About Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2

Last revised: August 28, 2006

See Change Record

This document provides a complete, up-to-date description of Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2 (Patch 5097966). You should read and understand all tasks described here before you begin your installation. The most current version of About Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2 is OracleMetaLink Document 367394.1. Please ensure that you have the most current version before you begin.

How to Use this Document

This About Document contains the following information about Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.

1. New and Changed Features
2. New and Changed Components
3. New and Changed Setup Steps
4. Known Issues
5. Instructions for Applying Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup 5.6.2 
6. Implementation and User Documentation
7. Software Updates
8. About Document Change Record

Target Audience:

• The Business User: Provides knowledge and guidance regarding application functionality.
• The Database Administrator: Installs and configures the Oracle database and maintains database access controls.
• The System Administrator: Responsible for administering systems.

Prerequisite Patch Application Instructions:

1. You must have already completed an installation of, or upgrade to, Oracle Applications Release 11i before advancing to Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2. The patch application instructions in this document are appropriate for starting from any earlier version of Oracle XML Publisher Release 11i. 
2. If you do not already have a running Oracle Release 11i system, then you must first install the Oracle E-Business Suite. Please consult the related installation documentation, located on the Oracle Applications Online Documentation CD on OracleMetaLink.

Additional Product Information:

After you learn which features are new for your installation, you can find related information for those features by referring to the most recent version of your Oracle XML Publisher User and Implementation Documentation. You can also use the other sections of this document to learn about product enhancements made to Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.

1. New and Changed Features

New Features

Data Engine New Features

Support for retrieving BLOB images and CLOB column contents

The data engine now supports queries to retrieve BLOB images stored in the Oracle database. All image types supported by the RTF template are supported by the data engine. The data engine returns the BLOB as 64-bit encoding in the results XML.

You can also retrieve CLOB column contents. Whatever is stored in the CLOB will be returned in the query results. For example, XML stored as CLOB in the database can be returned as XML within the data engine results.

RTF Template Enhancements

The following features for RTF templates are now supported:

End on Even Layout - if your report has special requirements to end on an even page, you can now force the generation of an even ending page.

Hidden Text Support - you can now format text as "hidden" in your RTF template, and after report generation (RTF output), the hidden text will be maintained.

Paintbrush OLE object support - OLE objects are now supported in RTF templates.

e-Text Template Enhancements

The following enhancements have been added to e-Text template:

• Support for the IN predicate for the IF-THEN-ELSE control structure
• Support for "." element name
• Support for IN and NOT IN operators

Pluggable Bar Code Support

XML Publisher now provides an interface to call custom Java code to calculate barcode alogorithms and then send the results back to XML Publisher to include the barcodes in your documents.

Delivery Server Enhancement

External delivery channels are now supported. Use your operating system's native delivery commands to send documents.

2. New and Changed Components

This section lists the components that were added or changed for Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.  The components detailed in this section may have significant impact to existing customizations and/or extensions currently implemented on the system.  Take the necessary steps to review and understand the implications of these updates in these areas. For additional information refer to the Oracle Electronic Technical Reference Manuals (eTRM) located on OracleMetaLink.

There are no new or changed components in Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.

3. New and Changed Setup Steps

This section lists the setup steps that were added or changed for Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2 since the previous release.  Refer to Oracle XML Publisher User's Guide for complete documentation on these features. About Documents for previous Oracle XML Publisher releases are available on OracleMetaLink.

There are no new or changed setup steps for XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.

4. Known Issues

There are no known issues that will prevent you from successfully applying Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.

However, the following issues regarding XML generation by Oracle Reports are known and may impact your ability to successfully use XML Publisher. The fixes for these problems are provided below:

Oracle Reports 6i does not set the encoding attribute in generated XML output.

This issue affects XML Publisher reports and interfaces used to parse the Reports XML output. The fix has two parts, and is included in 11.5.10 CU2. This issue affects customers having non-UTF8 and non-ASCII Applications environments. The affected customers may choose either of the following options to resolve this issue:

• Option1: Upgrade to Applications Release 11.5.10 CU2, which includes the fix
• Option 2: Apply the following patches:
  • Part1: Fix for Bug 4105297 - Request the controlled release patch 4302733. The passwords can be accessed through the bug.
  • Part2: Fix for Bug 4105369 - Apply 11i.ADXE.1 FEB 2005 CUMULATIVE UPDATE (4175764)

Outdated Arabic message file in Oracle Reports

The following issue is outstanding for Developer 6i Patchset 17 (Developer version 6.0.8.26), and affects all versions of Oracle XML Publisher:

The Unix version of the Arabic message file, r60ar.msb, is outdated. This results in a failure while generating XML Publisher Reports in Arabic on Unix Platforms. This issue will be fixed in Patchset 18. Customers can resolve the issue by applying the patch 4173459 for Solaris platform, or by removing $ORACLE_HOME/reports60/mesg/r60ar.msb for other platforms.

References:

• Refer to the latest 11i Applications Recommended Patch List to see if you should apply any additional Oracle XML Publisher patches on top of Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2. To access the 11i Application Recommended Patch List:
  1. Log on to OracleMetaLink.
  2. On the OracleMetaLink page, click Patches.
  3. Click the eBusiness Suite Recommended Patch List link.
  4. Specify your query criteria to retrieve application recommended patches for your instance.

5. Instructions for Applying Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2

Read these instructions if you are advancing from an earlier version to this Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2. These patch application steps are cumulative and apply to all versions since the base release of 11i.1.

Tasks included in these instructions require use of the AutoPatch, AD Administration, and other AD utilities. For information about how to use these utilities, refer to Oracle Applications Maintenance Utilities, Release 11i .

