OC4J password

Let's say that we've installed BISE1 with different passwords for the accounts and we forgot the one for OC4J. The next step is to reset the password for OC4J and replace it with a new one.

First thing to do is to stop OC4J. For Unix users they can do it with the follozing command: ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl stopproc ias-component=OC4J but for Windows is much easier:

Next thing to do is to locate and open the file "system-jazn_data.xml":

Find into this file the following tags and replace the text for with a new one (in my case I used mypassword123). Don't forget to prefix it with the symbol ! and it should conform to following:

• must contain at least five characters, but not more than 30
  
• must begin with an alphabetic character. It cannot begin with a number, the underscore (_), the dollar sign ($), or the number sign (#)
  
• at least one of the characters must be a number
  
• can contain only the following characters: numbers, letters, and the following special characters: US dollar sign ($), number sign (#), or underscore (_)
  
• cannot contain any Oracle reserved words, such as VARCHAR.

After replacing the old encrypted password with a new one (don't worry about the encryption because after restarting the OC4J it will encrypt the text you entered there all by it's self) we just have to delete cached password data from C:\oracle\bise1\bi\oc4j_bi\j2ee\home\persistence\ascontrol\ascontrol\securestore

In the end you just have to start OC4J and try logging to the OAS with the new one.

Good luck and have fun!

Navigation - Dashboard and Answers

In column properties there is a possible option to interact with data or column header and navigate to other report passing also values.

We can use this action in 3 ways:
1. we can navigate from a table through a column header
2. we can do the same thing through the value of a cell in the table
3. we can do it also from a chart.

The navigation can act also as a pop-up menu by entering multiple navigation targets with labels:


Here is is how we can do this:
into the report criteria chose a column to set up a navigation action and enter it's properties ("Column Properties"). There chose the tab named "Column Format" and you'll find out 2 labels called "Column Heading Interaction" and "Value Interaction". In this case we'll chose the value interaction and select from the drop-down menu "Navigate". Hit "Add navigation target" and chose the report to navigate and fill in a Caption for it. Do this multiple times and as a result you'll get a pop-up menu:



For the interaction to work properly, and pass also the values, we should use the same column as a filter and set it up as "is prompted".

To do the same thing with the "Navigate" interaction in a chart, after choosing the same options into the report criteria and filling in the targets in the column properties, we should do it also into the chart properties. To use multiple columns with their values into the target reports, each of the column should have the same targets and caption.

Oracle BI files architecture

There are 2 set of directories important after the OBI installation: C:\oracle\bise1\bi and C:\oracle\bise1\bidata.

1. For bidata is important to keep in mind that you'll find in there all files needed and used into the Presentation Services - Answers and Dashboard through the folder web. So any time you save an Report with Answers you'll find it into ...\bidata\web\catalog\bise1\root\users\[your_user]\[Presentation_Catalog_Name]

All dashboards will be found the exact way by specifying _portal. For every user you'll have the default dashboard can be found like this:
C:\oracle\bise1\bidata\web\catalog\bise1\root\users\[your_user]\_portal
and all possible dasboards you'll find in here:
C:\oracle\bise1\bidata\web\catalog\bise1\root\shared\


Lets take an example:
When we connect the first time to the Interactive Dashboards you'll see on top of the page in the middle of it an dashboard called Sales Analysis:


This Dashboard is located, as files on the server, in here: C:\oracle\bise1\bidata\web\catalog\bise1\root\shared\sales+managers\_portal

Other feature that you'll find into the web folder are scheduler (with the configuration file instanceconfig) and tmp, but we will talk about them another time.



2. For bi there are:
   
   • oc4j_bi - where you'll find all files of the oc4j instance needed to run the web bases application.
   • server - with Config to locate the server configuration files: DBFeature.INI, NQSConfig.INI. with Log to have the insight of the logs of the queries passed to the database and all server errors. with Repository where it lays the repository created with the Administration Tool (bise1 and paint for the standard installation). with Schema where you can find already created sql files (explained later).
   • xmlp - where we'll find files needed by Publisher.
     

In future posts I'll explain exactly what can be configured and how to use directly those folders and files to help you gain total control over OBI.

Have fun!

Oracle BISE1 - Install

Best way to start with OBI is to use Standard Edition One (BISE1), which can be downloaded from here http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/htdocs/101321biseone.html, because it comes with a already created database and also with an tutorial which you can use to follow simple tasks and get to know a little bit the product. The only thing for the installation that I can say is that, if you try installing it on a Windows Vista, you'll encounter some problems because OBI does not support windows versions 6.0.


To solve that the simplest way is to add to the configurations files the version 6.0 to the other ones 5.0, 5.1, 5.2.
In the folder where you opened the archive you just search, in files contents, 5.1 or 5.2. There will be 4 files were you'll have to modify and add Vista details.
You should just add 6.0 to the [Certified Versions] and just duplicate the 5.1 (which represents XP) with copy and paste and replace with 6.0, but leave the SERVICE_PACK, SWAP_SPACE and TEMP_SPACE. During the installation pay attention to the DataBase password that you are asked to fill, it will become handy later. If you need guidance on installing the product you can find all help needed here http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E10352_01/doc/nav/portal_1.htm.
During the installation best way to manage the passwords for users is to set only one for all of them.


This are the most important accounts that you'll need to remember:

• Administrator - default password "Administrator" in order to access Presentation Services (http://localhost:9704/analytics), Publisher (http://localhost:9704/xmlpserver).
• BIPUBSCHED - password established at the install by yourself. Owner of the database schema that contains the objects to Oracle BI Publisher Scheduler.
• BISE1_SALES - Owner of the database schema with the tables that stores the data which represents the source of the example warehouses.
  
• BISE1_SALESWH - Owner of the database schema schema that contains the pre-built data mart objects.
• BISE1_TUTORIALWH - Owner of the schema that is used as the data mart target schema for Oracle Warehouse Builder. Once this schema is populated with the data mart objects, it is used by Oracle BI as the data source for the repository definition, as detailed in the tutorial.
• oc4jadmin - The Oracle Containers for Java (OC4J) administration account. It is used to access Application Server Control (e.g. http://localhost:9704/em) to stop, start, manage, and monitor Oracle BI Presentation Services and Oracle BI Publisher.
• SYS - This is the database 'super user' account. It has access to all database objects and can perform any task in the database.
• SYSTEM - This is the database administrator account. It is typically used for day-to-day database maintenance and operational tasks.

By accessing "All Programs/Oracle Business Intelligence Standard Edition One/Welcome to Oracle BISE1" it will open a web page where you'll find links to the tutorial, Interactive Dashboards and Oracle BI Publisher.
The install will create to your "All Programs" menu 4 entries "Oracle - BISE_1 DataBase", "Oracle - BISE_1 Warehouse Builder", "Oracle Business Intelligence" and "Oracle Business Intelligence Standard Edition One".
Other documentation regarding the installed products: Oracle Warehouse Builder you'll find in here http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/warehouse.html and http://www.filibeto.org/sun/lib/nonsun/oracle/11.1.0.6.0/B28359_01/owb.111/b31278/concept_overview.htm, but for the moment, when you are just trying to get to know a little the product (OBISE1) you don't need to work with OWB.
So, everything that you'll need to start working on OBI, you have it on your computer now.
Do not forget to start the OC4J before trying to connect to Presentation Services.
Have fun with it!