Porting GoURL parameters from 10g to 11g

During a recent port from an existing 10g environment to an 11g environment ran into a  issue where the Go URL was being used to link to OBI from another application but there were more parameters that were defined in the Go URL for security. So the config in 10g was the following in the instanceconfig.xml file:

<Auth>
<UserIdPassword enabled="true">
<ParamList>
<Param name="NQ_SESSION.securityVariable"
source="url"
nameInSource="securityVariable"/>
</ParamList>
</UserIdPassword>
</Auth>


Alright so I look to see if 11g has the same instanceconfig.xml tags...nope. Adding these into 11g config caused the Presentation Service not to start....so after some research I found that those Parameters have to be placed in a totally different file details of my finding below:

a.) Went to authenticationschemas.xml file located in
C:<MW_HOME>\Oracle_BI1\bifoundation\web\display

b.) Made copy of authenticationschemas.xml file

c.) Look for line <!-- Group for HTTP POST login -->

d.) Found the <AuthenticationSchemaGroup> right under the above.

e.) You would be 3 xml lines as below.
<RequestVariable source="url" type="auth" nameInSource="NQUser" biVariableName="UID" options="trim" /><RequestVariable source="url" type="auth" nameInSource="NQPassword" biVariableName="PWD" options="secure"/><RequestVariable source="url" type="proxyUserAuth" nameInSource="RUNAS" biVariableName="NQ_SESSION.RUNAS" />

f.) Added the new line below with the existing configs : Saved the file
<RequestVariable source="url" type="auth" nameInSource="securityVariable" biVariableName="NQ_SESSION.securityVariable"/>

g.) Restarted all the OBI Services and the world is right again.

Date Error Message Customization

During a recent OBIEE 11g project the user requested a more "descriptive" date format error; huh; how did they get to that. After some Q&A with the user found out that they put in 2123/2013 as the date under a date prompt at that OBIEE sent a nice red error back stating "2123/2013 is not a valid date value" user issue was it didn't say what was acceptable. So my job was to make that more descriptive. So I found that in the following path: "OracleBIHome"\OracleBI_1\bifoundation\web\msgdb\l_en\messages\uicmsgs that there is a file called obiprp.propmtcomponents.xml which houses several of the messages around Date/Time errors. I modified (after taking a backup of the original file) in particular the WebMessage named "kmsgPromptRunTimeInvalidDateErrorMsgFormatStr" to a more descriptive error with a suggested format, saved the file, restarted the BI Suite and The message was more to the user's liking. There are several other messages based on Date/Time within this file as well so if you need to change a differnt one that is where I would start.

IE 7/8 Slowness Issues with OBIEE 11g

Recently I have been working on a issue with slowness with IE 7/8 and OBIEE 11g (11.1.1.6.2 BP1) before you say it yes I know IE 7/8 is NOT on the compatibility matrix for supported browsers for this version but client had the older versions as their standard with no room for upgrade to IE9. So I worked with Oracle via Sev 1 SR and they supplied a patch which worked nicely and I have come to find that it is now available in the 11.1.1.6.6 patch set which is available at Oracle support. Just search: "OBIEE 11g 11.1.1.6.6 is Available For BI Enterprise and Exalytics [ID 1508519.1]"

OBIEE 11.1.1.6.4 Patch Set Released

Oracle has released OBIEE Patch Set version 11.1.1..6.4 see link below:

https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/ui/km/DocumentDisplay.jspx?_afrLoop=475184249870602&id=1493687.1&_afrWindowMode=0&_adf.ctrl-state=7a125ti03_57

OBI 11g Agent Message:DEVICE (DASHBOARD) IS NOT SET IN (USER) DELIVERY PROFILE

After upgrading 10.1.3.4.1 environment to 11.1.1.6.1 when I was running any Agent I got this following warning when the Agent ran: DEVICE (DASHBOARD) IS NOT SET IN (USER) DELIVERY PROFILE

so after talking to support via a SR it was determined that this was fixed in 11.1.1.6.2. BP1; that is a big negatory Ghost Rider you have to get the following patch to fix the issue: Patch # 13972011. Only caveat is you have to have patch 13867143 before you can install it. And Patch 13867143 is the # 6 of 7 patches for 11.1.1.6.2 BP1. So update to 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 then apply this patch.

Charts and Graphs stop displaying after 11.1.6.2 BP1 Upgrade

I was very excited to see that Oracle released the 11.1.1.6.2. BP1 patch for OBIEE. And I had the opportunity to install the patches to fix some bugs I had seen in one of our environments. After the upgrade some of out charts and graphs stopped displaying. Man two steps forward one step back....Took a stroll through Oracle Support and found out that there is a extra step some user have to do if they are using custom styles/skins. More in on steps at Oracle support search for Doc ID 1474605.1. Below is a snapshot of the steps to fix the issues taken directly from the Oracle doc:

Section 6: Post-Installation Instructions

-----------------------------------------

Section 6.1: Copying BIChart.swf To Custom Directories

The Oracle white paper "Customizing Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g" describes how to customize BI Presentation Services by storing custom skins, styles, and messages in a custom directory.

If the BI System has been customized as described in the white paper and custom skins are stored in one or more custom directories, follow the additional instructions below to complete the 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 patchset installation:

1. Go to the following directory:
   <Oracle BI Home>\bifoundation\web\app\res\sk_blafp\dvt
2. Verify that the BIChart.swf file in that directory:
      - has a size of 457KB (466,944 bytes)
      - has a date of 6/4/2012
3. Copy the BIChart.swf file to each custom directory in the BI System, replacing the existing file of that name:
   For example, on Windows, you might copy the BIChart.swf into the following custom directory:
      c:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1\bifoundation\OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent\coreapplication_obips1\analyticsRes\sk_mylookandfeel\dvt
4. Stop and restart the BI Presentation Services system components.
   
   
5. Clear the browser cache.

Issues with "Hide Column" Feature in OBI 11.1.1.6.1

There a issue in OBIEE 11.1.1.6.1 release around using the "hide" column feature, issue was when you clicked to hide a column it hid the one beside it. As in lets say you have three columns A/B/C you click to hide column B and it hides column A. There was a Bug logged as BUG 13963768. Found that the fix for this was in 11.1.1.6.2 BP1; more precisely the patch folder 6 of 7 in the list of 7. I have verified it is fixed in the .2 BP1 release. Love it when a patch actually fixes a issue...