Oracle BI Publisher – General Questions

How to Modify Existing Seeded Templates Using XML Publisher

Seeded templates cannot be updated or deleted. The Update and Delete icons for these templates are disabled. If you wish to modify a seeded template, duplicate it, then modify the template file of the duplicated entry. You can then End Date the seeded template if you do not wish it to be available to your users.

Copying a Template: 
Use the Search region to find the template you wish to copy. From the search results table, select the Duplicate icon for the template to launch the Copy Template page. 
Code – Assign a template Code using the product short name and a descriptive ending. (The Code assigned must have the same prefix in the name as the seeded templates’ code.)  
Name – Enter a user-friendly name for your template. 
Application – Select the report’s application from the LOV. 
Source Template Name – (Not updateable) Displays the name of the template you are duplicating.

Use the following steps:

You must remove any incorrect duplicates of the template/report that you are trying to copy by end dating them on the same day they where created. 
1. Go to XML Publisher Responsibility > Templates. 
2. Use the search engine to find the template you wish to copy. 
3. Click on the link for the copy previously created. 
4. Click the Update button and enter an end date into the End Date field. (Use the creation date to completely remove the incorrect copy.) 
5. Repeat this for every incorrect copy that may exist. 
If you have previously end dated the seeded template, remove the end date. 
1. Go to XML Publisher Responsibility > Templates. 
2. Use the search engine to find the template and change the Active field to "No". 
3. Click on the link for the seeded report. 
4. Click the Update button and remove the end date.

After making your modifications by downloading a copy of the seeded template or creating a new file, create a duplicate of the seeded template. 
1. Use the search engine to find the template you wish to copy.  The seeded report should now display.  
2. Click the "Duplicate" icon next to the seeded report. 
3. Change the required Code field from Copy of XXXX to XXXX2. For example, if your seeded templates’ code was ‘BENSSCNF’, then for the duplicate template, one of the possible codes could be ‘BENSSCNF2′ (basically any code prefixed with ‘BENSSCNF’). Also, note that these codes are non-updateable, so make sure to rename them while duplicating the template itself. 
4. Change the required Name field and click the Apply button. 
5. Click the Add File button and upload the new or customized replacement file. 
6. Click the Update button and change the Default file, if necessary. 
7. Alter the copy start date, if necessary. This date will coincide with the date used to end date the seeded template. 
8. Go back to Templates and find the seeded report you have duplicated. 
9. Click the link for the seeded template and click the Update button. 
10. End date the seeded template. 
11. Generate the report in the application. The generated report should reflect your duplicate.

Delivery channels – How does the Oracle XML Publisher Core engine gets invoked?

Two step publishing method

§  Submit a concurrent program of which the Output Format is set to XML

§  Submit the XML Report Publisher concurrent request to produce the final output. At submission time, specify the request ID from step 1, choose the desired template and the Output Format (PDF, RTF,…).

   One step publishing method

§  Submit a Concurrent Program with the Output Format is set to XML. At submission time select the desired template and the Output Format (PDF, RTF,…). In the background the Output Post Processor (OPP) automatically applies the layout template to the generated XML data file and creates the output file. This method is the most common usage of XML Publisher.

   All other situations

§  These delivery channels do not use the concurrent managers but they are web or forms based, where the XML Publisher Core API’s are called directly in JAVA code. No concurrent request is involved and only the XML Publisher Core engine is used. Examples of such situations are the following:

§  Pick Slip

§  Dunning Letters

§  Blanket Agreement (Preview and Print)

How to Debug – XML Publisher Report – Log

The Concurrent Request ends with Phase ‘Completed’ and Status ‘Warning’ which indicates that the Output Post Processor (OPP) failed to generate an output file. In such cases the request log file shows a generic error message indicating the the post-processing action has failed:

+————- 1) PUBLISH ————-+ 
Beginning post-processing of request 3181529 on node PBREUGEL at 11-APR-2008 11:41:30. 
Post-processing of request 3181529 failed at 11-APR-2008 11:41:31 with the error message: 
One or more post-processing actions failed. Consult the OPP service log for details. 
+————————————–+

The actual error returned by the XML Publisher Core engine is captured in the OPP log file. There are three possible ways to obtain the OPP log file:

§  Directly from the file system based after identifying the corresponding OPP log file name using the following SQL statement:

SELECT fcpp.concurrent_request_id req_id, fcp.node_name, fcp.logfile_name 
  FROM fnd_conc_pp_actions fcpp, fnd_concurrent_processes fcp 
WHERE fcpp.processor_id = fcp.concurrent_process_id 
   AND fcpp.action_type = 6 
   AND fcpp.concurrent_request_id = &&request_id

§  Via the Forms application:

1.       Login to the application as SYSADMIN

2.       Responsibility: System Administrator

3.       Function: Concurrent –> Manager –> Administration

4.       Select the Output Post Processor

5.       Click on the Processes button

6.       Select the Concurrent Process which was active during the time that the request ran

7.       Click on the Manager Log button to open the Output Post Processor log file

§  Via the Oracle Application Manager (OAM)

1.       Login to the application as SYSADMIN

2.       Responsibility: System Administration

3.       Function: Oracle Applications Manager –> Concurrent Managers

4.       Select the Output Post Processor Service and click on View Details

5.       Click on View Processes

6.       Select the Concurrent Process which was active during the time that the request ran

7.       Click on the Log button to open the Output Post Processor log file

Determine the current version of Oracle XML Publisher on an Oracle E-Business Suite environment.

Based upon an output file generated by XML Publisher

§  PDF Output

1.       Open the PDF document in Adobe Reader

2.       Open the menu File

3.       Select Document Properties

4.       Click on the tab Description

      ==> The property named PDF Producer will show e.g. Oracle XML Publisher 5.6.3.

§  RTF Output

1.       Open the RTF document in Microsoft Word

2.       Open the menu File

3.       Select Properties

4.       Click on the tab Summary

     ==> The property named Comments will show .e.g. Generated by Oracle XML Publisher 5.6.3

§  HTML and Excel output

1.       Open the document in Notepad (or any other plain text editor)

      ==> line 4 or 5 will show e.g. Generated by Oracle XML Publisher 5.6.1

With R12 – version is : 5.6.3

How to obtain the OPP debug log files 
Responsibility : System Administrator 
Concurrent Manager Administration 
Select the Output Post Processor 
Click on the Processes button 
Select the process that was active during the time  frame that your request ran. Select Manager Log