Oracle® Business Intelligence

3.1 Certification Information

For the latest certification information, which supersedes that in the Oracle Business Intelligence documentation, refer to OracleMetalink at the following location:

http://metalink.oracle.com

3.2 Availability of HWOnline Files

Previous versions of Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer shipped with the files HWOnline.htm and Memo.doc, which were used to demonstrate "drill out" functionality. To reduce disk space requirements and installation time, these files and instructions for their use will be made available from Oracle Technology Network:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/samplecode/products/discoverer/index.html

3.3 Compatibility Issues with Required Support Files

The Oracle Database and other Oracle database client software (e.g. SQL*Plus, the database export utility) use Oracle Required Support Files (RSF).

Oracle Business Intelligence also uses Oracle Required Support Files (RSF), specifically RSF version 10.1.0.4. This version of the Oracle Required Support Files is installed during Oracle Business Intelligence installation.

Note that the Required Support Files version 10.1.0.4 is incompatible with earlier versions of Oracle Database 10g. So, if the machine on which you install Oracle Business Intelligence already has a version of Oracle Database 10g or database client software that is earlier than 10.1.0.4, there will be compatibility issues. For example, if you install Oracle Business Intelligence and attempt to run a version of SQL*Plus earlier than 10.1.0.4, then the following error is displayed:

ORA-12557 TNS: protocol adapter not loadable

To avoid the compatibility issues, upgrade Oracle Database 10g or database client software on the machine to the same version (i.e. 10.1.0.4) as the version of the Required Support Files that were installed with Oracle Business Intelligence.

This issue does not exist for Oracle9i Database Server.

3.4 Obtaining Patch Set for GUID-Generation Issue

In addition to performing the steps that are described in the installation guide, you must install patch set 4628714 to resolve a Globally Unique ID (GUID) generation issue with the Discoverer Catalog. Patch set 4628714 is available from OracleMetalink at the following location:

http://metalink.oracle.com

3.5 Issues with Metadata Repository and Oracle Database 10g Release 1

When using Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1.x) for the Metadata Repository or after upgrading the Metadata Repository to Oracle Database 10g Release 1, you might see the following error on the OracleBI Discoverer Plus Connection pages, the OracleBI Discoverer Viewer Connection pages, and the Public Connection definition page in Application Server Control:

The connection list is currently unavailable.
ORA-06510: PL/SQL: unhandled user-defined exception
ORA-06512: at "ORASSO.WWSSO_API_PRIVATE," line 258
ORA-06510: PL/SQL: unhandled user-defined exception
ORA-06512: at "ORASSO.WWSSO_UTL" line 728
ORA-28231: no data passed to obfuscation toolkit
ORA-06512: at line 1 Unable to retrieve connection list

To resolve this issue, make the following changes in the Metadata Repository database:

1. Edit the init%ORACLE_SID%.ora file in the following location:

   DB_install_home/dbs

2. Add the following line to this file:

   event="10946 trace name context forever, level 36"

3. If an spfile%ORACLE_SID%.ora exists in either the dbs folder or the database folder, rename the file to spfile%ORACLE_SID%.bak. Changes to init%ORACLE_SID%.ora are not loaded if the database server finds an spfile.

4. Log in as a sysadmin.

5. At the SQL prompt, shut down then start up the database server.

6. Restart the OracleBI Discoverer server using the command opmnctl restartall.

3.6 Clarification of Version Numbers

Oracle Business Intelligence documentation (e.g. Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus User's Guide) has the version number 10.1.2.1, which covers the following installations:

• Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2.0.2) Business Intelligence and Forms install type.

• Oracle Business Intelligence 10g Release 2 (10.1.2.0.2).

Oracle Business Intelligence version 10.1.2.0.2 ships with Oracle Application Server version 10.1.2.0.2. The Oracle Business Intelligence components (or example, OracleBI Discoverer Plus) and their documentation (for example, Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus User's Guide) that are part of Oracle Business Intelligence 10.1.2.0.2 have a version number of 10.1.2.1 to indicate that they are changed from 10.1.2.0.0.

3.7 Resizing Issue with Mozilla and Firefox Browsers

When you use Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus Relational or Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus OLAP with Mozilla and Firefox browsers (version 1.5 and later) and you resize the browser window, the browser can freeze and might crash the applet intermittently. This issue is caused by the following bugs in the Sun Java Runtime Engine: 4836462 and 5076485.

To work around this issue, do not resize the applet window or use a different browser, such as Internet Explorer.

3.8 Serif Font Issue in Worksheets

You might notice unsightly font issues when using a non-English locale such as Czech. For example, when a worksheet uses a serif font, text in that worksheet might be displayed incorrectly on the screen and in printouts.

