This lesson teaches you how to set up a BI Beans project and
create business intelligence objects such as Calculations, Crosstabs, and Graphs,
that serve as application components. These objects can be used in either BI
Beans HTML-client or Java-client Class applications.
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Overview
JDeveloper provides wizards that facilitate the development
of business intelligence objects, which are the building blocks of BI Beans
analytic applications. The definitions of these objects are stored in the local
BI Beans Catalog. The local catalog is automatically created in the development
machine's file system.
Business intelligence object definitions 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.
In order for this lesson to work successfully, you will need
to have performed the following:
1.
Have access to or have installed
Oracle Business Intelligence Beans. Links to installation instructions
can be found at the Oracle
Business Intelligence Documentation page.
2.
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.
Set Up a BI
Beans Project
To define the framework
for BI Beans application development, you must set up your project. This includes
creating three objects: a Workspace, a Project, and a BI Designer.
A Workspace keeps
track of the projects and environment settings that you use while developing
your application.
A Project is a
container for the source files that are used to create applications.
A BI Designer
is used to aid in the visual development of business intelligence objects.
To create a new JDeveloper workspace and project, you perform
the following steps:
1.
Double-click on the
Oracle10g JDeveloper icon on your desktop. The Oracle10g
JDeveloper main window opens.
2.
From the File menu, select New.
The New Gallery Dialog box opens.
3.
In the New Gallery
dialog box, under Categories, select General; under Items,
select Workspace and click OK.
The Create Workspace dialog box opens.
4.
In the Create Workspace dialog box, specify BIWorkspace
for the workspace file name. Accept the default workspace directory name
and ensure that the Add a New Empty Project box is checked.
Click OK to open the Create Project dialog.
5.
In the Create Project dialog box, accept the defaults and
click OK.
6.
From the File Menu, click Save All to
save your work.
Notice that the JDeveloper Applications-Navigator has been updated to
display your new workspace and project.
Create the BI Designer
The BI Designer is used to aid in the visual development of
your business intelligence objects. It also contains
references to the information that is required for connecting to Oracle OLAP
and to the BI Beans Catalog.
To create a new BI Designer, you use
a wizard that prompts you for the following information:
A BI Designer Name
An Oracle OLAP data
source that is the source of your business data
A local folder where
you save your business intelligence object definitions(crosstabs, graphs,
calculation and queries) during development..
In the JDeveloper
Applications-Navigator pane, select project Project1.
From the File menu, click New. The New Gallery dialog
opens.
2.
In the New Gallery
dialog box, under Categories, drill on the Business Intelligence
Beans node and then select Business Tier for OLAP.
Under Items, select Designer.
Click OK to launch the BI Designer
Wizard. Then, click Next in the Welcome page.
3.
In the BI Designer Object screen, you specify
the name for your BI Designer object.
Accept the default name and click Next to continue.
4.
In the OLAP Data Source
screen, you specify the Oracle OLAP data source. Click New.
This launches the OLAP Connection wizard. Click
Next in the Welcome page.
5.
In Step1of the OLAP
Connection wizard, you specify the connection name and type. Accept the
default Connection name and type. Click Next to continue.
6.
In Step 2, you specify
the access username and password to your OLAP data source. Enter CS_OLAP
as the username and CS_OLAP as the password. Leave the
Role field blank and Deploy Password checkbox unchecked. Click Next
to continue.
7.
In Step 3, you specify
the connection details for the database machine. Accept the default Thin
driver, then enter the appropriate hostname, JDBC port 1521, and SID.
Click Next.
8.
In Step 4, click Test
Connection. If the connection test is successful, then click
Next to proceed. If not verify the details from the previous
two steps.
Click Finish to complete the
OLAP Connection wizard. In the BI Designer Wizard, click Next
to continue.
9.
In Step 3 of the BI Designer Wizard,
you specify the location where you want to save your Business Intelligence
objects (for example crosstab and graph definitions).
Accept the default directory and click Next.
If the wizard prompts you to create the specified directory, click Yes.
Review the summary and click Finish to complete the
BI Designer Wizard.
10.
From the File Menu, click Save All to
save your work.
Examine BI Designer Settings
When you create a BI Designer, the JDeveloper Applications-Navigator
is updated to display three new project files: the BI Designer, a BI Configuration
file (...Confign.xml), and a Database Access Descriptor (DAD) file
(...Confign.dad).
The BI Designer file contains settings for
your design environment
The BI Configuration file contains settings
for your runtime environment
The Database Acess Descriptor file contains
database access information
The BI Designer also has a node called “Local Catalog,”
which represents the local file system location for BI Beans objects that you
create during design.
To examine or modify the settings for a BI Designer, follow
these steps:
1.
Right-click the BI
Designer and click Settings.
The BI Beans Settings dialog box opens.
2.
The BI Beans Setting
dialog box consists of two tabs: Design Settings and Run Settings.
The
Design Settings tab lets you view and edit settings in your BI Designer,
which contains information about the design time environment.
The Run Settings
tab lets you view and edit settings in your BI Configuration file,
which contains information about the run time environment. By default,
the run time settings are the same as the design time settings.
In this dialog, you can create a new data source connection, edit an
existing connection, or test the currently selected connection. In addition,
you can specify new locations for the local and remote Catalogs where
your BI Beans objects will be referenced.
Click Cancel to close the BI Beans Settings dialog box.
