In this lesson, you will learn how to incorporate BI Beans
objects, which were defined in lessons from the Develop Business Intelligence
Objects focus area, into a BI Beans JSP application and run the application
from within JDeveloper.
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Overview
BI Beans objects, such as presentations, calculations, and
saved selections, are the building blocks of BI Beans analytic applications.
The definitions of these objects are stored in the local BI Beans catalog on
the developer's machine. These objects can also be copied to a remote BI Beans
Catalog. The remote catalog is defined in an Oracle database, which allows analyses
to be shared within a user community.
The BI Beans object definitions only need to be created once.
They can then be referenced in BI Beans Java-Client applications or HTML client
applications alike.
The goal of this lesson is to generate a fully functional
BI Beans JSP application that incorporates the Stoplight Report that was created
previously. The application enables an end user to perform typical OLAP analyses,
including the following:
Open and save crosstabs and graphs
Modify queries
Create calculations
Format data presentations
Export data to a spreadsheet
Print
Menus and a toolbar provide access to these features.
As part of this lesson, you will run the application and
learn how to use a subset of the features that are provided.
Data Model
For information on the data model used in the BI Beans OBE
lessons, please see the Data Model
page.
High Level Objectives
The general business requirements of the BI Beans OBE lessons
are described in the Business Requirements
page.
Prerequisites
In order for this lesson to work successfully,
you will need to have performed the following:
Business Intelligence Beans provides
a set of samples to help you learn how to use the product. These samples
use the Oracle Common Schema analytic workspace as the sample data set.
The BI Beans OBE lessons also use the Common Schema analytic workspace
as the sample data set.
Therefore, if the BI Beans samples have been installed,
you should have access to the analytic workspace for the BI Beans OBE
lessons. If the BI Beans samples have not been installed, see Installing
the Oracle Business Intelligence Samples.
2.
Complete the first three lessons in
the Develop Business Intelligence Objects focus area.
Or,
You can use a BI Beans Project that contains all of the files that would
result from the completion of the tutorials in the first focus area. To
use this project, follow the instructions in Download,
Extract, and Open the BI Beans OBE Project.
Note: If you have completed any other lesson in this
focus area, then you already have the BI Beans OBE project that is required
for this lesson.
Download, Extract,
and Open the BI Beans OBE Project (optional)
To create a BI Beans
application, you must first develop the BI Beans objects that will be used
by the application.
If you have not completed the first three lessons
in the Develop Business Intelligence Objects focus area, or if you have not
already downloaded and extracted the BI Beans OBE Project as part of another
lesson in this focus area, use this optional topic. Otherwise, skip this topic
and move directly to the Generate a BI Beans
JSP Application topic.
This topic contains
instructions for downloading and opening the JDeveloper Project that contains
all of the files and objects that you need for this lesson.
To download and open
the BI Beans OBE Project, follow these steps:
1.
First create a new Workspace. From the File
menu, select New. The New Gallery dialog box opens.
2.
In the New Gallery dialog box, under
Categories, select General; under Items, select Workspace
and click OK.
The Create Workspace dialog box opens.
3.
In the Create Workspace dialog box, accept the default
name and directory for the workspace.
Note: Make note of the path for your workspace Directory
Name.
Ensure that the Add a New Empty Project box is not
checked, as shown in the screen shot below:
Click OK to create the Workspace. Click the Save
All tool to save the Workspace.
4.
Save the following self-extracting
archive, Project1.exe, to your local
machine.
For example, use your browser's right-mouse menu
to perform a Save As.
Note: Due to virus protection rules, the self-extracting
archive may copy to your machine with the name Project1,
rather than Project1.exe. If this is the case, you will
need to rename the file on your local machine by adding the .exe
extension before extracting its contents.
Once you have downloaded the archive, and renamed it if necessary, extract
the contents of the archive using the following steps:
A.
Double-click
on the self-extracting archive, Project1.exe.
B.
In the WinZip Self- Extractor dialog
box, use the Browse button to navigate to
the directory that was just established by the creation of your
new JDeveloper Workspace. For example, <JDeveloper_home>\jdev\mywork\Workspace1.
C.
Click the Unzip button.
The BI Beans OBE project is unzipped into your workspace directory.
Close the WinZip Self- Extractor dialog.
5.
In the JDeveloper Applications-Navigator,
select the new Workspace that you just created in Steps 1. - 3.
Then, from the main menu select File > Open.
6.
In the Open dialog, navigate to the Project1
directory below your workspace directory. This directory was created when
you extracted the archive in Step 4.
Select Project1.jpr
Click Open.
The Workspace and associated Project are displayed in the Navigator.
7.
Expand all of the
nodes in the Workspace, and you should see the following project files
in the Applications-Navigator:
8.