To work around this issue, update the file that maps the serif fonts. The name of this file differs depending on the locale in use. When you use Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus in English, the file is named file.properties. If you use Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus in a non-English locale, then the file name includes the code for the locale, such as file.properties.cs for Czech.

Update the mapping file with the following information:

serif.0=Times New Roman,EASTEUROPE_CHARSET
serif.1=WingDings,SYMBOL_CHARSET,NEED_CONVERTED
serif.2=Symbol,SYMBOL_CHARSET,NEED_CONVERTED

Consult the following Sun Web site for additional information about fonts:

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/guide/intl/addingfonts.html

3.9 Additional Fonts Required for Non-ASCII Data When Exporting to PDF

If you are running OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational or Plus OLAP on a Macintosh or Linux client machine, you must add the appropriate font files to your client machine to allow exported PDF files to display non-ASCII data correctly.

These font files include Albany fonts with names such as ALBANWTJ.TTF and ALBANWTK.TTF. The files are stored in the /utilities/fonts directory on the CD-ROM or DVD for the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository Upgrade Assistant.

To install the additional required fonts:

1. Navigate to the /utilities/fonts directory on the CD-ROM or DVD for the OracleAS Metadata Repository Upgrade Assistant.

2. Copy the appropriate Albany TTF file from the /utilities/fonts directory to the plug-in directory in the $jdk/jre/lib/fonts directory on the Macintosh or Linux client machine.

3.10 Query Prediction Requires the Majority of the Query Time

When using Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer with a relational data source, you can predict the time that is required to retrieve information by setting the value of the QPPEnable preference to 1. However, in some circumstances, the majority of the time taken to retrieve information will be consumed by the prediction activity itself.

To work around this issue, set the value of the QPPObtainCostMethod preference to 0 (use the EXPLAIN PLAN statement to predict query times), rather than to 1 (use dynamic views to predict query times).

For more information about setting preferences, refer to the Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Configuration Guide.

3.11 Issue When Drilling to Detail on Page Item Set to <ALL>

In OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational and OracleBI Discoverer Viewer when displaying a relational worksheet, you might encounter a known issue when drilling to detail on a page item that has been set to <ALL>. In this case, no data is retrieved.

3.12 Date Format in OracleBI Discoverer Plus and OracleBI Discoverer Viewer

Due to a known bug, OracleBI Discoverer displays a date value incorrectly in a worksheet if the URL parameter NLS_DATE_FORMAT= is used to display that worksheet.

For example, the database might contain a sale_date value of 01-NOV-2005 03:53:12. You create a worksheet in OracleBI Discoverer Plus with a date column for the sale_date item, which is displayed correctly. If you then display that worksheet using the NLS_DATE_FORMAT= parameter set to a value such as the following one:

http://<hostname>:<port>/discoverer/plus?@cn=us_a103&NLS_DATE_FORMAT=YYYY-MM-DD%20HH24:MI:SS)

then OracleBI Discoverer displays the incorrect value 2005-11-01 00:00:00, instead of the correct value 2005-11-01 03:53:12.

This issue will be addressed in an upcoming Oracle Business Intelligence patch release.

3.13 Word Wrapping Behavior with OracleBI Discoverer Plus and OracleBI Discoverer Viewer

To use word wrap settings correctly, you must understand how they are designed for Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer:

• For OracleBI Discoverer Plus: Word wrap settings that you make in OracleBI Discoverer Plus are saved in the worksheet and affect the display of worksheets in OracleBI Discoverer Plus and when printing to PDF.

• For OracleBI Discoverer Viewer: Word wrap settings that you see in the Print Settings dialog work as follows:

  • The word wrap settings do not affect the display of worksheets in OracleBI Discoverer Viewer.

  • For relational data:

    • The word wrap settings do affect the printing of worksheets to PDF.

    • If the Always wrap text when size exceeds column width box is checked, then the print settings in OracleBI Discoverer Viewer do override the settings made in a worksheet in OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational for printing to PDF.

    • If the Always wrap text when size exceeds column width box is not checked, then the print settings in OracleBI Discoverer Viewer do not override the settings made in a worksheet in OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational for printing to PDF.

  • For OLAP data:

    • The word wrap settings do not affect the printing of worksheets to PDF.

    • Regardless of whether the Always wrap text when size exceeds column width box is checked or unchecked, the print settings in OracleBI Discoverer Viewer never override the settings made in a worksheet in OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP for printing to PDF.

