I'm generally nervous when I hear people that deal with software throw around the phrase "loosely coupled" with exhuberance. For me, loose coupling is one of the few phrases that resonates a feeling of ambivalence. An abstraction layer is a necessity, especially in proprietory software, to give you the coding hooks you need. Just be careful though to avoid Special Deliveries of Coal. Classic!
Catch ya!It had to happen. I've moved away from very retro hardware requirements and a couple of hacks to something much simpler, and more applicable to "modern" computers ie. those with USB ;-)
No. 8 wire solution no longer needed ... luckily the wires aren't that thick :-)
Old:
New:
Bonus points to Readers that guess the application of this stuff!
Catch ya!
Revisited: Following the upgrade from Metalink to My Oracle Support (MOS) I've updated the Note and Bug search engines (files oranote.xml and orabug.xml) per my prior post.
Revisited again 30-NOV-2010: Following the ARU change I've updated the Patch search engine (file orapatch.xml) per my prior post.
Navigate directly to a specific Oracle Patch, MOS/Metalink Note or Bug, speeding things up & sidestep that Flash! You gotta know the Patch/Note/Bug number you wanna get to:
Disclaimer: This page may become out of date very quickly!
Only a couple of days of Metalink access left, with the change over to full My Oracle Support due on Friday - 6 November 09.
For me this is a somewhat sad occasion. Metalink has been around for such a long time, and has been a great companion, it will be a shame to see it go.
We now herald in the era of MOS (My Oracle Support). And of course, with any shiny new thing, there have been discussions and more discussions. With that debate there has been some good feedback, some negative. To be honest I'm a bit nervous about this change. I'd be keen to know why the APEX interface of Metalink is on the out, when APEX was just brought in for the latest Oracle Store, and with some very sexy functionality on the horizon. The answer is sure to be a double edged sword ;-)
At the end of the day MOS as I've seen so far just doesn't tick all the boxes for me. That will hopefully change. Hopefully soon. My biggest gripe of course would be Flash versus HTML. Given Oracle's current catchphrase "Open. Complete. Integrated." I'd have thought Flash would be a little further down the list than HTML for many of the MOS components. One issue related to this can be summed up by the following screenshot. The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot the problem in the following picture:
… with the issue being the Firefox "Find" not finding "Font" when it was present many times on the MOS search results presented. A bit of a hassle that something I use regularly ain't gonna work. Guess I'll need to have two sessions up, one Flash, one HTML.
Fortunately, it seems an HTML interface will still be available according to Note 841061.1, with limited functionality including SR Management? BUT WAIT ... while I was writing this post I got another MOS related announcement... No SR Management??? Hmm, this is specific to "On Demand" functionality. Fingers crossed for SR Management through the HTML only interface!
The HTML option will not support the following On Demand functionality:
- Service Request management
- Change Request Management
- Viewing performance reports
And there are some other little things that will probably come out in the wash, like email notifications no longer linking directly to an SR:
Prior:
New:
Oh, and of course, let's hope the powers that be manage to keep the gremlins away...
Exception Gremlin:
I/O Gremlin:
Error 1088 Gremlin:
Internal Gremlin:
Well ... I guess we'll find out where we stand in a couple of days!
Catch ya!
Apologies for the cryptic title on this one. The issue is a simple but subtle one ... and if you're not an eBusiness Suite customer, but interested in the BIP HTML formatting part, please read on as the discussion may be relevant.
In the Oracle eBusiness Suite Release 12 there is an out-of-the-box solution for sending Payables Remitttance Advice notices via Email. The program is "Send Separate Remittance Advices" and is integrated into the Payments Process. The standard solution utilizes XML Publisher under the covers, but (at the time of writing) has been coded to force HTML output for the Email content and uses its own delivery mechanism, rather than a more flexible bursting one that could attach PDFs to emails. Now, this means there are a couple of limitations with the output format for these Remittance Advice notices:
So the out-of-the-box solution has these gotcha's until such time as it uses a "fixed-format", "all content embedded in email" delivery method such as attaching a PDF to the email with the advice details...
BUT WAIT, there may be workarounds.
For Issue 1. we can tell XML / BI Publisher to embed Inline CSS rather than CSS Stylesheets using the following undocumented XML Publisher configuration. Place the following configuration in the xdo.cfg file and put it in eBusiness Suite $XDO_TOP/resource directory. Usual caveats apply; please test this before rolling to Production. Also be aware that this may affect all HTML output, with output file sizes likely to increase.
<config version="1.0.0" xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/oxp/config/"> <properties> <!-- html-css-embedding valid values embed-to-element | embed-to-header | externalize --> <property name="html-css-embedding">embed-to-element</property> </properties> </config>
For Issue 2. one trick is to place your formatting inside a Table and fix the width / height to that which you require. This may take a smidgen of tweaking, but at least you can get something that looks and prints nicely.
