

Occurs if an action occurs or a condition is discovered that should be reviewed and may require some action (else may lead to an error).

Notification

Occurs when reporting a normal action or event, such as successful login.

Trace

Refers to all the debug statements.

24.3.2.1 Viewing Log Files

You can view log files in any of the following ways:

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager (recommended)

Using WLST Commands

Using the Command Line

Note:

By default, you cannot open the log file in Microsoft Internet Explorer if the log file is in XML format. To open an XML file in Microsoft Internet Explorer, you must create a wrapper file with the top level element and include the log file(s) in it as follows:

.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE LOG [
<!ENTITY log0 SYSTEM "log.xml">
]>
<LOG>
&log0;
</LOG>
.

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

See Section 7.11.1, "Viewing and Searching Log Files" in Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

Using WLST Commands

See Section 24.3.4, "Logging-Related WLST Commands".

Using the Command Line

From the command line, navigate to the following directories to open and view the log files:

For Reports Server:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsServerComponent/<servername>

For Oracle Reports Bridge:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsBridgeComponent/<bridgename>

Note:

The Reports Bridge component directory is not created by default. Instead, the directory is created when a Reports Bridge is created.

For Reports Tools components(which includes rwrun, rwbuilder, rwclient):

ORACLE_INSTANCEdiagnostics/logs/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools

For Oracle Reports Servlet (For Reports Application):

$FMW_HOME/user_projects/domains/<domain_name>/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logs/reports

Note:

You must modify the logging.xml file to enable trace information for Reports components.

For more information on the location of the logging.xml file, see Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution".

24.3.2.2 Managing Log Files

You can manage log files in Oracle Enterprise Manager, which provides capabilities such as:

Specifying logging information.

Searching inside log files based on various attributes of log entries.

Viewing trend metrics; that is, how many errors of a particular type there are in log files (for example, 1 INCIDENT_ERROR, 20 ERROR, 35 WARNING, and so on).

For more information, see Section 7.18.1, "Specifying Logging Information" in Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

24.3.2.3 Audit Log Files

Oracle Reports audits important events, such as the following:

Success or failure of authentication and authorization for In-process Servers and standalone servers

Success or failure of webcommands check based on user's role for Reports servlet

Configuring Audit Log Files

To configure audit logs, do the following:

For J2EE application (In-process Server): Use Enterprise Manager to modify the audit log configuration files. For more information, see Section 7.12, "Modifying Reports Server Audit Configuration".

For J2SE application (Standalone Servers): Edit the audit.filterPreset property in the $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/jps-config-jse.xml file as follows:

<property name="audit.filterPreset" value="None"/>

to

<property name="audit.filterPreset" value="All"/>

Location of Audit Log Files

Oracle Reports audit log files are located at :

For J2EE applications: $DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logs/auditlogs/ReportsServer/audit.log

For J2SE components: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/auditlogs/ReportsServer/<ReportsServerComponent>/audit.log

Audit Log Example

Following is an example for audit log:

2008-09-10 13:15:32.263  - "CheckAuthorization" true "Authorization of user <username> passed for webcommand showjobs." - "0000HlCPYyE2VOJpMkH7ie18lwWx000001,0" - - - - "12" - - - - - -
2008-09-10 13:15:25.247  - "UserLogin" true "Authentication of user <username>  passed." - "0000HlCPYyE2VOJpMkH7ie18lwWx000001,0" - - - - "12" - - - - - -
2008-09-10 13:15:25.310  - "CheckAuthorization" true "Authorization of user <username>  passed for webcommand showjobs." - "0000HlCPYyE2VOJpMkH7ie18lwWx000001,0" - - - - "12" - - - - - -

2008-09-10 13:15:32.263  - "CheckAuthorization" true "Authorization of user <username> failed  for webcommand showjobs." - "0000HlCPYyE2VOJpMkH7ie18lwWx000001,0" - - - - "12" - - - - - -
2008-09-10 13:15:25.247  - "UserLogin" true "Authentication of user <username>  failed." - "0000HlCPYyE2VOJpMkH7ie18lwWx000001,0" - - - - "12" - - - - - -
2008-09-10 13:15:25.310  - "CheckAuthorization" true "Authorization of user <username>  failed for webcommand showjobs." - "0000HlCPYyE2VOJpMkH7ie18lwWx000001,0" - - - - "12" - - - - - -

24.3.3 About WLST

The WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) is a command-line scripting interface, that helps you to perform administrative tasks and initiate WebLogic Server configuration changes to WebLogic Server instances and domains.

You can invoke the WLST shell by running the following command:

ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh
wls:/offline> connect("weblogic","weblogic", "hostname:7001")
wls:/domain2/serverConfig> domainRuntime()

24.3.3.1 Using WLST Commands for System Components

You can use the following WLST commands to run the Reports Components:

You can invoke the WLST shell by running the following command:

ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh
wls:/offline> connect("weblogic","weblogic", "hostname:7001")
wls:/domain2/serverConfig> domainRuntime()
wls:/domain2/domainRuntime> listLogs(target="opmn:cinst56/ReportsServer_hostname_cinst56")
file://hostname/scratch/rrpai/cinst56/diagnostics/logs/ReportsServerComponent/ReportsServer_hostname_cinst56/server_diagnostic.log
2008-10-27 02:59:47                    302K server_diagnostic.log
file://hostname/scratch/rrpai/cinst56/diagnostics/logs/ReportsServerComponent/ReportsServer_hostname_cinst56/rwEng-0_diagnostic.log
2008-10-27 02:59:13                    7.3K rwEng-0_diagnostic.log

wls:/domain2/domainRuntime> displayLogs(target="opmn:cinst56/ReportsServer_hostname_cinst56", tail=10)

[2008-10-27T02:31:52.133-07:00] [reports] [NOTIFICATION] [] [oracle.reports.server] [host: hostname] [nwaddr: 144.20.207.149] [tid: 10] [ecid: 0000HoxdIF14EwQRyaQ5T0191Oe7000001,0] ServerConfig:logConf  <server version="11.1.1.0.0" xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/reports/server">[[

[2008-10-27T02:44:38.684-07:00] [reports] [INCIDENT_ERROR] [REP-50125] [oracle.reports.engine] [host: hostname] [nwaddr: 144.20.207.149] [pid: 18787] [tid: 10] [ecid: 0000HoxgDPr4EwQRyaQ5T00004_Z000000,0] [EngineName: rwEng-0] REP-50125 : org.omg.CORBA.COMM_FAILURE:   vmcid: SUN  minor code: 201  completed: No  [[
……

wls:/domain2/domainRuntime> displayLogs(target="opmn:cinst56/ReportsServer_hostname_cinst56", tail=10, query="MODULE_ID equals oracle.reports.server")

[2008-10-27T02:31:01.085-07:00] [reports] [NOTIFICATION] [] [oracle.reports.server] [host: hostname] [nwaddr: 144.20.207.149] [tid: 10] [ecid: 0000Hoxd5lP4EwQRyaQ5T0191OdK000001,0] ServerConfig:logConf  <server version="11.1.1.0.0" xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/reports/server">[[

[2008-10-27T02:59:47.383-07:00] [reports] [NOTIFICATION] [] [oracle.reports.server] [host: hostname] [nwaddr: 144.20.207.149] [tid: 10] [ecid: 0000HoxjfEr4EwQRyaQ5T0191P4I000001,0] ServerConfig:logConf  Reading server config file

wls:/domain2/domainRuntime> exit()

24.3.3.2 Using WLST Commands for Java EE Components

You can use the following WLST commands to run the Reports Components:

You can invoke the WLST shell by running the following command:

ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh
wls:/offline> connect("weblogic","weblogic", "hostname:7001")
wls:/domain2/serverConfig> domainRuntime()
wls:/domain2/domainRuntime> listLoggers(target="WLS_REPORTS")
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------
Logger                                                                               | Level
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------
<root>                                                                               | WARNING:1
com.sun.xml.bind.v2.ClassFactory                                                     | <Inherited>
....
oracle.reports.adminlogconfig                                                        | <Inherited>
oracle.reports.configMbeans                                                          | <Inherited>
oracle.reports.engine                                                                | NOTIFICATION:1
oracle.reports.server                                                                | NOTIFICATION:16
oracle.reports.servlet                                                               | NOTIFICATION:1
.....

wls:/domain2/domainRuntime> listLoggers(pattern="oracle.reports.*", target="WLS_REPORTS")
------------------------------+-----------------
Logger                        | Level
------------------------------+-----------------
oracle.reports.adminlogconfig | <Inherited>
oracle.reports.configMbeans   | <Inherited>
oracle.reports.engine         | NOTIFICATION:1
oracle.reports.server         | NOTIFICATION:16
oracle.reports.servlet        | NOTIFICATION:1

wls:/domain2/domainRuntime> listLoggers(pattern="oracle.reports.server.*", target="WLS_REPORTS")
----------------------+-----------------
Logger                | Level
----------------------+-----------------
oracle.reports.server | NOTIFICATION:16

wls:/domain2/domainRuntime> listLogHandlers(target="WLS_REPORTS")

Handler Name: rwservlet_handler
type:   ODL
path:   /scratch/rrpai/wls55/user_projects/domains/domain2/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logs/reports/rwservlet_diagnostic.log
format: ODL-Text
maxFileSize:    1M
maxLogSize:     10M
Handler Name: wls-domain
type:   oracle.core.ojdl.weblogic.DomainLogHandler
Handler Name: odl-handler
type:   ODL
path:   /scratch/rrpai/wls55/user_projects/domains/domain2/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logs/WLS_REPORTS-diagnostic.log
maxFileSize:    10M
maxLogSize:     100M

24.3.4 Logging-Related WLST Commands

Use the following WLST commands to configure logs:

listLoggers

getLogLevel

setLogLevel

listLogHandlers

configureLogHandlers

Use the following WLST commands to view logs:

listLogs

displayLogs

24.3.4.1 listLoggers

You can use the listLoggers command to view the list of loggers and the level of each logger.

Table 24-7 describes the parameters supported by listLoggers command.

Table 24-7 Parameters of listLoggers

Parameter
Description

target

The name of the WebLogic Server.

The default value is the server to which WLST is connected.

pattern

A regular expression pattern that is used to filter logger names. There is no default pattern and all loggers are returned if the pattern is not provided.

runtime

A Jython boolean value (0 or 1) that determines if the operation is to list runtime loggers or config loggers.

The default value is 1.

Return Value

A PyDictionary object where the keys are logger names and the associated values are the logger levels.

Examples

Following are the examples for listLoggers command:

listLoggers()

listLoggers(pattern="oracle.*")

listLoggers(runtime=0)

listLoggers(target="server1")

Note:

The listLoggers command is not supported for system components, such as Reports Server and Reports Bridge.

For more information about WLST commands, see Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference guide.

24.3.4.2 getLogLevel

You can use the getLogLevel command to obtain the log level for a given logger.

Table 24-8 describes the parameters supported by getLogLevel command.

Table 24-8 Parameters of getLogLevel

Parameter
Description

target

The name of the WebLogic Server.

The default value is the server to which WLST is connected

logger

A logger name.

runtime

A Jython boolean value (0 or 1) that determines if the operation is to list runtime loggers or config loggers.

The default value is 1.

Return Value

The logger level as a string.

Examples

The following are the examples of getLogLevel command

getLogLevel(logger="oracle")

getLogLevel(logger="oracle")

getLogLevel(logger="oracle", target="server2")

Note:

The getLogLevelcommand is not supported for system components, such as Reports Server and Reports Bridge

For more information about WLST commands, see Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference guide.

24.3.4.3 setLogLevel

You can use the setLogLevel command to set the log level for a given logger.

Table 24-9 describes the parameters supported by the setLogLevel command.

Table 24-9 Parameters of setLogLevel

parameter
Description

target

The name of a WebLogic server.

The default value is the server to which WLST is connected

logger

A logger name.

There is not default value.

level

The level name. This can be either a Java level (INFO, FINE, etc), or an ODL level (NOTIFICATION:1, TRACE:1, etc).

There is no default value.

runtime

A Jython boolean value (0 or 1) that determines if the operation is to list runtime loggers or config loggers.

The default value is 1.

persist

a Jython boolean value (0 or 1) that determines if the level should be saved to the configuration file.

The default value is 1.

Return Value

The return value for the setLogLevel command is none.

Examples

The following are the examples for setLogLevel command.

setLogLevel(logger="oracle.my.logger", level="NOTICATION:1")

setLogLevel(logger="oracle.my.logger", level="TRACE:1", persist=0)

setLogLevel(target="server1", logger="oracle.my.logger", level="WARNING", runtime=0)

Note:

The setLogLevel command is not supported for system components, such as Reports Server and Reports Bridge

For more information about WLST commands, see Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference guide.

24.3.4.4 listLogHandlers

You can use the listLogHandlers command to view the configuration of one or more log handlers.

Table 24-10 describes the parameters supported by listLogHandlers command.

Table 24-10 Parameters of listLogHandlers

Parameters
Description

target

the name of a WebLogic server.

The default value is the server to which WLST is connected.

name

the name of a log handler. If the name is not provided then all handlers are listed.

Return Value

A java.util.List with one entry for each handlers. Each entry is a javax.management.openmbean.CompositeData object describing the handler.

Examples

The following are the examples for listLogHandlers command

listLogHandlers()

listLogHandlers(name="odl-handler")

listLogHandlers(target="server1")

Note:

The listLogHandlers command is not supported for system components, such as Reports Server and Reports Bridge

For more information about WLST commands, see Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference guide.

24.3.4.5 configureLogHandlers

You can use the configureLogHandler command to configure and existing log handler, add a new log handler, or remove existing handlers.

Table 24-11 describes the parameters supported by configure LogHandler command.

Table 24-11 Parameters for configure LogHandler

Parameter
Description

target

The name of a WebLogic server.

The default value is the server to which WLST is connected.

name

The name of a log handler

maxFileSize

The value of the maxFileSize attribute for an ODL handler.

The value is a string representing a numeric value, possibly followed by a suffix indicating a size unit (k for kilobytes, m for megabytes, g for gigabytes).

maxLogSize

The value of the maxLogSize attribute for an ODL handler.

The value is a string representing a numeric value, possibly followed by a suffix indicating a size unit (k for kilobytes, m for megabytes, g for gigabytes).

rotationFrequency

The value of the rotationFrequncy for an ODL handler.

The value is a string representing a numeric value, possibly followed by a suffix indicating a time unit (m for minutes, h for hours, d for days). The default unit is minutes. The following special values are also accepted and are converted to a numeric value in minutes: HOUR, HOURLY, DAY, DAYLY, WEEK, WEEKLY, MONTH, MONTHLY.

baseRotationTime

the base rotation time, to be used with the rotation frequency parameter.

The value must be a string representing a date/time values. It can be a full date/time in ISO 8601 date/time format, or a short form including only hours and minutes. The default baseRotationTime is 00:00.

retentionPeriod

The retention period in minutes.

The value must be string representing a numeric value, possibly followed by a suffix indicating a time unit (m for minutes, h for hours, d for days). The default unit is minutes. The following special values are also accepted and are converted to a numeric value in minutes: HOUR, HOURLY, DAY, DAYLY, WEEK, WEEKLY, MONTH, MONTHLY.

format

The format for the ODL handler.

The value must be the string "ODL-Text" or "ODL-XML". The default format is ODL-Text

encoding

the character encoding for the log file.

path

the log file path.

handlerType

the name of the Java class that provides the handler implementation.

It must be an instance of java.util.logging.Handler or oracle.core.ojdl.logging.HandlerFactory.

propertyName

the name of a handler property to be added or update.

The property value is specified with the propertyValue parameter.

propertyValue

the new value for the handler property defined by the propertyName parameter.

addProperty

a Jython boolean value. Used in conjunction with the propertyName and propertyValue parameters to define that a new property is to be added to the handler.

removeProperty

a list of one or more handler properties to be removed.

addHandler

the name of a handler to be added.

removeHandler

the name of a handler to be removed.

addToLogger

a list of logger names. The handler is added to the given logger names.

removeFromLogger

a list of logger names. The handler is removed from the given loggers.

Note:

The listLogHandlers command is not supported for system components, such as Reports Server and Reports Bridge.

For more information about WLST commands, see Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference guide.

24.3.4.6 listLogs

You can use the listLogs command to view the list of one or more components.

Table 24-12 describes the parameters supported by listLoggers command.

Table 24-12 Parameters of listLogs

Parameter
Description

target

The name of the WebLogic Server, or a system component.

In connected mode, the default target is the WebLogic domain, and in disconnected mode there is no default.

oracleInstance

in disconnected mode, oracleInstance defines the path to the ORACLE_INSTANCE, either a WebLogic domain home, or a non-Java EE instance home.

This parameter is ignored in connected mode, required in disconnected mode.

unit

defines the unit to use for reporting file size.Valid values are B (bytes), K (kilobytes), M (megabytes), G (gigabytes), or H (display size in a human-readable form, similar to Unix's "ls -h" option

The default value is H.

fulltime

a Jython Boolean value.

The default value is false

Return Value

A PyArray with one element for each log. The elements of the array are javax.management.openmbean.CompositeData objects describing each log.

Examples

Following are the examples for listLoggers command:

listLogs()

listLogs(target="server1")

listLogs(target="opmn:instance1/ohs1")

listLogs(oracleInstance="/middleware/user_projects/domains/base_domain", target="server1")

Note:

The listLogs command is supported for both Java EE and system components.

For more information about WLST commands, see Fusion Middleware WLST Command Reference Guide.

24.3.4.7 displayLogs

You can use the displayLogs command to view the contents of diagnostic logs.

Table 24-13 describes the parameters supported by listLoggers command.

Table 24-13 Parameters of displayLogs

Parameter
Description

target

The name of the WebLogic Server, or a system component.

In connected mode, the default target is the WebLogic domain, and in disconnected mode there is no default.

oracleInstance

in disconnected mode, oracleInstance defines the path to the ORACLE_INSTANCE, either a Weblogic domain home, or a non-Java EE instance home.

This parameter is ignored in connected mode, required in disconnected mode.

query

a string that specify an expression used to filter the contents of log files.

A simple expression has the form "<field-name> <operator> <value>", where <field-name> is a log record field name and <operator> is an appropriate operator for the field type.

Return Value

The command returns a value only when the returnData parameter is set to true. By default it will not return any data. The return value depends on the option used.

Examples

Following are the examples for displayLogs command:

displayLogs(tail=100)

displayLogs(target='opmn:instance1/ohs1', last=60)

displayLogs(groupBy=['COMPONENT_ID', 'MSG_TYPE'])

displayLogs(query='MSG_TYPE equals ERROR or MSG_TEXT contains Exception")

displayLogs(query='APP equals myApp', last=60)

displayLogs(query='ECID equals 0000Hl9TwKUCslT6uBi8UH18lkWX000002')

Note:

The listLogs command is supported for both Java EE and system components.

For more information about WLST commands, see Fusion Middleware WLST Command Reference Guide.

24.3.5 Metrics Related WLST Commands

Use the following WLST commands to view metrics.

24.3.5.1 Viewing Metrics Tables

You can use the displayMetricTableNames command to view the list of metric table names available, including the native WebLogic metrics.

Table 24-14 describes the parameter for displayMetricTableNames command.

Table 24-14 Parameter for displayMetricTableNames

Parameter
Description

Servers

It specifies the managed servers to retrieve metrics from. It is optional. Its possible values are a list of managed server names.

Example:

Invoke the WLST shell using the following Command:

ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh
> connect('weblogic','weblogic','hostname:7001')

wls:/domain1/serverConfig > displayMetricTableNames()
ContextManager
JVM
JVM_ClassLoader
JVM_Compiler
JVM_GC
JVM_Memory
JVM_MemoryPool
JVM_MemorySet
JVM_OS
JVM_Runtime
JVM_Thread
JVM_ThreadStats
Reports_Server_Information
Reports_Server_Performance
Reports_Server_Response
Reports_Servlet_Response
dms_cProcessInfo
opmn
opmn_component:ResourceUsage
opmn_component:ResourceUsage_by_component
opmn_component:ResourceUsage_no_rate
opmn_component:Response
opmn_connect
opmn_header
opmn_host_statistics
opmn_ias_component
opmn_ias_instance
opmn_ipmon
opmn_ons
opmn_ons_connections

Note:

For more information on using the displayMetricTableNames command, see Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

24.3.5.2 Viewing All Available Metrics

You can use the dumpMetrics command to view all available metrics, including native WebLogic metrics and internal DMS metrics.

Table 24-15 describes the parameters supported by dumpMetrics command

Table 24-15 Parameters for dumpMetrics

Parameter
Description

format

It defines the command output format.

It is optional and the possible values are "raw", "xml".

The default is "raw" format.

servers

It specifies the managed servers to retrieve metrics from.

It is optional and the possible values are a list of managed server names.

Example:

Invoke the WLST shell using the following Command:

ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh
> connect('weblogic','weblogic','hostname:7001')
wls:/domain1/serverConfig > dumpmetrics()

ContextManager
JVM
JVM_ClassLoader
JVM_Compiler
JVM_GC
JVM_Memory
JVM_MemoryPool
JVM_MemorySet
JVM_OS
JVM_Runtime
JVM_Thread
JVM_ThreadStats
Reports_Server_Information
Reports_Server_Performance
Reports_Server_Response
Reports_Servlet_Response
dms_cProcessInfo
opmn
opmn_component:ResourceUsage
......

Note:

For more information on using the dumpMetrics command, see, Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

24.3.5.3 Viewing Specific Metric Tables

You can use the displayMetricTables command to view the specified metric tables.

Table 24-16 describes the parameters supported by displayMetricTables command.

Table 24-16 Parameters for displayMetricTables

Parameter
Description

an optional list of metric table names.

It displays all-available metrics by default

variable

It defines the metric aggregation parameters. It is optional.

Its possible values are a set of name value pairs in a Jython map.

server

It specifies the managed servers to retrieve metrics from.

It is optional. Its possible values are a list of managed server names.

Example:

Invoke the WLST shell using the following Command:

ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh
> connect('weblogic','weblogic','hostname:7001')
wls:/domain1/serverConfig> displayMetricTables('Reports_Server_Performance')
--------------------------
Reports_Server_Performance
--------------------------

Active_Engines.value:   1
Available_Connections.value:    50
Average_Elapsed_Time.value:     0.0     msec
Average_Engines.value:  1.0
Average_Response_Time.value:    0.0     msec
CurrentJobLoad.value:   0
Current_Jobs.value:     0
Failed_Jobs.value:      0
Failed_Jobs_Ratio.value:        0.0
Finished_Jobs.value:    0
Host:   hostname
JobLoad.value:  0
Jobs_Queue_Time.value:  0.0
LongRunning_Jobs.value: 0
Maximum_Engines.value:  1
Maximum_Queue_Size.value:       1000
Name:   Reports_Server_Performance
Parent: /reports/rwserver
Potential_Runaway_Jobs.value:   0
Process:        ReportsServerComponent:8591386:/cinst48/ReportsServer_hostname_cinst48
Reports_Server_Auth_Time.value: 0.0
Reports_Server_Security.value:  0
Reports_Server_Start_Time.value:        1223884972408   msecs
Reports_Version.value:  11.1.1.0.0
Scheduled_Jobs.value:   0
ServerName:     /cinst48/ReportsServer_hostname_cinst48
Transferred_Jobs.value: 0
Used_Connections.value: 0

wls:/domain1/serverConfig> displayMetricTables('Reports_Server_Response')
-----------------------
Reports_Server_Response
-----------------------

Host:   hostname
Name:   Reports_Server_Response
Parent: /reports/rwserver
Process:        ReportsServerComponent:8591386:/cinst48/ReportsServer_hostname_cinst48
Reports_Server_Status.value:    1
Reports_Server_Type.value:      1
ServerName:     /cinst48/ReportsServer_hostname_cinst48

Note:

For more information on using the displayMetricTables command, see Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

24.3.6 Audit Configuration WLST Commands

Use the WLST commands listed in Table 24-17 to view and manage audit policies and the audit repository configuration.

Table 24-17 WLST Audit Commands

Use this command...
To...
Use with WLST...

getAuditPolicy

Display audit policy settings.

Online

setAuditPolicy

Update audit policy settings.

Online

listAuditEvents

List audit events for one or all components.

Online

24.3.6.1 getAuditPolicy

This online command displays audit policy settings including the filter preset, special users, custom events, maximum log file size, and maximum log directory size. The component mbean name is required for system components like Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle Virtual Directory.

Note:

You can obtain a system component's MBean name using the getNonJava EEAuditMBeanName command.

The syntax of the getAuditPolicy command is as follows:

getAuditPolicy(['mbeanName'])

Argument | Definition
mbeanName | Specifies the name of the component audit MBean for system components.

Example

The following command displays the audit settings for a Java EE component:

wls:/domain52/serverConfig> getAuditPolicy()
Location changed to domainRuntime tree. This is a read-only tree with DomainMBean as the root.
For more help, use help(domainRuntime)

FilterPreset:None
Max Log File Size:104857600
Max Log Dir Size:0

24.3.6.2 setAuditPolicy

This online command configures the audit policy settings. You can set the filter preset, add or remove users, and add or remove custom events. The component mbean name is required for system components like Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle Virtual Directory.

Note:

You can obtain a system component's MBean name using the getNonJava EEAuditMBeanName command.

The syntax of the setAuditPolicy command is as follows:

setAuditPolicy(['mbeanName'],['filterPreset'],['addSpecialUsers'],
['removeSpecialUsers'],['addCustomEvents'],['removeCustomEvents'])

Argument | Definition
mbeanName | Specifies the name of the component audit MBean for system components.
filterPreset | Specifies the filter preset to be changed.
addSpecialUsers | Specifies the special users to be added.
removeSpecialUsers | Specifies the special users to be removed.
addCustomEvents | Specifies the custom events to be added.
removeCustomEvents | Specifies the custom events to be removed.

Example

The following command sets audit policies to All level.:

wls:/domain52/domainRuntime> setAuditPolicy(filterPreset='All');
Already in Domain Runtime Tree
Audit Policy Information updated successfully

24.3.6.3 listAuditEvents

This online command displays the attributes and audit events of a component. For system components, pass the component mbean name as a parameter. Java EE applications and services like Oracle Platform Security Services (OPSS) do not need the MBean parameter. Without a component type, all generic attributes applicable to all components are displayed.

Note:

You can obtain a system component's MBean name using the getNonJava EEAuditMBeanName command.

The syntax of the listAuditEvents command is as follows:

listAuditEvents(['mbeanName'],['componentType'])

Argument | Definition
mbeanName | Specifies the name of the component MBean.
componentType | Specifies the component type.

Example

The following command displays all audit events:

wls:/domain52/domainRuntime> listAuditEvents();
Location changed to domainRuntime tree. This is a read-only tree with DomainMBean as the root.
For more help, use help(domainRuntime)

Components:
DIP
JPS
OIF
OWSM-AGENT
OWSM-PM-EJB
ReportsServer
WS-PolicyAttachment
WebCache
WebServices
Attributes applicable to all components:
ComponentType
InstanceId
HostId
HostNwaddr
ModuleId
ProcessId
OracleHome
HomeInstance
ECID
RID
...

24.3.7 Tracing Report Execution

Enabling report tracing generates a text file that describes the series of steps completed during the execution of the report. The trace file provides abundant information, which is useful not only for performance tuning but also for debugging reports and identifying performance bottlenecks.

For Reports Builder (rwbuilder) and Reports Runtime (rwrun), specify tracing options in the logging.xml file.

For example:

In $ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/logging.xml, specify the trace level to Trace 32.

For Reports Server (rwserver), specify tracing options in the logging.xml file. Separate trace files are generated for Reports Server and the engine(s).

For example:

In $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<servername>/logging.xml, specify tracing level to Trace 32.

In 11g, job level tracing for an individual report does not exist. Instead, users can only search for a job in Enterprise Manager based on the job's ECID.

For Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet), specify tracing options in the logging xml file present at the following location:

FMW_HOME/user_projects/domains/<domainname>/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logging.xml

For Oracle Reports Bridge tracing, specify tracing options in Oracle Enterprise Manager. You can also manually specify the tracing options in the logging.xml file present at the following location:

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsBridgeComponent/<ReportsBridgeName>/logging.xml

Following is the outline of the information output to the logging file.

Example 24-1 Oracle Reports Builder

+------------------------------------------+
| Report Builder Profiler statistics       |
+------------------------------------------+
Total Elapsed Time: 8.00 seconds
Reports Time:    7.00 seconds (87.50% of TOTAL)
ORACLE Time:     1.00 seconds (12.50% of TOTAL)
UPI:             0.00 seconds
SQL:             1.00 seconds
TOTAL CPU Time used by process: N/A

Table 24-18 Oracle Reports Builder

Field
Description

Total Elapsed Time

Time spent in executing the report.

Reports Time

Time spent in formatting the retrieved data. Also displayed as a percentage of Total Elapsed Time.

ORACLE Time

Time spent in retrieving the data. Also displayed as a percentage of Total Elapsed Time.

UPI

SQL queries only. Time spent in establishing a database connection, then parsing and executing the SQL.

SQL

Time taken by the database server to fetch the data (percent of time spent executing SRW.DO_SQL statements, EXEC_SQL statements, PL/SQL cursors, and so on.)

Note:

If your data source is a non-SQL data source such as Text or an XML pluggable data source, the values for ORACLE Time, UPI, and SQL display as 0.

In Example 24-1, focus your tuning efforts on time formatting (Reports Time) the data rather than on querying and fetching it.

24.3.8 RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE Table

The RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE table provides another window (aside from that available through Enterprise Manager) into the Reports Server job queues.

The Reports Server posts information about the current report to the database when the job is enqueued and finished.

This information is inserted into the RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE table that includes the following data:

The name of the job

The job submitter

The output format

The job's current status

When the job was queued, started, and subsequently finished

Table 24-19 lists and describes the information contained in the RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE table:

Table 24-19 Structure of the RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE Table

Column Name
Description

JOB_QUEUE

States whether the job listed is CURRENT, PAST, or SCHEDULED.

JOB_ID

System generated job identification number.

JOB_TYPE

Type of job, such as report, rwurl, and so on, as defined in the Reports Server configuration file, rwserver.conf.

JOB_NAME

Job submission name (or file name if no value for JOBNAME is specified).

STATUS_CODE

Current status of job. See Table 24-20 for more information about status codes.

STATUS_MESSAGE

Full message text relating to status code (includes error messages if report is terminated). See Table 24-20 for more information about status codes.

COMMAND_LINE

Complete command line submitted for this job submission.

OWNER

User who submitted the job. On the Web, the default user is the OS user who owns the Web server.

DESTYPE

Destination where report output is sent.

DESNAME

Name of the report output if not going to the Reports Server cache.

SERVER

Reports Server to which the report was submitted.

QUEUED

Date and time the job submission was received and queued by the given Reports Server.

STARTED

Date and time the job submission was run.

FINISHED

Date and time the submitted job completed.

RUN_ELAPSE

Elapsed time between started and finished time, in units of milliseconds.

TOTAL_ELAPSE

Elapsed time between queued and finished time, in units of milliseconds.

LAST_RUN

Date and time a scheduled job was last run.

NEXT_RUN

Date and time a scheduled job will run.

REPEAT_INTERVAL

Frequency on which to run a job.

REPEAT_PATTERN

Repeat pattern (for example, every minute, every hour, or every day).

CACHE_KEY

Cache key used to compare a request with an already cached result. The key is a string that uniquely indicates a report output result without considering the time the job was run. For example, if two requests have the same key, it means they will both generate the same output if they are running at the same time, although the outputs may be used for different purposes (for example, sent to e-mail or saved to a file).

CACHE_HIT

Indicates whether the job result was fetched from cache instead of running itself.

Table 24-20 Job Submission Status Codes

Status Code
Defined PL/SQL Constant
Description for Status Code

1

ENQUEUED

Job is waiting in queue.

3

RUNNING

Report is currently running.

4

FINISHED

Job submission has completed successfully. This code will not change once set.

5

TERMINATED_W_ERR

Job has ended with an error.

7

CANCELED

Job was canceled by user request.

8

SERVER_SHUTDOWN

Job was canceled due the Reports Server shutting down.

11

TRANSFERRED

Job is transferred to another server in the cluster (note: clustering was deprecated in 10g Release 2 (10.1.2)). This code will not change once set. In this case, the job is submitted to another Reports Server as a "new" job (so that the user can query the new Reports Server for the new job's status).

12

VOID_FINISHED

Job is finished but output is void because of reaching limit of cache capacity.

13

ERROR_FINISHED

Output is successfully generated but failed to send to destinations.

15

EXPIRED

Scheduled report has expired.

Users can view this table if you grant them SELECT access. This will enable them to query the job submission of interest and determine the job's current status. You can also give them a view of this data by implementing a Reports Server Queue screen. You can implement such a screen by creating a report based directly on this table. Doing so displays the queue report as a job submission by the user.

Conversely, the real-time update of the table with the status of job submissions makes it very easy for administrators to know exactly how many concurrent users have requested jobs to be run on the Reports Server.

By counting the number of entries in the RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE table that have a status code indicating that the job has been queued but not completed, it is possible to return an accurate number of the current active users on the server. For example, you could use the following query:

SELECT Count(*)
FROM   RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE
WHERE  STATUS_CODE IN (1,     -- ENQUEUED
                      2,      -- OPENING
                      3)      -- RUNNING
AND    JOB_TYPE != 'Scheduled'

Note:

While the table contains the date and time a report was queued, run, and finished, it is not a good idea to use a query based on the fact that a job has a defined QUEUED and STARTED time but no FINISHED value. If a report ends due to an unexpected error, such as invalid input, then the FINISHED column remains NULL. However, the STATUS_CODE and STATUS_MESSAGE both indicate there has been a failure and list the cause of that failure.

24.3.8.1 Updating the Database with Queue Activity

The Reports Server job queue is implemented through the use of a PL/SQL case API. It functions to update the queue table with the queue information as requests are made. This implementation is defined in the following path:

ORACLE_HOME\reports\admin\sql\rw_server.sql

This script is certified to worked against Oracle 10g database.

To implement the queue, perform the following steps:

Load the rw_server.sql file to a database (this file is included with your Oracle Reports Services installation: ORACLE_HOME\reports\admin\sql).

This creates a schema that owns the report queue information and has execute privileges on the server queue API. For backward compatibility with Oracle6i Reports, this also creates a view called RW_SERVER_QUEUE.

Set the repositoryconn property of the jobStatusRepository element in the server configuration file (ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name\rwserver.conf for Standalone servers and $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/rwserver.conf for In-process servers) to the connection string of the schema that owns the queue data. For more information, see Section 8.2.1.12, "jobStatusRepository".

Alternatively, you can set the jobstatusRepository in Oracle Enterprise Manager.

When the server starts, it connects as the defined user and logs job submissions.

Note:

Oracle Reports uses the dbconn property of the jobstatusrepository element to connect to the database when updating the log information about job queues

24.3.9 SHOWJOBS Command Line Keyword

You can use SHOWJOBS on the command line to display a Web view of Reports Server queue status for reports run through rwservlet.

For more information, see Section A.8.8, "SHOWJOBS".

24.3.10 Efficient SQL

Oracle Reports uses SQL to retrieve data from the database.

Note:

Oracle Reports uses SQL for non-PDS queries only.

Inefficient SQL can cripple performance, especially in large reports. Thus, anyone tuning Oracle Reports must have a good working knowledge of SQL and understand how the database executes these statements. If you are less proficient in SQL, use the Data Wizard and Query Builder in the Oracle Reports Builder. However, the wizard cannot prevent inefficient SQL from being created, such as SQL that does not use available indexes.

To tune your report SQL, use the trace functionality available in the Oracle database. SQL tracing enables you to determine the SQL statement sent to the database as well as the time taken to parse, execute, and fetch data. Once a trace file is generated, use the TKPROF database utility to generate an EXPLAIN PLAN map. The EXPLAIN PLAN map graphically represents the execution plan used by Oracle Optimizer. For example, the Oracle Optimizer shows where full table scans have been used. This may prompt you to create an index on that table depending on the performance hit.

To turn on SQL tracing inside Oracle Reports Builder, add a report-level formula column named SQL_TRACE with the following code:

SRW.DO_SQL('ALTER SESSION SET SQL_TRACE=TRUE');
return(1);

Note:

You can also call SQL_TRACE using either a Before Report trigger, or a Before Parameter Form trigger.

The following EXPLAIN PLAN map was generated using the database's SQL trace facility. Refer to the Oracle Database PL/SQL Language Reference documentation for more information.

Example

The statement being executed is:

SELECT e.ename, d.dname
FROM emp e, dept d
WHERE e.deptno(+) = d.deptno

The EXPLAIN PLAN generated is:

OPERATION            OPTIONS     OBJECT_NAME   POSITION
------------------ ----------- --------------- --------
SELECT STATEMENT
  MERGE JOIN     OUTER                                1
   SORT                  JOIN                         1
     TABLE ACCESS FULL                 DEPT           1
   SORT                  JOIN                         2
     TABLE ACCESS FULL                 EMP            1

When you tune data for Oracle Reports, understand that the Oracle RDBMS provides two optimizers: cost-based and rule-based. By default, the cost-based optimizer constructs an optimal execution plan geared towards throughput; that is, process all rows accessed using minimal resources. You can influence the optimizer's choice by setting the optimizer approach and goal, and gathering statistics for cost-based optimization. While the cost-based optimizer removes most of the complexity involved in tuning SQL, understanding the distribution of the data and the optimizer rules allow you to choose the preferred method and gives you greater control over the execution plan. For example, in your SQL statement, you could do one of the following:

Provide optimizer hints with the goal of best response time; that is, process the first row accessed using minimal resources.

Decide that an index is not needed.

Note:

For large queries, it is imperative to do one of the following:

Activate the cost-based optimizer and gather statistics by using the DBMS_STATS package, the COMPUTER STATISTICS option, or the ANALYZE command.

Optimize all SQL following the rules laid out by the rule-based optimizer.

The Oracle Fusion Middleware documentation provides more information on the database optimizer's functionality.

24.3.11 PL/SQL

Use the ORA_PROF built-in package to tune your report's PL/SQL program units. The procedures, functions, and exceptions in the ORA_PROF built-in package allow you to track the amount of time that pieces of your code takes to run.

Example

PROCEDURE timed_proc (test VARCHAR2) IS
  i PLS_INTEGER;
BEGIN
  ORA_PROF.CREATE_TIMER('loop2');
  ORA_PROF.START_TIMER('loop2');
  ColorBand_Program_Unit;
  ORA_PROF.STOP_TIMER('loop2');
  TEXT_IO.PUTF('Loop executed in %s seconds.\n',
  ORA_PROF.ELAPSED_TIME('loop2'));
  ORA_PROF.DESTROY_TIMER('loop2');
END;

This procedure creates a timer, starts it, runs a subprogram, stops the timer, and displays the time it took to run. It destroys the timer when finished.

Note:

For a description of the ORA built-in package see the Oracle Reports online Help.

Implement PL/SQL program units performing a significant amount of database operations as stored database procedures. Stored procedures run directly on the Oracle database and perform operations more quickly than local PL/SQL program units. Local PL/SQL program units use the Oracle Reports Builder's PL/SQL parser, then the database's SQL parser, and also include a network trip.

PL/SQL program units that do not perform any database operations should be coded as locally as possible using the Program Units node in the Object Navigator. Localizing the PL/ SQL program unit has a performance advantage over executing PL/SQL from an external PL/SQL library. Use external PL/SQL libraries only when the benefits of code sharing can be utilized.

The SRW.DO_SQL built-in procedure should be used as sparingly as possible. Each call to the SRW.DO_SQL built-in procedure necessitates parsing and binding the command and opening a new cursor like a normal query. Unlike a normal query, this operation will occur each time the object owning the SRW.DO_SQL built-in procedure fires.

For example, a PL/SQL block in a formula column calls the SRW.DO_SQL built-in procedure and the data model group returns 100 records. In this case, the parse/ bind/ create cursor operation occurs 100 times. Therefore, use the SRW.DO_SQL built-in procedure for operations that cannot be performed using normal SQL (for example, to create a temporary table or any other form of DDL), and in places where it will be executed sparingly (for example, in triggers that are only fired once per report).

The primary reason to use the SRW.DO_SQL built-in procedure is to perform DDL operations, such as creating or dropping temporary tables. For example, have the SRW.DO_SQL built-in procedure to create a table. The table's name is determined by a parameter entered in the Runtime Parameter Form.

Note:

For a description of the SRW built-in package, including the SRW.DO_SQL built-in procedure, see the Oracle Reports online Help.

Example

SRW.DO_SQL (`CREATE TABLE' || :tname ||`(ACCOUNT NUMBER
  NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, COMP NUMBER (10,2))');

24.3.12 Java Stored Procedures

Java stored procedures enable you to implement business logic at the server level; thereby, improving application performance, scalability, and security. Oracle Database allows PL/SQL and Java stored procedures to be stored in the database. Typically, SQL programmers who want procedural extensions favor PL/SQL and Java programmers who want easy access to Oracle data favor Java. Although Java stored procedures offer extra flexibility, there is some overhead involved. Balance the trade off between performance and flexibility based on your individual needs.

Refer to the Oracle Database Java Developer's Guide for more information on Java stored procedures.

24.3.13 The Java Importer

Although Oracle PL/SQL provides a powerful and productive development environment, it is sometimes necessary to integrate with external application services and providers. As many of these external application services and providers are increasingly offering integration points in Java, Oracle Reports integrates with the Oracle Java Importer to facilitate the invocation of business logic contained in external middle-tier Java classes. The Java Importer declaratively creates a PL/SQL wrapper package for each class you select and exposes the methods identified in the class through PL/SQL functions and procedures. This enables you to instantiate, use, and destroy the Java object instances when the report is run. While this powerful extension insulates you from having to write Java code yourself, there is some overhead involved. Separate PL/SQL packages are generated for every class specified. The PL/SQL generator performs type translations when it generates the PL/SQL packages from the Java methods. Any time a Java object instance is created using the new function in the PL/SQL package and generated by the Java Importer, the result is stored in a variable of type JOBJECT. Java Object persistence must be carefully handled because accumulating large numbers of global references without removing them increases the JVM's memory consumption.

24.4 Tuning Reports Server Configuration

This section provides tips for improving the performance and stability of Reports Server, which is responsible for:

Accepting the report request from various clients.

Scheduling the jobs to run.

Managing Oracle Reports engines

Managing the cache

Managing various destinations

Security check

Managing the jobstore (persistent job data)

While operating under heavy load, it is essential to tune various Reports Server parameters to optimal values, as follows:

Determine optimal values for the initEngine, maxEngine, and minEngine attributes of the engine element in the server configuration file:

<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1" maxEngine="2" minEngine="1" engLife="50"
maxIdle="30" callbackTimeOut="90000">

For more information on the engine element, refer to Section 8.2.1.9, "engine". The maxEngine value sets the maximum number of processes ready to respond to user requests for running reports. Setting it too low means user requests get queued up and available machine capacity is not fully utilized. Setting it too high means Reports Server will take more than its share of machine capacity from other activities the host also needs to perform, and could cause the operating system to crash.

As an example of a simple calculation for number of engines, suppose you have set of reports that takes an average of 10 seconds to run. Input requests to your system varies from 6 reports per minute to 12 reports per minute. In this scenario, the calculations are as follows:

initEngine = ( average time to run report) * (minimum report requests input rate) = (10/60) * 6 = 1

maxEngine = (average time to run report) * (maximum report requests input rate) = (10/60) * 12 = 2

minEngine = Depending on the kind of load, anything between 0 to initEngine

With these calculations, minEngine=1 and maxEngine=2 can be specified in the server configuration file. This ensures that whenever a job arrives, it gets an idle engine immediately.

In scalability and performance tests, maximum throughput is seen when maxEngine is configured using the guideline of 2-4 engines multiplied by the number of CPUs. You can set up a maximum value of maxEngine=8 if the machine has a dual processor or maxEngine=16 if the machine has a quad processor.

If you are not using the URL engine, comment the engine element with ID="rwURLEng" in the server configuration file.

Determine optimal values for the cache element's cacheSize property, the queue element's maxQueueSize attribute, and the EXPIRATION keyword.

For more information, refer to Section 8.2.1.3, "cache", Section 8.2.1.21, "queue", and Section A.6.6, "EXPIRATION". The values of cacheSize, maxQueueSize, and EXPIRATION are related to each other and they must be set carefully for efficient Reports Server operation.

For example, when you run reports with EXPIRATION=480, this implies that you want to keep the jobs in cache for 4 hours (480 minutes). Given that, maxQueueSize should be set to accommodate all the jobs for 4 hours. Thus, at a rate of 10 jobs per minute:

maxQueueSize = (report requests input rate) * (expiration period) = 480 * 10 =4800.

The value of cacheSize also should be set sufficiently high to accommodate 4800 jobs. Suppose the average size of each report is 100K:

cacheSize = (maxQueueSize) * (average size of report) = 4800*100/1000 = 480MB

You can use similar logic to calculate the value of the cache element's maxCacheFileNumber property.

Note:

The minimum recommended value for maxQueueSize is 1000 (the default). A significantly lower value than the default values for maxQueueSize or cacheSize may degrade Reports Server performance.

Set the engineResponseTimeOut attribute of the engine element in the server configuration file:

<engine id="rwEng" class="oracle.reports.engine.EngineImpl" initEngine="1"
maxEngine="2" minEngine="1" engLife="50" maxIdle="30"
callbackTimeOut="90000" engineResponseTimeOut="5">

For more information on the engine element, refer to Section 8.2.1.9, "engine".

Set engineResponseTimeOut if you are experiencing intermittent engine hangs. This attribute enables Reports Server to detect the hanging engine and perform cleanup. The sooner Reports Server detects the hang, the better the stability of the system. Thus, engineResponseTimeOut must be set carefully, as follows:

The value of engineResponseTimeOut should be set to the maximum time a report takes in the set of reports you have. For example, if you have set of reports that takes 10 seconds to 5 minutes to run, you can set engineResponseTimeOut="5" (5 minutes).

Note:

It is always better to run batch reports on a separate server with different engineResponseTimeOut values. Do not submit interactive and batch reports to same server.

Set the maxConnect attribute of the connection element in the server configuration file;

<connection maxConnect="180" idleTimeOut="15">

For more information on the connection element, refer to Section 8.2.1.5, "connection".

The maxConnect attribute controls how many total requests Reports Server can simultaneously handle at any moment in time. The key purpose of maxConnect is to keep Reports Server from being overcome by some runaway program or process or by a denial of service attack. It should be always set to a value that is greater than the maximum simultaneous clients.

For example, if your system is expected to handle 150 simultaneous clients, you can set maxConnect to any value above 150. You can use a safety factor of 10% to 20%, as follows:

maxConnect = 150 + 150 * 0.2 = 180

Set the HTTP timeout value (applicable to AS only).

The HTTP timeout value should be set based on the time required to run the longest report in the system. If longest-running report takes 20 minutes to run, HTTP timeout should be more than 20 minutes. Otherwise, an HTTP timeout error will display when the report is still running in the server. This parameter can be set in the ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/OHS/ohs1/httpd.conf file.

Alternatively, you can set the timeout value in Oracle Enterprise Manager.

24.5 Accessing the Data

If your performance measuring tools show that the report spends a large amount of time accessing data from the data source(s), you must review the structure of the data and determine how the data is being used. Inefficient schema design has a dramatic affect on the performance of a report. For example, an overly normalized data model can result in many avoidable joins or queries.

This section discusses ways to review and improve the efficiency of the data used in your report:

Non-SQL Data Sources

Database Indexes

Calculations

Redundant Data

Break Groups

Group Filters

To Link or Not To Link

24.5.1 Non-SQL Data Sources

To publish data from any data source, use the pluggable data source architecture in Oracle Reports. Out-of-the-box Oracle Reports supports non-SQL data sources, such as XML, Text, and JDBC pluggable data sources. Both XML and Text pluggable data sources can be accessed through a remote URL (even across firewalls). If speed is a concern, download the data locally and use the local data stream rather than a remote URL. You can also specify the domains for which you can bypass a proxy server.

The XML pluggable data source supports runtime XML data validation. Select the Validate Data Source check box in the XML Query Wizard to ensure that the XML data is verified as it is fetched against the data definition specified in the DTD or in the XML schema. This is a very costly operation and proves to be useful only when you develop the report and not during production. You will see a noticeable performance difference when the XML data stream is very large.

You can specify either an XML schema or a DTD schema for the data definition. An XML schema forces type checking, whereas a DTD schema does not require type checking as all data is treated as strings.

Note:

Ensure that the data types of the non-SQL sources match column wise.

You can also specify an extensible style sheet language (XSL) file for the XML data stream to convert it from any format into a simple row set/row data feed. It is better to have data in the correct format to start with, unless you want to apply the XSL at run time.

Pluggable Text data sources support the use of cell wrappers. This causes the file format level delimiter to be ignored for every field that has a wrapper defined. Avoid using cell wrappers unless really required.

The JDBC pluggable data source supports JDBC bridges, as well as thick and thin JDBC drivers. Selecting the driver directly impacts the fetching of data. The choice depends on the application and the database being used. Using a native driver generally results in better performance. For more information, see Chapter 14, "Configuring and Using the Pluggable Data sources".

24.5.2 Database Indexes

Columns used in a SQL WHERE clause should be indexed. The impact of indexes used on columns in the master queries of a report are minor, as these queries access the database once. To improve performance significantly, indexes should be used on any linked columns in the detail query.

Note:

Lack of appropriate indexes can result in many full-table scans and slows down performance.

24.5.3 Calculations

Within a report (either through summary or formula columns), ensure that most of the calculations are performed by the data source. In case of SQL queries, calculations are performed on the database rather than on the data retrieved by the report. User-defined functions and procedures stored by the database can also be included in the query select list of an Oracle Database or a JDBC query. This is more efficient than using a local function, since the calculated data is returned as part of the result set from the database.

Example

The following PL/SQL function can be stored in the Oracle Database:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION CityState (

  p_location_id world_cities.location_id%TYPE)
  RETURN VARCHAR2 is
    v_result VARCHAR2(100);

BEGIN

  SELECT city || ','||state

  INTO v_result
  FROM world_cities

  WHERE location_id = p_location_id;
  RETURN v_result;

END CityState;

This function returns the city separated by a comma, a space, and the state. This formatting is done at the database level and passed back to the report to display.

In the report, the SQL query would look like:

SELECT location_id, citystate(location_id)"City
& State" FROM world_cities

The result would look like this:

LOCATION_ID CITY & STATE
----------- -------------------------
          1 Redwood Shores, California
          2 Seattle, Washington
          3 Los Angeles, California
          4 New York, New York

24.5.4 Redundant Data

A report's query should ideally select only required columns. The fewer queries you have, the faster your report will run. Single-query data models execute more quickly than multiquery data models. However, situations can arise where a report not only needs to produce a different format for different users, but also needs to utilize different query statements. Although this can be achieved by producing two different reports, it may be desirable to have a single report for easier maintenance. In this instance, the redundant queries should be disabled using the SRW.SET_MAXROW built-in procedure.

Note:

For a description of the SRW built-in package, including the SRW.SET_MAXROW built-in procedure, see the Oracle Reports online Help.

Example

The following code used in the Before Report trigger will disable either Query_Emp or Query_Dept, depending on the user parameter:

IF :Parameter_1 = 'A' THEN

  SRW.SET_MAXROW('Query_Emp',0);

ELSE

  SRW.SET_MAXROW('Query_Dept',0);

END IF;

Note:

The only meaningful place to use the SRW.SET_MAXROW built-in procedure is in the Before Report trigger (after the query has been parsed). Calling the SRW.SET_MAXROW built-in procedure after this point raises the SRW.MAXROW_UNSET built-in exception. The query will still be parsed and bound, but no data will be returned to the report.

