XML/BI PUBLISHER INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

BI Publisher:

1)What is BI Publisher?

It is a reporting tool for generating the reports.

2)What is the difference between xml publisher and BI Publisher?

Name is the difference, initially it was released on the name of xml publisher( the initial patchset),

later on they have added more features and called it Business Intelligence Publisher.

In BI by default we have integration with Datadefinitions in R12 instance(XDODTEXE).

Both these names can be used interchangeably.

3)What are the various components required for developing a BI publisher report?

Data Template, Layout template and the integration with Concurrent Manager.

4)What is a datatemplate?

Datatemplate is an xml structure which contains the queries to be run against the database so that

desired output in xml format is generated,this generated xml output is then applied on to the layout template for the final output.

5)What is a layout template?

Layout template defines how the user views the output, basically it can be developed using Microsoft

word document in rft (rich text format)or Adobe pdf format. The data output in xml format (from Data template) will be loaded in layouttemplate at run time and therequired final output file is generated.

6)What are the output formats supported by layout template?

xls, html, pdf, eText etc are supported based on the business need.

7)BI Publisher syntax

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<dataTemplate name="XXFIN_GBL_COMEXP" Description="UNITY FAR0003 Bucket Aging and Insurance

Detail Report" version="1.0" defaultPackage="XXFIN_GBL_AGING_INSURNC_PKG">

<parameters>

</parameters>

<dataQuery>

<sqlStatement name="Q_TRX_DETAILS">

</sqlStatement>

</dataQuery>

<dataTrigger name="beforeReport" source="XXFIN_GBL_AGING_INSURNC_PKG.BEFOREREPORT" />

<dataStructure>

<group name="G_LEDGER_NAME" source="Q_LEDGER_NAME">

<element name="C_BALANCE_B1" value="B1_INV" />

</group>

</dataStructure>

</dataTemplate>

8)How to debug the BI Publisher?

<properties>

<element name="debug_mode" value="on"/>

<element name="scalable_mode" value="on"/>

<element name="data_fetch_size" value="20"/>

</properties>

9)what is debug_mode and its use?

debug_mode is optional, To run the utility in debug mode and write debug statements to the log file.

10) what is scalable_mode and use?

Sets the data engine to execute in scalable mode. This is required when processing a large volume of

data.

Valid values:

*on

*off (default)

11)what is data_fetch_size and use?

Sets the number of rows fetched at a time through the jdbc connection. The default value is 500.