Now, you must specify your database connection to the Oracle
Common Schema analytic workspace in the BIDesigner. To do this, perform
the following:
A.
Right-mouse click on
Project1BIDesigner and select Settings
from the pop-up menu.
B.
In the BI Designer Settings dialog
box, click the Edit button just beneath the Connection
drop-down box.
The OLAP Connection Editor is displayed.
C.
Select the Connection
tab in the OLAP Connection Editor. Modify the connection details
for your Oracle OLAP data source.
D.
Select the Test
tab. Then, click Test Connection to verify that
your connection is valid.
Click OK to close the OLAP Connection Editor.
Notes:
If the connection fails, return to the Connection tab and re-enter
the connection information for your Oracle Common Schema analytic
workspace data source.
If you have not installed the Common Schema sample data set, follow
the instructions in Installing
the Oracle Common Schema, which is described in the Prerequistes
section.
E.
Click OK to close
the BI Beans Settings dialog box.
9.
From the File menu, choose Save
All.
Generate a BI Beans
JSP Application
The BI Beans JSP Application Wizard may be used
to generate a JSP application that uses the BI Beans objects that you select.
You can generate the application files in the same project
as your BI Beans objects, or you can create a new project to hold your application
files. Here, you will create a new project and then generate the BI Java-Client
application in that new project.
In the BI JSP Application Wizard, you are asked to select
or identify optional components that can be added to the application. Once you
have selected the components that you want, simply click OK to generate the
application.
Follow these steps to generate a BI Beans JSP application:
1.
In the Navigator, right-click on the Project
that you just created in the previous topic. Select New
from the pop-up menu.
2.
In the New Gallery dialog box, perform the
following:
A.
In the Categories box,
expand the Business Intelligence Beans node and then
expand the Web Tier node. Select JavaServer
Pages.
B.
In the Items box, select Complete
BI JSP Application.
C.
Click OK.
The Complete BI JSP Application wizard is opened. This wizard, which
is comprised of one dialog box, contains options for JSP application functions,
or components.
Here, you select the options that you want added to your application.
3.
First, select the BI Runtime Configuration file that the
application will use. This file contains the connection information for
your OLAP data connection and the location of your BI Beans objects.
By default, the Project1OLAPConfig1.xml - [Project1]
file should be selected in the Runtime Configuration file list. If not,
select this file from the drop-down list.
4.
Next, specify the presentation that is to be displayed
when the application starts. To do this, Select the Show a Default
Presentation option, and then click the Browse
button.
The Open dialog box is displayed.
5.
In the Open dialog box, select Sales Analysis Crosstab
and click OK.
The Sales Analysis Crosstab is displayed in the Location box of the Complete
BI JSP Application wizard.
6.
Now, select all of the other JSP application function options,
as shown here:
Click OK to generate the application.
A set of project files are created for your BI JSP application.
Note: When you first create a JSP application using
this wizard, a Readme page is displayed. Review the Readme page, which
describes all of the project files that are created as part of a JSP applications.
7.
When you are finished reviewing the Readme file, close
it by clicking the 'X' next to it's name, as shown below:
8.
From the main menu, choose File > Save
All.
View the JDeveloper
JSP Application Development Environment
When your BI JSP application is generated, a set of application
files are created that include:
A Java application source file
(BIJSPApp1.java)
Image files
XML files
JSP files
These application source code and support files are added
to the Applications-Navigator window under the project.
The number of image files and JSP files that are created
depend on the number of JSP application functions that you selected in the Complete
BI JSP Application wizard.
The primary JSP file for the application is named Analyze1.jsp.
Follow these steps to examine the application develoment environment:
1.
In the Applications - Navigator, right-click
on Analyze1.jsp and select Open to load
the primary JSP application page.
2.
Once the application loads, the JDeveloper
window layout should be divided into five areas as descibed below.
Area 1: Applications-Navigator
– Shows a list of project components, such as Designers, Java
files, XML files, HTML FILES, etc.
Area 2: Design/Source Window –
Consists of two tabs:
- The Design tab – Displays the UI view
of the application and allows a developer to edit the design visually.
- The Source tab – Displays the the JSP tags
and allows a developer to edit the application code directly.
Area 3: Structure Window –
Displays a view of application objects in a hierarchical drillable
tree mode. This display is dependent on the tab that is selected
in Area 2, and it refreshes automatically when you select a different
tab.
Area 4: Component Palette –
Displays a list of JSP and HTML components that can be used within
an application.
Area 5: Property Inspector –
Displays a window that is linked to the Structure window. Selecting
a component in the Structure window updates the Property Inspector.
This BI Beans JSP application is complete and ready to run.
Go to the next topic for instructions on running the application.