Create a Crosstab
A crosstab enables you to view complex query results in user-friendly
and formatted manner. It also allows you to explore and navigate through OLAP
data by drilling, paging, pivoting, and so on.
To create a crosstab, perform the following steps:
1.
In the Applications-Navigator pane, right-click
Project1BIDesigner1 and select New Crosstab
from the menu.
The Presentation Wizard is launched. Click Next
in the Welcome page.
2.
Notice that the Crosstab box is checked by
default. You specify the presentation name and description that will be
associated with the crosstab as follows:
Presentation Location
and Name:
Sales Analysis
Crosstab
Description:
My New Sales Analysis Report
Keywords:
sales report
Click Next to continue.
3.
In Step 2, the wizard displays a list of available measures
and dimensions that can be displayed in the crosstab. This list may include
folders that were created by the database administrator when setting up
Oracle OLAP. These folders
organize measures of similar business use.
In the available list, expand Electronics-KPIs folder
and select the measure Sales Revenue.
4.
Use the Add Selected Items button (">")
to move Sales Revenue to the Selected list.
Notice that Sales and its related dimensions are moved to the Selected
list because the Automatically add/remove dimensions
checkbox is checked.
Bypass the remaining steps for customizing the crosstab and click Finish
to create the crosstab.
Once created, the crosstab should open automatically in the Presentation
Editor. Later, you will learn how to customize this crosstab. Also, notice
that your new crosstab object has been added to the Applications-Navigator under
the Project1BIDesigner1 object.
In the next lesson, you will learn how to customize the crosstab.
5.
From the File Menu, select Save All to
save your work. Then choose File > Close
to close the crosstab.
Create a Graph
Graphs present complex query results in an interactive manner
allowing you to explore OLAP data by drilling or pivoting. There are 70+ graph
types, with special customizers for formatting various graph components (layout,
legend, series, axes).
In the Applications-Navigator pane, right-click
Project1BIDesigner1 and click New Graph
from the popup menu.
This launches the Presentation wizard. Click Next
in the Welcome page.
2.
Notice that the graph box is checked by default.
Specify the presentation name, description, and the search keywords that
you want to associate with the graph as follows:
Presentation Location
and Name:
Sales Analysis
Graph
Description:
Sales Analysis Graph
Keywords:
analysis graph
Click Next to continue.
3.
Now, you specify the graph type. You can experiment with
other graph types and review the extensive subtypes that appear in the
pane on the right.
Select Bar for both the Graph Type and Graph Subtype.
Click Next to continue.
4.
In the available list, expand Electronics-KPIs
folder and select the measure Sales Revenue.
Use the Add Selected Items button ("'>")
to move Sales Revenue to the Selected list.
Bypass the remaining steps for customizing the graph. Click Finish
to create a graph.
5.
Now, you should see the new graph in a Presentation Editor
as shown below. Also notice that your new graph object has been added
to the Applications-Navigator under the Project1BIDesigner1
object.
In the next lesson, you will learn how to customize the graph.
6.
From the File Menu, select Save All to
save your work. Then choose File > Close
to close the graph.
Create a Calculation
A calculation consists of existing data, functions
and constant values that are combined in a formula to produce a new value. The
calculation object can be used as any other measure in your data model.
The Calculation Wizard enables you to create
calculation objects. You perform the following steps to create a calculation:
Name your calculation
and select the calculation type.
Select items and enter
values to define your calculation.
Select the location
where you want to save your calculation.
Here, you create a calculation object named Sales
Revenue Growth % that uses the Sales Revenue measure.
Then, in a subsquent lesson, you will add this calculation to the crosstab.
1.
In the Applications-Navigator pane, right-click
Project1BIDesigner1 and select New Calculation
from the popup menu.
This starts the Calculation Wizard. Click Next
in the Welcome page.
2.
In Step 1 of the Calculation Wizard, enter
Sales Revenue Growth % as the name the calculation.
In this step, you also specify the calculation type. For Calculation
type, open the Prior/Future Comparison folder and select
Percent Difference from Prior Period . Click Next
to continue.
3.
The Percent Difference from Prior
Period calculation type returns the percentage difference between
the current value of a measure and the value of that measure from a prior
period.
In the Measure drop-down box, select More
to display a list of all available measures. In the Select Measure dialog
box, open the Electronics-KPIs folder, select the
Sales Revenue for the measure.
Then click OK.
4.
You can set the number format for the Sales
Revenue Growth %. Click Options to open the Number format
dialog box. Set the format to category Percent with 2
decimal places.
Click OK to continue.
5.
In the From section, select Year
Ago.
Click Next to continue.
6.
Accept the defaults for the labels of your new calculation
and the location where the calculation will be stored. Click Finish.
Notice that the Local Catalog node in the JDeveloper Applications-Navigator
has been updated to display your new calculation.
The calculation may now be used in crosstabs and graphs to display calculated
data. In subsequent lessons, you will include the calculation in your
presentations.
From
the File menu, click Save All to save your work.
Summary
In the first topic of the lesson, you looked at the basic
steps that are required to create a workspace, a project and a BIDesigner.
These objects act as containers for Java source files and for the BI Components
that are used in the development of your application.
The remaining topics introduced the Presentation wizard that
enables you to define data-aware crosstabs and graphs, and the Calculation wizard,
which entables you to create new calculations.
In the next lesson, you will learn how to enhance the presentations
by using the Query Builder.
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