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data sheet

ORACLE XML PUBLISHER 11i

Oracle® XML Publisher is a new java-based product available within the technology stack of the

Oracle E-Business Suite and offers a template-based, easy-to-use publishing solution, based on

standard, well-known technologies and tools so customers can take advantage of it easily and to

rapidly develop and maintain report formats. Oracle XML Publisher is part of the Oracle E-

Business Suite, an integrated set of applications that are engineered to work together.

Centralized Data Definitions and Templates Management

Template Manager

Oracle XML Publisher offers the Template Manager to enable customers to register and maintain their data definitions and templates via a user-friendly interface. Data Definitions that can be registered with the Template Manager include any data source that can generate XML. Templates that are currently supported in Oracle XML Publisher include Portable Document Format (PDF), Rich Text Format (RTF) and XSL-FO. The supported templates can be registered by associating them with a predefined Data Definition and then uploading the template file into the Template Manager where they are stored. At publishing time, the two are combined to produce the final output. The Template Manager is a front-end UI that is built on a multitude of APIs that Oracle Application products can directly communicate with.

XML Report Publisher’s Template Manager supports the registration of any data source that generates XML data.

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Use the Data Definitions search page to search, create, view and update Data Definitions.

Use the Data Definitions create page to register an XML generating data source.

Use the Templates search page to search, create, copy, and view Templates.

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Use the Template create page to register a Template and Template Files.

Flexible Template Support

PDF Forms Template

A PDF form template is a document the user creates and maintains to determine how a report should look and feel. When the look and feel is determined, form fields are inserted and mapped to an XML data source. The PDF form template content and layout must correlate to the contents and hierarchy of an input data XML file. The user is able to use familiar desktop tools such as Adobe Acrobat to modify and maintain their PDF forms templates. Currently, PDF 1.4 specification is supported.

Following are key formatting features XML Publisher supports for PDF forms template. These are in addition to the standard PDF Form Template support:

• Form Field Aliasing

• Page Duplication

• Page Numbering

• Groups – used to define groups of repeating fields and represent rows of repeating items

• Overflow Data – addresses text overflow and accommodates repeating rows of data

• Creating a template from a downloaded PDF - the user can download an existing PDF form from a third party such as a government body and use it as a template. This ensures the third party receives the same document as the original with the required information “filled” out.

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Use PDF Form templates to manage your reports.

RTF Template

An RTF template is a document that determines how a report or business document should be presented and is saved with the extension rtf. Each template created must correlate with the content and hierarchy of an input XML data file in order to properly relate the fields in the template layout to elements in the XML data file. The customer is able to use familiar desktop tools such as

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Microsoft Word to create and update their RTF templates. Any RTF (version 1.6) editor (or later) is supported.

Following are key formatting features the XML Publisher supports for RTF templates. These are in addition to the standard native word processing application features:

• Placeholders – used to map the template field to the XML element field

• Groups – used to define groups of repeating fields and represent rows of repeating items

• Multiple Headers and Footers

• Inclusion of Images – used via direct insertion, URL reference, or OA Media reference

• Embedded Hyperlinks – used to add static or dynamic hyperlinks

• Dynamic Table of Contents

• Namespace Support – used for XML data that contains namespaces

• Dynamic Data Columns – used for variable number of columns

• Horizontal Table Break – used for columns exceeding one page

• Sorting

• Conditional Formatting – used to enforce layout for specific conditions

• XSL-FO Elements – used to support complex design with extended set of SQL functions

• FO Elements – used to support native FO syntax within Microsoft Word form fields

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Use RTF templates to create and maintain your report layouts.