For Issue 3 ... well, I'm still working that one - no workaround from Support yet to embed the images in the HTML. Will keep you posted. UPDATE: Enhancement request (ER) Bug 9834226 has been raised for the issue of inability to embed images in Remittance Advice.
Hope this helps.
Catch ya!
Gareth
This is a post from Gareth's blog at http://garethroberts.blogspot.com
Just a short post with a note of how to get Oracle eBusiness Suite Concurrent Program Parameters into the output on an XML Publisher RTF Template.
There are two simple options, given an example parameter with token P_ORG_ID:
1. Add the concurrent program parameter as a field in the XML - this may be easier / necessary when you get to bursting or similar. Refer to the parameter using the usual <?P_ORG_ID?> RTF syntax.
2. Add the parameter using the param@begin syntax at the top of your RTF file:
<?param@begin:P_ORG_ID?>
And then refer the the value using dollar notation:
<?$P_ORG_ID?>
Catch ya!
Gareth
This is a post from Gareth's blog at http://garethroberts.blogspot.com
So you've just finished the first cut of your funky BI
Publisher Check (Cheque) format template, and you feel pretty accomplished:
<?attribute@incontext:end-indent;'0.0pt'?> <?attribute@incontext:start-indent;'0.0pt'?> <?attribute@incontext:padding-start;'0.0pt'?>
If you're interesting in presenting please take a moment to read this message from the New Zealand Oracle Users Group, and note the deadline for submissions is at the end of next week 31-Oct-09! For full information please see the NZOUG Website. Disclaimer: I'm on the NZOUG Committee.
The New Zealand Oracle Users Group is pleased to announce… Call for Papers and Training for the 2010 Conference 15th and 16th March 2010 We only require your presentation or training topic and short abstract at this stage. We invite all users and suppliers of Oracle technology, Oracle applications and related products and services to submit presentations or training sessions including:
Presentation topics may include but are not limited to Oracle Applications such as EBS, JDE and Peoplesoft, BI Applications, Oracle Development, Middleware and Database technologies. Everything is welcome for submission but delegates are especially interested in hearing case studies of real life scenarios and situations, lessons learnt and best practices. Both Technical and Business streams will run throughout the conference programme with presentations covering the implementation, use and support of the whole range of Oracle and associated third party products and services. If your paper is selected for presentation:
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SUBMITTING AN ABSTRACT |
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How do I submit an abstract? Visit our abstract submission website and complete the Call for Papers submission, by 31 October 2009. We encourage you to submit your topic or interest by this time as last year we had a great selection from the first call. You are welcome to suggest a topic you’d like to hear at the conference and we’ll try to source a presenter, also any questions, suggestions or comments are welcome at anytime to papers@nzoug.org Remember to visit our website for all up to date information on regional events, the conference, and other news. We look forward to receiving your submissions by 31 October 2009 |
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HOW DO I REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE? |
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Simply click here to register for the conference at our online registration page. |
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WHAT DISCOUNTS CAN WE GET? |
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There will be an early bird discount for all registrations before the 1st January 2010. After that standard rates apply so get registering now. Amazing 2010 Offer!!!! Register 3 Full Registration Attendees and get an additional Full Registration, for another member of your team, absolutely free. So if you have more than 3 people who would like to attend this great exciting educational event then it is even cheaper than ever before. Conditions Apply. |
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PRICES |
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VENUE AND DATES |
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15th and 16th March 2010 Rotorua - Energy Events Centre – Same city, new location! |
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NEED MORE INFORMATION? |
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Contact us via our website or for any other questions please contact our conference management company, The Conference Company. By phone on 09 360 1240 or by email at nzoug@tcc.co.nz |
With OpenWorld 2009 all done plus a few highly enjoyable days in the Valley I'm now back at home. I had a fantastic time once again, second time around was much less daunting - I went for less sessions, more unconference and more shopping!
The first couple of days of OpenWorld this year seemed very light on attendees, but with a flurry of activity in the last few days and a fantastic appreciation event - an awesome performance from Aerosmith - things really picked up. Very few product announcements of essence from the Oracle team so the real highlights for me were catching up with a variety of people/groups at a number of events:
A huge thanks to all the above for the hospitality.
So only a few notes this year that took my interest to note them down. It seems a bit light especially on the eBusiness Suite side so if I have missed anything major, please post a comment.
Larry's Keynote Announcements:
Just the one product release announcement related to my areas of work:
A number of interesting things up and coming, but most set for calendar year 2010.
