Create New Action dialog

Use this dialog to create an action.

For more information, see Chapter 10, "Working with Actions."

This dialog is also displayed as:

Add New Action dialog
New Action dialog
Edit Action dialog

Components

Browse

This button is not available for all action types.

Displays one of the following dialogs:

For a Navigate to BI Content action, the "Select BI Content For Action dialog," where you select the Oracle BI EE content to which to navigate
For a Navigate to EPM Content action, the "Select the Hyperion resource you want this action to invoke dialog," where you select the EPM content to which to navigate
For an Invoke a Web Service action, the "Select Web Service Operation dialog," where you select a Web Service operation to be invoked
For an Invoke a Java Method action, the "Select Java Method dialog," where you select the Java method to be invoked
For an Invoke a Browser Script action, the "Select Script Function dialog," where you select the function to be invoked

Note:

Before a JavaScript function can be used in an action, your administrator must first include it in the JavaScript file that contains user-defined scripts.
For an Invoke Agent action, the "Select Existing Agent dialog," where you select the agent to be invoked

Note:

In order for Hyperion resources, Web Service operations, EJBs, and functions to be exposed in their respective dialogs, some setup is required beforehand. For how to expose Hyperion resources, Web Service operations, EJBs, and functions in their respective dialogs, see Integrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

URL

This field is available only for Navigate to a Web Page and Invoke an HTTP Request actions and only if URL aliases have been defined for these actions.

Use this field to enter the URL of the web page.

Be sure to encode the URL, if required. See "About Encoding the URL for a Navigate to a Web Page or Invoke an HTTP Request Action."

Tip:

Copy the URL from the browser and paste it in this field.

If URL aliases have been defined for Navigate to a Web Page and Invoke an HTTP Request, and you want to specify an alias for the URL, click the Show URL location aliases button (that is, the down arrow) and select the alias.

For more information on defining URL aliases, see Integrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

Request

Use this box to select one of the following options:

GET — Use this option to retrieve information from the URL. Any parameters added to the action are appended to the URL using the following syntax:
```
&paramName1=paramValue1&paramName2=paramValue2 (and so on)
```
POST — Use this option to post information to the URL. Any parameters added to the action are posted to the URL as name value pairs.

This field is available only for Invoke an HTTP Request actions.

Define Parameters

This button is available only for Navigate to a Web Page and Invoke an HTTP Request actions

Use this button to display the Define Parameters area. It also automatically parses the specified URL for parameters and lists them in the Define Parameters area.

For example, this URL:

http://finance.google.com/finance?q=ORCL

Becomes this:

http://finance.google.com/finance?q=@{1}

And an action parameter with the name 1 and a default value of ORCL is displayed in the Define Parameters area.

Any part of a URL can be converted into a token if the token name matches the parameter name. When an action is executed, the value of the parameter is used in the final URL.

Language

This box is available only for Invoke Server Script actions.

Use this box to select the script type — either JavaScript or VB Script.

Script Path

This field is available only for Invoke Server Script actions.

Use this field to enter the path of the script to be executed. By default, the scripts are stored in the following directory: ORACLE_INSTANCE\bifoundation\OracleBISchedulerComponent\coreapplication_obischn\scripts\common. For example D:\OBI11g\instances\instance1\bifoundation\OracleBISchedulerComponent\coreapplication_obisch1\scripts\common.

However, the Administrator can change this default path by modifying the value of the DefaultScriptPath element in the instanceconfig.xml file for Scheduler. For more information on the DefaultScriptPath element, see "General Scheduler Configuration Settings that Affect Agents" in System Administrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.)

Function Name

This field is available only for Invoke a Browser Script actions.

Use this field to enter the name of the JavaScript function to be executed. Click Browse to display the "Select Script Function dialog," where you can select a script.

Path

This field is available only for Invoke Agent actions.

Displays the path to the agent that is to be invoked.

Execute for Recipients

This box is available only for Invoke Agent actions.

Use this box to select one of the following options to specify the scope of the recipients:

of specified Agent — Specifies the recipients of the agent to be invoked (that is, the agent specified in the Path box).
of current Agent — Specifies the recipients of the current agent (that is, the agent to which the action is being added).
of both specified and current Agent — Specifies the recipients of both the agent to be invoked and the current agent.
common to specified and current Agent — Specifies the recipients that are common to both the agent to be invoked and the current agent.
of specified Agent, and not current Agent — Specifies the recipients of the agent to be invoked but with the recipients of the current agent excluded.

Define Parameters

Use this area to define the action parameters.

Depending on the action type, some action parameters might be displayed automatically in this area. For example:

For an Invoke a Web Service action, the parameters are read and displayed from the Web Service Definition Language file.
For an Invoke a Browser Script action, the parameters are read and displayed from the script file, if they have been declared and published in the file.
For a Navigate to E-Business Suite action, these parameters are displayed:
- FunctionCode — The name of the function that relates to the target E-Business Suite form, for example, GLXIQJRN.
- ConnectionPool — The name of the connection pool for the Oracle E-Business Suite database in the Oracle BI repository, for example, EBS12.
  
  You can also define optional parameters for passing the context from Oracle Business Intelligence to EBS forms.