You can define a query based either on an XML or a Text pluggable data source by selecting the fields to be used in the query (that is, all available fields or a subset). If you must use a subset of the fields, do so at the query level using parameters, as opposed to fetching all the values and filtering them using a group filter or layout level format triggers.

24.5.5 Break Groups

Limit the number of break groups to improve your report's performance. Oracle Reports sets the break level for each column in the data model that has the break order property set except the lowest child group.

For a SQL query, Oracle Reports appends this as an extra column to the ORDER BY clause in the query. The fewer columns in the ORDER BY clause, the less work the database has to do before returning the data in the required order. Creating a break group may render an ORDER BY clause redundant in spite of defining it as part of the query. Remove any such ORDER BY clauses as it requires extra processing by the database.

If your report requires the use of break groups, set the Break Order property for as few columns as possible. A break order column is indicated by a small arrow to the left of the column name in the group in the Reports Builder Data Model View. Each break group above the lowest child group of a query requires at least one column to have the Break Order property set. Removing the break order from columns where sorting is not required increases performance.

Limit break groups to a single column whenever possible. These columns should be as small as possible and be database columns (as opposed to summary or formula columns) wherever feasible. Both conditions help the local caching that Oracle Reports does, before the data is formatted for maximum efficiency. Clearly, these conditions cannot always be met but can increase efficiency whenever utilized.

24.5.6 Group Filters

Group filters reduce the number of records displayed. Filtering takes place after the query returns the data (from the data source) to Oracle Reports. Even if the filter is defined to display only the top five records, the result set will contain all the records returned by the query. Hence, it is more efficient to incorporate the group filter functionality into the query's WHERE clause or into the Maximum Rows property, whenever possible. This restricts the data returned by the database.

24.5.7 To Link or Not To Link

There are a number of ways to create data models that include more than one table. Consider the standard case of the dept/emp join, with the requirement to create a report that lists all the employees in each department in the company. You can create either of the following:

Single query:

SELECT d.dname, e.ename
FROM emp e, dept d
WHERE e.deptno(+) = d.deptno

Two queries with a column link based on deptno:

SELECT deptno, dname FROM dept
SELECT deptno, ename FROM emp

When you design the data model in the report, minimize the actual number of queries by using fewer large multitable queries, rather than several simple single-table queries. Every time a query is run, Oracle Reports needs to parse, bind, and execute a cursor. A single query report returns all the required data in a single cursor, rather than many cursors. With master-detail queries, the detail query will be parsed, bound, and executed again for each master record retrieved. In this example, it is more efficient to merge the two queries and use break groups to create the master-detail effect.

Keep in mind that the larger and more complex a query gets, the more difficult it is to be maintained. You must decide when to achieve the balance between performance and maintenance requirements.

24.6 Formatting the Data

After the data is retrieved from the data source, Oracle Reports generates the report layout and formats the output. The time taken for a paper layout depends on a number of factors, but generally comes down to:

The work required to prevent an object from being overwritten by another object.

The efficiency of any calculations or functions performed in the format triggers.

The rules for a Web layout are a little different as Oracle Reports does not own the Web page or control the rendering mechanism. It merely injects data into a regular JSP page.

This section discusses reviewing and tuning the format of your report:

Paper Layout (including Format Triggers and Image Outputs)

Web Layout and JSP Report Definition

24.6.1 Paper Layout

When generating a default paper layout, Oracle Reports places a frame around virtually every object to prevent the object from being overwritten by another object. At runtime, every layout object (frames, fields, boilerplate, and so on) is examined to determine the likelihood of that object being overwritten. In some situations (for example, boilerplate text column headings) when there is clearly no risk of the objects being overwritten, the immediately surrounding frame is removed. This reduces the number of objects that Oracle Reports must format and consequently, improves performance.

An object that is defined as variable, expanding, or contracting in either or both the horizontal or vertical directions requires extra processing. In this case, Oracle Reports must determine the instance of the object's size, before formatting that object and those around it. There is no processing overhead involved for objects assigned a fixed size, as the size and positional relationships between the objects is known.

The following guidelines helps to improve performance when creating a paper layout:

Make your non-graphical layout objects (for example, boilerplate text or fields with text) fixed in size by setting the Vertical Elasticity and Horizontal Elasticity properties of the field to Fixed. In particular, setting the size of repeating frames and their contents to fixed, improves performance. Variable (size) non-graphical objects require more processing overhead, because Oracle Reports Builder must determine their size before formatting them. However, the overhead for fixed non-graphical objects is less, since the additional processing is not required.

Make your graphical layout objects (for example, images and graphs) variable in size by setting the Vertical Elasticity and Horizontal Elasticity properties of the objects to Variable. Fixed graphical objects require more processing overhead as their contents have to be scaled to fit. Variable objects grow or shrink with the contents eliminating the need for scaling.

Make text fields span a line (maximum) and ensure that their contents fit within the specified width (for example, use the SUBSTR function). If a text field spans more than a line, Oracle Reports Builder must use its word wrapping algorithm to format that field. Ensuring the text field takes only one line to format avoids the processing overhead of the word wrapping algorithm.

Minimize the use of different formatting attributes (for example, fonts) within the same field or boilerplate text, because it takes longer to format.

Use the SUBSTR function in the report query to truncate the data at the database level, instead of truncating a character string from a field in the Report Builder layout.

For paper layout only reports, .rdf and .rep files run faster than a.jsp file, because the serialized formats of a .rdf or a .rep file do not require parsing. Additionally, a .rep file runs faster than a .rdf file as it is optimized for the current platform.

24.6.1.1 Format Triggers

Format triggers can dynamically disable, enable, and change the appearance of an object. Exercise caution when using them as they fire each time an instance of their associated object is produced and formatted (at runtime).

Consider the following example:

A tabular report includes a single repeating frame that expands vertically and has the Page Protect property set to On. As the report is formatted, there is room for one more line at the bottom of the first page. Oracle Reports starts to format the next instance of the repeating frame and fires its associated format trigger. One of the objects inside the repeating frame is found to have expanded and this instance of the repeating frame is moved to the following page. The format trigger for the repeating frame is fired again. Although the repeating frame only appears once (at the top of the second page), the format trigger has fired twice. DML should not be performed in a format trigger, because you are not sure how many times the format trigger will fire for a particular object.

With this example, had the format trigger contained an INSERT statement, then two rows of data would have been inserted.

Format triggers can be used against repeating frames to filter data. However, by introducing filtering at appropriate levels, you not only improve a report's performance but also reduce the complexity required for this type of a report.

Use the following filtering order whenever possible:

Modify the SQL statement to prevent the data being returned from the server.

Use the group filter to introduce filtering in the Data Model.

Use return false inside the format trigger.

Format triggers should be placed at the highest level possible in the object/frame hierarchy so that the trigger fires at the lowest possible frequency. For example:

Figure 24-1 Format Triggers

Maximize the efficiency of the code, whenever you define any triggers or PL/SQL program units within Oracle Reports. For example, to change the display attributes of a field dynamically to draw attention to values outside the norm, change the attributes using individual built-ins such as the SRW.SET_TEXT_COLOR built-in procedure.

Refer to the Oracle Database PL/SQL Language Reference for general PL/SQL tuning issues.

Assigning a transparent border and fill pattern to layout objects (for example, frames and repeating frames) improves performance, as these objects are not rendered as a bitmap file.

24.6.1.2 Image Outputs

You can improve the performance of reports that include images by judiciously setting environment variables related to image support.

Improving performance of graphs output to a PDF file or a printer

The REPORTS_GRAPH_IMAGE_DPI environment variable specifies a dots per inch (DPI) value for graphs output to a PDF file or a printer. The default value for this environment variable is set at 72 DPI to minimize the time taken to generate the report, as well as to reduce the report file size. If you specify a value higher than 72 DPI, you will see an improvement in the image resolution for graphs sent to a PDF file or a printer. However, this affects the time taken to generate the report output as well as the file size.

With the value of 250, the time taken to generate a report with an Oracle Reports graph increases 5 to 6 times when compared to the time taken to generate the same report with the value set to 72 DPI. The PDF file size also increases 5 to 6 times.

This functionality is currently not supported in Oracle Reports distribution functionality, as this is specific to PDF and printer outputs only.

Note:

When you set a DPI value greater than 250 and your graph is bigger than 5"x5" (approximately), you may also want to change the JVM heap size value using the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS environment variable to avoid the Out Of Memory error for the JVM.

For more information, refer to Section B.1.50, "REPORTS_GRAPH_IMAGE_DPI".

Improving performance of JPEG/GIF/PNG output image formats

If your input image format is JPEG, it is recommended that you do not set the REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT environment variable to GIF or PNG, which will increase the image size more and might degrade the performance problem. Similarly, if your input image format is GIF or PNG, it is recommended that you do not set the REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT environment variable to JPEG. For better performance, use the same format for both input and output format.

For more information, refer to Section B.1.58, "REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT".

Improving performance of JPEG images

The REPORTS_JPEG_QUALITY_FACTOR environment variable specifies the level of image quality desired for JPEG images. It provides control over the trade-off between JPEG image quality and size of the image. The better the quality of the image, the greater the image file size and lower performance. If you want to improve the performance, set value to 0. The default value is 100 (highest quality). A value of 75 provides a good quality image, while ensuring a good compression ratio.

For more information, refer to Section B.1.52, "REPORTS_JPEG_QUALITY_FACTOR".

24.6.2 Web Layout and JSP Report Definition

In Oracle Reports, you can use your favorite Web authoring tool to design the static portion of your Web page and then use Oracle Reports Builder to insert the dynamic portion (data) into appropriate sections of the page. A poorly designed Web page impacts perceived performance. Alternatively, you can use pre-defined Oracle Database Web templates to build the Web page.

Avoid including Java code in a JSP file (mixing business and data access Java code with presentation logic) as it increases the JSP's footprint and limits the efficient use and management of system resources.

Customized formatting of a Web page is always an expensive operation. Any type of formatting that cannot be natively achieved through Oracle Reports (for example, change the foreground color of a data block) should be done using Java. We discourage the use of PL/SQL wrappers for formatting purposes.

A .jsp report definition can contain both a paper layout definition and a Web layout definition. Oracle Reports always formats the paper layout definition first when executing the report, since the Web layout section of a JSP report could contain an <rw:include> tag referencing a paper layout object. If your JSP report does not reference any paper layout objects at all, we recommend using the SUPPRESSLAYOUT command line keyword to prevent Oracle Reports executing the paper layout formatting.

24.7 General Layout Guidelines

This section outlines guidelines that you can follow when designing your report's layout to improve performance:

Fetching Ahead

Bursting and Distribution

24.7.1 Fetching Ahead

Oracle Reports enables you to display data such as total number of pages or grand totals, in the report margins or on the report header pages. This option, although useful, forces the entire report to be "fetched ahead". Fetching-ahead requires the entire report to be processed before the first page can be output. The usual model is to format pages as and when required.

Although the fetched-ahead functionality does not affect the overall time the report takes to generate, it affects the amount of temporary storage required and the time taken before the first page can be viewed. This is an example of perceived performance as opposed to actual performance. If the report is to be output to the screen in a production environment, fetching ahead should be avoided unless the performance variance is deemed acceptable.

24.7.2 Bursting and Distribution

With report bursting, a report layout can be made up of three distinct sections: header, body, and trailer. A report can comprise all three sections, or it can be viewed as three separate reports within one report. Oracle Reports enables you to control bursting at group record level offering a further level of granularity. This is made possible by the Distribution and Repeat On properties for each individual section. The performance gain is evident when bursting is used in conjunction with distribution, allowing each section of a report to have multiple formats and sent to multiple destinations. Once the distribution options has been set the report needs only to be run once, to be output to multiple destinations with a single execution of the query(s). Previously the report had to be executed multiple times.

When you implement bursting and distribution in a report, you can generate section-level distribution by setting the Repeat On property for a section to a data model break group, which generates an instance of the section for each column record of that break group. Then, you can distribute each instance of the section as appropriate (for example, to individual managers in the MANAGER group).

If you set the Repeat On property for more than one of the Header, Main, and Trailer sections of a report, all Repeat On property values must be set to the same data model break group. If the Repeat On property for any one of the Header, Main, and Trailer sections is set to a different data model break group, Oracle Reports raises any of the following messages:

REP-0069: Internal Error
REP-57054: In-Process job terminated: Terminated with error
REP-594: No report output generated

24.8 Running the Report

You can further affect the overall performance by setting specific runtime options:

Oracle Reports Builder automatically runs an error check on paper layout definitions and bind variables. Set the runtime parameter RUNDEBUG=NO to turn off this extra error checking at runtime.

For JSP report definitions, Oracle Reports Builder performs tag validation and checks for items such as duplicate field identification or malformed attributes. This feature is useful only during the design phase, but not in the production environment. By default, tag validation in Oracle Reports Services is off. To turn this option on, specify VALIDATETAG=YES in your HTTP request (for example, http://my.server.com/myreport.jsp?VALIDATETAG=YES).

Note:

Using VALIDATETAG=YES slows performance.

By default, the RECURSIVE_LOAD command line keyword used by both rwrun and rwservlet commands is set to YES, causing invalid external references of PL/SQL program units to automatically recompile. Set the RECURSIVE_LOAD=NO in a production environment, because this is useful only in a development environment.

For SQL queries, Oracle Reports takes advantage of the Oracle database's array processing capabilities for data fetching. This allows records to be fetched from the database in batches instead of one at a time, resulting in fewer calls to the database. However, array processing requires more memory on the execution platform to store the arrays of records returned. To reduce the network load (number of network trips) in a production environment, set the value of the ARRAYSIZE command line keyword (defined in kilobytes) to a large value.

As discussed in Section 24.4, "Tuning Reports Server Configuration", when running a large number of reports with Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) or Reports Client (rwclient), set the EXPIRATION command line keyword to reflect the maxQueueSize and cacheSize values. For example, if the queue element in the server configuration files specifies maxQueueSize=6000, you can keep a maximum of 6000 jobs in the job queue. If you run more than 6000 jobs within a day, with EXPIRATION=1440 (1 day), you may lose some of the jobs even before the EXPIRATION time is met because Reports Server will remove the jobs to maintain the maxQueueSize and server stability, even though the jobs have not expired. Additionally, the cache element in the server configuration file should specify sufficient cacheSize should be allocated in order to maintain the 6000 jobs. As a general guideline, set EXPIRATION, maxQueueSize, and cacheSize according to the number of jobs you will run in one day.

Set the LONGCHUNK command line keyword to as large a value as possible, if your report uses the LONG, CLOB, or BLOB data types to retrieve large amounts of data. This reduces the number of increments taken by Oracle Reports to retrieve long values. On an Oracle database server, use the more efficient CLOB or BLOB data types, instead of LONG or LONG RAW.

If the Paper Parameter Form is not required, set the PARAMFORM command line keyword to NO.

Use the COPIES command line keyword carefully when printing to PostScript. Setting COPIES to a value greater than 1 requires that Oracle Reports save the pages in a temporary storage, in order to collate them. This increases the amount of temporary disk space used and the overhead of writing additional files results in slow performance.

When generating a report to PDF output, set the PDFCOMP command line keyword to NO. PDF output is compressed by default. Although compressed files download quickly, the time taken to generate a compressed file is much more when compared to a non-compressed file.

Note:

Running a Report to WebLayout works only if the weblayout port in the $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsToolsComponent/ReportsTools/rwbuilder.conf file is set to the port of the managed server, as in the following example:

 <webLayout port="managed_server_port"
docroot="$DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/tmp/_WL_user/reports_<version>/<random_string>/war"/>

Part VII

Appendixes

Part VII contains appendixes that provide additional, detailed information about functioning in Oracle Reports Builder and in the Oracle Reports Services environment. It includes information about Oracle Reports commands and their associated command line options, details about Reports-related environment variables, as well as how to register reports in Oracle Portal using batch scripts:

Appendix A, "Command-Line Keywords"

Appendix B, "Environment Variables"

Appendix C, "Batch Registering Reports in Oracle Portal"

Appendix D, "Troubleshooting Oracle Reports Services"

A Command-Line Keywords

This appendix contains descriptions and examples of command-line keywords that can be used with the Oracle Reports components.

Note:

For examples of using command line keywords in your runtime URL, see Chapter 18, "Running Report Requests".

This appendix contains the following topics:

Using the Command Line

Overview of Oracle Reports Components

Keyword Usage Summary

Command-Line Keywords

The information in this appendix is also documented in the Oracle Reports online Help, which is available in Reports Builder or hosted on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN), as described in the Preface under "Related Documentation".

A.1 Using the Command Line

An Oracle Reports command on the command line generally has the following form:

component_name keyword=value, keyword=value, ...

where each keyword=value pair is called a command line option.

Keywords must be specified and can be used in any order following the component name.

A.1.1 General Usage Notes

No spaces should be placed before or after the equal sign of an option.

Separate options with one or more spaces; do not use commas to separate options.

Values may be in single or double quotes. The effect of single or double quotes is operating system-specific.

The keyword= part of all options is not case-sensitive. The value portion may be case-sensitive, depending on your operating system.

To pass a single quote from the command line, you must enter two quotes (one quote as an escape and one as the actual quote). For example:

rwrun REPORT=myrep DESTYPE=file DESNAME=run.out BATCH=yes p_value="Roy''s Batch Report"

Full pathnames are supported for all file references (for example, DESNAME=/revenues/q1/nwsales). If you do not specify the full path name, the Oracle Reports file searching method is used to find the file. If you do not specify a path for a keyword value that includes a file name, the Reports Server will try to find the file from the REPORTS_PATH environment variable.

All file names and paths specified in the client command line refer to files and directories on the server machine, except for any file specified for the following command line keywords:

CMDFILE=filename. In this case, the CMDFILE specified is read and appended to the original command line (of which CMDFILE is a part) before being sent to the Reports Server. The runtime engine does not reread the command file

DESNAME=filename DESTYPE=LOCALFILE. In this case, DESNAME refers to files on the client machine.

A.1.2 Rules

Values entered on the Runtime Parameter Form override those entered on the command line. For example, if you specify rwrun on the command line with COPIES=1, but in the Runtime Parameter Form, specify COPIES=2, then two copies of the report are generated.

Values entered on the command line override those specified in command files. For example, if you specify rwrun on the command line with COPIES=1 and CMDFILE=RUNONE (a command file), but the command file RUNONE, includes rwrun COPIES=2, only one copy of the report is generated.

You can specify values for DESTYPE, DESNAME, DESFORMAT, ORIENTATION, and COPIES in a number of different places. The following list shows the decreasing order of precedence for the places where you specify these values:

Print Job dialog box

Runtime Parameter Form

Runtime Parameters/Settings tab of Preferences dialog box

Keywords on the command line

Values specified in the report definition

Choose Printer dialog box

A.2 Overview of Oracle Reports Components

This section provides a brief description of the Oracle Reports components and contains examples showing how to use command-line keywords with each component.

rwclient

rwrun

rwbuilder

rwconverter

rwservlet

rwserver

rwbridge

A.2.1 rwclient

rwclient (Reports Client) parses and transfers a command line to the specified Reports Server.

All file names and paths specified in the client command line refer to files and directories on the server machine, except for any file specified for the following command line keywords:

CMDFILE=filename. In this case, the CMDFILE specified is read and appended to the original command line (of which CMDFILE is a part) before being sent to the Reports Server. The runtime engine does not reread the command file

DESNAME=filename DESTYPE=LOCALFILE. In this case, DESNAME refers to files on the client machine.

Refer to Table A-1 for the keywords that can be used with rwclient.

Examples

Example 1: Running a paper report to cache

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf DESTYPE=cache

Example 2:  Sending report output to a file

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf DESTYPE=file DESNAME=c:\mydir\test

Example 3:  Sending report output to a printer

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb DESTYPE=printer DESNAME=myprinter

Example 4: Sending report output through e-mail

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf DESTYPE=mail DESNAME="emp1@comp.com, emp2@comp.com" cc="emp3@comp.com" bcc="mgr@comp.com" replyto="me@comp.com" from="me@comp.com"

Example 5:  Sending report output to WebDAV (any WebDAV server or Oracle Portal WebDAV)

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=htmlcss DESTYPE=webdav DESNAME="http://myusername:mypassword@mywebdavserv.com/mydir/test.html"

Example 6:  Sending report output to Oracle Portal

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb DESTYPE=oracleportal desformat=PDF PAGEGROUP=mypagegrp OUTPUTPAGE=reports_output ITEMTITLE=pushtoportal STATUSPAGE=result

Example 7:  Sending XML PDS report output to a file

rwclient server=myrepserv report=myxmlpdstest.rdf DESTYPE=file desformat=PDF desname=c:\mydir\my.pdf

Example 8:  Sending JDBC PDS report output to a file

rwclient server=myrepserv report=myjdbcpdstest.rdf DESTYPE=file desformat=PDF desname=c:\mydir\myxml.pdf p_jdbcpds=sybuser/sybpwd@server1.mydomain.com:1300

Example 9:  Distributing a report output to multiple destinations:

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb DISTRIBUTE=yes DESTINATION=c:\mydistribute.xml

Example 10:  Running scheduled reports

rwclient server=myrepserver report=test.rdf SCHEDULE="every first fri of month from 15:53 Mar 25, 2009 retry 3 after 1 hour" destype=file desformat=pdf desname=test.pdf

Example 11:  Using a secured Reports Server

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf destype=file desname=test.pdf AUTHID=myadmin/myadmin

Example 12:  Running a report with e-mail notification

rwclient server=myrepserver report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb destype=file desformat=pdf desname=test.pdf NOTIFYSUCCESS="emp@comp.com" NOTIFYFAILURE="admin@comp.com"

Example 13:  Running a report that specifies a URL to be fetched with the URL engine

rwclient server=myrepserver report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb destype=file desformat=pdf desname=test.pdf JOBTYPE=rwurl URLPARAMETER="http://www.oracle.com"

A.2.2 rwrun

rwrun (Reports Runtime) runs a report by starting its own in-process server (not to be confused with the default in-process Reports Server), which runs in the same JVM as the rwrun process.

The configuration file for this in-process server is rwbuilder.conf and trace files are saved in the rep_machinename-rwbuilder directory.

Note:

It is recommended that you use rwrun for testing purposes only. Use rwservlet and rwclient in your production environment to take full advantage of the power of Oracle Reports Services.

Refer to Table A-1 for the keywords that can be used with rwrun.

Examples

Example 1:  Customizing a report

rwrun userid=scott/tiger@mydb report=emp.rdf CUSTOMIZE=empcustomize.xml destype=file desformat=pdf desname=emp.pdf

Example 2: Sending report output to a file

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf DESTYPE=file DESNAME=c:\mydir\test.pdf

Example 3:  Sending report output to a printer

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb DESTYPE=printer DESNAME=myprinter

Example 4:  Sending report output through e-mail

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf DESTYPE=mail DESNAME="emp1@comp.com, emp2@comp.com" cc="emp3@comp.com" bcc="mgr@comp.com" replyto="me@comp.com" from="me@comp.com"

Example 5:  Sending report output to WebDAV (any WebDAV server or Oracle Portal WebDAV)

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=htmlcss DESTYPE=webdav "DESNAME"="http://myusername:mypassword@mywebdavserv.com/mydir/test.html"

Example 6:  Sending report output to Oracle Portal

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb DESTYPE=oracleportal desformat=PDF PAGEGROUP=mypagegrp OUTPUTPAGE=reports_output ITEMTITLE=pushtoportal STATUSPAGE=result

Example 7:  Sending XML PDS report output to a file

rwrun report=myxmlpdstest.rdf destype=file desformat=PDF desname=c:\mydir\my.pdf

Example 8:  Sending JDBC PDS report output to a file

rwrun report=myjdbcpdstest.rdf destype=file desformat=PDF desname=c:\mydir\myxml.pdf
P_JDBCPDS=sybuser/sybpwd@server1.mydomain.com:1300

Example 9:  Distributing report output to multiple destinations

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb DISTRIBUTE=yes DESTINATION=c:\mydistribute.xml

Example 10:  Using a secured Reports Server

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf destype=file desname=test.pdf AUTHID=myadmin/myadmin

Example 11:  Running a report with e-mail notification

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb destype=file desformat=pdf desname=test.pdf NOTIFYSUCCESS="emp@comp.com" NOTIFYFAILURE="admin@comp.com"

A.2.3 rwbuilder

rwbuilder invokes Oracle Reports Builder. When you include a REPORT|MODULE keyword on the command line with rwbuilder, Oracle Reports Builder opens with the specified report highlighted in the Object Navigator. When no report is specified, Oracle Reports Builder opens with a Welcome dialog offering you the choice of opening an existing report or creating a new one.

Refer to Table A-1 for the keywords that can be used with rwbuilder.

Example

rwbuilder report=myrep.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb

A.2.4 rwconverter

rwconverter (Reports Converter) enables you to convert one or more report definitions or PL/SQL libraries from one storage format to another. For example, you can use rwconverter to:

Combine a report file with an XML file to create a new report

Convert a report stored in an .rdf file to a .rep,.rex,.jsp, or .tdf (template) file.

Note:

When a report is converted to a template, only objects in the report's header and trailer sections and margin area are used in the template. Objects in the main section are ignored.

Convert a report stored in a .rex file to an .rdf or a template (.tdf file)

Convert a library stored in the database to a .pld or .pll file

Convert a library stored in a .pld file into a database library or a .pll file

Convert a library stored in a .pll file into a database library of a .pld file

Note:

When you convert a report that has an attached library, convert the .pll files attached to the report before converting the .rdf/.rex file.

Create a PL/SQL script that batch registers reports in Oracle Portal

In some cases, rwconverter automatically compiles the report's PL/SQL as part of the conversion process. Provided your conversion destination is not a .rex file, rwconverter automatically compiles PL/SQL under the following conditions:

Converting to a .rep file. If there are compile errors, rwconverter displays an error message and the .rep file is not created.

Using a .rex file as the source. If there are compile errors, rwconverter displays a warning, but the conversion continues.

Using a report created on another platform than the source. If there are compile errors, rwconverter displays a warning, but the conversion continues.

In all other situations, you must compile the report's PL/SQL yourself (for example, using Program > Compile > All in Oracle Reports Builder).

Note:

Fonts are mapped when a report is opened by Oracle Reports Builder or Reports Runtime, not during the conversion.

Refer to Table A-1 for the keywords that can be used with rwconverter.

Example:

rwconverter scott/tiger@mydb stype=rdffile source=inven1.rdf dtype=xmlfile dest=inven1_new.xml

A.2.5 rwservlet

rwservlet (Oracle Reports Servlet) translates and delivers information between either a Web server or a Java EE Container (for example, Oracle WebLogic Server) and the Reports Server, allowing you to run a report dynamically from your Web browser. Optionally, it can use the in-process Reports Server, which reduces the maintenance and administration of the Reports Server by providing a means for starting the server automatically, whenever it receives the first request from the client.

The keywords used with rwservlet are also known as Web commands. Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) introduces security access levels for rwservlet Web commands, based on two categories:

End user Web commands are: GETJOBID, KILLJOBID, SHOWAUTH, SHOWJOBID.

Administrator-only Web commands are: DELAUTH, GETSERVERINFO, KILLENGINE, PARSEQUERY, SHOWENV, SHOWJOBS, SHOWMAP, SHOWMYJOBS.

Administrators are allowed to run both end user and administrator-only Web commands. For a non-secured server, the user ID and password for administrators can be set in the identifier element of the Reports Server configuration file.

The security access levels are specified using Oracle Enterprise Manager, as described in Section 7.8.4, "Defining Security Policies for Web Commands":

Note:

When you use rwservlet to run a JSP, you can use all keywords applicable to rwservlet. For more information on running a JSP with rwservlet, see Section 18, "Running Report Requests".

Note:

The following keywords are commands rather than keyword=value pairs; that is, these keywords are entered by themselves without a corresponding value: SHOWENV, SHOWJOBS, SHOWMAP, SHOWMYJOBS, KILLJOBID, KILLENGINE, PARSEQUERY, DELAUTH, GETJOBID, and GETSERVERINFO.

Refer to Table A-1 for the keywords that can be used with rwservlet.

Examples

In the following examples, myias.mycomp.com is your Oracle Application Server instance, and 7779 is the port where rwservlet is running.

Example 1:  Running a paper report to a browser (cache)

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
desformat=pdf+DESTYPE=cache

Example 2:  Sending report output to a file

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
desformat=pdf+DESTYPE=file+DESNAME=c:\mydir\test

Example 3:  Sending report output to a printer

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+DESTYPE=printer+DESNAME=myprinter

Example 4:  Sending report output to e-mail

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
desformat=pdf+DESTYPE=mail+DESNAME="emp1@comp.com,
emp2@comp.com"+CC="emp3@comp.com"+BCC="mgr@comp.com"+
REPLYTO="me@comp.com"+FROM=me@comp.com"

Example 5:  Sending report output to WebDAV (any WebDAV server or Oracle Portal WebDAV)

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
desformat=htmlcss+DESTYPE=webdav+DESNAME=
"http://myusername:mypassword@mywebdavserv.com/mydir/test.html"

Example 6:  Sending report output to Oracle Portal

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
destype=oracleportal+desformat=PDF+PAGEGROUP=mypagegrp+
OUTPUTPAGE=reports_output+ITEMTITLE=pushtoportal+
STATUSPAGE=result

Example 7:  Sending XML PDS report output to a file

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=myxmlpdstest.rdf+destype=file+
desformat=PDF+DESNAME=c:\mydir\my.pdf

Example 8:  Sending JDBC PDS report output to a file

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=myjdbcpdstest.rdf+destype=file+
desformat=PDF+desname=c:\mydir\myxml.pdf+
P_JDBCPDS=sybuser/sybpwd@server1.mydomain.com:1300

Example 9:  Distributing report output to multiple destinations

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
DISTRIBUTE=yes+DESTINATION=c:\mydistribute.xml

Example 10:  Running scheduled reports

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserver+report=test.rdf+
SCHEDULE="every first fri of month from 15:53 Oct 23, 2007 retry 3 after 1 hour"+destype=file+desformat=pdf+desname=test.pdf

Example 11:  Using a secured Reports Server

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
desformat=pdf+destype=file+desname=test.pdf+
AUTHID=myadmin/myadmin

Example 12:  Using a key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File")

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?key1

where

key1 is a key defined in the cgicmd.dat file (the keyname should be the first parameter)

or

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserv+userparam=12+CMDKEY=keyname

Example 13:  Running a report with a Parameter Form

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserver+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
destype=cache+desformat=htmlcss+PARAMFORM=html

Example 14:  Running a report with e-mail notification

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserver+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
destype=file+desformat=pdf+desname=test.pdf+
NOTIFYSUCCESS="emp@comp.com"+NOTIFYFAILURE="admin@comp"

Example 15:  Running a report that specifies a URL to be fetched with the URL engine

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?
server=myrepserver+report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+
destype=file+desformat=pdf+desname=test.pdf+JOBTYPE=rwurl+
URLPARAMETER="http://www.oracle.com"

Example 16:  Showing the environment information for server myrepserver

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/SHOWENV?
server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword

Example 17:  Viewing the past jobs information for server myrepserver

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/SHOWJOBS?server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword+queuetype=past

Example 18:  Viewing the cgicmd.dat key mappings (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File")

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/SHOWMAP?authid=myrepuser/myreppassword

Example 19:  Viewing current jobs information for user myrepuser

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/SHOWMYJOBS?
server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword+
queuetype=current

Example 20:  Getting the status of a job with job ID 30

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/SHOWJOBID30?
server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword

Example 21:  Cancelling a currently running job with job ID 122

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/KILLJOBID122?
server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword

Example 22:  Viewing the parsed query of a command

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/PARSEQUERY?
server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword+
report=test.rdf+userid=scott/tiger@db+destype=cache+
desformat=htmlcss

Example 23:  Showing DB authentication page

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/SHOWAUTH?
server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword+authtype=D

Example 24:  Deleting cookies set by rwservlet

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/DELAUTH?
server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword

Example 25:  Getting the output of job with job ID 87 from server myrepserver

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/GETJOBID87?
server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword

Example 26:  Displaying server information for server myrepserver

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/GETSERVERINFO?
server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword

Example 27:  Killing engine rwEng-1 in server myrepserver

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet/KILLENGINE1?
type=rwEng+server=myrepserver+authid=myrepuser/myreppassword

A.2.6 rwserver

rwserver (Reports Server) processes client requests, which includes ushering them through its various services, such as authentication and authorization checking, scheduling, caching, and distribution (including distribution to pluggable output destinations). Reports Server also spawns runtime engines for generating requested reports, fetches completed reports from the reports cache, and notifies the client that the job is ready.

Refer to Table A-1 for the keywords that can be used with rwserver.

To manage Reports Server using Oracle Enterprise Manager, refer to Chapter 7, "Administering Oracle Reports Services Using Oracle Enterprise Manager".

For manual configuration, see Section 8.2, "Reports Server Configuration File".

A.2.7 rwbridge

rwbridge (Oracle Reports Bridge) is used when Reports Server and Oracle Reports Client are in different Farms. Oracle Reports Client uses the default broadcast mechanism for server discovery, which sends packets that can travel only within a Farm. The Oracle Reports Bridge can bridge two Farms in a network. It intercepts the packets broadcast by Reports Server and Oracle Reports Client and transfers them to the remote bridges configured in the Oracle Reports Bridge configuration file.

There are no command line keywords for rwbridge.

To configure the Oracle Reports Bridge, refer to Section 7.5, "Configuring Oracle Reports Components".

To start and stop the Oracle Reports Bridge, see Chapter 6, "Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Services".

A.3 Keyword Usage Summary

Table A-1 provides an alphabetical summary list of all the Oracle Reports command line keywords and specifies the Oracle Reports components with which each keyword can be used.

An asterisk (*) after a keyword indicates that the keyword is maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

Table A-1 Keywords Usage Summary

Kewords
rwclient

rwrun

rwbuilder

rwconverter

rwservlet

rwserver

rwbridge

ACCESSIBLE

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

ARRAYSIZE

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

AUTHID

yes

yes

no

no

yes

yes

no

AUTOCOMMIT

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

BACKGROUND

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

no

BATCH

no

no

no

yes

no

yes

no

BCC

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

BLANKPAGES

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

BUFFERS

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

CACHELOB

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

CC

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

CELLWRAPPER

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

CMDFILE

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

no

no

CMDKEY

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

COLLATE

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

COMPILE_ALL

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

CONTAINSHTMLTAGS

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

CONTAINSOLE

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

CONTENTAREA*

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

COPIES

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

CUSTOMIZE

yes

yes

no

yes

yes

no

no

DATEFORMATMASK

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

DBPROXYCONN

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

DELAUTH

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

DELIMITED_HDR

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

DELIMITER

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

DESFORMAT

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

DESNAME

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

DEST

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

DESTINATION

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

DESTYPE

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

DISTRIBUTE

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

DTYPE

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

DUNIT

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

no

ENVID

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

no

EXPIRATION

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

no

EXPIREDAYS

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

FORMSIZE

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

FROM

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

GETJOBID

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

GETSERVERINFO

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

HELP

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

ITEMTITLE

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

JOBNAME

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

no

JOBRETRY

JOBTYPE

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

no

JVMOPTIONS

no

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

KILLENGINE

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

KILLJOBID

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

LONGCHUNK

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

MIMETYPE

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

MODE

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

MODULE|REPORT

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

NAME

no

no

no

no

no

no

no

NONBLOCKSQL

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

NOTIFYFAILURE

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

NOTIFYSUCCESS

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

NUMBERFORMATMASK

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

ONFAILURE

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

ONSUCCESS

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

ORIENTATION

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

OUTPUTFOLDER*

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

OUTPUTGRAPHFORMAT

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

OUTPUTPAGE

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

OVERWRITE

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_AVAILABILITY

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_DESCRIPTION

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_FORMATS

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_JDBCPDS

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

P_NAME

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_OWNER

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_PFORMTEMPLATE

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_PRINTERS

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_PRIVILEGE

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_SERVERS

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_TRIGGER

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

P_TYPES

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

PAGEGROUP

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

PAGESIZE

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

no

PAGESTREAM

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

PARAMETER

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

PARAMFORM

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

PARSEQUERY

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

PDFCOMP

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

PDFEMBED

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

PDFOWNER

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

PDFSECURITY

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

PDFUSER

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

PFACTION

yes

no

yes

no

no

no

no

PRINTJOB

no

no

yes

no

no

no

no

READONLY

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

RECURSIVE_LOAD

yes

yes

no

yes

yes

no

no

REPLYTO

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

REPORT | MODULE

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

ROLE

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

RUNDEBUG

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

SAVE_RDF

no

yes

yes

no

no

no

no

SCHEDULE

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

no

SERVER

yes

no

no

no

yes

yes

no

SHOWAUTH

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

SHOWENV

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

SHOWJOBID

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

SHOWJOBS

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

SHOWMAP

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

SHOWMYJOBS

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

SHUTDOWN

no

no

no

no

no

no

no

SITENAME*

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

SOURCE

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

SQLTRACE

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

SSOCONN

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

STATUSFOLDER*

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

STATUSFORMAT

no

no

no

no

yes

no

no

STATUSPAGE

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

STYPE

no

no

no

yes

no

no

no

SUBJECT

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

no

SUPPRESSLAYOUT

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

TOLERANCE

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

no

URLPARAMETER

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

no

USEJVM

yes

no

no

no

no

no

no

USERID

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

no

USERSTYLES

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

no

VALIDATETAG

no

no

yes

no

no

no

no

WEBSERVER_DEBUG

no

no

yes

no

no

no

no

WEBSERVER_DOCROOT

no

no

yes

no

no

no

no

WEBSERVER_PORT

no

no

yes

no

no

no

no

A.4 Command-Line Keywords

For ease of navigation, the alphabetically ordered list of keywords is divided into the following sections:

Command Line Keywords (ACCESSIBLE to DESTYPE)

Command Line Keywords (DISTRIBUTE to ORIENTATION)

Command Line Keywords (OUTPUTFOLDER to ROLE)

Command Line Keywords (RUNDEBUG to WEBSERVER_PORT)

A.5 Command Line Keywords (ACCESSIBLE to DESTYPE)

This section describes each of the command line keywords that can be used in Oracle Reports.

A.5.1 ACCESSIBLE

Table A-2 indicates which components can use the ACCESSIBLE keyword.

Table A-2 Components That Use ACCESSIBLE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use ACCESSIBLE to specify whether accessibility-related features offered through Oracle Reports are enabled (YES) or disabled (NO) for PDF output.

For detailed information about PDF in Oracle Reports, see Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports".

Syntax ACCESSIBLE={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Accessibility features are enabled for PDF output.

NO Accessibility features are not enabled for PDF output.

Default NO

A.5.2 ARRAYSIZE

Table A-3 indicates which components can use the ARRAYSIZE keyword.

Table A-3 Components That Use ARRAYSIZE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use ARRAYSIZE to specify the size (in kilobytes) for use with Oracle's array processing. Generally, the larger the array size, the faster the report will run.

Syntax  ARRAYSIZE=n

Values  

n A number from 1 through 9999 (no comma is used with thousands). This means that Reports Runtime can use this number of kilobytes of memory per query in your report.

Default  10

Usage Notes ARRAYSIZE can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.5.3 AUTHID

Table A-4 indicates which components can use the AUTHID keyword.

Table A-4 Components That Use AUTHID

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver
rwbridge

yes

yes

no

no

yes

yes

yes

Description  

Use AUTHID to specify the user name and password to be used to authenticate users to the restricted Reports Server. User authentication ensures that the users making report requests have access privileges to run the requested report

With rwbridge: Use AUTHID to specify the user name and the password to authorize shutting down the Oracle Reports Bridge. You can set the identifier element in the Oracle Reports Bridge configuration (using Oracle Enterprise Manager) to the administrator user name and password to secure the Oracle Reports Bridge. This ensures that only administrators can shut down the Oracle Reports Bridge.

Syntax  AUTHID=username/password

Values  

username/password Any valid user name and password created in Oracle Portal. See your DBA to create new users accounts in Oracle Portal.

With rwbridge:

username/password The user name and password specified in the identifier element in the Oracle Reports Bridge configuration file (rwbridge_bridgename.conf).

Default None

Usage Notes 

AUTHID can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

If you have a Single Sign-On environment, then the Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On Server will perform the authentication step and pass only the user name to the Reports Server in AUTHID. It is recommended that you use Single Sign-On.

A.5.4 AUTOCOMMIT

Table A-5 indicates which components can use the AUTOCOMMIT keyword.

Table A-5 Components That Use AUTOCOMMIT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use AUTOCOMMIT to specify whether database changes (for example, CREATE) should be automatically committed to the database. Some non-Oracle databases (for example, SQL Server) require that AUTOCOMMIT=YES.

Syntax AUTOCOMMIT={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Data changes are committed to the database automatically.

NO Data changes are not committed to the database until the COMMIT command runs or one of the PL/SQL commands that cause the data to be committed runs.

Default NO

Usage Notes AUTOCOMMIT can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from a URL.

A.5.5 BACKGROUND

Table A-6 indicates which components can use the BACKGROUND keyword.

Table A-6 Components That Use BACKGROUND

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description BACKGROUND specifies whether a report on the server should be run synchronously (NO) or asynchronously (YES).

Note:

The BACKGROUND system parameter is deprecated in Oracle Reports. BACKGROUND is used only on the command line.

Syntax BACKGROUND={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Runs the report asynchronously. The client sends the call to the server, then continues with other processes without waiting for the report job to complete. If the client process is killed, the job is canceled.

NO Runs the report synchronously. The client waits for the report to queue, be assigned to a runtime engine, run, and finish.

Default NO

Usage Notes If BACKGROUND=YES is used with rwbuilder, a warning is issued and the keyword is ignored.

A.5.6 BATCH

Table A-7 indicates which components can use the BATCH keyword.

Table A-7 Components That Use BATCH

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

yes

Description  Use BATCH when you want the server to run in no-UI mode. No user interface is displayed by the application when running from a command line that includes BATCH=YES. For example, for rwserver this allows the server to be run from scripts and remote agents so that no server dialog box displays while it is running.

With rwconverter, BATCH=YES suppresses all terminal input and output in order to convert reports and libraries without user intervention. With rwserver, BATCH turns the server dialog box off (YES) or on (NO) to display or suppress process messages.

Syntax BATCH={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Suppresses all terminal input and output (report is run in the background). This is the default for rwrun.

NO Allows special terminal input and output. For rwconverter, the Convert dialog box is displayed, and when you accept the dialog box, the conversion is performed.

Default NO

Usage Notes

If BATCH=YES, error messages are sent to SYSOUT. For more information on SYSOUT, see DESTYPE.

If BATCH=YES, PARAMFORM=YES is invalid because it is not meaningful to have the Runtime Parameter Form appear in batch mode.

A.5.7 BCC

Table A-8 indicates which components can use the BCC keyword.

Table A-8 Components That Use BCC

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use BCC to specify e-mail recipient(s) of a blind courtesy copy (that is, one in which the names of specified recipients are not visible (published) to other recipients).

Note:

A blind copy is one in which the names of specified recipients are not visible (published) to other recipients.

Syntax BCC="emailid" | ("emailid","emailid",...)

Values 

emailid A valid e-mail address in the form someone@foo.com.

Default None

Usage Notes 

Enclose each address in quotation marks. To specify more than one e-mail address, separate each address with a comma.

Related keywords include CC, FROM, REPLYTO, and SUBJECT. Note that DESNAME is used to specify the main recipient(s) of the e-mail.

BCC can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.5.8 BLANKPAGES

Table A-9 indicates which components can use the BLANKPAGES keyword.

Table A-9 Components That Use BLANKPAGES

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use BLANKPAGES to specify whether to suppress blank pages when you print a report. Use this keyword when there are blank pages in your report output that you do not want to print.

Syntax BLANKPAGES={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Prints all blank pages.

NO Does not print blank pages.

Default  YES

Usage Notes BLANKPAGES is especially useful if your logical page spans multiple physical pages (or panels), and you wish to suppress the printing of any blank physical pages.

A.5.9 BUFFERS

Table A-10 indicates which components can use the BUFFERS keyword.

Table A-10 Components That Use BUFFERS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use BUFFERS to specify the size of the virtual memory cache in kilobytes. You should tune this setting to ensure that you have enough space to run your reports, but not so much that you are using too much of your system's resources.

Syntax BUFFERS=n

Values 

n A number from 1 through 9999 (note that thousands are not expressed with any internal punctuation, for example, a comma or a decimal point). For some operating systems, the upper limit might be lower.

Default 640

Usage Notes 

If this setting is changed in the middle of your session, then the change does not take effect until the next time the report is run.

BUFFERS can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.5.10 CACHELOB

Table A-11 indicates which components can use the CACHELOB keyword.

Table A-11 Components That Use CACHELOB

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use CACHELOB to specify whether to cache retrieved ORACLE large object or objects in the temporary file directory on the Reports Server (specified in the environment variable REPORTS_TMP or by the tempDir property of the engine element in the Reports Server configuration file, rwserver.conf; note that a tempDir setting overrides a REPORTS_TMP setting.).

Syntax CACHELOB={YES|NO}

Values 

YES The LOB will be cached in the temporary file directory.

NO The LOB will not be cached in the temporary file directory.

Default YES

Usage Notes 

You can only set this option on the command line.

If the location of the temporary file directory on the server does not have sufficient available disk space, then it is preferable to set this value to NO. Setting the value to NO, however, might decrease performance, as the LOB might need to be fetched from the database multiple times.

CACHELOB can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.5.11 CC

Table A-12 indicates which components can use the CC keyword.

Table A-12 Components That Use CC

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use CC to specify e-mail recipient(s) of a courtesy copy.

Syntax CC="emailid" | ("emailid","emailid",...)

Values 

emailid A valid e-mail address in the form someone@foo.com.

Default None

Usage Notes 

Enclose each address in quotation marks. To specify more than one e-mail address, separate each address with a comma.

Related keywords include BCC, FROM, REPLYTO, and SUBJECT. Note that DESNAME is used to specify the main recipient(s) of the e-mail.

A.5.12 CELLWRAPPER

Table A-13 indicates which components can use the CELLWRAPPER keyword.

Table A-13 Components That Use CELLWRAPPER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use CELLWRAPPER to specify the character or characters that displays around the delimited cells in your report output.

Syntax CELLWRAPPER=value

Values 

value Any alphanumeric character or string of alphanumeric characters.

Table A-14 Valid Values - General

Value
Description

"

A double quotation mark displays on each side of the cell

'

A single quotation mark displays on each side of the cell

Table A-15 Valid Values - Reserved

Value
Description

tab

A tab displays on each side of the cell

space

A single space displays on each side of the cell

return

A new line displays on each side of the cell

none

No cell wrapper is used

Table A-16 Valid Values - Escape Sequences Based on the ASCII Character Set

Value
Description

\t

A tab displays on each side of the cell

\n

A new line displays on each side of the cell

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword can only be used if you have specified DESFORMAT=DELIMITED or DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA.

The cell wrapper is different from the actual delimiter. The cell wrapper specifies what character appears around delimited data. The delimiter indicates the boundary or break point between two pieces of data.

A.5.13 CMDFILE

Table A-17 indicates which components can use the CMDFILE keyword.

Table A-17 Components That Use CMDFILE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

no

Description  Use CMDFILE to call a file that contains one report's command line options. The file called must be an ASCII file, either .txt or any other ASCII-type file.

CMDFILE differs from the cgicmd.dat key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File"), in that CMDFILE can contain one command line for one report, where the cgicmd.dat file can contain multiple key-identified commands for multiple reports. Additionally, the CMDFILE keyword can be used along with other arguments in a command line; while, when you use the key argument associated with cgicmd.dat, it is the only argument that appears in the command line.

The CMDFILE keyword enables you to run a report without specifying a large number of options each time you invoke a run command.

Syntax  CMDFILE=filename

Values  

filename Any valid command file name.

Default None

Usage Notes 

With rwservlet, use the CMDKEY keyword to refer to a key in the cgicmd.dat file instead of using the CMDFILE keyword.

A command file can reference another command file.

The syntax for a command line you specify in the command file is identical to that used on the command line.

Values entered on the command line override values specified in command files. For example, suppose you specify rwclient from the command line with COPIES set to 1 and CMDFILE set to RUNONE (a command file). The RUNONE file also specifies a value for COPIES, but it is set to 2. The value specified for COPIES in the command line (1) overrides the value specified for COPIES in the RUNONE file (2). Only one copy of the report will be generated.

The value for this keyword might be operating system-specific.

A.5.14 CMDKEY

Table A-18 indicates which components can use the CMDKEY keyword.

Table A-18 Components That Use CMDKEY

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use CMDKEY to call a key-identified command line in the cgicmd.dat key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File"). For example:

Syntax CMDKEY=key

Values 

key The name of any key associated with a command line specified in the cgicmd.dat file.

Default None

Usage Notes 

When you use CMDKEY with rwservlet, you can use it in any order in the command line (or the URL, following the question mark). With rwservlet, you can use additional command line keywords along with CMDKEY.

CMDKEY can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

Example

http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet?cmdkey=key& ...

A.5.15 COLLATE

Table A-19 indicates which components can use the COLLATE keyword.

Table A-19 Components That Use COLLATE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use COLLATE to control the collating behavior when a report is output to a printer.

Syntax COLLATE={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Collates the pages when output to a printer.

NO Does not collate the pages when output to a printer.

Default YES

Example

Printing three copies of a three page document with COLLATE set to YES would result in output similar to the following:

1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3

The order specified is the page numbers being printed. This behavior is similar to selecting the Collate check box in the Print dialog box.

Printing three copies of a three page document with COLLATE set to NO would result in output similar to the following:

1 1 1 | 2 2 2 | 3 3 3

A.5.16 COMPILE_ALL

Table A-20 indicates which components can use the COMPILE_ALL keyword.

Table A-20 Components That Use COMPILE_ALL

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use COMPILE_ALL to forcibly compile all program units in the report being converted by rwconverter, except in the following cases:

If the destination type (DTYPE) is REXFILE, XMLFILE, or JSPFILE, then rwconverter will not compile any program units. When REX, XML, or JSP report definitions are opened in Oracle Reports Builder or Reports Server, they are automatically compiled by Oracle Reports.

Syntax COMPILE_ALL={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Compiles all program units, except in cases where DTYPE is REXFILE, XMLFILE, or JSPFILE.

NO Compiles only uncompiled program units.

Default NO

Usage Notes By default, rwconverter compiles all uncompiled program units during the conversion operation. When COMPILE_ALL=YES, then rwconverter forcibly compiles all the program units (including those already compiled) in the report. This may be useful when moving a report to a different client machine, to ensure everything is recompiled and avoid potential incompatibilities.

A.5.17 CONTAINSHTMLTAGS

Table A-23 indicates which components can use the CONTAINSHTMLTAGS keyword.

Table A-21 Components That Use CONTAINSHTMLTAGS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description You can use a defined set of HTML formatting tags to format text style (bold, italics, underline, and strikethrough) and text attributes (font name, font color, and font size), and generate formatted text objects in all bitmap output formats supported by Oracle Reports when the objects' Contains HTML Tags property is set to Yes.

Use CONTAINSHTMLTAGS to specify whether Oracle Reports should interpret the HTML formatting tags for all the supported output formats.

Syntax CONTAINSHTMLTAGS=YES|NO

Values 

YES Oracle Reports interprets the HTML formatting tags for all objects whose Contains HTML Tags property is set to Yes.

NO Oracle Reports does not interpret the HTML tags for the report, regardless of the object's Contains HTML Tags property setting. For HTML and HTMLCSS ouput, the browser will interpret the HTML formatting tags; for other output formats, the HTML tags themselves will appear as is in the report output.

Default YES

Usage Notes

The supported output formats are: PDF, RTF, HTML, HTMLCSS, SPREADSHEET, and PostScript.

