About Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6

Last revised: November 18, 2005

See Change Record

This document provides a complete, up-to-date description of Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6 (Patch 4561451). You should read and understand all tasks described here before you begin your installation. The most current version of About Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6 is OracleMetaLink Document 337999.1. 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 Release 5.6.

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 Release 5.6 
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 Release 5.6. 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 and Online Help. You can also use the other sections of this document to learn about product enhancements made to Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6.

1. New and Changed Features

New Features

Administration User Interface 

The XML Publisher Administrator responsibility now provides an Administration interface. Using this interface you can set configuration properties, define font mappings, upload font files, and define currency formats. You can configure the behavior of XML Publisher at the site level, data definition level, and template level. Previously the properties available through this feature were configurable only through the XML Publisher configuration file, and only at the server level. For customers who have already configured their systems using the xdo.cfg file, a command line utility is available to migrate their existing settings to the database (see Post-Install steps). 

Configuration

All the properties available in the XML Publisher 5.5 release are available from the Configuration page. The following properties are new for 5.6:

• Replace smart quotes for PDF output
• Replace smart quotes for HTML output
• Enable change tracking for RTF output
• Protect document for tracked changes for RTF output
• Base image URI
• Image file directory
• Base CSS URI
• CSS file directory
• Show header
• Show footer
• Characters used for checkbox

Upload Font Files and Create Font Mappings

You can now upload fonts through the Administration interface to make them available to XML Publisher at runtime. You can also create font mappings to map fonts used in your template to other fonts to be published in PDF output. The mapping can be defined at the site level, the template level, or the data definition level.

Define Currency Formats

This feature allows you to map a number format mask to a specific currency so that your reports can display multiple currencies with their own corresponding formatting.

XML Publisher Data Engine and Data Template

XML Publisher now supports data generation. The XMLP data engine enables you to rapidly generate any kind of XML data structure against the Oracle database in a scalable, efficient manner. The data template is an XML document that you construct to communicate your request for data to the data engine. The data engine can be called to execute the data template using the Concurrent Manager or an API. The data engine supports schema generation, flexfields, single and multiple data queries, query links, parameters, multiple data groups, aggregate functions, and event triggers. The data engine can also generate a default RTF template.

PDF Book Creation

This release delivers the ability to create merged PDF documents from multiple subdocuments based on a command file. You can now create master documents that contain the following features:

• Table of contents - this can span multiple documents.
• Bookmarks - this is the Adobe interpretation of bookmarks (that is, the links that appear to the side of the of the document when opened in Adobe client software).
• Master header and footer layouts - supports portrait and landscape page formats in the same document.
• Section and Master page numbering - implement page numbering across the complete master document, across a section made up of multiple subdocuments, and numbering on the base documents.
• Hyperlinks- the control file allows you to build a set of cross-referencing hyperlinks within the master document and across multiple separate documents.
• Preamble/Postscript text - you can add text prior to or after the insertion of a subdocument in the master document.

RTF Template Enhancements

The following features for RTF templates are now supported:

Graphics Support

• Drawing/Shape support - you can now use Microsoft Word's native support for predefined drawing objects and custom drawings. In addition, you can manipulate shapes by stretching, compressing, skewing, and repeating them in the final output document based on XML data or parameters. This behavior can also be applied to composite shapes in the template.
• Background and Watermark support - use Microsoft Word's native functionality to add background images or text and watermarks
• SVG image support - embed SVG images directly in the template.
• SVG chart ouput support - charts generated in the template are now converted to the SVG format. This improves both the chart image and the supporting labels for the chart.

Conditional Formatting

• Fixed-row enumeration - you can now specify a fixed number of rows for a table regardless of the amount of data coming into the template at runtime.
• Currency formatting - numeric values can now be formatted according to their associated currency code.

 

2. New and Changed Components

This section lists the components that were added or changed for Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6.  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.

• New User Interfaces
  • New HTML Pages
    
• Changed User Interfaces
  • Changed HTML pages
• New Public APIs

New User Interfaces

New HTML Pages

This release provides a new Administration interface that allows you to set configuration properties, upload fonts, create font mappings, and create currency mappings. See the New and Changed Features above for an overview of the Administration interface functionality. The new HTML pages included are:

• Configuration page
• Font Mappings
• Font Mapping Set home
• Create Font Mappings
• Create Font Mapping (Base Font definition)
• Create Font Mapping (Target Font definition)
• Font Files
• Create Font File
• Currency Format Sets
• Create Currency Format Set

Changed User Interfaces

Changed HTML Pages

The View Template page now includes an Edit Configuration button. Select this button to set configuration properties specific to the template.

