Thursday, November 20, 2008

R12 Patch 5612820 Available: Changing the default layout format between RTF/PDF/Excel when submitting XML / BI Publisher Concurrent Request

In a previous post I provided a temporary solution for the issue where the default value for the Output Format of a BI Publisher based concurrent request was hardcoded to PDF.

For those those customers lucky enough to be on Release 12 I'm glad to say Oracle has provided a patch for this enhancement, the base issue documented in Metalink Note 401328.1 or Bug 5612820 or Bug 5036916:

  • R12 Patch 5612820 DEFAULT OUTPUT FORMAT ATTRIBUTE AT TEMPLATE LEVEL IS REQUIRED

This patch is included in R12 Release Update Pack 12.0.6, but as a note at the time of writing 5612820 is available on controlled release ... not sure of the reason since its in 12.0.6. The code base required for applying 5612820 is:

  • R12.AD.A.delta.4
  • R12.ATG_PF.A.delta.4

For those people on Release 11i, unfortunately you'll have to wait a little longer ... still awaiting the 11i version of the patch.

Here's a screenshot of the new Default Output Format field on the Templates page.

And verification that the default output format is indeed working...

Nice!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Discoverer Plus 10g: contact with Server lost: DiscoApplet Error DiscoNetworkException CORBA.COMM_FAILURE. ICX Territory!

An interesting one today; a Discoverer Plus Workbook called via an eBusiness Suite Menu errored out with:

OracleBI Discoverer: "Contact with the Discoverer Server has been lost. To continue your work, please restart Discoverer Plus. If this problem persists, please contact your Oracle Application Server administrator."

Doh! Who's that Application Server administrator ... oh! me :-(

Attempting to expand the workbook, after going directly into Discoverer Plus errors with:

"This workbook cannot be expanded".

 

Hmm, okay, let's look at the Java Console:

Reading bytes from input stream
   Unmarshalling response
   Session ID:2008111408252618857
   BI Beans Graph version [3.2.3.0.37]
   DiscoApplet[0]: Error received by GlobalStatusListener.workerFailed() in SessionUI.java
   DiscoNetworkException  - Nested exception: org.omg.CORBA.COMM_FAILURE:   vmcid: SUN  minor code: 208 completed: Maybe
   DiscoNetworkException  - Nested exception: org.omg.CORBA.COMM_FAILURE:   vmcid: SUN  minor code: 208 completed: Maybe
   org.omg.CORBA.COMM_FAILURE:   vmcid: SUN  minor code: 208 completed: Maybe
 at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.IIOPConnection.purge_calls(IIOPConnection.java:438)
 at com.sun.corba.se.internal.iiop.ReaderThread.run(ReaderThread.java:70)
 at sun.rmi.transport.StreamRemoteCall.exceptionReceivedFromServer(Unknown Source)
 at sun.rmi.transport.StreamRemoteCall.executeCall(Unknown Source)
 at sun.rmi.server.UnicastRef.invoke(Unknown Source)
 at oracle.disco.remote.rmi.serverbase.RMISessionBase_Stub.sendRecieveData(Unknown Source)
 at oracle.disco.model.corbaserver.ModelInterface.sendRecieveData(Unknown Source)
 at oracle.disco.model.corbaserver.ModelInterface.SendReceiveData(Unknown Source)
 at oracle.disco.model.corbaserver.serverrequest.DsrOpenWorkbook.xmlUpdateServer(Unknown Source)
 at oracle.disco.model.corbaserver.serverrequest.DsrCorbaXML.corbaUpdateServer(Unknown Source)
 at oracle.disco.model.corbaserver.serverrequest.DsrGeneralCorbaXML.updateServer(Unknown Source)
 

Ouch! Sounds like it hurts!

A quick blast through Metalink (oops MOS - My Oracle Support) and a bunch of old bugs later, not looking promising, however there's one major clue - the problem is only occurring for some Users. Okay, lets do a side by side comparison of Profile Options as a first guess:

User Level Profile Option Value Comparison Side by Side

select *
   from (
 with
 prof_di as
 ( select 'USER' level_name, 
 fu.user_name level_value, 
 fpo.profile_option_id,
 fpot.user_profile_option_name,
 fpo.profile_option_name,
 fpov.profile_option_value
 from   fnd_user fu, 
 fnd_profile_options fpo,
 fnd_profile_option_values fpov,
 fnd_profile_options_tl fpot
 where  fu.user_id = fpov.level_value
 and    fpo.profile_option_id = fpov.profile_option_id
 and    fpo.profile_option_name = fpot.profile_option_name
 and    fpot.language = 'US'
 and    fpov.level_id = 10004
 and    fu.user_name = 'SYSADMIN'
 ),
 prof_gr as
 (
 select 'USER' level_name, 
 fu.user_name level_value, 
 fpo.profile_option_id,
 fpot.user_profile_option_name,
 fpo.profile_option_name,
 fpov.profile_option_value
 from   fnd_user fu, 
 fnd_profile_options fpo,
 fnd_profile_option_values fpov,
 fnd_profile_options_tl fpot
 where  fu.user_id = fpov.level_value
 and    fpo.profile_option_id = fpov.profile_option_id
 and    fpo.profile_option_name = fpot.profile_option_name
 and    fpot.language = 'US'
 and    fpov.level_id = 10004
 and    fu.user_name = 'ROBERTSG'
 )
 select pd.profile_option_id
 ,      pd.user_profile_option_name
 ,      pd.profile_option_name
 ,      pd.profile_option_value d_value
 ,      pg.profile_option_value g_value
 ,      decode(pd.profile_option_value,pg.profile_option_value,'EQUAL','DIFF') status
 from   prof_di pd
 ,      prof_gr pg
 where  pd.profile_option_name = pg.profile_option_name (+)
 union
 select pg.profile_option_id
 ,      pg.user_profile_option_name
 ,      pg.profile_option_name
 ,      pd.profile_option_value d_value
 ,      pg.profile_option_value g_value
 ,      decode(pg.profile_option_value,pd.profile_option_value,'EQUAL','DIFF') status
 from   prof_di pd
 ,      prof_gr pg
 where  pg.profile_option_name = pd.profile_option_name (+)
 )
 where status != 'EQUAL';  