Oracle Reports' interpretation of HTML tags may be different from the browser's interpretation. As a result, a report designed with HTML tags in releases prior to Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) may generate different HTML or HTMLCSS output than later releases, where Oracle Reports interprets HTML formatting tags. If you do not wish for Oracle Reports to interpret HTML formatting tags, and instead retain the behavior of prior releases, set the REPORTS_CONTAINSHTMLTAGS environment variable to NO.

If you set the REPORTS_CONTAINSHTMLTAGS environment variable to NO, you can still specify CONTAINSHTMLTAGS=YES on the command line for selected reports to have Oracle Reports interpret the HTML formatting tags for all the supported output formats. In other words, the value specified by this command line keyword overrides the REPORTS_CONTAINSHTMLTAGS environment variable.

A.5.18 CONTAINSOLE

Note:

OLE support is obsolete in Oracle Reports (OLE is a client/server feature that is not applicable in a Web-based environment). Instead, use mime types with associated plug-ins and hyperlinks.

Table A-23 indicates which components can use the CONTAINSOLE keyword.

Table A-22 Components That Use CONTAINSOLE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description For backward compatibility, use CONTAINSOLE to specify whether the program units or attached libraries for the report contain any OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) calls. If CONTAINSOLE=YES, the OLE system is initialized at the start of report execution and terminated at the end of that report execution.

Syntax CONTAINSOLE=YES|NO

Values 

YES The report includes OLE calls in program units or attached libraries.

NO The report does not contain any OLE calls in program units or attached libraries.

Default NO

A.5.19 CONTENTAREA

Table A-23 indicates which components can use the CONTENTAREA keyword.

Table A-23 Components That Use CONTENTAREA

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use CONTENTAREA to specify the Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 content area to which report output should be pushed. This keyword is maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1; for backward compatibility with Oracle WebDB Release 2.2, see SITENAME. Beginning with Oracle Portal 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), use PAGEGROUP.

Syntax CONTENTAREA=name

Values 

name The name (internal name) of any valid Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 content area.

Default None

Usage Notes 

Use of this keyword is required to push Oracle Reports output to Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1.

The CONTENTAREA name should be the internal name and not the display name. The internal name is used to uniquely identify the Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 component instance.

Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SITENAME*, STATUSFOLDER*, STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

A.5.20 COPIES

Table A-24 indicates which components can use the COPIES keyword.

Table A-24 Components That Use COPIES

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use COPIES to specify the number of copies of the report output to print.

Syntax COPIES=n

Values 

n Any valid integer from 1 through 9999 (note that thousands are not expressed with any internal punctuation, for example, a comma or a decimal point).

Default Taken from the Initial Value property of the COPIES parameter (the Initial Value was defined in Oracle Reports Builder at design time).

Usage Notes  

This keyword is ignored if DESTYPE is not PRINTER.

If COPIES is left blank on the Runtime Parameter Form, then it defaults to 1.

A.5.21 CUSTOMIZE

Table A-25 indicates which components can use the CUSTOMIZE keyword.

Table A-25 Components That Use CUSTOMIZE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

yes

yes

no

Description  Use CUSTOMIZE to specify an Oracle Reports XML file to be run against the current report. The XML file contains customizations (for example, changes to the layout or data model) that change the report definition in some way.

Syntax CUSTOMIZE=filename.xml | (filename1.xml, filename2.xml,...)

Values  

filenamen.xml The names of the files that contain a valid XML report definition, with path information prefixed to the name(s) if necessary. (if the files are not located in a path specified in the REPORTS_PATH registry or SourceDir property of the engine element).

Note:

For more information on customizing reports at runtime with XML customization files, see Chapter 22, "Customizing Reports with XML".

Default None

Usage Notes 

Typically, the file extension of an XML report definition is .xml, but it does not have to be when it is used with the CUSTOMIZE keyword.

CUSTOMIZE can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

In some cases, Microsoft Internet Explorer ignores the mimetype of a URL's return stream and instead sets the type by looking at the URL. This can be a problem when you include CUSTOMIZE as the last keyword when specified in a URL; for example:

...REPORT=emp.rdf CUSTOMIZE=c:\myreports\emp.xml

In this scenario, your URL ends with the extension .xml and Internet Explorer treats the return stream as XML, when in fact it is HTML. As a result, you will receive a browser error. To work around this issue, you should never use recognized file extensions at the end of a URL. In the preceding example, you could switch the positions of the REPORT and CUSTOMIZE parameters in your URL.

A.5.22 DATEFORMATMASK

Table A-26 indicates which components can use the DATEFORMATMASK keyword.

Table A-26 Components That Use DATEFORMATMASK

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use DATEFORMATMASK to specify how date values display in your delimited report output.

Syntax DATEFORMATMASK=mask

Values 

mask Any valid date format mask.

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword can only be used if you have specified DESFORMAT=DELIMITED or DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA.

Note:

For valid DATEFORMATMASK values see the Oracle Reports online Help topic, "Date and Time Format Mask Syntax."

DATEFORMATMASK can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.5.23 DBPROXYCONN

Table A-26 indicates which components can use the DBPROXYCONN keyword.

Table A-27 Components That Use DBPROXYCONN

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use DBPROXYCONN to specify The key to be used for obtaining proxy user name, password, and database information from Oracle Internet Directory. This key is created in Oracle Internet Directory when specifying default Resource Access Information.

Syntax dbproxyconn=key

Values 

KEY The resource name configured in Oracle Internet Directory in the user RAD or the default RAD.

Default None

Usage Notes 

You can add the dbproxy connection keys in the server configuration files.

A.5.24 DELAUTH

Table A-28 indicates which components can use the DELAUTH keyword.

Table A-28 Components That Use DELAUTH

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use DELAUTH to delete rwservlet user ID cookies.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/delauth[?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword is a command that does not require a value; that is, commands are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

Related keywords are SERVER and AUTHID.

A.5.25 DELIMITED_HDR

Table A-29 indicates which components can use the DELIMITED_HDR keyword.

Table A-29 Components That Use DELIMITED_HDR

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use DELIMITED_HDR to turn off boilerplate text (such as the report header) when running a report with DESFORMAT=DELIMITED or DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA.

Syntax DELIMITED_HDR={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Leave boilerplate text as is in the delimited output file.

NO Turn off all boilerplate text in the delimited output file.

Default YES

Usage Notes This keyword can be used only if you have specified DESFORMAT=DELIMITED or DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA.

A.5.26 DELIMITER

Table A-30 indicates which components can use the DELIMITER keyword.

Table A-30 Components That Use DELIMITER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use DELIMITER to specify the character or characters to use to separate the cells in your report output.

Syntax DELIMITER=value

Values 

value Any alphanumeric character or string of alphanumeric characters, such as:

Table A-31 Valid Values - General

Values
Description

,

A comma separates each cell

.

A period separates each cell

Any of these reserved values:

Table A-32 Valid Values - Reserved

Values
Description

tab

A tab separates each cell

space

A space separates each cell

return

A new line separates each cell

none

No delimiter is used

Table A-33 Valid Values - Escape Sequence based on the ASCII Character set

Values
Description

\t

A tab separates each cell

\n

A new line separates each cell

Default Tab

Usage Notes This keyword can be used only if you have specified DESFORMAT=DELIMITED or DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA.

A.5.27 DESFORMAT

Table A-34 indicates which components can use the DESFORMAT keyword.

Table A-34 Components That Use DESFORMAT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use DESFORMAT to specify either the output format for the report, or the printer definition to use when formatting the report when DESTYPE=FILE and DESNAME=filename.

Syntax DESFORMAT=desformat

Values Any valid destination format not to exceed 1K in length. Examples of valid values for this keyword are listed and described in Table A-35.

Table A-35 Valid Values for DESFORMAT

Value
Description

DFLT

The report output is sent to a file that uses the default printer driver to format the report (for example, a PostScript driver generates PostScript output format).

DELIMITED

The report output is sent to a file that can be read by standard spreadsheet utilities, such as Microsoft Excel. If you do not specify a delimiter (through the DELIMITER keyword), the default delimiter is a tab. See Usage Notes.

DELIMITEDDATA

Provides similar functionality as DELIMITED, and is used when you have problems running large volume reports with DESFORMAT=DELIMITED. See Usage Notes.

HTML

The report output is sent to a file that is in HTML format. See Usage Notes.

HTMLCSS

The report output is sent to a file that includes style sheet extensions. See Usage Notes.

PDF

The report output is sent to a file that is in PDF format and can be read by a PDF viewer, such as Adobe Acrobat. PDF output is based upon the currently configured printer for your system. The drivers for the currently selected printer are used to produce the output; you must have a printer configured for the machine on which you are running the report.

printer definition

The printer definition to use when formatting the report when DESTYPE=FILE and DESNAME=filename:

If MODE=BITMAP, this is the name of the printer. A value of DFLT means the default printer driver is used.

If MODE=CHARACTER, this is the name of a printer definition file (.prt file), such as hpl, hplwide, dec, decwide, decland, dec180, dflt, or wide. Ask your System Administrator for a list of valid printer definitions.

RTF

The report output is sent to a file that can be read by word processors (such as Microsoft Word). When you open the file in Microsoft Word, you must choose View > Page Layout to view all the graphics and objects in your report. See Usage Notes.

SPREADSHEET

(Command line only) The report output is sent to an HTML file that can be directly opened with Microsoft Excel 2000. You can generate spreadsheet output from the paper layout of reports saved in any format (.rdf, .jsp, .xml). See Usage Notes.

ENHANCEDSPREADSHEET

(Command line only) Introduced in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), the report output is sent to an HTML file that is compatible with spreadsheet applications, such as Microsoft Excel, and also provides enhancements to the SPREADSHEET output format to enable you to burst and distribute reports to spreadsheet format, as well as generate large data sets (up to 75,000 rows) to spreadsheets. You can generate spreadsheet output from the paper layout of reports saved in any format (.rdf, .jsp, .xml). See Usage Notes.

XML

The report output is saved as an XML file. This report can be opened and read in an XML-supporting browser, or your choice of XML viewing application.

Default Taken from the Initial Value property of the DESFORMAT system parameter (defined in Oracle Reports Builder at design time). When you run a report through Oracle Reports Builder and DESFORMAT is blank or DFLT, then the current printer driver (specified in File > Printer ) is used. If a Printer Name has not been selected, then Oracle Reports Builder defaults to PostScript output format.

Usage Notes  

The value(s) for this keyword might be case-sensitive, depending on your operating system.

When DESFORMAT=HTML or DESFORMAT=HTMLCSS, spaces are replaced with &nbsp;. This default behavior eliminates alignment issues for number values that are right-aligned. If you do not want spaces replaced with &nbsp; in your HTML and HTMLCSS output, then you must set REPORTS_NO_HTML_SPACE_REPLACE to YES. This removes the functionality of the DELIMITER command line keyword for HTML and HTMLCSS output (DELIMITER is still valid when DESFORMAT=DELIMITED).

DESFORMAT=DELIMITED is not supported in a DST file, which is specified on the command line with the DESTINATION keyword to distribute the report. In this case, Oracle Reports displays an error:

REP-34305: Invalid keyword setting for the destid='DEST1'

Note:

DST files are supported for backward compatibility; the preferred and recommended method of distributing reports is with the Distribution dialog box in Reports Builder, or using XML as described in Chapter 20, "Creating Advanced Distributions".

The DELIMITED functionality also honors the DELIMITER, CELLWRAPPER, NUMBERFORMATMASK, and DATEFORMATMASK command line keywords.

When DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA, the DelimitedData driver runs off the report data model and operates in much the same way as the XML driver. Since the driver runs off the data model, any formatting defined in the layout are not reflected in the DelimitedData output.

You can set the following column properties to alter column names and exclude columns from the DelimitedData output file:

The XML Tag property can be used to enter a column alias.

The Exclude from XML Output property can be used to exclude the column from the DelimitedData output.

The DELIMITEDDATA functionality also honors the DELIMITER, CELLWRAPPER, NUMBERFORMATMASK, and DATEFORMATMASK command line keywords just as DELIMITED does.

For more information on delimited output, see "About delimited output" in the Oracle Reports online Help (and also in the "Advanced Concepts" chapter in the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual).

When DESFORMAT=SPREADSHEET, the report output preserves the rich layout formatting such as colors, fonts, conditional formatting, graphs, and images. For detailed information about how different report objects are generated in a report run to DESFORMAT=SPREADSHEET, see "About Spreadsheet Output" in the Oracle Reports online Help (and also in the "Advanced Concepts" chapter in the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual).

When you open RTF output generated by Oracle Reports in Microsoft Word 95 for Japanese, you may encounter anomalies in the output, such as dashes not appearing correctly. These issues are specific to Microsoft Word 95 and do not occur in Microsoft Word 97 for Japanese.

A.5.28 DESNAME

Table A-36 indicates which components can use the DESNAME keyword.

Table A-36 Components That Use DESNAME

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use DESNAME to specify the name of the cache, file, printer, WebDAV server, or e-mail ID (or distribution list) to which the report output will be sent.

Syntax DESNAME=desname

Values 

desname Any valid cache destination, file name, printer name, e-mail ID, or WebDAV server, not to exceed 1K in length. For printer names, you can optionally specify a port. For example:

DESNAME=printer,LPT1:DESNAME=printer,FILE:

Default Taken from the Initial Value property of the DESNAME parameter (the Initial Value was defined in Oracle Reports Builder at design time). If DESTYPE=FILE and DESNAME is an empty string, then it defaults to reportname.lis at runtime.

Usage Notes  

The value(s) for this keyword might be case-sensitive, depending on your operating system.

To send the report output by e-mail, specify the e-mail ID as you do in your e-mail application (any SMTP-compliant application). You can specify multiple user names by separating them with commas, and without spaces. For example:

tsmith@companya.com,gjones@companyb.com,mroberts@companyc.com

In some cases, this keyword may be overridden by your operating system.

Examples

Example 1: Sending report output to a file

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf destype=file
desname=c:\mydir\test.pdf

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+desformat=pdf+destype=file+desname=c:\mydir\test.pdf

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf
destype=file desname=c:\mydir\test.

Example 2: Sending report output to a printer

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb destype=printer
desname=myprinter

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+destype=printer+desname=myprinter

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb destype=printer desname=myprinter

Example 3: Sending report output to e-mail

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf destype=mail
desname="emp1@comp.com, emp2@comp.com" cc="emp3@comp.com" bcc="mgr@comp.com"
replyto="me@comp.com" from="me@comp.com"

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+desformat=pdf+destype=mail+desname="emp1@comp.com, emp2@comp.com"+cc="emp3@comp.com"+bcc="mgr@comp.com"+
replyto="me@comp.com"+from="me@comp.com"

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf
destype=mail desname="emp1@comp.com, emp2@comp.com" cc="emp3@comp.com"
bcc="mgr@comp.com" replyto="me@comp.com" from="me@comp.com"

Example 4: Sending report output to WebDAV (any WebDAV server or Oracle Portal WebDAV)

Note:

Currently there is no support for FTP and WebDAV destinations from the Reports Builder environment. However, they are supported from the Reports Runtime and the Reports Server environments.

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=htmlcss destype=webdav
desname="http://myusername:mypassword@mywebdavserv.com/mydir/test.html"

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+desformat=htmlcss+destype=webdav+
desname="http://myusername:mypassword@mywebdavserv.com/mydir/test.html"

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydbdesformat=htmlcss
destype=webdav
desname="http://myusername:mypassword@mywebdavserv.com/mydir/test.htm"

A.5.29 DEST

Table A-37 indicates which components can use the DEST keyword.

Table A-37 Components That Use DEST

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use DEST to specify the name(s) of the converted reports or libraries.

Syntax DEST={dest_name|(dest_name1, dest_name2, …)|pathname}

Values 

dest_name Any valid report/library name or filename, or a list of valid report/library names of filenames enclosed in parentheses and separated by commas (for example, (qanda,text,dmast)).

Default If the DEST keyword is not specified, rwconverter uses the following default names:

If DTYPE is PLDFILE, then the DEST default name is source.pld.

If DTYPE is PLLFILE, then the DEST default name is source.pll.

If DTYPE is RDFFILE, then the DEST default name is source.rdf.

If DTYPE is REPFILE, then the DEST default name is source.rep.

If DTYPE is REXFILE, then the DEST default name is source.rex.

If DTYPE is TDFFILE, then the DEST default name is source.tdf.

If DTYPE is XMLFILE, then the DEST default name is source.xml.

If DTYPE is JSPFILE, then the DEST default name is source.jsp.

If DTYPE is REGISTER, then the DEST default name is the name of the SQL*Plus script output file (for example, output.sql).

Usage Notes 

A list of report/library names of filenames must be enclosed in parentheses with commas separating each entry. For example:

(qanda,test,dmast) or (qanda, test, dmast)

If you have more destination names than there are source names, the extra destination names are ignored. If you have fewer destination names than there are source names, default names will be used after the destination names run out.

The value(s) for the DEST keyword may be operating system-specific.

When DTYPE=REGISTER, multiple destinations are not required. If you list more than one SQL*Plus script file name for DEST, only the first one is recognized. The others are ignored.

A.5.30 DESTINATION

Table A-38 indicates which components can use the DESTINATION keyword.

Table A-38 Components That Use DESTINATION

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use the DESTINATION keyword to specify the name of an XML file that defines the distribution for the current run of the report.

Note:

XML based distribution files must have the.xml extension.

Syntax DESTINATION=filename.xml

Values 

filename.xml The name of an XML file that defines a report or report section distribution.

Default None

Usage Notes 

To enable the DESTINATION keyword, you must specify DISTRIBUTE=YES on the command line. If both these keywords are specified, DESTYPE, DESNAME, and DESFORMAT are ignored if they are also specified.

In some cases, Microsoft Internet Explorer ignores the mimetype of a URL's return stream and instead sets the type by looking at the URL. This can be a problem when you are defining the distribution for a report because your URL might end with the DESTINATION keyword. For example:

...DISTRIBUTE=yes DESTINATION=c:\oracle\reports\dist\mydist.xml

In this scenario, your URL ends with the extension .xml and Internet Explorer treats the return stream as XML, when in fact it is HTML. As a result, you will receive a browser error. To work around this issue, you should never use recognized file extensions at the end of a URL. In the preceding example, you could switch the positions of the DISTRIBUTE and DESTINATION parameters in your URL.

Note:

For more information on creating advanced distributions, see Chapter 20, "Creating Advanced Distributions".

A.5.31 DESTYPE

Table A-39 indicates which components can use the DESTYPE keyword.

Table A-39 Components That Use DESTYPE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use DESTYPE to specify the type of device that will receive the report output for paper-based reports. If you have created your own pluggable destination through the Oracle Reports Destination API, this is how the destination you created gets called.

Syntax DESTYPE={CACHE|LOCALFILE|FILE|PRINTER|MAIL|ORACLEPORTAL|FTP|
WEBDAV|name_of_pluggable_destination}

Values Table A-40 lists and describes the valid values for the DESTYPE keyword.

Table A-40 Valid Values for DESTYPE

Value
Description

CACHE

Valid only for rwclient and rwservlet. Sends the output directly to the Web browser (cache).

LOCALFILE

Valid only for rwclient and rwservlet. Sends the output to a file on the client machine, synchronously or asynchronously.

When used with rwclient, DESTYPE=LOCALFILE saves the output to the client machine using the file name specified by DESNAME.

When used with rwservlet, DESTYPE=LOCALFILE sets the mimetype to application/octet-stream to force the browser to display the Save dialog box. If for some reason this does not work, you can instead specify DESTYPE=CACHE and add MIMETYPE=REPORTS/LOCAL (or any non-registered mimetype) to force the browser to display the Save dialog box.

FILE

Sends the output to the file on the server named in DESNAME.

PRINTER

Sends the output to the printer on the server named in DESNAME. You must have a printer that Oracle Reports Services can recognize installed and running. See Usage Notes, below.

MAIL

Sends the output to the mail users specified in DESNAME. You can send mail to any mail system that works with SMTP.

Note: The configuration file rwserver.conf must include the outgoing mail server name. This applies in both Windows and UNIX environments. Refer to Section 8.2.1.2, "pluginParam".

ORACLEPORTAL

Valid only for rwclient and rwservlet. Sends the output to Oracle Portal. Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SCHEDULE, SITENAME*,STATUSFOLDER*,STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

See Usage Notes, below.

FTP

Sends the output to the specified FTP server. See Usage Notes, below.

WEBDAV

Sends the output to the specified WebDAV server so that the report can be published directly. See Usage Notes, below.

name_of_pluggable_destination

If you have created your own pluggable destination through the Oracle Reports Destination API, this is what you use to call the destination you created.

Default Taken from the Initial Value property of the DESTYPE system parameter (defined in Oracle Reports Builder at design time).

Usage Notes

DESTYPE values of SCREEN and PREVIEW are no longer valid because the Reports Runtime (rwrun) user interface is obsolete. In Oracle Reports Builder, you can still set the DESTYPE system parameter to SCREEN to format a report to display screen fonts in the Previewer in the Oracle Reports Builder user interface.

DESTYPE=PRINTER: On Windows the hardware-based left margin is ignored, by default. The printing origin starts from the top left corner (0,0) of the physical paper and not the printable area. This is to facilitate the design of printer hardware-based margin independent reports. Printing reports without hardware-based left margins on Windows You must ensure that your report's layout contains enough margin spacing such that your data falls within the printable area. Margin fields in the Page Setup dialog have been disabled to ensure consistency with Oracle Reports Services. To revert to the old behavior of including the hardware margin, set the REPORTS_ADD_HWMARGIN environment variable to YES.

DESTYPE=ORACLEPORTAL: Before you push Oracle Reports output to Oracle Portal, ensure that you have created the following:

A valid OUTPUTPAGE containing at least one item region.

A valid PAGEGROUP containing at least one item region.

Additionally, you must edit the Reports Server configuration file (rwserver.conf) as follows:

Uncomment the destype=oraclePortal element.

<destination
   destype="oraclePortal"
   class="oracle.reports.server.DesOraclePortal">
   <!--property name="portalUserid"
             value="%PORTAL_DB_USERNAME%/%PORTAL_DB_
                     PASSWORD%@%PORTAL_DB_TNSNAME%"
             encrypted="no"/-->
</destination>

Note:

In 11g Release 1 (11.1.1), by default, the portalUserid is commented out. Reports Server will determine the connection string and push the report to Oracle Portal. You must uncomment this only if you are using a different Oracle Portal instance.

Substitute the values in the portalUserid property with your Oracle Portal connection information if you do not want to push Oracle Reports output to the default Oracle Portal instance.

Note:

If you do not substitute the values or uncomment the destype entry, you will get the following error:

REP-56092: No class defined for destination type oracleportal

Running the request is very similar to any other out-of-the-box destinations. For example:

http://your_server:port/reports/rwservlet?report=test.rdf&userid=scott/tiger@repportal&authid=pushportal/trial&destype=oracleportal&desformat=PDF&pagegroup=PORTAL_REPORTS&outputpage=reports_output&itemtitle=pushtoportal&statuspage=result

DESTYPE=FTP: Running the request is very similar to any other out-of-the-box pluggable destinations. You must specify the complete FTP URL location along with the file name. If the FTP server needs an authentication, that also needs to be part of the URL as shown in the following example:

http://your_server:port/reports/rwservlet?report=rep.jsp&destype=FTP&desname=ftp://user:pwd@ftpServer/dir/myreport.pdf&desformat=pdf

In this example, the DESTYPE is FTP and the DESNAME value is a complete FTP URL location along with the report name myreport.pdf.

To specify proxy information to send and receive information through a firewall, see Section 8.7, "Entering Proxy Information".

Note:

The proxy server specified for the FTP destination must support the SOCKS protocol. This check is performed during initialization. If the proxy server does not support the SOCKS protocol, then the server raises the following error:

REP-62352: FTP Proxy Server specified is not responding

DESTYPE=WEBDAV: Running the request is very similar to any other out-of-the-box plyuggable destinations. You must specify the complete WebDAV URL location along with the file name. If the WebDAV server needs an authentication, that also needs to be part of the URL as shown in the following example:

http://your_server:port/reports/rwservlet?report=rep.jsp&destype=webdav&desname=http://user:pwd@webdavserver/myreport.pdf&desformat=pdf

In this example, the DESTYPE is WEBDAV and the DESNAME value is a complete WebDAV URL location along with the report name myreport.pdf.

To specify proxy information to send and receive information through a firewall, see Section 8.7, "Entering Proxy Information".

Examples

Example 1: Running a paper report to a browser (cache)

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+desformat=pdf+destype=cache

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf
destype=cache

Example 2: Sending report output to a file

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf destype=file
desname=c:\mydir\test.pdf

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+desformat=pdf+destype=file+desname=c:\mydir\test.pdf

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf
destype=file desname=c:\mydir\test.pdf

Example 3: Sending report output to a printer

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb destype=printer
desname=myprinter

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+destype=printer+desname=myprinter

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb destype=printer desname=myprinter

Example 4: Sending report output to e-mail

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf destype=mail
desname="emp1@comp.com, emp2@comp.com" cc="emp3@comp.com" bcc="mgr@comp.com"
replyto=me@comp.com" from="me@comp.com"

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+desformat=pdf+destype=mail+
desname="emp1@comp.com,emp2@comp.com"+cc="emp3@comp.com"+bcc="mgr@comp.com"+
replyto="me@comp.com"+from="me@comp.com"

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=pdf
destype=mail desname="emp1@comp.com, emp2@comp.com" cc="emp3@comp.com"
bcc="mgr@comp.com" replyto="me@comp.com" from="me@comp.com"

Example 5: Sending report output to WebDAV (any WebDAV server or Oracle Portal WebDAV)

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb desformat=htmlcss destype=webdav
desname="http://myusername:mypassword@mywebdavserv.com/mydir/test.html"

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+desformat=htmlcss+destype=webdav+
desname="http://myusername:mypassword@mywebdavserv.com/mydir/test.html"

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb
desformat=htmlcss destype=webdav
desname="http://myusername:mypassword@mywebdavserv.com/mydir/test.html"

Example 6: Sending report output to Oracle Portal

rwrun report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb destype=oracleportal desformat=PDF
pagegroup=mypagegrp outputpage=reports_output itemtitle=pushtoportal
statuspage=result

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.rdf+
userid=scott/tiger@mydb+destype=oracleportal+desformat=PDF+pagegroup=mypagegrp+
outputpage=reports_output+itemtitle=pushtoportal+statuspage=result

rwclient server=myrepserv report=test.rdf userid=scott/tiger@mydb
destype=oracleportal desformat=PDF pagegroup=mypagegrp outputpage=reports_output
itemtitle=pushtoportal statuspage=result

A.6 Command Line Keywords (DISTRIBUTE to ORIENTATION)

This section provides a brief description of the Oracle Reports components and the keywords that each component can use.

A.6.1 DISTRIBUTE

Table A-41 indicates which components can use the DISTRIBUTE keyword.

Table A-41 Components That Use DISTRIBUTE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use DISTRIBUTE to enable or disable distributing the report output to multiple destinations, as specified by the distribution list defined in the report distribution definition (defined in the Distribution dialog box in Oracle Reports Builder at design time) or a distribution XML file.

Syntax DISTRIBUTE={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Distribute the report to the distribution list.

NO Ignore the distribution list and output the report as specified by the DESNAME, DESTYPE, and DESFORMAT parameters. This is fundamentally a debug mode to allow running a report set up for distribution without actually executing the distribution.

Default  NO

Usage Notes The DISTRIBUTE keyword works in close association with the DESTINATION keyword. DISTRIBUTE must have a value of YES for the DESTINATION keyword to take effect. If both these keywords are specified, DESTYPE, DESNAME, and DESFORMAT are ignored if they are also specified.

Note:

For more information on creating advanced distributions, see Chapter 20, "Creating Advanced Distributions".

A.6.2 DTYPE

Table A-42 indicates which components can use the DTYPE keyword.

Table A-42 Components That Use DTYPE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use DTYPE to specify the format to which to convert the reports or libraries.

Syntax DTYPE={PLDFILE|PLLFILE|RDFFILE|REPFILE|REXFILE|TDFFILE|XMLFILE|
JSPFILE|REGISTER}

Values The following values apply:

PLDFILE The converted PL/SQL libraries will be stored in files in ASCII format.

PLLFILE The converted PL/SQL libraries will be stored in files containing source code and P-code (compiled PL/SQL).

RDFFILE The converted report(s) will be stored in one or more report definition files (files with the .rdf extension).

REPFILE The converted report(s) will be stored in one or more binary runfiles (files with the .rep extension).

REXFILE The converted report(s) will be stored in one or more text files (files with the .rex extension).

TDFFILE The report will be converted to a template file (files with the .tdf extension).

XMLFILE The converted report(s) will be stored in an XML file (files with the .xml extension).

JSPFILE The converted report(s) will be stored in a JSP file (files with the .jsp extension).

REGISTER A script file is created to load each report specified by SOURCE into Oracle Portal with the RWWWVREG.REGISTER_REPORT function. Each load function is populated with the necessary information to register the report in Oracle Portal. By running the resulting script file in SQL*Plus against the Oracle Fusion Middleware DB Provider, you can batch register multiple reports in Oracle Portal. For more information, see Appendix C, "Batch Registering Reports in Oracle Portal".

Default REPFILE

Usage Notes 

When you try to create a .rep file using rwconverter, the source report's PL/SQL is automatically compiled. If there are compile errors, an error message is displayed and the .rep file is not created. To avoid this problem, ensure that you compile the source report's PL/SQL using Program > Compile in Oracle Reports Builder, before you try to create a .rep file.

When converting a report to a template, only objects in the report's header and trailer sections and the margin area are used in the template. Objects in the main section are ignored.

A.6.3 DUNIT

Table A-43 indicates which components can use the DUNIT keyword.

Table A-43 Components That Use DUNIT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use DUNIT to specify the destination unit of measurement to which the report should be converted. If specified, DUNIT must differ from the SOURCE report's unit of measurement. If unspecified, the SOURCE report's unit of measurement is used.

Syntax DUNIT={CENTIMETER|CHARACTER|INCH|POINT}

Values 

CENTIMETER The converted reports will initially use centimeters as the unit of measurement

CHARACTER The converted reports will initially use characters as the unit of measurement.

INCH The converted reports will initially use inches as the unit of measurement.

POINT The converted reports will initially use points as the unit of measurement

Default Null (the report's unit of measurement is used).

A.6.4 ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT

Table A-44 indicates which command can use the ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT keyword.

Table A-44 Components That Use ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT to specify the maximum amount of time (in minutes) for an engine to update the status of the job while running a report in your environment. If it takes longer than this amount of time to update the job status for some reason (for example, due to the engine hanging or a long blocking SQL query), then Reports Server terminates the job.

This parameter overrides the engineResponseTimeOut attribute of the engine element in the Reports Server configuration file. Refer to Section 8.2.1.9, "engine" for information about the engine element.

Syntax ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT=number

Values 

number A number of minutes (for example, 5).

Default None

A.6.5 ENVID

Table A-44 indicates which command can use the ENVID keyword.

Table A-45 Components That Use ENVID

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use ENVID to specify the environment required for the current job request. This keyword allows for dynamic environment switching, as described in Section 8.2.2, "Dynamic Environment Switching".

Syntax ENVID=id

Values 

id An identifier that corresponds to an environment element id in the configuration file. The matching environment element defines environment variables that will be used for the current job request. For examples, see Section 8.2.2, "Dynamic Environment Switching".

Default None

A.6.6 EXPIRATION

Table A-46 indicates which command can use the EXPIRATION keyword.

Table A-46 Components That Use EXPIRATION

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use EXPIRATION to define how long report output can exist in cache before it is deleted.

See Section 18.12, "Reusing Report Output from Cache" for more information on duplicate job detection. See Section 24.4, "Tuning Reports Server Configuration" and Section 24.8, "Running the Report" for tuning considerations in relation to maxQueueSize and cacheSize values.

Syntax EXPIRATION=time_string

Values 

time_string Is in one of two formats:

n{unit}, for a number with an optional unit. The unit can be minute(s), hour(s), or day(s). The default unit is minute(s) if no unit is specified.

{Mon DD, YYYY} hh:mi:ss am|pm {timezone}, for a date/time format. Date information is optional. If it isn't specified, today is assumed. Time zone is also optional. If it isn't specified, the Reports Server's time zone is used. The date/time is always in a US locale. This format is the same as defined in the Java DateFormat.MEDIUM type.

Default None

A.6.7 EXPIREDAYS

Table A-47 indicates which components can use the EXPIREDAYS keyword.

Table A-47 Components That Use EXPIREDAYS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use EXPIREDAYS to specify the number of days after which the Oracle Reports output pushed to Oracle Portal should be expired.

Syntax EXPIREDAYS={PERMANENT|1 day|2 days|3 days|7 days|14 days|31 days|60 days|90 days|120 days}

Values 

PERMANENT Does not expire.

n days Expires after n days.

Default None

Usage Notes 

Use of this keyword is optional to push Oracle Reports output to Oracle Portal.

Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SITENAME*, STATUSFOLDER*, STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

A.6.8 FORMSIZE

Table A-48 indicates which components can use the FORMSIZE keyword.

Table A-48 Components That Use FORMSIZE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use FORMSIZE to specify the size of the Runtime Parameter Form for the converted report in terms of the destination unit of measurement (specified using DUNIT).

Syntax FORMSIZE=width x height

Values 

width/height Any valid values in the specified unit of measurement.

Default None

Usage Notes 

For non-character DUNITs, you can use a decimal to specify fractions (for example, 8.5 x 11).

For more information on the Runtime Parameter Form, see the PARAMFORM keyword.

A.6.9 FROM

Table A-49 indicates which components can use the FROM keyword.

Table A-49 Components That Use FROM

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use FROM to specify the e-mail address of the sender of an e-mail.

Syntax FROM="emailid"

Values 

emailid Any valid e-mail address in the form someone@foo.com.

Default loginid@machine_name

Usage Notes Related keywords include BCC, CC, REPLYTO, and SUBJECT. Note that DESNAME is used to specify the main recipient(s) of the e-mail.

A.6.10 GETJOBID

Table A-50 indicates which components can use the GETJOBID keyword.

Table A-50 Components That Use GETJOBID

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use GETJOBID to retrieve the result output of the Reports Server job with job ID n.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/getjobid n[?][server=server_name][&authid=username/password]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword is a command that does not require a value; that is, commands are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

Job must be successfully finished and present in the Reports Server cache. Use SHOWJOBS to see the current list of jobs.

Related keywords are SERVER and AUTHID.

A.6.11 GETSERVERINFO

Table A-51 indicates which components can use the GETSERVERINFO keyword.

Table A-51 Components That Use GETSERVERINFO

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use GETSERVERINFO to display Reports Server information. You can choose the format (HTML or XML) in which the information is returned through statusformat.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/getserverinfo[?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]
[&statusformat={html|xml}]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword is a command that does not require a value; that is, commands are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

Related keywords are SERVER and AUTHID.

A.6.12 HELP

Table A-52 indicates which components can use the HELP keyword.

Table A-52 Components That Use HELP

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use HELP to display a help topic that lists the keywords you can use with the rwservlet command.

Syntax http://yourwebserver/reports/rwservlet/help

or

http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/help?command=keyword

Values See Syntax

Default None

Example

http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/help?command=keyword

A.6.13 ITEMTITLE

Table A-53 indicates which components can use the ITEMTITLE keyword.

Table A-53 Components That Use ITEMTITLE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use ITEMTITLE to specify the display name Oracle Portal should use for Oracle Reports output. The name will display in Oracle Portal and link to Oracle Reports output.

Syntax ITEMTITLE=title

Values 

title Any text. Put quotation marks around the value if the value has any character spaces in it or you are specifying the option in the cgicmd.dat key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File").

Default The report file name

Usage Notes 

Use of this keyword is optional to push Oracle Reports output to Oracle Portal.

Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SITENAME*, STATUSFOLDER*, STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

A.6.14 JOBNAME

Table A-54 indicates which components can use the JOBNAME keyword.

Table A-54 Components That Use JOBNAME

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use JOBNAME to specify the name for a job to appear in Reports Queue Manager. It is treated as a comment and has nothing to do with running the job. If JOBNAME is not specified, then Reports Queue Manager shows the report name as the job name.

Syntax JOBNAME=string

Values 

string Any job name.

Default None

Usage Notes JOBNAME can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.6.15 JOBRETRY

Table A-55 indicates which components can use the JOBRETRY keyword.

Table A-55 Components That Use JOBRETRY

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use JOBRETRY to specify the maximum number of times a job should be retried after failing. When specified, this keyword takes precedence over the server configuration file entry for the retry attribute of the job element.

Syntax JOBRETRY=retries

Values 

retries An integer that specifies the number of times to retry a job that fails with unexpected errors, after the initial run (total attempts = initial run + JOBRETRY value).

Default 0

Usage Notes Jobs explicitly canceled are not be retried. All jobs that fail with unexpected errors (either engine crash or normal errors) are retried.

If an invalid value is specified for JOBRETRY, Oracle Reports generates runtime exception REP-50003.

A.6.16 JOBTYPE

Table A-56 indicates which components can use the JOBTYPE keyword.

Table A-56 Components That Use JOBTYPE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use JOBTYPE to specify the type of job to be processed by the server. You can enter any type of job, as long as Reports Server has an engine to process it.

Syntax JOBTYPE=jobtype

Values 

jobtype A job for which Reports Server has an engine. For example: report (for rwEng engine) or rwurl (for rwURLEng engine).

Default report

Usage Notes The database authentication functionality provided in Oracle Reports is available only when JOBTYPE=report. This is the job type of the default engine (rwEng) provided with OracleAS Reports Services. The database authentication functionality is not available when JOBTYPE specifies a different value (for example, for a custom engine that you develop yourself). This is because a custom engine may require a different format for the connect string, while the Oracle Reports database authentication functionality limits the connect string to the Oracle Reports format user/password@dbname used for the default engine.

A.6.17 JVMOPTIONS

Table A-57 indicates which components can use the JVMOPTIONS keyword.

Table A-57 Components That Use JVMOPTIONS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

Description Use JVMOPTIONS to set options for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

Syntax 

JVMOPTIONS={options in the Reports Runtime, Reports Builder, Reports Converter, or Reports Server's JVM}

Usage Notes

The default value -Xmx256M specifies the JVM heap size of 256 MB to avoid the Out Of Memory error when running reports with large graphs or running big reports.

When the Reports Engine starts up, it checks for JVM options specified in the rwserver.conf file in the jvmoptions attribute of the engine element. For more information, see Section 8.2.1.9, "engine". If specified, the JVM options set in rwserver.conf override the value of the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS environment variable. If not specified in rwserver.conf, Oracle Reports uses the JVM options specified by the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS environment variable. For more information, see Section B.1.53, "REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS".

When running reports with Reports Server, JVM options cannot be set using the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS environment variable. For Reports Server, set JVM options on the command line using the JVMOPTIONS command line keyword.

When running reports with Reports Builder, Reports Runtime, and Reports Converter, JVM options specified on the command line with the JVMOPTIONS command line keyword override JVM options specified by the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS environment variable.

Examples

You could use the following command line to start the Reports Server (rwserver) with a 512MB heap space:

rwserver server=servername jvmoptions=-Xmx512M

You could also use the following command line to start Oracle Reports Builder (rwbuilder) with a 512MB heap space:

rwbuilder jvmoptions=-Xmx512M

If multiple options are passed, they must be enclosed in quotes:

rwserver server=servername jvmoptions="-Xmx256M -Xms128M"

A.6.18 KILLENGINE

Table A-58 indicates which components can use the KILLENGINE keyword.

Table A-58 Components That Use KILLENGINE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use KILLENGINE to stop a Reports Server engine with the specified engine ID and engine type. For a secured Reports Server, only users with Administrator privileges can use this keyword. For an unsecured Reports Server, the user ID and password values for the AUTHID keyword must match the user ID and password specified by the identifier tag in the server.conf configuration file.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/killengine[?][server=server_name][&authid=username/password]
[&type=engine_type]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

The engine must currently exist in the Reports Server.

Use GETSERVERINFO to see the current engines existing in the server.

Related keywords are GETSERVERINFO, SERVER, and AUTHID.

Example

To kill an engine rwEng-0

http://yourwebserver/reports/rwservlet/killengine0?server=myserver&authid=mydb/password&type=rwEng

A.6.19 KILLJOBID

Table A-59 indicates which components can use the KILLJOBID keyword.

Table A-59 Components That Use KILLJOBID

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use KILLJOBID to kill a Reports Server job with the specified job ID n.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/killjobidn[?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]
[&statusformat={html|xml|xmldtd}]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

The job must be current (enqueued or scheduled).

Use SHOWJOBS to see the current list of jobs. The STATUSFORMAT can be set to html (default), xml, or xmldtd to return status in that format. The status information is generated in HTML, XML, or XMLDTD (with an internal DTD subset).

Related keywords are SHOWJOBS, SERVER, AUTHID, and STATUSFORMAT.

A.6.20 LONGCHUNK

Table A-60 indicates which components can use the LONGCHUNK keyword.

Table A-60 Components That Use LONGCHUNK

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description LONGCHUNK is the size (in kilobytes) of the increments in which Oracle Reports Builder retrieves a LONG column value. When retrieving a LONG value, you might want to retrieve it in increments rather than all at once because of memory size restrictions. LONGCHUNK applies only to Oracle databases.

Syntax LONGCHUNK=n

Values 

n A number from 1 through 9999 (note that thousands are not expressed with any internal punctuation, for example, a comma or a decimal point). For some operating systems, the upper limit might be lower.

Default 10

Usage Notes LONGCHUNK can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.6.21 MIMETYPE

Table A-61 indicates which components can use the MIMETYPE keyword.

Table A-61 Components That Use MIMETYPE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use MIMETYPE to override the MIME type assigned by the Reports Server when it returns output for the Web. In most cases, the default MIME type is correct, but, in cases where it is not, you can override it with this keyword.

Syntax MIMETYPE=string

Values 

string A valid MIME type specification.

Default None

Usage Notes Oracle Reports Services does not verify the string you enter for MIMETYPE. You must ensure yourself that the string is correct for the returned report output.

Example

MIMETYPE=application/vnd.ms-excel

A.6.22 MODE

Table A-62 indicates which components can use the MODE keyword.

Table A-62 Components That Use MODE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use MODE to specify whether to run the report in character mode or bitmap. This enables you to run a character-mode report from Oracle Reports Builder.

Syntax MODE={BITMAP|CHARACTER|DEFAULT}

Values 

BITMAP Run the report in bitmap mode.

DEFAULT Run the report in the mode of the current component being used.

CHARACTER On Windows - the Oracle Reports Builder ASCII driver will be used to produce editable ASCII output.

Default DEFAULT

A.6.23 MODULE|REPORT

Table A-63 indicates which components can use the MODULE|REPORT keyword.

Table A-63 Components That Use MODULE|REPORT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use MODULE or REPORT to specify the name of the report to run.

Syntax  REPORT|MODULE=runfile

Values  

runfile Any valid runfile (that is, a file with an extension of .rep,.rdf,.jsp, or .xml).

Default None

Usage Notes

If you specify a character-mode report, Oracle Reports Builder displays a warning, then opens the report using a page size of 8.5" x 11" and a form size of 7" x 6".

To run the report (for example, display it in the Paper Design View), it must be a complete report definition (that is, contain its own data model and layout definition). You cannot run a partial report definition.

An XML report definition must have the.xml file extension when specified with the MODULE|REPORT keyword.

If you do not enter a file extension, Oracle Reports Builder searches first for a file with extension.rep, then extension .rdf, then .jsp, and then no extension, using the file path search order to find the file.

A.6.24 NAME

The NAME keyword is used only by the rwbridge component.

Description  Use NAME to specify the name of the Oracle Reports Bridge. The Oracle Reports Bridge component (rwbridge) searches for the Oracle Reports Bridge configuration file, repbrg_bridgename.conf, in ORACLE_HOME/reports/conf. If not found, a new configuration file is created in ORACLE_HOME/reports/conf.

Syntax  NAME=bridgename

Values  

bridgename Any alphanumeric string.

Default None

A.6.25 NONBLOCKSQL

Table A-64 indicates which components can use the NONBLOCKSQL keyword.

Table A-64 Components That Use NONBLOCKSQL

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description Use NONBLOCKSQL to specify whether to allow other programs to execute while data is fetched from the database.

Syntax NONBLOCKSQL={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Other programs can execute while data is being fetched.

NO Other programs cannot execute while data is being fetched.

Default YES

Usage Notes NONBLOCKSQL can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.6.26 NOTIFYFAILURE

Table A-65 indicates which components can use the NOTIFYFAILURE keyword.

Table A-65 Components That Use NOTIFYFAILURE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use NOTIFYFAILURE to specify the recipient(s) of a notification e-mail should a report request fail. Use this keyword when you configure your Reports Server to use the notification class. For more information, see the notification discussion in Configuring Oracle Reports Services.

Syntax NOTIFYFAILURE="emailid"|("emailid", "emailid",...)

Values 

emailid A valid e-mail address in the form someone@foo.com.

Default None

Usage Notes 

The default notification e-mail templates that are used for the body of the notification e-mail are included with your installation of Oracle Fusion Middleware. The NOTIFYFAILURE template is named failnote.txt, and is located at ORACLE_HOME\reports\template.

NOTIFYFAILURE can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.6.27 NOTIFYSUCCESS

Table A-66 indicates which components can use the NOTIFYSUCCESS keyword.

Table A-66 Components That Use NOTIFYSUCCESS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use NOTIFYSUCCESS to specify the recipient(s) of a notification e-mail should a report request succeed. Use this keyword when you configure your Reports Server to use the notification class in the configuration file, or when you select the Enable Email Notification element on the Reports Application Advanced Configuration page in Oracle Enterprise Manager. For more information, see the notification discussion in Chapter 8, "Configuring Oracle Reports Services".

Syntax NOTIFYSUCCESS="emailid"|("emailid", "emailid",...)

Values 

emailid A valid e-mail address in the form someone@foo.com.

Default None

Usage Notes 

The default notification e-mail templates that are used for the body of the notification e-mail are included with your installation of Oracle Fusion Middleware. The NOTIFYSUCCESS template is named succnote.txt, and is located at ORACLE_HOME\reports\template.

NOTIFYSUCCESS can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.6.28 NUMBERFORMATMASK

Table A-67 indicates which components can use the NUMBERFORMATMASK keyword.

Table A-67 Components That Use NUMBERFORMATMASK

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use NUMBERFORMATMASK to specify how number values display in your delimited report output.

Syntax NUMBERFORMATMASK=mask

Values Any valid number format mask.

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword can only be used if you have specified DESFORMAT=DELIMITED or DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA.

Note:

For valid NUMBERFORMATMASK values see the Oracle Reports online Help topic, "Number Format Mask Syntax."

NUMBERFORMATMASK can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.6.29 ONFAILURE

Table A-68 indicates which components can use the ONFAILURE keyword.

Table A-68 Components That Use ONFAILURE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use ONFAILURE to specify whether you want a COMMIT or ROLLBACK performed if an error occurs and the report fails to complete.

Syntax ONFAILURE={COMMIT|ROLLBACK|NOACTION}

Values 

COMMIT Perform a COMMIT if the report fails.

ROLLBACK Perform a ROLLBACK if the report fails.

NOACTION Do nothing if the report fails.

Default 

ROLLBACK, if a USERID is provided.

NOACTION, if called from an external source (for example, Oracle Forms Services) with no USERID provided.

Usage Notes 

The COMMIT or ROLLBACK for ONFAILURE is performed after the report fails. Other COMMITs and ROLLBACKs can occur prior to this one. For more information, see the READONLY command.

ONFAILURE can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.6.30 ONSUCCESS

Table A-69 indicates which components can use the ONSUCCESS keyword.

Table A-69 Components That Use ONSUCCESS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use ONSUCCESS to specify that either a COMMIT or ROLLBACK should be performed when a report is finished running.

Syntax ONSUCCESS={COMMIT|ROLLBACK|NOACTION}

Values 

COMMIT Perform a COMMIT when a report is done.

ROLLBACK Perform a ROLLBACK when a report is done.

NOACTION Do nothing when a report is done.

Default 

COMMIT, if a USERID is provided.

NOACTION, if called from an external source (for example, Oracle Forms Services) with no USERID provided.

Usage Notes 

The COMMIT or ROLLBACK for ONSUCCESS is performed after the after-report trigger fires. Other COMMITs and ROLLBACKs can occur prior to this one. For more information, see the READONLY command.

ONSUCCESS can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.6.31 ORIENTATION

Table A-70 indicates which components can use the ORIENTATION keyword.

Table A-70 Components That Use ORIENTATION

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  ORIENTATION specifies the direction in which the pages of the report will print.

Syntax ORIENTATION={DEFAULT|LANDSCAPE|PORTRAIT}

Values 

DEFAULT Use the current printer setting for orientation.

LANDSCAPE Landscape orientation (long side at top and bottom).

PORTRAIT Portrait orientation (short side at top and bottom).

Default DEFAULT

Usage Notes  

The ORIENTATION command line keyword is effective only when DESTYPE=PRINTER or DESFORMAT=RTF. The orientation of RTF report output is based on the following order of precedence:

ORIENTATION command line keyword.

ORIENTATION system parameter.

Orientation property for the pertinent report section (Header, Main, or Trailer): Portrait or Landscape.

(If the Orientation property is set to Default) Width and Height properties for the pertinent report section:

If Width is greater than Height (for example, 11 x 8.5), then orientation is landscape.

If Height is greater than Width (for example, 8.5 x 11), then orientation is portrait.

For PDF report output, any values specified for the ORIENTATION command line keyword, ORIENTATION system parameter, and Orientation property are ignored. Orientation of the PDF output is based solely on the values of the Width and Height properties, as above.

If ORIENTATION=LANDSCAPE for a character-mode report, then you must ensure that your printer definition file contains a landscape clause.

This keyword is not supported when output to a PCL printer on UNIX.

A.7 Command Line Keywords (OUTPUTFOLDER to ROLE)

This section provides a brief description of the Oracle Reports components and the keywords that each component can use.

A.7.1 OUTPUTFOLDER

Table A-71 indicates which components can use the OUTPUTFOLDER keyword.

Table A-71 Components That Use OUTPUTFOLDER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use OUTPUTFOLDER to specify the name of the Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 or Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 folder to which to report output should be pushed. This keyword is maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 and Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1. Beginning with Oracle Portal 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), use OUTPUTPAGE.

Syntax OUTPUTFOLDER=folder

Values 

folder Any valid folder name (internal name) used in Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 or Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1.

Default Oracle_Reports_Output

Usage Notes 

The value for this keyword is case sensitive.

Use of this keyword is optional to push Oracle Reports output to Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 or Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1.

Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SITENAME*, STATUSFOLDER*, STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

A.7.2 OUTPUTGRAPHFORMAT

Table A-73 indicates which components can use the OUTPUTGRAPHFORMAT keyword.

Table A-72 Components That Use OUTPUTGRAPHFORMAT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description Use OUTPUTGRAPHFORMAT to specify the GRAPH image format.

Syntax OUTPUTGRAPHFORMAT={SVG}

Values 

SVG (default)

Supported Graph image format when DESFORMAT value is HTML or HTMLCSS.

Examples

Example 1

The following command lines generate PNG images with HTML output:

rwclient server=my_rep_server report=images.rdf destype=file desformat=html desname=images.html userid=user_id outputgraphformat=SVG

rwrun report=images.rdf destype=file desformat=html desname=images.html userid=user_id outputgraphformat=SVG

A.7.3 OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT

Table A-73 indicates which components can use the OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT keyword.

Table A-73 Components That Use OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description Use OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT to specify the format for images in report output.

Syntax OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT={PNG|JPEG|JPG|GIF|BMP}

Values 

PNG,JPEG (default),JPG

Supported image formats when DESFORMAT value is PDF, HTML, HTMLCSS, RTF, or SPREADSHEET.

GIF

Supported image format when DESFORMAT value is PDF, HTML, HTMLCSS, or SPREADSHEET.

BMP

Supported image formats when DESFORMAT value is RTF.

