Discoverer In Apps Mode Help

Question

I am currently working on a project using oracle discoverer and it is being run in "apps mode". This is the first time I have worked practically with discoverer and I am unfamiliar with the standard apps EUL. I understand that the EUL uses a number of views which are located in the apps schema (not sure if these are standard apps views or if the apps eul has created them, the eul as you will have gathered has been installed to the apps schema)
I have been looking for a reference document that covers the apps mode eul however I have been unable to locate anything that describes the workbooks or anything at all about the apps eul in general apart from install documents etc.. from otn.
Has anyone worked with the apps eul?, do you have any feedback/comments about it and if you have any references/docs regarding the eul structure and the available responsibilities etc.. that would be great.
Thanks for your help in advance
Keith

Answer 1

Keith.
Huge potential question, but here's a quick run-down.
There are 2 types of EULs (well 3 now that OLAP is supported). The 'standard' EUL was the only type of EUL at one time where all users were database users or database roles. All worked well and people were happy.
Then Oracle came out with the Apps EUL. The concept is entirely similar to the 'standard' EUL in the sense that the users now ARE NOT database users, but are Oracle Apps (Enterprise Suite) users or responsibilities. It has a bit more smarts also in that (and you may not have set this up properly if having problems) you also have to identify the 'gateway' info in the Admin, desktop, Plus versions. This setting if found in the various programs in the Tools -> Options -> Connections area. You want to make sure that if you only have an Apps EUL, then choose the 2nd. radio button (connect only to Apps EULs). If you have more than 1 EUL (and IMO you should strive NOT TO), and one is Apps and one is standard, then choose the 3rd. radio button. If only a standard EUL then choose the 1st. radio button. For the gateway info top box, 99.9999% of the time (I've never seen otherwise), you put in: applsyspub/pub. For the gateway info. bottom box, again 99.9999% of the time, you put in: apps.
All that is doing is that when an Apps user logs in (ie: Apps username, password and EUL), then it has to use the gateway info to call up Oracle Apps, get info about that Apps username, and present a list of responsibilities they can choose from.
So ... when you have business areas, you have to share them like you did in the standard EUL you know. You could have chosen to share ba's with a database name or a role. If you're smart (IMO), you'd have only shared with roles.
Likewise, in an Apps EUL, you can share the ba's (and therefore see the data their folders are pointing to) with Oracle Apps usernames, or Oracle Apps responsibilities. LIkewise, if you're smart (IMO), you'd only share with responsibilities.
When you create a workbook as a particular user, you can share access to that workbook with an Oracle Apps username or responsiblity. I'm sure you can guess who I believe you should share it with.
So, it's all pretty identical to what you're used to. The only other thing you're referring to ( I believe ) is the BIS views. These are 'freebie' views (well you paid for 'em with Oracle Apps), that can be 'generated' similarly to NoetixViews. There's lots of opinions of these views when compared to NoetixViews, but the concept is similar. Views are owned by the Apps schema, and without going through the process, you 'generate' them in Oracle Apps where lots of good info about your particular environment (ie: kffs, dffs, etc.) are 'put' into the generated view. You'll see many versions of a view where the Oracle Apps schema abbreviation is first, then the 'type' of generated view, then the viewname. Trust me on this - or look up further info - YOU ONLY WANT TO POINT TO THE xxFG_ type of views.
So, you'll see view types for a particular view such as: ARBG_actuals, ARBV_actuals, ARFV_actuals and ARFG_actuals.
Again, without going into the whole subject, the xxFG_ type views are 'fully generated' versions (well, my guess at the FG_ name). These will have all the good stuff in them and only use them.
One last point (to this supposed 'SHORT' explanation), you may well get no rows returned when looking at the Discoverer folders that are pointing to those BIS views (or new folders you create similarly pointing). That's not that "it doesn't work". It's because many of the BIS views have security right on the view. You'll see many times around the last line of the SQL code for the view reference to: CLIENT_INFO, or GL_Security_Pkg, or HR_Security_Pkg, etc. That's just the BIS view stopping you from seeing the data if you're not allowed to see it. In fact, if you bring up the view in TOAD or a similar SQL product, you again may well see no data. Just for testing (and there are other methods such as setting your environment variable), just comment out the security part of a copied BIS view and look at it again in TOAD, etc.
That should give you a SHORT explanation. For more on BIS views, search this forum and the Discoverer forum for BIS info as I know I've written more on the generation process, etc.
Russ