Since I've been working so feverishly on a white paper to present at Collaborate in Denver, I thought that I could make my life easier if I took some content from that paper and integrated into my website.  That way I don't have the added burden of writing a topic specifically for the website, but I still am able to be sure I have a post every week.

So, for today and in the next posting, too, I've prepared a two part series on Error Handling within Oracle Workflow.  Today's entry discusses the WF Error handling model, the WFERROR Default Process, how to make it notify someone else, and how to set up a different error process.

Next time, I'll cover the steps you to take to incorporate error handling into PLSQL that you write for Workflow.

I know that this is BI Publisher content, but I *did* say when I started this thing that I would cover Workflow, too, so this is me making good on that promise.

 Until next time....

Posted by oraclepages at 11:56 AM MST

Updated: 11 February 2008 12:05 PM MST

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At the beginning of this endaevor, I pledged to myself that I would post at least once per week, but now it's February 7, and I haven't posted since January 21. 

So what gives?

It's not that I haven't been working on this -- it's that the programmer in me got in the way.  You see, a true programmer is never happy with just performing a task.  A programmer always want to find a way to automate a process.  We find repetitive elements, build functions and put them into a loop.  We write programs...

My website is no exception.  Now that I have started to get a few pages of content, I decided that I needed to script the index page, and some of the common page elements.  And, I did not let the fact that my javascript is rusty stand in the way of my ambition!

To make a long story short, instead of using my time free time to develop new content, I have spent it working on three or four javascript functions.  Of well, now at least, every page contains the same disclaimer, header, and footer, and my index.html page is dynamically built, too.

Of course, I've still got some more work on the page styles to improve the look of the pages, but, for now, I feel like I've accomplished something.

Posted by oraclepages at 4:18 PM MST

Updated: 7 February 2008 4:30 PM MST

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Good morning!

We had a warm weekend here in Salt Lake City.  By “warm” I mean temperatures were hovering between 35°F and 40°F (2°C- 5°C).  OK, so it’s not exactly shorts and tank tops weather, but it did finally give me a chance to get outside and remove the Christmas decorations from my roof and yard. 

It was a lot better than the weather I saw in Green Bay during the game last night.  At kickoff, the temperature was –2°F (-19°C), but it did warm to zero (-18°C) before halftime.  The broadcast on FOX showed a comparison of the temperatures at Lambeau Field with the same time readings in Greenland, Moscow, and North Pole, Alaska – all of them were tropical by comparison!  In spite of the home field advantage in a January conference championship game that Green Bay fans dream about, the Packers managed to blow the game anyway.  Now it looks like there’s no hope that anyone can stop the Patriots from going 19-0.

Turning to the website front, I’ve written a few paragraphs about how to get multiple rows to repeat as header rows in a Microsoft Word table used in a BI Publisher layout template.  I hope you’ll check it out!

Posted by oraclepages at 9:31 AM MST

Updated: 21 January 2008 9:50 AM MST

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It snowed all weekend here in Salt Lake City (are you seeing a trend this winter?), so I spent my time watching football and working on a white paper I am composing about dataTemplates for BI Publisher.  For a nerd like me, it’s a pretty fun topic because it’s a fairly new technology.  There’s still scant documentation about dataTemplates and how they work, and I can really experiment and learn a new technique that looks like it has quite a future in the world of Oracle development.

The reason for the white paper is that I submitted a proposal to the OAUG for a presentation at Collaborate in Denver scheduled for April.  Surprisingly, I got word this morning that they rejected that presentation, so I won’t be able to deliver it there. 

The good news is that all of my work is not in vain because I submitted the same topic for consideration at the Training Days event offered by my local users’ group, UTOUG.  My original plan was to use Training Days as a dry run on the presentation in March before I took it on the road., but since I won’t be delivering it in Denver, the Salt Lake City attendees will get an exclusive presentation.

I will try to get it looked at again for consideration at Oracle Open World.

To me, the most interesting thing about the OAUG call for papers is that they accepted my presentation and paper on writing PLSQL for Workflow.  By most accounts, Oracle Workflow is a technology whose days are numbered.  I know that it still is a part of EBS Release 12, but it looks like BPEL is the preferred choice for Fusion.  Despite all of this, OAUG wanted a Workflow presentation and not one with a BI Publisher focus.

In the end, it works out good for me, because I have delivered the Workflow presentation a number of times and I know the topic very well.  I’ve even spoken on the topic at Open World.  For Collaborate, I’ll just need to tweak the presentation to give it an EBS slant, and update the white paper with applications-type examples.

As for the white paper on dataTemplates, I assume that UTOUG will post it on their website after the event, which is scheduled for March 20 and 21 in Sandy, Utah.  If you are nearby, I encourage you to check it.  They’ll have Tom Kyte and Peter Koletzke, among others.  (And, there will be me – hoping that I don’t get scheduled up against the heavyweights!).  If they do not post my white paper there, then I will consider posting it on my site. 

Posted by oraclepages at 9:14 AM MST

Updated: 21 January 2008 9:30 AM MST

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It's snowy and cold here in Salt Lake City, but since my last posting (which was also my first posting), I have been busy.  I took a day off for the New Years holiday and another day to go skiing.  There are four ski areas less than a half hour from my house, and I figure that if I am going to live someplace where I have to shovel snow and wait for the bus in the freezing cold, then I may as well get some benefit out of it.

But, I digress...

During the past week, I created two webpages to help you along with developing reports in BI Publisher.  Both of them are specific to layout templates.  Later on, I will have a lot of content for you on the subject of Data Templates.  I have been doing a lot of work on that topic, and I hope to be doing a couple of presentations on it within the next couple of months.  I even submitted a presentation on Data Templates for consideration by OAUG at Collaborate 2008 in Denver in April, but as yet I haven't heard back from them.

I am using free webspace provided by Tripod for my pages.  I'm not sure how I like it because it  plasters the top and bottom of the page with banner ads and spawns a few annoying pop-ups along the way.  Please don't let that deter you.  The ads keep the content free for you and me.  Of course, Tripod is hoping that I'll get tired of the ads, and switch to their pay hosting service.

Without further ado, here are the two new pages with links:

MATH IN A LAYOUT TEMPLATE, Posted Jan 2, 2008

AUTOFORMAT FOR MS WORD TABLES, Posted Jan 8, 2008

¡Hasta luego! 

Posted by oraclepages at 9:59 AM MST

Updated: 7 January 2008 10:24 AM MST

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Well, it's the last day of 2007, and finally I've decided to do something that I've thought about doing for a while: take my miscellaneous accumulated knowledge and experimentation with Oracle technology and share it with others who have similar interests.

Some people might think that I have had too much time off during the holidays this year because I spent the past two weeks writing some lessons on BI Publisher templates decided that my work needed an outlet.  I also took inspiration from some other independent blogs on similar topics that I have discovered in the past month, notably BIPgirl (dedicated to all things BI Publisher) and Gareth Roberts (who blogs on Oracle Applications).  Of course, there's also Tim Dexter's blog -- he's got the the best information because he's an insider.

In this space, I hope to share some of the things I have learned about Oracle development.  I have particular knowledge with Oracle Workflow (which I recognize is a dying application), and am feverishly coming up to speed with BI Publisher.  in the past couple of years, I have presented at Oracle Open World, IOUG, and OAUG with a couple of different Workflow topics, and at our local users group (Utah Oracle Users' Group) on both Workflow and (what was then called) XML Publisher. 

I hope to be able to post a new topic at a minimum of once per week.  So, I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best...

Happy New Year! 

Posted by oraclepages at 12:02 PM MST

Updated: 7 January 2008 9:58 AM MST

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