OracleAS Reports Services

Problem Statement

To simplify the process of managing, creating and execution of Oracle Reports.

What is a Report?

A document which dynamically retrieves, formats and distributes database information.

A General Reporting System

Oracle Report Service Architecture

Limitations of Oracle Solution

Embedded Parameter Form Lack of report categorization Lack of report access description Limited report parameter description Inability to build reports from the web Complete Dependence on Oracle Reports

Service to view reports Complete dependence on Oracle Report

Builder to create reports

Improvements in the Developed System

Single Dynamic Parameter Form Additional METADATA stored in oracle database to

handle Report Categorization User Access

Multiple Parameter Lookups NONE SQL Query Date LOV from Help Table

Improvements in the Developed System (contd)

Ability to Create Reports from the web Handled by XML Reports compliant with oracle

reports DTD Complete independence from Oracle Reports

Builder and Service Handled by the ADHOC reporting subsystem

Report Added Value

Report Types

RDF Legacy Systems with existing oracle reports Created using Oracle Reports Builder Published using Oracle reports Service Individual Parameter forms not required

Report Types

XML No dependence on Oracle Reports Builder Report is created on the fly using the system Based on the Metadata provided Adheres to the oracle reports DTD Report is automatically deployed.

Report Types

SCRIPTS(ADHOC) No dependence on Oracle reports builder or

Oracle Reports Service. Based on a simple parameterized query. Example

Select * from emp where emp.salary > ‘P_1’ and emp.age < ‘P_2’

Modules

Report MaintenanceADHOC Report ModuleXML Report Generator

Report SchedulerReport Execution & Viewer

Report Maintenance

Module used to prepare and create reports. A simple user interface provides this

functionality. Modules stores the metadata required for

every report in the database.

Report MaintenanceParameter Metadata

The metadata required for a report is stored in a child table referencing the Report Table

Provides the ability to specify Parameter Name, Description, Lookup Type and Sequence

Types of Lookup None SQL Date LOV from Help Table

XML Report Generator

A module to build reports based on report metadata stored.

Output XML file created and is deployed. Creates the following sections which are

required to publish a report Data Layout

Logic Flow – XML Report Generator

Parameterized SQL Query Stored in the database along with report METADATA

XML Generator parses the SQL query to identify parameters and columns

For each column identified, respective <field> elements are created

If the report has parameters then the parameter name is included within the <userParameter> element

The generator then creates a header section based on information stored in the database

An XML report is created and is deployed to a location specified by the REPORTS_PATH env variable

The report is ready and can viewed or scheduled

ADHOC Report Module

An independent reporting engine which simulates the Oracle Reports Service.

Provides Maximum uptime. Implemented as stored procedures. Advantage

Complete independence from Oracle Reports Builder and Oracle Reports Service

ADHOC Report Logic Flow

Parameterized SQL Query Stored in the database

Report Viewer Builds a dynamic Parameter form based on the metadata available for the report

User selected variables are passed to the stored procedure variable as a CSV

Report execution stored procedure identifies an ADHOC report

The Parameterized SQL query is retrieved from the database as a string

The string and the CSV are parsed and a dynamic sql query built

At this stage “Select * from Employee where salary > ‘P_1’ and age = ‘P_2’ select * from employee where salary > 100000 and age= 45

This is used as a reference cursor and data is retrieved

The mime type decides the output format

Report Scheduler

Module Used to Schedule Reports RDF/XML Reports scheduled on Oracle

Reports Service. ADHOC reports scheduled within the oracle

database. Reports can be scheduled daily, weekly or

monthly. Scheduled metadata extracted and stored in

the database table.

RW_SERVER_JOB_QUEUE

The reports service assigns a jobid to every report which is run against it.

Table stores information of every job submitted to the reports service.

A web interface queries the table to display a list of scheduled jobs

Ability to cancel scheduled jobs.

Report Scheduler Logic Flow

User Initiates a schedule along with list of email address.

Report type metadata is extracted from the database

The DESTYPE parameter is automatically set to PDF

If report_type = RDF or XML, then the report is scheduled on the oracle reports serviceIf report_type= ADHOC, then DBMS_JOB is used to schedule the report

RW_SERVER_QUEUE contains the submitted job information. and is displayed on the interface

Report Execution & Viewer

Report Selection A user interface allows users to select reports Reports are displayed as a hierarchical structure based on

the report category metadata Only user specific Reports visible based on metadata.

Report execution Dynamic Parameter Form displayed based on the

metadata RDF/XML/Adhoc reports can be scheduled or viewed

instantaneously

Dynamic Report Parameter Form Logic Flow

Report parameter metadata is stored in the database

The report name is passed to the dynamic parameter interface

Also, based on the lookup type a user input is created, which could be a result of a SQL query

Based on the report name , the parameter Descriptions, and Sequence are displayed on the screen

The user inputs the variable parameters along with the output format and scheduling preference

The report is executed by passing the dynamic query string created to the reports service or ADHOC engine

Hence creating a Dynamic Parameter form, overcoming the limitations of embedding them within the report

Security

Access Provided based on Database Roles Roles

USER_ROLE READ_ONLY_ROLE REPORT_USER_ROLE REPORT_SCHEDULER_ROLE

Advantages

No Knowledge of Report Builder Required to Build reports

No licensing costs involved (XML,ADHOC) Batch update reports easily (XML) Supports various types of reports –

RDF,XML,SCRIPTS Independence from Oracle Reports Builder or

Reports Service depending on type of report

Technology Used

Oracle Reports Service 10g Oracle Developer Suite 10g Oracle Database 10g PL/SQL JavaScript HTML PL/SQL web toolkit for interface development

and server side scripting.

Future Work

Representation of reports metadata in the form of XML

Batch processing of XML metadata. Providing a complete web interface for layout

description

Screenshots

References

Oracle Documentation

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10464_05/bi.904/b13673/pbr_arch.htm

End of lecture

Questions?