Images and Charts

Oracle BI Publisher supports several methods of including
images or charts in an Oracle BI Publisher report.
•      
Direct insertion
•      
URL reference
•      
OA_MEDIA directory reference
•      
Image retrieved from BLOB data
•      
Leveraging Oracle Business Intelligence Beans
(UI Beans) to add charts and graphs to an RTF template.
Images and Charts
For URL reference, do the following:
    1. Insert a
      dummy image in your template. For layout purposes, it is best if the
      dummy image is the same size, in pixel height and width, as your actual
      image.
    2. In the
      Format Picture dialog box (right-click on the image to open), select the
      Web tab. Enter the following syntax in the Alternative Text region:
      url:{‘http://image.location.com/image-name’}
OA_MEDIA method refers to only Oracle eBusiness Suite
installations. Otherwise, it is the same at the URL reference with the
Alternative Text changing to: url:{‘${OA_MEDIA}/image-name’}
If your data source is an Oracle BI Publisher Data Template,
and your results XML contains image data that had been stored as a BLOB in the
database, use the following syntax in a form field inserted in your template
where you want the image to render at run time:
<fo:instream-foreign-object content type=”image/jpg“>
<xsl:value-of select=”IMAGE_ELEMENT“/>
</fo:instram-foreign-object>
where image/jpg is the MIME type of the image (other
options might be: image/gif and image/png)
And IMAGE_ELEMENT is the element name of the BLOB in
your XML data.
Note that you can specify height and width attributes for
the image to set its size in the published report. Oracle BI Publisher will
scale the image to fit the box size that you define. For example, to set the
size of the example above to three inches by four inches, enter the following:
<fo:instream-foreign-object content
type=”image/jpg” height=”3 in
” width=”4 in”>
<xsl:value-of select=”IMAGE_ELEMENT”/>
</fo:instram-foreign-object>
Specify in pixels as follows:
<fo:instream-foreign-object content
type=”image/jpg” height=”300
px” width=”4 px”>
…
or in centimeters:
<fo:instream-foreign-object content type=”image/jpg”
height=”3 cm
” width=”4 cm”>
…
or as a percentage of the original dimensions:
<fo:instream-foreign-object content
type=”image/jpg” height=”300%
” width=”300%”>
…

Adding a Chart

•      
Insert a dummy image in your template to
define the size and position of the chart.
•      
Add a definition for the chart to the
Alternative Text box of the dummy image. The chart definition requires XSL
commands.
•      
At run time, Oracle BI Publisher calls the
appropriate BI Bean to render the image that is insert into the final output.
Adding a Chart
Note: For more information, see pg. 2–16 through 2–26
in the Oracle BI Publisher User’s Guide.
The process generates a placeholder. The text of that
placeholder can be viewed by right-clicking the image placeholder, choosing
Fomat Picture, and then selecting the Web tab.

Chart Sample: Bar Chart

 

  
Chart Sample: Bar Chart
There are only four supported chart types.
•         
Bar
•         
Pie
•         
Bar – Horizontal
•         
Line

 

Chart Sample: Pie Chart

 

Chart Sample: Line Chart

 

Background and Watermark Support

Oracle BI Publisher supports the Background feature in
Microsoft Word. You can specify a single, graduated color or an image
background for your template to be displayed in the PDF output. Note that this
feature is supported for PDF output only.
To add a background to your template, use the Format >
Background menu option.
In Microsoft Word 2002 or later, you can add a text or
image watermark via Format > Background > Printed Watermark.

