1 Introducing Oracle BI Discoverer

Oracle BI Discoverer is a business intelligence tool for analyzing data and is a key component of Oracle Fusion Middleware. Discoverer provides an integrated ... 4/23 1IntroducingOracleBIDiscoverer ThischapterintroducesOracleBusinessIntelligenceDiscovererandcontainsthefollowingtopics: Section1.1,"WhatisOracleBIDiscoverer?" Section1.2,"WhatarethenewfeaturesinDiscoverer11gRelease1(11.1.1)?" Section1.3,"AboutOracleBIDiscovererinstallations" Section1.4,"AboutconfiguringOracleBIDiscoverer" Section1.5,"HowtoconfirmanOracleBIDiscovererinstallation" Section1.6,"AboutconnectingtoDiscoverer" Section1.7,"WhatistheOracleBIDiscovererarchitecture?" Section1.8,"AbouttheDiscovererclienttier" Section1.9,"AbouttheDiscoverermiddletier" Section1.10,"AbouttheDiscovererdatabasetier" Section1.11,"HowdoesOracleBIDiscovererwork?" Section1.12,"OracleBIDiscovererNavigation" 1.1WhatisOracleBIDiscoverer? OracleBIDiscovererisabusinessintelligencetoolforanalyzingdataandisakeycomponentofOracleFusionMiddleware.Discovererprovidesanintegratedbusinessintelligencesolutionthatcomprisesintuitivead-hocquery,reporting,analysis,andWeb-publishingfunctionality.Thesetoolsenablenon-technicaluserstogainimmediateaccesstoinformationfromdatamarts,datawarehouses,multidimensional(OLAP)datasources,andonlinetransactionprocessingsystems.DiscovererintegratesseamlesslywithOraclePortal,OracleWebCenterPortal,andOracleWebLogicPortalenablingrapiddeploymentofDiscovererworkbooksandworksheetstoWebportals. OracleBIDiscovererconsistsofseveralintegratedcomponentsthatworkwiththeOracledatabasetogiveyouacompleteandintegratedBusinessIntelligencesolution.Figure1-1showstheDiscoverercomponents. Figure1-1Discoverercomponents Descriptionof"Figure1-1Discoverercomponents" ThetwomainOracleBIDiscovererbusinessanalysistoolsforendusersare: DiscovererPlusisaWebtoolthatenablesuserstoanalyzedataandcreatereportswithouthavingtounderstanddifficultdatabaseconcepts.UsingWizarddialogsandmenus,DiscovererPlusguidesusersthroughthestepsneededtocreatepowerfulreportsandchartsthatcanbeaccessedusingDiscovererPlus,DiscovererViewer,OraclePortal,andOracleWebCenterPortal. Figure1-2OracleBIDiscovererPlus DiscovererViewerisaWebtoolforaccessinginteractivereportsandchartscreatedusingDiscovererPlus.BecauseDiscovererViewerisathinclientHTMLtool,usersrequireonlyaWebbrowsertorunDiscovererViewer.DiscovererViewercanalsobeusedtopublishreportsintoaportal,andiseasilycustomizedtoconformtoaparticularWebsitelookandfeel.DiscovererViewerisoptimizedforperformanceanddesignedtominimizenetworktraffic. Figure1-3OracleBIDiscovererViewer DiscovererincludesPortletProvider,whichenablesyoutopublishDiscovererworksheetsandgraphsinvariousportals(formoreinformation,seeOracleFusionMiddlewareGuidetoPublishingOracleBusinessIntelligenceDiscovererPortlets). DiscovererincludesDiscovererWebServices,anApplicationProgrammingInterface(API)thatenablesyoutoobtainDiscovererconnections,workbooks,andworksheets,executequeries,andreturnworksheetcontentusing: AJavaclientapplication(usingtheSOAPprotocol) Formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.1.4,"WhatistheDiscovererWebServicesservlet?". OracleBIPublisher(apartofOracleBIEnterpriseEdition) Formoreinformation,seeOracleBIPublisherUser'sGuide. OracleFusionMiddlewareControlenablesyoutomanageDiscoverermiddle-tiercomponents.Formoreinformation,seeSection4.1,"AboutOracleEnterpriseManagerFusionMiddlewareControl". AtypicalworkflowforDiscovereris: