Using other program with Discoverer

Question

Hi,
I would like to know if it's possible to read a worksheet or a Word document from Discoverer.
The idea is to load data from an Excel or Word Document instead of from database tables. This document would have a predeterminated format made by us.
Is that possible? I didn't find any option to do this in Discoverer Administrator.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi
Discoverer cannot read the data that is contained within a Word or Excel document. However, Discoverer can call Word or Excel to display such a document.
To do this follow this workflow:
1. Store the Word or Excel document somewhere central where Discoverer can get at it
2. Create a new VARCHAR2 database column in a table and make the length sufficient to hold the full path and document name
3. Edit the table and add the Word and Excel document links
4. Using Discoverer Admin, load the table or refresh an existing table so as to make this new column available
5. Locate the new item and right click on it
6. From the popup menu select Properties
7. Look for the property called Content Type and change this from <None> to FILE
8. Exit the Admin edition and create a new workbook in one of the end user versions to use this new item
9. You should see Discoverer display the Excel or Word icon in the column and when you click on the item Discoveer will launch the relevant application and open the document
This has its uses when dealing with customers in that you could store contract information in a Word document, their latest financial report in Excel or even your latest Powerpoint presentation. You can even store that company's URL so that clicking it will display their website.
Hope this helps
Regards
Michael