personalized reporting with oracle developer release 6i · personalized reporting with reports...

Personalized Reporting with Oracle DeveloperRelease 6iAn Oracle Technical White Paper

April 2000

Personalized Reporting with Reports Developer Release 6iApril 2000

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Personalized Reporting with Oracle DeveloperRelease 6i

INTRODUCTION

One of the powerful new features in Oracle Developer Release 6i is the ability to change the appearance andcontent of a report at runtime. This feature empowers end users by letting them choose how a report willlook when they run it. It also makes it possible for report developers to create a single report definition file(.RDF file) that serves multiple audiences. For example, you could build a report that, based upon user input,could fetch and format additional data, and alter the formatting characteristics of all of the data.

In Release 6i, Oracle Developer can merge report definitions built from XML tags with existing .RDF files atruntime and then execute the combination of the two.1 Thus, you can personalize a report by allowing usersto choose which XML report definitions to apply to the base .RDF file at runtime.

1 It should be noted here that you can also use XML report definitions for other things as well. For example, you canbuild a complete report definition in XML that can be run by itself, without an existing .RDF file. Another possibleusage is to make batch modifications using XML report definitions with RWCON60.


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When to use this feature

The Oracle Developer personalization feature is most useful in the following situations:

• You are a report developer who wants to allow your users to make numerous, minor personalizations(e.g., hiding columns, changing labels, and changing format masks) to a report, but you do not want tohave to create a different report for each of these small personalizations. In this case, the personalizationfeature lets you minimize the number of reports you must build and distribute to your users. You build asingle report and apply different XML report definitions based upon user input to make the appropriatechanges at runtime.

• You are a report developer who provides a suite of reports to a number of sites and you want to enableeach site to make their own customizations to the reports. In this case, you can ship base reports andthen build XML report definitions for each site that are applied to the base reports at runtime. This isparticularly advantageous when you later need to update and redistribute the base reports. The varioussites can replace the base reports without having to lose their customizations because theircustomizations exist outside the base reports in XML.

• You are a report developer who wants to make updates to a large number of reports at once. By codingthe changes in XML, you can apply them to any number of reports in a batch operation.

• You are a programmer who wants to link to reports using XML like a programming interface.

Note: The XML for the personalization feature can be coded by the report developer and stored in files orgenerated from some meta data source (e.g., a database). In all cases, the XML should be built by the reportdeveloper, not the end user.

BUILDING A PERSONALIZED REPORT—AN OVERVIEW

If you are building a complex, personalized report with many options for your users, you should code theXML report personalizations in PL/SQL. In PL/SQL, you can conditionally control which personalizations toapply to the base report, depending upon parameter values in the Runtime Parameter Form. This methodallows each user to choose their desired personalizations in the Runtime Parameter Form and, based on theirchoices, the report will dynamically create and apply the necessary XML. The steps below provide anoverview of how to build this type of personalized report:

1. Based on feedback from your users, determine which aspects of your report you want to enable users topersonalize at runtime. Bear in mind that, in Release 6i, the main functionality is adding data andformatting it, and modifying formatting characteristics.

2. Build a base .RDF file in Report Builder. The base report should contain those elements that you expect allusers to want to see in some form (i.e., if there is some data that not all users will need or want to see,you should exclude that and add it through a personalization choice).

3. Create parameters that will enable a user to choose their desired personalizations. In some cases, theparameter values will be yes or no (e.g., yes, add this data, or no, do not add this data). In other cases,the parameter values will be a list of several choices (e.g., highlight values greater than the specifiedvalue).

4. In the After Parameter Form trigger, use the SRW.ADD_DEFINITION and SRW.APPLY_DEFINITIONbuilt-ins to conditionally create the necessary personalizations.

5. Test and debug the report to ensure that all personalizations work as expected.

6. Publish the report to your users.


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PLANNING THE PERSONALIZATIONS

Before you begin building your report, you first need to understand what characteristics your users want tobe able to personalize at runtime. For the purposes of this white paper, let's suppose that you are building areport that shows video sales data for a chain of stores by city, state, and quarter. Furthermore, you havereceived the following feedback:

• Users at the corporate headquarters have told you that they want to see a summary at the beginning ofthe report that rolls up the data for all of the cities, states, and quarters. They also want to be able to drilldown from this summary to the more detailed information.

