11
Using Discoverer with Oracle9iAS Portal

11.1 Using Discoverer with Oracle9iAS Portal

This chapter describes how to use Oracle9iAS Discoverer with Oracle9iAS Portal, and contains the following topics:

• Section 11.2, "What is Oracle9iAS Portal?"

• Section 11.3, "How to use Oracle9iAS Discoverer with Oracle9iAS Portal"

• Section 11.4, "How to register the Discoverer Portlet Provider with Oracle9iAS Portal"

• Section 11.5, "How to edit the Discoverer Portlet Provider"

• Section 11.6, "About changing the default performance settings for Oracle9iAS Discoverer"

11.2 What is Oracle9iAS Portal?

Oracle9iAS Portal is a component of Oracle9iAS that enables non-technical business users to create portals. Portals are internet or intranet sites that provide a personalized, single point of interaction with a company's suite of applications. Portals also enable you to provide a consistent look and feel to users.

The Discoverer Portlet Provider is the content delivery mechanism used to publish Discoverer data in Oracle9iAS Portal. The Discoverer Portlet Provider enables portal users to publish two types of Discoverer portlet:

• Worksheet portlet - displays a worksheet in a portal.

• List of Workbook portlet - displays a list of workbooks in a portal.

The figure below shows a portal page containing a Discoverer portlet called Analyze Sales Reports. Analyze Sales Reports contains links to Discoverer workbooks that enable portal users to quickly access Discoverer workbooks.

Text description of the illustration portmain.gif

Notes:

• For more information about Oracle9iAS Portal, see Oracle9iAS Portal Configuration Guide.

• For more information about Discoverer portlets, see Oracle9i Discoverer Administrator Administration Guide.

11.3 How to use Oracle9iAS Discoverer with Oracle9iAS Portal

Before portal users can add Discoverer portlets to an Oracle9iAS portal, you have to register the Discoverer Portlet Provider with Oracle9iAS Portal.

You register the Discoverer Portlet Provider using the Add Portlet Provider page in Oracle9iAS Portal.

To use Oracle9iAS Discoverer with Oracle9iAS Portal, do the following:

• register Discoverer Portlet Provider with Oracle9iAS Portal (for more information, see Section 11.4, "How to register the Discoverer Portlet Provider with Oracle9iAS Portal")

• (optional) change the default cache settings for Discoverer Portlet Provider if required, see Section 11.6, "About changing the default performance settings for Oracle9iAS Discoverer"

Notes:

• For more information about using Oracle9iAS Portal to register portlet providers, see Oracle9iAS Portal Help.

11.4 How to register the Discoverer Portlet Provider with Oracle9iAS Portal

You register the Discoverer Portlet Provider to enable portal end users to use it to add Discoverer portlets to their portal pages.

To register the Discoverer Portlet Provider with Oracle9iAS Portal:

1. Open a Web browser and go to the main Portal page.

   For more information about displaying the main Portal page, contact the Oracle9iAS Portal administrator.

2. Select the Builder icon to display the Portal Design-Time pages.

   
   
   Text description of the illustration port4.gif

3. Select the Register a Portlet Provider link to display the Add Provider page.

   
   
   Text description of the illustration port1.gif

4. Enter the Portlet Provider details.

   Note: You can assign any Name and Display Name to the Discoverer Portlet Provider as required. The Name and Display Name can be different.

   Hint: Give the Portlet Provider a useful display name because Portal users will see this when they add a Discoverer portlet to a portal page.

5. Choose Web from the Implementation Style drop down list.

6. Click Next to display the Define Connection page.

   
   
   Text description of the illustration port2.gif

7. Enter the Portlet Provider general properties as follows:
   1. Enter the URL of the Discoverer Portlet Provider in the URL field, in the form:

      http://<hostname[:port]>/discoverer/portletprovider (e.g. http://server:8080/discoverer/portletprovider)

   2. If Oracle9iAS Portal and the Discoverer Portlet Provider are in the same cookie domain, select the Web Provider in same cookie domain as the portal check box.

      Note: The Oracle9iAS Portal and the Discoverer Portlet Provider are typically in the same cookie domain.

   3. Select the The user has the same identity in the Web providers application as in the Single Sign-On identity radio button.

8. Click Next to display the Control Access page.

   
   
   Text description of the illustration port3.gif

   Unless you want to change the default Grant Access settings, you do not need to enter details in the Control Access page.

9. Click Finish.

End users can now use the Discoverer Portlet Provider to add portlets to an Oracle9iAS Portal page.

11.5 How to edit the Discoverer Portlet Provider

You edit the Discoverer Portlet Provider when you want to change the way that it works. For example, you might want to change the Discoverer Portlet Provider Display Name, or change its Control Access settings.

To edit the Discoverer Portlet Provider:

1. Open a Web browser and go to the main Portal page.

   For more information about displaying the main Portal page, contact the Oracle9iAS Portal administrator.

2. Select the Builder icon to display the Portal Design-Time pages.

   
   
   Text description of the illustration port4.gif

3. Enter the name of the Discoverer Portlet Provider (i.e. its Display Name) in the Name field, and click Edit to display the Edit Provider page.

   Hint: If you are not sure of the name of the Discoverer Portlet Provider,

   1. Click the Browse Providers icon to the right of the Name field.

   2. Choose the Discoverer Portlet Provider name from the list of Portlet Providers displayed.

      Hint: The name that you choose is the Display Name that was specified when you registered the Discoverer Portlet Provider (for more information, see Section 11.4, "How to register the Discoverer Portlet Provider with Oracle9iAS Portal").

   3. Click Edit to display the Edit Portlet Provider page.

4. Make the necessary changes, as follows:
   • use the Main tab to change provider information (e.g. the Display Name of the Discoverer Portlet Provider).

   • use the Connection tab to change general properties (e.g. the URL of the Discoverer Portlet Provider).

   • use the Access tab to change the access privileges (e.g. the Control Access settings of the Discoverer Portlet Provider).

5. Click OK to save the changes you have made.

   The portlet is updated according to changes you have made.

11.6 About changing the default performance settings for Oracle9iAS Discoverer

When you use Oracle9iAS Discoverer with Oracle9iAS Portal, you might want to:

• increase the number of sessions that can run at one time by changing the maximumSessions setting (for more information, see Section A.4, "List of configuration settings in configuration.xml")

• change the way that stylesheets are pooled in memory (for more information, see Section 12.5.4, "How to enhance Discoverer Viewer scalability using XSL stylesheet pooling")