The query gets output that includes the following:

USER_PROFILE_OPTION_NAME PROFILE_OPTION_NAME D_VALUE     G_VALUE STATUS
------------------------ ------------------- ----------- ------- ------
ICX: Territory ICX_TERRITORY NEW ZEALAND AMERICA DIFF

Whenever I see anything related to "NLS_LANG" or "Territory" the alarm bells start ringing, and sure enough - for the problem User, just a quick navigate to the "Preferences" responsibility, General Preferences and change the Territory from New Zealand to United States and we're off and laughing again! Alternatively could have looked at the ICX: Territory profile option.

 

What was the real underlying problem? My guess is a clash on date formats for default parameter values ... but that's left for another day.

 

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Enhancing the Oracle eBusiness Suite 11i/12 Homepage Menu via Firefox, Greasemonkey, XPath, Javascript & DOM: aka Foxiness Menus

Update: 12-Nov-08 Extended script for Release 12

The Background

One of the most user-unfriendly and neglected aspects of the eBusiness Suite in my opinion is the homepage. No sooner than you arrive there you really just wanna get out, and get out fast! The majority of people I know, including myself, do one of the following:

  • Save one function from each of your primary responsibilities as a "Favorite" and thereafter only use the "Favorites" area of the homepage
  • After choosing the responsibility just blinding pick the first "Forms" based menu entry so that you get into the forms navigator menu. At least for any responsibility that still has a majority of forms.

One of the aspects that I've desired for a while is a tree based Responsibility menu structure. Now Oracle does provide this, but when I last checked, admitedly a few years ago, it required Oracle Portal integration. As a bit of a refresher, there is a profile option called "Self Service Personal Home Page mode" which used to be able to be set to "Personal Home Page" and then clicking on the responsibility went straight into forms for a Forms based application.

But from 11.5.10, "Self Service Personal Home Page mode" must be set to "Framework Only" and hence you now have an extra couple of mouse clicks to get to where you want to go. At least EBS Release 11i/12 has show/hide responsibilities.

Where is all this going you ask? Well, for a bit of late night entertainment ... sad I know ;-) plus a bit of experimentation, considering Firefox's 4th Birthday was just a couple of days ago, and since I'm now comfortable using Firefox with EBS, I've created a Greasemonkey script to give a smidgen of intelligence to the Framework homepage Responsibility menu.

Introducing the Virtuate Oracle EBS Homepage Menu enhancement Greasemonkey Script!

So, what does this do? Well it turns this:

Into this:

With a quick video here ... apologies if its a bit big:

How do I install it?

Assuming you have Firefox and Greasemonkey, just click on this UserScripts.org link and then click the install button! If you have any hassles, you're more than welcome to fix the code on UserScripts.org (or let me know)! Open Source rocks!

Requirements

References

Related Posts

 

Monday, November 03, 2008

Firefox with eBusiness Suite: Oracle JInitiator Plugin does not start - always get "must install plugin", Vista, Patch 5397653

This problem has bothered me for a while in a couple of scenarios, so time for another post ... after quite an absence I must admit. I'm well over my post Conference 1 & 2 catchup now. On with the enthusiasm!

Update: Firefox 3.x is now certified with EBS. See Steven's post for details.

So you're working with your favourite Firefox 2.x, because Firefox 3 hasn't quite been certified yet. You try to fire up Oracle Applications Forms via JInitiator 1.3.x (or even 1.1.8.x) and get the dreaded "you must install the Oracle JInitiator Plugin" box.

Well, chances are one of the following quick fixes will solve your problem:

1. If you have multiple JVM's installed or multiple versions of JInitiator

In this case you'll need to apply Patch 5397653: Firefox does not work with multiple java plugin versions. Its just a quick patch, no prereqs, go for it!

2. If you are using Microsoft Windows Vista

In this case I'll feel very sorry for as well as suggesting you copy jvm.dll from a Sun JRE 6.0 Update 1 (or higher) installation. This is as per Bug 6074498.

3. If you still have problems after the above.

Make sure you have switched off the Enable Java option in Firefox, per Note 285218.1.

  • Tools -> Options -> Content
  • Uncheck the 'Enable Java' option so that the Sun JRE plug-in is not enabled (this ensures that the Jinitiator plug-in is used instead).

If you have any other scenarios or issues with Firefox and JInitiator / Sun JRE Plugin, please post a comment here!

Reference

  • Patch 5397653: Firefox does not work with multiple java plugin versions
  • Note 285218.1: Recommended Browsers for Oracle E-Business Suite 11i
  • Bug 6074498: Unable To Connect To E-Business Suite On Vista

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