DiscovererPlususers(sometimesreferredtoaspowerusers)createinteractivereportsandcharts.Reportstypicallyincludepowerfulbusinessintelligencecomponentsthatenableenduserstoanalyzedata(forexample,parameters,conditions,andtotals). DiscovererViewerusersaccesstheinteractivereportsandcantypicallypersonalizereportsinarestrictednumberofways(forexample,drillingtothedatathattheyrequire,applyingparameters,andaddingstoplightformats). 1.2WhatarethenewfeaturesinDiscoverer11gRelease1(11.1.1)? ThissectionliststhekeyconfigurationchangesinOracleBIDiscoverer11gRelease1(11.1.1). CertificationwithOracle11g(version11.1)EnterpriseEditionDatabase GeneralupdatesweremadeforDiscoverercertificationwiththeOracle11g(version11.1)EnterpriseEditiondatabase. OracleInfrastructureuptake GeneralupdatesweremadetoreferencethelatestsupportedversionoftheJavaRuntimeEnvironment. SingleSign-Onintegration EnhancementstoSingleSign-OnincludeanewsettingpropagateGUIDToVPD,whichisdescribedinSectionA.2,"Configurationsettingsinconfiguration.xml."Also,generalreferencestotheSSOuserwerereplacedwithGUID. EnhancedViewernavigation ImprovementstopagenavigationcontrolsinDiscovererViewerincludeanewsettingpageNavigation,whichisdescribedinSectionA.2,"Configurationsettingsinconfiguration.xml." EnterpriseManagerintegration Generalupdatesweremadethroughoutthisguidetoreflectimprovementsintheuserinterfaceduetochangestotheunderlyingarchitecture. DiscovererWebServices TheabilitytointeractwiththenewDiscovererWebServicesisprovided.Formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.1.4,"WhatistheDiscovererWebServicesservlet?" Manageabilityanddiagnosis AdvancedconfigurationsettingscanbeupdatedusingtheMBeanbrowserinOracleFusionMiddlewareControl,insteadofmanuallyeditingtheconfigurationfiles.Formoreinformation,seeSection4.12,"ConfiguringDiscovererusingtheSystemMBeanBrowser." 1.3AboutOracleBIDiscovererinstallations OracleBIDiscoverercanbeinstalledinthefollowingways: Standaloneinstallation YouinstallDiscovererbutdonotassociateitwithanOracleInternetDirectoryandthedatabaseschemas,theDiscovererinstallationisconsideredastandaloneinstallation. Formoreinformation,seeSection1.3.2,"AboutDiscovererstandaloneinstallations". Afterperformingastandaloneinstallation,ifthereisarequirementtoassociateDiscovererwithanOracleInternetDirectoryandthedatabaseschemas,thenyoumustre-runtheDiscovererConfigurationtool(config.sh)toconfigureDiscovererinitbyassociatingwithanOracleInternetDirectoryandthedatabaseschemas.Forthisnewinstance,youcanpointtothesameORACLE_HOMEasthatofthestandaloneinstance.Youcan,optionally,discardthefirststandaloneinstance. Note:NomanualprocessexistsforassociatinganexistingstandaloneinstallationwithanOracleInternetDirectoryandthedatabaseschemas. OracleInternetDirectoryinstallation Duringinstallation,youassociateDiscovererwithanOracleInternetDirectoryandwiththetwodatabaseschemasthatDiscovererrequires(thePStoreandPortletProviderschemas).Thisisthemostcommonwaytoinstall. Forinformation,seeSection1.3.1,"AboutDiscovererinstallationsthatareassociatedwithOracleInternetDirectoryandschemas." 