• Regional employees have told you that they find a summary too distracting because they want to focussolely on the more detailed data pertaining to the cities in their regions.

• Both regional and corporate users have told you that they want to be able to highlight values based uponconditions that they enter at runtime and change the format mask for dollar values.

CREATING THE BASE REPORT

Given that not all of your users want to see the summary section, your base report should look something likethe following:

The personalizations that you need to enable for this base report are:

• Adding a summary to the beginning of the report that contains hyperlinks to the more detailed sectionsof the base report.


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• Choosing the formatting for monetary values.

• Highlighting values above a specified amount.

CREATING PARAMETERS AND THE PARAMETER FORM

Given the personalizations that you want to create, you need the following parameters:

• SHOW_SUMMARY is a parameter with Yes or No as its possible values. If this parameter is set to Yes,the data model and layout for the summary section is added to the report.

• MONEY_FORMAT is the format mask to apply to monetary values in the report.

• HILITE_COSTS, HILITE_PROFITS, and HILITE_SALES are the values above which data should behighlighted.

• WRITE_TO_FILE is a parameter with Yes or No as its possible values. If this parameter is set to Yes,the XML used to personalize the report is written to a file. The files generated in this way can be avaluable testing tool to ensure that the XML is being created properly.

The Runtime Parameter Form for this report would look something like the following:


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CREATING THE AFTER PARAMETER FORM TRIGGER

Once you have defined the parameters and parameter form, you can begin to build up the personalizations inthe After Parameter Form trigger of the report. There are two methods that you can use for buildingpersonalizations in PL/SQL:

• Build the personalization in the document buffer (i.e., memory) using SRW.ADD_DEFINITION andthen apply it using SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION. This method is useful because it does not rely on anXML file in the file system. It requires no file input/output in order to work.

• Build the personalization in a file using the Text_IO package and then apply the file usingSRW.APPLY_DEFINITION. This method is useful for debugging purposes because you can moreeasily identify problems in the XML.

For the purposes of this report, you will combine these two methods and give the user the option at runtimeto write the personalizations to files.

Setting up file variables and opening files for writing.

Since you plan to write the personalizations to a file, you need to begin your PL/SQL function by declaring thenecessary Text_IO variables. For the sake of clarity, each of the personalizations will be written to its ownfile. Therefore, you need one Text_IO variable for each of your planned personalizations.

custom_summary Text_IO.File_Type;custom_mask Text_IO.File_Type;custom_hilite_costs Text_IO.File_Type;custom_hilite_sales Text_IO.File_Type;custom_hilite_profits Text_IO.File_Type;

Tip: To control the location of the personalization files, you could also declare a variable in which to place thedesired path information.

ora_dir_var VARCHAR2(20);

Before you begin adding lines to the personalization file, you need to check whether the user wants thepersonalizations to be written to a file and, if they do, open it for writing.

Tool_Env.Getvar('ORACLE_HOME', ora_dir_var);:file_directory := ora_dir_var || '\';IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN custom_summary := Text_IO.Fopen(:file_directory || 'vid_summ_per.xml','w');END IF;

Whenever you need to write a line, you call the AddaLine procedure as follows:

AddaLine('<report name="video_custom" author="Generated" DTDVersion="1.0">', custom_summary);

The AddaLine procedure will be described in the following section.

Adding lines to the personalization

After you have declared the necessary variables and, if necessary, opened a file for writing them, you canbegin to add lines to your personalization. In this case, you want to write the lines to the document bufferand, optionally, to a file. To simplify the process of writing lines to both places, it makes sense to create a


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procedure. The following procedure takes two arguments and writes the input line of XML to both thedocument buffer and a file, if the user has requested to write the XML to a file.

PROCEDURE AddaLine (newline VARCHAR, outfile Text_IO.File_Type) ISBEGIN SRW.ADD_DEFINITION(newline); IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN Text_IO.Put_Line(outfile, newline); END IF;END;

Building the data model for the summary section

Now that you have the AddaLine procedure, you can use it to build up the personalizations based upon theuser's input at runtime. The PL/SQL that follows builds up the data model of the summary section of thereport, if the user has requested that the summary personalization be added to the base report. First check tosee if the user wants to see and executive summary. If so, add the summary to the base report.

