Category Archives: John Minkjan
OBIEE11g Blocking Analyses Based on Criteria
Yes if done this for 10g (see:http://obiee101.blogspot.com/2008/06/obiee-blocking-request-based-on.html). Just wanted to check if this still works in 11g.
Start by locating your answerstemplates.xml. If you don’t have a CustomMessages diretory create one and place it there (or take a change on loosing your stuff during a update 
. )
There are several blogposts with nice “documentation” copies. For this article I checked every function personally. (Including the “one” I couldn’t get to work…..)
Find the webmessage for kuiCriteriaBlockingScript:
Since we don’t want to edit our template al the time forcing a restart we put in an external reference to a javascript called: mycriteriablocking.js
<WebMessage name="kuiCriteriaBlockingScript" translate="no">
<HTML>
<script type="text/javascript" src="fmap:mycriteriablocking.js" />
</HTML>
</WebMessage>
in the ORACLE_INSTANCE\bifoundation\OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent\coreapplication_obipsn\analyticsRes directory we place a javascript (.js) file called mycriteriablocking.js.
just a warning. this is very very sensitive on typo’s
Start with a simple formula:
// This is a blocking function. It ensures that users select what
// the designer wants them to.
// http://obiee.blogspot.com
function validateAnalysisCriteria(analysisXml)
{
return true;
}
- Force the usage of a specific “Subject Area”
function validateAnalysisCriteria(analysisXml)
{
// create a new validator
var tValidator = new CriteriaValidator(analysisXml);
// Only use Sample Sales Lite or Sample Targets Lite
if ( tValidator.getSubjectArea() != "Sample Sales Lite" &&
tValidator.getSubjectArea() != "Sample Targets Lite" )
return "You can only use Sample Sales Lite or Sample Targets Lite!";
//We come here if everything checks out
return true;
}
- Force the usage of a specific ”Table”
function validateAnalysisCriteria(analysisXml)
{
// create a new validator
var tValidator = new CriteriaValidator(analysisXml);// Table must exists
if ( !tValidator.tableExists("Time") )
return "Each report must have a Time Dimension";
//We come here if everything checks out
return true;
}
- Force the usage of a specific “Column”
function validateAnalysisCriteria(analysisXml)
{
// create a new validator
var tValidator = new CriteriaValidator(analysisXml);// Column must exists
if ( !tValidator.columnExists("Time", "Per Name Year") )
return "Each report must have a Year column from the time dimension";
//We come here if everything checks out
return true;
}
- If one Column is used the other is compulsory
function validateAnalysisCriteria(analysisXml)
{
// create a new validator
var tValidator = new CriteriaValidator(analysisXml);// If we use one column then also the other should be there
if ( !tValidator.dependentColumnExists("Time", "Per Name Qtr" , "Time", "Per Name Year"))
return "A quarter with out a Year is pretty useless!";
//We come here if everything checks out
return true;
}
- If one Column is used a specific column is compulsory
!!! According to the documentation this should work?? I wasn’t able to create a working example (yet)….. 
… !! (If you have one lying around for 11g please let me know……)
function validateAnalysisCriteria(analysisXml)
{
// create a new validator
var tValidator = new CriteriaValidator(analysisXml);// If we use a random column from a table a specific column should be there
if ( !tValidator.dependentColumnExists("Base Facts", "", "Time", "Per Name Year"))
return "Facts should always be presented together with a year";
//We come here if everything checks out
return true;
}
- A column should be at least in the filter:
function validateAnalysisCriteria(analysisXml)
// create a new validator
{
var tValidator = new CriteriaValidator(analysisXml);if ( !tValidator.filterExists("Time", "Per Name Year"))
return "A Year filter must be applied";
//We come here if everything checks out
return true;
}
- If a column is used the other should be in the filter:
function validateAnalysisCriteria(analysisXml)
// create a new validator
{
var tValidator = new CriteriaValidator(analysisXml);if ( !tValidator.dependentFilterExists("Base Facts","Revenue" , "Time", "Per Name Year"))
return "Revenue needs a year filter";
//We come here if everything checks out
return true;
}
- A minimum numbers of selection should be in the filter
function validateAnalysisCriteria(analysisXml)
{// create a new validator
var tValidator = new CriteriaValidator(analysisXml);// Count the number of elements in the filter var n = (tValidator.filterCount( "Time", "Per Name Year")); if ((n <2))
return "Please select at least 2 years in your filter";
//We come here if everything checks out
return true;
}
Till Next Time
OBIEE / LINUX SampleApp remove logs
After playing around with the new sampleapp107 for a bit, I managed let it crash after my router was down for a couple of days. It turned out it had run out of log space. When trying to delete some log files I got this error:
“Not on the same file system” First of all I’m a complete newbie on Linux 
. So don’t shoot me if this is kindergarten stuff. After some browsing on the net I found that you have to go to your System >> Preferences >> File Management menu:
Goto the behavior tab:
Check the box “Iclude a Delete command that bypasses Trash”:
Now you will find a Delete menu below your move to Trash which does the trick
Till Next Time
OBIEE11g how to use Time Series
OBIEE has some nice features regarding time series calculations. Must developers are perfectly able to get functions like AGO, TODATE and PERIOD_ROLLING to work. Still I would like to place a couple of remarks on there usage:
- Have you taken a look a the SQL produced by these functions?
It’s definitely not the cheapest / quickest. Most of the AGO functionality can be done much “cheaper” by adding some extra columns to your calendar dimension. (DATE_WEEK_AGO, DATE_MONTH_AGO, DATE_QUARTER_AGO etc.). If you then map an aliases of your fact table against the ago column in your calendar dimension you will have your AGO columns.
TODATE columns can be calculated much cheaper in a ETL process then a recalculation every time a report in run.
- Are the used TODATE and AGO columns meaningful on this report?
Consider a report with the following columns: DAY_DATE, REVENUE, REVENUE_YEAR_TO_DATE, REVENUE_YEAR_TO_DATE_AGO. On normal production calendar you have about 220 working days a year. This means that the average delta between DATE and DATE-1 will be .5% on a YEAR_TO_DATE base. For must users such a delta has no significance. If a PERIOD_TO_DATE column has period more then 2 levels “higher” then the lowest calendar granularity on report, it’s often meaningless. (FI: YEAR vs DAY) YEAR=>QUARTER=>MONTH=>WEEK=>DAY==> distance = 5
- Is the report really supporting a business process?
How many process which took place on 01-sep-2011 where really depending on what happened on 01-sep-2010 and 01-sep-2009?
Till Next Time
OBIEE Presentation variable defaulted by a session variable
Did this one on the OTN forum. Open the filter and add a presentation variable:
Say P_SELECT_DATE
Add a default date well outside the feasible range.
Press add more options and add a session variable LAST_REFRESH_DATE:
The filter will now look like:
Till Next Time