1.3.1AboutDiscovererinstallationsthatareassociatedwithOracleInternetDirectoryandschemas Duringatypicalinstallation,youassociateDiscovererwithanOracleInternetDirectoryandwiththetwodatabaseschemasthatDiscovererrequires(thePStoreandPortletProviderschemas).Unlessstatedotherwise,theinstructionsinthisguideassumethatyouhavethistypeofinstallation. TheDiscoverersoftwaremightbeonthesamemachineastheOracleInternetDirectoryandschemasoronadifferentmachine.Formoreinformation,seeChapter6,"ManagingDiscovererinaMulti-MachineorMulti-InstanceEnvironment." YoucanhavemultiplePStoreandPortletProviderschemastosupportmultipleinstancesofDiscoverer.OracleInternetDirectoryistheonlyIdentityStorethatDiscoverersupports. Inthistypeofinstallation,thefollowingcomponentsareavailable: DiscovererPlusRelationalandDiscovererPlusOLAP DiscovererViewer DiscovererPortletProvider DiscovererWebServices OracleHTTPServer(OHS) WebLogicServer OPMN OracleFusionMiddlewareControl OracleWebCache OracleSingleSign-On DiscovererConnectionsmanagementpage PrivateandpublicDiscovererconnections SSLfunctionalityinDiscoverer OracleIdentityManagement EnduserscanusetheDiscovererconnectionspagetostartDiscovererandmanagelogindetails.FormoreinformationaboutDiscovererconnections,seeChapter3,"ManagingOracleBIDiscovererConnections." Afterinstallation,DiscovererislistedintheFusionMiddlewareregiononthehomepageinOracleFusionMiddlewareControl,asshowninFigure1-4. Figure1-4FusionMiddlewareControlhomepageforaDiscovererinstallation FormoreinformationabouthowtodisplayFusionMiddlewareControl,seeSection4.1.2,"HowtostartFusionMiddlewareControlanddisplaytheFarmHomepage".ForinformationabouthowtodisplaycomponentsinstalledfromtheOracleFusionMiddlewareCD,seeSection4.1.3,"HowtodisplaytheFusionMiddlewareControlDiscovererHomepageandDiscoverercomponentHomepages". 1.3.2AboutDiscovererstandaloneinstallations TheDiscovererstandaloneinstallationoffersalimitednumberofcomponents,asdescribedinthefollowinglist: DiscovererPlusRelationalandDiscovererPlusOLAP DiscovererViewer DiscovererPortletProvider(installedbutnotoperational) DiscovererWebServices(installedbutnotoperational) SSLfunctionalityinDiscoverer OracleHTTPServer(OHS) WebLogicServer OPMN OracleFusionMiddlewareControl OracleWebCache Note:EndusersstartDiscovererbyusingadirectloginpage.PublicconnectionsforDiscovererPlusandViewerandOracleSingleSign-Onarenotavailable. Afterinstallation,DiscovererislistedintheFusionMiddlewareregiononthehomepageinOracleFusionMiddlewareControl,asshowninFigure1-4. 1.3.3AboutDiscovererinstallationsandtheOracleDatabase Forinformationaboutdatabaserequirements,seeOracleFusionMiddlewareSupportedSystemConfigurationsat:http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/ias/downloads/fusion-certification-100350.html. 1.4AboutconfiguringOracleBIDiscoverer Afterinstallation,OracleBIDiscovererworkswithoutrequiringanyfurtherconfiguration.Dependingonyourrequirements,youmightwanttoperformoneormoreoftheDiscoverermiddle-tierconfigurationtaskslistedinthetablebelow. Whatdoyouwanttodo? Lookinthissection: ConfigureDiscovererforusewithOracleapplications. Chapter14,"OracleBIDiscovererandOraclee-BusinessSuite" ConfigureDiscoverertoworkwithfirewallsanddemilitarizedzones. Chapter13,"MaintainingSecuritywithOracleBIDiscoverer" ConfiguretheDiscoverermiddletierbyusingFusionMiddlewareControl(forexample,startingandstoppingtheDiscovererService). Chapter4,"ManagingandConfiguringDiscoverer" ConfirmaDiscovererinstallation. Section1.5,"HowtoconfirmanOracleBIDiscovererinstallation" Createpublicconnections(thatis,databaselogins). Chapter3,"ManagingOracleBIDiscovererConnections" CustomizetheappearanceofDiscovererViewer. Chapter8,"CustomizingDiscovererLookandFeel" DeployDiscovererwithOracleWebCachetoimproveperformance. Chapter7,"UsingDiscovererViewerwithOracleWebCache" DeployspecificDiscovererworkbooksandworksheetsusingURLdetails. Chapter12,"StartingOracleBIDiscovererUsingURLParameters" FindoutaboutadministrativeaccountsusedbyDiscoverer. AppendixD,"OracleBIDiscovererAdministrativeAccountInformation" FindoutaboutDiscovererconfigurationfiles. AppendixA,"OracleBIDiscovererConfigurationFiles" FinetuneDiscovererforoptimalperformanceandscalability. Chapter10,"OptimizingOracleBIDiscovererPerformanceandScalability" InstallandconfiguretheDiscovererCatalogforDiscovererPlusOLAP. Chapter5,"ConfiguringDiscovererPlusOLAP" ProvideloadbalancingforDiscoverer,orspecifyacentralDiscovererPreferencesserver. Chapter6,"ManagingDiscovererinaMulti-MachineorMulti-InstanceEnvironment" RunDiscovererPlusorDiscovererViewer. Chapter2,"StartingOracleBIDiscoverer" SpecifyDiscovererenduserpreferences. Chapter9,"ManagingOracleBIDiscovererPreferences" UpgradeDiscoverertoanewerversion. AppendixB,"UpgradingfromEarlierVersionsofDiscoverer" 1.5HowtoconfirmanOracleBIDiscovererinstallation ToconfirmanOracleBIDiscovererinstallation: StartaWebbrowserandentertheDiscovererViewerURLthatcontainsthefullyqualifiedhostname(includingportnumber,ifnecessary)thatisusedbyyourownOracleinstallation. Forexample: http://:/discoverer/viewer IftheDiscovererinstallationisnotassociatedwithanOracleInternetDirectoryandwiththetwodatabaseschemasthatDiscovererrequires(thePStoreandPortletProviderschemas),thenendusersconnectdirectlyusingtheConnectDirectlyareaoftheConnecttoOracleBIDiscovererpage(seescreenshotbelow). Descriptionoftheillustrationconnect3.gif Note:IfSingleSign-On(SSO)isenabled,thenyouarefirstaskedtoauthenticateasanSSO/OAMuser. IftheDiscovererinstallationisassociatedwithanOracleInternetDirectoryandwiththetwodatabaseschemasthatDiscovererrequires(thePStoreandPortletProviderschemas),thentheConnecttoDiscovererViewerpageisdisplayed(seescreenshotbelow). IftheChooseConnectionareaisdisplayed,dooneofthefollowing: SelectaconnectionnameintheConnectioncolumntostartDiscovererViewer. Createaprivateconnectiontostoredatabaselogindetails(clickCreateConnectiontoaddaprivateconnection);then,selectthenewconnection. UsetheConnectDirectlyareatoenterlogindetails,thenclickGotostartDiscovererViewer. IfonlytheConnectDirectlyareaisdisplayed,enterlogindetailsandclickOK. DiscovererdisplaystheWorksheetListpage,whichenablesyoutoselectaworksheettoopen.YoucannowbegintoanalyzedatausingDiscoverer'spowerfulbusinessintelligenceanalysistools. Notes Formoreinformationabouthowtocreateaprivateconnection,seeOracleFusionMiddlewareUser'sGuideforOracleBusinessIntelligenceDiscovererPlus. FormoreinformationaboutstartingDiscovererViewer,seeSection2.11,"HowtostartDiscovererVieweroverHTTP." FormoreinformationaboutstartingDiscovererPlus,seeSection2.6,"AboutrunningDiscovererPlusoverHTTPforthefirsttimeonaclientmachine." YoucanusethecheckdiscovererutilitytoverifyaDiscovererconfigurationandreportonfailuresoranomalies(formoreinformationaboutthecheckdiscovererutility,seeSection11.2,"Whatisthecheckdiscovererutility?") DiscovererPlusOLAPhasitsowndiagnosticsutility(formoreinformation,seeSection5.6,"ConfigurationdiagnosticutilityforDiscovererPlusOLAP") 