IF :SHOW_SUMMARY='Yes' THEN AddaLine(' <data>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <dataSource name="Q_1">', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <select>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' SELECT ALL VIDEO_CATEGORY_BY_QTR.QUARTER quarter1, VIDEO_CATEGORY_BY_QTR.CITY city1, ',custom_summary); AddaLine(' VIDEO_CATEGORY_BY_QTR.PRODUCT_CATEGORY product_category1, VIDEO_CATEGORY_BY_QTR.TOTAL_PROFIT total_profit1,',custom_summary);

AddaLine(' VIDEO_CATEGORY_BY_QTR.TOTAL_SALES total_sales1, VIDEO_CATEGORY_BY_QTR.TOTAL_COST total_cost1',custom_summary); AddaLine(' FROM VIDEO_CATEGORY_BY_QTR',custom_summary); AddaLine(' WHERE VIDEO_CATEGORY_BY_QTR.SALES_REGION=''West''',custom_summary); AddaLine(' </select> ',custom_summary); AddaLine(' </dataSource>',custom_summary);

Note the only name and source are specified for the summary data when writing the output. It is best to letthe defaulting mechanism within Reports choose any additional values for the summary data (such as reset)based on the location of the fields in the report layout.

AddaLine(' <summary name="SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY1" source="total_sales1"/> ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <summary name="SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY1" source="total_cost1"/> ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <summary name="SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY1" source="total_profit1"/> ', custom_summary);

This last line is a counter which is used to alternate the shading of the records. This shading occurs in theF_shadingFormatTrigger which is shown later in this paper. This counter does not appear in the reportoutput.

AddaLine(' <summary name="CS_Count1" source="city1" function="count" reset="Report"/>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </data> ', custom_summary);


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Building the layout for the summary section

Once you have built up the data model, you need to create a layout for the data. The following PL/SQL addsthe necessary layout objects and defines their hierarchy. The layout for the report is group above and atemplate (video_custom.tdf) is specified. Note that this code is also contained inside the IF condition aboveand will only be added if the user has requested the summary.

AddaLine(' <layout>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <section name="header">', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <groupAbove name="M_video_sales_summary" template="video_custom.tdf">', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <group>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <field name="f_quarter1" source="quarter1" label="Quarter:" ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' font="Arial" fontSize="9" fillColor="#6699CC"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' textColor="white" alignment="center"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' formatTrigger="F_quarter1FormatTrigger">', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <labelAttribute font="Arial" fontSize="10" fillColor="#6699CC"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' textColor="white" alignment="center"/>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </field>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </group>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <group>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <field name="f_city1" source="city1" label="City" ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' font="Arial" fontSize="9"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' formatTrigger="F_city1FormatTrigger">', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <labelAttribute font="Arial" fontSize="10" textColor="white"/>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </field>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <field name="f_SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY1" source="SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY1"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' label="Sales" font="Arial" fontSize="9" alignment="right"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' formatTrigger="F_shadingFormatTrigger"', custom_summary);

The format for the monetary values parameter is interrogated and the correct format mask applied based onthe user selection.

IF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN' THEN AddaLine(' formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0">', custom_summary); ELSIF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN.00' THEN AddaLine(' formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00">', custom_summary); ELSE AddaLine(' formatMask="LNNNGNNNGNNNGNN0D00">', custom_summary); END IF;


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AddaLine(' <labelAttribute font="Arial" fontSize="10" textColor="white"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' alignment="right"/>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </field>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <field name="f_SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY1" source="SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY1"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' label="Costs" font="Arial" fontSize="9" alignment="right"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' formatTrigger="F_shadingFormatTrigger"', custom_summary); IF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN' THEN AddaLine(' formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0">', custom_summary); ELSIF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN.00' THEN AddaLine(' formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00">', custom_summary); ELSE AddaLine(' formatMask="LNNNGNNNGNNNGNN0D00">', custom_summary); END IF; AddaLine(' <labelAttribute font="Arial" fontSize="10" textColor="white"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' alignment="right"/>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </field>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <field name="f_SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY1" source="SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY1"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' label="Profits" font="Arial" fontSize="9" alignment="right"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' formatTrigger="F_shadingFormatTrigger"', custom_summary); IF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN' THEN AddaLine(' formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0">', custom_summary); ELSIF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN.00' THEN AddaLine(' formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00">', custom_summary); ELSE AddaLine(' formatMask="LNNNGNNNGNNNGNN0D00">', custom_summary); END IF; AddaLine(' <labelAttribute font="Arial" fontSize="10" textColor="white"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' alignment="right"/>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </field>', custom_summary);