Usage Notes 

This command line keyword overrides the setting of the REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT environment variable.

This command line keyword is not supported if the REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY environment variable is explicitly set to NO (default is YES). In this case, image rendering defaults to GIF for HTML, HTMLCSS, and PDF output, and BMP for RTF output.

You must ensure the format that you specify matches the output type. For example, BMP only works for RTF output. It will not work for HTML, HTMLCSS or PDF output.

A report containing images and run to DESFORMAT=SPREADSHEET using a secured Reports Server is not supported. This is due to Microsoft Excel's limitation on cookie support. Alternatively, you can write the Excel output from a secure Reports Server to a URL using WebDAV.

Examples

Example 1

The following command lines generate PNG images with HTML output:

rwclient server=my_rep_server report=images.rdf destype=file desformat=html desname=images.html userid=user_id outputimageformat=PNG

rwrun report=images.rdf destype=file desformat=html desname=images.html userid=user_id outputimageformat=PNG

Similarly when DESFORMAT=pdf, images are embedded in PNG format in the generated PDF document.

Example 2

An error is displayed if an invalid value is specified for the OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT. The following command lines generate an error message:

rwclient server=my_rep_server report=images.rdf destype=file desformat=html desname=images.html userid=user_id outputimageformat=ABCD

rwrun report=images.rdf destype=file desformat=html desname=images.html userid=user_id outputimageformat=ABCD

The invalid image format ABCD generates the following error message:

REP-35000: The image output format specified is not supported.

A.7.4 OUTPUTPAGE

Table A-74 indicates which components can use the OUTPUTPAGE keyword.

Table A-74 Components That Use OUTPUTPAGE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use OUTPUTPAGE to specify the name of the Oracle Portal page to which report output should be pushed. For backward compatibility with earlier versions (Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 and Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1), see OUTPUTFOLDER.

Syntax OUTPUTPAGE=page

Values 

page Any valid page name (internal name) used in Oracle Portal.

Default Oracle_Reports_Output

Usage Notes 

Use of this keyword is optional to push Oracle Reports output to Oracle Portal:

If you do not specify an output page, Oracle Portal will create a default page named Oracle_Reports_Output.

If you specify an output page, use the internal name and not the display name. The internal name is used to uniquely identify the Oracle Portal component instance.

The value for this keyword is case-sensitive.

The page should contain at least one item region when used with DESTYPE=ORACLEPORTAL.

Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SITENAME*, STATUSFOLDER*, STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

A.7.5 OVERWRITE

Table A-75 indicates which components can use the OVERWRITE keyword.

Table A-75 Components That Use OVERWRITE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use OVERWRITE to specify whether to overwrite existing files with the converted files.

Syntax OVERWRITE={YES|NO|PROMPT}

Values 

YES Automatically overwrite any existing files of the same name.

NO Do not to convert reports if there are existing files of the same name and display a warning message

PROMPT Prompt you before overwriting any existing files.

Default NO

A.7.6 PARAMETER

Table A-75 indicates which components can use the parameter keyword.

Table A-76 Components That Use parameter

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

Description Use parameter to specify a parameter that is part of the report's definition. The value you specify is used for that parameter's value.

Syntax parameter=value

Values 

parameter The name of the parameter as defined in the report.

value Any valid value for that parameter.

Default Taken from the Initial Value property of the parameter.

Usage Notes 

You can override the default value on the Runtime Parameter Form.

Values may be in single or double quotes. The effect of single or double quotes is operating-system specific.

If you specify runfile(s) using the REPORT keyword, the parameter value(s) will be validated using the settings specified for each parameter (for example, Input Mask, Validation Trigger) in the report(s).

If you do not specify runfile(s) using the REPORT keyword, the parameter value(s) are not parsed, or validated, because they may refer to parameters that have not yet been defined.

A.7.7 P_AVAILABILITY

Table A-77 indicates which components can use the P_AVAILABILITY keyword.

Table A-77 Components That Use P_AVAILABILITY

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description  Use P_AVAILABILITY to specify the name of the availability calendar that determines when the reports specified will be available for processing. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax P_AVAILABILITY=calendar_name

Values 

calendar_name Any valid availability calendar name.

Default None

Usage Notes The availability calendar must exist in Oracle Portal before running the SQL*PLUS script. If it does not, an invalid package may be created.

A.7.8 P_DESCRIPTION

Table A-78 indicates which components can use the P_DESCRIPTION keyword.

Table A-78 Components That Use P_DESCRIPTION

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use P_DESCRIPTION to specify the text that provides additional information about the report. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax  P_DESCRIPTON=description_text

Values 

description_text Any text string.

Default None

A.7.9 P_FORMATS

Table A-79 indicates which components can use the P_FORMATS keyword.

Table A-79 Components That Use P_FORMATS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use P_FORMATS to specify the allowable destination formats for the specified reports. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax P_FORMATS=destination_format|(destination_format1,destination_format2,...)

Values 

destination_format Any valid destination format (for example, HTML) or a list of valid destination formats enclosed by parentheses with a comma separating the names (for example: HTMLCSS, PDF, RTF).

Usage Notes If the destination format for the report is DELIMITEDDATA, it may not be possible to batch register the report in Oracle Portal. As a workaround, you can define a different destination format, then batch register the report, and later manually edit the report to DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA. For more information about batch registering reports, see Appendix C, "Batch Registering Reports in Oracle Portal"

Default None

A.7.10 P_JDBCPDS

Table A-80 indicates which components can use the P_JDBCPDS keyword.

Table A-80 Components That Use P_JDBCPDS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description Use P_JDBCPDS to specify the JDBC pluggable data source (PDS) connection string to connect to a database for running a report containing a JDBC query.

See Also:

Chapter 14, "Configuring and Using the Pluggable Data sources".

Syntax P_JDBCPDS=userid/password@database

Values A valid JDBC PDS connection string where:

userid The user ID for connecting to the JDBC pluggable data source.

password The password for the user ID.

database The database connection information, specific to the particular data source, as detailed in Section 14.1.2.1, "Sample Connection Information".

Usage Notes P_JDBCPDS is the default sign-on name for connecting to a JDBC PDS. You can change this name in Reports Builder when defining the JDBC query in the Report Wizard. The new sign-on name can be used on the command line as the value for the P_JDBCPDS command line keyword. For more information on defining your JDBC query in Reports Builder, see Section 14.1.2, "Defining and Running a JDBC Query".

Example

To connect to a Sybase data source:

P_JDBCPDS=sybuser/sybpwd@server1.mydomain.com:1300

A.7.11 P_NAME

Table A-81 indicates which components can use the P_NAME keyword.

Table A-81 Components That Use P_NAME

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use P_NAME to specify the report name displayed in Oracle Portal. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax P_NAME=report_name

Values 

report_name Any report name.

Default  If P_NAME is not specified, the PL/SQL function is populated with the report definition file name.

Usage Notes 

If P_NAME is not specified, the PL/SQL function is populated with the report definition file name.

Specify P_NAME only when you want to use the same report name for each report definition file being registered in Oracle Portal. This option is typically left blank.

The report name cannot be prefaced with numeric characters (for example, 401K_ report is an invalid file name and my_401K_report is valid).

A.7.12 P_OWNER

Table A-82 indicates which components can use the P_OWNER keyword.

Table A-82 Components That Use P_OWNER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use P_OWNER to specify the Oracle Portal DB Provider that owns a report's package, which is created when the report definition files are registered. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax  P_OWNER=portal_dbprovider

Values 

portal_dbprovider Any valid Oracle Portal DB Provider name.

Default  The name of the Oracle Portal DB Provider to which you are connected when you run the SQL*PLUS script file.

A.7.13 P_PFORMTEMPLATE

Table A-83 indicates the Components That Use the P_PFORMTEMPLATE keyword.

Table A-83 Components That Use P_PFORMTEMPLATE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description  Use P_PFORMTEMPLATE to specify the name of the Oracle Portal template that determines the style of the Runtime Parameter Form. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax P_PFORMTEMPLATE=template_name

Values 

template_name Any valid Oracle Portal template name.

Default None

A.7.14 P_PRINTERS

Table A-84 indicates the Components That Use the P_PRINTERS keyword.

Table A-84 Components That Use P_PRINTERS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use P_PRINTERS to specify the allowable printers for the specified reports. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax P_PRINTERS=printer_name

Values 

printer_name Any valid printer (for example, PRT1), or a list of valid printers enclosed by parentheses with a comma separating the names (for example, (PRT1,PRT2,PRT3)).

Default None

Usage Note Access to the printer(s) should already exist in Oracle Portal before running the SQL*Plus script.

A.7.15 P_PRIVILEGE

Table A-85 indicates which components can use the P_PRIVILEGE keyword.

Table A-85 Components That Use P_PRIVILEGE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description  Use P_PRIVILEGE to specify the users or roles who have access privileges to run the specified reports. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax  P_PRIVILEGE=user_name

Values 

user_name Any user name or role that Oracle Portal can recognize (for example, SCOTT), or a list of user names or roles enclosed by parentheses with a comma separating the names (for example, (SCOTT,JABERS,PMARTIN)).

Default None

A.7.16 P_SERVERS

Table A-86 indicates which components can use the P_SERVERS keyword.

Table A-86 Components That Use P_SERVERS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description  Use P_SERVERS to specify the names of the restricted Reports Servers that can run the report. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax P_SERVERS=tnsname

Values 

tnsname Any valid TNS name of the Reports Server (for example, repserver), or a list of valid Reports Server TNS names enclosed by parentheses with a comma separating the names (for example, (repserver, acct_server, sales_server)).

Default None

Usage Notes Access to the Reports Server(s) should already exist in Oracle Portal.

A.7.17 P_TRIGGER

Table A-87 indicates the Components That Use the P_TRIGGERS keyword.

Table A-87 Components That Use P_TRIGGER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use P_TRIGGER to specify the PL/SQL function that is executed when parameter values are specified on the command line and when users accept the Runtime Parameter Form. The function must return a boolean value (TRUE or FALSE).

This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax P_TRIGGER=plsql_function

Values 

plsql_function Any valid PL/SQL function that returns a boolean value.

Default None

Example

P_TRIGGER="Is begin IF UPPER(DESTYPE) = ''PRINTER'' AND EMPNAME = ''SMITH'' THEN RETURN(TRUE); ELSE RETURN(FALSE); END IF; end;"

A.7.18 P_TYPES

Table A-88 indicates which components can use the P_TYPES keyword.

Table A-88 Components That Use P_TYPES

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use P_TYPES to specify the allowable destination types for the specified reports. This keyword is only used when DTYPE=REGISTER.

Syntax P_TYPES=destination_type

Values 

destination_type Any valid destination type (for example, CACHE to display in a browser), or a list of valid destination types enclosed by parentheses with a comma separating the names (for example, (CACHE,MAIL,PRINTER)).

Default  None

A.7.19 PAGEGROUP

Table A-89 indicates which components can use the PAGEGROUP keyword.

Table A-89 Components That Use PAGEGROUP

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use PAGEGROUP to specify the name of the Oracle Portal page group to which report output should be pushed. For backward compatibility with earlier releases, see SITENAME (for Oracle WebDB Release 2.2) and CONTENTAREA (for Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1). The page group must be created in Oracle Portal before you can use this keyword.

Syntax PAGEGROUP=pagegroup

Values 

pagegroup Any valid page group name (internal name) used in Oracle Portal.

Default None

Usage Notes 

Use of this keyword is required to push Oracle Reports output to Oracle Portal.

The page group name should be the internal name and not the display name. The internal name is used to uniquely identify the Oracle Portal page instance.

Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SITENAME*, STATUSFOLDER*, STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

A.7.20 PAGESIZE

Table A-90 indicates which components can use the PAGESIZE keyword.

Table A-90 Components That Use PAGESIZE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

Description Use PAGESIZE to set the dimensions of the physical page (that is, the size of the page that the printer outputs). The page must be large enough to contain the report. For example, if a frame in a report expands to a size larger than the page dimensions, then the report is not run.

Syntax PAGESIZE=width x height

Values Any valid page dimensions of the form: page width x page height, where page width and page height are more than zero. The maximum width and height depends which unit of measurement was set in Oracle Reports Builder (Edit > Preferences > General tab). For inches, the maximum width and height is 512 inches. For centimeters, it is 1312 centimeters. For picas, it is 36,864 picas.

Default For bitmap, 8.5 x 11 inches. For character mode, 80 x 66 characters. If the report was designed for character mode and is being run or converted on bitmap, then the following formula is used to determine page size if none is specified: (default page size * character page size)/default character page size. For example, if the character page size is 80 x 20, then the bit-mapped page size would be:
( (8.5 * 80)/80) x ((11 * 20)/66) = (680/80) x (220/66) = 8.5 x 3.33.

Usage Notes 

On some printers the printable area of the physical page is restricted. For example, the sheet of paper a printer takes might be 8.5 x 11 inches, but the printer might only be able to print on an area of 8 x 10.5 inches. If you define a page width x page height in Oracle Reports Builder that is bigger than the printable area your printer allows, then clipping might occur in your report output. To avoid clipping, you can either increase the printable area for the printer (if your operating system allows it), or you can set the page width x page height to be the size of the printable area of the page.

Letter size is 8.5 inches x 11 inches. A4 size is 210mm x 297mm, or 8.25 inches x 11.75 inches.

If you use the PAGESIZE keyword, then its value overrides the page dimensions of the report definition.

A PAGESIZE value entered on the Runtime Parameter Form overrides any PAGESIZE value entered on the command line.

A.7.21 PAGESTREAM

Table A-91 indicates which components can use the PAGESTREAM keyword.

Table A-91 Components That Use PAGESTREAM

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  PAGESTREAM enables or disables page streaming (pagination) for the report when formatted as HTML or HTMLCSS output, using the navigation controls set by either of the following:

The Page Navigation Control Type and Page Navigation Control Value properties in the Report Property Palette.

PL/SQL in a BEFORE REPORT trigger (SRW.SET_PAGE_NAVIGATION_HTML)

Syntax PAGESTREAM={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Paginate the report output.

NO Output the report without pagination.

Default NO

A.7.22 PARAMFORM

Table A-92 indicates which components can use the PARAMFORM keyword.

Table A-92 Components That Use PARAMFORM

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use PARAMFORM to specify whether to display the Runtime Parameter Form when you execute a report through Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet). PARAMFORM is used only to supply parameters to paper layout reports, not JSP-based Web reports.

Syntax PARAMFORM=YES|NO|HTML

Values 

YES Display the Parameter Form.

NO Do not display the Parameter Form.

HTML Display the Parameter Form in HTML format.

Default NO

Usage Notes 

PARAMFORM=YES is incompatible with BATCH=YES because it is not meaningful to have the Runtime Parameter Form appear in batch mode.

Do not use this keyword when running a report in an Oracle Portal environment. This is because Oracle Portal enables you to set up a Report Runtime Parameter Form, which would conflict with a Parameter Form you specify with the PARAMFORM keyword.

Example

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/rwservlet?server=myrepserver+report=test.rdf
+userid=scott/tiger@mydb+destype=cache+desformat=htmlcss+paramform=html

A.7.23 PARSEQUERY

Table A-93 indicates which components can use the PARSEQUERY keyword.

Table A-93 Components That Use PARSEQUERY

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use PARSEQUERY to parse an rwservlet query and display the constructed Reports Server command line.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/parsequery[?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes  

This keyword is a command that does not require a value; that is, commands are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

Related keywords are SERVER and AUTHID.

A.7.24 PDFCOMP

Table A-94 indicates which components can use the PDFCOMP keyword.

Table A-94 Components That Use PDFCOMP

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use PDFCOMP to specify whether PDF output should be compressed.

Syntax PDFCOMP=value|{YES|NO}

Values 

value Any value 0 though 9. A value of 0 means PDF output will not be compressed. A value of 1 through 9 will compress the PDF output and permit users to control the compression level.

YES Compresses output at compression level 6.

NO Compresses output at compression level 0 (no compression).

Default 6

A.7.25 PDFEMBED

Table A-95 indicates which components can use the PDFEMBED keyword.

Table A-95 Components That Use PDFEMBED

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use PDFEMBED to specify whether Oracle Reports will embed the Type1 PostScript font file(s) specified in the uifont.ali file into PDF output.

Syntax PDFEMBED={YES|NO}

Values 

YES The PDF driver will embed the font(s) specified in the [PDF:Embed] header of the uifont.ali file into the PDF output.

NO The font(s) will not be added to PDF output.

Default YES

A.7.26 PDFOWNER

Table A-96 indicates which components can use the PDFOWNER keyword.

Table A-96 Components That Use PDFOWNER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Note:

To generate PDF encrypted report output using Oracle Reports Builder (rwbuilder), you must pass at least one of the PDF encryption command line keywords (PDUSER, PDFOWNER, or PDFSECURITY) in the command to start rwbuilder.

In Oracle Reports Builder, select Generate to File > PDF to generate the PDF encrypted output.

Description  Use PDFOWNER to specify the owner password for encrypted PDF report output. This password is used in combination with PDFUSER to specify authorization privileges for opening PDF report output (in Acrobat Reader 5.0 or later) and changing the passwords or access permissions of the PDF report output (in Acrobat Writer 6.0 or later). Refer to Table 11-5 for the effect of the possible combinations of the PDFOWNER and PDFUSER command line keywords.

For more information, see Section 11.2.4, "Encryption, Password Protection, and Permissions Security".

Syntax PDFOWNER=owner_password

Values 

owner_password The owner password that must be entered by the end user when prompted.

Default None

A.7.27 PDFSECURITY

Table A-97 indicates which components can use the PDFSECURITY keyword.

Table A-97 Components That Use PDSECURITY

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Note:

To generate PDF encrypted report output using Oracle Reports Builder (rwbuilder), you must pass at least one of the PDF encryption command line keywords (PDUSER, PDFOWNER, or PDFSECURITY) in the command to start rwbuilder.

In Oracle Reports Builder, select Generate to File > PDF to generate the PDF encrypted output.

Description  Use PDFSECURITY to suppress up to 8 permissions for encrypted PDF report output. PDFSECURITY may be specified with or without PDFUSER and PDFOWNER.

For more information, see Section 11.2.4, "Encryption, Password Protection, and Permissions Security".

Syntax PDFSECURITY=suppress_permission[,suppress_permission...]

Values 

suppress_permission Any of the values listed in Table A-98, which specifies the associated effect when the value is specified:

Table A-98 PDFSECURITY Values

Value
Effect

NOHIRESPRINTING

Disallows high resolution printing; instead, the document prints at a low resolution.

NOMODIFYCONTENTS

Disallows modifying the contents of the document by operations other than those controlled by NOMODIFYANNOTATIONS, NOFILLIN, and NOASSEMBLY.

NOCOPY

Disallows copying or otherwise extracting text and graphics from the document by operations other than that controlled by NOSCREENREADERS.

NOMODIFYANNOTATIONS

Disallows adding or modifying text annotations, fill in interactive form fields, and, if NOMODIFYCONTENTS is also specified, disallow creating or modifying interactive form fields (including signature fields).

NOFILLIN

Disallows filling in existing interactive form fields (including signature fields), even if NOMODIFYANNOTATIONS is not specified.

NOSCREENREADERS

Disallows extracting text and graphics (for accessibility support or for other purposes).

NOASSEMBLY

Disallows assembling the document (insert, rotate, or delete pages and create bookmarks or thumbnail images), even if NOMODIFYCONTENTS is not specified.

NOPRINTING

Disallows printing the PDF document.

Default None (all permissions are granted).

Example

PDFSECURITY=NOHIRESPRINTING,NOMODIFYCONTENTS,NOCOPY

A.7.28 PDFUSER

Table A-99 indicates which components can use the PDFUSER keyword.

Table A-99 Components That Use PDFUSER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Note:

To generate PDF encrypted report output using Oracle Reports Builder (rwbuilder), you must pass at least one of the PDF encryption command line keywords (PDUSER, PDFOWNER, or PDFSECURITY) in the command to start rwbuilder.

In Oracle Reports Builder, select Generate to File > PDF to generate the PDF encrypted output.

Description  Use PDFUSER to specify the user password for encrypted PDF report output. This password is used in combination with PDFOWNER to specify authorization privileges for opening PDF report output (in Acrobat Reader 5.0 or later) and changing the passwords or access permissions of the PDF report output (in Acrobat Writer 6.0 or later). Refer to Table 11-5 for the effect of the possible combinations of the PDFOWNER and PDFUSER command line keywords.

For more information, see Section 11.2.4, "Encryption, Password Protection, and Permissions Security".

Syntax PDFUSER=user_password

Values 

user_password The user password that must be entered by the end user when prompted.

Default None

A.7.29 PFACTION

Table A-100 indicates which components can use the PFACTION keyword.

Table A-100 Components That Use PFACTION

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

no

no

Note:

PFACTION is also used with the Oracle Forms Services keyword RUN_REPORT_OBJECT, which is the most secure approach for calling Oracle Reports from Oracle Forms on the Web. For detailed information about using RUN_REPORT_OBJECT to call Oracle Reports from Oracle Forms, refer to the Oracle Application Server 10g Integrating Oracle Reports in Oracle Forms Services Applications white paper on OTN (http://otn.oracle.com/products/forms/pdf/10g/frm10gsrw10g.pdf). Also refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Forms Services Deployment Guide.

Description  Use PFACTION to specify the action string for a Parameter Form. When a request is submitted through rwclient or the Oracle Forms Services RUN_REPORT_OBJECT keyword to run a report that has a Parameter Form, the Parameter Form generated cannot be used unless PFACTION is included in the command line. The unusable Parameter Form is caused by an empty action attribute (because rwclient and RUN_REPORT_OBJECT call Oracle Reports directly on the server, Oracle Reports cannot access the Web environment to obtain the information required to populate the action attribute when generating the HTML Parameter Form).

The action attribute is part of the standard HTML form tag that defines the action that is performed when the end user clicks Submit. The action attribute in the Oracle Reports Parameter Form should contain hidden runtime parameters that are required to process the Oracle Reports request after the end user clicks Submit.

Syntax PFACTION=request_URL_to_rwservlet?_hidden_encoded_original_url_string

Values 

request_URL_to_rwservlet The http://host:port/reports/rwservlet URL.

encoded_original_url_string The query string to run the report.

Example

rwclient.exe report=pform.rdf destype=cache desformat=pdf paramform=yes PFACTION="http://mymachine.mycompany.com:7777/reports/rwservlet?_hidden_report=pform.rdf%20destype=cache%20desformat=pdf"

A.7.30 PRINTJOB

Table A-101 indicates which components can use the PRINTJOB keyword.

Table A-101 Components That Use PRINTJOB

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

yes

no

no

no

Description  Use PRINTJOB to specify whether the Print Job dialog box should be displayed before running a report.

Syntax PRINTJOB={YES|NO}

Values 

YES The Print Job dialog box is displayed before the report is run.

NO The report is run without displaying the Print Job dialog box.

Default YES

Usage Notes  

When a report is run as a spawned process (that is, one component, such as rwrun, is called from within another component, such as rwbuilder), the Print Job dialog box does not appear, regardless of PRINTJOB.

When DESTYPE=MAIL, the print Job dialog box does not appear, regardless of PRINTJOB.

A.7.31 READONLY

Table A-102 indicates which components can use the READONLY keyword.

Table A-102 Components That Use READONLY

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use READONLY to request read consistency across multiple queries in a report. When accessing data from an Oracle database, read consistency is accomplished by a SET TRANSACTION READ ONLY statement (refer to your Oracle database documentation for more information on SET TRANSACTION READ ONLY).

Note:

Refer to the Oracle SQL documentation (available on the Oracle Technology Network, (http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html) for more information on SET TRANSACTION READ ONLY.

Syntax READONLY={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Requests read consistency.

NO Do not provide read consistency.

Default NO

Usage Notes 

READONLY is only useful for reports using multiple queries. An Oracle database automatically provides read consistency, without locking, for single-query reports.

In the report trigger order of execution, SET TRANSACTION READ ONLY must be set up before the data fetch occurs.

READONLY can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.7.32 RECURSIVE_LOAD

Table A-103 indicates which components can use the RECURSIVE_LOAD keyword.

Table A-103 Components That Use RECURSIVE_LOAD

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

yes

yes

no

Description  Use RECURSIVE_LOAD to specify whether to validate external references in program units when running a report. If any of the references become invalid, the program unit is automatically recompiled. Setting RECURSIVE_LOAD to NO is useful when running your report against a different database than the one against which its PL/SQL was originally compiled.

Syntax RECURSIVE_LOAD={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Validates external references when running a report. If any of the references become invalid, the program unit is recompiled (whether it be in .rdf or .pll).

NO Does not validate external references when running a report. This setting is useful when running a report against a different database than the one against which its PL/SQL was originally compiled.

Default YES

A.7.33 REPLYTO

Table A-104 indicates which components can use the REPLYTO keyword.

Table A-104 Components That Use REPLYTO

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use REPLYTO to specify the e-mail address to which replies should be sent when the sender wants replies to go to someone other than the sender (specified by the FROM keyword).

Syntax REPLYTO="emailid"

Values 

emailid A valid e-mail address in the form of someone@foo.com.

Default None

Usage Notes Related keywords include BCC, CC, FROM, and SUBJECT. Note that DESNAME is used to specify the main recipient(s) of the e-mail.

A.7.34 REPORT | MODULE

See MODULE|REPORT.

A.7.35 ROLE

Table A-105 indicates which components can use the ROLE keyword.

Table A-105 Components That Use ROLE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use ROLE to specify the database role to be checked for the report at runtime. This keyword is useful for giving you the ability to run reports that query database tables to which you would not normally have access privileges.

Syntax ROLE={rolename[/rolepassword]}

Values 

rolename A valid role.

rolepassword (Optional) The matching role password.

Default None

Usage Notes ROLE can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.8 Command Line Keywords (RUNDEBUG to WEBSERVER_PORT)

This section provides a brief description of the Oracle Reports components and the keywords that each component can use.

A.8.1 RUNDEBUG

Table A-106 indicates which components can use the RUNDEBUG keyword.

Table A-106 Components That Use RUNDEBUG

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description  Use RUNDEBUG to specify that you want extra runtime checking for logical errors in the report. RUNDEBUG checks for things that are not errors but might result in undesirable output, and displays these as warnings at runtime, before displaying the report output. Using RUNDEBUG to run a report in debug mode is not the same as debugging a report using the PL/SQL Interpreter.

RUNDEBUG checks for the following:

Frames or repeating frames that overlap but do not enclose another object. This can lead to objects overwriting other objects in the output.

Layout objects with page-dependent references that do not have fixed sizing. Such objects will be fixed in size regardless of the Vertical Elasticity and Horizontal Elasticity property settings.

Bind variables referenced at the wrong frequency in PL/SQL.

Syntax RUNDEBUG={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Perform extra runtime error checking.

NO Do not perform extra runtime error checking.

Default YES

Usage Notes RUNDEBUG can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.8.2 SAVE_RDF

Table A-107 indicates which components can use the SAVE_RDF keyword.

Table A-107 Components That Use SAVE_RDF

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

yes

yes

no

no

no

Description  Use SAVE_RDF to specify a filename for a combined RDF file and XML customization file. This keyword is useful when you combine an existing RDF file with a Oracle Reports XML customization file using the CUSTOMIZE keyword, and you wish to save the combination to a new RDF file.

Syntax SAVE_RDF=filename.rdf

Values Any valid file name.

Default None

Usage Notes You can use SAVE_RDF with a JSP file, but only the paper layout part, not the Web source.

A.8.3 SCHEDULE

Table A-108 indicates which components can use the SCHEDULE keyword.

Table A-108 Components That Use SCHEDULE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use SCHEDULE to set the day, time, and frequency a report should be run. The default is to run the report once, now. Time values are expressed according to a 24-hour day (that is, one o'clock is expressed 13:00). To eliminate the need for quoting the scheduling command, use underscores (_) instead of spaces. You can also specify an expiration for a report job after a number of runs or on a particular date/time.

Syntax SCHEDULE=string

where string is:

[FREQ from] TIME [retry {n} after LEN expires {on|after} time|n]

Table A-109 lists and explains the values used in this string.

Table A-109 Values for string used with the SCHEDULE keyword

FREQ
hourly | daily | weekly | monthly | {every {LEN | DAYREPEAT}} | {last {WEEKDAYS | weekday | weekend} before {n}+}

LEN

{n}+ {minute[s] | hour[s] | day[s] | week[s] | month[s]}

DAYREPEAT

{first | second | third | fourth | fifth} WEEKDAYS of month

WEEKDAYS

mon | tue | wed | thu | fri | sat | sun

TIME

now | CLOCK [DATE]

CLOCK

h:m | h:mm | hh:m | hh:mm

DATE

today | tomorrow | {MONTHS {d | dd} [,year]}

MONTHS

jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | jul | aug | sep | oct | nov | dec

EXPIRES

on {today | tomorrow | {MONTHS {d | dd} [,year]}}|after n

Default None

Examples

SCHEDULE=every_first_fri_of_month_from_15:53_Oct_23,_1999_retry_3_after_1_hour_expires_on_15:53_Oct_23,_2003

SCHEDULE=last_weekday_before_15_from_15:53_Oct_23,_1999_retry_after_1_hour_expires_after_100

Or:

SCHEDULE="every first fri of month from 15:53 Oct 23, 1999 retry 3 after 1 hour expires on 15:53 Oct 23, 2003"

SCHEDULE="last weekday before 15 from 15:53 Oct 23, 1999 retry after 1 hour expires after 100"

A.8.4 SERVER

Table A-110 indicates which components can use the SERVER keyword.

Table A-110 Components That Use SERVER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

yes

Description  Use SERVER to specify the name of the Reports Server you want to use to run this report.

Syntax SERVER=server_name

Values See Syntax

Usage Notes 

For jobs run with rwservlet or as a JSP, you can omit the SERVER keyword if you have specified a default server in the Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) configuration file, rwservlet.properties; or you can include the SERVER keyword to override the default.

SERVER can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

A.8.5 SHOWAUTH

Table A-111 indicates which components can use the SHOWAUTH keyword.

Table A-111 Components That Use SHOWAUTH

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use SHOWAUTH to display the Reports Server logon page and run the report.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/showauth[?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]
[&nextpage=key_in_cgicmd.dat]&authtype={s|d}

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword is a command that does not require a value; that is, commands are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

After authentication, the URL specified by the cgicmd.dat key in the nextpage parameter will be run by the Reports servlet.

The parameter authtype is mandatory.

When authtype=s the Reports System User Authentication dialog box is displayed. When authtype=d, the Reports Database User Authentication dialog box is displayed.

Related keywords are SERVER and AUTHID.

A.8.6 SHOWENV

Table A-112 indicates which components can use the SHOWENV keyword.

Table A-112 Components That Use SHOWENV

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use SHOWENV to display the rwservlet configuration file (rwservlet.properties).

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/showenv[?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword is a command that does not require a value; that is, commands are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

Related keywords are SERVER and AUTHID.

A.8.7 SHOWJOBID

Table A-113 indicates which components can use the SHOWJOBID keyword.

Table A-113 Components That Use SHOWJOBID

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description SHOWJOBID shows the status of the Reports Server job with job ID n.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/showjobidn[?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]
[&statusformat={html|xml|xmldtd}]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword is a command that does not require a value; that is, commands are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

The job must be current (enqueued or scheduled).

Use SHOWJOBS to see the current list of jobs. The STATUSFORMAT can be set to html (default), xml , or xmldtd to return status in that format. The status information is generated in HTML, XML, or XMLDTD (with an internal DTD subset).

Related keywords are SHOWJOBS, SERVER, AUTHID, and STATUSFORMAT.

A.8.8 SHOWJOBS

Table A-114 indicates which components can use the SHOWJOBS keyword.

Table A-114 Components That Use SHOWJOBS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use SHOWJOBS to display a Web view of Reports Server queue status. In a cluster environment, SHOWJOBS displays all the in-process servers that are part of the cluster. You can view the jobs of both cluster and individual servers. Even if the server is down, you can retrieve information about past jobs for that server.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/showjobs[n][?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]
[&queuetype={current|past|future}]
[&startrow=start_position_in_job_queue]
[&count=number_of_jobs_to_display]
[&statusformat={html|xml|xmldtd}]

Values  See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword does not require a value; that is, keywords are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

The name of the Reports Server must be specified implicitly by environment variable or Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) configuration file, or explicitly in the URL request. The refresh number n is optional. When it is specified, the report's queue status will be updated every n seconds.

The STATUSFORMAT can be set to html (default), xml, or xmldtd to return status in that format. The status information is generated in HTML, XML, or XMLDTD (with an internal DTD subset).

Related keywords are SERVER, AUTHID, and STATUSFORMAT.

Example

Use SHOWJOBS to display a consolidated job queue in a high availability environment, as follows:

http://host:port/reports/rwservlet/showjobs

where host and port is the load balancer host name and port number.

A.8.9 SHOWMAP

Table A-115 indicates which components can use the SHOWMAP keyword.

Table A-115 Components That Use SHOWMAP

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use SHOWMAP to display rwservlet key mappings.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/showmap[?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes:  

This keyword does not require a value; that is, commands are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

Related keywords are SERVER and AUTHID.

A.8.10 SHOWMYJOBS

Table A-116 indicates which components can use the SHOWMYJOBS keyword.

Table A-116 Components That Use SHOWMYJOBS

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use SHOWMYJOBS to display the Reports Server queue status for a particular user.

Syntax http://your_webserver/reports/rwservlet/showmyjobs[?]
[server=server_name][&authid=username/password]
[&statusformat={html|xml|xmldtd}]

Values See Syntax

Default None

Usage Notes 

This keyword does not require a value; that is, commands are entered by themselves without a corresponding value.

The STATUSFORMAT can be set to html (default), xml, or xmldtd to return status in that format. The status information is generated in html, xml, or xmldtd (with an internal dtd subset).

Related keywords are SERVER, AUTHID, and STATUSFORMAT.

A.8.11 SHUTDOWN

Table A-117 indicates which components can use the SHUTDOWN keyword.

Table A-117 Components That Use SHUTDOWN

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver
rwbridge

no

no

no

no

no

yes

yes

Description  Use SHUTDOWN to shut down a previously running server, or to shut down the Oracle Reports Bridge.

When used with rwserver, you must also use AUTHID to supply a user name and password.

When used with rwbridge, you must also use AUTHID to supply a user name and password if the Oracle Reports Bridge is secured (the identifier element is set in the Oracle Reports Bridge configuration file).

Syntax SHUTDOWN={NORMAL|IMMEDIATE}

Values 

NORMAL Shuts the server or Oracle Reports Bridge down gracefully, using normal shutdown procedures.

IMMEDIATE Shuts the server or Oracle Reports Bridge down immediately, without waiting for other processes to complete running.

Default NORMAL

Usage Notes The user of the SHUTDOWN keyword must be an Oracle Reports Administrative user. If the server has security enabled, it will query the security API to determine the user's role eligibility to execute the shutdown (in other words, the user must be an Oracle Reports Administrative user). If security is not enabled, then the user must nonetheless be an Oracle Reports Administrative user defined for that server.

A.8.12 SITENAME

Table A-118 indicates which components can use the SITENAME keyword.

Table A-118 Components That Use SITENAME

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use SITENAME to specify the name of the Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 site to which report output should be pushed. This keyword is maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle WebDB Release 2.2; for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1, see CONTENTAREA. Beginning with Oracle Portal 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), use PAGEGROUP.

Syntax SITENAME=name

Values 

name Any valid site name used in Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

Default None

Usage Notes 

Use of this keyword is required to push Oracle Reports output to Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SITENAME*, STATUSFOLDER*, STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

A.8.13 SOURCE

Table A-119 indicates which components can use the SOURCE keyword.

Table A-119 Components That Use SOURCE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use SOURCE to specify the report/library or list of reports/libraries to be converted. The rwconverter command requires that you specify a source report or library.

Syntax SOURCE={source_name|(source_name1, source_name2, ...)}

Values Any valid report/library name or filename, or a list of valid report/library names or filenames enclosed in parentheses and separated by commas (for example, (qanda, test, dmast)).

Default None

Usage Notes 

SQL wildcard characters (% and _) may be used for reports or libraries that are stored in the database. For example, R% would fetch all reports stored in the database that begin with R. All reports that match will be converted.

A list of report/library names or filenames must be enclosed in parentheses, with commas separating the names. For example:

(qanda,test,dmast) OR (qanda, test, dmast)

Wildcard characters are invalid for reports/libraries stored in files (that is, with extensions of .rdf, .rep, .rex, .pld, .pll, or .xml).

The value(s) for the SOURCE keyword may be operating system-specific.

If you are using user-owned Oracle Reports Builder tables, reports/libraries from multiple users must be converted for each user individually.

To convert reports/libraries, you must have created them or been granted access to the ones you did not create. If no USERID string is prefixed to the report/library name, the USERID string is assumed to be that the current user.

When DTYPE=REGISTER, you may only want to list report definition files with common parameters, such as destination types and formats, user access, and availability calendars.

A.8.14 SQLTRACE

Table A-120 indicates which components can use the SQLTRACE keyword.

Table A-120 Components That Use SQLTRACE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description Use SQLTRACE to specify whether to perform SQL tracing on your report without modifying the report definition.

Syntax SQLTRACE=[YES|NO]

Values 

YES SQL tracing will be performed on the report.

NO SQL tracing will not be performed on the report.

Default NO

A.8.15 SSOCONN

Table A-121 indicates which components can use the SSOCONN keyword.

Table A-121 Components That Use SSOCONN

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use SSOCONN to specify one or more connect strings to use to connect to one or more data sources in a Single Sign-On environment.

Syntax SSOCONN=key[/type[/conn_string_parameter]][,key[/type[/conn_string_parameter]]]

Values The following information describes the variable values expressed in the SSOCONN syntax:

key refers to a connection string value stored in Oracle Internet Directory.

type is the kind of data source to which you are connecting, to identify the format in the string associated with key. The type value must be a valid resource type stored in the Oracle Internet Directory. Oracle Reports provides default resource types for the following:

Oracle database (OracleDB)

JDBC (JDBCPDS)

Oracle Express (EXPRESSPDS)

conn_string_parameter is the name of the Oracle Reports system or user parameter to be used to pass the connection string to rwservlet to run the report. For example, in the case of the OracleDB data source, Oracle Reports receives the connection string through the USERID parameter and uses it to connect to the specified Oracle database. Similarly, for JDBCPDS, P_JDBCPDS is used. If you have your own custom pluggable data sources, you must define your own user parameter for passing the connection string to Oracle Reports and specify it as conn_string_parameter for SSOCONN.

For example:

SSOCONN=mykey/OracleDB/USERID

Default None

Usage Notes 

If multiple data sources are used in the report, use a comma to separate data source connection strings. For example:

ssoconn=key1/type1/conn_str,key2/type2/conn_str2,key3/type3/conn_str3

When you use SSOCONN in a command line, you cannot:

Specify AUTHID in the same command line.

Run against a Reports Server that is not secure.

Have SINGLESIGNON=NO in rwservlet.properties.

Simplified versions of SSOCONN are also available, as shown in Table A-122.

Table A-122 Simplified Versions of the SSOCONN Option

Option
Description

ssoconn=mkey

When only the key name is specified, the default values for type and conn_string_parameter are: OracleDB and USERID.

ssoconn=mkey/PDSApp

When both key name and data source type are specified, the default value for conn_string_parameter is USERID.

SSOCONN can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line. If you are using the SSOCONN keyword with a report run as a JSP, use an ampersand (&) to separate connection strings. For example:

http://...:8888/myjsp/foo.jsp?name1=value1&name2=value2 …

Note:

For more information on Oracle Reports and Single Sign-On (SSO), see Chapter 17, "Configuring and Administering OracleAS Single Sign-On".

A.8.16 STATUSFOLDER

Table A-123 indicates which components can use the STATUSFOLDER keyword.

Table A-123 Components That Use STATUSFOLDER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use STATUSFOLDER to specify the name of the Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 or Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 folder to which job status information should be pushed. If this is omitted, a new folder is created called Oracle_Reports_Status. This keyword is maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 and Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1. Beginning with Oracle Portal 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), use STATUSPAGE.

Syntax STATUSFOLDER=folder

Values 

folder Any valid folder name (internal name) used in Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 or Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1.

Default Oracle_Reports_Status

Usage Notes 

Use of this keyword is optional to push Oracle Reports output to Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 or Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1.

The value for this keyword is case sensitive.

Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SITENAME*, STATUSFOLDER*, STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

A.8.17 STATUSFORMAT

Table A-124 indicates which components can use the STATUSFORMAT keyword.

Table A-124 Components That Use STATUSFORMAT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use STATUSFORMAT to specify the format for the Web view of the Reports Server queue status.

Syntax http://yourwebserver/rwservlet/showjobs?
server=server_name&statusformat={html|xml|xmldtd}

Values 

html Outputs the Reports Server queue status in HTML format.

xml Outputs the Reports Server queue status in XML format.

Note:

Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) includes a new param named ERRORSTATUSXML that can be used to view the error status in the XML format even if Reports job fails. To view the ERRORSTATUSXML in XML, set ERRORSTATUSXML=Yes on the rwservlet command line.

In case of event-based reporting, before calling the srw.run_reports you must complete the following steps to enable ERRORSTATUSXML:

Call srw.ignore_server_error, and

Call srw.add_parameter to add errorstatusxml=yes to the request.

xmldtd Outputs the Reports Server queue status in XML format with in-line Data Type Definition information.

Default html

Usage Notes Use STATUSFORMAT in conjunction with the SHOWJOBS and SHOWMYJOBS keywords.

A.8.18 STATUSPAGE

Table A-125 indicates which components can use the STATUSPAGE keyword.

Table A-125 Components That Use STATUSPAGE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use STATUSPAGE to specify the name of the Oracle Portal page to which job status information should be pushed. If this is omitted, a new page is created called Oracle_Reports_Status. For backward compatibility with earlier releases (Oracle WebDB Release 2.2 and Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1), see STATUSFOLDER.

Syntax STATUSPAGE=page

Values 

page Any valid page name (internal name) used in Oracle Portal.

Default Oracle_Reports_Status

Usage Notes 

Use of this keyword is optional to push output to Oracle Portal.

The value for this keyword is case sensitive.

Relevant keywords include CONTENTAREA*, EXPIREDAYS, ITEMTITLE, OUTPUTFOLDER*, OUTPUTPAGE, PAGEGROUP, SITENAME*, STATUSFOLDER*, STATUSPAGE.

* maintained for backward compatibility with Oracle9iAS Portal Release 1 and Oracle WebDB Release 2.2.

A.8.19 STYPE

Table A-126 indicates which components can use the STYPE keyword.

Table A-126 Components That Use STYPE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

no

yes

no

no

Description Use STYPE to specify the format of the report(s) or libraries to be converted.

Syntax STYPE={PLDFILE|PLLFILE|RDFFILE|REXFILE|XMLFILE|JSPFILE}

Values Use any one of the following values:

PLDFILE Source PL/SQL libraries are stored in files in ASCII format.

PLLFILE Source PL/SQL libraries are stored in files containing source code and P-code (compiled PL/SQL).

RDFFILE Source report(s) are stored in one or more report definition files (files with the rdf extension).

REXFILE Source report(s) are stored in one or more text files (files with the rex extension).

XMLFILE Source report(s) are stored in one or more XML files.

JSPFILE Source report(s) are stored in one or more JSP files.

Default RDFFILE

Usage Notes When DTYPE=REGISTER, choose RDDFILE,REXFILE,XML, or JSPFILE for STYPE.

A.8.20 SUBJECT

Table A-127 indicates which components can use the SUBJECT keyword.

Table A-127 Components That Use SUBJECT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

no

no

yes

no

Description Use SUBJECT to specify the subject line of an e-mail.

Syntax SUBJECT="string"

Values Any text string.

Default None

Usage Notes 

Enclose subjects that contain character spaces in quotation marks (" "). Single-word subjects do not require quotation marks.

Related keywords include BCC, CC, FROM, and REPLYTO. Note that DESNAME is used to specify the main recipient(s) of the e-mail.

A.8.21 SUPPRESSLAYOUT

Table A-128 indicates which components can use the SUPPRESSLAYOUT keyword.

Table A-128 Components That Use SUPPRESSLAYOUT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description Use SUPPRESSLAYOUT to specify whether to suppress the formatting of the paper layout at runtime. The keyword allows users to control whether the paper layout in a report is executed at runtime. The most common use of this keyword is to increase the performance of JSP reports. Since a JSP report may have a paper layout and reference objects in it through an <rw:include> tag, Oracle Reports formats the paper layout before running the JSP section of the report. To improve the performance of single source JSP reports that store both paper and Web layouts but do not reference paper layout objects, set SUPPRESSLAYOUT=YES on the command line.

Note:

If there is an <rw:include> tag, then no output will be created for the tag.

Syntax SUPPRESSLAYOUT=[YES|NO]

Values 

YES Paper layout objects will not be formatted at runtime

NO Paper layout objects will be formatted at runtime.

Default NO

A.8.22 TOLERANCE

Table A-129 indicates which components can be used with the TOLERANCE keyword.

Table A-129 Components That Use TOLERANCE

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description  Use TOLERANCE to set the maximum acceptable time (in minutes) for reusing a report's cached output when a duplicate job is detected. Setting the time tolerance on a report reduces the processing time when duplicate jobs are found.

See Reusing Report Output from Cache for more information on duplicate job detection.

Syntax TOLERANCE=time_string

Values 

time_string Can be in one of two formats:

n{unit}, for a number with an optional unit. The unit can be minute(s), hour(s), or day(s). The default unit is minute(s) if no unit is specified.

{Mon DD, YYYY} hh:mi:ss am|pm {timezone}, for a date/time format. Date information is optional. If it isn't specified, today is assumed. Time zone is also optional. If it isn't specified, the Reports Server's time zone is used. The date/time is always in a US locale. This format is the same as defined in the Java DateFormat.MEDIUM type.

Default None

Usage Notes 

If TOLERANCE is not specified, then Oracle Reports Services reruns the report even if a duplicate report is found in the cache.

If a report is being processed (that is, in the current job queue) when an identical job is submitted, then Oracle Reports Services reuses the output of the currently running job even if TOLERANCE is not specified or is set to zero.

A.8.23 URLPARAMETER

Table A-130 indicates which components can use the URLPARAMETER keyword.

Table A-130 Components That Use URLPARAMETER

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

yes

no

Description Use URLPARAMETER to specify the URL that is to be fetched with the URL engine.

Syntax URLPARAMETER=http://your_webserver/page_name.html

Values Any valid URL.

Default None

Usage Notes This keyword is relevant when jobType=rwurl in the job element in the Reports Server configuration file, and a URL engine is in place.

A.8.24 USEJVM

Table A-131 indicates which components can use the USEJVM keyword.

Table A-131 Components That Use USEJVM

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

no

no

no

no

no

Description Use USEJVM to specify whether or not rwclient should use Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to communicate with Reports Server.

Syntax USEJVM=YES|NO

Values 

YES rwclient starts JVM and tries to connect to Reports Server using CORBA; if this fails, then it will attempt to connect using SQLNet, which is available for backward compatibility.

NO rwclient does not start JVM; instead, it uses SQLNet to communicate with Reports Server (Oracle Reports 6i Server).

Default YES

A.8.25 USERID

Table A-132 indicates which components can use the USERID keyword.

Table A-132 Components That Use USERID

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

no

Description Use USERID only if you are not using Single Sign-On to specify your Oracle user name and password, with an optional database name for accessing a remote database. If the password is omitted, then a database logon form opens automatically before the user is allowed to run the report.

If you want users to log on to the database, then omit the password portion of the USERID keyword from the report request. If you want users to log on every time they run report requests, then use the cgicmd.dat key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File") to specify the runtime command, and include the %D option in the relevant key mapping entry.

Syntax userid=username[/password][@database]

Values 

username Username assigned by the database administrator.

password Password for the username. See "Usage Notes", below.

database The name of the database you are accessing.

Default None

Usage Notes 

The logon definition cannot exceed 512 bytes in length.

USERID can be used when running JSP-based Web reports from the command line.

It is strongly recommended that you do not include the password when using USERID with rwbuilder, rwrun, rwclient, or rwconverter. On many operating systems, this information can become available to any user (for example, with the ps command on UNIX). Instead, use the SSOCONN keyword.

A.8.26 USERSTYLES

Table A-133 indicates which components can use the USERSTYLES keyword.

Table A-133 Components That Use USERSTYLES

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

yes

yes

yes

no

yes

no

Description Use USERSTYLES to specify whether an external style sheet file (.css) is associated with a report when generating HTMLCSS output. The style sheets to be applied to the report are specified by the report's Style Sheets property. The value is set to YES by default, and will override any design-time styles included in the Paper Design layout.

See Also:

Oracle Reports Building Reports for more information on online HTML formatting.

Syntax USERSTYLES=YES|NO

Values 

YES Associates your report with one or more external style sheets, as specified by the report's Style Sheets property, when generating HTMLCSS output.

NO Associates your report with the formatting applied during the design of the report. External style sheets will be ignored.

Default YES

Usage Notes

If you specify a value other than YES or NO, Oracle Reports defaults to YES.

If you find that your report is not associated with an external style sheet, ensure the following:

You have specified the correct path to the style sheet in the Style Sheets property.

The styles specified by the CSS Class Name and the CSS ID properties are defined in the specified style sheets.

See Also:

Oracle Reports online Help for more information on the Style Sheets, CSS Class Name, and CSS ID properties.

USERSTYLES is set to YES.

Example

http://myias.mycomp.com:7779/reports/rwservlet?server=myrepserv+report=test.jsp+us
erid=scott/tiger@mydb+desformat=HTMLCSS+DESTYPE=cache+userstyles=yes

A.8.27 VALIDATETAG

Table A-133 indicates which components can use the VALIDATETAG keyword.

Table A-134 Components That Use VALIDATETAG

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

yes

no

no

no

Description VALIDATETAG specifies whether to enforce JSP tag validation and check for items such as duplicate field identification or malformed attributes when designing or deploying a JSP-based Web report.

See Also:

Section 24.8, "Running the Report" for more information about using VALIDATETAG to tune the performance of your report.

Syntax VALIDATETAG=YES|NO

Values 

YES Enforces tag validation and checks for items such as duplicate field identification or malformed attributes.

NO Turns tag validation off.

Default 

YES At design time, when running a JSP-based Web report from Oracle Reports Builder.

NO At run time, when deploying a JSP-based Web report.

Usage notes 

This feature is useful only during the design phase, but not in the production environment. By default, VALIDATETAG=YES in Oracle Reports Builder during report design, and VALIDATETAG=NO in Oracle Reports Services for report deployment. To turn this option on when deploying a report, specify VALIDATETAG=YES in your http request (for example, http://my.server.com/myreport.jsp?VALIDATETAG=YES).

Using VALIDATETAG=YES when deploying a report slows performance.

If you start Reports Builder from the command line with rwbuilder VALIDATETAG=NO, you run the risk of designing a report with invalid JSP tag structure.

A.8.28 WEBSERVER_DEBUG

Table A-135 indicates which components can use the WEBSERVER_DEBUG keyword.

Table A-135 Components That Use WEBSERVER_DEBUG

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

yes

no

no

no

Description Use WEBSERVER_DEBUG for JSP debugging. It creates the stderr.log and stdout.log files under the docroot/port# directory, and leaves temporary JSP files under docroot/port#/default and log files under docroot/port#/log for your inspection.

Syntax WEBSERVER_DEBUG={YES|NO}

Values 

YES Creates debugging files.

NO Does not create debugging files.

Default NO

Usage Notes 

Use this keyword only when you're running a job as a JSP.

Relevant keywords include WEBSERVER_DEBUG,WEBSERVER_DOCROOT,WEBSERVER_PORT.

A.8.29 WEBSERVER_DOCROOT

Table A-136 indicates which components can use the WEBSERVER_DOCROOT keyword.