1.6AboutconnectingtoDiscoverer DiscovererendusersconnecttoDiscovererinthefollowingways: ByusingOracleBIDiscovererDesktop,endusersloginusingtheirdatabaseusernameandpassword.Formoreinformation,seeOracleFusionMiddlewareUser'sGuideforOracleBusinessIntelligenceDiscovererDesktop. ByusingOracleBIDiscovererPlusorOracleBIDiscovererViewer,endusersstorelogininformationinprivateconnections,andthenselectaconnection.Formoreinformation,seeOracleFusionMiddlewareUser'sGuideforOracleBusinessIntelligenceDiscovererPlusorOracleBusinessIntelligenceDiscovererViewerOnlineHelp. Discoverermiddle-tiermanagerscanalsoprovidepublicconnectionsthatenableDiscovererPlusandDiscovererViewerenduserstostartDiscovererautomaticallywithouthavingtoenterlogindetails.Formoreinformation,seeSection3.6,"Howtocreatepublicconnections." 1.7WhatistheOracleBIDiscovererarchitecture? OracleBIDiscovererhasamultitierarchitecturethattakesadvantageofthedistributednatureoftheWebenvironment.WhileitispossibletoinstallalltiersoftheOracleBIDiscovererarchitectureonthesamemachine,werecommenddistributingyourinstallationovermultiplemachines,tomaximizeperformanceandreliability. Figure1-5Discoverer'smultitierarchitecture Note:Multipleapplicationserverscanbeinstalledonthesamemachine. Discoverer'smultitierarchitecturecomprises: TheDiscovererclienttier,fromwhichWebbrowsersaccessDiscoverer.Formoreinformation,seeSection1.8,"AbouttheDiscovererclienttier." TheDiscoverermiddletier,whichincludesoneormoreOracleBIDiscovererinstallations,theOracleInternetDirectoryandthetwodatabaseschemasthatDiscovererrequires(thePStoreandPortletProviderschemas).Formoreinformation,seeSection1.9,"AbouttheDiscoverermiddletier." TheDiscovererdatabasetier,whichcontainsdataandmetadata(formoreinformation,seeSection1.10,"AbouttheDiscovererdatabasetier.") Notes FormoreinformationaboutconfiguringDiscovereronmultiplemachines,seeChapter6,"ManagingDiscovererinaMulti-MachineorMulti-InstanceEnvironment." 1.8AbouttheDiscovererclienttier TheDiscovererclienttieristheWebbrowserthataccessesDiscovererPlusorDiscovererViewer(seeFigure1-6).TheDiscovererclienttieralsoincludesthefollowingpieces: DiscovererPortletProvider EnablesDiscovererworkbookstobepublishedonvariousportals. DiscovererWebServicesAPI Enablesthird-partyapplicationstoreturnDiscoverercontent. TodeployDiscovererPlusandDiscovererViewertoendusers,youmustprovidethemwithanappropriateURL.Formoreinformation,seeChapter2,"StartingOracleBIDiscoverer.") Figure1-6Discovererclienttier YoucanenableanddisableDiscovererclient-tiercomponentsbyusingFusionMiddlewareControl.Formoreinformation,seeSection4.5,"AboutenablinganddisablingDiscovererclient-tiercomponents." 