3.14 Applet Appears Behind Browser Window

When you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, the OracleBI Discoverer Plus applet initialization and download dialog appears behind the browser window from which it was launched. After the OracleBI Discoverer Plus applet is downloaded and initialized, it will appear in front of the browser window from which it was launched.

To work around this issue:

• Use a browser other than Internet Explorer, such as Netscape Navigator or Mozilla Firefox.

• Use the OracleBI Discoverer Plus URL parameter _plus_popup=false that is documented in the Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Configuration Guide.

3.15 Welcome Page Displays Only in English

The Welcome page is not displayed in the correct locale as specified in the browser. You will see the Welcome page displayed in English regardless of the language setting in the browser.

To work around this issue:

1. Navigate to the Apache/Apache/htdocs directory on the Oracle Business Intelligence middle tier machine.

   1. Rename the index.html.html file to index.html.html-old.

   2. Rename the index.html file to index.html.html.

2. In the Web browser, clear the browser cache and refresh the Welcome page.

3.16 Issues with Turkish Regional Settings

Because of Sun JRE 1.4 bug 4688797, you might encounter issues when connecting to a database schema while your computer has Turkish regional settings. You will encounter the issue when you attempt to connect to a database schema with a user name that contains certain letters, such as the letter 'I' or 'i', for example, in "bibdemo". Refer to the Sun JRE bug for information on the letters that are affected.

To work around this issue, either do not use Turkish regional settings or use a user name that does not contain the affected letters.

3.17 Help Files in Non-English Languages

Section 4.7.1 of the Oracle Business Intelligence Installation Guide describes how to install translated Help files for OracleBI Discoverer Plus after installation. The section explains that the OracleBI Discoverer Plus Help files are available as JAR files in the /extras directory on the CD-ROM and DVD for Oracle Business Intelligence.

The /extras directory does not exist on the CD-ROM or DVD for this release. You can locate a ZIP file that contains all translated JAR files from the following location on Oracle Technology Network:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/discoverer.html

Once you obtain the JAR files from Oracle Technology Network, you can use the instructions in Oracle Business Intelligence Installation Guide for installing the translated Help.

3.18 New User Preferences Added

New user preferences have been included, as described in the following table. These preferences should appear in Section 10.6, "List of Discoverer preferences" in the Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Configuration Guide.

3.19 Correction to Oracle Business Intelligence Installation Guide

This section identifies changes to the Oracle Business Intelligence Installation Guide.

• Section 2.3 of Oracle Business Intelligence Installation Guide describes the database requirements for Oracle Business Intelligence. The section should read as follows:

  Oracle Business Intelligence 10.1.2.1 supports the following versions for the database that contains the data on which you want to report:

  • Oracle9i Release 2 Database (9.2.0.6 and higher)

  • Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1.0.4 and higher)

  • Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2.0.1 and higher); certification is planned

  
  

  Note: When performing relational analysis, you can use Oracle Database Standard Edition or Oracle Database Enterprise Edition. You must use Oracle Database Enterprise Edition if you want to take advantage of materialized views, analytic functions, and the Advanced Security Option (ASO) and Transparent Application Failover (TAF) database features. When performing multidimensional analysis, you must use Oracle Database Enterprise Edition with the OLAP Option. The latest information on supported versions is on the Certify application on http://metalink.oracle.com.

  
  

  The latest information on supported versions is on the Certify application on

  http://metalink.oracle.com

• In the Oracle Business Intelligence Installation Guide, Section 4.8 "What to do next," ignore the bulleted item that begins with the following text: "type the following URL in a Web browser:

  http://<host.domain>:<port>/quicktour/index.htm"

3.20 Corrections to the OracleBI Discoverer Connections Help

This section provides information about corrections to the OracleBI Discoverer Connections Help. It contains the following topics:

• Section 3.20.1, "Account Details: Enter Password page Help topic"

• Section 3.20.2, "Account Details: Select Responsibility page Help topic"

• Section 3.20.3, "Connect to OracleBI Discoverer page Help topic"

• Section 3.20.4, "Account Details: Username and Password page Help topic"

• Section 3.20.5, "Account Details: Select Username page Help topic"

• Section 3.20.6, "Enter connection details page Help topic"

3.21 Corrections to the Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Configuration Guide

This section provides information about corrections to the Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Configuration Guide. The following list summarizes the corrections required:

• Section 6.7 "URL parameters for the Discoverer Plus OLAP Servlet" contains Table 6-1. The table requires the following corrections:

  • password= is not a valid URL parameter. For security reasons, OracleBI Discoverer end users are always prompted for a password. A password can only be supplied in a HTTP Post method.