Table A-136 Components That Use WEBSERVER_DOCROOT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

yes

no

no

no

Description Use WEBSERVER_DOCROOT to set the Oracle Reports document root directory. All files you reference in your JSP, such as images, HTML, and the like, should be relative to this directory. By setting the document root to your working directory, you avoid having to copy these files around.

Syntax WEBSERVER_DOCROOT=REPORTS_TMP/docroot

Values The root folder directory for your report files.

Default $DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/tmp/_WL_user/reports_<version>/<random_string>/war

Usage Notes 

Use this keyword only when you're running a job as a JSP.

Relevant keywords include WEBSERVER_DEBUG, WEBSERVER_DOCROOT, WEBSERVER_PORT.

Example

WEBSERVER_DOCROOT=c:/temp/docroot

A.8.30 WEBSERVER_PORT

Table A-137 indicates which components can use the WEBSERVER_PORT keyword.

Table A-137 Components That Use WEBSERVER_PORT

rwclient
rwrun
rwbuilder
rwconverter
rwservlet
rwserver

no

no

yes

no

no

no

Description Use WEBSERVER_PORT to specify the port number an internal Web server listens to. Oracle Reports Builder runs the JSP reports at the port number specified by WEBSERVER_PORT.

Syntax WEBSERVER_PORT=port_num

Values 

port_num Any valid port number

Default 

Port number of the external web server such as Oracle HTTP Server

Usage Notes 

Use this keyword only when you're running a job as a JSP.

Relevant keywords include WEBSERVER_DEBUG,WEBSERVER_DOCROOT,WEBSERVER_PORT.

B Environment Variables

Environment variables are parameters that configure the Oracle Reports environment. The Oracle Fusion Middleware installer automatically defines default values for relevant environment variables. Edit the environment variable settings to change the default behavior:

On Windows, edit the environment variables through the Registry Editor (Start > Run > Regedit).

On UNIX, edit the environment variables by revising and running the shell script that defines the initial default values (reports.sh). If you do this, keep a backup of the original, unaltered reports.sh file.

Note:

The reports.sh file in Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) may contain some required changes for the release. Thus, if you have made any changes to the reports.sh file in prior releases, save a backup before you perform your upgrade. Post-upgrade, merge your modifications with the reports.sh file installed with Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1).

If you set any environment variable in the INSTANCE_HOME/config/reports/bin/reports.sh file (for UNIX) or in the registry file (for Windows), all the Reports Servers present in that Instance Home are affected.

If you want to set the environment variable only for a particular server, you must set the environment variable in the <environment> element in the opmn.xml file of that particular server.

To set the environment variable for an In-process server, you must modify the settings in the setDomainEnv.sh file located at $DOMAIN_HOME/bin.

B.1 Environment Variables

Table B-1 provides an alphabetical summary list of all the Oracle Reports environment variables alphabetically, showing valid and default value.

For more information on the globalization support environment variables, refer to Chapter 23, "Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support".

The environment variables shown in italics are supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Table B-1 provides an alphabetical summary list of all the Oracle Reports environment variables alphabetically, showing valid and default value.

Table B-1 Oracle Reports Environment Variables

Keywords
Valid Values
Default

CA_GPREFS

Any directory on any drive

ORACLE_HOME

CA_UPREFS

Any directory on any drive

%ORACLE_INSTANCE%\FRComponent\frcommon\tools

DELIMITED_LINE_END

YES|NO

YES

DOC

Any directory on any drive

ORACLE_HOME\tools\doc

DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG

See Chapter 23, "Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support"

See Chapter 23, "Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support"

NLS_CALENDAR

NLS_CREDIT

NLS_CURRENCY

NLS_DATE_FORMAT

NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE

NLS_DEBIT 

NLS_ISO_CURRENCY

NLS_LANG

AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1

NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR

NLS_MONETARY_CHARACTERS

NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS

NLS_SORT

ORACLE_AFM

Any directory on any drive

Not defined

ORACLE_HOME

Any directory on any drive

C:\orawin

ORACLE_HPD

Any directory on any drive

Not defined

ORACLE_INSTANCE

Any directory on any drive

The directory specified by the user during installation.

ORACLE_PATH

Any directory on any drive

Not defined

ORACLE_PPD

Any directory on any drive

Not defined

ORACLE_TFM

Any directory on any drive

Not defined

ORAINFONAV_DOCPATH

Any directory on any drive

Not defined

PRINTER

Name of default printer

Not defined

REMOTE

Any valid SQL* Net driver prefix and parameters

Not defined

REPORTS_ADD_HWMARGIN

YES|NO

NO

REPORTS_ALLOW_DB_CONNECT_STRING

YES|NO

NO

REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL

ARABIC|HINDI|CONTEXT

ARABIC (Indo-Arabic)

REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM

ORACLE|UNICODE|ENHANCED

ORACLE

REPORTS_CGIDIAGBODYTAGS

Any valid HTML attributes for the <BODY> tag.

Not defined

REPORTS_CGIDIAGHEADTAGS

Any HTML tags that are valid between <HEAD> and </HEAD>.

Not defined

REPORTS_CGIHELP

Any valid URL to a Web page or a HTML file.

A default help screen is displayed in the browser.

REPORTS_CGIMAP

A valid path to the key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File").

$DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/cgicmdd.dat

REPORTS_CGINODIAG

YES|NO

NO

REPORTS_CLASSPATH

The default values are mandatory. If any of the entries are removed, the Oracle Reports components may not behave correctly. Any additional user-defined directory or JAR file that contains Java Classes may be appended to the path.

%ORACLE_HOME%\reports\jlib\rwbuilder.jar;
%ORACLE_HOME%\reports\jlib\rwrun.jar;
%ORACLE_HOME%\jlib\zrclient.jar;
$ORACLE_HOME/modules/oracle.jsp_11.1.1/ojsp.jar:
$ORACLE_HOME/modules/oracle.javacache_11.1.1/cache.jar;

REPORTS_CONTAINSHTMLTAGS

YES|NO

YES

REPORTS_COOKIE_EXPIRE

Any number of minutes

30

REPORTS_CUPS_PRINTING

YES|NO

NO

REPORTS_DB_AUTH

Any HTML file that contains special authentication actions. It is recommended that you keep the default.

dbauth.htm

REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY

YES|NO

YES

REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE

Any value ranging from 72 through 200.

Surface resolution determined by Oracle Reports.

REPORTS_ENABLE_RTF_SPACING

YES|NO

NO

REPORTS_ENCRYPTION_KEY

Any encryption key.

reports9.0

REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING

YES|NO

NO

REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING

YES|NO

YES

REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET

YES|NO

YES

REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY

Any directory on any drive.

$ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts

REPORTS_GRAPH_IMAGE_DPI

72 through 300

72

REPORTS_IGNORE_IMAGE_TAG_RES

YES|NO

NO

REPORTS_JPEG_QUALITY_FACTOR

1 through 100

100

REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS

List of JVM options in the JVM command line syntax.

-Xmx256M

REPORTS_NETWORK_CONFIG

Valid custom network configuration file name in ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name

rwnetwork.conf

REPORTS_NLS_XML_CHARSETS

Set of mapping pairs separated by semicolons. The first value is the encoding that is being produced and the second mapped value is the value that should be used for these cases.

old_name=new_name
[;old_name=new_name]
[;old_name=new_name]...

Not defined.

REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER

TRUE|not set

TRUE

REPORTS_NO_HTML_SPACE_REPLACE

YES|not set

not set

REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT

GIF|JPEG|JPG|PNG|BMP

JPEG

REPORTS_PATH

Any directory on any drive.

%ORACLE_HOME%\REPORT\DEMO;
%ORACLE_HOME%\REPORT\DEMO\BITMAP
%ORACLE_HOME%\REPORT\DEMO\REQFILES

REPORTS_RESOURCE

Any directory on any drive.

%ORACLE_HOME%\reports\res\US

REPORTS_SERVER

Any Reports Server service entry name.

REPORTS_SOLARIS_9

YES|NO

YES on Solaris 2.9; NO on other platforms

REPORTS_SPACE_BREAK

YES|NO

YES

REPORTS_SRWRUN_TO_SERVER

YES|not set

not set

REPORTS_SSLPORT

Any valid port number.

not set

REPORTS_SYS_AUTH

Any HTML file that contains special authentication actions. It is recommended that you keep the default.

sysauth.htm

REPORTS_TAGLIB_URI

Any "uri" that references the Oracle Reports tag library.

/WEB-INF/lib/reports_tld.jar

REPORTS_TMP

Any directory on any drive.

Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp

UNIX: /tmp

REPORTS_UTF8_XMLOUTPUT

YES|NO

YES

REPORTS_USEREXITS

Any user exit dynamic link library (along with its absolute path).

Not defined.

RW

A valid directory name.

%ORACLE_HOME\reports (Windows)

$ORACLE_HOME/reports (UNIX)

TK_PRINT

The PRINT command and all necessary keywords for your flavor of UNIX, including the following elements:

%n is the printer name string.

%c is the number of copies.

This string is much like a printf() format. If this environment variable is not set, Oracle Reports 6i uses the standard default value for the platform. Examples of default values on various platforms are as follows:

System V: lp -s -d'%n' -n%c

Solaris: lpr -P'%n' -#%c -s

Not defined.

TK_PRINT_STATUS

Should include %n for the printer name (see also TK_PRINT).

If this environment variable is not set, Oracle Reports uses the built-in default values:

System V: /usr/bin/lpstat -p'%n' 2>&1

Other: /usr/etc/lpc status '%n' 2>&1

Not defined.

TK_PRINTER

Name of default printer.

Not defined.

TK_AFM

Any directory on any drive.

Not defined.

TK_HPD

Any directory on any drive.

Not defined.

TK_PPD

Any directory on any drive.

Not defined.

TK_TFM

Any directory on any drive.

Not defined.

TNS_ADMIN

Any directory of any drive that has tnsnames.ora file in it.

INSTANCE_HOME\config

USERNAME

Any valid Oracle username (without the OPS$ prefix).

Not defined.

USER_NLS_LANG

B.1.1 CA_GPREFS

Description  This environment variable specifies the location of the global preferences file, CAGPREFS.ORA. Global preferences are shared among networked users. In addition to searching the directory specified by CA_GPREFS, products will also search the current directory for the CAGPREFS.ORA file.

The CAGPREFS.ORA file is automatically created by the Oracle Installer. To modify the global preference settings, use a text editor such as Notepad to manually edit this file. Global preferences set in the CAGPREFS.ORA file can be overridden by the local preference file, CAUPREFS.ORA, which is defined by CA_UPREFS.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default ORACLE_HOME

Example CA_GPREFS=C:\orawin

B.1.2 CA_UPREFS

Description This environment variable specifies the location of the user preferences file, CAUPREFS.ORA. The CAUPREFS.ORA file maintains the preferences that you set through Tools >Tools Options within your products. In addition to searching the directory specified by CA_UPREFS, the product will also search the current directory for the CAUPREFS.ORA file.

Several Oracle products write their preference information to the CAUPREFS.ORA file. To manually modify the user preference settings, use a text editor such as Notepad to edit this file. User preferences set in the CAUPREFS.ORA file override global preferences set in the CAGPREFS.ORA file, which is defined by CA_GPREFS.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default ORACLE_HOME

Example CA_UPREFS=C:\orawin

B.1.3 DELIMITED_LINE_END

Description This environment variable specifies whether to print the delimited character at the end of the line for delimited output.

Valid Values YES|NO

Default YES

Usage Notes

Set this environment variable to NO to ensure that the delimited character is not printed at the end of the line.

B.1.4 DOC

Description This environment variable specifies the location of the online documentation files, including online Help.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default ORACLE_HOME\tools\doc

Example DOC=C:\myreports_1012\tools\doc

B.1.5 DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG

Description This environment variable specifies the language for the report. Chapter 23, "Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support" contains additional detailed information about this environment variable, including a table of valid values.

B.1.6 NLS_CALENDAR

Description This environment variable specifies the calendar system used.

B.1.7 NLS_CREDIT

Description This environment variable specifies the string used to indicate a positive monetary value.

B.1.8 NLS_CURRENCY

Description This environment variable specifies the local currency symbol.

B.1.9 NLS_DATE_FORMAT

Description This environment variable specifies the default format used for dates.

B.1.10 NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE

Description This environment variable specifies the default language used for dates.

B.1.11 NLS_DEBIT

Description This environment variable specifies the string used to indicate a negative monetary value.

B.1.12 NLS_ISO_CURRENCY

Description This environment variable specifies the ISO currency symbol.

B.1.13 NLS_LANG

Description This environment variable specifies the language, settings used, including:

The language used to display messages to the user, for example the 'Working...' message.

The default format masks used for dates and numbers.

The sorting sequence.

The characters that make up the character set.

Chapter 23, "Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support" contains additional detailed information about this environment variable, including a table of valid values.

Syntax NLS_LANG= language_territory.charset

Valid Values 

language Specifies the language and its conventions for displaying messages and day and month names.

territory Specifies the territory and its conventions for calculating week and day numbers.

charset Specifies the character set used for the UPPER, LOWER, and INITCAP functions, and the type of sort used by an ORDER BY query. This argument also controls the character set used for displaying messages.

Default AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1

Usage Notes

To change locales, you must modify this environment variable, in addition to the REPORTS_RESOURCE environment variable.

On UNIX, you must set this variable in ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin/reports.sh. If this variable is already set in an environment where Oracle Reports is running, then the value set in this environment is used instead of the value set in reports.sh. To use the value that is set in reports.sh, you must reset the value of the variable in the environment.

Examples Suppose you want your application to run in French. The application will be used in France and data will be displayed using the WE8ISO8895P1 character set. You would set NLS_LANG as follows:

NLS_LANG=French_France.WE8ISO8859P1

Now, suppose you still want your application to run in French, but this time it will be used in Switzerland. You would set NLS_LANG as follows:

NLS_LANG=French_Switzerland.WE8ISO8859P1

More examples:

NLS_LANG=Norwegian_Norway.NDK7DEC

NLS_LANG=Norwegian_Norway.WE8ISO8859P1

NLS_LANG=Japanese_Japan.JA16SJIS

NLS_LANG=Arabic_Egypt.AR8MSWIN1256

NLS_LANG=American_America.AR8MSWIN1256NLS_LANG=American_America.WE8ISO8859P1

B.1.14 NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR

Description This environment variable specifies the character used to separate items in a list.

B.1.15 NLS_MONETARY_CHARACTERS

Description This environment variable specifies the decimal character and thousands separator for monetary values.

B.1.16 NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS

Description This environment variable specifies the decimal character and grouping separator for numeric values.

B.1.17 NLS_SORT

Description This environment variable specifies the type of sort used for character data.

B.1.18 ORACLE_AFM

Description This environment variable specifies the location of AFM files. TK_AFM is considered first, then ORACLE_AFM.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default Not defined.

Usage Notes

If you do not specify values for either of these variables, Oracle Reports looks for AFM files in:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.19 ORACLE_HOME

Description This environment variable specifies the home directory in which Windows Oracle products are installed. This directory is the top directory in the Oracle directory hierarchy.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default C:\orawin

Usage Notes

If you are using Reports Runtime (rwrun), the combined length of ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_PATH should not exceed 255 characters.

Example ORACLE_HOME=C:\orawin

B.1.20 ORACLE_HPD

Description This environment variable specifies the location of HPD files. TK_HPD is considered first, then ORACLE_HPD.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive

Default Not defined.

Usage Notes

If you do not specify values for either these variables, Oracle Reports looks for HPD files in:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/HPD

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.21 ORACLE_INSTANCE

Description This environment variable specifies the directory in which files specific to the application server instance are installed.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default Directory specified by the user during installation.

Usage Notes

The length of ORACLE_INSTANCE should not exceed 255 characters.

Example

ORACLE_INSTANCE=C:\oracle\apps\reports

B.1.22 ORACLE_PATH

Description This environment variable specifies the search path for files referenced by Reports Runtime. Note that the directories specified by ORACLE_PATH are searched after those specified by REPORTS_PATH.

ORACLE_PATH can specify multiple directories. Use a semi-colon (;) to separate directory names in a list of paths.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default  Not defined.

Usage Notes

If you are using Reports Runtime(rwrun), the combined length of ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_PATH should not exceed 255 characters.

Example ORACLE_PATH=C:\oracle\apps\forms;C:\oracle\apps\reports

B.1.23 ORACLE_PPD

Description This environment variable specifies the location of PPD files. TK_PPD is considered first, then ORACLE_PPD.

Valid Values  Any directory on any drive.

Default  Not defined.

Usage notes

If you do not specify values for either of these variables, Oracle Reports looks for PPD files in:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.24 ORACLE_TFM

Description This environment variable specifies the location of TFM files. TK_TFM is considered first, then ORACLE_TFM.

Valid Values  Any directory on any drive.

Default  Not defined.

Usage notes

If you do not specify values for either of these variables, Oracle Reports looks for TFM files in

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/TFM

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For information about printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.25 ORAINFONAV_DOCPATH

Description This environment variable specifies the location of the table of contents and index for your online documentation.

Valid Values  Any directory on any drive.

Default  Not defined.

Example ORAINFONAV_DOCPATH=C:\orawin\oin

B.1.26 PRINTER

Description This environment variable specifies the default printer's name.

Valid Values  Name of default printer

Default  Not defined.

Usage Notes

TK_PRINTER takes precedence over PRINTER; that is, if both variables are set, TK_PRINTER is considered first and PRINTER is considered only if TK_PRINTER does not specify a valid printer. If neither TK_PRINTER nor PRINTER is set to a valid printer, Oracle Reports uses the first entry in your uiprint.txt file. If REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER is set, but the uiprint.txt file does not contain a valid entry, then screenprinter.ppd specified in uiscreenprint.txt is used.

Note:

REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER is set by default and is required to be set at all times. If it is not set (as a result of being user-modified), then the REP-1800 error is raised.

See Also:

Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter" for more information on the PostScript printer driver, screenprinter.ppd.

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.27 REMOTE

Description This environment variable specifies the default and remote SQL*Net driver to use when connecting through a local database. The parameter can include the default SQL*Net parameters (complete database string).

If a user logs on and specifies a connection with an explicit driver prefix matching the one specified in REMOTE, but specifies no SQL*Net parameters, the parameters specified in REMOTE are used. This parameter enables the DBA to define a "normal" network connection for which the SQL*Net user need not specify connection parameters. You can reset this parameter on the command line at any time.

Note:

If you use a DOS SQL*Net driver for Windows, check to see whether the REMOTE parameter is set in your CONFIG.ORA file located in the DOS Oracle home directory. If REMOTE is set in CONFIG.ORA, you must set it to the same value in the registry.

Syntax REMOTE= netPrefix:databaseName

Valid Values 

netPrefix Any valid SQL*Net driver prefix.

databaseName The name of the local database.

Default Not defined.

Example REMOTE=P:PIPER

where

P: is the network prefix for Named Pipes

PIPER is the database name

B.1.28 REPORTS_ADD_HWMARGIN

Description (Windows only) This environment variable specifies whether to include the printer hardware-based left margin. By default, this margin is ignored. The printing origin starts from the top-left corner (0,0) of the physical paper and not the printable area. This is to facilitate the design of reports independent of the printer hardware margin. These reports can then be deployed across various printers.

In the past, the printer's printable area was used, causing inconsistencies in the location of the report output when moving across different printer models.

If required, you can revert to the previous behavior by setting the registry variable REPORTS_ADD_HWMARGIN to YES.

To set the REPORTS_ADD_HWMARGIN registry variable:

Edit the Windows registry using a registry editor (for example, regedit.exe).

Note:

Before you edit the registry, back it up.

Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOMEn

where n is the number of the ORACLE_HOME containing the installation.

Add a new String value named REPORTS_ADD_HWMARGIN and set the value to YES.

Valid Values YES|NO

Default NO

Usage Note

When printing reports without hardware-based left margins on Windows, you must ensure that your report's layout contains enough margin spacing such that your data falls within the printable area. Margin fields in the Page Setup dialog box of Oracle Reports Builder have been disabled to ensure consistency with Oracle Reports Services.

B.1.29 REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL

Description This environment variable specifies the numeric format for Arabic PDF output. Valid values for this environment are: ARABIC (Arabic numerals), HINDI (Hindi numerals), or CONTEXT (Arabic or Hindi depending on the context). This environment variable is not case-sensitive.

Valid Values ARABIC|HINDI|CONTEXT

Default ARABIC (Indo-Arabic)

Note:

If you set the value of REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING to YES, all the valid values of REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL environment variable are supported.

See Also: Appendix B, "REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING".

B.1.30 REPORTS_ALLOW_DB_CONNECT_STRING

Description This environment variable allows you to use DB connection strings in the userid parameter.

Valid Values Yes or No

Default No

Usage Notes

By default, DB connection strings are not allowed. However, tnsnames are allowed. You can specify the tnsnames alias as follows:

userid=user/pwd@server_tns_alias

B.1.31 REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM

Description This environment variable switches the bidirectional (BiDi) layout algorithm for BiDi languages (for example, Arabic or Hebrew). This environment variable is case insensitive.

Valid Values 

ORACLE Oracle Reports follows the Oracle BiDi algorithm.

UNICODE Oracle Reports follows the Unicode BiDi algorithm.

ENHANCED Oracle Reports follows the Enhanced BiDi algorithm.

UNICODE_VARIANT Oracle Reports follows the XXX BiDi algorithm.

Default ORACLE

Note:

If you set the value of REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING is to YES, the following values are supported for the REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM environment variable:

ORACLE

UNICODE

UNICODE_VARIANT

The default value is UNICODE.

See Also: Appendix B, "REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING"

Refer to http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr9/ for more information on the Unicode BiDi algorithm.

B.1.32 REPORTS_CGIDIAGBODYTAGS

Description This environment variable specifies the HTML attributes to add to the <BODY> tag in the rwcgi diagnostic and debugging output. For example, you can use this environment variable to set up text and background color or image.

This environment variable is backward compatible.

Valid Values Any valid HTML attributes for the <BODY> tag.

Default Not defined.

Usage Notes

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Example REPORTS_CGIDIAGBODYTAGS="bgcolor="#CC3366""

B.1.33 REPORTS_CGIDIAGHEADTAGS

Description This environment variable specifies the HTML tags to insert between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags in the rwcgi diagnostic and debugging output. For example, you can use this environment variable to set up <TITLE> or <META> tags.

Valid Values Any HTML tags that are valid between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags.

Default Not defined.

Usage Notes

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Example REPORTS_CGIDIAGHEADTAGS="<title>Employee List</title>"

B.1.34 REPORTS_CGIHELP

Description This environment variable specifies the URL and URI of the rwcgi help file that should display when rwcgi is invoked with the following empty request:

http://your_webserver/rwcgi?

Valid Values Any valid URL to a Web page or HTML file.

Default A default help screen is displayed in your browser.

Usage Notes

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Examples 

To display the www.yahoo.com page in your browser:

REPORTS_CGIHELP=http://www.yahoo.com

To display an HTML file named myhelpfile.htm in your browser:

REPORTS_CGIHELP=http://your_webserver/myhelpfile.htm

B.1.35 REPORTS_CGIMAP

Description This environment variable specifies the fully qualified file name and location of the rwcgi key map file (for more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File"), if map file configuration is used.

This environment variable is backward compatible.

Valid Values  A valid path to the map file.

Default  $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/cgicmd.dat

Usage Notes

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Example REPORTS_CGIMAP=c:\$DOMAIN_HOME\config\fmwconfig\servers\<WLS_SERVER_NAME>\applications\reports_<version>\configuration\cgicmd.dat

B.1.36 REPORTS_CGINODIAG

Description This environment variable specifies whether to disable all debugging and diagnostic output, such as help and showmap, from rwcgi.

This environment variable is backward compatible.

Valid Values YES|NO

Default NO

Usage Notes

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Example The following request does not work when REPORTS_CGINODIAG=YES:

http://your_webserver/rwcgi/help?

B.1.37 REPORTS_CLASSPATH

Description This environment variable specifies the list of JAR files and directories for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) when started by the Oracle Reports components. You would typically add to this list when you want to include your own classes when designing reports (for example, when adding additional pluggable data sources (PDSs) or using the PL/SQL to Java bridge).

Caution:

Oracle Reports Builder will fail if the value of the REPORTS_CLASSPATH environment variable (registry) exceeds 511 characters. To work around this issue, you can use the CLASSPATH environment variable (system) to specify a value in excess of 511 characters.

Valid Values The default values are mandatory. If any of the entries are removed, the Oracle Reports components may not behave correctly. Any additional user-defined directory or JAR file that contains Java Classes may be appended to the path.

Default  $ORACLE_HOME/reports/jlib/rwbuilder.jar:$ORACLE_HOME/reports/jlib/rwrun.jar:$ORACLE_HOME/jlib/zrclient.jar:$ORACLE_HOME/modules/oracle.jsp_11.1.1/ojsp.jar:$ORACLE_HOME/modules/oracle.javacache_11.1.1/cache.jar

Usage Notes

The default value for the environment variable is required for Oracle Reports components to function correctly. Additional user classes may be appended, but the list must conform to the platform-specific Java CLASSPATH definition.

Example

REPORTS_CLASSPATH=$ORACLE_HOME/reports/jlib/rwbuilder.jar: $ORACLE_HOME/reports/jlib/rwrun.jar:$ORACLE_HOME/jlib/zrclient.jar:$ORACLE_HOME/modules/oracle.jsp_11.1.1/ojsp.jar:$ORACLE_HOME/modules/oracle.javacache_11.1.1/cache.jar

Oracle Reports Builder will fail if the value of the REPORTS_CLASSPATH environment variable (registry) exceeds 511 characters. To work around this issue, you can use the CLASSPATH environment variable (system) to specify a value in excess of 511 characters.

B.1.38 REPORTS_CONTAINSHTMLTAGS

Description This environment variable specifies whether Oracle Reports interprets the HTML formatting tags for all the supported output formats.

Note:

Oracle Reports' interpretation of inline HTML tags may be different from the browser's interpretation. As a result, a report designed with inline HTML tags in Oracle Reports 6i, Oracle9i Reports, or Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4) may generate a different HTML or HTMLCSS output in Oracle Reports10g Release 2 (10.1.2) and 11g Release 1 (11.1.1).

Valid Values 

YES Oracle Reports interprets the HTML tags for those objects whose Contains HTML Tags property is set to Yes.

NO Oracle Reports does not interpret the HTML tags for the report, regardless of the object's Contains HTML Tags property setting. For HTML and HTMLCSS output, the browser will interpret the HTML formatting tags; for other output formats, the HTML tags themselves will appear as is in the report output. Set this environment variable to NO if you do not wish for Oracle Reports to interpret HTML formatting tags, and thus retain the behavior of prior releases.

See Also:

Section A.5.17, "CONTAINSHTMLTAGS" for more information on the implementation of inline HTML formatting tags.

Default YES

Usage Note

The command line keyword CONTAINSHTMLTAGS overrides the value of this environment variable.

B.1.39 REPORTS_COOKIE_EXPIRE

Description This environment variable specifies the lifetime of a cookie within a given Reports Server session.

If Single Sign-On is not being used, then any user accessing a secured instance of the Reports Server is challenged to identify themselves by rwservlet through its own authentication mechanism (identical to the behavior of Oracle Reports 6i). Because the HTTP 1.0 protocol is stateless (that is, each call to the server is effectively independent of all others), users might need to authenticate themselves for each report request unless a cookie is maintained.

To allow users to authenticate themselves only once per session, rwservlet has its own client-side cookie, the authid cookie, in which it stores the required authentication information for the current session. Once the user is authenticated, an encrypted cookie is created in the browser to enable the user to submit multiple report jobs without re-authenticating for each request. The authid cookies are terminated when the user closes their browser session, but you should not rely strictly on this method of terminating the cookie. You should limit the lifetime of the cookie within a given session using the REPORTS_COOKIE_EXPIRE environment variable. For example, a user might log on and then go to lunch, leaving the browser session open. To minimize the potential for a security breach in this situation, the administrator may define the REPORTS_COOKIE_EXPIRE environment variable on the Reports Server. When rwservlet receives a job request, it compares the time saved in the cookie with the current system time. If the time is longer than the number of minutes defined in the environment variable (for example, 30 minutes), the cookie is rejected and the user is challenged to provide authentication information.

Note:

If you want to force users to authenticate themselves for a specific report, you can use the SHOWAUTH command line keyword. Alternatively, you can include a %S in the corresponding report entry in the key map file. This file is usually called cgicmd.dat and is located in $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<WLS_SERVER_NAME>/applications/reports_<version>/configuration/cgicmd.dat %S forces users to enter their user name and password each time the report is called. For more information, see Section 18.13, "Using a Key Map File".

Valid Values  Any number of minutes.

Default  30

Usage Note

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Example REPORTS_COOKIE_EXPIRE=30

B.1.40 REPORTS_CUPS_PRINTING

Description This environment variable enables or disables sending the report in PDF format (instead of in postscript format) to the CUPS printer queue.

Valid Values 

YES Enables sending the report in PDF format to the CUPS printer queue.

NO Disables sending the report in PDF format to the CUPS printer queue.

Default NO

Usage Note

After setting this environment variable to YES, you can use the following command-line parameters to send the report in PDF format to the printer queue:

DESFORMAT=pdf DESTYPE=printer DESNAME=cups_printer_queue_name

Example REPORTS_CUPS_PRINTING=YES

B.1.41 REPORTS_DB_AUTH

Description This environment variable specifies the database authentication template used to log on to the database. This environment variable is backward compatible.

Valid Values Any HTML file that contains special authentication actions. It is recommended that you keep the default.

Default dbauth.htm

Usage Note

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Example REPORTS_DB_AUTH=dbauth.htm

B.1.42 REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY

Description This environment variable specifies whether to implement the following features introduced with Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4):

The elimination of the dependency on the DISPLAY variable (UNIX only)

Using ScreenPrinter (screenprinter.ppd) for surface resolution for images and font information, which eliminates the dependency on having a valid printer defined (PRINTER and TK_PRINTER environment variables set to a valid printer, or a valid entry in uiprint.txt) for Reports Runtime (UNIX only).

Advanced imaging support (all platforms)

For more information, see Section 10.8.2, "Advanced Imaging Support".

Valid Values  YES|NO

Default  YES

Usage Notes

The Reports Server must be started in batch mode to suppress the UI.

REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=YES enables the enhanced imaging support introduced with the REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT environment variable and the OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT command line keyword. The surface resolution can be controlled with the entry in the screenprinter.ppd file. If REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=NO, imaging support is limited to GIF format (for PDF output, HTML, HTMLCSS) and BMP format (for RTF output).

On UNIX, REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=YES overrides any value set for the DISPLAY variable. Even if the DISPLAY variable is defined, the X-Windows display surface will not be used by default. The surface resolution can be controlled with the entry in the screenprinter.ppd. For users upgrading from releases prior to Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), this change may impact the appearance, number of pages, output file size, or performance of existing reports.

To revert to the dependency on DISPLAY and use screen fonts (old font look up algorithm):

Set REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=NO

Remove the screenprinter.ppd entry in the uiscreenprint.txt file.

Set the DISPLAY variable to the active X-Windows display surface.

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.43 REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE

Description This environment variable specifies a pixel size that overrides the display server's default pixel size when generating a report to HTML output. Normally, Oracle Reports takes its pixel size from the display server. If you are working with older reports that rely upon a pixel size that is different from that of the display server (for example, a pixel size of 80), you can use this variable to maintain the same behavior in your older reports.

Valid Values  Any value ranging from 72 through 200.

Default  Surface resolution determined by Oracle Reports.

Usage Notes

For Windows, REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE is set in the registry. For UNIX, it is set from the command prompt or in a shell script.

If REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY = YES (default), Oracle Reports still uses the value specified for REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE for HTML output. However, if a value is not explicitly set for REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE , the surface resolution is can be controlled with the entry in the screenprinter.ppd file, as described in Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.44 REPORTS_ENABLE_RTF_SPACING

This environment variable specifies whether to enable functionality that prevents truncation of multiline text in RTF output. This environment variable may not be needed in most circumstances, and should be set to YES only if you see truncation of multiline text in RTF output.

Valid Values  

YES Oracle Reports enables functionality to prevent truncation of multiline text in RTF output.

NO Oracle Reports does not enable functionality to prevent truncation of multiline text in RTF output. Truncation may occur.

Default  NO

B.1.45 REPORTS_ENCRYPTION_KEY

Description This environment variable specifies the encryption key used to encrypt the user name and password.

Valid Values  Any encryption key

Default reports9i

Usage Note

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Example REPORTS_ENCRYPTION_KEY=oraclereports10g

B.1.46 REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING

Description This environment variable specifies whether or not to use the BIDI reshaping mechanism. You must set this environment variable to YES if you want to use the enhanced BiDi handling feature. If you do not set the value of the environment variable or you set the value of the environment variable to NO, Oracle Reports uses the old mechanism.

Valid Values

YES Oracle Reports follows the new enhanced BiDi algorithm.

NO Oracle Reports follows the old mechanism.

Default

NO

Usage Notes

If you set the value of REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING to YES:

All the valid values of REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL environment variable are supported.

The following values are supported for REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM environment variable:

UNICODE

ORACLE

UNICODE_VARIANT

The default value is UNICODE. If the REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM environment variable is not specified and you set the REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING to YES, then the default value is UNICODE.

Note:

The REPORTS_ENHANCED_BIDIHANDLING variable indicates the mechanism used (old or new). The REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM specifies which algorithm is used.

For more information, see Section B.1.31, "REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM" and Section B.1.29, "REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL".

B.1.47 REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING

Description (UNIX only) This environment variable specifies whether to use the new 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) font model, or revert to the Toolkit font handling mechanism of prior releases.

Valid Values 

YES Oracle Reports manages fonts using the 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) font model.

NO Oracle Reports manages fonts using the Toolkit font handling mechanism of prior releases.

Default YES

B.1.48 REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET

Description This environment variable specifies whether to include the enhanced TTF font subsetting feature when generating a report. This environment variable is set to YES by default to ensure that the PDF file generated is accessible and searchable.

Valid Values YES|NO

Default YES

Usage Note

Oracle Reports uses the enhanced font subsetting implementation, by default. If you set REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET=NO, Oracle Reports will to revert to the Type3 font subsetting implementation used in releases prior to Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2).

For more information on PDF font subsetting, refer to Section 11.2.2.2, "Font Subsetting".

B.1.49 REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY

Description (UNIX only) This environment variable specifies the location of all the font files for all TTF and TTC fonts used in your reports. It enables you to create reports that are easily portable across operating systems by eliminating the need to hard-code directory paths.

The directory specified by REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY is not given access by default. It is used only to search for files, and Oracle Reports handles any associated security settings separately if and when the target files are located.

Define REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY in the same fashion you define other environment variables on your operating system, keeping in mind platform-specific rules such as path length, and so on.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts

Usage Notes

Only one directory may be specified.

You cannot store a font file in the database.

REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY is limited to 256 characters.

The default folder $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts is empty out-of-the-box.

You must either save your font files in $ORACLE_INSTANCE/reports/fonts or set REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY to point the folder where the font files are saved.

B.1.50 REPORTS_GRAPH_IMAGE_DPI

Description This environment variable specifies a dots per inch (DPI) value for graphs output to a PDF file or a printer. The default value for this environment variable is set at 72 DPI to minimize the time taken to generate the report as well as to reduce the report file size.

If you specify a value higher than 72 DPI, you will see an improvement in the image resolution for graphs sent to a PDF file or a printer. However, this affects the time taken to generate the report output as well as the file size.

Note:

With the value of REPORTS_GRAPH_IMAGE_DPI=250:

The time taken to generate a report with a graph increases 5 to 6 times when compared to the time taken to generate the same report with the value set to 72 DPI.

The PDF file size also increases 5 to 6 times.

Valid Values  72 through 300

Default  72

Usage Notes

On Windows, use the registry to specify the value. On Unix/Linux, set the environment variable in reports.sh.

When you set a higher DPI value, you may also want to change the JVM heap size value through REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS to avoid the Out Of Memory error for the JVM.

This environment variable is not supported in Oracle Reports distribution functionality, as it is specific to PDF and printer outputs only.

B.1.51 REPORTS_IGNORE_IMAGE_TAG_RES

Description This environment variable is useful when a report includes certain image formats that have the ability to store the physical size of the image, which usually includes resolution and pixel dimensions. To ensure the image is not scaled to the physical dimensions, you can set this environment variable to YES to specify that Oracle Reports should ignore image resolution information and only use the pixel dimensions of the image. This ensures that this type of image from a database column is displayed correctly instead of displaying as a thumbnail.

Valid Values 

YES Oracle Reports ignores image resolution information, and uses only the pixel dimensions of the image.

NO Oracle Reports does not ignore the image resolution information in the image.

Default NO

B.1.52 REPORTS_JPEG_QUALITY_FACTOR

Description This environment variable specifies the level of image quality desired for JPEG images. It provides control over the trade-off between JPEG image quality and size of the image. The better the quality of the image, the greater the image file size.

Valid Values  0 through 100

Default  100 (highest quality)

Usage Notes

On Windows, use the registry to specify the value. On Unix/Linux, set the environment variable in reports.sh.

If REPORTS_JPEG_QUALITY_FACTOR is not specified or incorrectly specified (for example, set to a string or an out of range value), the default value is used.

A value of 75 provide a good quality image, while ensuring a good compression ratio.

B.1.53 REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS

Description This environment variable specifies any JVM options that you want Oracle Reports Builder, Reports Runtime, or Reports Converter to consider when it starts its JVM. For example, you can use this environment variable to specify the starting heap size and maximum heap size for the JVM, additional classpath entries, generate random or non-sequential job IDs, and so on.

Valid Values  List of JVM options in the JVM command line syntax.

Default  -Xmx256M

Usage Notes

The default value -Xmx256M specifies the JVM heap size of 256 MB to avoid the Out Of Memory error when running reports with large graphs or running big reports.

When the Reports Engine starts up, it checks for JVM options specified in the rwserver.conf file in the jvmoptions attribute of the engine element. For more information, see Section 8.2.1.9, "engine". If specified, the JVM options set in rwserver.conf override the value of the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS environment variable. If not specified in rwserver.conf, Oracle Reports uses the JVM options specified by the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS environment variable.

When running reports with Reports Builder, Reports Runtime, and Reports Converter, JVM options specified on the command line with the JVMOPTIONS command line keyword override JVM options specified by the REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS environment variable.

To generate random and non-sequential job IDs, you can set REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS to -Djobid=random and export REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS.

B.1.54 REPORTS_NETWORK_CONFIG

Description This environment variable should be set only if you want rwclient, rwrqm, rwcgi, or Oracle Forms Services to use a custom network configuration file. If this environment variable is not set, then these components will use the default network configuration file (rwnetwork.conf). For more information about rwnetwork.conf, see Section 8.5, "Network Configuration File".

Valid Values A valid custom network configuration file in ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsServerComponent\server_name\rwnetwork.conf

Default rwnetwork.conf

B.1.55 REPORTS_NLS_XML_CHARSETS

Description This environment variable provides an override option to enable you to define the character set encoding used when saving a report in XML format. This is only necessary when the required character set mapping for NLS_LANG to XML IANA-defined character sets do not produce the required results.

To enable your XML parser to understand the characters within the XML files, Oracle Reports does the following:

Adds an encoding attribute to the XML declaration based on the value in NLS_CHARACTERSET, the character set part of the NLS_LANG variable.

Translates the value set as the NLS_LANG character set (for example, JA16SJIS) to what is expected in the XML specification (for example, Shift_JIS).

You can override this mapping by adding entries to the REPORTS_NLS_XML_CHARSET.

Valid Values  Set of mapping pairs separated by semicolons. The first value is the encoding that is being produced and the second mapped value is the value that should be used for these cases.

<old_name>=<new_name>[;<old_name>=<new_name>][;<old_name>=<new_name>]...

Default  Not defined.

Example 

WISO-8859-8=ISO-8859-8-1;CSEUCKR=EUC-KR;WINDOWS-949=EUC-KR;EUC-CN=GBK;WINDOWS-936=GBK

B.1.56 REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER

Description This environment variable, together with other printer and display environment variables and settings, specifies whether the system's surface and fonts should be used instead of the printer's.

Valid Values  TRUE|not set

Default  TRUE

Usage Notes

REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER is set by default and is required to be set at all times. If it is not set (as a result of being user-modified), and there is no valid printer, error REP-1800 error is raised. Alternatively, you could use TK_PRINT_STATUS when you have no valid printer. A valid printer response is required by Oracle Reports to generate output, even if you are generating to a file.

If the uiprint.txt file does not contain a valid entry (that is, no valid printer is defined), but REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER is set, Oracle Reports uses screenprinter.ppd specified in uiscreenprint.txt. You should unset this environment variable only if you do not want the screenprinter.ppd driver to be used by Oracle Reports when there is no valid printer.

See Also:

Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter" for more information on the PostScript printer driver, screenprinter.ppd.

The limitation of this approach is that these reports might lose their formatting when viewed from another system if it is not identical to the system where the report was designed. Furthermore, when this report is printed, the formatting would not be correct because the fonts and their metrics differ.

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.57 REPORTS_NO_HTML_SPACE_REPLACE

Description

This environment variable specifies whether spaces should not be replaced with &nbsp; in HTML or HTMLCSS output.

Oracle Reports maps HTML metadata characters in the data retrieved for a field to the appropriate encoding. That is, Oracle Reports automatically maps:

< to &lt;

" to &quot;

In most cases, the browser produces the correct results and handles the spaces correctly. In some cases, the browser's handling of spaces does not produce the required output. This happens in such cases as where the user has padded the front of the data to produce indentation. Since the browser will treat multiple spaces as single space, the indentation is lost.

Valid Values  YES|not set

Default  not set

Usage Notes

If the value is not set, all spaces are replaced by &nbsp;. This could cause problems in your output where you want the browsers to handle line breaks on spaces. It will also increase the size of the generated HTML file.

If a field's Contains HTML Tags property is set to Yes, then no encoding will take place since Oracle Reports just passes the field's value through to the output.

Example

If REPORTS_NO_HTML_SPACE_REPLACE is set to YES, then the output for the sentence [Typical data output] will be:

[ Typical data output]

and display as (ignoring preceding spaces):

[Typical data output]

Not setting the environment variable will cause the output to change to:

[&nbsp;&nbsp;Typical&nbsp;data&nbsp;output]

and display as (maintaining preceding spaces):

[ Typical data output]

Note:

Brackets in the preceding example are used to show preceding spaces; they are not part of the sentence.

B.1.58 REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT

Description This environment variable specifies the default image format used in the report.

Valid Values  GIF|JPEG|JPG|PNG|BMP

Default  JPEG

Usage Notes

You must ensure the format that you specify matches the output type. For example, BMP only works for RTF and spreadsheet output. It will not work for HTML, HTMLCSS, or PDF output.

This environment variable setting is overridden by the value of the OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT command line keyword.

Refer to Section 10.8.2, "Advanced Imaging Support" for more information.

B.1.59 REPORTS_PATH

Description This environment variable specifies the search path for files referenced by Reports Runtime. The directories specified by REPORTS_PATH are searched first, then those specified by ORACLE_PATH. This environment variable is used to locate reports and external objects that you use in your reports, such as PL/SQL libraries, external queries, and external boilerplate. It enables you to create reports that are easily portable across operating systems by eliminating the need to hard-code directory paths.

The directories specified by REPORTS_PATH are not given access by default. They are used only to search for files, and Oracle Reports handles any associated security settings separately if and when the target files are located.

In addition to directory paths, you can specify the keyword DB when you define REPORTS_PATH. This instructs Oracle Reports to search the database to which you are currently connected.

Suppose you specified the following on a UNIX platform:

setenv REPORTS_PATH /home/tkostin/pay:/home/tkostin/receive:DB

Oracle Reports will first search the directory /home/tkostin/pay. If it cannot find the file in question, it will search /home/tkostin/receive.

Valid Values  Any directory on any drive.

Default  %ORACLE_HOME%\REPORT\DEMO; %ORACLE_HOME%\REPORT\DEMO\BITMAP; %ORACLE_HOME%\REPORT\DEMO\REQFILES

Usage Note

Define REPORTS_PATH as you would define other environment variables on your operating system, considering platform-specific rules such as for the path length and so on.

The permissible length of the REPORTS_PATH value depends on the operating system. All operating systems support up to 256 characters; but some might support a longer value.

If you specify a path for the sourceDir attribute of the engine element in the Reports Server configuration file (rwserver.conf), the sourceDir value will override the values you set here.

Example

REPORTS_PATH=C:\oracle\apps\reports;C:\myfiles

B.1.60 REPORTS_RESTRICT_DIRECTORIES

This environment variable specifies whether read/write access to directories is restricted. If set to YES, Oracle Reports has read/write access only to directories specified by REPORTS_PATH.

Valid Values  YES|NO

Default  NO

B.1.61 REPORTS_RESOURCE

This environment variable specifies the location of the resource files required for reports. This path must include the globalization support directory extension when specifying the location of the resource files.

Valid Values  Any directory on any drive.

Default  %ORACLE_HOME%\reports\res

Usage Note

To change locales, you must modify this environment variable, in addition to NLS_LANG.

Examples For US files:

REPORTS_RESOURCE=%ORACLE_HOME%\reports\res\US\

For Japanese files:

REPORTS_RESOURCE=%ORACLE_HOME%\reports\res\JA\

B.1.62 REPORTS_SERVER

Description This environment variable specifies the default Reports Server for Web Cartridge or Web CGI requests. When this environment variable is set, you can omit the SERVER command line keyword in report requests to process them using the default Reports Server, or you can include the SERVER command line keyword to override the default.

This environment variable is backward compatible.

Valid Values  Any Reports Server service entry name.

Usage Note

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI. The default Reports Server name is defined in the Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) configuration file (rwservlet.properties), as described in Section 8.3.1.1.1, "server".

Example REPORTS_SERVER=my_rep_server

B.1.63 REPORTS_SOLARIS_9

Description This environment variable resolves a synchronization issue between native Motif libraries and JDK UI packages on Solaris 2.9. When REPORTS_SOLARIS_9=YES, Reports Builder responds as expected. If you set REPORTS_SOLARIS_9=NO in a Solaris 2.9 environment, Reports Builder may stop responding when invoking either the Report Wizard or Data Wizard.

Valid Values YES|NO

Default YES on Solaris 2.9; NO on other platforms.

B.1.64 REPORTS_SPACE_BREAK

Description This environment variable specifies whether to consider white spaces as a delimiter. Oracle Reports employs an algorithm to properly wrap a line, when a word cannot fit in the same line. By default the word wrapping algorithm considers white spaces as a delimiter.

Valid Values YES|NO

Default YES

Usage Note

Set this environment variable to NO only for Asian languages with multibyte character sets, such as Chinese. This ensures that Oracle Reports does not consider white spaces as delimiters and will enable appropriate word wrapping functionality required by languages with multibyte character sets.

B.1.65 REPORTS_SRWRUN_TO_SERVER

Description

This environment variable specifies whether to allow the SERVER or USERID keywords when running a report using the SRW.RUN_REPORT built-in procedure.

Valid Values  YES|not set

Default  not set

Usage Notes

Keywords SERVER and USERID with SRW.RUN_REPORT are deprecated. If you have reports created in prior releases that use these keywords with SRW.RUN_REPORT, you can set REPORTS_SRWRUN_TO_SERVER=YES to continue to run these reports with the current release.

You may encounter issues when attempting to run reports created in prior releases asynchronously. For this reason, it is important to migrate your reports to the latest Oracle Reports release as soon as possible.

Note:

For a description of the SRW built-in package, including the SRW.RUN_REPORT built-in procedure, see the Oracle Reports online Help.

B.1.66 REPORTS_SSLPORT

Description This environment variable specifies the port number when using SSL.

Valid Values  Any valid port number.

Default  443

Usage Note

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Example REPORTS_SSLPORT=442

B.1.67 REPORTS_SYS_AUTH

Description This environment variable specifies the authentication template used to authenticate the username and password when users run report requests to a restricted Reports Server.

Valid Value  Any HTML file that contains special authentication actions. It is recommended that you keep the default.

Default  sysauth.htm

Usage Note

This environment variable is supported for backward compatibility for Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reports, or when Single Sign-On is not used.

Note:

The functionality of JavaServer Pages (JSPs) or servlets replaces support for CGI.

Example REPORTS_SYS_AUTH=sysauth.htm

B.1.68 REPORTS_TAGLIB_URI

Description This environment variable specifies the location of the tag prefix used in the Web source of a JSP-based report. It defines the Reports URI of the tag library (TAGLIB) declarations of the .jsp file. This is typically:

<%@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/lib/reports_tld.jar" prefix="rw" %>

When Oracle Reports finds a "uri" that matches the environment variable, it will use the corresponding "prefix" attribute to identify Oracle Reports tags within the .jsp file.

Valid Values  Any "uri" that references the Oracle Reports tag library.

Default  /WEB-INF/lib/reports_tld.jar

Usage Note

The default value is typically unchanged. It is the same for both reports files in both JDeveloper and Oracle Reports. The "prefix" attribute can be changed to avoid naming conflicts independent of the "uri" attribute.

B.1.69 REPORTS_TMP

Description This environment variable specifies the directory in which you wish to store Oracle Reports Builder temporary files. Oracle Reports Builder will use only one directory for this purpose; do not define more than one.

Define REPORTS_TMP in the same fashion you define other environment variables on your base operating system, keeping in mind such platform-specific rules as path length, and so on. If you don't define REPORTS_TMP, it will default to the current working directory.

Valid Values  Any directory on any drive.

Default  Not defined.

Example REPORTS_TMP=C:\tmp

B.1.70 REPORTS_USEREXITS

Description This environment variable specifies the libraries for use by Oracle Reports. These libraries are program modules created by you to be called by Oracle Reports.

REPORTS_USEREXITS can specify multiple libraries. On Windows, use a backslash (\) to separate directories in a path, and a semicolon (;) to separate complete paths. On UNIX, use a forward slash (/) to separate directories in a path, and a colon (:) to separate complete paths.

If this value is not explicitly set, Oracle Reports looks for rwxtb.dll according to the path variable of the system.

Note:

You can call Java methods using the ORA_JAVA built-in package and the Java Importer. This reduces the need to have user exits in a report and allows for a more open and portable deployment. You may also use the ORA_FFI built-in package, which provides a foreign function interface for invoking C functions in a dynamic library. With the availability of these built-in packages, the use of user exits is deprecated in Oracle Reports, though makefiles are still be supplied to permit you to continue to work with existing user exits.

For backward compatibility, the prior name REPORTS_USEREXIT is allowed for this environment variable.

Valid Values  Any user exit library (along with its absolute path).

Default  Not defined.

Example 

On Windows:

REPORTS_USEREXITS=C:\mydll.dll;d:\mynew.dll;e:\bin\speed.dll

On UNIX:

REPORTS_USEREXITS=/usr/oracle/mylib.so:/usr/oracle/myfolder/speed.so

B.1.71 REPORTS_UTF8_XMLOUTPUT

Description This environment variable specifies whether the UTF8 character set is used instead of the NLS_LANG character set. This environment variable is in effect only when the encoding attribute is not specified by the XML Prolog Value property (see the Oracle Reports online Help for a description of the XML Prolog Value property).

Valid Values 

YES Assigns the UTF8 character set (when the XML Prolog Value property is not set).

NO Assigns the NLS_LANG (or IANA-defined) character set (when the XML Prolog Value property is not set).

Default YES

B.1.72 RW

This environment variable specifies the reports-specific directory within the ORACLE_HOME.

Valid Values  A valid directory name.