1.8.1AbouttheDiscovererclienttierandDiscovererPlus ForDiscovererPlus,theonlyrequirementfortheclientmachineisthatitrunsasupportedJava-enabledWebbrowser(forexample,MicrosoftInternetExplorer,NetscapeNavigator,orMozillaFirefox),withaJavaVirtualMachine(JVM).Formoreinformationonsofwarerequirements,seeOracleFusionMiddlewareInstallationGuideforOraclePortal,Forms,ReportsandDiscoverer. ThefirsttimethatamachineisusedtoconnecttoDiscoverer,theDiscovererPlusappletisdownloadedfromtheDiscoverermiddletierandcachedontheclientmachine. TheDiscovererPlusappletprovidestheDiscovererPlususerinterfaceandfunctionalityforcreatingworkbooksandanalyzingdata.Whentheuserlogsonsubsequently,theDiscovererPlusappletrunsfromthelocalcacheanddoesnothavebedownloaded. Note:IfyouupgradeDiscoverer,thenusersmighthavetodownloadtheDiscovererPlusappletagaintoDiscovererclientmachines.Formoreinformation,seeChapter2,"StartingOracleBIDiscoverer." 1.8.2AbouttheDiscovererclienttierandDiscovererViewer ForDiscovererViewer,theminimumrequirementfortheclientmachineisthatitcanrunHTMLthroughaWebbrowser. ForinformationaboutsupportedWebbrowserversionsforDiscoverer,seeOracleFusionMiddlewareInstallationGuideforOraclePortal,Forms,ReportsandDiscoverer. 1.9AbouttheDiscoverermiddletier TheDiscoverermiddletieristheportionoftheDiscovererarchitecturethattheDiscoverermiddle-tiermanagermaintains. Figure1-7Discoverermiddletier AsshowninFigure1-7,theDiscoverermiddletierconsistsof: DiscovererJavaEEapplications.Formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.1,"AbouttheDiscovererJavaEEapplications." DiscovererCORBAcomponents.Formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.2,"AbouttheDiscovererCORBAcomponents." Notes TheDiscoverermiddletieralsostorestheDiscovererPlusapplet,whichisdownloadedtoclientmachineswhenDiscovererendusersrunDiscovererPlusforthefirsttime.Formoreinformation,seeChapter2,"StartingOracleBIDiscoverer." AllmachinesthatruntheDiscoverermiddletiermustbeonthesamesubnet. 1.9.1AbouttheDiscovererJavaEEapplications AsshowninFigure1-8,theDiscovererJavaEEapplicationscomprisethefollowing: Discovererservlet(formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.1.1,"WhatistheDiscovererservlet?.") DiscovererPlusservlet(formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.1.2,"WhatistheDiscovererPlusservlet?.") DiscovererPortletProviderservlet(formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.1.3,"WhatistheDiscovererPortletProviderservlet?.") DiscovererWebServicesservlet(formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.1.4,"WhatistheDiscovererWebServicesservlet?.") Figure1-8DiscovererJavaEEapplications AservletcomprisesmodulesofJavacodethatrunonaservermachinetoanswerrequestsfromclientmachines.Usingaservletminimizesclient-sideprocessing. TheDiscovererservletsaredeployedintotheWebLogicmanagedserver,whichincludesaservletenginetorunservlets. FormoreinformationaboutstartingandstoppingtheDiscovererservlets,seeSection4.4,"AboutstartingandstoppingDiscovererservlets". 1.9.1.1WhatistheDiscovererservlet? TheDiscovererservletmanagesconnectionsandloginforDiscovererPlusandDiscovererViewer. 1.9.1.2WhatistheDiscovererPlusservlet? TheDiscovererPlusservlethandlestrafficbetweentheDiscovererPlusRelationalappletandtheDiscovererSessionprocessstartedforthatsession. 1.9.1.3WhatistheDiscovererPortletProviderservlet? TheDiscovererPortletProviderservletprovidesauserinterfaceforpublishingDiscovererworksheetsandlinkstoDiscovererworkbooksonaportalpage.FormoreinformationaboutDiscovererPortletProvider,seeOracleFusionMiddlewareGuidetoPublishingOracleBusinessIntelligenceDiscovererPortlets. 