  • workbookname= should be qualified with the directory path in the Discoverer Catalog. You must prefix folder names, workbook names, and worksheet names with a forward slash character '/' (or the URL encoded forward slash character value '%2F'). For example, to specify 'Workbook A' stored in the Users/Jchan/ area in the Discoverer Catalog, enter &workbookname=Users/JChan/Workbook+A.

    If you are deploying OracleBI Discoverer in a non-Single Sign-On environment, then you must specify lm=OLAP in the URL.

• Section 6.8 "URL parameters for an OLAP worksheet in Discoverer Viewer" contains Table 6-2. In that table, note that the URL parameter worksheetname= is case-sensitive and should be worksheetName=.

  If you are deploying OracleBI Discoverer in a non-Single Sign-On environment, then you must specify lm=OLAP in the URL.

• Section 8.4 incorrectly states that the caching rules that OracleBI Discoverer requires are automatically configured when you install Oracle Business Intelligence.

  After installing Oracle Business Intelligence, you must manually specify caching rules, as described in section 8.5.1 "How to create Discoverer caching rules".

• Section 15.1 "About Discoverer connections and Oracle e-Business Suite", disregard the last bullet point in the notes section that begins 'If you have already connected to the database using SSO...'

• Disregard the whole of Section 15.2 "About Discoverer private connections, OracleAS Single Sign-On and Oracle e-Business Suite users".

• In Appendix A.1 "List of Discoverer file locations", disregard the entry for migratediscoconnection.sh script.

• In Appendix A.2 "List of configuration settings in configuration.xml", disregard the enableAppsSSO setting.

• Section D.1.9 describes an issue displaying the OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational Help when using the Sun Java Plug-in. The solution for changing the proxy settings for the Sun Java Plug-in should be written as follows:

  1. On the client browser machine, display the dialog in which you specify proxy settings.

     For example, in Microsoft Internet Explorer, from the Tools menu, choose Internet Options, Connections, LAN Settings, then Advanced to display the Proxy Settings dialog.

  2. Ensure that the Exceptions field contains the following string:

     *.oraclecorp.com

  3. Click OK to save the changes.

  4. Start a new client browser session and start OracleBI Discoverer Plus.

• Section 7.6.4 "How to disable the Preferences component on a machine" contains text in Step 3 that describes how to change the Disco_PreferenceServer entry from enabled to disabled. Append the following text to the instructions in Step 3:

  After the <process-type id="SessionServer" module-id="Disco_SessionServer" status="enabled"> tag, include the following tags:

  <process-set id="SessionServer" minprocs="0" maxprocs="50" restart-on-death="false" parallel-requests="true"> <module-data> <category id="start-parameters">

  <data id="dis51ws-extra-options" value="-preferenceHost <hostname of remote preference>"/>

  For example, to use the Preference server on machine 138.2.150.44, enter the following information in the data tag:

  <data id="dis51ws-extra-options" value="-preferenceHost 138.2.150.44"/>

• Section D.1.9 describes an issue displaying the OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational Help when using the Sun Java Plug-in. The solution for changing the proxy settings for the Sun Java Plug-in should be written as follows:

  1. On the client browser machine, display the dialog in which you specify proxy settings.

     For example, in Microsoft Internet Explorer, from the Tools menu, choose Internet Options, Connections, LAN Settings, then Advanced to display the Proxy Settings dialog.

  2. Ensure that the Exceptions field contains the following string:

     *.oraclecorp.com

  3. Click OK to save the changes.

  4. Start a new client browser session and start OracleBI Discoverer Plus.

3.22 Corrections to Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Discoverer Help

This section provides information about corrections to Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control (Application Server Control) Discoverer Help. It contains the following topics:

• Section 3.22.1, "Discoverer Administration page Help topic"

• Section 3.22.2, "Discoverer Configuration page Help topic"

• Section 3.22.3, "Install Catalog page Help topic"

• Section 3.22.4, "Log in to Manage Catalog page Help topic"

• Section 3.22.5, "Uninstall Catalog page Help topic"

• Section 3.22.6, "Discoverer Plus Configuration page Help topic"

• Section 3.22.7, "Discoverer Portlet Provider Configuration page Help topic"

• Section 3.22.8, "Discoverer Administration page Help topic"

3.23 Corrections to Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Publishing Workbooks in OracleAS Portal

This section provides information about corrections and additions to Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Publishing Workbooks in OracleAS Portal.

4.1 Text Appearing Truncated or Clipped

When you run OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational with Sun Java Plug-in 1.4.2_06, the Browser Look and Feel, and an Asian language (such as Korean or Chinese), you might notice that static text and text in buttons in the user interface appears truncated or clipped. To work around this issue, do one of the following:

• Change the Look and Feel to either Plastic or System.