Default  

%ORACLE_HOME%\reports (Windows)

$ORACLE_HOME/reports (UNIX)

B.1.73 TK_PRINT

Description (UNIX only) This environment variable specifies the print command to be executed on UNIX for Oracle Reports 6i. In later releases, TK_PRINT is obsolete; you can achieve the same results by using the printing script file: $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin/rwlpr.sh This script supports lp and lpr commands by default. If you use some other printing command for your machine, this file needs to be modified accordingly.

Valid Values  The PRINT command and all necessary keywords for your flavor of UNIX, including the following elements:

%n is the printer name string.

%c is the number of copies.

This string is much like a printf() format. If this environment variable is not set, Oracle Reports 6i uses the standard default value for the platform. Examples of default values on various platforms are as follows:

System V: lp -s -d'%n' -n%c

Solaris: lpr -P'%n' -#%c -s

Default  Not defined.

Usage Notes

In most cases, the default print commands will meet your needs. We recommend that you only set this environment variable when you have a specific need to alter the default value. For example, if you want duplexed output, you need to set TK_PRINT.

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.74 TK_PRINT_STATUS

Description (UNIX only) This environment variable specifies the command executed to validate the printer. To ensure that the printer is valid, this command is executed and its output is searched for the strings unknown, non-existent, or invalid. If one of these strings appears in the output, the printer is considered invalid and cannot be selected. Otherwise, the printer is accepted by Oracle Reports.

Valid Values  Should include %n for the printer name (see also TK_PRINT).

If this environment variable is not set, Oracle Reports uses the built-in default values:

System V: /usr/bin/lpstat -p'%n' 2>&1

Other: /usr/etc/lpc status '%n' 2>&1

Default  Not defined.

Usage Notes

You should only use this environment variable in cases where the printer status command on your platform differs from the default values, or when you have no valid printer. If you have no valid printer, you can set TK_PRINT_STATUS=echo and specify a dummy entry in the uiprint.txt file. This workaround ensures that Oracle Reports gets a valid response when checking for a printer.

If REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER is set, but the uiprint.txt file does not contain a valid entry, then screenprinter.ppd specified in uiscreenprint.txt is used.

Note:

REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER is set by default and is required to be set at all times. If it is not set (as a result of being user-modified), error REP-1800 error is raised.

See Also:

Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter" for more information on the PostScript printer driver, screenprinter.ppd.

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.75 TK_PRINTER

Description (UNIX only) This environment variable specifies the default printer's name.

Valid Values  Name of default printer.

Default  Not defined.

Usage Notes

TK_PRINTER takes precedence over PRINTER; that is, if both variables are set, TK_PRINTER is considered first and PRINTER is considered only if TK_PRINTER does not specify a valid printer. If neither TK_PRINTER nor PRINTER is set to a valid printer, Oracle Reports uses the first entry in your uiprint.txt file. If REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER is set, but the uiprint.txt file does not contain a valid entry, then screenprinter.ppd specified in uiscreenprint.txt is used.

Note:

REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER is set by default and is required to be set at all times. If it is not set (as a result of being user-modified), error REP-1800 error is raised.

See Also:

Section 10.8.1, "ScreenPrinter" for more information on the PostScript printer driver, screenprinter.ppd.

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.76 TK_AFM

Description This environment variable specifies the location of AFM files. TK_AFM is considered first, then ORACLE_AFM.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default Not defined.

Usage Notes

If you do not specify values for either of these variables, Oracle Reports looks for AFM files in:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/AFM

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.77 TK_HPD

Description This environment variable specifies the location of HPD files. TK_HPD is considered first, then ORACLE_HPD.

Valid Values Any directory on any drive.

Default Not defined.

Usage Notes

If you do not specify values for either these variables, Oracle Reports looks for HPD files in:

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/HPD

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.78 TK_PPD

Description This environment variable specifies the location of PPD files. TK_PPD is considered first, then ORACLE_PPD.

Valid Values  Any directory on any drive.

Default  Not defined.

Usage notes

If you do not specify values for either of these variables, Oracle Reports looks for PPD files in:

INSTANCE_HOME/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/PPD

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For detailed information, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.79 TK_TFM

Description This environment variable specifies the location of TFM files. TK_TFM is considered first, then ORACLE_TFM.

Valid Values  Any directory on any drive.

Default  Not defined.

Usage notes

If you do not specify values for either of these variables, Oracle Reports looks for TFM files in

ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk/admin/TFM

Printing on UNIX requires some setup and configuration to create the proper printing environment. For information about printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports, refer to Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

B.1.80 TNS_ADMIN

Description

This environment variable points to the directory location containing tnsnames.ora which has the DB connection details.

Valid Values

Any directory or any drive which has the file tnsnames.ora

Default Value

By default, the value of the environment variable TNS_ADMIN will be set to ORACLE_INSTANCE/config for both in-process server and standalone servers.

Usage Notes

If you want to change the value of TNS_ADMIN:

For Standalone server: Edit the opmn.xml file which is located at ORACLE_NSTANCE\config\OPMN\opmn

For In-process server: Edit the setDomainEnv.sh file which is located at $DOMAIN_HOME/bin

B.1.81 USERNAME

Description This environment variable specifies the default logon account. See your database documentation for more information on setting USERNAME.

Valid Values Any valid Oracle username (without the OPS$ prefix).

Default Not defined.

Example USERNAME=dsanvita

B.1.82 USER_NLS_LANG

Description This environment variable specifies the language for the Oracle Reports Runtime component. Chapter 23, "Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support" contains additional detailed information about this environment variable, including a table of valid values.

C Batch Registering Reports in Oracle Portal

If you have a number of reports that you wish to register in Oracle Portal, it is often preferable to register them as a group in a batch script rather than individually in the Oracle Portal user interface. Likewise, if you have a large number of reports that you wish to unregister, a batch script is more efficient.

Batch Registering Report Definition Files

Batch Removing Report Packages

PL/SQL Batch Registering Function

C.1 Batch Registering Report Definition Files

To batch register reports in Oracle Portal, perform the following steps:

Run rwconverter to Generate a SQL Script

Run the Script in SQL*Plus

C.1.1 Run rwconverter to Generate a SQL Script

To generate a SQL script that you can execute in SQL*Plus to register your reports, do the following:

From the operating system prompt (DOS or UNIX), enter the rwconverter command with the keywords to batch register the report definition files.

See Also:

Appendix A, "Command-Line Keywords" for information on the rwconverter keywords.

Note:

To successfully create a script file with the necessary load functions, you specify the DTYPE, STYPE, SOURCE, and DEST keywords. To create a functional package in Oracle Portal, you must specify the P_SERVERS, P_PRIVILEGE, P_TYPES, P_FORMATS keywords in addition to the keywords used to create the script file.

Following is an example rwconverter command line on Microsoft Windows:

rwconverter.exe dtype="register" stype="rdffile"
source="(security.rdf,earnings.rdf,acc_pay.rdf)" dest="(output.sql)"
p_owner="PORTAL_APP" p_servers="(repserver,acct_server)"
p_description="restricted report" p_privilege="(SCOTT,JABERS,ACCT)"
p_availability="production" p_types="(Cache,printer)"
p_formats="(HTMLCSS,PDF)" p_printers="(sales_printer,acct_printer)"
p_pformTemplate="public.finance_template"
p_trigger="Is begin IF UPPER(DESTYPE) = ''PRINTER'' AND
EMPNAME = ''SMITH'' THEN RETURN(TRUE); ELSE RETURN(FALSE); END IF; end;"

This command line generates a SQL script file named output.sql that contains the following:

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON

VAR STATUS NUMBER;

EXEC :STATUS := RWWWVREG.REGISTER_REPORT (P_NAME=>'Security',
P_OWNER=>'PORTAL_APP', P_SERVERS=>'repserver,acct_server',
P_FILENAME=>'security.rdf', P_DESCRIPTION=>'restricted report',
P_PRIVILEGE=>'SCOTT,JABERS,ACCT', P_AVAILABILITY=>'production'
P_TYPES=>'Cache,printer', P_FORMATS=>'HTMLCSS,PDF',
P_PRINTERS=>'sales_printer,acct_printer
P_PFORMTEMPLATE=>'public.finance_template' P_PARAMETERS=>'(P_LASTNAME)
(P_SSN)', P_TRIGGER=>'Is begin IF UPPER(DESTYPE) = ''PRINTER'' AND
EMPNAME = ''SMITH''THEN RETURN(TRUE); ELSE RETURN(FALSE); END IF; end;');

EXEC :STATUS := RWWWVREG.REGISTER_REPORT (P_NAME=>'Earnings',
P_OWNER=>'PORTAL_APP', P_SERVERS=>'repserver,acct_server',
P_FILENAME=>'earnings.rdf', P_DESCRIPTION=>'restricted report',
P_PRIVILEGE=>'SCOTT,JABERS,ACCT', P_AVAILABILITY=>'production'
P_TYPES=>'Cache,printer)', P_FORMATS=>'HTMLCSS,PDF',
P_PRINTERS=>'sales_printer,acct_printer',
P_PFORMTEMPLATE=>'public.finance_template',
P_TRIGGER='Is begin IF UPPER(DESTYPE) = ''PRINTER'' AND EMPNAME = ''JABERS''
THEN RETURN(TRUE); ELSE RETURN(FALSE); END IF; end;');

EXEC :STATUS := RWWWVREG.REGISTER_REPORT (P_NAME=>'Acc_pay',
P_OWNER=>'PORTAL_APP', P_SERVERS=>'repserver,acct_server',
P_FILENAME=>'acc_pay.rdf', P_DESCRIPTION=>'restricted report',
P_PRIVILEGE=>'SCOTT,JABERS,ACCT', P_AVAILABILITY=>'production'
P_TYPES=>'Cache,printer', P_FORMATS=>'HTMLCSS,PDF',
p_printers=>'sales_printer,acct_printer',
P_PFORMTEMPLATE=>'public.finance_template'
P_TRIGGER=>'Is begin IF UPPER(DESTYPE) = ''PRINTER'' AND
EMPNAME = ''JABERS''THEN RETURN(TRUE); ELSE RETURN(FALSE); END IF; end;');

For more information on the contents of this SQL script file, refer to Section C.3, "PL/SQL Batch Registering Function".

Check the reports.log file, which is typically written to the current working directory, for errors that may have occurred during the conversion process. If the reports.log file was not generated, then no errors were encountered by rwconverter.

You can now optionally edit the system and user parameter values as desired. For example, the first RWWWVREG function in the sample script generated an additional parameter called P_PARAMETERS. This occurred because the security.rdf file contains two user-defined parameters, P_LASTNAME and P_SSN:

P_PARAMETERS=>'(P_LASTNAME)(P_SSN)',

In this case, you can optionally define the default, low, and high values, or a list of values for each user parameter if you want to restrict the values the user may enter at runtime. Similarly, if you want to restrict system parameters, such as COPIES, to limit the number of copies a user can make, you do so using the P_PARAMETERS keyword. The edited P_PARAMETERS keyword might look like the following:

P_PARAMETERS=>'(P_LASTNAME, LOV=LASTNAME_LOV)(P_SSN)(COPIES, DEFAULT=1,LOW=1,HIGH=2)'

This revised code segment imposes the following restrictions on the report:

The P_LASTNAME user parameter is limited to the values listed in the LASTNAME_LOV list of values.

A user-supplied value for P_SSN is required.

The default value of the COPIES system parameter is one and the number of printed copies must be in a range from 1 to 2.

Save and close the output.sql file.

C.1.2 Run the Script in SQL*Plus

To actually register your reports in Oracle Portal, you must run the script generated for you by rwconverter:

Start SQL*Plus and connect to the Oracle Portal schema that you want to own the packaged procedures.

From the SQL*Plus command prompt, execute the script you created with rwconverter:

@ output.sql

The script will execute and create packages in Oracle Portal for each report listed in the script with the specified parameters.

Log in to Oracle Portal as a user with RW_ADMINISTRATOR privileges.

Click the Corporate Documents tab.

Click Builder.

Click the Administer tab.

In the Oracle Reports Security portlet, click Oracle Reports Security Settings.

In the Reports Definition File Access portlet, enter the P_NAME of one of the reports you batch registered in your SQL script.

Click Edit. The Manage Component page is displayed.

Click Edit at the bottom of the page to edit the parameters of the report.

Review and edit the parameters as desired.

Click OK.

Click Close.

Repeat steps 8 through 13 for each report that you batch registered with your script.

C.2 Batch Removing Report Packages

To remove many reports from Oracle Portal at once, do the following:

In a text editor, create a SQL script file (for example, rmv_rdfs.sql) that contains one RWWWVREG.DEREGISTER_REPORT function call for each report definition file package that you want to remove. For example:

VAR STATUS NUMBER;
EXEC :STATUS := RWWWVREG.DEREGISTER_REPORT (P_NAME=>'Security');
EXEC :STATUS := RWWWVREG.DEREGISTER_REPORT (P_NAME=>'Earnings');
EXEC :STATUS := RWWWVREG.DEREGISTER_REPORT (P_NAME=>'Acc_pay');

Note:

P_NAME is the name of the report definition file package you want to remove from Oracle Portal.

Start SQL*Plus and log in to the Oracle Portal schema that owns the reports' packaged procedures.

From the SQL*Plus command prompt, execute the script you created in the first step:

@ rmv_rdfs.sql

The script will execute and remove the packages from Oracle Portal for each report listed in the script.

Note:

This procedure will not remove the report definition files from the file system. It only unregisters the reports making them unavailable from Oracle Portal. If you want to remove the files, you must delete them from the file system.

C.3 PL/SQL Batch Registering Function

The SQL script that rwconverter generates for you to batch register reports in Oracle Fusion Middleware consists mainly of calls to the RWWWVREG.REGISTER_REPORT function. The syntax of RWWWVREG.REGISTER_REPORT is as follows:

Function Rwwwvreg.register_report(
  p_owner varchar2,
  p_name varchar2,
  p_servers varchar2,
  p_filename varchar2,
  p_description varchar2,
  p_privileges varchar2,
  p_availability varchar2,
  p_types varchar2,
  p_formats varchar2,
  p_printers varchar2,
  p_pdformTemplate varchar2,
  p_parameters varchar2,
  p_trigger varchar2)
  return number;
    --  =0 : succeeded;
    --  !=0 : failed;

The table below describes each of the parameters taken by RWWWVREG.REGISTER_REPORT.

Table C-1 RWWWVREG.REGISTER_REPORT parameters

Parameter
Description

P_OWNER

Is the DB Provider name. The default is the current Oracle Fusion Middleware DB Provider that you are connected to when you start the SQL*PLUS script.

For example:

P_OWNER=>'PORTAL_APP'

P_NAME

Is the name used to identify the report in Oracle Portal.

P_NAME corresponds to the Name field in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard.

For example:

P_NAME=>'Earnings'

P_SERVERS

Is the names of the Reports Servers on which the report definition files defined in the P_SERVERS parameter have access privileges. The list of Reports Servers is comma delimited.

P_SERVERS corresponds to the Reports Servers field in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

For example:

P_SERVERS=>'repserver,acct'

Note: The Reports Servers you list for P_SERVERS must already be registered in Oracle Portal. For more information, refer to Chapter 16, "Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal".

P_FILENAME

Is the name of the report definition file that is being registered.

P_FILENAME corresponds to the Oracle Reports File Name in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

For example:

P_FILENAME=>'earnings.rdf'

P_DESCRIPTION

Is a description of the report.

P_DESCRIPTION corresponds to the Description field in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

For example:

P_DESCRIPTION=>'restricted report'

P_PRIVILEGE

Is the users or roles given privileges to run the report definition file defined in P_FILENAME. This list is comma delimited.

P_PRIVILEGE corresponds to the Grantee list on the Access tab of the Manage Component page for the report. Note that you must uncheck Inherit Privileges from Portal DB Provider in order to see the Grantee list.

For example:

P_PRIVILEGE=>'SCOTT,JABERS,PORTAL90'

P_AVAILABILITY

Is the name of the availability calendar that determines when the report definition file defined in the P_FILENAME parameter will be available for processing.

P_AVAILABILITY corresponds to the Availability Calendar Name field in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

For example:

P_AVAILABILITY=>'production'

Note: The availability calendar must already exist in Oracle Portal. For more information on creating an availability calendar, see Chapter 16, "Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal".

P_TYPES

Is the destination types to which the report definition file defined in the P_FILENAME parameter can be sent (for example, cache, printer). This list is comma delimited.

P_TYPES corresponds to the Types multiple select box in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

For example:

P_TYPES=>'CACHE,printer'

P_FORMATS

The destination formats to which the report definition file defined in the P_FILENAME parameter can be sent (for example, HTML, PDF). This list is comma delimited.

P_FORMATS corresponds to the Formats multiple select box in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

For example:

P_FORMATS=>'HTMLCSS,PDF'

Note: If the destination format for the report is DELIMITEDDATA, it may not be possible to batch register the report. As a workaround, you can define a different destination format, then batch register the report, and later manually edit the report to DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA.

P_PRINTERS

The printers to which the report definition file defined in the P_FILENAME parameter can print. This list is comma delimited.

P_PRINTERS corresponds to the Printers multiple select box in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

For example:

P_PRINTERS=>'sales_printer,acct_printer'

Note: The printers you list for P_PRINTERS must already be registered in Oracle Portal. For more information, refer to Chapter 16, "Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal".

P_PFORMTEMPLATE

Is the parameter form template that determines the page style of the Runtime Parameter Form.

P_PFORMTEMPLATE corresponds to the Parameter Form Template field in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

For example:

P_PFORMTEMPLATE=>'public.finance_template'

P_PARAMETERS

Is the user and system parameters' default, high, and low values, or list of values name.

Note: The P_PARAMETERS parameter does not have a corresponding rwconverter option. Hence, if you want to batch import user parameter values, ranges, or lists of values, you must manually edit the SQL script generated by rwconverter.

P_PARAMETERS corresponds to the (parameter) Name, LOV, Low Value, and High Value fields in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

The default corresponds to the value set in the Runtime Parameter Form for the specified parameter.

For example:

P_PARAMETERS=>'(P_LASTNAME, LOV=LASTNAME_LOV) (P_SSN)(COPIES, DEFAULT=1,LOW=1,HIGH=2)'

where:

P_LASTNAME, P_SSN, and COPIES are parameter names.

LOV is the name of the list of values.

DEFAULT is the default value.

LOW is the low value in a range of values.

HIGH is the high value in a range of values.

P_TRIGGER

Is the validation trigger written in PL/SQL that returns a boolean statement (for example, true (succeeded) or false (failed)).

P_TRIGGER corresponds to the text box in the Create Report Definition File Access wizard and the Edit Report Definition File page.

For example:

P_TRIGGER=>'Is begin

IF UPPER(DESTYPE) = ''PRINTER'' AND

EMPNAME = ''SMITH''

THEN

RETURN(TRUE);

ELSE

RETURN(FALSE);

END IF;

end;'

D Troubleshooting Oracle Reports Services

This appendix describes common problems that you might encounter when deploying your reports using Oracle Reports Services and explains how to solve them. It also gives detailed instructions on how to diagnose problems. It contains the following topics:

Problems and Solutions

Diagnosing Performance Problems

Diagnosing Font Problems

Diagnosing Printing Problems

Diagnosing JDBC PDS Problems

Diagnosing Oracle Portal Problems

Diagnosing Globalization Problems

Diagnosing Oracle Reports Bridge Problems

Need More Help?

D.1 Problems and Solutions

This section describes common problems and solutions. It contains the following topics:

Hanging Report Requests

Reports Server Activity Generates Error REP-50125

Long Running Report Failure with Oracle Reports Servlet

Fonts Do Not Display Consistently On Different Platforms

Running Reports on UNIX Platforms Generates REP-56048

Font Issues with Right-to-Left Languages

Errors When Running Reports from Oracle Forms Using RUN_REPORT_OBJECT

Displaying Report Output in Microsoft Excel

Report Containing User Exit Fails on UNIX

Printing and Font Errors When Using In-process Reports Server

D.1.1 Hanging Report Requests

When running report requests with Reports Server, the report request may "hang" for various reasons. This can lead to stability issues if not noticed in time. This section highlights such scenarios, explains the issues, how you can identify such patterns, take corrective measures, and gather sufficient information to raise such issues with Oracle Support Services.

To begin with, it is important to understand how Reports Server identifies duplicate jobs. When a job is submitted to Reports Server, it checks whether a similar job exists in its job queue. If it finds a currently running job that is the same as the submitted job, then Reports Server considers the submitted job a duplicate job and the currently running job as the master job. Reports Server does not execute the duplicate job; instead, it waits for the master job to finish and passes the same output to the duplicate job. Although an idle engine is available, the duplicate job is not submitted to the engine. This is expected behavior and does not mean that the request is hanging.

In addition to the Solutions provided in this section, refer to Section 24.4, "Tuning Reports Server Configuration".

Note:

Scalability improvements in Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) and 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) improve the stability of Reports Server to ensure report requests complete successfully.

Problem 1

Master job "hangs" before finishing.

Solution 1

If a master job hangs for some reason, then the next duplicate job in line is made the master job.

Check the engineResponseTimeOut attribute in the engine element of the rwserver.conf file (see Section 8.2.1.9, "engine"). Set this attribute judiciously to avoid server instability. This enables Reports Server to automatically detect and recover from this type of hanging situation. You can also use the showjobs command to end the hanging job and allow Reports Server to continue processing other requests. For information about the showjobs command, see Section A.8.8, "SHOWJOBS".

For example, consider a scenario where you have a set of reports. The largest report takes a maximum of 5 minutes to run. In this case, you can set engineResponseTimeOut to 5 minutes.

Notes:

When an engine is executing the job, the engine updates the server with the latest status, such as formatting page 1, 2, and so on. If Reports Server does not receive any update from the engine for more than 5 minutes, it is assumed that the engine is hanging and therefore, Reports Server stops the engine.

When you have reports of various complexities that take 1 minute to 1 hour to run, you should specify ENGINERESPONSETIMOUT on the command line while running the report (see Section A.6.4, "ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT").

If you have interactive jobs as well as scheduled and batch jobs, it is good practice to start one server for interactive jobs and one for batch and scheduled jobs. For performance and stability reasons, you should avoid using the same server for both interactive and batch/scheduled jobs.

Despite setting the engineResponseTimeOut attribute (or ENGINERESPONSETIMEOUT keyword on the command line) judiciously, if you still encounter instability and crashes, perform the following steps to report the problem to Oracle Support Services:

Enable server tracing and logging (see Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution"). If it is not possible to enable tracing, enable logging alone by setting the log element's option attribute to failedJobs in the rwserver.conf file (see Section 8.2.1.13, "log"). When you enable logging, you can see the failed job reports in the reports.log file. Identify the report that is failing or causing the engine to hang.

Enable engine diagnostic logging by modifying the engine element to include the diagnosis property in the rwserver.conf file (see "Properties" in Section 8.2.1.9, "engine"), then run the report that you identified in Step 1 to reproduce the hang.

Report the hang to Oracle Support Services with the following information:

rwserver.conf file.

reports.log file.

Engine diagnostic output when the hang is reproduced.

Report definition file so that Oracle Support Services can reproduce the problem.

Problem 2

Reports Server stops responding or crashes when running report requests, exhibited by any of the following:

When a job is submitted through a browser, the browser seems to hang (no response).

A job is not submitted to an engine although the engine is idle.

Web commands do not work and the browser times out after some time.

Scheduled jobs are not run.

Solution 2

Restart Reports Server to attempt to recover from this problem. If the problem persists, report it to Oracle Support Services with the following information:

rwserver.conf file.

Approximate load on Reports Server at the time of the hang.

Thread dump of Reports Server, which you can obtain as follows:

On Solaris, use the kill -3 server_pid command when Reports Server hangs. This command writes the thread information to the console output. To redirect the thread information and error streams from the console to a file, modify the rwserver.sh file in the $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin directory. For example:

exec $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin/rwserver "$@" > threaddump.txt 2>&1

Note:

This example is for the UNIX k shell. The code may be slightly different if you are using some other shell.

If you are using the in-process Reports Server, use the Give kill -3 to WLS_REPORTS managed server process. The thread dump will be in FMW_HOME/user_projects/domains/domain_name/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logs/WLS_REPORTS.out

On Windows, the kill -3 command does not work. Instead, at a command prompt, type the command specified in Table D-1 to start Reports Server; when the issue is reproduced, shift focus to the command prompt window, then press Control+Break to get the thread dump.

Table D-1 Commands to Obtain Thread Dump on Windows

Reports Server Version
Command

11.1.1.x.x

Set the environment variable COMPONENT_CONFIG_DIRECTORY to the Reports Server configuration directory and run the following command:

ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin/java –Xmx256M –classpath %REPORTS_CLASSPATH% oracle.reports.server.RWServer oracle_home=ORACLE_HOME server=server_name showui=yes|nobatch=yes|no

10.1.2.0.2

ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin/java –Xmx256M –classpath %REPORTS_
CLASSPATH% oracle.reports.server.RWServer oracle_
home=ORACLE_HOME server=server_name showui=yes|no
batch=yes|no

9.0.4

ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin/java
-Xbootclasspath/p:$OH/vbroker4/lib/vbjboot.jar –Xmx256M
–classpath %REPORTS_CLASSPATH%
oracle.reports.server.RWServer oracle_home=ORACLE_HOME
server=server_name showui=yes|no batch=yes|no

9.0.2

ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin/java –Xmx256M –classpath %REPORTS_
CLASSPATH% oracle.reports.server.RWServer oracle_
home=ORACLE_HOME server=server_name showui=yes|no
batch=yes|no

Problem 3

The in-process Reports Server fails to start and the browser displays the following message while trying to run a report with the in-process Reports Server:

REP-52266: The in-process Reports Server failed to start.

When the standalone server is started, it shuts down immediately.

Solution 3

Enable tracing (see Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution") and start the in-process Reports Server. The default Reports Server rwserver_diagnostic.log file should capture the actual cause of the problem:

Reports Server has failed to initialize one of the pluggable data sources or destinations. Correct the configuration for the pluggable data source (PDS) or destination and restart Reports Server. For general information about PDSs, see the Pluggable Data Sources section of the Oracle Reports online Help. For information about the Pluggable Data Sources, see Chapter 14, "Configuring and Using the Pluggable Data sources".

The engine has failed to start. Check the rwEng_{engNo}_diagnostic.log file in the $DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/logs/reports directory. This file must contain the following lines:

Debug 50103 (EngineImpl:EngineImpl): CInitEngine returns 0
Info 55003 (RWEngine:init): Register this engine to Oracle Reports Server server_name

If the rwEng_{engNo}_diagnostic.log file does not contain these lines, it means that the engine has failed to start.

If the CinitEngine return value in the file is negative, then it represents an error in initializing the Reports Engine.If the CinitEngine return value is not equal to zero, check the System environment variable PATH if you are using Windows and the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable in setdomainenv.sh file which is located in DOMAIN_HOME/bin if you are using Solaris. For the in-process Reports Server, the values of PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH are taken from the System environment variable PATH for windows and LD_LIBRARY_PATH in setdomainenv.sh file which is located in DOMAIN_HOME/bin for Solaris.

Problem 4

Reports Engine crashes or hangs when running report requests.

Solution 4

Case 1: Consider the scenario where Reports Server is running thousands of reports every day, printing reports, and publishing them to the Web. In this scenario, the browser may wait for the response and eventually time out. Even Web commands to see the job queue may not work.

Turn on tracing (see Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution") and when this problem occurs, take a thread dump by running the kill -3 server_pid command on Solaris (as described under Solution 2. The following lines of code are the result of running the kill -3 server_pid command. These lines indicate a hang when Reports Server is trying to write the report to a network drive:

"RequestProcessor[7]" daemon prio=5 tid=0x1835f210 nid=0x181c waiting on condition [224cf000..224cfd88]
   at java.io.FileOutputStream.write (Native Code)
   at oracle.reports.utility.copyFile (Utility.java:424)
   at oracle.reports.server.DesFile.sendFile(DesFile.java:74)
   at oracle.reports.server.Destination.send(Destination.java:484)
   at oracle.reports.server.JobObject.distribute(JobObject.java:1582)
   at oracle.reports.server.JobManager.updateJobStatus(JobManager.java:2231)
   at oracle.reports.server.EngineCommImpl.updateEngineJobStatus(
      EngineCommImpl.java:134)
   at oracle.reports.server._EngineCommImplBase._invoke(
      _EngineCommImplBase.java:94)
   at com.sun.corba.se.internal.corba.ServerDelegate.dispatch
      (ServerDelegate.java:353)
   at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.ORB.process(ORB.java:280)
   at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.RequestProcessor.process
      (RequestProcessor.java:81)
   at com.sun.corba.se.internal.orbutil.ThreadPool$PooledThread.run
      (ThreadPool.java:106)

The trace file for this scenario is as follows:

[2005/5/31 6:26:47:321] Info 50132 (JobObject:reset): jobid = 15 Get command line:
server=vin report=c:\backup\reps\emp.rdf destype=file desformat=html
desname=c:\test.html userid=scott@ora9i authid=vnhegde
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:92] Debug 50103 (JobManager:firstToRun): job 15 is first to run
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:212] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): Job queue for jobid =
  15 is 0
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:212] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): jobid = 15 is in
  current queue
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:212] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): Calling
  findDuplicatedJob for jobid = 15
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:212] Debug 50103 (JobManager:findDuplicatedJob): Found no
  duplicated job for job 15
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:212] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): No Duplicate jobs for
  jobid = 15
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:212] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): Job 15 is Enqueued
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:212] Debug 50103 (JobManager:firstToRun): job 15 is first to
  run
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:212] Debug 50103 (JobManager.runJobLocal): Trying to get engine
  for Job 15
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:212] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:getIdleEngine): Target max
  engines = 1
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:222] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:getIdleEngine): rwEng-0 is used
  = true
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:222] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:getIdleEngine): rwEng-0 state
  is 1
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:222] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state
  is: Reserved
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:222] Debug 50103 (JobManager.runJobLocal): Job 15 got Engine
  rwEng-0
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:222] Debug 50103 (JobManager:runJobInEngine): Job 15 calling
  setCommand on engine rwEng-0
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:222] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:updateEngineState): Engine
  rwEng-0 status is 3
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:222] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state
  is: Running
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:222] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:updateEngineState): Engine
  rwEng-0 status is 5
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:222] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state
  is: Idle
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:232] Debug 50103 (JobManager:runJobInEngine): Send job 15 to
  engine rwEng-0
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:232] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:updateEngineState): Engine
  rwEng-0 status is 3
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:232] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state
  is: Running
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:482] State 56016 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Job 15 status
  is: Running the report Initializing report
[2005/5/31 6:26:48:482] Debug 50103 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Finished
  updating job: 15
[2005/5/31 6:26:50:856] State 56016 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Job 15 status
  is: Running the report Formatting page 1
[2005/5/31 6:26:50:856] Debug 50103 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Finished
  updating job: 15
[2005/5/31 6:26:52:468] Debug 50103 (RWCacheItem:addFile): add file
  'test33347112.htm' for job 15
[2005/5/31 6:26:52:468] Debug 50103 (RWCache:updateCurrentCapacity): Current cache
  capacity is 197239

In this trace file, note the following:

A job with ID 15 is submitted at 6:26:47:321

A duplicate job is checked for at 6:26:48:212

rwEng-0 is obtained at 6:26:48:222

The engine started running at 6:26:48:222

The first page is formatted at 6:26:50:856

After this there is no update on the job. The Finished successfully line is not present. This indicates that there is a problem with the job.

The following example shows a trace file for a job that finished successfully:

[2005/5/31 6:25:57:198] Info 50132 (JobObject:reset): jobid = 14 Get command line:
server=vin report=c:\backup\reps\emp.rdf destype=file desformat=html
desname=c:\test.html userid=scott@ora9i authid=vphegde
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:80] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): Job queue for jobid =
  14 is 0
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): jobid = 14 is in
  current queue
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): Calling
  findDuplicatedJob for jobid = 14
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (JobManager:findDuplicatedJob): Found no
  duplicated job for job 14
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): No Duplicate jobs for
  jobid = 14
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (ConnectionImpl:runJob): Job 14 is Enqueued
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (JobManager:firstToRun): job 14 is first to run
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (JobManager.runJobLocal): Trying to get engine
  for Job 14
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:getIdleEngine): Target max
  engines = 1
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:getIdleEngine): rwEng-0 is used
  = true
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:getIdleEngine): rwEng-0 state is
  1
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state is:
  Reserved
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (JobManager.runJobLocal): Job 14 got Engine
  rwEng-0
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:90] Debug 50103 (JobManager:runJobInEngine): Job 14 calling
  setCommand on engine rwEng-0
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:100] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:updateEngineState): Engine
  rwEng-0 status is 3
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:100] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state
  is: Running
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:100] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:updateEngineState): Engine
  rwEng-0 status is 5
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:100] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state
  is: Idle
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:100] Debug 50103 (JobManager:runJobInEngine): Send job 14 to
  engine rwEng-0
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:110] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:updateEngineState): Engine
  rwEng-0 status is 3
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:110] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state
  is: Running
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:350] State 56016 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Job 14 status
  is: Running the report Initializing report
[2005/5/31 6:25:58:350] Debug 50103 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Finished
  updating job: 14
[2005/5/31 6:26:0:663] State 56016 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Job 14 status is:
  Running the report Formatting page 1
[2005/5/31 6:26:0:663] Debug 50103 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Finished updating
  job: 14
[2005/5/31 6:26:2:256] Debug 50103 (RWCacheItem:addFile): add file
  'test54106877.htm' for job 14
[2005/5/31 6:26:2:256] Debug 50103 (RWCache:updateCurrentCapacity): Current cache
  capacity is 182329
[2005/5/31 6:26:2:286] State 56016 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Job 14 status is:
  Finished successfully
[2005/5/31 6:26:3:7] Debug 50103 (JobManager:notifyWaitingJobs): Master job 14
  notify its duplicated jobs.
[2005/5/31 6:26:3:7] Debug 50103 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Finished updating
  job: 14
[2005/5/31 6:26:3:7] Debug 50103 (EngineManager:updateEngineState): Engine rwEng-0
  status is 1
[2005/5/31 6:26:3:7] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state is:
  Ready
[2005/5/31 6:26:3:57] Info 56013 (ConnectionManager:release): Connection 1 is
  released

In this trace file, after formatting the page 1, note the following:

The job finished successfully at 6:26:2:286

Duplicate jobs are notified at 6:26:3:7

Connection is released at 6:26:3:57

These lines were not present in the first example. All jobs must contain these lines in the Reports Server trace files. A missing event or abrupt end means that the job has not finished successfully and is a potential cause for the hang.

Case 2: Consider the scenario where the following error displays:

REP-56048: Engine rwEng-0 crashed, job Id: 17

In this scenario, check the Reports Server and engine trace files. A typical crash resembles the following in the Reports Server trace file:

[2005/6/1 3:38:35:156] Exception 50125 (org.omg.CORBA.COMM_FAILURE:   vmcid: SUN
  minor code: 208 completed: Maybe
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.IIOPConnection.purge_
    calls(IIOPConnection.java:438)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.ReaderThread.run(ReaderThread.java:70)
): Internal error org.omg.CORBA.COMM_FAILURE:   vmcid: SUN  minor code: 208
  completed: Maybe
[2005/6/1 3:38:35:156] Info 56029 (EngineManager:shutdownEngine): Shutting down
  engine rwEng-0
[2005/6/1 3:38:36:137] Exception 50125 (org.omg.CORBA.COMM_FAILURE:   vmcid: SUN
  minor code: 201  completed: No
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.ConnectionTable.getConnection
    (ConnectionTable.java:148)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.ConnectionTable.getConnection
      (ConnectionTable.java:65)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.GIOPImpl.getConnection(GIOPImpl.java:67)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.corba.ClientDelegate.createRequest
      (ClientDelegate.java:652)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.corba.ClientDelegate.createRequest
      (ClientDelegate.java:594)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.corba.ClientDelegate.request
      (ClientDelegate.java:886)
    at org.omg.CORBA.portable.ObjectImpl._request(ObjectImpl.java:431)
    at oracle.reports.engine._EngineClassStub.shutdown(_EngineClassStub.java:173)
    at oracle.reports.server.EngineManager.shutdownEngine(EngineManager.java:1354)
    at oracle.reports.server.JobManager.runJobInEngine(JobManager.java:974)
    at oracle.reports.server.JobManager.runJobLocal(JobManager.java:1779)
    at oracle.reports.server.JobManager.dispatch(JobManager.java:1045)
    at oracle.reports.server.ConnectionImpl.runJob(ConnectionImpl.java:1274)
    at oracle.reports.server._ConnectionImplBase._invoke
      (_ConnectionImplBase.java:401)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.corba.ServerDelegate.dispatch
      (ServerDelegate.java:353)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.ORB.process
      (ORB.java:280)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.RequestProcessor.process
      (RequestProcessor.java:81)
    at com.sun.corba.se.internal.orbutil.ThreadPool$PooledThread.run
      (ThreadPool.java:106)
): Internal error org.omg.CORBA.COMM_FAILURE:   vmcid: SUN  minor code: 201
  completed: No
[2005/6/1 3:38:36:147] State 56004 (EngineInfo:setState): Engine rwEng-0 state is:
  Shutdown
[2005/6/1 3:38:36:147] Info 56047 (EngineManager:remove): Reports Server shut down
  engine rwEng-0
[2005/6/1 3:38:36:147] State 56016 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Job 17 status is:
  Terminated with error:
REP-56048: Engine rwEng-0 crashed, job Id: 17
[2005/6/1 3:38:36:157] Debug 50103 (JobManager:notifyWaitingJobs): Master job 17
  notify its duplicated jobs.
[2005/6/1 3:38:36:157] Debug 50103 (JobManager:updateJobStatus): Finished updating
  job: 17
[2005/6/1 3:38:36:157] Exception 56048 (): Engine rwEng-0 crashed, job Id: 17
oracle.reports.RWException: IDL:oracle/reports/RWException:1.0
   at oracle.reports.server.JobManager.runJobInEngine(JobManager.java:1009)
   at oracle.reports.server.JobManager.runJobLocal(JobManager.java:1779)
   at oracle.reports.server.JobManager.dispatch(JobManager.java:1045)
   at oracle.reports.server.ConnectionImpl.runJob(ConnectionImpl.java:1274)
   at oracle.reports.server._ConnectionImplBase._invoke
      (_ConnectionImplBase.java:401)
   at com.sun.corba.se.internal.corba.ServerDelegate.dispatch
      (ServerDelegate.java:353)
   at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.ORB.process
      (ORB.java:280)
   at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.RequestProcessor.process
      (RequestProcessor.java:81)
   at com.sun.corba.se.internal.orbutil.ThreadPool$PooledThread.run
      (ThreadPool.java:106)

In the engine trace file, the last few lines of the crash trace resemble the following:

[2005/6/1 3:38:34:575] (rwfdt:rwfdtprint) Distributing the report
[2005/6/1 3:38:34:585] (rwfdt:rwfdtpredo) running
[2005/6/1 3:38:34:585] (rwfdt:rwfdtpredo) no preformat of pages requested, quit
[2005/6/1 3:38:34:585] (rwfdt:rwfdtni_NextInstance) running
[2005/6/1 3:38:34:595] (rwfdt:rwfdtni_NextInstance) quit
[2005/6/1 3:38:34:595] (rwfdt:rwfdtgcf_GenCachefile) running
[2005/6/1 3:38:34:615] (rwfdt:rwfdtgcf_GenCachefile) Cache file is
  D:\orawin\reports\cache\03564661.htm
[2005/6/1 3:38:34:615] (rwfdt:rwfdtgcf_GenCachefile) quit
[2005/6/1 3:38:34:615] (rwfdt:rwfdtprint) caching output from backend drivers
[2005/6/1 3:38:34:755] (C Engine)

Note:

The engine trace file ends abruptly whenever the engine crashes.

Action: Identify the report that is causing the engine crash. You can do this by identifying the job ID. In the preceding examples, the engine crashed while running jobid 17. In the server trace file, search for the jobid = 17 Get command line string. This line contains the complete command line that includes the report name also. Enable tracing and engine diagnosis. Run the problematic report multiple times to reproduce the crash. When the crash is reproduced, pass on the trace files and diagnosis output to Oracle Support Services for analysis.

D.1.2 Reports Server Activity Generates Error REP-50125

REP-50125 is a common error message issued in multiple situations involving Reports Server:

REP-50125: Caught exception: {0}

Cause: Oracle Reports has caught an internal exception.

Action: Contact Oracle Support Services for additional assistance.

Problem 1

The Cause and Action in the help topic for REP-50125 do not contain enough information to effectively identify and diagnose the problem.

Solution 1

With Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), the following new error messages addressed specific scenarios to provide focused troubleshooting assistance in the Cause and Action exposed in the help topics:

REP-56126: Failed to parse server config file {0}

Cause: Failed to parse server config file. XML syntax is wrong.

Action: Correct the server config file and start the server.

REP-56127: Failed to decrypt <{0}> element

Cause: Decrypt call failed on the element.

Action: Please make sure encrypted attribute is set properly for the element.

REP-56128: Failed to initialize {0} destination. Nested Exception: {1}

Cause: Destination initialization failed.

Action: Please check and correct the configuration for the destination.

Problem 2

REP-50125 displays when starting up Reports Server.

Solution 2

Refer to Note 289748.1 on Oracle MetaLink at http://metalink.oracle.com: Troubleshooting Problems When Starting Up Reports Server.

Problem 3

REP-50125 displays when running report requests.

Solution 3

Refer to Note 290827.1 on Oracle MetaLink at http://metalink.oracle.com: Troubleshooting Failed Reports Requests Issued Against Reports Server.

Problem 4

REP-50125 displays with segmentation violation when starting Reports Server on SLES-8/UnitedLinux 1.0.

Solution 4

With Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), SLES8 and SLES9 were supported. However, Oracle Reports 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) does not support UnitedLinux 1.0, so you cannot use this platform to run report requests.

Problem 5

REP-50125 displays when running reports on Linux with openmotif.

Solution 5

Only openmotif 2.1.30 (not higher) is supported for Oracle Reports 6i, 9i, and 10g on Linux.

D.1.3 Long Running Report Failure with Oracle Reports Servlet

Long running report requests submitted through Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) may not succeed or cause crashing/hanging engines and timeouts on dependent AS components.

Problem

A report that runs for a long time with rwservlet does not finish.

Solution

Perform the following checks:

If you are running the report synchronously through your Web browser, verify that the failure is not caused by a timeout on the HTTP server. Submit the same job asynchronously; if it finishes successfully, modify the HTTP server timeout in the application server configuration or consider executing your long running reports asynchronously (which is the suggested method). You can leverage the Reports Server notification feature to inform your users when their job has finished.

Verify that your overall response time of the server has not had any significant changes, by looking at the Reports Server statistics in Enterprise Manager.

Verify that our database server is responding in a normal manner. Sometimes database load can have a significant impact on the performance, especially on long running reports.

D.1.4 Fonts Do Not Display Consistently On Different Platforms

Deploying reports on multiple platforms may result in font issues.

Problem

When you deploy a report on multiple platforms, font rendering and mapping is not consistent across all platforms.

Solution

With Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), this issue was addressed in new documentation in the following chapters:

Chapter 9, "Managing Fonts in Oracle Reports" (in particular, see Section 9.1, "Using Fonts" for an understanding of the font handling mechanism in Oracle Reports).

Chapter 11, "Using PDF in Oracle Reports" (in particular, see Section 11.2.2, "Font-Related Features").

Chapter 12, "Font Model and Cross-Platform Deployment" (in particular, see Section 12.3.1, "Font Availability On Different Platforms" and Section 12.3.2, "Fixing Font-Related Issues").

D.1.5 Running Reports on UNIX Platforms Generates REP-56048

REP-56048 is a common error message issued when running a report (for example, using rwservlet, rwclient, or through Oracle Forms) on UNIX. The Reports Server passes the job to a Report Engine that is responsible for running the report. The Report Engine crashes, resulting in this error:

REP-56048: Engine {0} crashed

Cause: Reports Server detected the specified engine crashed.

Action: Reports Server should restart another engine. Report the problem to Oracle Support Services with the test case that causes engine crash.

Refer to the solutions below and to Solution 4 in Section D.1.1, "Hanging Report Requests" to attempt to resolve the problem. If REP-56048 persists, perform the following steps to report the problem to Oracle Support Services:

Enable server tracing and logging (see Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution"). If it is not possible to enable tracing, enable logging alone by setting the log element's option attribute to failedJobs in the rwserver.conf file (see Section 8.2.1.13, "log"). When you enable logging, you can see the failed job reports in the reports.log file. Identify the report that is failing or causing the engine to crash.

Enable engine diagnostic logging by modifying the engine element to include the diagnosis property in the rwserver.conf file (see "Properties" in Section 8.2.1.9, "engine"), then run the report that you identified in Step 1 to reproduce the crash.

Report the crash to Oracle Support Services with the following information:

rwserver.conf file.

reports.log file.

Engine diagnostic output when the crash is reproduced.

Report definition file so that Oracle Support Services can reproduce the problem.

Problem 1

REP-56048 displays when running reports on UNIX platforms, and character sets defined in NLS_LANG are other than WE8ISO8859P1 or IW8ISO8859P8.

Solution 1

Modify entries in Tk2Motif.rgb for mapping Oracle character set names and XLFD's CHARSET_REGISTRY to CHARSET_ENCODING (the last two fields; for example, iso8859-1). For more information, see:

Section 9.3, "Font Configuration Files"

Section 18.3.6, "Running with the WE8MSWIN1252 Character Set on UNIX"

Section 23.7, "Troubleshooting Globalization Issues"

Setting Globalization Support Environment Variables

Running Oracle Reports in a Japanese Environment on HP-UX

You can also try to run this report with Reports Runtime (rwrun) to verify the environment settings before running it through the Report Engine.

Problem 2

REP-56048 displays when running reports on UNIX platforms, and DISPLAY environment variable is not set.

Solution 2

With Oracle Reports 10g Release 1 (9.0.4), the REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY environment variable removes the dependency on the DISPLAY environment variable. By default, REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY=YES. Make sure that REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY has not been set to NO.

For more information, see Section B.1.42, "REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY".

Problem 3

REP-56048 displays when tracing is enabled while running a big report.

Solution 3

If tracing is enabled, Reports Engine might crash for reports with large output. This may be due to the size of the trace file and that there was insufficient disk space, memory, or processor capacity available to create it. To avoid this error, enable engine diagnostic logging only by modifying the engine element to include the diagnosis property in the rwserver.conf file (see "Properties" in Section 8.2.1.9, "engine"), when diagnostic information is required to troubleshoot a problem with a report. You can also restrict the trace file generated using the traceModule attribute of the trace element in the rwserver.conf configuration file.

For general information about tracing, see Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution".

Problem 4

REP-56048 displays when DISTRIBUTE=YES on UNIX.

Solution 4

Distribution fails on UNIX if the PRINTER environment variable is not set to a valid printer when one of the destinations specified in the distribution file is a printer. Set the following environment variables:

PRINTER=printer_name; export PRINTER
TK_PRINTER=printer_name; export TK_PRINTER
TK_PRINT_STATUS="echo %n is valid"; export TK_PRINT_STATUS
TK_PRINT=echo; export TK_PRINT

In ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/FRComponent/frcommon/guicommon/tk/admin/uiprint.txt, add the following line:

printer_name:PostScript:1:test:default.ppd:

For more information on report distribution, see Chapter 20, "Creating Advanced Distributions".

Problem 5

REP-56048 displays when printing a report on UNIX.

Solution 5

Oracle Reports uses the shell script rwlpr.sh for printing on UNIX. Directly modifying this file is not supported. Please contact Oracle Support Services for assistance.

For more information on printing on UNIX, see Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

Problem 6

REP-56048 displays when running a report containing graphics on UNIX.

Solution 6

This error may result if Oracle Reports is linked against a version of Motif other than the operating system's default. Refer to the Oracle Reports chapter in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Release Notes for Microsoft Windows for the correct version of Motif to which to link.

Problem 7

REP-56048 displays when generating delimited report output for a matrix report.

Solution 7

Generate the report output to DelimitedData (DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA) or spreadsheet (DESFORMAT=SPREADSHEET) output instead of Delimited. DelimitedData supports large reports, but the output in Microsoft Excel displays only data (as defined by the report data model), no layout information. To generate report output that preserves the formatting defined in report layout, use the output format DESFORMAT=SPREADSHEET.

For more information on delimited and spreadsheet output, see "About delimited output" and "About spreadsheet output" in the Oracle Reports online Help (and also in the "Advanced Concepts" chapter in the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual). Also see Section A.5.27, "DESFORMAT".

Problem 8

REP-56048 displays when running a report through the Reports Engine when none of the previous solutions resolve the problem.

Solution 8

This error may be related to your environment settings or caused by the report itself. By checking the Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) showjobs page for your Reports Server, you should be able to determine the job that resulted in the error. If you are on a UNIX machine, there should be a core dump created in your environment. To facilitate searching for related bugs, extract a stack trace from this core dump. Note that the executable should be java rather than rwrun.

In previous releases, to get a stack trace from the core file, you ran a debugger on the runtime component. This is still applicable if you are able to reproduce the problem with only the rwrun component. However, if the crash occurs only through the Reports Server, then the engine will be called using a Java wrapper, and you must run the debugger on the Java executable. This will automatically load any Oracle Reports libraries.

For example:

dbx java core

This example is for dbx. Once you have the stack trace, you will be able to search Oracle MetaLink at http://metalink.oracle.com for any related issues using the last few calls in the stack.

If a particular job seems to be causing the problem, then the next step would be to try running that report with rwclient and rwrun. Running with rwclient removes the Web component from the environment. Running with rwrun is equivalent to bypassing the Reports Server and running with just the engine.

D.1.6 Font Issues with Right-to-Left Languages

Bidirectional support enables you to display report output in either a left-to-right or right-to-left orientation, depending on the requirements of your audience. Font issues with right-to-left languages generate imperfect report output.

Problem

Misalignment of right-aligned text and limitations requiring fixed width fonts.

Solution

With Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), this issue was addressed with improvements to PDF output with font subsetting enabled for languages that read right to left (such as Hebrew and Arabic), ensuring that text will be accurately right-aligned. However, on UNIX platforms, you may see some misalignment for right-aligned text.

To resolve font issues related to right-to-left text, refer to the information in the following sections:

Section 23.4, "Bidirectional Support" discusses the options available to you in designing reports for right-to-left languages.

Section 11.4, "Generating a Bidirectional (BiDi) PDF File" outlines the steps involved in generating a PDF file for bidirectional (BiDi) languages.

Section B.1.30, "REPORTS_ALLOW_DB_CONNECT_STRING" This environment variable allows you to use DB connection strings in the userid parameter.

Section B.1.31, "REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM" describes the use of this environment variable, which switches the bidirectional (BiDi) layout algorithm for BiDi languages (for example, Arabic or Hebrew).

Section 12.6, "Generating Multibyte PDF Output" includes an example of a workaround for fixed width font on UNIX.

D.1.7 Errors When Running Reports from Oracle Forms Using RUN_REPORT_OBJECT

The most secure approach for calling Oracle Reports from Oracle Forms on the Web is to use Oracle Reports Services in combination with RUN_REPORT_OBJECT. For detailed information about using RUN_REPORT_OBJECT to call Oracle Reports from Oracle Forms, refer to the Oracle Application Server 10g Integrating Oracle Reports in Oracle Forms Services Applications white paper on OTN (http://otn.oracle.com/products/forms/pdf/10g/frm10gsrw10g.pdf).

Also refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Forms Services Deployment Guide.

Problem 1

RUN_REPORT_OBJECT generates the following error:

FRM-41214: Unable to run report.

Solution 1

When deploying a report over the Web with output to be shown in the browser window, DESTYPE should be set to CACHE, not SCREEN or PREVIEW. To display the output of report in the browser use WEB.SHOW_DOCUMENT, rather than RUN_REPORT_OBJECT.