1.9.1.4WhatistheDiscovererWebServicesservlet? TheDiscovererWebServicesservletprovidesanApplicationProgrammingInterface(API)toobtainDiscovererconnections,workbooks,worksheets;toexecuteworksheetqueries;andtoreturnworksheetcontentthroughtheSOAPprotocol.Formoreinformation,seeOracleFusionMiddlewareUser'sGuideforOracleBusinessIntelligenceDiscovererWebServicesAPI. 1.9.2AbouttheDiscovererCORBAcomponents TheDiscovererCORBA(CommonObjectRequestBrokerArchitecture)componentsareresponsibleforactivatingDiscovererwhenanenduserstartsaDiscoverersession(thatis,whenauserconnectstoDiscovererPlusorDiscovererViewer). TheDiscovererCORBAcomponentsareusedbyalloftheDiscovererclient-tiercomponents:DiscovererPlus,DiscovererViewer,DiscovererPortletProvider,andDiscovererWebServices). AsshowninFigure1-9,theDiscovererCORBAcomponentscomprisethefollowing: Discoverersessionscomponent(formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.2.1,"WhatistheDiscoverersessioncomponent?.") Discovererpreferencesservercomponent(formoreinformation,seeSection1.9.2.2,"WhatistheDiscovererPreferencesservercomponent?.") Figure1-9DiscovererCORBAcomponents 1.9.2.1WhatistheDiscoverersessioncomponent? TheDiscoverersessioncomponent(alsoreferredtoasaCORBAserver)performsDiscovereroperationssuchasconnectingtothedatabaseoropeningaworkbook.TheDiscoverersessioncomponentprovidesthelinkbetweentheDiscovererservletorappletandthedatabase.ThereisoneDiscoverersessioncomponentperactiveuserloginsession. 1.9.2.2WhatistheDiscovererPreferencesservercomponent? TheDiscovererPreferencesservercomponentprovidesasinglelocationforpreferencesettingsforallOracleBIDiscovererusers(ofbothDiscovererPlusandDiscovererViewer).TheDiscoverermiddletierreliesonstoredpreferencesettingstospecifythedefaultDiscovererbehavior. Formoreinformation,seeSection4.2,"AboutusingFusionMiddlewareControltomanageDiscoverermiddle-tiercomponents." Note:Inamultiple-machineenvironmentwithdifferentDiscovererSessioncomponentsrunningondifferentmachines,Discovererusesasinglepreferencesserver.Formoreinformationaboutdesignatingasinglepreferencesservercomponent,seeSection6.6,"AbouttheDiscovererPreferencescomponentinamultiple-machineenvironment." 1.10AbouttheDiscovererdatabasetier ThedatabasetieroftheDiscovererarchitecturecontainsdataandmetadata. Figure1-10Discovererdatabasetier AsshowninFigure1-10,theDiscovererdatabasetierconsistsof: Discovererworkbooksthatareusedtostorereportsandcharts AnEndUserLayer(EUL),whichprovidesaneasy-to-understandviewofthedata Businessintelligencedatathatuserswanttoanalyze AnActiveCatalog,whichisasetofrelationalviewsthatexposethestandardformmetadatathatisstoredinanalyticworkspaces,sothatitcanbeaccessedbySQL Analyticworkspaces,whicharemultidimensionalschemasstoredinarelationaltable YouuseDiscovererAdministratortocreateandmaintaintheEUL.Formoreinformation,seetheOracleFusionMiddlewareAdministrator'sGuideforOracleBusinessIntelligenceDiscoverer. Notes BeforeuserscanuseDiscoverertoanalyzerelationaldata,thedatabasemustcontainaDiscovererEndUserLayer(EUL)Version5.1.x.TheDiscoverermanagermusthavecreatedorupgradedtheEULwithOracleBIDiscovererAdministrator. BeforeuserscanuseDiscoverertoanalyzemultidimensionaldata,youmustinstalltheDiscovererCatalog.Formoreinformation,seeChapter5,"ConfiguringDiscovererPlusOLAP." 