Friday, July 2, 2010

Smart View Extensions

If you attended my session at ODTUG Kaleidoscope '10 you got some great information on one of the latest in Smart View features; Smart View Extensions.  If you missed I will provided a summarized version here.

Smart View extensions are a framework for creating applications or add-ons that run within Smart View.   In Smart View 11.1.2 these extensions are already in use by Oracle product teams (Disclosure Management) and some additional free extensions are available for anyone to download.

Here are some cool extensions that you can download and use with Smart View 11.1.2. http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/bi/performance-management/plugins/index.html

New Link: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/smart-view-for-office/overview/index.html

Options Tree - The Power Pack Quick Options extension allows users to view and change common options without having to launch the options dialog. To access this panel, from the Smart View Panel Home dropdown, select ‘Quick Options’.

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Substitution Variables - The Power Pack Substitution Variables extension allows users to view and use Essbase Substitution Variables in there queries. To access this panel, from the Smart View Panel Home dropdown, select ‘Substitution Variables’.

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Table of Contents - The Power Pack Table of Contents extension allows users to see what workbooks are open and if they are connected or not. From the Smart View Panel Home dropdown select ‘Table of Contents’ and a panel will be displayed that allows you to see all of your connected worksheets and workbooks. In the panel the sheets can be sorted by connection, sheet name or book name.

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MDX Script Library - The Power Pack MDX Script Library extension allows users to view and launch MDX scripts stored on their local machine. The script results can be used as a starting point for new Essbase queries. To access this panel, from the Smart View Panel Home dropdown, select ‘MDX Script Library’.

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Adjust Data - The Power Pack Adjust Data extension allows users to quickly make adjustment to data in a cell or range of cells. This panel will allow you to work within the sheet while making simple 1 click adjustments using common math operations. To access this panel, from the Smart View Panel Home dropdown, select ‘Adjust Data’.

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9 comments:

Jeff said...

Thanks for the blog. The link to the plugins doesn't work, and I couldn't find them on Oracle's site. Are they still available?

Matt Milella said...

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-foundation/downloads/index-088403.html

There have been some OTN changes so the page look bad but we are working on it.

LHarshberger said...

Do the SV extensions work with Essbase/Planning version 11.1.2.0? We are using SV 11.1.2.1, but Essbase and Planning are not up to 11.1.2.1 yet.

Matt Milella said...

Yes the site for extension clearly details their support and short answer is that 11.1.2 is supported.

LHarshberger said...

Okay thanks! I was wondering because I keep getting an "Unhandled Exception" error when I try to use any of the extensions.

Matt Milella said...

What extension are you trying and with what Provider?

LHarshberger said...

Substitution variables with Essbase and I also tried Quick Options with Planning

Matt Milella said...

I am surprised you are getting these errors. Can you post the exact error message and what you are doing when it happens? For example: opening Excel, opening the panel for the extension, etc.

LHarshberger said...

Sure. I am able to open Excel, open Shared Connections, connect to an Essbase app, and then when I click on Substitution Variables (for example), I can see the Sub Vars for the server, but when I try to click on a Value to edit, it throws a Microsoft .NET Framework error: "Unhandled exception has occurred in a component in your application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. Object reference not set to an instance of an object." If I try to navigate to any of the other Extensions (Quick Options, Table of Contents), I get the same error when I click on the extension.