• Use JInitiator 1.3.1.17 instead of the Sun Java Plug-in.

• Install Sun Java Plug-in 1.4.2_10, when it becomes available from Sun Microsystems.

4.2 Non-ASCII Characters Not Saved Correctly in Title or Text Area

When you save a new workbook in OracleBI Discoverer Plus, any text characters beyond the standard ASCII characters are not saved correctly when all the conditions that are described in the following list are met:

• You are logged in as an Oracle e-Business Suite user.

• The language for the computer is not English.

• OracleBI Discoverer Plus is running against an Oracle e-Business Suite database that does not have that non-English language installed.

This issue has no workaround.

4.3 Resizing in Mac OS X Browser

With Mac OS X, if you resize the browser window in the OracleBI Discoverer Plus applet, then some parts of the content might be clipped. This issue is specific to Mac OS X. To work around this problem, always maximize the browser window for the OracleBI Discoverer Plus applet when working with Mac OS X.

4.4 Corrections to the OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational Help

This section provides information about corrections to OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational Help. It contains the following topics:

• Section 4.4.1, "References to the Connect to Discoverer Plus page Help topic"

• Section 4.4.2, "Task steps in the How do I create and save login information in a Discoverer connection? Help topic"

4.5 Important Bug Fixes in this Release

The following important bugs were fixed in this release:

• In previous releases, you could not automatically open exported files with non-ASCII file names; that is, file names that used Asian characters (for example, Japanese language characters).

• In previous releases, you could not specify and save the paper size for printing in the Page Setup dialog of OracleBI Discoverer Plus.

4.6 Migrating OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational Worksheets from OracleBI Discoverer Desktop

If you use OracleBI Discoverer Plus Relational to open a worksheet that was created using OracleBI Discoverer Desktop Version 9.0.4 (or earlier), the size of the title area for that worksheet defaults to two lines in height. A title height of two lines might be a problem if a worksheet title requires more than or less than two lines. If you want to change the size of the title area, then you must manually resize the title area and save the worksheet.

To resize the title area for a worksheet, open the worksheet and drag the bar at the bottom of the title area pane up or down.

5.1 Issues with Applet Download

There may be Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus applet download issues when caching has been enabled in the Sun Java Plug-In. Disable caching in the plug-in to avoid this issue.

5.2 Disabled Netscape and Mozilla Browsers

When you are running Netscape 7.x or Mozilla browsers, the Netscape and Mozilla Mail clients and Web browser may become disabled when OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP modal dialogs are displayed. Dismissing the OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP dialog resumes normal operation for the Netscape and Mozilla tools.

5.3 Tabbing Fails to Synchronize Menus

When you use the tab key to select items in a worksheet, the menus do not always synchronize to reflect the currently selected item. This issue has no workaround.

5.4 ESC Key Fails to Close Certain Dialogs

The ESC key does not close the following dialogs: Totals, New Total, Parameter, and Manage Catalog. Instead of using the ESC key, click the Close or OK button.

5.5 Link Tool Works Incorrectly in Some Locales

The Link tool, which enables users to drill out to external URLs from a crosstab cell, may not work correctly in all locales due to URL encoding issues. This issue has no workaround.

5.6 Memory Issues when Exporting Extremely Large Graphs

Exporting extremely large graphs can cause memory issues, requiring a restart of the OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP session. This issue has no workaround.

5.7 Page Setup Dialog Appearing Blank

Reinvoking the Page Setup dialog from the Print dialog may cause the Page Setup dialog to be blank. This issue has no workaround.

5.8 Printing Worksheets with Large Data Values

When printing a worksheet that contains large numbers in the data cells, the string ####### may be printed instead of the actual numbers. This issue has no workaround.

5.9 Issues with Titles and Text Areas

The following issues exist with titles and text areas:

• Non-empty titles and text areas will be printed even if they are hidden in the worksheet. This issue has no workaround.

• When you set the title or text area background to green and export the worksheet to an HTML file, the background is incorrectly set to red in the exported file. This issue has no workaround.

5.10 Issue Exporting Discoverer Catalog with Non-ASCII Data

The exported file may be incomplete or corrupt when exporting a Discoverer Catalog in which the name, contents, or data in a workbook contain non-ASCII characters.

To work around this issue, perform the export operation from the command line on the middle-tier server. Set parameters to force the export to use the UTF-8 character set as shown in the following command line syntax:

java -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -classpath d4o.jar oracle.dss.d4o.administration.D4OCommand export -h <hostname> -po <portnumber> -sid <sid> -p <D4OSYS password> -f <export xml filename>The D4OSYS password is D4OSYS by default.