High Fidelity Output

XML Report Publisher

Oracle XML Publisher provides the XML Report Publisher concurrent program that is accessible in Oracle Applications to publish reports in high fidelity PDF output. XML Report Publisher accepts three parameter entries from the customer:

1) Report Request: Select from a list of concurrent requests that generated XML output

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2) Template: Select a template associated to the data, maintained in the Template Manager

3) Template Locale: Select a template language and territory combination to apply to the data

A data source can have multiple Templates associated with it. The Template and Template Locale together identify the template file to apply to the XML data. A single template can have multiple template files (one template file per language and territory combination). When the XML Report Publisher request is submitted, it merges the XML data with the selected template file to provide the customer with their desired PDF output.

Use the XML Report Publisher concurrent program to publish your reports in Oracle Applications.

At runtime, XML Report Publisher merges the XML Data and the Template to generate a PDF output.

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XML Report Publisher concurrent program publishes PDF Output. Sample output from a PDF Forms Template.

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XML Report Publisher concurrent program publishes PDF Output. Sample output from an RTF Template.

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Easily Accessible and Flexible Publishing APIs Oracle XML Publisher is a technology product and is made up of the following main API components: PDF Document Merger, PDF Form Processor, RTF Template Parser and the FO Processor. These core components are a java-based set of publishing tools and are accessible from Oracle Applications or from any java-based application.

Document Processor

Oracle XML Publisher provides batch-processing functionality through the Document Processor. The Document Processor allows the user to build single documents from multiple data source and template combinations or individual documents for each combination. Passing XML that contains multiple data sources and templates to XML Publisher will result in the generation of multiple output documents.

PDF Form Processor

Another core component of Oracle XML Publisher is the PDF Form Processor API. This process enables customers to manage the appearance and layout of a document or report using PDF form templates. PDF form templates are easily maintained using Adobe Acrobat. At run-time, the PDF Form Processor applies the PDF form template to the XML data to generate a merged document. Then integrates various attributes to the document such as security and watermarks. The PDF Form Processor is limited to only PDF document output.

PDF Document Merger

The PDF Document Merger API is a core component of Oracle XML Publisher to support the merging of multiple PDF document outputs into one. The PDF Document Merger is independent of how the PDF documents are generated. It will accept XML data and a PDF document, and based on mapping between the fields within the document and the XML elements, it will merge the data into the PDF document. The PDF Document Merger is a process that parses the PDF documents, combines them and restructures the document to produce a single PDF output.

RTF Parser

The RTF Parser API enables customers to create and manage their intelligent documents and reports using RTF templates. These RTF templates are easily maintained using familiar and comfortable desktop tools such as Microsoft Word. The RTF Template Parser process takes the RTF template and converts it to an XSL-FO format that will be applied to XML data at runtime.

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FO Processor

The resulting object from the application of the XSL-FO template to the XML data is a Formatting Object (FO). The FO Processor takes the object created by the RTF Processor and generates the required document output. Currently, the outputs supported include PDF and XML.

Debug Mode

Oracle XML Publisher offers the Debug Mode API. This process addresses the need to log error messages. The debug routine may be turned on or off without stopping the system, is able to write input/output files and is able to write error messages to a file in addition to the standard error.

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KEY FEATURES Flexible Access to Multiple APIs • Template Manager • Document Processor

Template Manager: Templates

• Register and maintain templates online • Maintain multiple template files • Supported templates:

• PDF Forms • RTF • XSL-FO

Template Manager: Data Definitions

• Register and maintain XML data online RTF Template: Formatting Support • Placeholders • Repeating Fields and Groups • Multiple Headers and Footers • Inclusion of Images • Embedded Hyperlinks • Dynamic Table of Contents • Namespace support • Dynamic Data Columns • Horizontal Table Break • Sorting • Conditional Formatting • XSL-FO Elements • FO Elements

PDF Forms Template: Formatting Support • Form Field Aliasing • Page Duplication • Page Numbering • Groups • Overflow Data • Create template based on downloaded

PDF Forms Support High Fidelity Output • XML Report Publisher concurrent program • PDF, XML Output Formats Key Publishing APIs • PDF Forms Processor • PDF Document Merger • RTF Parser • FO Processor • Debug Mode

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