Configure Reporting Rules

Contents

• Reporting Rules Engine
• Configuration
• Report Rule Overview
• Report Rule
• Action types and report rule engine
• Import/Export Report Rule
• Report Rule Log
• Substitution Variables

Reporting Rules Engine

The Reporting Rules Engine enables extensive modifications to the printing process flow without the need for invasive code changes. This would in turn reduce project time and total cost of ownership.

For more details on the Report Rule Engine visit this overview page.

Configuration

You may find Report Rule configuration forms at Solution Manager > Reporting > Operational Reporting

Report Rule Overview

You can view or create new report rules from the Report Rule Overview.

Report Rule

Selecting one or more rules from Report Rule Overview, you can drill down to more details using View option from the context menus. A report rule has Conditions and Actions. When the Conditions are fulfilled, set Actions will be executed.

Conditions

Conditions table have Ordinal , Logical operator , Expression 1 and Expression 2 , Operator and parenthesis ( , ) fields.

Limitations

Conditions use string comparisons while evaluating them. Therefore when using operators other than Strings,the resultant values should be converted to strings which results in the correct evaluation. For an example,during string evaluations,using the expression 10.123 < 2.123 will be evaluated to TRUE.

The resultant value could be a static value or an output of a SQL.

Numbers

Should always be formatted to give the exact no of characters without any decimals.

e.g.If the value is 1.123456 and the requirment is to have precision of 6 decimal places, and the maximum expected number is 1E3(1000).

Use SELECT LPAD(ROUND(1.123456,6) * 1E6, 10, '0') FROM DUAL to convert the NUMBER to a STRING.This will convert 1.123456 to the string 0001123456

Using ROUND with parameter 6 and multiplying by 1E6 will make sure 6 decimal places are considered.
Using LPAD with the parameter 10 (precision_number of digits for max number) will add 3 zeros to the front.

Dates and Timestamp

Should be formatted properly to include correct precision.Based on the usage pay attention to time zones as well.

e.g. Below formats a date value to precision in seconds. SYSDATE is used as an example.
SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'YYYYMMDDHH24MISS') FROM DUAL will convert SYSDATE to a string similar to 20220321154559
e.g. Below formats a timestamp value to millisecond precision. SYSTIMESTAMP used as an example.
SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSTIMESTAMP,'YYYYMMDDHH24MISSFF3') FROM DUAL will convert SYSTIMESTAMP to a string similar to 20220321154608342

Expressions

Expressions in both Conditions and Actions can be of 3 types

• X-Path: Fetch data from the Report XML Data.   e.g [@MODULE_REP/MODULES/MODULE]
• Variable: Get typical report process properties.  e.g [#PrintedBy]
• SQL: Use PL/SQL functions or simple SELECT statements. e.g [&ARCHIVE_API.Get_Report_Title(‘MODULE_REP’)] as parameters you use to retrieve values from database

You can use this as a programming language where each expression works as a placeholder for some value.

e.g

[&select identity from fnd_user where web_user=’[#CurrentUser]’]

[&ARCHIVE_API.Get_Report_Title(‘[#Reportid]’)]

You can use the "Set Expression Dialog" to create these expression with ease.

Set Expression Dialog

This dialog is used to select values in the report using XPath from the Report XML or selecting Report Context Variables from the report process. Selecting XPath is only possible if the rule has defined a Report ID. Selecting Variables will set values from the report process to the expression. This dialog is also used to set Action Property attributes values.

Actions

Actions table have Ordinal, Type, Property List and Enabled fields.

Action Types

As mentioned before the Report Rule Engine is invoked by the Print Dialog. Print Dialog shows the default properties and forced properties for a print job. There are several levels of setting up these defaults using actions.

1. Preselect Property
   If you decide to set an action with type Preselect Property, properties of that action will be set in print properties in the Print Dialog by default.
2. Check In To Document Management
   This rule will attach a generated report automatically in to document management.

DocumentClass / DocumentNo : You can attach the generated report in to either a predefined document class or a predefined document number that is defined in document management.