5.11 Corrections to the OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP Help

This section provides information about corrections to the OracleBI Discoverer Plus OLAP Help. The following list summarizes the corrections required:

• In the "Variance calculation" topic, the formula for the calculation is incorrect. The correct formula is "Base-Target".

• In the "Percent variance calculation" topic, the formula for the calculation is incorrect. The correct formula is "(Base-Target)/Target".

• In the "Percent markup calculation" topic, the formula for the calculation is incorrect. The correct formula is "(From - Markup)/Markup".

6.1 Inability to Turn Off Display of Range Min and Max as Labels

In the Display Options of a gauge portlet, the Minimum Value and Maximum Value range labels are checked but are also disabled so that you cannot deselect the display of those values. The values for the minimum and the maximum will appear at the ends of every gauge in the set except for those gauges where the value to be gauged is out of the range of the minimum and the maximum values. For those gauges where the value to be displayed exceeds the range of the minimum and the maximum values, the gauge will automatically adjust to accommodate the value.

This issue has no workaround.

6.2 Using OracleBI Discoverer Portlet Provider with OracleAS Single Sign-On and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Modes

If you configure OracleBI Discoverer Portlet Provider to work with OracleAS Single Sign-On and SSL, then UIX images might not display correctly in OracleBI Discoverer. For example, on the Connect to OracleBI Discoverer page, the expand icon (i.e. the blue + symbol) in the Details column of the Discoverer connections list might not display correctly.

To address this issue, you need to manually update the oc4j-properties file on the Oracle Business Intelligence middle tier.

To manually update the oc4j-properties file for OracleBI Discoverer:

1. On the Oracle Business Intelligence middle tier machine, open the oc4j-properties file in a text editor.

   For example, open $ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_BI_Forms/config/oc4j-properties.

2. Locate the line 'oracle.discoverer.applications.port=' and set the port number to the SSL (i.e. HTTPS) port number that you want to use. For example, change the line to 'oracle.discoverer.applications.port=4443'.

   Note: If the file does not contain a 'oracle.discoverer.applications.port=' line, append this line (including the appropriate SSL (i.e. HTTPS) port number) to the end of the file.

3. Make sure the following line exists in the oc4j-properties file:

   oracle.discoverer.applications.protocol=https

   Note: If the file does not contain a 'oracle.discoverer.applications.protocol=https' line, append this line to the end of the file.

4. Save the oc4j-properties file.

5. Restart the Oracle Application Server infrastructure and middle tier services.

6.3 Documentation Corrections

This section provides information about corrections to Help topics in OracleBI Discoverer Portlet Provider. It contains the following topics:

• Section 6.3.1, "Refresh Options page Help topic"

• Section 6.3.2, "Review Portlet Defaults page Help topic"

• Section 6.3.3, "Select Database Connections page (Customize mode) Help topic"

• Section 6.3.4, "Database Connections page Help topic"

7.1 Drill Icons Cannot Be Hidden in OracleBI Discoverer Viewer

The pref.txt file contains a setting called ShowDrillIcon, which is not functioning properly. If you set ShowDrillIcon to False, then drill icons are still displayed in OracleBI Discoverer Viewer. The issue has no workaround.

7.2 Error Sending E-mail in OracleBI Discoverer Viewer

After you configure an SMTP server that has a hyphen in the name (for example, my-smtpserver.mycompany.com) for OracleBI Discoverer Viewer in Application Server Control, users will see the following error message when they try to send e-mail from OracleBI Discoverer Viewer:

OracleBI Discoverer was unable to read the configuration file.
A value is required for the following expression
my-smtpserver.mycompany.com

The application log contains the following text:

ERROR: Invalid SMTP Server

To work around this issue, use the IP address of the server instead of the server name when configuring the SMTP server. This problem will be fixed in a future patch release.

7.3 Error Displaying Page for Multiple SSO Users

When an OracleAS Single Sign-On (SSO) user tries to view a worksheet from a List of Worksheets Portlet using the same browser window that is already being used by an SSO user to view that worksheet, the second user will see the following error message: "The page cannot be displayed".

To work around this issue, start a new browser session and view the worksheet.

7.4 Inability to Disable the Display of Row Numbers

OracleBI Discoverer Viewer no longer offers the ability to disable the display of row numbers in a tabular worksheet.