Template Features

•      
Page breaks
•      
Initial page numbers
•      
Hyperlinks
•      
Table of contents
•      
Bookmarks in PDF output
•      
Check boxes
•      
Drop-down lists
Template Features
Page Breaks
To create a page break after the occurrence of a specific
element, use the split-by-page-break alias. This will cause the report output
to insert a hard page break between every instance of a specific element. You
can also insert a form field immediately following the form field of the
element you want the page break to occur after. In the Help Text of this form
field, enter the syntax:
•         
<?split-by-page-break:?>
Initial Page Numbers
Some reports require that the initial page number be set at
a specified number. For example, monthly reports may be required to continue
numbering from month to month. Oracle BI Publisher allows you to set the page
number in the template to support this requirement.
Use the following syntax in your template to set the initial
page number:
•         
<?initial-page-number:pagenumber?>
where pagenumber is the XML element or parameter that
holds the numeric value.
If your XML data contains an element to carry the initial
page number, for example:
<REPORT>
    <PAGESTART>200<PAGESTART>
    ….
</REPORT>
Enter the following in your template:
•         
<?initial-page-number:PAGESTART?>
Your initial page number will be the value of the PAGESTART
element, which in this case is 200.
Example 2: Set page number by passing a parameter value.
If you define a parameter called PAGESTART, you can pass the
initial value by calling the parameter.
Enter the following in your template:
•         
<?initial-page-number:$PAGESTART?>
Note: You must first declare the parameter in your
template. See “Defining Parameters in Your Template” in the Oracle BI
Publisher User’s Guide.
Hyperlinks
You can add fixed or dynamic hyperlinks to your template.
•         
To insert static hyperlinks, use your
word-processing application’s insert hyperlink feature.
•         
If your template includes a data element that
contains a hyperlink or part of one, you can create dynamic hyperlinks at run
time. In the Type the file or Web page name field of the Insert
Hyperlink dialog box, enter the following syntax:
{URL_LINK}
where URL_LINK is the incoming data element name.
•         
If you have a fixed URL that you want to pass
parameters to, enter the following syntax:
http://www.oracle.com?product={PRODUCT_NAME}
where PRODUCT_NAME is the incoming data element name.
•         
In both these cases, at run time the dynamic URL
will be constructed.
Table of Contents
Oracle BI Publisher supports the table of contents
generation feature of the RTF specification. Follow your word-processing
application’s procedures for inserting a
table of contents. Oracle BI Publisher also provides the
ability to create dynamic section headings in your document from the XML data.
You can then incorporate these into a table of contents.
To create dynamic headings:
      1. Enter a
        placeholder for the heading in the body of the document, and format it as
        a “Heading,” using your word-processing application’s style feature. You
        cannot use form fields for this functionality.
·  
For example, you want your report to display a
heading for each company reported. The XML data element tag name is
<COMPANY_NAME>. In your template, enter <?COMPANY_NAME?> where you
want the heading to appear. Now format the text as a Heading.
      1. Create a
        table of contents using your word-processing application’s table of
        contents feature.
      2. At run
        time, the TOC placeholders and heading text will be substituted.
Generating Bookmarks in PDF Output
If you have defined a table of contents in your RTF
template, you can use your table of contents definition to generate links in
the Bookmarks tab in the navigation pane of your output PDF. The bookmarks can
be either static or dynamically generated.
•         
To create links for a static table of contents,
enter the syntax:
<?copy-to-bookmark:?>
directly above your table of contents and
<?end copy-to-bookmark:?>
directly below the table of contents.
•         
To create links for a dynamic table of contents,
use:
<?convert-to-bookmark:?>
directly above the table of contents and
<?end convert-to-bookmark:?>
directly below the table of contents.
Check Boxes
You can include a check box in your template that you can
define to display as selected (Checked) or deselected (Not Checked) based on a
value from the incoming data. To define a check box in your template:
      1. Position
        the cursor in your template where you want the check box to appear, and
        select the Check Box Form Field from the Forms tool bar.
      2. Right-click
        the field to open the Check Box Form Field Options dialog box.
      3. Specify
        the Default value as either Checked or Not Checked.
      4. In the
        Form Field Help Text dialog box, enter the criteria for how the box
        should behave. This must be a Boolean expression (that is, one that
        returns a true or false result). For example, suppose your XML data
        contains an element called <population>. You want the check box to
        appear selected if the value of <population> is greater than 10,000.
        Enter the following in the help text field:
        <?population>10000?>
      5. Note
        that you do not have to construct an “if” statement. The expression is
        treated as an “if” statement.
Drop-Down Lists
Oracle BI Publisher allows you to use the drop-down form
field to create a cross-reference in your template from your XML data to some
other value that you define in the drop-down form field. For example, suppose
you have the following XML:
<countries>
    <country>
       
<name>Chad</name>
       
<population>7360000</population>
       
<continentIndex>5</continentIndex>
    </country>
    <country>
       
<name>China</name>
       
<population>1265530000</population>
       
<continentIndex>1</continentIndex>
    </country>
    <country>
       
<name>Chile</name>
        <population>14677000</population>
       
<continentIndex>3</continentIndex>
    </country>
    . . .
</countries>
Notice that each <country> entry has a
<continentindex> entry, which is a numeric value to represent the
continent. Using the drop-down form field, you can create an index in your
template that will cross-reference the <continentindex> value to the
actual continent name. You can then display the name in your published report.
To create the index for the continent example:
      1. Position
        the cursor in your template where you want the value from the drop-down
        list to display, and select the Drop-Down Form Field from the Forms tool
        bar.
      2. Right-click
        the field to display the Drop-Down Form Field Options dialog box.
      3. Add each
        value to the Drop-down item field and the click Add to add
        it to the Items in drop-down list group. The values will be
        indexed starting from one for the first, and so on. For example, the
        list of continents will be stored as follows:
Index    Value
1                              Asia
2                              North
America
3                              South
America
4                              Europe
5                              Africa
6                              Australia
Now use the Help Text box to enter the XML element name that
will hold the index for the drop-down field values. For this example, enter
<?continentIndex?>

== Mohan G

Recent Posts

Start typing and press Enter to search