Passing SQL-Parameters to Oracle-Reports from java

Question

hello,
i want to write an application in the following way:
on a java-frontend an user can select values for different
parameters. these values should be to transferred to the sql-
query of the reports rdf file. what is the syntax of an
parameter passed from java to oracle reports.
does this work with runtime.exec()... ?
does anybody have an example.
any help would be very appreciated.
greetings
Thorsten Lorenz

Answer 1

In order to pass the parameters to report rdf, you can create user parameters in the oracle report builder, hook up the parameters with query. For example, you can create user parameter P_DEPTNO, then create a sql query: select * from dept where deptno = :P_DEPTNO. When you run this report, you give P_DEPTNO=10 as parameter, the rdf will generate report that only prints out department 10's information.
Once you have this kind of report created, you have several ways to achieve what you want.
1. use rwrun60. In your java program, you can invoke rwrun60 via runtime.exec(cmd) where cmd = rwrun60 report=dept.rdf userid=scott/tiger@orcl destype=file desformat=pdf desname=dept.pdf p_deptno=<value_from_java_app>
2. similarly, use rwcli60. the cmd would be:
cmd = rwcli60 server=repserver report=dept.rdf userid=scott/tiger@orcl destype=file desformat=pdf desname=dept.pdf p_deptno=<value_from_java_app>
3. use rwcgi60. Instead of using runtime.exec, you should use java URL object to run the report in the web environment.
option 2 & 3 takes advantage of powerful functionality of reports server, and it is much more scale than option 1.