OBI 11g - yet to be released, but demo'd, with my notes:
Oracle APEX 4.0
E-Business Suite:
Some other interesting tidbits that I noted:
Wrap-Up
So another excellent OpenWorld over - thanks to Oracle for putting on another flawless event and appreciate the Bloggers Pass. Even the weather made me feel at home ;-)
Next major event on my calendar is the NZOUG Conference 2010, Rotorua, New Zealand, March 15-16 2010 - looking forward to it. Hope to see some of you there!
PS. On a side note, from a New Zealand perspective, interesting that an IBM data center should fail around OpenWorld given Larry's consistent reiteration about the redundancies in the Oracle Database Machine and lack thereof in IBM's ex TPC-C beating solution! Even more than a week later seems like things are not quite back to the usual high Air New Zealand standards - following pic snapped 20-Oct-09.
Off to Openworld 2009 in a couple of days. Given that it's my second time I know a lot more of what to expect. But of course my schedule is overflowing again - even more of a mixed bag this time with fewer conference sessions, but more meetups and unconference sessions that I should have looked at more closely last year!
Here's what my main schedule looks like:
Hope to see you there - And a huge thanks to Oracle for the blogger's pass - wouldn't be there without it!
Catch ya!
Gareth
So you're working with Discoverer 10g integrated with the Oracle eBusiness Suite on Release 12. You've installed and set everything up per Metalink/MOS Note 373634.1 "Using Discoverer 10.1.2 with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12" plus created a custom application and responsibility to have it's own menu items corresponding to your Discoverer Workbooks/Worksheets.
You login to your new responsibility and click on your new menu entry that you created per Metalink/MOS Note "How to Create a Link to a Discoverer Workbook in Apps R12" and what do you get when you query subledger data such as Payables Invoices, or secured General Ledger data?
This sheet currently contains no data.
Well, its a quick fix. Simply save the following value in the "Initialization SQL Statement - Custom" profile option at Responsibility level for your new Responsibility.
begin gl_security_pkg.init; mo_global.init('M'); end;
Note: this may depend on your setup of the following profile options:
All sorted!
Oracle has announced the availability of Release 12.1, plenty of buzz around on this and Beehive updates.
Update: Oracle Application Management / Change Management Pack 3.0 also released! See Patch 8333939
Let's take a look at the Top Eight R12.1 new ATG (Applications Technology) features from my perspective.
Plenty of other candidates, but those are the ones that took my fancy from the ATG bag of tricks!
So how am I doing against my Chinese New Year predictions?
Disclaimer: The words, ideas and opinions here are my own. Please don't assume they represent the opinion of any other person or organization. This information is based on various sources, so it may not match the actual functionality delivered!
NZOUG Regional Events this week and next week!
Yes, I'll be out of the cave for a change on Friday!
If you'd like to discuss anything from my recent bag of tricks:
OBIA/OBIEE with Oracle eBusiness Suite and all things Business Intelligence related, EBS and APEX Integration, advanced BI Publisher techniques, complex EBS auditing and AuditTrail, scanning documents to EBS, EBS and custom JSPs, Discoverer, OAF, Oracle VPD, CPU/Security Updates, EBS R12 on a Laptop, EBS with Firefox/Greasemonkey, hacking adpatch or even MySQL, Drupal, SugarCRM:
come down to the NZOUG Event at the the Oracle Wellington on Friday 3.30pm - make sure you drop through an email to register.
NZOUG Regional Events are happening:
Check out the NZOUG website for details.
Photo: Flickr: David
Revisited again 30-NOV-2010: Following the ARU change I've updated the Patch search engine (file orapatch.xml)
Update: The Note and Bug search engines (files oranote.xml and orabug.xml) have been updated post upgrade to My Oracle Support (MOS).
Navigating directly to a specific Oracle Patch, Metalink Note or Bug is a bit of a chore. Not to mention Metalink / My Oracle Support (MOS) could do with a mobile interface to speed things up & sidestep that Flash! Cut'n'pasting from my text file with the URL templates was getting tedious. So with inspiration from Eddie Awad's posts, I've put together three custom Firefox Search Engines, well, not really Search Engines, but "I'm Feeling Lucky" engines. You gotta know the Patch/Note/Bug number you wanna get to:
Once you've installed them, hit Control-K, choose the Patch, Note or Bug "search engine" (Control-Down Arrow), enter or paste the exact Patch, Note or Bug number, hit enter and voila, you're there ... if you're logged into the target site!
Give it a try: e.g. Patch 5612820, Note 444524.1, Bug 6074498.
If you get the XML files, put them in your C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins folder (or similar), restart your browser and you'll be up and running!
If you need a generic Metalink search engine in the same vain look here.
PS. You will need your Metalink (MOS) username/password to get to the target pages.