Run the Application
In this topic, you will compile and run the application
from within JDeveloper. You will also use some of the built-in features of the
generated BI JSP application to work with the Stoplight Report crosstab and
the Sales Analysis graph.
To compile and launch the application, follow
these steps:
1.
To check the structure of the application,
it is recommended to compile (Make) the application code.
In the Navigator, right-click Analyze1.jsp and choose
Make from the popup menu.
The status bar at the bottom of the JDeveloper window should report that
the compile process is successful.
2.
Right-click Analyze1.jsp
and choose Run from the popup menu.
JDeveloper's embedded OC4J server is started, and the application is
loaded into memory.
3.
The running application is displayed in a new window and
starts by showing the Stoplight Report crosstab that was selected as the
default presentation.
The page is divided into three main sections:
Main toolbuttons
The toolbuttons allow users to update the current report, save
the report to a new name, print the current report, export the current
report, create a new calculation, or edit the query for the report.
The toolbuttons are also displayed at the bottom of the application
window.
Note: For the Export feature, supported formats
include: MS Excel HTML (*.htm), Tabbed Text (*.txt), and Comma Separated
Values (*.csv).
Presentation toolbar
The toobar allows users to change the view from crosstab to graph
and vice versa, change the layout of the current report, modify
the format and stoplight formatting, sort dimension members, and
access previously saved dimension selections.
Select any one of the toolbar links to display the toobar menu
that is associated with the selected tool. For example, the Format
menu is expanded to show its options here:
Presentation area,
which contains the Crosstab or Graph.
Use the Presentation
Toolbar
In this subtopic, you will use some of the features of the
Presentation toolbar by performing the following:
Change the view of the Stoplight
report from a crosstab to a graph and back
Modify the layout of the report
Use a Saved Selection to change the member
selection for the Geography dimension
In the View menu, select the Graph option. Then, change
the graph type to Pie.
Click Go to update the report. The graph shows the contribution
of Sales for each of the selected Geography dimension members.
Reset the view back to a crosstab by selecting the Crosstab
option and clicking Go.
2.
To change the member selection in Page Items dimensions,
simply select the new dimension member from the drop-down list, and then
click Go.
You can also scroll horizontally in the crosstab by clicking the appropriate
link next to the Columns drop-down list. For example,
click the Right link to view the measure data for the
remaining selected products.
Scroll back to the left by clicking the Left link.
3.
Change the orientation of the crosstab by
using the Layout tool.
Click the Layout tool to display the Layout menu options.
Select the following:
option 1:
Swap
option 2:
Product
option 3:
With Geography
Click Go to update the crosstab.
In the year 2000, the Electronics product division contributed the most
in terms of sales growth in the Americas. Now, drill on the Electronics
division to view the data for its product groups.
The Game Consoles and Home Audio product groups are peforming the best
based on sales growth.
Collapse the Electronics division by clicking the minus ("-")
sign.
Finally, use the Layout tool to Swap the Product
and Geography dimension again. This will re-establish
the original orientation of the crosstab.
4.
Modify the Geography member selection by using a Saved
Selection.
Click the Saved Selections tool. In the Saved Selections
menu, select the following:
Dimension:
Geography
Action:
Add
Saved Selection:
European Areas
Click Go to update the crosstab. The dimension members
that were saved as European Areas are added to the Geography dimension
selection in the report.
5.
Modify the upper threshold of the stoplight format to
70%.
Click the Stoplight tool to display the stoplight options.
In the Stoplight menu, specify the following:
Format:
Sales Revenue
Growth %
Unacceptable
0
Acceptable:
0.70
Then, click Go.
The crosstab stoplight formatting updates to meet the new criteria.
6.
Finally, change the layout of the crosstab once more before
saving your changes to the crosstab as a new object.
Click the Layout tool to display the Layout menu options.
Select the following:
option 1:
Move
option 2:
Product
option 3:
To Page Items
Click Go to update the crosstab. The new layout should
look like this:
Save Crosstab Modifications
as a New Catalog Object
In this subtopic, you will save the modified
crosstab to the Catalog using a different name.
You will change the dimension selection for Geography
by creating a ranking condition that returns the top 10 countries based on Sales
Revenue, and then save the changes to the report.
Perform the following steps to edit the query:
1.
Click the Edit button in
the top right corner of the report window. The Edit: screen is displayed.
Click the Refine Selections link. The Refine Selections
tab displays the current selections for the measures and each dimension
in the query.
2.
In the Geography dimension, click the Delete
(trash can) icon for both of the selection steps to remove the entire
selection.
After deleting both steps, the Geography selection is empty:
3.
Now, in the Geography dimension, click the Create
Step button. The Step Type screen is displayed.
In the Step Type screen, select the Top / Bottom condition
type that contains the following description: Top or bottom members
based on a Measure, as shown here:
Click the Continue button to refine the condition.
