Publishing Reports to the Web - Downloads - Oracle

Customization Overview
■ Using XML Files at Runtime
■ Debugging XML Report Definitions
This chapter lists and provides examples of the supported elements in the
reports.dtd file. However, only some of the attributes of these elements are listed.
For more information, either on the additional attributes or on the Oracle Reports XML
elements, tags, and attributes, refer to the following sources:
■ The reports.dtd file lists all the Oracle Reports XML elements, tags, and
attributes and, where present, the attributes' default values. The reports.dtd
file is located in ORACLE_HOME\reports\dtd\ on both Windows and UNIX
platforms. Many of the sub-elements include symbols that denote usage rules. For
example:
■ A plus sign (+) means you can have one or more of this type of element in
your XML file.
■ An asterisk (*) means you can have from zero to many of this type of element
in your XML file.
■ A question mark (?) means you can have either zero or one of this type of
element in your XML file.
■ No mark means the element is required, and you can have one and only one of
this type of element in your XML file.
If multiple sub-elements are enclosed in parentheses and followed by a symbol,
the symbol applies to all enclosed sub-elements.
■ Topic "Oracle Reports XML tags" in the Reference section of the Reports Builder
online help for descriptions of selected tags.
■ Build a report that includes the type of customization you are trying to build, save
the report as XML, and view the saved file in a text editor. This provides an
excellent means of seeing Oracle Reports XML in action and provides you with
examples of the more complex models you may wish to build.
16.1 Customization Overview
By using the Oracle Reports XML tags, you can customize reports created using
Reports Builder.
Note: Although it is possible to create an entire report manually
using the Oracle Reports XML tags, only manually created
customizations and data models are documented and supported.
Creating and applying an XML customization is a three-step process:
1. Create a customization file using Oracle Reports XML tags.
You can create this customization by building a report using Reports Builder then
saving your report as XML. You can also build the customization manually, with
any sort of text editor or a sophisticated XML editor, as long as you include the
XML tags that are required for the particular Oracle Reports customization.
For descriptions of selected Oracle Reports XML tags, see opic "Oracle Reports
XML tags" in the Reference section of the Reports Builder online help for
descriptions of selected tags.
16-2 Oracle Application Server Reports Services Publishing Reports to the Web