Working with Direct Database Requests

Users with the appropriate privileges can create and issue a direct database request directly to a physical back-end database. The results of the request can be displayed and manipulated within the Analysis editor, and subsequently incorporated into dashboards and agents. This section includes the following topics:

"Setting Privileges for Direct Requests"
"Executing a Direct Database Request"
"Seeing the Results of Direct Database Requests"

Setting Privileges for Direct Requests

The following privilege settings in Oracle BI Presentation Services Administration control whether you can modify and execute direct requests:

Edit Direct Database Analysis

If this privilege is set for you, then you can create and edit direct database requests.
Execute Direct Database Analysis

If this permission is set for you, then you can issue direct requests and see the results.

For information, see "Managing Presentation Services Privileges" in Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

Executing a Direct Database Request

You can send a direct request to the database from Oracle BI EE.

Note:

Oracle BI Server security rules for data are bypassed and cannot be applied when direct database requests are issued from Oracle BI EE.

To execute a direct database request:

In the global header, select New, then Analysis, then Create Direct Database Query.

The "Analysis editor: Criteria tab" is displayed with options for creating a database request.
Specify the appropriate options on the Criteria tab.
To issue the request and see the results, if any, click the Results tab.

Seeing the Results of Direct Database Requests

After you retrieve columns to create an analysis from a direct database request, you can work with that analysis similarly to how you work with other analyses. The following list outlines differences with analyses whose columns originated from direct database requests:

The "Subject Areas pane" does not contain any columns, because you are not working with columns from a repository.
You cannot create groups or selection steps for this analysis.
You cannot specify conditional formatting for the columns.
The Sort Ascending (upward-facing triangle) and the Sort Descending (downward-facing triangle) that display when you hover the mouse over the area to the right of a column name in the header of a pivot table, table, or trellis view are not supported.