Creating XSL-XML Templates For BI/XML EXCEL Reports
Introduction:
An XSL-XML template is a report layout that can be designed in Microsoft Excel for retrieving and formatting our enterprise reporting data in Excel.
Creating the Real Excel templates is possible in EBS R12 with Excel Analyzer but this feature is not available in EBS R11.5.X.
Features of XSL-XML Templates:
1. Till now rtf templates were used and MS Word only supports 63 columns in the report.
So if the report consists of more than 63 columns then use the method of developing XSL-XML template which in turn will give the EXCEL format of report.
2. We do not need BI Publisher software for this (Third Party Tools are available for XSL Conversions).
Prerequisites:
Following are prerequisites for designing the XSL-XML templates:
Following are prerequisites for designing the XSL-XML templates:
- Microsoft Excel 2003 or later. The template file must be saved as XML Spreadsheet 2003.
- The report designer aka Developer should have knowledge of XSL.
- The report data model should be readily available.
Steps Building a Simple XSL-XML Template:
Follow the below mentioned steps:
- Obtain sample XML data from the rdf output (Set the output to ‘XML’).
- Open the Blank Excel Template file and save as name (Required name).Design the layout in Excel. Map the tags accordingly onto your layout.
- Save the file as .xml in xml 2003 spreadsheet
- Convert the xml file into xsl file(Third Party Tool xml to xsl convertor)
- Register the template as XML-XSL in XML Publisher Administrator
- Set the viewer options from System Administrator
- View the Report Output
Step 1: Obtain sample XML data from rdf
Eg:
Step 2: Map the Tags in EXCEL file
Write the tags manually in the blank excel file according to the tags generated in the sample xml file according to the fields.
Step 3: Save the file in xml spreadsheet 2003 format with .xml extension.
Step 4: Make XSL file from the above XML file.
Use the third party tool XML to XSL converter or the knowledge of XSL is required to manually prepare the XSL file.
Step 5: Register the template as type XSL-XML file.
Register the template with type as XSL-XML, data definition in XML Publisher Administrator. Create the concurrent program in Oracle
Applications and attach this XML programs to it.
Step 6: Set the Viewer options.
Go to System Administrator Responsibility. Viewer options
Select file format as xml and mime type as “application/vnd.ms-excel”
Run the concurrent request for the report created as mentioned above, the output will be in excel format.
Step 7: After running the Concurrent Program, Viewer Option window is available to view the output
After running the concurrent program, click on the output button, the viewer options window pops up.
Select Microsoft Excel for viewing the output in Excel.