1.11HowdoesOracleBIDiscovererwork? ThissectionprovidesinformationabouthowDiscovererPlusandDiscovererViewerwork. 1.11.1HowdoesDiscovererPlusRelationalwork? ThesectionexplainshowDiscovererPlusRelationalinteractswiththeDiscovererServicestierandthedatabase. Figure1-11TheDiscovererPlusRelationalprocess TheuserlaunchesaWebbrowseronaclientcomputerandtypestheURLoftheDiscovererPlusservlet. TheWebbrowseraccessestheDiscovererPlusservletontheDiscovererServicestier,whichforwardstherequesttotheDiscovererservlet. TheDiscovererservletretrievestheDiscovererConnectionspageandreturnsthistotheDiscovererPlusservlet,whichinturnreturnsthepagetotheclient. Theuserlogsin(byconnectingdirectlyorusingaDiscovererconnection). TheDiscovererPlusRelationalappletistransmittedtotheclientcomputer(ifitisnotpresent). Meanwhile,theDiscovererservletstartsaDiscoverersessionandestablishesaconnectionwiththesession. TheDiscoverersessionrequestsandreceivesdatafromthedatabase. TheDiscoverersessiontransmitsdatatotheDiscovererservlet,whichforwardsittotheDiscovererPlusservletwhichinturnforwardsittotheclientmachine. 1.11.2HowdoesDiscovererPlusOLAPwork? ThesectionexplainshowDiscovererPlusOLAPinteractswiththeDiscovererServicestierandthedatabase. Figure1-12TheDiscovererPlusOLAPprocess Descriptionof"Figure1-12TheDiscovererPlusOLAPprocess" TheuserlaunchesaWebbrowseronaclientcomputerandtypestheURLoftheDiscovererPlusservlet. TheWebbrowseraccessestheDiscovererPlusservletontheDiscovererServicestier,whichforwardstherequesttotheDiscovererservlet. TheDiscovererservletretrievestheDiscovererConnectionspageandreturnsthistotheDiscovererPlusservlet,whichinturnreturnsthepagetotheclient. Theuserlogsin(byconnectingdirectlyorusingaDiscovererconnection). TheDiscovererPlusOLAPappletistransmittedtotheclientcomputer(ifitisnotpresent). TheDiscovererPlusOLAPconnectsdirectlytothedatabase. 1.11.3HowdoesDiscovererViewerwork? ThesectionexplainshowDiscovererViewerinteractswiththeDiscovererServicestierandthedatabase. Figure1-13TheDiscovererViewerProcess TheuserlaunchesaWebbrowseronaclientcomputerandtypestheURLoftheDiscovererservlet. TheWebbrowseraccessestheDiscovererservletontheDiscovererServicestier. TheDiscovererservletretrievestheDiscovererConnectionspageandreturnsthistotheclient. Theuserlogsin(byconnectingdirectlyorusingaDiscovererconnection). Meanwhile,theDiscovererservletstartsaDiscoverersessionandestablishestheconnectionwiththesession. TheDiscoverersessionrequestsandreceivesdatafromthedatabase. TheDiscoverersessiontransmitsdatatotheDiscovererservlet,whichgeneratesanHTMLpageandforwardsittotheclientmachine. 1.12OracleBIDiscovererNavigation KeyboardNavigation OracleBIDiscoverersupportsstandardkeyboardnavigation.Standardkeyboardnavigationincludestheuseofthetabkey,mnemonics(usingtheAltkeyandtheunderlinedcharacter),andaccelerators(suchasAlt+F4toexitawindow). UsingtheJAWSscreenreaderwithDiscoverer IfusersuseDiscovererwithascreenreader(forexample,JAWS),youmustconfigureDiscovererPlustobedisplayedinaseparatewindowbydeployingwiththeframedisplaystyleconfigurationvaluesettoseparate.Formoreinformation,seeSection12.8,"ListofURLparametersspecifictoDiscovererPlus"orSection5.7,"URLparametersfortheDiscovererPlusOLAP." Tofurthermaximizeusability,youmightalsowanttoensurethatthescreenreaderhassufficienttimetoreadapagebeforethepageisrefreshedbydelayingthequeryprogresspage.