DocumentTitle : The title in which the report is archived in to document management.

DocumentFileName : The file name in which the report is archived in to document management.

ConnectedLU / KeyRef : You can specify if the generated report should be attached to an application form as an attachment. In this case you have to specify the LU and key-value pair to uniquely identify an instance in the LU. For example, if you want to attach the 'Invoice' report, in to the 'Customer Invoice' form, you need to specify the LU as 'CustomerOrder" from the ConnectLU combobox and Invoice_no as the key and a value for that key. You can hardcode a value or retrieve the value from a xpath.

SendStream : If set to 'YES', you will get a stream notification once the report is archived in to document management. You can preview or navigate to the document by selecting the link in the stream.

3. Set Default Property
   If you set an action type of Set Default Property it will set pre-selected properties in the action in the Print Dialog. However when the Report Format request is made the Report Formatter will also check for the default properties in the action and will apply these settings which would not override any changed settings from the Print Dialog. These settings may come in use when print jobs are directly sent from application without going through the Print Dialog.
4. Set Property
   If you set an action type to Set Property it will set properties in the Print Dialog with a lock. This way you cannot change the pre-selected values. Further, this means that the Report Formatter will override all the settings if pre-selected.
5. Route To Connect
   If you want to route any type of application message to IFS Connect, you can use Route To Connect rule action. In order to do this, you will need to define the Connector, Connector Instance and some other IFS Connect properties. There are some concerns when using this action type.
   
   - The Connector and the Connector Instance should be corresponding to each other, if not, the priority will be given to the Connector and the default Connector Instance will be selected.
   (Ex : If the Transport Connector is 'File', the Connector Instance should be 'FILE_SENDER1'.)
   
   - Select the preferred output queue as the Queue.
   
   - AddressData represents the real destination. If the Connecter type is File, the AddressData is the output folder. If the Connector type is Mail, the AddressData is the TO field, i.e. the receiver. AddressData2 represents the CC receivers.
   
   - Subject matters only when the type is Mail. This represents the subject of the particular output mail.
   
   - OutputFileName is the resultant document's name. If this is not configured, an automatically generated name will be used.
   
   - OutputType can be either Binary (supports PDF, Xlsx etc), Xml (Only the data xml) or FullXml (Full data xml with header and footer). If this is not selected, it will be defaulted to Binary.
   
   - When sending an email through this action, the Type property should be set to REPORTING.
   
   The following two action property settings indicate two distinct usages of the RouteToConnect action type.
    
6. Send Email
   This Action Type provides the capability to send the resulting PDF over Email. The functionality is built on top of the Route Reports based on Content mechanism, this generates the routing xml snippet required for sending an Email. This will not override existing routing e-mail destinations unless you specifically skip the standard job email.
7. Print To Logical Printer
   This Action Type provides the capability to control the Logical Printer or the Print Agent. Eg: change the Logical printer of print job and redirect the print job to a different Print Agent.
   - Change Original Printer : this action property is used to change the current Logial printer of a print job
   - Also Print To : if this action property is set, current print job will be cloned with Logical printer set to selected Logical printer value
8. Set Print Agent Property
   This Action type provides the capability to control the the Print Agent. Eg: change the printer trays, simplex duplex printing.
9. Insert PDF
   This Action type provides the capability insert static PDF files to the generated output PDF.
10. Change System Settings
    This action type can temporarily overrule some System Parameter Properties. Namely these are the "Report Designer Graphics Path", "Make Report Designer PDF/A Compliant", "Spooling From Report Formatter" and the "Breakpoint for XML size for when to format Report Designer reports in memory or using disk storage".
11. Sign PDF
    With this action it is possible to add a digital signature to the generated PDF. First, a private key has to be installed using the "Keystores" form in Solution Manager >>. The signature can either be applied using the key of the current user or by using a defined keystore id. Set UserSignature to YES if you intend to sign as the current user. In this scenario the KeystoreId is not required.
    Make sure to include a SignatureReason. Without this the signature will not work.
    Optionally,set CertifyDocument to prevent any further changes to the document after it has been generated.
    
