BI Publisher: Reports6i to BIP Conversion Utilities

Currently, many organizations and developers would really like to make the leap to BI Publisher. One potential option to ease into the BIP tool set is to convert some relatively simple reports6i reports.

There are two ways to do the conversion. Manually do it (see links below) or use the BIP Conversion Utilities.

Oracle OBIEE Documentation
RDFtoBIP.zipped

Doing it manually without a GUI is a good option but it's more time consuming because there is less automation and it doesn't really tell you where your at in the conversion process. Using the BIP conversion utilities is really the way to go though because of it's simplicity. It reminds me of quote by Walter Chrysler

"Whenever there is a hard job to be done, I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it."

It's refreshingly easy to do the conversion using the BIP Conversion Utilities and extremely fast. Here are the main advantages of using them:

1. BIP technical expertise is not required for the conversion
2. Complete automation from start to finish

Download the tutorial video (Quicktime)

Download the code

*By downloading the software you agree that you will not sell or license the BIP conversion Utilities. It's free software for everyone to use capiche.

InstructionsStep 1 : Extract the zip
Step 2: Navigate to directory to the bin directory (ReportConversion->bin)
Step 3: Copy the batch the dos batch file to the directory where you will be converting your reports6i binary to xml. Double click to run.
Step 4: Run the ReportConversion.exe (ReportsConversion->bin, do not move the executable)
Step 5. Click the folder icon
Step 6. Navigate to your conversion directory. Select the files named .rdf.xml
Step 7. Click process button.

Report Conversion FAQ

Q. I need to have reports9i installed on the apps server in order to do the conversion.
A. This is the number one misconception about the conversion process. I have heard a lot of developers say they don't have 10g setup in there apps server environment, so they will have to wait until release 12. In reality all a developer needs to do is install forms and reports 10g locally on there PC. Also, it's possible to have multiple versions oracle forms and reports installed on a PC, just be sure to create a new home for each installation.

Q. The conversion has to take place in unix; it must be done from the command line.
A. Because BIP is written in java it allows the conversion APIs to run anywhere there is a JVM. To resolve this issue you need to grab the BIP jar files. The BIP jar files are included with the conversion utility so there is no need to worry.

Q. The reports6i Binary to XML conversion is a manual process and I have to manually key everything into rwconverter.exe.
A. A dos batch or shell script can be written to accomplish this task. A dos batch script is included with the code.

Q. The conversion is time consuming.
A. It's remarkable fast. The conversion utility is running so fast (30 seconds) that it was very difficult to add an voice over for each clip step in the process. As a matter of fact, the video was extended by nearly a minute to allow for a voice over.

Q. The conversion is flawless.
A. Definitely not. The conversion has some known issues: format triggers, bind variables, etc that don't port (there is a log that can be reviewed after the conversion)! You can find more about those issues on this blog, Tim Dexter blog at oracle or if your feeling lucky you can convert your reports and see for yourself. The utility does a really good job but there is no magic bullet.

BI Publisher: Converting Report6i reports - Pitfalls and Suggestions

Yes there are pitfalls! I have seen some questions in the bi publisher forum about converting all of a companies "existing report6i code" to BI Publisher. Don’t get me wrong the tool is a great, but like any tool it has some issues.

Here are some common elements as far as time is concerned for report development in general. These estimates are based my experience writing reports in the 11i e-business suite.

New Reports – From dev -->test -->production typically development time is about 40 hours.
Fixing an Existing report – If you’re lucky, 2 minutes but on average 5 about hours.
Converting/Copying an existing report 10-15 hours
Converting reports6i to BI Publisher
Small report 10 hours
Large report 20-40 hours, it can get ugly!

You may be asking yourself, what in the duce? How is that possible that converting a large report could take upto 40 hours? There are some bugs in the conversion tool. As example:

Reports6i:
Function get_item_no return char
Is
l_item_no varchar2(30);
Begin
Select item_no
Into l_item_no
From ic_item_mst
Where item_id = :item_id;

Return l_item_no;
End;

Conversion to PL/SQL:
Function get_item_no (item_id in number) return char
Is
l_item_no varchar2(30);
Begin
Select item_no
Into l_item_no
From ic_item_mst
Where item_id = item_id;

Return l_item_no;
End;

Data Template Issues
In the converted PL/SQL example you can see the problem in grey. Sometimes during the conversion the parameters end up having the same name to a joining column. Ouch, get_item_no will actually compile too (note: it really shouldn’t in "theory" since item_id is “technically” ambiguous). Now were left with a situation where that function will blow up 100% no matter where it’s called from. Some reports can have over 50+ functions. When this issue occurs you have to fix each query and narrow it down in the data template.

Format Template Issues
Another kind of nasty issue is caused by sloppy development in reports6i with srw.set_field(….). This "was" a way of changing the data on a field in the report format trigger. It’s a big no, no. Well, guess what, set_field never gets converted to the format template so we have to fix the issue manually. Something like this is really easy to slip through the cracks. Also, did I mention that all the logic in your format triggers to suppress fields or groups, change colors, fonts, etc doesn’t get converted as well? Now that will take some dev time!

Conclusion
The one thing to come away from this article is this: Don’t fix things that aren’t broken (it’s easy to say, hard to practice). It’s a lot of work to convert a large report and troubleshooting the conversion issues will cost you time and money. Also, expect to feel a majority of the pain in the format template conversion. Formatting is the number one challenge for any report!

When the conversion tool becomes a more mature product we can expect the conversion to be better and it “might” make sense to convert more of your organizations reports. The only justification for this would be either lower cost of support or a disappearing reports6i skill set in your organization/development community. With that in mind, if you don’t have a choice and you have to convert a report, the tool does a pretty good job and it’s better than nothing.