PPS. Hoping Oracle doesn't change the URL structures 2 minutes after I post this ;-) Let me know if I don't notice when that happens!
Eddie's posts:
Some good news for eBusiness Suite 11i "bippers" to kick off the year of the Ox. In a previous post I provided a temporary solution for the issue where the default value of the Output Format for a BI Publisher based concurrent request was hardcoded to PDF. Many people have requirements to default the output type to Excel (xls).
Happily, my custom solution is now obsolete.
I'm pleased to advise that on 9-Jan-2009 Oracle provided Patch 5612820 for Oracle eBusiness Suite Release 11i. This patch has a co-requisite, Patch 7627832 released 11-Dec-2008 that took me a while to track down! Now both major current install levels of R11i and R12 are catered for:
For R11i prerequisites, you'll need to be on ATG RUP 6 Patch 5903765 see Note:444524.1, which I previously wrote about here. Both patch 7627832 and ATG RUP 6 have a number of other prerequisites and postrequisites so you may have some patching to do to get your 11i environment up to the required patch level.
For R12, Patch 5612820 is included in Release Update Pack 12.0.6, otherwise you'll need R12.AD.A.delta.4 and R12.ATG_PF.A.delta.4 before it can be applied.
Here are some screenshots of the new Default Output Type field on the Templates page.
Release 11i:
Release 12:
And the new Profile Option FND: Default Template Output Type, which takes effect if there is no default output type on the XMLP Template setup.
Release 11i:
And verification that the default output format is indeed working...
Release 11i:
Release 12:
Nice, get patching!
Gong Xi Fa Cai
Happy Chinese New Year - for January the 26th!
2008 has been and gone, and we're well into 2009. Let's look at some of potential up and coming tidbits for the Oracle eBusiness Suite.
1. Release 12.1: I was expecting this late last year, but we saw 12.0.6 instead. Release 12.1 promises to deliver a number of things, the main one for me will be a whole swag of XML / BI Publisher layouts for standard reports. A couple of Metalink oops My Oracle Support Notes indicate R12.1 is in controlled release. Haven't had a chance to track down the patch number .. anyone have it? For documentation on R12.1 see the Release Content Documentation.
2. Patch 5612820 for EBS Release 11i: This minor piece of functionality to default the Layout Format for BI Publisher based concurrent requests has been nagging me. Its out for R12, and actually its already out for R11i (9-Jan-2009) however ... the Default Layout on the XMLP side is there but the critical concurrent processing portion to default the layout on a concurrent request was missing so its back with Development. I'll keep you posted.
3. Native Excel Templates for XML / BI Publisher: This one may be subtle but for me its a biggie. Release 12 FSGs with native Excel Templates I believe are in controlled release. RTF templates have their moments, but I know a number people are looking for Excel templates. Excel and Accounting live together, and its high time they were standard for XML Publisher with eBusiness Suite. Here's hoping for more than just FSG native Excel templates.
4. Further emergence of OBIA with EBS: I've spent quite a bit of time with the Business Intelligence products lately, and the Oracle Business Intelligence Applications (OBIA) stack is a formidible beast. Albeit complex, there is plenty of sense and underlying power. I think only a handful of people have tapped into this and I'm keen to see how it plays out this year.
5. Change Management Pack for the eBusiness Suite: I'll be watching this closely too - the important parts from my perspective will be automated patching, and the ability to cut your own custom patches for applying using adpatch - nice, but of course I'm assuming you'll need front up with a few $$ too. Watch this space.
6. New Oracle Application Express (APEX) listener: Apparently due in APEX v4, the new listener will hopefully once again push APEX squarely back into the realm of the EBS after mod_plsql's support was tragically cast aside, only to resurface after clarification from Oracle :-) Any update on this David?
7. Oracle Fusion Applications: I wasn't sure whether to put this in, but I think its worth a mention. Perhaps shouldn't include it here with the emphasis on 2009 as my gut feel is that we'll be waiting a tad longer than that. However, if you've heard anything let us know!
8. What's happening for me in 2009? Well, fingers crossed I'll get stuck into a couple of projects that should have seen the light in 2008!
Do you have any hopes/requests/tidbits for Oracle eBusiness Suite action in 2009? Post a comment.
In my neck of the woods a whole lot went on in 2008 including Website launches, Virtuate contract wins, Product demos, a GreaseMonkey Script release, attending OpenWorld for the first time, joining the NZOUG committee and helping to organize the NZOUG Conference, a new phone (Nokia E71 - nice), a new laptop (Toshiba A300 Y01 running Vista 64 ouch) and a ton more. Despite the gloomy economic outlook I'm hugely looking forward to 2009, the year of the Ox.
Disclaimer: The words, ideas and opinions here are my own. Please don't assume they represent the opinion of any other person or organization.
