Building a BI Developer's SuperView

Another limitation I find irritating when it comes to building BI templates is how basic the sample file generator is. My main beef is that it just takes the first 10 records in the Integration Object and spits them out. If you have a complicated IO with child ICs, it is possible, and even likely that those first ten records do not have the child detail records you need to test your report output. There are some ways around this, like hard coding a search spec on the BC against a thick client partial compile to generate a file with data you want, but that seems so inelegant. My other tick regarding this feature is that the report developer once again either needs to have a Siebel thick client or access to the Siebel Server file system to actually get the xml file produced. It seems like the whole point of all the BI Administration views is to avoid having to go to the file system. What to do...

Caveat Emptor. Configuration steps below are to give you an idea. I am posting this after I finished to highlight what I recall as the important pieces so not every step is included. You will need to create the new custom table CX_TMPL (or use another), create all links, applets, view objects, make BO/Screen changes and deploy them.

First I build a view with the same IO BC based applet as the vanilla view on top, and child applets for both attachments and a new object which is essentially a search spec. First the attachment bc. This is a new BC which you can copy from an existing attachment BC and change the names around. Here is mine, called 'Sample IO Attachment' based on S_FILE_ATT. Use the field name prefix 'Sample' instead of which ever prefix is used on the BC you are copying (Be sure to set the User Property DefaultPrefix to 'Sample' too):

Name	Join	Column	Force Active	Predefault Value	Text Length	Type
IO Id		PAR_ROW_ID	Y	Parent: 'Repository Integration Object.Id'	15	DTYPE_ID
Parent Key		X_PARENT_KEY		Parent: 'Repository Integration Object.Name'	100	DTYPE_TEXT

The Search Spec applet is based on a custom BC, 'Report IO Sample File Template', based on the new table, CX_TMPL (I use this table for other things too so I type spec each record):

Name	Join	Column	Force Active	Predefault Value	Text Length	Type
Name		NAME		Field: "Id"	100	DTYPE_TEXT
Parent Id	S_INT_OBJ	ROW_ID	Y	Parent: "Repository Integration Object.Id"	15	DTYPE_ID
Parent Name		PARENT_FLD		Parent: "Repository Integration Object.Name"	50	DTYPE_TEXT
Search Specification		CONSTRAINT	Y		250	DTYPE_TEXT
Type		TYPE		SAMPLE_IO_CONSTRAINT	30	DTYPE_TEXT
Number of Records		LN_NUM		10		DTYPE_INTEGER

The join, S_INT_OBJ, is based on the specification of Parent Name = NAME. Using name instead of Id allows the search specs to remain visible after repository moves.

You will also need the following Named Method User Property:

"GenerateConstrainedData", "INVOKESVC", "Report IO Sample File Template", "Workflow Process Manager", "RunProcess", "'ProcessName'", "'Export Sample IO To File'", "SearchConstraint", "[Search Specification]", "'IOName'", "[Parent Name]", "Path", "'..\XMLP\Data'", "Object Id", "[Parent Id]", "PageSize", "[Number of Records]"

This user property is to activate the button you will need to place on the applet based on this BC. On that applet (based on class CSSSWEFrameListBase), add a button which invokes the method 'GenerateConstrainedData'. No additional script should be needed there.

Create a Service Flow Workflow Process called 'Export Sample IO To File'


Here are the Process Properties:

Name	In/Out	Data Type
FileName	In	String
IOName	In	String
PageSize	In	String
Path	In	String
SearchConstraint	In	String
SiebelMessage	None	Hierarchy
ViewMode	In	String

The first 'Echo' step is a Business Service based on Workflow Utilities, Echo method. This step sets up all the variables used later in the process. Here are the arguments:

I/O	Argument	Type	Value/Property Name
Input	IOName	Process Property	IOName
Input	PageSize	Process Property	PageSize
Input	Path	Process Property	Path
Input	SearchConstraint	Process Property	SearchConstraint
Input	ViewMode	Process Property	ViewMode
Output	FileName	Expression	IIF([&FileName] is not null, [&FileName], [&IOName])

The next 'Export IO' step is a Business Service based on EAI Siebel Adapter, QueryPage method. This step queries the integration object. Here are the arguments:

I/O	Argument	Type	Value/Property Name
Input	OutputIntObjectName	Process Property	IOName
Input	PageSize	Process Property	PageSize
Input	SearchSpec	Process Property	SearchConstraint
Input	ViewMode	Process Property	ViewMode
Output	SiebelMessage	Output Argument	SiebelMessage

The next 'Write to File' step is the Business Service, EAI XML Write to File, WriteEAIMsg method. This step writes the property set out as an XML document to the file system. Here are the arguments:

I/O	Argument	Type	Value/Property Name
Input	FileName	Expression	[&Path]+"\"+[&Process Instance Id]+"_"+[&FileName]+".xml"
Input	SiebelMessage	Process Property	SiebelMessage

The final 'Attach' step is another Business Service, this one custom. The basic logic here is to add an Attachment to the file system which is first described in Oracle document 477534.1 (I have made some improvements which I will perhaps discuss another day). Here are the arguments:

I/O	Argument	Type	Value/Property Name
Input	AttBusinessComponent	Literal	Sample IO Attachment
Input	AttachmentFieldName	Literal	SampleFileName
Input	BusinessObject	Literal	Repository Integration Object
Input	File	Expression	[&Path]+"\"+[&Process Instance Id]+"_"+[&FileName]+".xml"
Input	ObjectId	Process Property	Object Id
Input	PrimaryBusinessComponent	Literal	Repository Integration Object