    Some action properties can be used to control the visual signature.
    X(cm) and Y(cm) is the location measured from the top left corner of the page. (in centimeters)
    Zoom(%) sets the size of the signature. By default, this is pretty large. A value of 30% is typically used.
    Page is the page to place the signature on. Unfourtunatly, we can only place ONE signature per document.
    PreferredSize is a PDF Container property of the Visual Signature and should typically be left blank (default 0).
    Style controls what the signature should look like You can show a combination of the below:
        Signature is an image containing a pen written signature (wet signature) of the user. If the file is missing a font-based represetation will be generated instead.
        Details is a list of signature information found in the certificate used.
    
    If you wish to show a wet signature on the PDF, you can save a png image in the signatures folder under report_images on the application server. The file name should be <user>.png or <keystore_id>.png. See the examples that is delivered in a fresh installation.
    To add a watermark in the signature, make sure to have a png named watermark.png in the same folder as above.
    
    
    
12. Set Archive Property
    This action type can be used to change the attributes of an archive item. You can use this property to distribute the executed report among specific users and/or distribution groups, change the default report life span, set a default layout and a preferred language code, add archive notes and to add new archive variables. Please note that the available report parameters for this action type are ReportTitle, ReportId, ResultKey, CurrentUser and CurrentLanguage.

          Distributing to users and/or groups

You will see a dialog as show above when you choose to "Distribute To Users" or "Distribute To Groups". You can individually select the users or groups or you can do a multiple select and add then to the list by selecting the ">>" button.

          Setting Life Span, Layout, Language Code and Notes

You can simply type the value or choose a xpath or Report Context Variables which contain the value. You can also choose values from the combo box where available.

Setting Archive Variables

You can add new archive variable with this action property. The format to add a variable is ArchiveVariableName:ArchiveVariableValue:ArchiveVariableType. You can add multipule Archive Variables by seperating them by a ',' character. (e.g.  ArchiveVariableName01:ArchiveVariableValue01:ArchiveVariableType01,ArchiveVariableName02:ArchiveVariableValue02:ArchiveVariableType02)

The Archive Variable Type can be string, number or date denoted by S,N or D respectively. When specifying a date value the date format should be in the format of YYYY-MM-DD. You can use xpath or Report Context Variables values to construct your Archive Variable value.

Example : archVar01:Hello World:S,archVar02:1234567890:N,archVar03:2014-05-30:D

 

Note: Most of the post action Report Rules don't execute after previw report. Insert PDF and Sign PDF only trigger after click preview

 

Report Rule Log

Report Rule Log will help you trace rule execution. This will be useful when designing rules. Report Rule Log will give information on.

• Conditions evaluation results
• Actions execution
• Any errors occurring in the Rule Engine

You need to set the "Report Rule Advance Logging" System Parameter to "ON' to enable Report Rule Logging.

Note: Double click the message field in the log to see multiple text rows. Some information might be hidden from view.

Import/Export Report Rule

You can import/export a rule by selecting "Import Report Rules" and "Export Report Rules" context menu option shown in the Report Rule header section. You can select one or many Report Rules from the Report Rules Overview and import/export them from the "Import Report Rules" and "Export Report Rules" options in the context menu.

• Import Report Rules: Stores or updates the rule(s) stored the database. Description gives a meaning to the rule. Therefore same description may observe the same rule object without considering it contents.
• Export Report Rules: Writes the rule(s) stored in the database to a XML file in the specified location.

Substitution variables

In addition to IFS standard Context Substitution Variables (CSV), the Report Rule Engine include a few special ones that represents the different properties and states found in the reporting process. You write them with a leading "[#" followed by the variable name and a trailing "]". Here is a full list of available variables.

Note: Many of these variables only have a value in the formatting context. i.e. when the report run just before formatting the report or in the plug-ins. Those variables will be empty when running the Archive action and when retrieving defaults for the Print Dialog.