The following field definition is for the CS_Count1 summary. The F_CS_Count1FormatTrigger is used tohide this field from the report output.

AddaLine(' <field name="f_CS_Count1" source="CS_Count1"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' label="" font="Arial" fontSize="9"', custom_summary); AddaLine(' formatTrigger="F_CS_Count1FormatTrigger">', custom_summary);


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AddaLine(' <labelAttribute font="Arial" fontSize="10" textColor="#6699CC"/>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </field>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </group> ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </groupAbove>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </section>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </layout>', custom_summary);

Building program units for the summary section

In order to create hyperlinks and shade alternating rows in the summary, you need to create some programunits within the report. The program units are referenced from the format triggers of the layout objects. TheF_quarter1FormatTrigger adds a hyperlink to the field F_quarter1. This hyperlink is used to drill down formore detailed information for the quarter. The use of the bind variable (:quarter1) gives each quarter a uniquetarget. The SRW.LINKTAG in the format trigger for the field named F_quarter in the main section of thereport defines the target for this link.

Note: the use of <![CDATA[]]> tag is used to prevent the XML parser from parsing this PL/SQL as though itwere XML.

AddaLine(' <programUnits> ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <function name="F_quarter1FormatTrigger"> ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <![CDATA[', custom_summary); AddaLine(' function F_quarter1FormatTrigger return boolean is', custom_summary); AddaLine(' begin', custom_summary); AddaLine(' SRW.SET_HYPERLINK(''#QUARTER_DETAILS_&<'' || LTRIM(:quarter1) || ''>'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' return (TRUE);', custom_summary); AddaLine(' end;', custom_summary); AddaLine(' ]]>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </function> ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <function name="F_city1FormatTrigger"> ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <![CDATA[', custom_summary); AddaLine(' function F_city1FormatTrigger return boolean is', custom_summary); AddaLine(' begin', custom_summary); AddaLine(' SRW.SET_HYPERLINK(''#QTR_CITY_DETAILS_&<'' || LTRIM(:quarter1) || LTRIM(:city1) || ''>'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' if (:CS_Count1 mod 2 = ''1'') then', custom_summary); AddaLine(' srw.set_foreground_fill_color(''lightgrey'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' srw.set_fill_pattern(''solid'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' end if;', custom_summary); AddaLine(' return (TRUE);', custom_summary); AddaLine(' end;', custom_summary); AddaLine(' ]]>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </function>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <function name="F_shadingFormatTrigger">', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <![CDATA[', custom_summary); AddaLine(' function F_shadingFormatTrigger return boolean is',


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custom_summary); AddaLine(' begin', custom_summary); AddaLine(' if (:CS_Count1 mod 2 = ''1'') then', custom_summary); AddaLine(' srw.set_foreground_fill_color(''lightgrey'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' srw.set_fill_pattern(''solid'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' end if;', custom_summary); AddaLine(' return (TRUE);', custom_summary); AddaLine(' end;', custom_summary); AddaLine(' ]]>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </function>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <function name="F_CS_Count1FormatTrigger">', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <![CDATA[ ', custom_summary); AddaLine(' function F_CS_Count1FormatTrigger return boolean is', custom_summary); AddaLine(' begin', custom_summary); AddaLine(' if (:CS_Count1 mod 2 = ''1'') then', custom_summary); AddaLine(' srw.set_foreground_fill_color(''lightgrey'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' srw.set_text_color(''lightgrey'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' srw.set_fill_pattern(''solid'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' else', custom_summary); AddaLine(' srw.set_text_color(''white'');', custom_summary); AddaLine(' end if;', custom_summary); AddaLine(' return (TRUE);', custom_summary); AddaLine(' end;', custom_summary); AddaLine(' ]]>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </function>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </programUnits>', custom_summary);

Specifying the section title

In the template used to default the header section, there is a boilerplate text object for the section title. Thefollowing PL/SQL provides meaningful text for the text object so that the section will have a descriptive title.If you did not do this, the section title would not be pertinent to this report. Notice that every customizationmust end with a </report> tag.