The View Data Definition page now includes an Edit Configuration button. Select this button to set configuration properties specific to the Data Definition.

The Create Data Definition now has a Data Template field that allows you to upload a data template.

New Public APIs

PDFBookBinder Class

The PDFBookBinder class (oracle.apps.xdo.template.pdf.book.PDFBookBinder) is useful for the merging of PDF files into one document consisting of a hierarchy of chapters, sections, and subsections and also a table of contents for these chapters and sections. Also generated automatically are PDF style "bookmarks," activated by clicking on the "Bookmarks" tab in Adobe Acrobat. The outline structure is determined by the chapter and section hierarchy.

Data Engine APIs

DataProcessor Class (oracle.apps.xdo.dataengine.DataProcessor)

The DataProcessor class is the front-end class to use the XML Publisher Data Engine.

DataTemplate Class (oracle.apps.xdo.oa.util.DataTemplate)

The DataTemplate class is the front-end class to use XML Publisher Data Engine from Oracle Applications.

3. New and Changed Setup Steps

This section lists the setup steps that were added or changed for Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6 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 Release 5.6.

4. Known Issues

There are no known issues that will prevent you from successfully applying Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6.

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 Release 5.6. 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 Release 5.6

Read these instructions if you are advancing from an earlier version to this Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6. 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 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 Release 5.6. 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 Release 5.6.

Pre-install Steps

The following pre-install steps must be completed prior to applying Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6.

Step 1 Apply AD prerequisites (Required)

The following patches are required prior to applying Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6.

1. 4337683 - AD Patch 11i.AD.2.

Step 2 Apply additional prerequisites (Required).

• 2771817 - OA Self Service Framework V5.7H
• 2949264 - Concurrent Processing Rollup Patch F
• 3043856 - PHP Login Causes Double Decrement of FND_USER.PASSWORD_ACCESSES_LEFT
• 3412795 - ADSPLICE Patch for XDO
• 3641831 - DBI60:RUP4:WF_EVENT_OMB_QH is invalid after applying HR_PF.D
• 3671463 - OA Framework Rollup Patch 5.7H - V6+
• 3942438 - Workflow Directory Services, Version 4 (Role Hierarchy Support)
• 3948369 - AOL Security Rollup Patch I.1
• 4104924 - TXK (FND) AutoConfig Template Rollup Patch K (July 2005)
• 3647958 - FND_FUNCTION_SECURITY.MENU inserts menus with menu names as
  FND_MENUS_S.NEXTVAL

Step 3 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

Product	Feature	Patch	Patch Description
Application Object Library	One-step reporting with the Concurrent Manager	3435480	Publishing Concurrent Requests with XML Publisher. (Note: This patch is included in the Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10 Cumulative Update 1.)

After applying any functional prerequisites...

If you applied patch 3435480, you must ensure that the Concurrent Manager's Output Post Processor is running. See the patch Readme for related documentation.

Applying the Oracle XML Publisher 5.6 Rollup Patch...

Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6 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. 

u4561451

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

After you apply the Oracle XML Publisher 5.6 Rollup Patch...

Post-install Steps

Once you have successfully applied Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6, you must complete these additional steps.

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 <Product> patches on top of Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6. 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 Apply XDO 5.6.0 Administration Page Update, patch 4743521 (Required) (System Administrator)

Patch 4743521 updates the font mapping functionality of the Administration user interface.

Step 3 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 4 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 5 Copy Fonts (System Administrator)

This patch installs a set of variable width fonts. Please copy the files from $FND_TOP/resource to the /lib/fonts directory (under OA_JRE_TOP and JRE_TOP) on all Web and concurrent nodes . The font files are:

ALBANYWT.ttf - "single-byte" characters only

ALBANWTJ.ttf - Unicode font with Japanese Han Ideographs

ALBANWTK.ttf - Unicode font with Korean Han Ideographs

ALBANWTS.ttf - Unicode font with Simplified Chinese Han Ideographs

ALBANWTT.ttf - Unicode font with Traditional Chinese Han Ideographs

Please refer to the OracleMetaLink document 240862.1, Install Oracle Unicode Fonts for Dynamic Image Generation in Oracle Applications, for more details.

Step 6 Assign the XML Publisher Administration responsibility to users. (System Administrator)

Assign the XML Publisher Administration responsibility (key = XDO_ADMINISTRATION) to users who will require access to the Template Manager. For instructions on assigning a responsibility to a user, see the Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide.