4.
In the top portion of the Top/Bottom Step screen, select
the following options:
Level:
Country
Condition:
Operator
Top
Rank
10
Based On
Sales Revenue
5.
An OLAP ranking condition returns the appropriate dimension
members for the condition by using a specific combination of values for
the remaining,or qualifying, dimensions in the query. The values
for these dimensions are displayed in the Qualify Measure region,
in the bottom portion of the Top/Bottom Step screen
For example, our ranking condition as currently defined would return
the top 10 products for Channel total, Product
total , Promotion total and 1999,
as shown here:
In an OLAP ranking condition, you can use the Qualify Measure
region to select a different dimension member for each of the qualifying
dimensions in the query.
Even more, you can specify that the ranking condition should be re-executed
each time you select a new member from a qualifying dimension that is
in the Page Items region of the crosstab. To do this, choose
the Selected <Dimension> page item option in the
dimension value drop-down list.
Use the dimension value drop-down lists to select the following:
Channel:
Selected Channel
page item
Product
Selected Product page item
Promotion:
Promotion total
Time:
Selected Time page item
Click Finish to add the new Geography dimension Step
to the Query.
At the top of the Step Type screen, Click Apply to execute
the new query and update the crosstab
6.
With the inclusion of the new ranking condition, when you
select members from one of the Page Item dimensions, the Top 10 Country
list is refreshed for the current combination of selected dimension members.
For example, select the following dimension members from the Page Item
dimensions: Electronics, Channel total,
and 2000. Then click Go. The report
shows the following top 10 Countries based on Sales Revenue:
Now, select these dimension members from the Page Item dimensions: Photo,
Direct, and 2000. Then click Go.
The report shows a new list of top 10 Countries with the appropriate ranking
and stoplight formatting:
Feel free to experiment with the crosstab selections.
Note: As currently defined, the Geography ranking condition
is designed to re-execute every time a new Product, Time, and Channel
dimension member is selected. Therefore, while using this ranking condition,
these three qualifying dimensions must be located in the Page Items region
of the crosstab layout.
7.
When you are done experimenting with the crosstab, save the Country Ranking
Stoplight report by clicking the Save button.
Open and Modify a
Graph
In this subtopic, you will open the Sales Analysis
Graph. You will modify the graph format and the query for the graph. Finally,
you will save the modified graph to the Catalog using a different name.
Click the Catalog
link at the top left section of the application page.
The Catalog browser is opened.
2.
Click the link for the Sales Analysis
Graph.
The graph is displayed in the application, replacing the crosstab.
3.
First, use Query Editor to change the measures that are
displayed in the graph.
Click the Edit button at the top right corner of the
application page.
Then, in the Edit screen, click the Start With tab,
which is shown below:
Using the Start With tab, follow these steps to add the Sales Costs
measure to the graph:
A.
In the Available Items
panel, click the Available link as shown in the
following image:
All available measure folders are displayed in the list
B.
In the Available list, click the
drill symbol next to the Electronics - KPIs measure
folder. Then, in the Electronics - KPIs measure folder, click the
drill symbol next to Measures. The following list
is displayed:
Select Sales Cost by checking the box to the
left.
C.
Click on the Add
icon ('>') to add Sales Costs to the list of
Selected Items.
D.
Click the Apply button
at the top right corner of the Edit screen to add the measure to the
graph.
Sales Cost is added to the list of measures in the graph.
4.
Next, use the Layout tool to modify the layout of the
presentation.
Click the Layout tool to display the Layout menu options
and select the following:
option 1:
Swap
option 2:
Channel
option 3:
With Measure
Click
Go to update the graph, which should now look like the
following:
5.
Select other members from the Page Items dimensions and
see how the Top 5 Products list is re-evaluated based on the qualifying
dimension members.
For example, the selection of Channel total, United
States of America, and 2000 should create the
following graph result:
6.
Save the modified graph as a new object. First click the
Save As button in the application page.
Enter Sales and Costs for Top 5 Photo Products as the
name of the new graph, and then click Save.
The name of the report is updated, and a new object has been added to
the Catalog.
To exit the application and close the Java source code
file, perform the following:
1.
To exit the application, simply exit the Browser.
2.
Then, shut down the embedded OC4J engine by
selecting Run > Terminate > Embedded OC4J Server
from JDeveloper's main menu.
Summary
In this lesson, you learned how to generate an ad hoc query
and analysis application using the Complete BI JSP wizard.
You also learned how to use many of the features that integrated
into a generated BI Beans JSP application for analyzing and modifying crosstabs
and graphs.
Finally, you learned how to save modified reports as new objects
in the Catalog, and how to open objects from the Catalog.
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