Problem 2

RUN_REPORT_OBJECT generates the following error:

FRM-41213: Unable to connect to the report server server_name.

Solution 2

Check the following:

Ensure that the Reports Server being referenced in the RUN_REPORT_OBJECT code is started.

Make sure that the Oracle WebLogic Server instance for Oracle Reports is started.

Make sure that parameters being passed to RUN_REPORT_OBJECT have no spaces in their values, or are enclosed in single quotes.

Problem 3

RUN_REPORT_OBJECT generates the following error:

REP-503 You did not specify the name of a report.

Solution 3

Make sure that the report name is specified in the Property Inspector of the Report object in the Oracle Forms Object Navigator.

Problem 4

Unable to run report from a form and pass parameter from a form to the report.

Solution 4

Check the following:

Make sure that you are passing the parameters in the proper format from Oracle Forms. the initial value for the parameter is specified in the Property Inspector of the parameter in Reports Builder.

Make sure that the initial value for the parameter is specified in the Property Inspector of the parameter in Reports Builder.

Try passing the command line in a Before Report trigger or by using the report Parameter Form.

If the issue persists, enable report tracing (see Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution") to pinpoint the source of the problem.

Problem 5

Using a report Parameter Form (PARAMFORM=YES) in conjunction with RUN_REPORT_OBJECT fails with "Internal Server Error".

Solution 5

Refer to the Oracle Forms Services - Using Run_Report_Object() to call Reports with a parameter form white paper on OTN (http://otn.oracle.com/products/forms/pdf/10g/frmrepparamform.pdf).

D.1.8 Displaying Report Output in Microsoft Excel

Generating a report to delimited output to display in Microsoft Excel is a common requirement, which can be accomplished in a number of ways. Users are often unsure of which method to choose.

Problem

Which delimited output solution is best for given requirements?

Solution

Depending on your report definition and output display requirements, choose the appropriate method for generating your report to delimited output for Microsoft Excel:

Requirement: You have a paper layout report, which you want output to Microsoft Excel, but do not need rich formatting of the report layout.

Output Solution: Generate your report to delimited output:

DESFORMAT=DELIMITED

DESFORMAT=DELIMITEDDATA (for use when you have problems running large volume reports with DELIMITED)

Requirement: You have a paper report, which you want to output to Microsoft Excel, including the rich formatting of the report layout.

Output Solution: Generate your report to spreadsheet output:

DESFORMAT=SPREADSHEET

Requirement: You have a paper report, which you want to output to Microsoft Excel, including the rich formatting of the report layout. Additionally, you would like to deploy your report as a JSP.

Output Solution: Since this is a JSP report, you cannot directly generate to a .xls file (DESTYPE=FILE),but you can save the output that displays in your browser as a .xls file. Refer to the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual to implement this solution using <rw:include>: Chapter 29, "Deploying a Web Layout Report to Microsoft Excel Output".

Output Requirement: You have a JSP-based Web report, which you want to output to Microsoft Excel.

Solution: Since this is a JSP report, you cannot directly generate to a .xls file (DESTYPE=FILE), but you can save the output that displays in your browser as a .xls file. Refer to the chapter "Building a report for Spreadsheet Ouput" in the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual, available on the Oracle Technology Network.

For detailed information on spreadsheet output and delimited output, see the Oracle Reports online Help and Oracle Reports Building Reports manual.

D.1.9 Report Containing User Exit Fails on UNIX

User exits may exist in reports developed in prior releases of Oracle Reports.

Note:

With Oracle Reports 10g, you can call Java methods using the ORA_JAVA built-in package and the Java Importer. This reduces the need to have user exits in a report and allows for a more open and portable deployment. You may also use the ORA_FFI built-in package, which provides a foreign function interface for invoking C functions in a dynamic library. With the availability of these built-in packages, the use of user exits is deprecated in Oracle Reports, though makefiles are still be supplied to permit you to continue to work with existing user exits.

Problem

A report that contains a user exist fails when run on UNIX.

Solution

On UNIX, Reports Builder (rwbuilder) and Reports Runtime (rwrun) dynamically load the user exit library to successfully run reports that contain user exits. When running reports through Reports Server (rwserver), you must add the following environment variable in rwengine.sh to load the user exit library:

LD_PRELOAD=librw.so:user_exit_library; export LD_PRELOAD

D.1.10 Printing and Font Errors When Using In-process Reports Server

The in-process Reports Server does not recognize the default printer of a user currently logged on to Windows. This is because the service that runs the in-process Reports Server is logged on as the Local System.

Problem

Any of the following:

Printing to default printer fails with the REP_3002 error. For example, the following command:

http://myrepsrvr.us.oracle.com:7777/reports/rwservlet?report=myrep.rdf&destype=printer&desformat=html

results in the following error:

Error:"REP-3002: Error initializing printer.  Please make sure a printer is installed."

Deploying reports containing Oracle6i Graphics (OGD) graphics causes Reports Server to stop responding.

Font alignment problems in a PDF file output from an in-process Reports Server.

Solution

To work around all these issues:

Open the Windows registry using a registry editor (for example, regedit.exe). Create a backup of the registry before you edit it.

Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

Copy the string value of Device for this key. For example:

\\MOWGLI\sierra,winspool,Ne02:

Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

Paste the Device value copied from HKEY_CURRENT_USER (the string value of Device for this key will be empty).

Note:

This workaround must be applied every time you alter the value of the Default Printer.

This workaround will not work on an OPMN-managed Reports Server.

The pros and cons of running an in-process Reports Server are explored in Chapter 2, "Understanding the Oracle Reports Services Architecture". For additional information, see Section 8.3, "Oracle Reports Servlet Configuration File" (server and inprocess parameter descriptions).

D.2 Diagnosing Performance Problems

For information about how you can improve your report execution time and streamline the overall performance, see Chapter 24, "  Diagnosing and Tuning Oracle Reports".

For information about using Oracle Reports tracing options to trace and diagnose problems, including performance-related problems with Oracle Reports, refer to Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution".

D.3 Diagnosing Font Problems

For common problems and solutions when using fonts in UNIX machines, see Chapter 12, "Font Model and Cross-Platform Deployment".

D.4 Diagnosing Printing Problems

For common problems and solutions when printing your reports in UNIX, see Section 10.9, "Frequently Asked Questions" in Chapter 10, "Printing on UNIX with Oracle Reports".

D.5 Diagnosing JDBC PDS Problems

For common problems and solutions when using the JDBC PDS, see Section 14.1.4, "TroubleShooting Information" in Chapter 14, "Configuring and Using the Pluggable Data sources".

D.6 Diagnosing Oracle Portal Problems

For common problems and solutions when publishing your reports to Oracle Portal as a portlet or item link, see Section 16.5, "Troubleshooting Information" in Chapter 16, "Deploying Reports in Oracle Portal":

D.7 Diagnosing Globalization Problems

For common globalization problems and solutions in Oracle Reports, see Section 23.7, "Troubleshooting Globalization Issues" in Chapter 23, "Implementing Globalization and Bidirectional Support".

D.8 Diagnosing Oracle Reports Bridge Problems

Issues in communication across subnets while using the built-in broadcast mechanism may be related to the Oracle Reports bridge.

problem 1

The Oracle Reports bridge trace file contains the following information:

[2005/12/8 1:45:7:339] Info 50103 (BridgeConnection:getResponsePacket):Getting response object from remote bridgeusunrao06.us.oracle.com/130.35.37.76:14011[2005/12/8 1:45:8:340] Debug 50103 (BridgePacketHandler:handleRequestPacket): Gotresponse from remote subnet null[2005/12/8 1:45:8:991] Error 64013 (BridgeConnection:getResponsePacket):Bridge failed to serve the requestjava.net.ConnectException: Connection refused:connect

Solution 1

The remote Oracle Reports bridge is not running. Start the Oracle Reports bridge, as described in Section 6.2, "Starting and Stopping Oracle Reports Bridge"

Problem 2

[2005/12/8 1:50:34:219] Info 50103 (BridgeConnection:getResponsePacket):Getting response object from remote bridgeusunrao06.us.oracle.com/130.35.37.76:14011[2005/12/8 1:50:34:469] Debug 50103 (NetworkUtility:write): Writing ......[2005/12/8 1:50:34:469] Debug 50103 (NetworkUtility:read): Reading ......[2005/12/8 1:50:35:220] Debug 50103 (BridgePacketHandler:handleRequestPacket): Gotresponse from remote subnet null

Additionally, the Oracle Reports bridge trace file in the remote subnet (the subnet where Reports Server is located) contains the following information:

[2005/12/8 2:36:59:997] Debug 50103 (Multicast:registerReceiver): Packet handlerregistered[2005/12/8 2:37:1:16] Info 65003 (NetworkUtility:getIOR): Request timed out
[2005/12/8 2:37:2:19] Info 65003 (NetworkUtility:getIOR): Request timed out[2005/12/8 2:37:3:30] Info 65003 (NetworkUtility:getIOR): Request timed out[2005/12/8 2:37:3:31] Debug 50103 (NetworkUtility:getIOR): No response from serverretuning null ior[2005/12/8 2:37:3:32] Info 50103 (Multicast:registerReceiver): Packet handlerunregistered[2005/12/8 2:37:3:32] Debug 50103 (NetworkUtility:write): Writing ......

Solution 2

Reports Server is not running on the remote subnet. Start Reports Server, as described in Section 6.1, "Starting and Stopping Reports Server"

For comparison, the following sample output shows the Oracle Reports bridge trace for the scenario where the Oracle Reports bridge successfully discovers Reports Server:

[2005/12/8 4:4:6:700] Info 50103 (BridgeConnection:getResponsePacket):Getting response object from remote bridgeusunrao06.us.oracle.com/130.35.37.76:14011[2005/12/8 4:4:6:950] Debug 50103 (NetworkUtility:write): Writing ......[2005/12/8 4:4:6:950] Debug 50103 (NetworkUtility:read): Reading ......[2005/12/8 4:4:7:932] Error 50103 (BridgeConnection:run): Got response[2005/12/8 4:4:7:942] Debug 50103 (BridgePacketHandler:handleRequestPacket):Got response from remote subnet Response Packet -ServerName = vinCorrelationID = 1134056309492SenderID = ServerName: vinVMID: 7e444dbc56c79b06:f9c40:10809ddbdaf:-8000Duplicate = falseType = FULLAdd. Info = Type = server : Host = usunrao06.us.oracle.com

Problem 3

Reports Server is running on the remote subnet, Oracle Reports bridges are running on both the subnets and are configured properly, but the Oracle Reports clients are not able to connect to the remote Reports Server.This may be caused by an improper setting of timeout value in the bridge configuration file. In this case, the Oracle Reports bridge in the local subnet (the subnet where the client is located) may time out before the Oracle Reports bridge in the remote subnet can respond.

Solution 3

Increase the timeout value in the Oracle Reports bridge configuration file (rwbridge.conf). For example:

<bridge version="10.1.2" port="14011" timeout="2000">

The Oracle Reports bridge in the local subnet waits for the timeout period to get a response from the Oracle Reports bridge in the remote subnet. The Oracle Reports bridge may time out if the network connectivity is slow.Additionally, increase the timeout value in the network configuration file (rwnetwork.conf) to avoid the timeout of Oracle Reports clients before the Oracle Reports bridge responds. For example:

<multicast channel="228.5.6.7" port="14021" timeout="1000" retry="3"/>

In general, perform the following steps to set the Oracle Reports bridge timeout. It is assumed that both bridges are configured properly.

Set a very high timeout value for the Oracle Reports bridge in the local subnet.

Start both Oracle Reports bridges.

Start Reports Server (in the remote subnet).

In the local subnet, run the rwdiag utility with the following command:

rwdiag -find server_name

This command prints the time that the Oracle Reports bridge takes to discover the remote Reports Server. For example:

D:\orawin\reports\conf>rwdiag -find vin
Broadcast mechanism used to locate servers
------------------------------------------
Channel address = 228.5.6.7
Channel port = 14021
'vin' found in the network
Time taken - 1181 milliseconds
Name = vin : Type = server : Host = usunrao06.us.oracle.com

In this example, the Oracle Reports bridge has taken 1181 milliseconds to discover the remote Reports Server.

Estimate the timeout value for the Oracle Reports bridge located in the local subnet as follows:

timeout = 1181 * 1.3

which is about 1500 milliseconds.

Set the timeout value in the repbrg_bridgename.conf file. For example:

<bridge version="10.1.2" port="14011" timeout="1500">

Confirm that the timeout value in the rwnetwork.conf file complies with the following:

timeout (in rwnetwork.conf) * retry (in rwnetwork.conf) > timeout (in repbrg_bridgename.conf)

For example:

timeout (in rwnetwork.conf) * 3 > 1500

Therefore, the value of timeout in rwnetwork.conf should be 1500 or higher

Problem 4

You want to find out which Oracle Reports bridges are configured and running in the subnet.

Solution 4

Use the rwdiag utility to locate all Reports Servers and Oracle Reports bridges. For example, run the following command:

rwdiag -findall

This command generates output similar to the following example:

C:\>rwdiag -findall
Broadcast mechanism used to locate servers
------------------------------------------
Channel address = 228.5.6.7
Channel port = 14021
(1) Name = bugupdate : Type = server : Host = strep15.idc.oracle.com
(2) Name = rep_supadhya-pc_frhome1 : Type = server : Host =supadhya-pc.idc.oracle.com
(3) Name = vinod : Type = server : Host = strep10.idc.oracle.com
(4) Name = rep_strep10 : Type = server : Host = strep10.idc.oracle.com
(5) Name = abc : Type = bridge : Host = strep12.idc.oracle.com
(6) Name = rep_stfrm08_frhome1 : Type = server : Host = stfrm08.idc.oracle.com
(7) Name = rep_stport79_as101202mid : Type = server : Host =stport79.idc.oracle.com
(8) Name = rep_iwinreb20_0508041930_bif : Type = server : Host =iwinreb20.us.oracle.com
C:\>

For more information on the rwdiag utility, refer to Appendix E, "Reports Server and Bridge Diagnostic Utility".

D.9 Need More Help?

You can find more solutions on Oracle MetaLink at http://metalink.oracle.com. If you do not find a solution for your problem, your Oracle representative can log a service request.

To help Oracle Support Services troubleshoot the problem, perform the following steps:

Trace report execution, as described in Section 24.3.7, "Tracing Report Execution".

Contact Oracle Support Services. To help Oracle Support Services troubleshoot the problem, provide a zip file containing the trace information, deployment scenario, or sample report output, if required.

See Also:

Oracle Fusion Middleware Release Notes for Microsoft Windows, available on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN).

E Reports Server and Bridge Diagnostic Utility

This appendix describes the arguments and usage of the Reports Server and bridge diagnostic utility, rwdiag.

Overview of rwdiag

Command Line Syntax

For troubleshooting scenarios and diagnosis, see Section D.8, "Diagnosing Oracle Reports Bridge Problems".

E.1 Overview of rwdiag

rwdiag is a utility used to find Reports Servers and bridges on the network, and monitor packets broadcast on the network by the Reports Server and its clients. It is also helpful for choosing optimal settings for ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\ReportsToolsComponent\ReportsTools\rwnetwork.conf and for bridge timeout values. rwdiag is similar to the osfind utility provided by the Borland VisiBroker ORB, which has been replaced by the JDK ORB in Oracle Reports.

Note:

Oracle Reports replaces the use of Borland's Visibroker with Sun Microsystems' industry-standard Java Developer's Kit Object Request Broker (JDK ORB). The JDK ORB provides support for Reports Server requests from clients across subnets, and enables the broadcast mechanism for dynamic Reports Server discovery both within a subnet and across subnets.

You can invoke rwdiag with one of two scripts depending upon your operating platform:

For Microsoft Windows:

ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\reports\bin\rwdiag.bat

For UNIX:

ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/reports/bin/rwdiag.sh

E.1.1 Examples

The sections that follow provide a series of examples illustrating the use of rwdiag.

E.1.1.1 Example 1

This command line tries to find a Reports Server or bridge named abc on the network with the default search timeout of 10 seconds.

rwdiag.bat -find abc

This command returns a success message, name, type, host name, and the time taken, if abc is found on the network. If a naming service is used as the discovery mechanism for Oracle Reports, only the success message would be returned as the host name would be unavailable to the utility.

E.1.1.2 Example 2

This command tries to find a Reports Server or bridge named abc on the network with a search timeout of 5 seconds.

rwdiag.bat -find abc -timeout 5

E.1.1.3 Example 3

This command tries to find a Reports Server or bridge named abc on the network using the settings in the configuration file xyz.conf.

rwdiag.bat -find abc -conf xyz.conf

Note:

If the network configuration file is stored in a location other that the default location, you must specify the complete path of the file.

Following are the contents of xyz.conf:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'ISO-8859-1'?>
<!DOCTYPE discoveryService SYSTEM "file:c:\orawin\reports\dtd\rwnetworkconf.dtd">
<discoveryService>
<multicast channel="105.2.3.8" port="35078" timeout="1000" retry="3"/>
<!--namingService name="Cos" host="localhost" port="9999"/-->
</discoveryService>

Notice how the channel address and port number are picked up from the configuration file. If for some reason abc were running on another port, it would not be found.

E.1.1.4 Example 4

This command tries to find all Reports Servers and bridges on the network.

rwdiag.bat -findAll

With a broadcast mechanism, all information is provided. If a naming service is used as the discovery mechanism for Oracle Reports, host information is unavailable.

E.1.1.5 Example 5

This command monitors all packets broadcast on the network by the Reports Servers and their clients, and prints the packet information on the screen. The monitoring stops when you press q and Enter.

rwdiag.bat -monitor

E.1.1.6 Example 6

This command monitors all packets broadcast on the network by the Reports Servers and their clients, and saves the packet information to the log file, c:\log.txt. The monitoring stops when you press q and Enter.

rwdiag.bat -monitor -log c:\log.txt

E.2 Command Line Syntax

rwdiag includes keywords that enable you to do the following:

Locate a Reports Server or bridge running on the network.

List all running Reports Servers or bridges on the network.

Monitor packets on the network broadcast by Reports Servers or clients.

E.2.1 Syntax

rwdiag.bat | rwdiag.sh {-find serverName | -findAll |-monitor [-log log_file_name]} [-conf config_file_name] [-timeout seconds]

Where

rwdiag.bat is the script for Microsoft Windows.

rwdiag.sh is the script for UNIX.

-find serverName finds the Reports Server with given name running on the current network.

-findAll finds and lists all Reports Servers and bridges on the network.

-monitor lists the packets broadcast on the network. To stop monitoring, press q and Enter. This option is not supported when the discovery mechanism specified in the network configuration file is a naming service.

-log log_file_name specifies a log file to which the monitor output is written. If not specified, the monitor output is displayed on the screen. The file name can be an absolute path. If just a file name is specified, the log file is created in the current folder.

-conf config_file_name specifies a custom configuration file. If not specified, rwnetwork.conf is the default file name. The settings such as discovery mechanism (broadcast or naming service) and port numbers are taken from this file. The utility assumes the configuration file is located in <INSTANCE_ HOME>\config\ReportsToolsComponent\ReportsTools\conf. If a non-existent file is specified, the file is created with the default settings in rwnetwork.template.

-timeout seconds specifies the timeout value in seconds. If not specified, the default value is 10 seconds. Timeout is the length of time the client waits for a response from the server after broadcasting the request packet. This option is ignored when the discovery mechanism specified in the network configuration file is naming service.

E.2.2 Usage Notes

The host information is not available when using a naming service discovery mechanism.

Time taken to locate the server is not displayed for a naming service discovery mechanism because the lookup is based upon the Reports Server name in the naming service. The utility does not need to await response from the server. Hence, the time taken is not relevant for a naming service.

Bridges cannot be located using a naming service because they do not bind to the naming service. Only Reports Server implementations are bound to the naming service.

The timeout value in the configuration file is ignored. Only the value specified in the command line is taken into account. If not specified in the command line, the default value is 10 seconds.

If the Reports Server you try to locate is not found, the utility generates a REP-50504 message, which states that the server was not found.

Glossary

AFM

Acronym for Adobe Font Metrics. AFM and PPD files are supplied by Adobe and by printer vendors. These files contain information about the printer. Along with other parameters, these files are read for the information about the available fonts for the printer, which Oracle Reports will use. For all the fonts listed in the PPD file, Oracle Reports searches for the corresponding AFM file according to the font name and loads all of the fonts for which there is an available AFM.

CGI

Acronym for Common Gateway Interface. A standard for transferring information between a Web server and a CGI program. CGI specifies how to pass arguments to the program as part of the HTTP request, and defines a set of environment variables that are made available to the program. The program then generates output to pass back to the browser. CGI provides server-side processing to allow Web servers to interact dynamically with users.

column

A vertical space in a database table that represents a particular domain of data. A column has a column name (for example, ENAME) and a specific datatype (for example, CHAR). For example, in a table of employee information, all of the employees' names would constitute one column. A record group column represents a database column.

A data model object created automatically for each column expression in a query's SELECT list, or created manually to perform summaries, formulas, or act as a placeholder.

The representation of an attribute of an entity.

data model

A relational model that defines what data should be fetched from the data source(s), what values should be computed, and how data should be ordered in a report. Reports Builder objects that define the data model are queries, groups, columns, parameters, and links.

Data Model view

One of the views of the Report Editor that displays a structural representation of the data in a report. The objects do not appear in the report output, but the structure determines the layout style, and the data objects provide the values that appear in the layout objects.

database

A source for data returned by a query, including database objects such as tables, views, synonyms, snapshots, and queries stored as views. Oracle Reports Services enables you to access any data source.

A set of dictionary tables and user tables that are treated as a unit.

data source

A source for data returned by a query, including database objects such as tables, views, synonyms, snapshots, and queries stored as views. Oracle Reports Services enables you to access any data source.

The pluggable data source (PDS) architecture replaces Oracle Open Client Adapter (OCA), and the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) drivers are obsolete in Oracle Reports. However, Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) is one of the pluggable data sources available that can utilize the JDBC-ODBC bridge, allowing access to other data sources.

detail query

When defining a master/detail report, the detail query retrieves all related records for each record retrieved by the master, or parent, query.

dialog box

A partial screen or window that prompts you to enter information necessary to complete an operation.

disabled

An interface element state that means a menu item, button, and so on, cannot be used in the current context (that is, it does not respond to keyboard or mouse input).

editor

See view.

enabled

An interface element state that means that a menu item, button, and so on, can be used in the current context (that is, it responds to keyboard or cursor/mouse input).

field

An interface element in which you enter, edit, or delete data.

A layout object that defines how the data for a specific query column appears.

foreign key

A value or column in one table that refers to a primary key in another table.

format mask

A setting that defines the appearance of the value of a field. For example, a format mask is used to specify the display of currency amounts and dates.

format trigger

A PL/SQL function that enables you to dynamically change the formatting attributes of an object.

formula column

A user-created column that gets its data from a PL/SQL function or expression, a SQL statement, or a combination of these.

frame

A layout object used to enclose other layout objects and control the formatting, frequency, and positioning of several objects simultaneously.

group

In Reports Builder, a data model object that is created automatically to contain all the columns selected by a query, or created by the user to modify the hierarchy of the data appearing in a report; it is used primarily for creating breaks in a report, as well as for resetting computations.

An object that is composed of several other objects.

HTML

Acronym for HyperText Markup Language. A tag-based ASCII language used to specify the content and links to other documents on Web servers on the Internet. End users with Web browsers view HTML documents and follow links to display other documents.

HTTP

Acronym for HyperText Transfer Protocol. The protocol used to carry Web traffic between a Web browser computer and the Web server being accessed.

hyperlink

A reference (link) from some point in one document to (some point in) another document or another place in the same document. A Web browser usually displays a hyperlink in some distinguishing way (in a different color, font or style). When users activate hyperlinks (by clicking on them with a mouse) the browser displays the target of the link.

IANA

Acronym for Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. An organization working under the auspices of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) that is responsible for assigning new Internet-wide IP addresses. IANA-defined character sets refers to those character sets that can be defined for the charset tag and may be used in the Internet.

icon

A graphic representation of a window or tool.

image

A bitmapped object that can be stored and loaded into an application. The client cannot modify an imported image.

intranet

An internal TCP/IP network, access to which is restricted (through a firewall) to individuals inside the company or organization. An intranet provides similar services within an organization to those provided by the Internet, but is not necessarily connected to the Internet. A common example of an intranet is when a company sets up one or more Web servers on an internal network for distribution of information or applications within the company.

Java

A computer language that supports programming for the Internet in the form of platform-independent "servlets" or "applets".

JAAS

Java Authentication and Authorization Services, which is a set of APIs that enable services to authenticate and enforce access controls upon users. It implements a Java technology version of the standard Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) framework, and supports user-based authorization.

JAR

Acronym for Java ARchive. A file used for aggregating many files (Java class files, images, and so on) into one file.

JAZN

Oracle's Implementation of JAAS.

Java EE

Acronym for Java Platform, Enterprise Edition. An environment for developing and deploying enterprise applications in Java consisting of a set of services, application programming interfaces, and protocols that provide for developing multitiered, Web-based applications.

JSP

Acronym for JavaServer Page. JSP technology is an extension to the Java Servlet technology from Sun Microsystems that provides a simple programming vehicle for displaying dynamic content on a Web page. JSP is a server-side technology. A JSP is an HTML page with embedded Java source code that is executed in the Web server or application server. The HTML provides the page layout that is returned to the Web browser, and the Java provides the business logic.

layout

See Paper Layout view.

margin

An optional report region that appears at the top and bottom of each logical page in a report section (Header, Main, or Trailer). The margin may include any layout object, but typically contains boilerplate and fields (for page numbers, page totals, grand totals, and current date and time).

object

An item that can be placed on the layout. The following are examples of objects: rectangle, line, ellipse, arc, polygon, polyline, rounded rectangle, freehand, chart, text, symbol, and text field.

In an Oracle database, an instance of an object type. An object can be a row in an object table, or the portion of a row contained in a column object in a relational table.

Object Navigator

A hierarchical browsing and editing interface that enables you to locate and manipulate application objects quickly and easily. Features include:

A hierarchy represented by indentation and expandable nodes (top-level nodes show module types, database objects, and built-in packages), enabling tasks such as creating, editing, renaming, and deleting objects.

A find field and icons, enabling forward and backward searches for any level of node or for an individual item in a node

Icons in the horizontal toolbar replicating common File menu functions

Oracle Fusion Middleware (OracleAS)

A strategic platform for network application deployment. By moving application logic to application servers and deploying network clients, organizations can realize substantial savings through reduced complexity, better manageability, and simplified development and deployment. OracleAS provides the only business-critical platform that offers easy database Web publishing and complete legacy integration while transitioning from traditional client/server to network application architectures.

Oracle Developer Suite

Combines leading Oracle application development and business intelligence tools into a single, integrated product. Built on Internet standards such as Java and XML, the suite provides a complete and highly productive development environment for building applications for Oracle Fusion Middleware and the Oracle database.

ORACLE_HOME

An alternate name for the top directory in the Oracle directory hierarchy on some directory-based operating systems. An environment variable that indicates the root directory of Oracle products.

You can refer to the directory specified by ORACLE_HOME in syntax:

On UNIX: $ORACLE_HOME

On Windows: %ORACLE_HOME%

Oracle Portal

A browser-based development tool for building scalable, secure, extensible HTML applications and Web sites. Oracle Reports Services uses Oracle Portal to control end user access to reports published on the Web by storing information about report requests, the secured server, and any Oracle Reports Services printer used to print report output.

Oracle Reports Bridge

Oracle Reports Bridge (rwbridge) provides functionality for discovering a Reports Server across Farms.

Oracle Reports Client (rwclient)

An Oracle Reports component that provides a command-line interface to send a report to a remote Reports Server (rwserver).

Oracle Reports Builder (rwbuilder)

An Oracle Reports component that provides the report building component of Oracle Reports. Report developers use the Oracle Reports Builder design-time user interface to create and maintain report definitions. For more information, refer to the Oracle Reports Online Help (select Help > Contents in Oracle Reports Builder), and the Oracle Reports Building Reports manual.

Oracle Reports Runtime (rwrun)

An Oracle Reports component that runs a report by starting its own in-process server (not to be confused with the default in-process Reports Server), which runs in the same JVM as the rwrun process.

Note:

It is recommended that you use rwrun for testing purposes only. Use rwservlet and rwclient in your production environment to take full advantage of the power of Oracle Reports Services.

Oracle Reports Services

The runtime environment that executes, distributes, and publishes your reports for enterprise wide reporting. Using Oracle Reports Services to deploy your reports results in gains of flexibility, time savings, and processing capacity.

Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet)

A component of Oracle Reports Services that translates and delivers information between either a Web Server or a Java EE Container (for example, Oracle WebLogic Server) and the Reports Server, enabling you to run a report dynamically from your Web browser.

Oracle Reports Queue Manager (rwrqm)

(Windows only) Maintains timestamp and status information about reports jobs managed by the Reports Server (rwserver).

Paper Design view

One of the views of the Report Editor that displays output for paper reports and enables you to make many commonly required, simple modifications to the layout, such as spacing, formatting fields, color, and editing text, without having to open the Paper Layout view.

Paper Layout view

One of the views of the Report Editor that displays the layout objects in a paper report and enables you to make many modifications to any layout object. All layout objects have properties that you can modify using the Property Inspector. The hierarchy of the layout objects is determined by the Data Model.

Paper Parameter Form view

Displays the layout of the Parameter Form that, at runtime, allows user input of parameter values in the Runtime Parameter Form.

PDF

Acronym for Portable Document Format. A file format (native for Adobe Acrobat) for representing documents in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create the documents. A PDF file can describe documents containing any combination of text, graphics, and images in a device-independent and resolution independent format.

PL/SQL

Oracle's proprietary extension to the SQL language. Adds procedural and other constructs to SQL that make it suitable for writing applications.

PPD

Acronym for PostScript Printer Definition. PPD and AFM files are supplied by Adobe and by printer vendors. These files contain information about the printer. Along with other parameters, these files are read for the information about the available fonts for the printer, which Oracle Reports will use. For all the fonts listed in the PPD file, Oracle Reports searches for the corresponding AFM file according to the font name and loads all of the fonts for which there is an available AFM.

Property Inspector

A window that enables you to view, locate, and set the properties of the currently selected object(s) in the Object Navigator, Report Editor, and Template Editor. Every Reports Builder object (query, group, frame, parameter, and so on) has associated properties that can be viewed using the Property Inspector. The Property Inspector features:

expandable and collapsible nodes

in-place property editing

search features

multiselection

complex property dialogs

the ability to invoke multiple instances of the Property Inspector

To get help on any property, click the property in the Property Inspector and press F1.

query

A SQL SELECT statement that specifies the data you wish to retrieve from one or more tables or views of a database.

RDF file

A file that contains a single report definition in binary format. .RDF files are used to both run and edit reports.

record

One row fetched by a SQL SELECT statement.

REP file

A file that contains a single report definition in binary format. .REP files are used solely to run reports; you cannot edit a .REP file.

repeating frame

A layout object used to display rows of data that are fetched for a group.

Reports CGI (rwcgi)

Note:

Reports CGI (rwcgi) is deprecated (maintained only for backward compatibility); instead, use Reports JSPs, Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet), or Reports Web Services.

An Oracle Reports component, also known as the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) or Reports Web Cartridge, that translates and delivers information between either a Web Server or a Java EE Container (for example, Oracle WebLogic Server) and the Reports Server, to run a report dynamically from your Web browser.

Report Editor

The Oracle Reports Builder window that provides different views to help you handle the data objects and layout objects for Web and paper reports. The views are:

Data Model view

Paper Layout view

Paper Design view

Paper Parameter Form view

Web Source view

Reports CGI (rwcgi)

Note:

Reports CGI (rwcgi) is obsolete; instead, use Reports JSPs or Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet).

An Oracle Reports component, also known as the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) or Reports Web Cartridge, that translates and delivers information between either a Web Server or a Java EE Container (for example, Oracle WebLogic Server) and the Reports Server, to run a report dynamically from your Web browser.

Reports Engine

A component of Oracle Reports Services that fetches data from the data source, formats the report, send output to cache, and notifies the Reports Server that the job is ready.

Reports Server (rwserver)

Reports Server (rwserver) is an Oracle Reports component that provides reporting services to execute, distribute, and publish your reports for enterprise-wide reporting. A component of Oracle Reports Services that processes client requests, including user authentication, scheduling, caching, and report distribution. Use Oracle Reports clients such as Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet), Reports JSP, and Oracle Reports Client (rwclient) to send a report to Reports Server.

row

One set of field values in a table; for example, the fields representing one employee in the example table EMP.

Runtime Parameter Form

A screen or window appearing optionally at runtime in which a user can modify print options and parameters prior to report execution.

schema

A collection of related database objects, usually grouped by database user ID. Schema objects include tables, views, sequences, stored program units, synonyms, indexes, clusters, and database links.

SELECT statement

A SQL statement that specifies which rows and columns to fetch from one or more tables or views.

servlet

A Java application that runs in a Web server or application server and provides server-side processing, typically to access a database or perform e-commerce processing. Because they are written in Java, servlets are portable between servers and operating systems.

Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) and JSP are components of Oracle Reports Services that process custom (JSP) report tags and deliver information between the Oracle HTTP Server and the Reports Server.

SQL

A standard interface for storing and retrieving information in a relational database. SQL is an acronym for Structured Query Language.

SQL file

A file that contains a query stored in text (for example, ASCII or EBCDIC) format.

SQL script

A file containing SQL statements that you can run to perform database administration quickly and easily. Several SQL scripts are shipped with Oracle products.

SQL statement

A SQL instruction to Oracle. A SELECT statement is one type of SQL statement.

style sheet

HTML extensions that provide powerful formatting flexibility in HTML documents. To view an HTML document that takes advantage of style sheets, display it in a browser that supports style sheets.

table

A named collection of related information, stored in a relational database or server, in a two-dimensional grid that is made up of rows and columns.

tabular

A default layout displaying labels at the top of the page and rows of data underneath the labels.

template

A skeleton definition containing common style and standards, and may include graphics. A template provides a standard format to enable quick and easy development of professional standard look-and-feel reports.

Template Editor

A work area in which you can define objects and formatting properties for your templates. It is similar to the Paper Layout view of the Report Editor. You can create, delete, and modify objects (for example, page numbers, text, and graphics) in the margin area. You cannot create and delete objects in the body area, but you can modify the properties of body objects in the Property Inspector.

tool

An iconic button used to create and manipulate objects in an application.

tool palette

A collection of tools represented by iconic buttons in the user interface that allow a report developer to perform tasks, such as drawing a rectangle in the Paper Layout view or creating a query in the Data Model view.

toolbar

A collection of iconic buttons that perform product commands. Usually aligned horizontally along the top, or vertically down the side of a window.

URL

Acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. A compact string representation of the location for a resource that is available through the Internet. It is also the text string format clients use to encode requests to OracleAS.

view

In Reports Builder, a work area in which you perform a specific set of tasks, such as defining a report data model, layout, or Parameter Form.

A virtual table whose rows do not actually exist in the database, but which is based on a table that is physically stored in the database.

Web browser

A program that end users utilize to read HTML documents and programs stored on a computer (serviced by a Web server).

Web server

A server process (HTTP daemon) running at a Web site which sends out Web pages in response to HTTP requests from remote Web browsers.

Web Source view

One of the views of the Report Editor that displays the HTML or JSP source for a report. You can use this view to add dynamic content to a Web page using the Report Block Wizard and the Graph Wizard. Experienced Java developers can edit the Web source directly in this view.

wizard

A step-by-step interface for commonly performed tasks. The wizards in Reports Builder are:

Report Wizard: guides you through the steps to create a basic paper or Web report. Each page of the wizard asks you for information to help you create your initial report.

Data Wizard: helps you helps you quickly define or modify a query for a multiquery data models.

Graph Wizard: Adds variety of charts and graphs, including true 3-dimensional graphs. Implemented in Reports Builder with the Oracle BI graph bean.

Report Block Wizard: enables you to add data to a static HTML page.

XML

Acronym for Extensible Markup Language. A metalanguage using SGML to define and structure data. Reports Builder supports XML output to enable Web publishing as well as electronic data exchange with third-party applications. You can also use XML to build report definitions that can be merged with other report definitions at runtime or run separately.

Index

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X 

A

access controls, 16.2

availability calendar, combined, 16.2.4.2

availability calendar, simple, 16.2.4.1

printer, 16.2.3

report, 16.2.2

server, 16.2.1

accessible command keyword, A.5.1

Adobe Font Metrics (AFM) files

see AFM files, 9.3

Advanced Queuing, 21.1.1, 21.4, 21.4.1, 21.4.2, 21.4.2

dbms_AQadm package, 21.4.1

dbms_aq.dequeue, 21.4.3

DEQUEUE, 21.4

ENQUEUE, 21.4

MESSAGES, 21.4

AFM files, 9.3, 9.5.3, 10.4.4

allowhtmltags configuration element, 8.3.1.1.8

API

cache, 8.2.1.3

debugging events, 21.2

destinations, 8.2.1.6, 13.2

engine, 8.2.1.9

events, 8.2.1.10, 21

Notification, 8.2.1.15

pluggable destinations, 13.2

repository, 8.2.1.12

Security, 8.2.1.23

architecture

globalization support, 23.1, 23.1

arraysize command keyword, 24.8

attach distribution element, 20.4.5

format attribute, 20.4.5

instance attribute, 20.4.5

name attribute, 20.4.5

srcType attribute, 20.4.5

attributes, using variables with, 20.3.2

authid parameter, events, 21.1.4

autocommit command keyword, A.5.4

auxDatFiles attribute of jobRecovery element, 8.2.1.11

availability calendar, 16.2.4

combined, 16.2.4.2

simple, 16.2.4.1

B

background command keyword, A.5.5

barcode fonts, 9.5.6

batch command keyword, A.5.6

batch modifications, XML, 22.4.3

batch registering reports in OracleAS Portal, C

bcc attribute

mail, 20.4.3

bcc command keyword, A.5.7

bidirectional support, 23.4

blankpages command keyword, A.5.8

body, 24.7.2

body distribution element, 20.4.4

format attribute, 20.4.4

instance attribute, 20.4.4

srcType attribute, 20.4.4

break groups

ORDER BY, 24.5.5

bridge

see Oracle Reports Bridge, A.2.7

bridge configuration element, 8.4.1.1

port attribute, 8.4.1.1

timeout attribute, 8.4.1.1

version attribute, 8.4.1.1

bridgeconfig.xsd, 8.1

bridgeconf.xsd

bridge element, 8.4.1.1

identifier element, 8.4.1.2

remoteBridge element, 8.4.1.3

remoteBridges element, 8.4.1.4

browser destination, A.5.31

buffers command keyword, A.5.9

bursting, 20.4.2

and distribution, 24.7.2

bypassProxy configuration element, 8.2.1.26

C

CA_GPREFS, B.1.1

CA_UPREFS, B.1.2

cache configuration element, 8.2.1.3, 18.12.1

cacheSize property, 24.4, 24.8

class attribute, 8.2.1.3

cache destination, A.5.31

cache destype, 13.3.2.1

cache key, 18.12

cacheDir property of cache element, 8.2.1.3

cachelob command keyword, A.5.10

cacheSize property

tuning Reports Server configuration, 24.4, 24.8

cacheSize property of cache element, 8.2.1.3

caching, 18.12

calculations in reports, 24.5.3

callback timeout, 8.11

callBackTimeOut attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

cancelling a job, 21.1.6

cc attribute

mail, 20.4.3

cc command keyword, A.5.11

cell wrappers, 24.5.1

text data sources, 24.5.1

cellwrapper command keyword, A.5.12

cgicmd.dat, 18.13, A.5.13, A.8.25

adding entries, 18.13.3

using, 18.13.4

channel attribute of multicast element, 8.5.1.2

character set

unicode, 23.5

UTF8, 23.5.1

character sets, 9.5.1, 23, 23.2.1.3, 23.3

design considerations, 23.2.1.3.1

font aliasing, 23.2.1.3.2

CID Fonts, 9.5.7

class attribute of cache element, 8.2.1.3

class attribute of destination element, 8.2.1.6

class attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

class attribute of jobStatusRepository element, 8.2.1.12

class attribute of notification element, 8.2.1.15

class attribute of security element, 8.2.1.23

class, in JDBC configuration file, 14.1.1

classPath attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

cluster configuration element, 8.2.1.4

clustering, Reports Servers (deprecated), 8.2.1.4, 8.3.1.1.4

cmdfile command keyword, A.5.13

cmdkey command keyword, A.5.14

cmdkey parameter, events, 21.3

collate command keyword, A.5.15

command keywords

accessible, A.5.1

arraysize, 24.8

autocommit, A.5.4

background, A.5.5

batch, A.5.6

bcc, A.5.7

blankpages, A.5.8

buffers, A.5.9

cachelob, A.5.10

cc, A.5.11

cellwrapper, A.5.12

cmdfile, A.5.13

cmdkey, A.5.14

collate, A.5.15

compile_all, A.5.16

containshtmltags, A.5.17

containsole, A.5.18

contentarea, A.5.19

copies, 24.8, A.5.20

CUSTOMIZE, 22

customize, A.5.21

dateformatmask, A.5.23

delauth, A.5.24

delimited_hdr, A.5.25

delimiter, A.5.26

desformat, A.5.27

desname, A.5.28

dest, A.5.29

destination, A.5.30

destype, A.5.31

distribute, A.6.1

dtype, A.6.2

dunit, A.6.3

engineresponsetimeout, A.6.4

envid, A.6.5

EXPIRATION, 2.3.3, 24.4

expiration, 24.8, A.6.6

expiredays, A.6.7

formsize, A.6.8

from, A.6.9

getjobid, A.6.10

getserverinfo, A.6.11

help, A.6.12

itemtitle, A.6.13

jobname, A.6.14

jobretry, A.6.15

jobtype, A.6.16

jvmoptions, A.6.17

killengine, A.6.18

killjobid, A.6.19

longchunk, 24.8, A.6.20

mimetype, A.6.21

mode, A.6.22

module, A.6.23

name, A.6.24

nonblocksql, A.6.25

notifyfailure, A.6.26

notifysuccess, A.6.27

numberformatmask, A.6.28

onfailure, A.6.29

onsuccess, A.6.30

orientation, A.6.31

ourputpage, A.7.4

outputfolder, A.7.1

outputimageformat, A.7.2, A.7.3

overwrite, A.7.5

p_availability, A.7.7

p_description, A.7.8

p_formats, A.7.9

p_jdbcpds, A.7.10

p_name, A.7.11

p_owner, A.7.12

p_pformtemplate, A.7.13

p_printers, A.7.14

p_privilege, A.7.15

p_servers, A.7.16

p_trigger, A.7.17

p_types, A.7.18

pagegroup, A.7.19

pagesize, A.7.20

pagestream, A.7.21

parameter, A.7.6

paramform, 24.8, A.7.22

parsequery, A.7.23

pdfcomp, 24.8, A.7.24

pdfembed, A.7.25, A.7.26, A.7.27, A.7.28

pfaction, A.7.29

printjob, A.7.30

readonly, A.7.31

RECURSIVE_LOAD, 24.8

recursive_load, A.7.32

replyto, A.7.33

report, A.6.23

role, A.7.35

RUNDEBUG, 24.8

rundebug, A.8.1

save_rdf, A.8.2

SCHEDULE, 18.10

schedule, A.8.3

server, A.8.4

showauth, A.8.5

showenv, A.8.6

showjobid, A.8.7

SHOWJOBS, 24.3.9

showjobs, A.8.8

showmap, A.8.9

showmyjobs, A.8.10

shutdown, A.8.11

sitename, A.8.12

source, A.8.13

ssoconn, A.8.15

statusfolder, A.8.16

statusformat, A.8.17

statuspage, A.8.18

stype, A.8.19

subject, A.8.20

TOLERANCE, 2.3.3, 18.12

tolerance, A.8.22

urlparameter, A.8.23

usejvm, A.8.24

userid, A.8.25

userstyles, A.8.26

VALIDATETAG, 24.8

validatetag, A.8.27

webserver_debug, A.8.28

webserver_docroot, A.8.29

webserver_port, A.8.30

command lines, specifying, 18.2

commands

overview, A.2

rwbridge, A.2.7

rwbuilder, 22.5.2, A.2.3

rwclient, A.2.1

rwconverter, 22.4, A.2.4

rwrun, A.2.2

rwserver, A.2.6

rwservlet, A.2.5

syntax, A.1

compile_all command keyword, A.5.16

configuration

considerations, 2.4

proxy information, 8.7

tuning, 24

URL engine, 8.6

configuration elements

allowhtmltags, 8.3.1.1.8

bridge, 8.4.1.1

bypassProxy, 8.2.1.26

cache, 8.2.1.3, 18.12.1

cluster, 8.2.1.4

connection, 8.2.1.5

dbauth, 8.3.1.1.12

dbProxyConnKeys, 8.2.1.31

dbProxyKey, 8.2.1.30

defaultcharset, 8.3.1.1.6

destination, 8.2.1.6, 13.3.1

discoveryService, 8.5.1.1

domain, 8.2.1.25

engine, 8.2.1.9

environment, 8.2.1.7

envVariable, 8.2.1.8

errortemplate, 8.3.1.1.14

folderAccess, 8.2.1.22

helpurl, 8.3.1.1.9

identifier, 8.2.1.19, 8.4.1.2

imageurl, 8.3.1.1.10

inprocess, 8.3.1.1.3

job, 8.2.1.10

jobRecovery, 8.2.1.11

jobRepository, 8.2.1.14

jobStatusRepository, 8.2.1.12

jobThresholds, 8.2.1.32

log, 8.2.1.13

multicast, 8.5.1.2

namingService, 8.5.1.3

notification, 8.2.1.15

oidconnection, 8.2.1.16

orbClient, 8.2.1.17

ORBPorts, 8.2.1.1

persistFile, 8.2.1.18

pluginParam, 8.2.1.2

property, 8.2.1.20

proxyInfo, 8.2.1.28

proxyServer, 8.2.1.24

proxyServers, 8.2.1.27

queue, 8.2.1.21

reloadkeymap, 8.3.1.1.11

remoteBridge, 8.4.1.3

remoteBridges, 8.4.1.4

reports_servermap, 8.3.1.1.4, 8.3.1.1.4

rwservlet, 8.3.1.1

security, 8.2.1.23

server, 8.2.1.33, 8.3.1.1.1

singlesignon, 8.3.1.1.2

sysauth, 8.3.1.1.13

webLayout, 8.2.1.29

configuration files

fonts, 9.3

Oracle Reports Bridge, 8.1

Oracle Reports Builder, 8.1

Oracle Reports Runtime, 8.1

Oracle Reports Servlet, 8.1

Reports Server, 8.1

rwserver.template, 8.2

configuration, Reports Server, 2.3.3

connection configuration element, 8.2.1.5

idleTimeOut attribute of connection element, 8.2.1.5

maxConnect attribute of connection element, 8.2.1.5

connection, in JDBC configuration file, 14.1.1

connectString, 14.1.1

consolidated job queue, 7.7.2, A.8.8

containshtmltags command keyword, A.5.17

containsole command keyword, A.5.18

contentarea command keyword, A.5.19

cookie, 17.1

cookie configuration element

cookieexpire attribute of cookie element, 8.3.1.1.5

encryptionkey attribute of cookie element, 8.3.1.1.5

cookieexpire attribute, 8.3.1.1.5

copies attribute

printer, 20.4.8

copies command keyword, 24.8, A.5.20

CORBA, A.8.24

cross-platform porting, 12.8.3

CUSTOMIZE command keyword, 22

customize command keyword, A.5.21

customizing reports, XML, 22

D

DAS, see Delegated Administration Services

data definition

DTD schema, 24.5.1

XML schema, 24.5.1

data models, creating, 22.3

data sources

creating through XML, 22.3.1

group hierarchies with XML, 22.3.3

linking through XML, 22.3.2

data type dictionary

distribution.dtd, 20.3.1

DTD, 24.5.1

data types

BLOB, 24.8

CLOB, 24.8

DATE, 23.2.1

LONG, 24.8

LONG RAW, 24.8

NUMBER, 23.2.1

Data Wizard

glossary, Glossary

database attribute of dbProxyKey element, 8.2.1.30

database indexes

SQL WHERE clause, 24.5.2

database triggers, 21.3

dateformatmask command keyword, A.5.23

day names, language for, 23.2.1.2

dbauth configuration element, 8.3.1.1.12

dbms_AQadm package, 21.4.1

dbms_aq.dequeue, 21.4.3

dbProxyConnKeys configuration element, 8.2.1.31

dbProxyKey configuration element, 8.2.1.30

database attribute, 8.2.1.30

name attribute, 8.2.1.30

debugging events, 21.2

defaultcharset configuration element, 8.3.1.1.6

defaultEnvId attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

delauth command keyword, A.5.24

Delegated Administration Service, 16.1.2

Delegated Administration Services, 17.1, 17.2.1.1.1

delimited output

distribution limitations, 20.7.1

delimited_hdr command keyword, A.5.25

DELIMITED_LINE_END, B.1.3

delimiter command keyword, A.5.26

deploying reports, 16

deploying reports, optimizing, 8.11

DEQUEUE, 21.4

dequeuing, creating procedure, 21.4.3

desformat command keyword, A.5.27

desname command keyword, A.5.28

dest command keyword, A.5.29

destination

classes, 13.3.2

destypes, 13.3.2

valid values, 13.3.2

destination command keyword, A.5.30

destination configuration element, 8.2.1.6, 13.3.1

class attribute, 8.2.1.6

destype attribute, 8.2.1.6

destination types, 13.3

destinations distribution element, 20.4.1

destype attribute, 13.3.2

cache, 13.3.2.1

file, 13.3.2.1

mail, 13.3.2.1

oraclePortal, 13.3.2.1

printer, 13.3.2.1

destype attribute of destination element, 8.2.1.6

destype command keyword, A.5.31

destype distribution element, 20.4.9

id attribute, 20.4.9

instance attribute, 20.4.9

name attribute, 20.4.9

DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG, 23.2.2, B.1.5

diagbodytags attribute, 8.3.1.1.15

diagheadtags attribute, 8.3.1.1.15

diagnosis property, D.1.1, D.1.5, D.1.5

diagnosis property of engine element, 8.2.1.9

diagtags configuration element

diagbodytags attribute of diagtags element, 8.3.1.1.15

diagheadtags attribute of diagtags element, 8.3.1.1.15

direction, of language, 23.2.1.2

discoveryService configuration element, 8.5.1.1

DISPLAY

printing on UNIX, 10.8, 10.9.4

dist parameter, events, 21.3

distribute command keyword, A.6.1

distribution

and bursting, 24.7.2

bursting, 20.4.2

delimited output, 20.7.1

dynamic format attribute values, 20.7.2

limitations, 20.7

distribution elements

attach, 20.4.5

body, 20.4.4

destinations, 20.4.1

destype, 20.4.9

file, 20.4.7

foreach, 20.4.2

include, 20.4.6

mail, 20.4.3

printer, 20.4.8

property, 20.4.10

distribution examples, 20.5

destype, 20.5.5

file, 20.5.3

foreach, 20.5.1

mail, 20.5.2

printer, 20.5.4

distribution overview, 20.1

Distribution property, 24.7.2

distribution, using XML file, 20.6

distribution.dtd, 20.3.1

DOC, B.1.4

docroot attribute of webLayout element, 8.2.1.29

domain configuration element, 8.2.1.25

DTD, internal, 14.1.1

DTD, see data type dictionary

dtype command keyword, A.6.2

dunit command keyword, A.6.3

dynamic environment switching, 8.2.2

E

elements, see distribution, customization, or configuration

EM, see Oracle Enterprise Manager

enableSSL property of pluginParam element, 8.2.1.2

encryptionkey attribute, 8.3.1.1.5

engine configuration element, 8.2.1.9

callBackTimeOut attribute, 8.2.1.9

class attribute, 8.2.1.9

classPath attribute, 8.2.1.9

defaultEnvId attribute, 8.2.1.9

diagnosis property, 8.2.1.9

engineResponseTimeOut attribute, 8.2.1.9, 24.4

engLife attribute, 8.2.1.9

id attribute, 8.2.1.9

initEngine attribute, 8.2.1.9, 24.4

jvmOptions attribute, 8.2.1.9

keepConnection property, 8.2.1.9

maxConnect attribute, 24.4

maxEngine attribute, 8.2.1.9, 24.4

maxIdle attribute, 8.2.1.9

minEngine attribute, 8.2.1.9, 24.4

sourcedir property, 8.2.1.9

tempdir property, 8.2.1.9

engineId attribute of job element, 8.2.1.10

engineResponseTimeOut attribute

tuning Reports Server configuration, 24.4

engineResponseTimeOut attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

engineresponsetimeout command keyword, A.6.4

engLife attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

ENQUEUE, 21.4

enqueuing, creating procedure, 21.4.2

envid command keyword, A.6.5

environment configuration element, 8.2.1.7, 8.2.1.8

id attribute, 8.2.1.7

environment switching, 8.2.2

environment variables

CA_GPREFS, B.1.1

CA_UPREFS, B.1.2

DELIMITED_LINE_END, B.1.3

DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG, 23.2.2, B.1.5

DOC, B.1.4

NLS_CALENDAR, B.1.6

NLS_CREDIT, B.1.7

NLS_CURRENCY, B.1.8

NLS_DATE_FORMAT, B.1.9

NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE, B.1.10

NLS_DEBIT, B.1.11

NLS_ISO_CURRENCY, B.1.12

NLS_LANG, 23.2.1, B.1.13

NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR, B.1.14

NLS_MONETARY_CHARACTERS, B.1.15

NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS, B.1.16

NLS_SORT, B.1.17

ORACLE_AFM, B.1.18

ORACLE_HOME, B.1.19

ORACLE_HPD, B.1.20, B.1.21

ORACLE_PATH, B.1.22

ORACLE_PPD, B.1.23

ORACLE_TFM, B.1.24

ORAINFONAV_DOCPATH, B.1.25

PRINTER, B.1.26

REMOTE, B.1.27

REPORTS_ADD_HWMARGIN, B.1.28

REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL, 11.4, B.1.29

REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM, 11.4, B.1.31

REPORTS_CGIDIAGBODYTAGS, B.1.32

REPORTS_CGIDIAGHEADTAGS, B.1.33

REPORTS_CGIHELP, B.1.34

REPORTS_CGIMAP, B.1.35

REPORTS_CGINODIAG, B.1.36

REPORTS_CLASSPATH, B.1.37

REPORTS_CONTAINSHTMLTAGS, B.1.38

REPORTS_COOKIE_EXPIRE, B.1.39

REPORTS_DB_AUTH, B.1.40, B.1.41

REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY, B.1.42

REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE, B.1.43

REPORTS_ENABLE_RTF_SPACING, B.1.44

REPORTS_ENCRYPTION_KEY, B.1.45

REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING, B.1.47

REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET, 11.2.2.2.2, 11.2.2.2.2, 11.2.2.2.2, B.1.48

REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY, B.1.49

REPORTS_GRAPH_IMAGE_DPI, B.1.50

REPORTS_IGNORE_IMAGE_TAG_RES, B.1.51

REPORTS_JPEG_QUALITY_FACTOR, B.1.52

REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS, B.1.53

REPORTS_NETWORK_CONFIG, B.1.54

REPORTS_NLS_XML_CHARSETS, B.1.55

REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER, B.1.56

REPORTS_NO_HTML_SPACE_REPLACE, B.1.57

REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT, B.1.58

REPORTS_PATH, B.1.59

REPORTS_RESOURCE, B.1.61

REPORTS_RESTRICT_DIRECTORIES, B.1.60

REPORTS_SERVER, B.1.62

REPORTS_SOLARIS_9, B.1.63

REPORTS_SPACE_BREAK, B.1.64

REPORTS_SRWRUN_TO_SERVER, B.1.65

REPORTS_SSLPORT, B.1.66

REPORTS_SYS_AUTH, B.1.67

REPORTS_TAGLIB_URI, B.1.68

REPORTS_TMP, B.1.69

REPORTS_USEREXITS, B.1.70

REPORTS_UTF8_XMLOUTPUT, B.1.71

RW, B.1.72

TK_AFM, B.1.76

TK_HPD, B.1.77

TK_PPD, B.1.78

TK_PRINT, B.1.73

TK_PRINT_STATUS, B.1.74

TK_PRINTER, B.1.75

TK_TFM, B.1.79

USER_NLS_LANG, 23.2.2, B.1.82

USERNAME, B.1.81

environment variables, editing, B

environment variables, globalization support, 23.2

envVariable configuration element

name attribute, 8.2.1.8

value Attribute, 8.2.1.8

error messages, XML, 22.5.1

errortemplate configuration element, 8.3.1.1.14

event-driven publishing, 2.3.3, 21

events

authid parameter, 21.1.4

cancelling a job, 21.1.6

cmdkey parameter, 21.3

creating a message queue, 21.4.1

creating dequeuing procedure, 21.4.3

creating enqueuing procedure, 21.4.2

debugging, 21.2

dist parameter, 21.3

gateway parameter, 21.1.4

invoking a report, 21.3

MyIdent.AuthID, 21.1.4

MyIdent.GatewayURL, 21.1.4

MyIdent.JobID, 21.1.4

MyIdent.ServerName, 21.1.4

ParamList-Object, 21.1.1

ParamList-Type, 21.1.1

report parameter, 21.1.4, 21.3

server parameter, 21.1.4

SRW_PARAMETER, 21.1.2

SRW_PARAMLIST, 21.1.2, 21.1.4, 21.4.1

srw_test.sql, 21.2

SRW.ADD_PARAMETER, 21.1.2.1

srwAPIdrop.sql, 21.1.1

srwAPIgrant.sql, 21.1.1

srwAPIins.sql, 21.1.1

SRW.CANCEL_REPORT, 21.1.6

SRW.CLEAR_PARAMETER_LIST, 21.1.2.3

SRW.JOB_IDENT, 21.1.4

SRW-Package, 21.1.1

SRW.REMOVE_PARAMETER, 21.1.2.2

SRW.REPORT_STATUS, 21.1.4

SRW.START_DEBUGGING, 21.2

SRW.STATUS_RECORD, 21.1.5

SRW.STOP_DEBUGGING, 21.2

userid parameter, 21.1.4, 21.3

examples, distribution, 20.5

destype, 20.5.5

file, 20.5.3

foreach, 20.5.1

mail, 20.5.2

printer, 20.5.4

executables

overview, A.2

EXPIRATION command keyword, 2.3.3

tuning Reports Server, 24.4

expiration command keyword, A.6.6

tuning Reports Server configuration, 24.8

expiredays command keyword, A.6.7

EXPLAIN PLAN, in SQL tracing, 24.3.10

F

fax

distribution example, 20.5.5.4

fetched ahead, 24.7.1

file destination, A.5.31

file destype, 13.3.2.1

file distribution element, 20.4.7

format attribute, 20.4.7

id attribute, 20.4.7

instance attribute, 20.4.7

name attribute, 20.4.7

file searching, 9.3.1

fileName attribute of persistFile element, 8.2.1.18

firewall

proxy information, 8.7

fnchk.exe, 9.4.4

folderAccess element, 8.2.1.22

font aliasing, 9.4

in multilingual applications, 23.2.1.3.2

in PDF output, 11.2.2.1

font check utility, 9.4.4

font embedding in PDF output, 11.2.2.3

font subsetting in PDF output, 11.2.2.2

fonts

adding, 9.2

AFM files, 9.3, 10.4.4

configuration files, 9.3

metrics files, 9.3, 9.3, 10.4.4

TFM files, 9.3, 10.4.4

troubleshooting, 9.9, D.3

True Type Big, 23.5.2

unicode support, 23.5.2

using and managing, 9

fonts, true type big, 9.9

foreach distribution element, 20.4.2

format

graphical layout objects, 24.6.1

horizontal elasticity, 24.6.1

non-graphical layout objects, 24.6.1

vertical elasticity, 24.6.1

format attribute

and distribution, 20.7.2

attach, 20.4.5

body, 20.4.4

file, 20.4.7

format triggers, 24.6.1.1

Forms Services

security considerations, 17.6

formsize command keyword, A.6.8

from attribute

mail, 20.4.3

from command keyword, A.6.9

FTP

distribution example, 20.5.5.2

FTP destination, A.5.31

G

gateway parameter, events, 21.1.4

getjobid command keyword, A.6.10

getserverinfo command keyword, A.6.11

globalization

troubleshooting, D.7

globalization support, 23

architecture, 23.1

bidirectional support, 23.4

character sets, 23.2.1.3

DEVELOPER_NLS_LANG, 23.2.2

environment variables, 23.2

font support, 23.5.2

JSP, 23.3

language-dependent data, 23.1.2

language-independent functions, 23.1.1

NLS_LANG, 23.2.1

translating applications, 23.6

troubleshooting, 23.7

unicode, 23.5

USER_NLS_LANG, 23.2.2

Graph Wizard

glossary, Glossary

Group Filters

WHERE clause, 24.5.6

group filters, 24.5.6

H

header, 24.7.2

help command keyword, A.6.12

HELP, rwservlet.properties, 8.3.1.1.9

helpurl configuration element, 8.3.1.1.9

high availability

consolidated job queue, 7.7.2, A.8.8

host attribute of namingService element, 8.5.1.3

host attribute of remoteBridge element, 8.4.1.3

HPD filesHP Document (HPD) files

see HPD files, 9.3

HTTP Server, 17.2.1.1.1

HTTP timeout value

tuning Reports Server configuration, 24.4

hyperlinks, adding through XML, 22.2.5

I

id attribute

destype, 20.4.9

file, 20.4.7

mail, 20.4.3

printer, 20.4.8

id attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

id attribute of environment element, 8.2.1.7

id attribute of notification element, 8.2.1.15

id attribute of orbClient element, 8.2.1.17

id attribute of security element, 8.2.1.23

identifier configuration element, 8.2.1.19, 8.4.1.2

idleTimeOut attribute, 8.2.1.5

ignoreParameters property of cache element, 8.2.1.3

images, support for, 10.8.2

imageurl configuration element, 8.3.1.1.10

include distribution element, 20.4.6

src attribute, 20.4.6

increment attribute of oidconnection element, 8.2.1.16

init attribute of oidconnection element, 8.2.1.16

initEngine attribute

tuning Reports Server configuration, 24.4

initEngine attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

inprocess configuration element, 8.3.1.1.3

in-process Reports Server, 2.3.1

setting default printer, D.1.10

instance attribute

attach, 20.4.5

body, 20.4.4

destype, 20.4.9

file, 20.4.7

printer, 20.4.8

itemtitle command keyword, A.6.13

IX utility, 10.6.2

J

Java Importer

performance analysis, 24.3.13

Java Servlet, 2.3.1, 2.3.1

Java stored procedures

performance analysis, 24.3.12

Java Virtual Machine (JVM), A.8.24

JDBC PDS

troubleshooting, D.5

JDBC pluggable data source (PDS), 14.1

JDBC-ODBC driver, 14.1.1.1

job cancelling, 21.1.6

job configuration element, 8.2.1.10

engineId attribute, 8.2.1.10

jobType attribute, 8.2.1.10

retry attribute, 8.2.1.10

securityId attribute, 8.2.1.10

jobname command keyword, A.6.14

jobRecovery configuration element, 8.2.1.11

auxDatFiles attribute, 8.2.1.11

jobRepository configuration element, 8.2.1.14

jobretry command keyword, A.6.15

jobs, running, 18

jobStatusRepository configuration element, 8.2.1.12

class attribute, 8.2.1.12

repositoryconn property, 24.3.8.1

jobThresholds configuration element, 8.2.1.32

longRunning attribute, 8.2.1.32

potentialRunAway attribute, 8.2.1.32

jobType attribute of job element, 8.2.1.10

jobtype command keyword, A.6.16

JSP, 2.3.1

globalization support, 23.3

specifying character set, 23.3

URL syntax, 18.1.2

using key mapping with, 18.13.5

VALIDATETAG, 24.8, A.8.27, A.8.27

JSP report, deploying to Web or paper, 18.3.3

JVM, A.8.24

jvmOptions attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

jvmoptions command keyword, A.6.17

K

keepConnection property of engine element, 8.2.1.9

key map file, 18.13

adding entries, 18.13.3

benefits, 18.13.1

enabling, 18.13.2

mapping URL parameters, 18.13.3

restricted run with Parameter Form, 18.13.4

using, 18.13.4

keywords

accessible, A.5.1

autocommit, A.5.4

background, A.5.5

batch, A.5.6

bcc, A.5.7

blankpages, A.5.8

buffers, A.5.9

cachelob, A.5.10

cc, A.5.11

cellwrapper, A.5.12

cmdfile, A.5.13

cmdkey, A.5.14

collate, A.5.15

compile_all, A.5.16

containshtmltags, A.5.17

containsole, A.5.18

contentarea, A.5.19

copies, A.5.20

CUSTOMIZE, 22

customize, A.5.21

dateformatmask, A.5.23

delauth, A.5.24

delimited_hdr, A.5.25

delimiter, A.5.26

desformat, A.5.27

desname, A.5.28

dest, A.5.29

destination, A.5.30

destype, A.5.31

distribute, A.6.1

dtype, A.6.2

dunit, A.6.3

engineresponsetimeout, A.6.4

envid, A.6.5

EXPIRATION, 24.4

expiration, A.6.6

expiredays, A.6.7

formsize, A.6.8

from, A.6.9

getjobid, A.6.10

getserverinfo, A.6.11

help, A.6.12

itemtitle, A.6.13

jobname, A.6.14

jobretry, A.6.15

jobtype, A.6.16

jvmoptions, A.6.17

killengine, A.6.18

killjobid, A.6.19

longchunk, A.6.20

mimetype, A.6.21

mode, A.6.22

module, A.6.23

name, A.6.24

nonblocksql, A.6.25

notifyfailure, A.6.26

notifysuccess, A.6.27

numberformatmask, A.6.28

onfailure, A.6.29

onsuccess, A.6.30

orientation, A.6.31

outputfolder, A.7.1

outputimageformat, A.7.2, A.7.3

outputpage, A.7.4

overwrite, A.7.5

p_availability, A.7.7

p_description, A.7.8

p_formats, A.7.9

p_formtemplate, A.7.13

p_jdbcpds, A.7.10

p_name, A.7.11

p_owner, A.7.12

p_printers, A.7.14

p_privilege, A.7.15

p_servers, A.7.16

p_trigger, A.7.17

p_types, A.7.18

pagegroup, A.7.19

pagesize, A.7.20

pagestream, A.7.21

parameter, A.7.6

paramform, A.7.22

parsequery, A.7.23

pdfcomp, A.7.24

pdfembed, A.7.25, A.7.26, A.7.27, A.7.28

pfaction, A.7.29

printjob, A.7.30

readonly, A.7.31

RECURSIVE_LOAD, 24.8

recursive_load, A.7.32

replyto, A.7.33

report, A.6.23

role, A.7.35

RUNDEBUG, 24.8

rundebug, A.8.1

save_rdf, A.8.2

SCHEDULE, 18.10

schedule, A.8.3

server, A.8.4

showauth, A.8.5

showenv, A.8.6

showjobid, A.8.7

SHOWJOBS, 24.3.9

showjobs, A.8.8

showmap, A.8.9

showmyjobs, A.8.10

shutdown, A.8.11

sitename, A.8.12

source, A.8.13

ssoconn, A.8.15

statusfolder, A.8.16

statusformat, A.8.17

statuspage, A.8.18

stype, A.8.19

subject, A.8.20

TOLERANCE, 18.12

tolerance, A.8.22

urlparameter, A.8.23

usejvm, A.8.24

userid, A.8.25

userstyles, A.8.26

VALIDATETAG, 24.8

validatetag, A.8.27

webserver_debug, A.8.28

webserver_docroot, A.8.29

webserver_port, A.8.30

killengine command keyword, A.6.18

killjobid command keyword, A.6.19

L

languages

Middle Eastern, 23.4

North African, 23.4

LDAP, 16.1

ldapmodify command, 17.4

LDIF file, 17.4

localfile destination, A.5.31

log configuration element, 8.2.1.13

option attribute, 8.2.1.13

loginTimeout, 14.1.1

longchunk command keyword, 24.8, A.6.20

longRunning attribute of jobThresholds element, 8.2.1.32

M

mail destination, A.5.31

mail destype, 13.3.2.1

mail distribution element, 20.4.3

bcc attribute, 20.4.3

cc attribute, 20.4.3

from attribute, 20.4.3

id attribute, 20.4.3

organization attribute, 20.4.3

priority attribute, 20.4.3

replyTo attribute, 20.4.3

returnReciept attribute, 20.4.3

subject attribute, 20.4.3

to attribute, 20.4.3

managing Oracle Reports Services, 7

map

URL parameters, key map file, 18.13.3

maxCacheFileNumber property of cache element, 8.2.1.3

maxConnect attribute, 8.2.1.5

tuning Reports Server configuration, 24.4

maxEngine attribute

tuning Reports Server configuration, 24.4

maxEngine attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

maxIdle attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

maxQueueSize attribute

tuning Reports Server configuration, 24.4, 24.8

maxQueueSize attribute of queue element, 8.2.1.21

merging application entities, 17.4

message queue, creating, 21.4.1

MESSAGES, 21.4

messages, language for, 23.2.1.2

mfontchk, 9.4.4

Middle Eastern languages, 23.4

mimetype command keyword, A.6.21

minEngine attribute

tuning Reports Server configuration, 24.4

minEngine attribute of engine element, 8.2.1.9

mode command keyword, A.6.22

module command keyword, A.6.23

monitoring Oracle Reports Services, 7

month names, language for, 23.2.1.2

multibyte character set, 23.5.1

multibyte character sets, 23

multicast configuration element, 8.5.1.2

channel attribute, 8.5.1.2

port attribute, 8.5.1.2

retry attribute, 8.5.1.2

timeout attribute, 8.5.1.2

multilingual text display, 23.5.1

MyIdent.AuthID, 21.1.4

MyIdent.GatewayURL, 21.1.4

MyIdent.JobID, 21.1.4

MyIdent.ServerName, 21.1.4

N

name attribute, 8.2.1.2

attach, 20.4.5

destype, 20.4.9

file, 20.4.7

printer, 20.4.8

name attribute of dbProxyKey element, 8.2.1.30

name attribute of envVariable element, 8.2.1.8

name attribute of namingService element, 8.5.1.3

name attribute of proxyServer element, 8.2.1.24

name command keyword, A.6.24

name/value pairs, destination, 13.3.2.2

namingService configuration element, 8.5.1.3

host attribute, 8.5.1.3

name attribute, 8.5.1.3

port attribute, 8.5.1.3

NLS

see globalization support, 23

NLS_CALENDAR, B.1.6

NLS_CREDIT, B.1.7

NLS_CURRENCY, B.1.8

NLS_DATE_FORMAT, B.1.9

NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE, B.1.10

NLS_DEBIT, B.1.11

NLS_ISO_CURRENCY, B.1.12

NLS_LANG, 23.2.1, B.1.13

NLS_LIST_SEPARATOR, B.1.14

NLS_MONETARY_CHARACTERS, B.1.15

NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS, B.1.16

NLS_SORT, B.1.17

nonblocksql command keyword, A.6.25

North African languages, 23.4

notification configuration element, 8.2.1.15

class attribute, 8.2.1.15

id attribute, 8.2.1.15

notifyfailure command keyword, A.6.26

notifysuccess command keyword, A.6.27

numberformatmask command keyword, A.6.28

O

OID, see Oracle Internet Directory

oidcon_increment attribute, 8.3.1.1.17

oidcon_init attribute, 8.3.1.1.17

oidcon_timeout attribute, 8.3.1.1.17

oidconnection configuration element, 8.2.1.16

increment attribute, 8.2.1.16

init attribute, 8.2.1.16

oidcon_increment attribute of oidconnection element, 8.3.1.1.17

oidcon_init attribute of oidconnection element, 8.3.1.1.17

oidcon_timeout attribute of oidconnection element, 8.3.1.1.17

timeout attribute, 8.2.1.16

onfailure command keyword, A.6.29

onsuccess command keyword, A.6.30

option attribute of log element, 8.2.1.13

ORA_PROF, 24.3.11

Oracle Advanced Queuing, 21.1.1, 21.4, 21.4.1, 21.4.2, 21.4.2

dbms_AQadm package, 21.4.1

dbms_aq.dequeue, 21.4.3

DEQUEUE, 21.4

ENQUEUE, 21.4

MESSAGES, 21.4

Oracle Enterprise Manager, 7

configuring for Reports Server, 8.8

performance analysis, 24.3.1

starting Reports Servers, 6.1

stopping Reports Servers, 6.1

Oracle Forms Services

migrating cluster names, 8.3.1.1.4

security considerations, 17.6

Oracle HTTP Server, 17.2.1.1.1

Oracle Internet Directory, 16.1, 17.2.1.1.1

choosing connecting entity, 17.4

specifying connection parameters, 8.2.1.16

Oracle JDBC OCI (thick) driver, 14.1.1.1

Oracle JDBC Thin driver, 14.1.1.1

Oracle Login Server, 17.2.1.1.1

Oracle Portal, 16

availability calendar

combined, 16.2.4.2

simple, 16.2.4.1

destination, 8.2.1.6

printer access, 16.2.3

report access, 16.2.2

running report, 16.3.2

Runtime Parameter Form, 16.2.2

RW_ADMINISTRATOR, 16.1.1

RW_BASIC_USER, 16.1.1

RW_DEVELOPER, 16.1.1

RW_POWER_USER, 16.1.1

server access, 16.2.1

users and groups, 16.1

Oracle Reports Bridge

configuration file, 8.1

rwbridge, A.2.7

Oracle Reports Builder

configuration file, 8.1

Oracle Reports Runtime

configuration file, 8.1

Oracle Reports Services

managing, 7

monitoring, 7

Oracle Reports Servlet

configuration file, 8.1

ORACLE_AFM, B.1.18

ORACLE_HOME, B.1.19

ORACLE_HPD, B.1.20, B.1.21

ORACLE_PATH, B.1.22

ORACLE_PPD, B.1.23

ORACLE_TFM, B.1.24

OracleAS Portal, A.5.31

batch registering reports, C

destination, 13.2

destination element, example, 13.3.3

distribution example, 20.5.5.1

introduction, 15.13.1

oraclePortal destype, 13.3.2.1

publishing a report portlet, 18.4

report requests, 18.2

troubleshooting, D.6

WebDAV, A.5.28

OracleAS Reports Services

components, 2.3.2

persistence, 2.3.1

Single Sign-On, 7.8.6, 17

OracleAS Single Sign-On

configuring, 17

in rwservlet.properties, 7.8.6

ORACLEPORTAL destination, A.5.31

oraclePortal destype, 13.3.2.1

ORAINFONAV_DOCPATH, B.1.25

orbClient configuration element, 8.2.1.17

id attribute, 8.2.1.17

publicKeyFile Attribute, 8.2.1.17

ORBPorts configuration element, 8.2.1.1

ORDER BY

break groups, 24.5.5

organization attribute

mail, 20.4.3

orientation command keyword, A.6.31

output

UNIX, 10.8, 10.9.4

output processing, 13

outputfolder command keyword, A.7.1

outputimageformat command keyword, A.7.2, A.7.3

outputpage command keyword, A.7.4

overwrite command keyword, A.7.5

P

p_availability command keyword, A.7.7

p_description command keyword, A.7.8

p_formats command keyword, A.7.9

p_jdbcpds command keyword, A.7.10

p_name command keyword, A.7.11

p_owner command keyword, A.7.12

p_pformtemplate command keyword, A.7.13

p_printers command keyword, A.7.14

p_privilege command keyword, A.7.15

p_servers command keyword, A.7.16

p_trigger command keyword, A.7.17

p_types command keyword, A.7.18

pagegroup command keyword, A.7.19

pagesize command keyword, A.7.20

pagestream command keyword, A.7.21

paramater list (events)

manipulating, 21.1.2

parameter command keyword, A.7.6

Parameter Form, 16.2.2

parameter form

key map file, 18.13.4

parameter list (events)

creating, 21.1.2

paramform command keyword, 24.8, A.7.22

ParamList-Object, 21.1.1

ParamList-Type, 21.1.1

parsequery command keyword, A.7.23

PASTA utility, 10.6.2

PCL fonts

adding, 9.2.2.1

PCS

pcscomponent.xml, 8.8.1.1

PCS (Process Control Service)

configuring for Reports Server, 8.8

PDF output

accessibility, 11.2.5

compression, 11.2.1

font-related features, 11.2.2

graph support, 11.2.7

orientation, A.6.31

precedence of font features, 11.2.3

taxonomy, 11.2.6

tuning for performance, 24.8

Unicode, 11.3

pdfcomp command keyword, 24.8, A.7.24

pdfembed command keyword, A.7.25, A.7.26, A.7.27, A.7.28

performance

improving, 24

optimizing deployment, 8.11

troubleshooting, D.2

persistance, 8.2.1.18

persistence, 2.3.1, 18.12

persistFile configuration element, 8.2.1.18

fileName attribute, 8.2.1.18

PFA files, 9.5.3

pfaction command keyword, A.7.29

PFB files, 9.5.3

PFM files, 9.5.3

ping interval, 8.11

ping timeout, 8.11

PL/SQL

performance analysis, 24.3.11

SRW_PARAMETER, 21.1.2

SRW_PARAMLIST, 21.1.2, 21.1.4, 21.4.1

srw_test.sql, 21.2

SRW.ADD_PARAMETER, 21.1.2.1

srwAPIdrop.sql, 21.1.1

srwAPIgrant.sql, 21.1.1

srwAPIins.sql, 21.1.1

SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION, 22.1

SRW.CANCEL_REPORT, 21.1.6

SRW.CLEAR_PARAMETER_LIST, 21.1.2.3

SRW.DO_SQL, 24.3.11

SRW.JOB_IDENT, 21.1.4

SRW.MAXROW_UNSET, 24.5.4

SRW-Package, 21.1.1

SRW.REMOVE_PARAMETER, 21.1.2.2

SRW.REPORT_STATUS, 21.1.4

SRW.SET_MAXROW(), 24.5.4

SRW.SET_TEXT_COLOR, 24.6.1.1

SRW.START_DEBUGGING, 21.2

SRW.STATUS_RECORD, 21.1.5

SRW.STOP_DEBUGGING, 21.2

stored procedures, 24.3.11

translating blocks, 23.6

PL/SQL, and advanced distribution, 20.3.2

pluggable

cache, 8.2.1.3

destinations, 8.2.1.6, 13.2, 13.2, 20.4.9

engine, 8.2.1.9

events, 8.2.1.10

Notification API, 8.2.1.15

repository, 8.2.1.12

pluggable API

Security, 8.2.1.23

pluginParam configuration element, 8.2.1.2

name attribute of pluginParam element, 8.2.1.2

type attribute of pluginParam element, 8.2.1.2

used with destination, 8.2.1.6

used with notification element, 8.2.1.15

value attribute of pluginParam element, 8.2.1.2

port attribute of bridge element, 8.4.1.1

port attribute of multicast element, 8.5.1.2

port attribute of namingService element, 8.5.1.3

port attribute of proxyServer element, 8.2.1.24

port attribute of remoteBridge element, 8.4.1.3

port attribute of webLayout element, 8.2.1.29

Portal

see Oracle Portal, 8.2.1.6

see OracleAS Portal, 13.2

portlet

adding to a page, 16.3.3

creating provider for reports, 16.3.1

PostScript

printer driver, 10.8.1

PostScript fonts

adding, 9.2.2.1

PostScript Printer Definition (PPD) files

see PPD files, 9.3

potentialRunAway attribute of jobThresholds element, 8.2.1.32

PPD files, 9.3

PRINTER, B.1.26

printer access controls, 16.2.3

printer destination, A.5.31

printer destype, 13.3.2.1

printer distribution element, 20.4.8

copies attribute, 20.4.8

id attribute, 20.4.8

instance attribute, 20.4.8

name attribute, 20.4.8

printing

troubleshooting, D.4

printing on UNIX, 10, 10.8, 10.9.4

printjob command keyword, A.7.30

priority attribute

mail, 20.4.3

program units, adding through XML, 22.2.5

property distribution element, 20.4.10

property element, 8.2.1.20

property, in JDBC configuration file, 14.1.1

protocol attribute of proxyServer element, 8.2.1.24

provider

creating for reports, 16.3.1

proxy information

configuring, 8.7

proxyInfo configuration element, 8.2.1.28

proxyServer configuration element, 8.2.1.24

name attribute, 8.2.1.24

port attribute, 8.2.1.24

protocol attribute, 8.2.1.24

proxyServers configuration element, 8.2.1.27

publicKeyFile attribute of orbClient element, 8.2.1.17

publishing a report portlet, 18.4

Q

queue configuration element

maxQueueSize attribute, 8.2.1.21, 24.4, 24.8

queue element, 8.2.1.21

queue manager, 2.3.1, 18.10

queue viewer, 2.3.1

R

reading order, 23, 23.4

readonly command keyword, A.7.31

RECURSIVE_LOAD command keyword, 24.8

recursive_load command keyword, A.7.32

registry, editing, B

registry, Windows, 23.2.1.1.1

reloadkeymap configuration element, 8.3.1.1.11

REMOTE, B.1.27

remoteBridge configuration element, 8.4.1.3

host attribute, 8.4.1.3, 8.4.1.3

remoteBridges configuration element, 8.4.1.4

REP-50125, D.1.2

REP-52266, D.1.1

REP-56048, D.1.5

Repeat On property, 24.7.2

replyTo attribute

mail, 20.4.3

replyto command keyword, A.7.33

report

orientation, A.6.31

report access controls, 16.2.2

Report Block Wizard

glossary, Glossary

report command keyword, A.6.23

report definitions, XML, 22

report parameter, events, 21.1.4, 21.3

report request

for the URL engine, 18.6

from a Web browser, 18.5

publishing a report portlet, 18.4

scheduling to run automatically, 18.10

report trace, 24.3.7

Report Wizard

glossary, Glossary

reports

applying custom XML, 22.4

batch removing from OracleAS Portal, C.2

bursting, 20.4.2

caching, 18.12

command line requests, 18.2

debugging custom XML, 22.5

invoking through events, 21.3

processing, 2.3.3

request methods, 18.2

request through packaged procedure, 18.2

requests through Portal, 18.2

running automatically, 18.10

scheduling, 18.10

URL requests, 18.2

URL syntax, 18.1

XML customization, 22.2

XML data models, 22.3

Reports Engine, 2.3.3

Reports Queue Manager, 2.3.1, 18.10

Reports Queue Viewer, 2.3.1

Reports Server

access controls, 16.2.1

clustering (deprecated), 8.2.1.4, 8.3.1.1.4

configuration file, 2.3.3, 8.1

destination processing, 13.2

in-process, 2.3.1

persistence, 8.2.1.18, 18.12

registering destination types, 13.3

specifying OID connection parameters, 8.2.1.16

status record, 21.1.6

tuning configuration, 24.4

Reports Services

cache API, 8.2.1.3

components, 2.3.2

destinations API, 8.2.1.6, 13.2, 13.2

engine API, 8.2.1.9

events API, 8.2.1.10

Notification API, 8.2.1.15

persistence, 2.3.1

repository API, 8.2.1.12

Security API, 8.2.1.23

Single Sign-On, 7.8.6, 17

starting and stopping, 6

Reports Servlet, 17.2.1.1.1, 17.2.1.1.1

adding custom help, 8.3.1.1.9

URL syntax, 18.1.1

reports, running, 18

REPORTS_ADD_HWMARGIN, B.1.28

REPORTS_ARABIC_NUMERAL, 11.4, B.1.29

REPORTS_BIDI_ALGORITHM, 11.4, B.1.31

REPORTS_CGIDIAGBODYTAGS, B.1.32

REPORTS_CGIDIAGHEADTAGS, B.1.33

REPORTS_CGIHELP, B.1.34

REPORTS_CGIMAP, B.1.35

REPORTS_CGINODIAG, B.1.36

REPORTS_CLASSPATH, B.1.37

REPORTS_CONTAINSHTMLTAGS, B.1.38

REPORTS_COOKIE_EXPIRE, B.1.39

REPORTS_DB_AUTH, B.1.40, B.1.41

REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY, B.1.42

REPORTS_DEFAULT_PIXEL_SIZE, B.1.43

REPORTS_ENABLE_RTF_SPACING, B.1.44

REPORTS_ENCRYPTION_KEY, B.1.45

REPORTS_ENHANCED_FONTHANDLING, B.1.47

REPORTS_ENHANCED_SUBSET, 11.2.2.2.2, 11.2.2.2.2, 11.2.2.2.2, B.1.48

REPORTS_FONT_DIRECTORY, B.1.49

REPORTS_GRAPH_IMAGE_DPI, B.1.50

REPORTS_IGNORE_IMAGE_TAG_RES, B.1.51

REPORTS_JPEG_QUALITY_FACTOR, B.1.52

REPORTS_JVM_OPTIONS, B.1.53

REPORTS_NETWORK_CONFIG, B.1.54

REPORTS_NLS_XML_CHARSETS, B.1.55

REPORTS_NO_DUMMY_PRINTER, B.1.56

REPORTS_NO_HTML_SPACE_REPLACE, B.1.57

REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT, B.1.58

REPORTS_PATH, B.1.59

REPORTS_RESOURCE, B.1.61

REPORTS_RESTRICT_DIRECTORIES, B.1.60

REPORTS_SERVER, B.1.62

reports_servermap configuration element, 8.3.1.1.4

reports_servermapconfiguration element, 8.3.1.1.4

REPORTS_SOLARIS_9, B.1.63

REPORTS_SPACE_BREAK, B.1.64

REPORTS_SRWRUN_TO_SERVER, B.1.65

REPORTS_SSLPORT, B.1.66

REPORTS_SYS_AUTH, B.1.67

REPORTS_TAGLIB_URI, B.1.68

REPORTS_TMP, B.1.69

REPORTS_USEREXITS, B.1.70

REPORTS_UTF8_XMLOUTPUT, B.1.71

repositoryconn property

confidential attribute, 24.3.8.1

retry attribute of job element, 8.2.1.10

retry attribute of multicast element, 8.5.1.2

returnReceipt attribute

mail, 20.4.3

role command keyword, A.7.35

RTF output

orientation, A.6.31

RUNDEBUG command keyword, 24.8

rundebug command keyword, A.8.1

running a report, 18

from Oracle Portal, 16.3.2

running a report automatically, 18.10

Runtime Parameter Form, 16.2.2

runtime URL, 18

runtime URL syntax, 18.1

RW environment variable, B.1.72

RW_ADMINISTRATOR, 16.1.1

RW_BASIC_USER, 16.1.1

RW_DEVELOPER, 16.1.1

RW_POWER_USER, 16.1.1

RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE table, 24.3.8

RW_SERVER_QUEUE view, 24.3.8.1

rw_server.sql, 2.5.3, 24.3.8.1

rwbridge

configuration file, 8.1

rwbridge command, A.2.7

rwbridge.conf, 8.1

rwbuilder

configuration file, 8.1

rwbuilder command, 22.5.2, A.2.3

rwbuilder.conf, 8.1

rwclient, 18.2

rwclient command, A.2.1

rwconverter

generating a SQL script for batch registration, C.1.1

rwconverter command, 22.4, A.2.4

rwnetworkconf.dtd

multicast element, 8.5.1.2

rwnetwork.xsd

discoveryService element, 8.5.1.1

namingService element, 8.5.1.3

rwrun

configuration file, 8.1

rwrun command, A.2.2

rwserver

configuration file, 8.1

rwserver command, A.2.6

rwserver.conf, 8.1

rwserverconf.dtd, 13.3.1, 13.3.2.2

rwserverconf.xsd, 8.1, 8.1

bypassProxy element, 8.2.1.26

cache element, 8.2.1.3

cluster element, 8.2.1.4

connection element, 8.2.1.5

dbProxyConnKeys element, 8.2.1.31

dbProxyKey element, 8.2.1.30

destination element, 8.2.1.6

domain element, 8.2.1.25

engine element, 8.2.1.9

environment element, 8.2.1.7

envVariable element, 8.2.1.8

folderAccess element, 8.2.1.22

identifier element, 8.2.1.19

job element, 8.2.1.10

jobRecovery element, 8.2.1.11

jobRepository element, 8.2.1.14

jobStatusRepository element, 8.2.1.12

jobThresholds element, 8.2.1.32

log element, 8.2.1.13

notification element, 8.2.1.15

oidconnection element, 8.2.1.16

orbClient element, 8.2.1.17

persistFile element, 8.2.1.18

pluginParam element, 8.2.1.2

property element, 8.2.1.20

proxyInfo element, 8.2.1.28

proxyServer element, 8.2.1.24

proxyServers element, 8.2.1.27

queue element, 8.2.1.21

security element, 8.2.1.23

server element, 8.2.1.33

webLayout element, 8.2.1.29

rwserverconf.xsdd

ORBPorts element, 8.2.1.1

rwserver.template, 8.2

rwservlet

configuration file, 8.1

exposing as a Web service, 18.7, 18.9

rwservlet command, A.2.5

rwservlet configuration element, 8.3.1.1

rwservlet.properties, 8.1

HELP, 8.3.1.1.9

SINGLESIGNON, 7.8.6, 17.3.1

rwservlet.xsd, 8.1

allowhtmltags element, 8.3.1.1.8

dbauth element, 8.3.1.1.12

defaultcharset element, 8.3.1.1.6

errortemplate element, 8.3.1.1.14

helpurl element, 8.3.1.1.9

imageurl element, 8.3.1.1.10

inprocess element, 8.3.1.1.3

reloadkeymap element, 8.3.1.1.11

reports_servermap element, 8.3.1.1.4, 8.3.1.1.4

rwservlet element, 8.3.1.1

server element, 8.3.1.1.1

singlesignon element, 8.3.1.1.2

sysauth element, 8.3.1.1.13

S

save_rdf command keyword, A.8.2

SCHEDULE command keyword, 18.10

schedule command keyword, A.8.3

screenprinter.ppd, 9.3, 10.8.1

scripts

srw_test.sql, 21.2

srwAPIdrop.sql, 21.1.1

srwAPIgrant.sql, 21.1.1

srwAPIins.sql, 21.1.1

searching files, 9.3.1

security configuration element, 8.2.1.23

class attribute, 8.2.1.23

id attribute, 8.2.1.23

security considerations

Oracle Forms Services, 17.6

securityId attribute of job element, 8.2.1.10

serve parameter, events, 21.1.4

server, 17.2.1.1.1

rwbridge command, A.2.7

rwserver command, A.2.6

server access controls, 16.2.1

server command keyword, A.8.4

server configuration element, 8.2.1.33, 8.3.1.1.1

version attribute, 8.2.1.33

SERVEROUT, 21.2

servlet, 2.3.1, 2.3.1, 17.2.1.1.1

rwservlet, A.2.5

URL syntax, 18.1.1

session cookie, 17.1

showauth command keyword, A.8.5

showenv command keyword, A.8.6

showjobid command keyword, A.8.7

SHOWJOBS command keyword, 24.3.9

showjobs command keyword, A.8.8

showmap command keyword, A.8.9

showmyjobs command keyword, A.8.10

shutdown command keyword, A.8.11

Single Sign-On

configuring, 17

in rwservlet.properties, 7.8.6

single-byte languages, 23.5.1

SINGLESIGNON, 17.3.1

singlesignon configuration element, 8.3.1.1.2

SINGLESIGNON, rwservlet.properties, 7.8.6

sitename command keyword, A.8.12

SMTP, 8.2.1.15, 20.4.3, 20.4.3

sorting sequence, of language, 23.2.1.2

source command keyword, A.8.13

sourceDatabase, 14.1.1

sourcedir property of engine element, 8.2.1.9

SQL

performance analysis, 24.3.10

SQL tracing, 24.3.10

SQL*PLUS, 21.2

SQLNet, A.8.24

src attribute

include, 20.4.6

srcType attribute

attach, 20.4.5

body, 20.4.4

SRW_PARAMETER, 21.1.2

SRW_PARAMLIST, 21.1.2, 21.1.4, 21.4.1

srw_test.sql, 21.2

SRW.ADD_PARAMETER, 21.1.2.1

srwAPIdrop.sql, 21.1.1

srwAPIgrant.sql, 21.1.1

srwAPIins.sql, 21.1.1

SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION, 22.1

SRW.CANCEL_REPORT, 21.1.6

SRW.CLEAR_PARAMETER_LIST, 21.1.2.3

SRW.DO_SQL, 24.3.11

SRW.JOB_IDENT, 21.1.4

SRW-Package, 21.1.1

SRW.REMOVE_PARAMETER, 21.1.2.2

SRW.REPORT_STATUS, 21.1.4

SRW.RUN_REPORT, 18.2, 18.2

SRW.SET_MAXROW, 24.5.4

SRW.SET_PRINTER_TRAY, 10.9.3

SRW.SET_TEXT_COLOR, 24.6.1.1

SRW.START_DEBUGGING, 21.2

SRW.STATUS_RECORD, 21.1.5

SRW.STOP_DEBUGGING, 21.2

SSO

configuring, 17

rwservlet.properties, 7.8.6

SSOCON command keyword, 17.3.3.1

ssoconn command keyword, A.8.15

status record, 21.1.6

statusfolder command keyword, A.8.16

statusformat command keyword, A.8.17

statuspage command keyword, A.8.18

stype command keyword, A.8.19

subject attribute

mail, 20.4.3

subject command keyword, A.8.20

subProtocol, 14.1.1

symbol equivalents, 23.2.1.2

syntax, of commands, A.1

syntax, reports URL, 18.1

sysauth configuration element, 8.3.1.1.13

T

tempdir property of engine element, 8.2.1.9

templates, rwserver.template, 8.2

TEX Font Metrics (TFM) files

see TFM files, 9.3

text display, multilingual, 23.5.1

text reading order, 23

TFM files, 9.3, 10.4.4

timeout attribute of bridge element, 8.4.1.1

timeout attribute of multicast element, 8.5.1.2

timeout attribute of oidconnection element, 8.2.1.16

TK_AFM, B.1.76

TK_HPD, B.1.77

TK_PPD, B.1.78

TK_PRINT, B.1.73

TK_PRINT_STATUS, B.1.74

TK_PRINTER, B.1.75

TK_TFM, B.1.79

Tk2Motif.rgb, 18.3.6

Tk2Motif.rgb file, 9.3

TKPROF, in SQL tracing, 24.3.10

to attribute

mail, 20.4.3

TOLERANCE command keyword, 2.3.3, 18.12

tolerance command keyword, A.8.22

tracing

report, 24.3.7

trailer, 24.7.2

translating applications, 23.6

translation

PL/SQL blocks, 23.6

TranslationHub tool, 23.6

triggers, database, 21.3

troubleshooting

cross-platform issues, 12.4.2.1, 12.5.2.1, 12.6.2.1, 12.7.2.1

font issues, 9.9

fonts, D.3

globalization, D.7

globalization issues, 23.7

JDBC PDS, D.5

OracleAS Portal, D.6

OracleAS Reports Services, D

performance, D.2

printing, D.4

True Type Big Fonts, 23.5.2

true type big fonts, 9.9

TrueType Collection (TTC), 9.5.5

TrueType fonts, 9.5.4

TTC (TrueType Collection), 9.5.5

tuning

report performance, 24

type attribute, 8.2.1.2

Type1 fonts, 9.5.3

U

uifont.ali, 9.3, 10.4.5

location, 9.3

sections, 9.3

verifying, 9.4.4

uiprint.txt, 9.3, 10.3.1

Unicode, 9.5.2

unicode, 23.5

UNIX, printing, 10, 10.8, 10.9.4

URL engine

configuring, 8.6

elements, 8.6

report request, 18.6

URL job requests, 18

URL, runtime syntax, 18.1

urlparameter command keyword, A.8.23

usejvm command keyword, A.8.24

USER_NLS_LANG, 23.2.2, B.1.82

userid command keyword, A.8.25

userid parameter, events, 21.1.4, 21.3

USERNAME, B.1.81

userstyles command keyword, A.8.26

UTF8, 23.5.1

V

VALIDATETAG, 24.8, A.8.27, A.8.27

VALIDATETAG command keyword, 24.8

validatetag command keyword, A.8.27

value attribute of envVariable element, 8.2.1.8

variables, globalization support environment, 23.2

variables, using with XML attributes, 20.3.2

version attribute of bridge element, 8.4.1.1

version attribute of server element, 8.2.1.33

vlaue attribute, 8.2.1.2

W

WE8MSWIN1252 character set, 18.3.6

Web browser

report request, 18.5

Web browser destination, A.5.31

Web listener, 17.2.1.1.1

Web service, 19

exposing rwservlet as, 18.7, 18.9

operations, 19.3

viewing the WSDL, 19.2.2

WebDAV

DESNAME, A.5.28

distribution example, 20.5.5.3

WebDAV destination, A.5.31

webLayout configuration element, 8.2.1.29

docroot attribute, 8.2.1.29

port attribute, 8.2.1.29

webserver_debug command keyword, A.8.28

webserver_docroot command keyword, A.8.29

webserver_port command keyword, A.8.30

Windows registry, 23.2.1.1.1

wizard

glossary, Glossary

writing direction, of language, 23.2.1.2

X

XML

adding a new query, 22.2.6

adding formatting exceptions, 22.2.4

adding hyperlinks, 22.2.5

adding program units, 22.2.5

applying, 22.4

applying at runtime, 22.4.1

applying customizations, 22.1

applying multiple definitions, 22.4.1.2

applying one definition, 22.4.1.1

applying through PL/SQL, 22.4.1.3

batch modifications, 22.4.3

changing format masks, 22.2.3

changing styles, 22.2.2

creating cross-product groups, 22.3.4

creating customizations, 22.1, 22.2

creating data models, 22.3

creating formulas, 22.3.5

creating group hierarchies, 22.3.3

creating matrix groups, 22.3.4

creating multiple data sources, 22.3.1

creating parameters, 22.3.6

creating placeholders, 22.3.5

creating summaries, 22.3.5

debugging, 22.5.3

debugging customizations, 22.5

distribution.dtd, 20.3.1

in JDBC configuration file, 14.1.1

interpreting, 22

linking data sources, 22.3.2

opening in Reports Builder, 22.5.2

parser error messages, 22.5.1

report customizations, 22

required customization tags, 22.2.1

running by itself, 22.4.2

using distribution XML file, 20.6

validating data, 24.5.1

XML attributes, using variables with, 20.3.2

The image jdbcpds_queryproc.gif illustrates a sample stored procedure entered at the time of defining the data for this query. You can also specify the sign-on parameter to specify the database connection when you are running your report using OracleAS Reports Services.

The image sec_sso_das.gif illustrates the Delegated Administration Services Create Resource page, where you must enter the data source connection string. This dialog box is displayed when you have used SSOCONN but Oracle Internet Directory does not contain a connection string for the key.

The image sso_dascrti.gif illustrates the preferences for the configuration tab on the Delegated Administration Services home page.

The image pbr_webservice.gif illustrates the link that displays the Oracle Reports Web Service servlet.

The image sso_dashome.gif illustrates the Resource Access Information section in the Preference tab for the user.

The font algorithm flowchart describes the new font mechanism used by Reports.

The image pdf_compression.gif illustrates the difference in file sizes between a compressed file (119KB) and an uncompressed file (725KB).

The image arch_across_subnets.gif outlines the process of communication followed by a two way bridge. The bridge configuration file (repbrg_bridgename.conf) specifies the port that the bridge uses to communicate through the broadcast mechanism.

The image pdf_fontsubsetting.gif is a screen shot of the Document Font dialog box of Acrobat Reader. This dialog displays the fonts available in a pdf output. The columns displayed are Original Font, Type, Encoding, Actual Font, and Type.

The image conf_setup2.gif outlines the process of communication followed by a one way bridge. The bridge configuration file (repbrg_bridgename.conf) specifies the port that the bridge uses to communicate through the broadcast mechanism.

The image xplat_deployimage.gif illustrates the develop and deployment scenario, where a report can be developed on one platform, deployed on another, and viewed using different media.

The image conf_setup1.gif outlines the process of communication followed by a two way bridge. The bridge configuration file (repbrg_bridgename.conf) specifies the port that the bridge uses to communicate through the broadcast mechanism.

The image dascrt.gif illustrates the page displayed when you click Create under Configure Resource Type Information. Use this option whenever you want to add a new resource type to support your own pluggable data source.

The image sec_ssoarch.gif illustrates the Single Sign-On component architecture. The components include a client Web browser, Oracle HTTP Server, Oracle Reports Servlet, Reports Server, OracleAS Single Sign-On, Oracle Internet Directory, and Delegated Administration Services. A detailed description of each of the components follows the image.

The graphic reports_arch.gif illustrates the components of a working OracleAS Reports Services environment. The components include the Oracle HTTP Server, the mod_weblogic module, Oracle Reports Servlet (rwservlet) and its components (in-process Reports Server and custom tag handler), Reports Server, Reports Cache, Reports Engine, and pluggable engines. The text following the illustration explains each of these components.

The image arch_using_cos.gif outlines the process of communication followed by the COS naming service in the same subnet, and across a non-secured subnet.

The image linux_print2.gif shows how a print requests from Reports Servers on multiple Linux boxes are sent to a single CUPS server to print on one or more printers.

The image authentication_without_sso.gif provides a graphical illustration of the user authentication process when a report request is sent to a secured Reports Server with Single Sign-On disabled. Each step of the process is numbered, and described below.

The image linux_print1.gif shows how a single Reports Server running on Linux sends report print jobs through CUPS on the same Linux box to one or more printers.

The image jdbcpds_querysnpsht.gif illustrates the query type, driver type, query procedure invoked, and sign-on parameter values displayed by the Report Wizard in the Data Source Definition step.

The image tune_formattriggers.gif illustrates the format trigger execution pattern. A format trigger at the field level is executed four times, once for each row. However, a format trigger at the frame level is executed only once.

The image jdbc_query.gif illustrates the various data source types listed by the Report Wizard. Select the data source type before proceeding to define any query.

This interface in Oracle Internet Directory allows you to create a key, which is used to obtain proxy user information. You can use this information to connect to the database as a proxy user.

The image jdbcpds_connectdlg.gif illustrates the various drivers listed at the time of specifying the connection information to the datasource.

The image authentication_with_sso.gif provides a graphical illustration of the authentication process when a report request is sent to a secured Reports Server with Single Sign-On enabled. Each step of the process is numbered, and described below.

The image uxprt_windowsprinting.gif illustrates the process followed by Oracle Reports to perform printer related operations on Windows.

The image font_xlsfonts.gif illustrates the font output generated using xlsfonts -u. This command lists all the fonts available on the system.

The image dest_arch.gif illustrates the main components of the OracleAS Reports Services output processing architecture. The text following the illustration explains the request sequence used in the output processing architecture.

The image font_pick.gif illustrates the font face and font size list displayed in Reports Builder. The text following the illustration explains this list.

The image uxprt_unixprinting.gif illustrates the process followed by Oracle Reports to support printer related operations on UNIX.

The image authorization_without_sso.gif provides a graphical illustration of the authorization process when a report request is sent to a secured Reports Server with Single Sign-On disabled. Each step of the process is numbered, and described below.

The image pdf_fontembedding.gif illustrates the fonts embedded in the PDF output. The columns displayed by Acrobat Reader's Document Font dialog box are Original Font, Type, Encoding, Actual Font, and Type.

The image arch_within_subnet.gif outlines the process of the client locating and connecting to the Reports Server within a Farm to run a report request.

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