7.5 Issues with OracleBI Discoverer Viewer Embedded in Frames

Users might see JavaScript errors such as "Access Denied" or other unexpected behavior when both of the following conditions are met:

• When OracleBI Discoverer Viewer is embedded in an IFRAME tag.

• When the domain of the server that hosts the HTML page with the IFRAME tag is different from the domain of the OracleBI Discoverer server that is running OracleBI Discoverer Viewer.

Use one of the following workarounds for this issue:

• Run the OracleBI Discoverer server and the server that hosts the HTML page with the IFRAME tag in the same domain.

• Alter the Common2_2_20.js file on the OracleBI Discoverer server using the following steps:

  1. Use Application Server Control to stop all services on the middle tier for Oracle Business Intelligence.

  2. Make a backup copy of the Common2_2_20.js file from the following directory:

     ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_BI_Forms/applications/discoverer/discoverer/cabo/jsLibs

  3. Edit the Common2_2_20.js file and replace all occurrences of "parent._pprSomeAction" with "window._pprSomeAction".

  4. Use Application Server Control to start all services on the middle tier for Oracle Business Intelligence.

  5. Clear the browser cache on the client machine so that the new Common2_2_20.js file will be used.

7.6 Issue Exporting to PDF Under Certain Circumstances

If you are using OracleBI Discoverer Viewer with Microsoft Internet Explorer, you might encounter an error message when you try to export to PDF a worksheet that is named with non-ASCII characters, a space, and a number. The export fails and you will see a message similar to the following one:

No %PDF- in a file header

Use one of the following methods to work around this issue:

• Use a browser other than Internet Explorer, such as one from Netscape or Mozilla.

• Remove the space between the non-ASCII characters and the number, or remove the number altogether.

• Continue to use Internet Explorer and leave the space in the worksheet name, but follow these steps:

  1. Start the Adobe Reader.

  2. From the Edit menu, choose Preferences, then click Internet.

  3. Clear the Display PDF in browser box.

7.7 Discoverer Catalog Items Not Visible From UNIX Servers

You might encounter issues when trying to see items in the Discoverer Catalog when using OracleBI Discoverer Viewer with OLAP data on UNIX servers. You can resolve this issue on the middle tier machine where OracleBI Discoverer runs by performing the following steps.

To check whether the time zone variable is set:

1. Open a shell prompt.

2. Type echo $TZ to display the time zone setting.

If no value is displayed, then the time zone has not been set.

To set the time zone variable:

1. Open a shell prompt.

   Note: The UNIX user that sets the TZ variable must be the same UNIX user that installed Oracle Business Intelligence.

2. If you do not know which shell you are using, type $echo $SHELL to display the name of the current shell.

3. Set the time zone as appropriate.

   For example, to set the time zone variable for US/Pacific time:

   • For the Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell, type export TZ=US/Pacific

   • For the C shell, type setenv TZ US/Pacific

   Note: Consult the shell documentation for the appropriate values.

7.8 Known Bug with JAWS Prevents Drilling Using Enter Key

OracleBI Discoverer can be used in conjunction with assistive technologies such as the JAWS screen reader. However, a bug in JAWS prevents drilling from working correctly in OracleBI Discoverer Viewer when querying a relational data source, as described below.

Assume you use the keyboard to navigate to the drill icon beside an item in the worksheet header. When you press the Enter key to drill on that header item, the Drill page should be displayed (as described in the "Worksheet Display page: (Page level tools and controls)" topic in the Help system and the Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Viewer User's Guide ).

However, when JAWS is running, the Drill page is not displayed. Instead, the Drill popup menu is displayed. It is not possible to select items from this popup menu using the keyboard, and JAWS does not read the items on the popup menu. This issue has no workaround.

7.9 JAWS Does Not Read Asterisks that Precede Fields

In OracleBI Discoverer Viewer, an asterisk that precedes a text field indicates that the user is required to enter a value into that text field. The JAWS screen reader does not read an asterisk that precedes a required text field and does not otherwise indicate that the field is required. This issue has no workaround.

7.10 Corrections to the OracleBI Discoverer Viewer Help

This section provides information about corrections to OracleBI Discoverer Viewer Help. It contains the following topics:

• Section 7.10.1, "References to the Connect to Discoverer Viewer page"

• Section 7.10.2, "List of Worksheets page Help topic"

• Section 7.10.3, "Printable Page Options page: Content Tab Help topic"

• Section 7.10.4, "Preferences page Help topic"

• Section 7.10.5, "Task steps in the "How do I create and save login information in a Discoverer connection?" Help topic"

7.11 OracleBI Discoverer Viewer Pages are not Cached by OracleAS Web Cache

When using OracleBI Discoverer with OracleAS Web Cache, note the following:

• When OracleAS Single Sign-On is enabled, OracleAS Web Cache does not cache OracleBI Discoverer Viewer pages, regardless of whether they are accessed using a public connection or a private connection.

