1-14 Oracle Fusion Middleware Configuration Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer
As shown in Figure 1–9
, the Discoverer CORBA components comprise the following:
■
Discoverer sessions component for more information, see Section 1.9.2.1, What is
the Discoverer session component?.
■
Discoverer preferences server component for more information, see Section 1.9.2.2, What is the Discoverer Preferences server component?.
Figure 1–9 Discoverer CORBA components
1.9.2.1 What is the Discoverer session component?
The Discoverer session component also referred to as a CORBA server performs Discoverer operations such as connecting to the database or opening a workbook. The
Discoverer session component provides the link between the Discoverer servlet or applet and the database. There is one Discoverer session component per active user
login session.
1.9.2.2 What is the Discoverer Preferences server component?
The Discoverer Preferences server component provides a single location for preference settings for all Oracle BI Discoverer users of both Discoverer Plus and Discoverer
Viewer. The Discoverer middle tier relies on stored preference settings to specify the default Discoverer behavior.
For more information, see Section 4.2, About using Fusion Middleware Control to
manage Discoverer middle-tier components.
Note : In a multiple-machine environment with different Discoverer Session
components running on different machines, Discoverer uses a single preferences server. For more information about designating a single preferences server component,
see Section 6.6, About the Discoverer Preferences component in a multiple-machine
environment.
1.10 About the Discoverer database tier
The database tier of the Discoverer architecture contains data and metadata.
Introducing Oracle BI Discoverer 1-15
Figure 1–10 Discoverer database tier
As shown in Figure 1–10
, the Discoverer database tier consists of:
■
Discoverer workbooks that are used to store reports and charts
■
An End User Layer EUL, which provides an easy-to-understand view of the data
■
Business intelligence data that users want to analyze
■
An Active Catalog, which is a set of relational views that expose the standard form metadata that is stored in analytic workspaces, so that it can be accessed by SQL
■
Analytic workspaces, which are multidimensional schemas stored in a relational table
You use Discoverer Administrator to create and maintain the EUL. For more information, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrators Guide for Oracle Business
Intelligence Discoverer.
Notes
■
Before users can use Discoverer to analyze relational data, the database must contain a Discoverer End User Layer EUL Version 5.1.x. The Discoverer manager
must have created or upgraded the EUL with Oracle BI Discoverer Administrator.
■
Before users can use Discoverer to analyze multidimensional data, you must install the Discoverer Catalog. For more information, see
Chapter 5, Configuring Discoverer Plus OLAP.
1.11 How does Oracle BI Discoverer work?
This section provides information about how Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer work.
1.11.1 How does Discoverer Plus Relational work?
The section explains how Discoverer Plus Relational interacts with the Discoverer Services tier and the database.
1-16 Oracle Fusion Middleware Configuration Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer
Figure 1–11 The Discoverer Plus Relational process
1.
The user launches a Web browser on a client computer and types the URL of the Discoverer Plus servlet.
2.
The Web browser accesses the Discoverer Plus servlet on the Discoverer Services tier, which forwards the request to the Discoverer servlet.
3.
The Discoverer servlet retrieves the Discoverer Connections page and returns this to the Discoverer Plus servlet, which in turn returns the page to the client.
4.
The user logs in by connecting directly or using a Discoverer connection.
5.
The Discoverer Plus Relational applet is transmitted to the client computer if it is not present.
6.
Meanwhile, the Discoverer servlet starts a Discoverer session and establishes a connection with the session.
7.
The Discoverer session requests and receives data from the database.
8.
The Discoverer session transmits data to the Discoverer servlet, which forwards it to the Discoverer Plus servlet which in turn forwards it to the client machine.
1.11.2 How does Discoverer Plus OLAP work?
The section explains how Discoverer Plus OLAP interacts with the Discoverer Services tier and the database.
Figure 1–12 The Discoverer Plus OLAP process
1. The user launches a Web browser on a client computer and types the URL of the
Discoverer Plus servlet.
Introducing Oracle BI Discoverer 1-17
2.
The Web browser accesses the Discoverer Plus servlet on the Discoverer Services tier, which forwards the request to the Discoverer servlet.
3.
The Discoverer servlet retrieves the Discoverer Connections page and returns this to the Discoverer Plus servlet, which in turn returns the page to the client.
4.
The user logs in by connecting directly or using a Discoverer connection.
5.
The Discoverer Plus OLAP applet is transmitted to the client computer if it is not present.
6.
The Discoverer Plus OLAP connects directly to the database.
1.11.3 How does Discoverer Viewer work?
The section explains how Discoverer Viewer interacts with the Discoverer Services tier and the database.
Figure 1–13 The Discoverer Viewer Process
1.
The user launches a Web browser on a client computer and types the URL of the Discoverer servlet.