This area includes, depending on the type of action, some of the following buttons and columns:

Add Document Parameter — This button is available only for an Invoke Server Script action. Use this button to add a document parameter. A document parameter enables you to pass either the delivery content or the results of the analysis on which the agent condition is based to the script.
Add Parameter — Use this button to add a parameter. (Whether you can add a parameter for an action, depends on the action type.)
Delete Parameter — Use this button to delete a parameter.
Name — Use this column to view, edit, or enter the name of the parameter.

For Navigate to a Web Page and Invoke an HTTP Request actions, to embed a parameter value anywhere within the URL, enter the token @{Name} where 'Name' is the value specified in the Name column below. There is no limit to the number of parameters that can be embedded.
Prompt — Use this column to enter the prompt to be displayed to users, if the user is to provide the parameter value.
Value — Use this column to specify the parameter value. To specify a the value:
- For a parameter row, click the Change type of value button to select one of the following types of values and then specify the value:
  - Value — Select this option to specify a value and then enter the value in the field.
  - Session Variable — Select this option to use the value of a session variable, and then enter the name of the session variable in the field, or click the Show popular Session variables button (to the right of this field) and select a session variable from a list of commonly-used variables.
  - Repository Variable — Select this option to use the value of a repository variable and then enter the name of the repository value in the field.
  - Request Column — Select this option to display the "Choose Request Column dialog," where you select the column in an analysis whose value is to be used as the value of an action parameter.
    
    This option is available only when you are adding an inline action to an agent that is conditionally executed based on an analysis.
  - Column Value — Select this option to use a column value in your analysis criteria and then click the Column Value button and select the column.
    
    For example, suppose you have the Region and District columns in your analysis criteria and define an action link on the District column that maps a parameter to the Region column. When you execute that action link (by clicking on a district), the region value for that district is used. Note that in a pivot table, the mapped values depend on the current layout or state of the table.
    
    This option is available only when you are adding an inline action to an analysis.
  For more information on session and repository variables, see "Using Variables."
- (for an Invoke Server Script action only) For a document parameter row, click the Format button to select the format in which the content is to be passed (PDF, MIME HTML, Text, XML, Comma-separated values, Excel, Excel 2000, Microsoft PowerPoint) and then select the type of content to be passed. Valid types of content are:
  - Delivery Content — Use this option to specify that the delivery content of the agent is to be passed. (You specify the delivery content in the "Agent editor: Delivery Content tab.")
  - Condition Analysis — Use this option to specify that the results of the analysis on which the agent condition is based is to be passed. (You specify the analysis on which an agent condition is based in the "Agent editor: Condition tab.")
Fixed — Use this column to specify whether to allow users to see but not set the parameter. Select the box to allow users to see but not set the parameter. Deselect this box to allow users to see and set the value.
Hidden — Use this column to specify whether to hide the parameter from users. Select the box to hide the parameter from users. Deselect this box to show the parameter to users.
Optional — Use this column to specify whether the parameter requires a value before the action can be executed. Select this box to make the value optional. Deselect this box to make the value required.

Filters

This area is available only for an action that invokes an agent that is conditional based on an analysis that filters its data by a column prompt.

Use this area to map any column of the specified agent (that is, the agent to be invoked) that contains a column prompt to any to column of the current agent (that is, the agent to which the action is being added). At runtime, the system generates a filter based on the data returned by the execution of the conditional analysis of the current agent.

For more on how filters work in an Invoke Agent action, see Integrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

Options

This button is available only for actions where it is appropriate to display information to users. For example, this option is not available for actions added to agents.

Use this button to display the "Action Options dialog," where you specify information to display to users when they run an action.

Save As

This button is available only on the Edit Action dialog for named actions.

Use this button to display the dialog, where you save the action to the catalog as a new action with another name.

Notes

Some action types (for example, Navigate to Siebel CRM and Invoke a Web Service) require some configuration before you can use them. For more information on the required configuration, see Integrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

About Encoding the URL for a Navigate to a Web Page or Invoke an HTTP Request Action

If the URL that you specify for a Navigate to a Web Page or Invoke an HTTP Request action contains characters outside the ASCII character set or contains characters in an international language, you must encode it. Encoding involves replacing the characters that are outside the ASCII character set or the characters in an international language with "%" and the two hexadecimal digits that correspond to the character values in the ISO-8859-1 character set. Note the following about encoding the various parts of a URL:

The protocol (that is, http:// or https://) — You usually do not need to encode this part.
The address (for example, foo.example.com:9704) — You usually do not need to encode this part unless it contains characters in an international language.
The path (for example, /a/path/to/a/resource) — You must encode this part if it contain characters that require encoding. If you used variables for parts of the path, then you do not need to encode those parts as they are encoded automatically when the variable is substituted with a value.
The query string (that is, the part of the URL which follows the path and is separated from it by a '?') — You must encode this part if the names of the query parameters (for example, report=foo&destination=email) or any fixed values (unless they come from an analysis) contain characters that require encoding. (Within the query string, individual parameters are separated by a '&' character, for example, analytics/saw.dll?report=foo&destination=email.)

The following example shows an encoded URL:

http://myservice.example.com:4579/path/to/my%20service/endpoint/@{bivariable1}?parameter1=fixed&parameter2=@{bivariable2}

Note that in the example URL:

The path required encoding, as indicated by the %20.
The @{...} parts did not require encoding as it included variables, which are encoded automatically.
If @{bivariable2} or @{bivariable1} expands to a company name, for example, "Example Corporation", then the ' ' (space) in "Example Corporation" is replaced automatically with the encoded form "Example%20Corporation".