• If an OracleBI Discoverer Viewer page is accessed directly via a URL and the URL contains URL parameters that specify login details (e.g. user name, database name), then OracleAS Web Cache will not cache the page. For example, OracleAS Web Cache will not cache worksheet Sheet 1 in workbook Workbook 2 that is displayed using the following URL:

  http://<host.domain>:<port>/discoverer/viewer?us=video5&db=db1&eul=VIDEO5&wbk=Workbook+2&ws=Sheet+1

  Note: In the example above, us= specifies the database user name, and db= specifies the database name.

  However, OracleAS Web Cache will cache worksheet Sheet 1 in workbook Workbook 2 if a user logs in manually to OracleBI Discoverer Viewer using the same login details, and navigates to this worksheet.

8.1 Issue with Exported Non-ASCII Data

When you export multibyte or Eastern European data (such as the names of items and business areas in Japanese or Russian characters) from OracleBI Discoverer EUL Command Line for Java on a platform other than Windows, the exported data is corrupted.

To work around this issue, edit the discwb.sh file that is located in the ORACLE_HOME/discoverer directory before exporting. Change the character set value in the NLS_LANG variable to UTF8.

For example, if the original setting of the variable is:

NLS_LANG="GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8ISO8859P1"

then change the setting to read like so:

NLS_LANG="GERMAN_GERMANY.UTF8"

9.1 General Issues and Workarounds

This section describes general issues and their workarounds for Oracle Reports. It includes the following topics:

• Section 9.1.1, "Oracle Developer Suite Not Available on HP-UX Itanium"

• Section 9.1.2, "Oracle AS Reports Services Demos Do Not Work If JServ Is Configured"

• Section 9.1.3, "Error While Editing Batch Registered Report in OracleAS Portal"

• Section 9.1.4, "Limitation on Linked Queries for DelimitedData Output"

• Section 9.1.5, "Summary Column Not Aligned for JSP-Based Web Reports with Group Above and Matrix Style"

• Section 9.1.6, "Images in HTML Output of Oracle Reports Not Displayed When Viewed from Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g"

• Section 9.1.7, "Misalignment in Large Multibyte Reports When Using the Enhanced Font Subsetting Feature with Acrobat Reader 7.0"

• Section 9.1.8, "Incorrect Color for Multiline Text in Paper Design View When Inline HTML Tags Are Used"

• Section 9.1.9, "PL/SQL Compilation Failure When Using SQL Constructs"

<Target TYPE="oracle_repserv" …..>
......
<Property NAME="Servlet" VALUE="https://xyz.mycompany.com:443/reports/rwservlet"/>
......
</Target>

9.2 Vendor-Specific Issues and Workarounds

This section describes vendor-specific issues and their workarounds for Oracle Reports. It includes the following topics:

.ReportLevel {text-decoration:underline;color:blue; background-color:yellow}

500 Internal Server Error
OracleJSP: oracle.jsp.provider.JspCompileException: 
Errors 
... 
6764 code too large for try statement catch( Throwable e)
{18 code too large public void _jspService(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws java.io.IOException, ServletException}

9.3 Globalization Support Issues and Workarounds

This section describes Globalization Support issues and their workarounds for Oracle Reports. It includes the following topics:

• Section 9.3.1, "Images Do Not Display Correctly in Turkish Environments"

• Section 9.3.2, "MS Mincho Font in PostScript Font Mapping Does Not Work When NLS_LANG is JA16EUC"

• Section 9.3.2, "MS Mincho Font in PostScript Font Mapping Does Not Work When NLS_LANG is JA16EUC"

• Section 9.3.4, "Reports Server's Job Status Messages in Application Server Control Contain Invalid Characters"

• Section 9.3.5, "ENVID Ignored While Detecting Duplicate Job"

"<MS Mincho in JP>".....
"<MS PMincho in JP>".....

11.1 Incorrect OID Port for Silent Installations

In Oracle Application Server Installation Guide, the OID port used during a silent installation is mentioned as port 389. However, port 389 is a privileged port and requires root access. In a silent installation, root access is not granted until the installation is over. Therefore, if you use port 389, then the following occurs:

OID not able to startup

To avoid this error, do not use the OID port number mentioned in the silent installation example of the installation guide. A commonly used default non-SSL port selected by OUI for OID is 3060. For SSL, this port is 3131. However, in the response file, you only need to specify the non-SSL port.