| How-To Document
Integrating Oracle Application Express (formerly HTML DB) and Oracle Portal with the OmniPortlet:
Making an OmniPortlet Parameter Driven
Date: 15-NOV-2003
After completing this How-To, you should be able to understand:
-
- How to add a parameter to an Oracle Portal page which will filter the data displayed in an OmniPortlet
Introduction
In Oracle Portal, the OmniPortlet is a powerful mechanism to capture and display data from a variety of external sources. One type of source which the OmniPortlet works with is XML. Since Oracle HTML DB can automatically format any report as an XML document, it is possible to integrate it with Oracle Portal by setting up an OmniPortet.
Software Requirements
Steps Required
In this example, we will create a Simple Parameter Form which will act as a filter for an OmniPortlet.
You must have completed the
Create a Chart How To before attempting this one, as this How To will build on the chart that was created.
Steps in Oracle HTML DB
- Navigate to the page where your HTML DB XML Report that you created in the
Create a Chart How To is located
- Change the SQL so that it now reads:
SELECT b.product_name, b.product_id, SUM(a.quantity * b.list_price)
FROM DEMO_ORDER_ITEMS a, DEMO_PRODUCT_INFO b
WHERE a.product_id = b.product_id
A
ND UPPER(b.product_name) LIKE '%' || UPPER(:PRODUCT_NAME) || '%'
GROUP BY b.product_name, b.product_id
Note: The
demo_order_items &
demo_product_info tables are installed as part of the Sample Application, in the schema that your workspace is based on. If you have removed this application or the tables, you can reinstall it by clicking on the Home icon, and then Review Demonstration Applications in the Tasks region in HTML DB.
- Click on the
Report Attributes tab, and under the
Messages section, clear all text out of the
When No Data Found Message.
- Click on
Apply Changes.
- Click on
Create in the
Items region of the page.
- Give the item the name
PRODUCT_NAME, and set
Display As to
Hidden. Click on
Next
and then click on
Create Item. This is the item that will receive the parameter from Oracle Portal and use it as a bind variable in the above SQL statement to limit the results of the report before it is passed over to Portal as an XML Document.
Steps in Oracle Portal
- Sign on to Oracle Portal as a user with privileges to create pages and assemble content.
- Navigate to where you created your chart in the How To
Create a Chart.
- Add another portlet to the page by selecting the Add Portlet icon. Navigate and find the
Simple Parameter Form, and then click
OK once you've added it to the page. You can add it anywhere on the page - it does not have to be in the same region as the OmniPortlet.
- Click on
Define your Simple Parameter Form.
- You can optionally add header and footer text here, as well as change the title of the portlet. Click on
Next.
- In the Entry Fields section, change the
Label for
Field 1 to "
Product Name" and change the
Display As for
Field 2 to
Hidden. Click on Finish. You do not need to complete the items on the next page.
- Edit the Page Properties by clicking on the Page:
Properties link at the top of the page.
- Click on the
Parameters tab.
- Under the
New Page Parameter section, enter
Param1 in the
Parameter Name box and click on
Add.
- Click on the triangle next to the
OmniPortlet Portlet. Set the value of
Param1 to
Page Parameter, and then the next value which will appear to
Param1.
- Click on the triangle next to the
Sample Parameter Form Portlet. Set the value of
Param1 to
Page Parameter, and then the next value which will appear to
Param1.
- Click on
OK.
- Edit the Page Properties by clicking on the Page:
Properties link at the top of the page.
- Click on the
Events tab.
- Click on the triangle next to the
Sample Parameter Form Portlet. Click on the
Submit link.
- Set the value of
When this event is raised: to
Go To Page:
- Click on the
LOV icon next to the
Go To Page: text box, and find the page where your OmniPortlet and Simple Parameter Form is located and select the
Return Object link next to it.
- Under the
Page Input section - which should display under the
When this event is raised section - set
Param1 =
Event Output, and then select
Parameter 1 from the next select list which will appear to the right.
- Click on
OK.
- Edit the default properties of the
OmniPortlet by clicking on the
Edit Defaults icon.
- Under the source tab, the value of
XML URL similar to this
http://myserver.com/pls/htmldb/f?p=100:1
- You need to append the following to the
XML URL in order to pass the search term back to Oracle HTML DB:
:::::PRODUCT_NAME:##ProductName##
- So that your new
XML URL will look something like this:
http://myserver.com/pls/htmldb/f?p=100:1:::::PRODUCT_NAME:##Param1##
- Click on
OK to save the changes.
- You can now enter some text into the
Product Name text box, click on
Submit, and watch the chart change based on your query. Try
USB,
mouse, or
home as search terms to test the form. Results will be similar to those displayed in
Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: An example of an OmniPortlet chart and a Simple Parameter Form, which is being to used to filter the result set at the HTML DB instance, before the XML document is sent to Oracle Portal
Additional Resources
Discuss this how-to in the
Oracle HTML DB Discussion Forum
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