Step 7 Assign the XML Report Publisher concurrent program to a request group. (System Administrator)(Conditionally Required)

If you have not applied either Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10 Cumulative Update 1 or Application Object Library patch 3435480, which integrates XML Publisher with the Concurrent Manager, you must perform this step.

The XML Report Publisher concurrent program (XDOREPPB) produces the PDF output from the report template and the data source. Assign this request to a request group for users who will be running requests generated by XML Publisher.

From the System Administrator responsibility, navigate to the Request Groups window.
Menu path: Security > Responsibility > Request

Query the request group to which you want to add the program.

Add the "XML Report Publisher" program (shortname XDOREPPB), to the request group.

To see which request group is associated to a responsibility, query the responsibility in the Responsibilities window (menu path:
Security > Responsibility > Define). The Request Group region identifies the report group assigned to the responsibility.

For more information on Request Groups, see the Oracle Applications System Administrator's Guide.

Step 8 Enable PDF Printing in Oracle Applications. (System Administrator)

The "PDF Publisher" print style and PASTA_PDF printer driver provide the capability to print PDF files using a 3rd party utility. You can use this style and driver to print a generated PDF. "--Pasta Universal Printer" type has been associated with the style and driver for ease of use. Please refer to the Readme file of patch 2847981 - PASTA 3.0.2.1 for detailed configuration steps.

Step 9 Specify a temporary directory for XML Publisher. (System Administrator)

Use XML Publisher's Administration interface to assign a temporary directory for the site level. (Navigation: XML Publisher Administrator > Administration > Configuration > General Properties > Temporary Directory).

If you are running XML Publisher on multiple middle tier machines, then you must set the temporary directory at the server level for each machine (unless each machine has the same directory structure for a site-level setting to be meaningful). To set the temporary directory at the server level, you must place a configuration file on each. For more information on setting up a configuration file, see "XML Publisher Configuration File" in the Oracle XML Publisher User's Guide.

Step 10 Run the ConfigLoader Utility (Upgrades Only) (System Administrator) (Optional)

If you are upgrading from a previous release of XML Publisher and you have a preexisting configuration file, you can run the ConfigLoader Utility to migrate your properties from the Configuration File (xdo.cfg) to the database. The command line utility is as follows:

java oracle.apps.xdo.oa.util.ConfigLoader UPLOAD
-DB_USER db_username
-DB_PASSWORD db_password
-JDBC_CONNECTION jdbc_con_string
-LEVEL <SITE/TEMPLATE/DATA_SOURCE>
(-APPS_SHORT_NAME application_short_name)
(-TEMPLATE_CODE template_code)
(-DATA_SOURCE_CODE data_source_code)
(-FONT_MAPPING_CODE font_mapping)
-FILE_NAME file_name

where LEVEL is the level at which to set the properties: SITE, TEMPLATE, or DATA_SOURCE

• If set at the TEMPLATE level, you must supply the APPS_SHORT_NAME and the TEMPLATE_CODE.
• If set at the DATA_SOURCE level, you must supply the APPS_SHORT_NAME and the DATA_SOURCE_CODE.

FILE_NAME is the path to the xdo.cfg file.

To migrate font mappings set up in your configuration file, you must supply a FONT_MAPPING_CODE to assign to the font mappings. Font mappings defined by the <font> element will generate a Font Mapping Set named according to the FONT_MAPPING_CODE appended with _FO. Font mappings defined by the <font-substitute> element will generate a Font Mapping Set named according to the FONT_MAPPING_CODE appended with _PDF. Any font mappings specified in the xdo.cfg will be added to these mapping sets, and these will be assigned to the configuration context. If any of the font mappings are to Truetype font files, the font file itself will be uploaded as well. For more information about font mapping sets, see the Administration section of the Oracle XML Publisher User's Guide .

For the PDF open/permissions password properties, the values of the properties will be encrypted before they are stored in the database. When requerying the properties after they have been entered, the actual value will not be shown in the configuration user interface.

Step 11 Make the Corresponding Oracle XML Publisher Documentation Available to Your Users (System Administrator)

6. Implementation and User Documentation

The corresponding documentation patch for Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6 is patch 4734820. This documentation patch should be applied as a post install step. (See Section  5. Instructions for Applying Oracle XML Publisher Release 5.6). 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 files:

XML Publisher Release 5.6 Core API Javadocs

XML Publisher Release 5.6 OA API Javadocs

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

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. The Virtual Documentation CD is created twice a month.

7. Software Updates

8. About Document Change Record

Date	Description of Change
November 18, 2005	Published document.

Oracle Corporation

Copyright Notice
Copyright © 1994-2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Document Author - Update the copyright date accordingly. (Delete this reference from final document)

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