AddaLine('<customize>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <object name="B_4_SEC1" type="REP_GRAPHIC_TEXT">', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <properties>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' <property name="textSegment">Video Sales Summary</property>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </properties>', custom_summary); AddaLine(' </object>', custom_summary); AddaLine('</customize>', custom_summary); END IF;AddaLine('</report>', custom_summary);


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Closing the file and applying the personalization

After the summary section is completed, you need to close the file, if the user asked to write the XML to afile, and apply the XML to the base report. Note that in this case, you are applying the XML stored in thedocument buffer. If you were applying the XML stored in a file, you would need to specify a file name andlocation.

IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN Text_IO.Fclose (custom_summary);END IF;SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;

Applying the format mask to existing fields

You now must apply the format mask chosen by the user to the monetary values in the body section of thereport. Note how you can change the format mask of a column without affecting any of its other formattingcharacteristics. If you do not specify a value in the XML for an existing column, it will default to what wasspecified in the base report.

IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN custom_mask := Text_IO.Fopen(:file_directory || 'vid_mask_per.xml', 'w');END IF;AddaLine('<report name="video_custom" author="Generated" DTDVersion="1.0">', custom_mask); IF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN.00' THEN AddaLine(' <layout>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <section name="main">', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_TOTAL_PROFIT" source="TOTAL_PROFIT" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_TOTAL_SALES" source="TOTAL_SALES" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_TOTAL_COST" source="TOTAL_COST" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY" source="SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY" source="SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY" source="SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_PROFITPerQUARTER" source="SumTOTAL_PROFITPerQUARTER" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_SALESPerQUARTER" source="SumTOTAL_SALESPerQUARTER" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_COSTPerQUARTER" source="SumTOTAL_COSTPerQUARTER" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0D00"alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' </section>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' </layout>', custom_mask); ELSIF :MONEY_FORMAT='$NNNN' THEN AddaLine(' <layout>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <section name="main">', custom_mask);


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AddaLine(' <field name="F_TOTAL_PROFIT" source="TOTAL_PROFIT" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_TOTAL_SALES" source="TOTAL_SALES" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_TOTAL_COST" source="TOTAL_COST" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY" source="SumTOTAL_PROFITPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask);

AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY" source="SumTOTAL_SALESPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY" source="SumTOTAL_COSTPerCITY" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask);

AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_PROFITPerQUARTER" source="SumTOTAL_PROFITPerQUARTER" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_SALESPerQUARTER" source="SumTOTAL_SALESPerQUARTER" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' <field name="F_SumTOTAL_COSTPerQUARTER" source="SumTOTAL_COSTPerQUARTER" formatMask="LNNNNNNNNNNN0" alignment="end"/>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' </section>', custom_mask); AddaLine(' </layout>', custom_mask); END IF;AddaLine('</report>', custom_mask);IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN Text_IO.Fclose (custom_mask);END IF;SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;

Applying the highlighting

You now must highlight the values over the amount chosen by the user at runtime.

IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN custom_hilite_profits := Text_IO.Fopen(:file_directory || 'vid_hilite_profits_per.xml', 'w');END IF;AddaLine('<report name="video_custom" author="Generated" DTDVersion="1.0">', custom_hilite_profits); IF :HILITE_PROFITS <> 'None' THEN AddaLine(' <layout>', custom_hilite_profits); AddaLine(' <section name="main">', custom_hilite_profits); AddaLine(' <field name="F_TOTAL_PROFIT" source="TOTAL_PROFIT" alignment="end">', custom_hilite_profits); AddaLine(' <exception textColor="red">', custom_hilite_profits); AddaLine(' <condition source="TOTAL_PROFIT" operator="gt" operand1=":hilite_profits"/>', custom_hilite_profits); AddaLine(' </exception>', custom_hilite_profits); AddaLine(' </field>', custom_hilite_profits); AddaLine(' </section>', custom_hilite_profits); AddaLine(' </layout>', custom_hilite_profits); END IF;AddaLine('</report>', custom_hilite_profits);