2.
The Web browser accesses the Discoverer servlet on the Discoverer Services tier.
3.
The Discoverer servlet retrieves the Discoverer Connections page and returns this to the client.
4.
The user logs in by connecting directly or using a Discoverer connection.
5.
Meanwhile, the Discoverer servlet starts a Discoverer session and establishes the connection with the session.
6.
The Discoverer session requests and receives data from the database.
7.
The Discoverer session transmits data to the Discoverer servlet, which generates an HTML page and forwards it to the client machine.
1.12 Oracle BI Discoverer Navigation
Keyboard Navigation
Oracle BI Discoverer supports standard keyboard navigation. Standard keyboard navigation includes the use of the tab key, mnemonics using the Alt key and the
underlined character, and accelerators such as Alt+F4 to exit a window.
Using the JAWS screen reader with Discoverer
If users use Discoverer with a screen reader for example, JAWS, you must configure Discoverer Plus to be displayed in a separate window by deploying with the
1-18 Oracle Fusion Middleware Configuration Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer
framedisplaystyle configuration value set to separate. For more information, see
Section 12.8, List of URL parameters specific to Discoverer Plus or
Section 5.7, URL parameters for the Discoverer Plus OLAP.
To further maximize usability, you might also want to ensure that the screen reader has sufficient time to read a page before the page is refreshed by delaying the query
progress page.
2
Starting Oracle BI Discoverer 2-1
2
Starting Oracle BI Discoverer
This chapter applies only to Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer. For information about Discoverer Plus OLAP, see
Chapter 5, Configuring Discoverer Plus OLAP .
This chapter explains how to start Oracle BI Discoverer on a client browser machine, to install and configure any required plug-ins for example, a Java runtime environment
or security certificates, and contains the following topics:
■
Section 2.1, General information about starting Discoverer
■
Section 2.2, Which Web browsers does Discoverer support?
■
Section 2.3, About restricting how users can start Discoverer
■
Section 2.4, What are the storage requirements and privileges required to start Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer?
■
Section 2.5, About running Discoverer over HTTPS
■
Section 2.6, About running Discoverer Plus over HTTP for the first time on a client machine
■
Section 2.7, How to start Discoverer Plus
■
Section 2.8, How to start Discoverer Plus over HTTP in Microsoft Internet Explorer for the first time on a Windows client machine
■
Section 2.9, How to start Discoverer Plus over HTTP in Netscape Navigator for the first time on a Windows client machine
■
Section 2.10, How to start Discoverer Plus over HTTP in Netscape Navigator for the first time on a UNIX client machine
■
Section 2.11, How to start Discoverer Viewer over HTTP
■
Section 2.12, How to modify the URL that starts Discoverer
Notes
■
The instructions in this chapter assume that the Discoverer installation is associated with an Oracle Internet Directory and with the two database schemas
that Discoverer requires the PStore and Portlet Provider schemas. If the Discoverer installation is not associated with the Oracle Internet Directory and the
PStore and Portlet Provider schemas, end users do not see the Discoverer connections page, and must enter login details directly using the Connect to
Oracle BI Discoverer - Connect Directly page.
■
Before users can use Discoverer to analyze relational data, the database must contain a Discoverer EUL Version 5.1.x.
2-2 Oracle Fusion Middleware Configuration Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer
■
You can use the checkdiscoverer utility to verify a Discoverer configuration and report on failures or anomalies for more information about the checkdiscoverer
utility, see Section 11.2, What is the checkdiscoverer utility?
.
■
In some circumstances for example, to provide a clean environment in which to run Discoverer Plus, you might want to remove the Discoverer Plus applet from a
client machine. To remove the Discoverer Plus applet from a client machine, do the following:
a.
Display the JVM control panel for example, on a Windows machine, display the Control Panel, and double-click the Java icon.
b.
Click Settings in the General tab to display the Temporary Files Settings dialog.
c.
Click Delete Files. Alternatively, manually remove all files from the Sun Java Deployment Cache
directory. For example, on Windows, remove all files from the C:\Documents and Settings\Windows user name\Application
Data\Sun\Java\Deployment\Cache directory.
You might also have to clear the browser’s temporary files.
■
In some circumstances you might want to remove the Java run-time environment plug-in from a client machine. To do this, remove all versions of the Java 2
Runtime Environment SE from the client machine.
■
You can upgrade the Java Plug-in on a browser machine without affecting the certified Java Plug-in version installed with Discoverer. For example, when you
log in to Windows you might see a Sun Java Plug-in pop-up that informs you that a new version of the Java Plug-in is available for download. If you download and
install the new version, Discoverer continues to use the Java Plug-in version installed when you first started Discoverer on that machine.
2.1 General information about starting Discoverer
