Monday, February 13, 2012

BI Publisher XDO_TOP - MSword Debugging

In several of my previous posts over the years, I've highlighted quite a few ways to turn on debugging for the Oracle BI Publisher APIs.  I really haven't gone to much into depth on how to turn on debugging for the MSword template builder.  I've outlined an approach below that I have used with great success.  In my opinion it's the easiest way to configure BI Publisher and debug the BI Publisher APIs.
 
1. Create a directory on your C: drive called xdo_top
2. Create a sub-directory called temp:  C:\xdo_top\temp
    Create a sub-directory called resource:   C:\xdo_top\resource
3. Create a xdodebug.cfg file in the resource directory with the following 2 lines:
LogLevel=STATEMENT
LogDir=C:\xdo_top\temp
4. Optionally copy an existing version xdo.cfg file if you need it for barcodes, micr fonts, etc.  Note: You can find this in one of the oracle bi publisher template builder directory's.
5. In MSWord goto the Add-ins menu for BIP,  Click on -> tools->options->java options, Add the following:   -DXDO_TOP=C:\\xdo_top















 


Note:  The screen shot also has a memory parameter, you do not need the memory option -Xmx256M

6. Restart msword* Not really needed but a good idea

When you start bi publisher and preview a template from MSword the following should happen:
  • xdo.log should be created under c:\xdo_top\temp.  
  • The log file should contain rich debugging information to help you with your troubleshooting.  

When would I need to use debugging?
As an example, let say you wanted to use the xdo.cfg file to configure a font, but that insolent micr font isn't working in your template.  You can review the log to see if it's indeed being pulled in.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

BI Publisher Blog News

Source Code Link Changes
I wanted to give everyone who views this blog a heads-up that some of the links to my source code and home grown apps will be changing in the next couple of months to a new server. My apple mobile me account is being transitioned and I will no longer have server space so I have to do it :-)  In the event a link is dead, do me a solid and send me an e-mail or post a comment that it's dead! 


BI Publisher Toolbox Updates
In dec 2010, I stated I would be releasing a standalone version of the toolbox for windows.  This will be rolled into the link change and I wanted to apologize for the long delay.  Also, going forward if you have any suggestions or improvements for the tool please let me know!