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IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN Text_IO.Fclose (custom_hilite_profits);END IF;SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN custom_hilite_costs := Text_IO.Fopen(:file_directory || 'vid_hilite_costs_per.xml', 'w');END IF;AddaLine('<report name="video_custom" author="Generated" DTDVersion="1.0">', custom_hilite_costs); IF :HILITE_COSTS <> 'None' THEN AddaLine(' <layout>', custom_hilite_costs); AddaLine(' <section name="main">', custom_hilite_costs); AddaLine(' <field name="F_TOTAL_COST" source="TOTAL_COST" alignment="end">', custom_hilite_costs); AddaLine(' <exception textColor="red">', custom_hilite_costs);

AddaLine(' <condition source="TOTAL_COST" operator="gt" operand1=":hilite_costs"/>', custom_hilite_costs); AddaLine(' </exception>', custom_hilite_costs); AddaLine(' </field>', custom_hilite_costs); AddaLine(' </section>', custom_hilite_costs); AddaLine(' </layout>', custom_hilite_costs); END IF;AddaLine('</report>', custom_hilite_costs);IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN Text_IO.Fclose (custom_hilite_costs);END IF;SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN custom_hilite_sales := Text_IO.Fopen(:file_directory || 'vid_hilite_sales_per.xml', 'w');END IF;AddaLine('<report name="video_custom" author="Generated" DTDVersion="1.0">', custom_hilite_sales); IF :HILITE_SALES <> 'None' THEN AddaLine(' <layout>', custom_hilite_sales); AddaLine(' <section name="main">', custom_hilite_sales); AddaLine(' <field name="F_TOTAL_SALES" source="TOTAL_SALES" alignment="end">', custom_hilite_sales); AddaLine(' <exception textColor="red">', custom_hilite_sales); AddaLine(' <condition source="TOTAL_SALES" operator="gt" operand1=":hilite_sales"/>', custom_hilite_sales); AddaLine(' </exception>', custom_hilite_sales); AddaLine(' </field>', custom_hilite_sales); AddaLine(' </section>', custom_hilite_sales); AddaLine(' </layout>', custom_hilite_sales); END IF;AddaLine('</report>', custom_hilite_sales);IF :WRITE_TO_FILE='Yes' THEN Text_IO.Fclose (custom_hilite_sales);END IF;SRW.APPLY_DEFINITION;

return (TRUE);

end;


14

TESTING AND DEBUGGING THE REPORT

Once you have built your base report and the personalizations that you will allow users, you need to carefullytest both. By writing the XML to a file, you can quickly tell whether your code is working correctly.Obviously, if no lines are being written to the file, you know that your PL/SQL is incorrect in some way. Ifthe file is being written, you can visually check each of the personalizations for any obvious errors such as amissing </report> tag. Furthermore, the XML files that you generate can be applied to the base report atruntime using the CUSTOMIZE command line argument. If you cannot successfully apply the XML files yougenerate from your PL/SQL to the base report, then you will get an error that describes the problem in theXML.

PUBLISHING THE REPORT

Once you have tested your report, you are ready to begin releasing it to your users for their usage. The bestway to publish your reports is through the Reports Server. The Reports Server enables a large number ofusers to run your report from the Web. For more information, refer to the Publishing Reports manual.

SUMMARY

To give your users more freedom to control report output, you can code report personalizations in XML.Users can then choose which of these XML personalizations they want to use at runtime. The best way toimplement complex personalizations is through PL/SQL where you have conditional control.

All of the examples in this paper can be viewed and testing using the video_custom.rdf report which iscontained on the Oracle Forms and Reports demo cd release 6i.

RELATED DOCUMENTATION

Publishing Reports, Part No. A73072

Oracle Forms and Reports Demos, Part No. A84469-01

For other white papers and examples about Oracle Developer, please visit the Reports Developer page on theOracle Technology Network Web site (http://technet.oracle.com/products/reports/).


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