Developing XML Publisher Report – Using Data Template as Data Source

Background: 
Developing XML Publisher Report – Using Data Template(.xml) as Data Source and Template(.rtf) as Layout.
Note that, we can use .rdf file as data source. But for this demo we are using Date XML Template.

Prerequisite for the below Example:

1. Create a table
CREATE TABLE demo_products
(  product_code   NUMBER,
   product_name   VARCHAR2 (100));

2. Insert Values
INSERT INTO demo_products
     VALUES (569, ‘Oracle Cost Management’);
3. Issue Commit

Step1: Define Data Template:

The data template is the method by which you communicate your request for data to the data engine.
The data template is an XML document that consists of four basic sections:  

• Define parameters: In which parameters are declared in child <parameter> elements
• Define triggers:
• Define data query: In which the SQL queries are defined in child <sqlStatement> elements
• Define data structure: In which the output XML structure is defined

 Create Data Template: (Save this file as XXDPDT.xml)

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<dataTemplate name=”demoProductsDT” description=”Demo Products Details” version=”1.0″>
   <parameters>
     <parameter name=”p_product_id” datatype=”number”/>
   </parameters>
  <dataQuery>
    <sqlStatement name=”DQ”>
         <![CDATA[ SELECT product_code, product_name FROM demo_products 
                            WHERE product_code = NVL(:p_product_id,product_code) ]]>
    </sqlStatement>
  </dataQuery>
  <dataStructure>
    <group name=”G_DP” source=”DQ”>
      <element name=”PRODUCT_CODE” value=”product_code”/>
      <element name=”PRODUCT_NAME” value=”product_name”/>
    </group>
  </dataStructure>
</dataTemplate>

• This Data Template selects the product details from the demo_products table. It uses a bind parameter to find the product name against the product code.
• For each bind parameter in the query , we need to define a Parameter in the Concurrent Program

Step 2: Create Data Definition & Associate with Data Template
Navigation: XML Publisher Administrator -> Data Definitions -> Create Data Definition
Screen 1 : Create Data Definition
       Enter the data definition Details and click on Apply. Note down the Code. 
       The code should be used as the short name of the concurrent program.

Screen 2: Associate Data Template
       View Data Definition

Click on ‘Add File’ button to upload Data Template file that was created through step 1

Screen 3: Data Definiton
       Data Template is associated with Data Definition

Step 3: Define a Concurrent Program to generate the Data XML output. 

Note:

1. Output format should be XML
2. Short Name in the concurrent program and Code in the data definition should be same.

Screen 2: Concurrent Program – Parameters

For each parameter in the Data Template, define a parameter in the concurrent program.
The Data Template parameter name should match the concurrent program parameter token

Note:

Token is p_product_id. This is the bind parameter we have used in date template. For every bind parameter used in the data template, we have to define parameter in the concurrent program.

Screen 3: Associate the Concurrent Program to a request group.

Screen 4: Execute the concurrent program “Product Demo Report”and click on the output button get the Data XML. Save the XML file. We will use it to generate the RTF Template.

Screen 5: Concurrent Program Output

Note:

We are getting the output in xml because we didn’t define template & associated yet.

Step 4: Define the RTF Template using the Generated Data XML

Pre-requisite : Install XML Publisher Desktop
After installation following Menus & Toolbars gets added to the MS Word.

Load XML Data generated by Concurrent Program
Data -> Load XML Data

Message after loading the data

Using the Table Wizard as below to create the ‘Table Report Format’ with the columns of demo_products.

Final Output layout look like this.

Save this file with .rtf extension

Step 5: Registering the Template with BI Publisher

Navigation: XML Publisher Administrator -> Templates -> Create Template

Step 6: Run the concurrent program to see the output

Note:

As already mentioned output format can be anything. Here it is pdf. We can select format that we want at the runtime.

References:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/xml-publisher/index.htm
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-publisher/overview/index.html
http://xdo.us.oracle.com
Oracle® XML Publisher Administration and Developer’s Guide

FAQ:
What is XDODTEXE used in the Executable section of Concurrent Program?

XDODTEXE is a BI Publisher Data Template Executable. The purpose of this executable is to identify data template file (.xml) and execute the data template to generate the raw xml data, that later can be used by BI Publisher formatting engine to format as as per the layout (RTF, PDF etc).
This executable will be used by all the BI Publisher reports (Concurrent Program) which are using Data Template to generate the xml data.