If you have languages other than American English licensed in your installation, you should apply the translated versions (if they exist) of each Oracle Applications patch referenced in these instructions immediately after applying the American English version, unless the instructions state otherwise.

There may be both technical and functional steps required to apply this patch. Functional steps may require assistance from someone familiar with application setup and use, and with business processes at your enterprise.

Before you apply Oracle XML Publisher 5.6.2 rollup patch...

For the System Administrator...

Ensure that the Business User receives a copy of this document to review the new features included in Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2. Some optional features may require additional patches and technical setup.

For the Business User...

Review this document. This document contains the descriptions of new features that are being delivered by this rollup, implementation steps for these new features, and known issues with Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.

Pre-install Steps

The following pre-install steps must be completed prior to applying Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.

Step 1 Shut down all middle tier processes. (Database Administrator) (Required)

Shut down all your middle tier procesess before applying any patches.

Step 2 Apply AD prerequisites (Required)

The following patches are required prior to applying Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.

1. 4337683 - AD Patch 11i.AD.2.
2. 4104924 - TXK (FND) AutoConfig Template Rollup Patch K (July 2005)
   

Step 3 Apply additional prerequisites (Required).

• 1674407 - Update JavaMail API to version 1.2
• 3412795 - ADSPLICE Patch for XDO

Step 4 Oracle Release 11i Use of Multiple Organizations in Oracle Applications (Recommended)

Oracle Applications strongly recommends that our customers convert to Multi-Org as soon as possible. We are making this recommendation in order to prepare for improvements to performance across the Oracle E-Business Suite as well as to prepare for supporting Multi-Org Access Control, an upcoming feature of the Oracle E-Business Suite.

For detailed information, see Release 11i Use of Multiple Organizations in Oracle Applications (OracleMetaLink Document 210193.1).

Functional Prerequisites

There are no functional prerequisites for Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2.

Applying the Oracle XML Publisher 5.6.2 Rollup Patch...

Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2 contains a unified patch driver and may contain additional driver files to be applied with AutoPatch.  Please apply the driver file on all application tier server nodes. 

u5097966

After applying the unified driver, use AD Administration (adadmin) to compile menu information.

After you apply the Oracle XML Publisher 5.6.2 Rollup Patch...

Post-install Steps

Once you have successfully applied Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup Patch 5.6.2, you must complete these additional steps. If you have completed a step in a previous release implementation of XML Publisher, you do not need to repeat the step.

Step 1 Review the Latest 11i Applications Recommended Patch List

Refer to the latest 11i Applications Recommended Patch List to see if you should apply any additional Oracle patches on top of Oracle XML Publisher Core Rollup 5.6.2. To access the 11i Application Recommended Patch List:

1. Log on to OracleMetaLink.
2. On the OracleMetaLink page, click Patches.
3. Click the eBusiness Suite Recommended Patch List link.
4. Specify your query criteria to retrieve application recommended patches for your instance.

Step 2 Generate Message Files (Required) (Database Administrator)

Generate message files using the AD Administration utility (adadmin). Within adadmin, choose the Generate Applications Files menu option and choose the Generate message files task. For more information, refer to "Generating Applications Files" in Oracle Applications Maintenance Utilities, Release 11i.

Step 3 Restart the middle tier processes. (Database Administrator)

Step 4 Run XML Publisher Template Re-Generator concurrent program. (Required for Upgrades Only) (System Administrator)

If you are upgrading from an earlier version of XML Publisher, you must run the XML Publisher Template Re-Generator concurrent program. Use Standard Request Submission to submit this request from the XML Publisher Administrator responsibility. The request will prompt you for the following parameter:

Regeneration Criteria

Select "Outdated" to regenerate only outdated templates.

Select "All" to regenerate all templates.

 

Step 5 Download and Install Oracle XML Publisher Desktop (Business User)(Optional)

Patch 5027437 Oracle XML Publisher Desktop 5.6.2

This patch contains the Template Builder and the Template Viewer, two desktop tools that will increase your productivity using XML Publisher. The Template Builder is an extension to Microsoft Word that simplifies the development of RTF templates. It automates many of the manual steps that would otherwise be required. The Template Viewer is a Java application that facilitates the rapid development of templates by providing advanced preview capabilities. See the patch readme and help files for user documentation and desktop system requirements.

6. Implementation and User Documentation

The Oracle XML Publisher User's Guide is available as a PDF attachment to this document. The Java reference documents (javadocs) that accompany the API chapter are available in the following zip file:

XML Publisher Release 5.6.2 Core API Javadocs

Additional information including demos and sample templates for XML Publisher can also be found on the Oracle Technology Network.

You can also post any questions to the XML Publisher Forum.

Note that the Oracle Applications Online Documentation CD is available on OracleMetaLink.  It contains the most current Documentation Library plus all documents revised or released since the creation of the 11i.10 Documentation Library CD.

7. Software Updates

8. About Document Change Record

Date	Description of Change
April 28, 2006	Published document.
June 6, 2006	Updated post-install step regarding fonts: added requirement to apply patch 3639533, if fonts not present in $FND_TOP/resource.
June 13, 2006	Updated Post-Install steps. Deleted steps that would have already been performed in an XML Publisher installation. Added additional Attention note to the Pre-install Steps section to ensure that customers apply this patch to an existing 5.6.1 installation of XML Publisher, if they wish to have the most current and complete E-Business Suite functionality.
August 28, 2006	Updated link to the patch.

Oracle Corporation

Copyright Notice
Copyright © 1994-2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Trademark Notice
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.