Insert page break by column in section properties does not appear to work (OBIEE Analysis, 12c)

3478384

I'm building an analysis in OBIEE 12c, and I'm having issues with page breaks.

Say I've created a report and added columns to the "sections" portion of the layout. Call these columns "A","B", "C", etc.

I'd like to insert page breaks for each unique value of column "C".

I navigate to "Section properties" > "Insert Page Break" > Column C

I test this by selecting "printable PDF" and "printable HTML". The PDF shows a page break for every section rather than after each unique value in column "C". The HTML output shows no page breaks.

I've also noticed an issue where changing the page break option does not save. I'd have to open section properties multiple times before changes take effect.

Has anyone experienced this issue or have any ideas on how to insert page breaks by a section column?

Thanks in advance.

Gianni Ceresa

3478384 wrote:The HTML output shows no page breaks.

How does a page breaks looks like in HTML?

HTML doesn't have any page concept, so you can't really expect to have a page break if the idea of page doesn't exist.

That's what HTML is and how things work. For the same reason you will struggle quite a lot to have a nice print in HTML, just because each browser will try its best to fit the HTML elements into something being a page for the printer in a way or another.

3478384

Thanks for the quick response. Page breaks can be inserted into HTML; you should see the break when attempting to print. But the HTML is a small detail that I mentioned it in case it was helpful. The real issue here is that page breaks are not working as I expected.

Do you have any thoughts about the page break behavior?

[Deleted User]

a) "12c" ... which one?

b)

3478384 wrote:I test this by selecting "printable PDF" and "printable HTML". The PDF shows a page break for every section rather than after each unique value " column "C".

.....that doesn't make sense at all. If your column C is defined as the section and you told the view "Insert Page Break" = "Column C" then the PDF will break per value because each value (member) is a section. Just built that in 12.2.1.2 on-premises and in OAC as well. Works.

c)

3478384 wrote:The HTML output shows no page breaks.

Same as Gianni: because you expect a browser to render HTML with a page break? How? A new tab for each section?

3478384

Thanks for the reply:

(a) I'm working with 12.2.1.0.0

(b)

Suppose my section includes columns "A", "B" and "C". The report will produce a new section for every unique set of values of these columns. Suppose I have the following set of values for (A, B, C):

(0, 0, 0)

(0, 1, 0)

(0, 0, 1)

(0, 0, 1)

(0, 0, 2)

Each one of these sets of values will be its own section.

This is the behavior I'd expect when I select "break by column 'C' ":

(0, 0, 0)

(0, 1, 0)

<page break here since 'C' value changes from 0 to 1>

(0, 0, 1)

(0, 0, 1)

<page break here since 'C' value changes from 1 to 2>

(0, 0, 2)

(c) I don't expect HTML to render with a page break, but I expect to see the page breaks when I print/print preview the HTML.

For example: https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_print_pageba.asp

Again, the HTML issue isn't really that important; the page breaks don't show up in PDF either. I'm just trying to get the behavior I've described above. I am new to OBIEE, so it's entirely possible that I've misunderstood the functionality of the "break by section column" option in the section properties. If so, I'm trying to find a solution (if it's even possible) that can achieve this behavior. Any insight into this is greatly appreciated.

[Deleted User]

(a) I'm working with 12.2.1.0.0

There have been 4 patches and that version is out of error correction support as of this month.

3478384 wrote:Thanks for the reply:(a) I'm working with 12.2.1.0.0(b)Suppose my section includes columns "A", "B" and "C". The report will produce a new section for every unique set of values of these columns. Suppose I have the following set of values for (A, B, C):(0, 0, 0)(0, 1, 0)(0, 0, 1)(0, 0, 1)(0, 0, 2)Each one of these sets of values will be its own section.This is the behavior I'd expect when I select "break by column 'C' ":(0, 0, 0)(0, 1, 0)<page break here since 'C' value changes from 0 to 1>(0, 0, 1)(0, 0, 1)<page break here since 'C' value changes from 1 to 2>(0, 0, 2)

Something totally different than what you stated earlier. You said "Column C" was your section separator. Not "all three".

Also: Sort order! Basically what you're saying is that the data set should be sorted by "Column C" and not first column, second column, third column...big difference. Because that's just not how things work in an analytical tool. It's not Excel. We're aggregating and calculating stuff. So column sequence, sorting etc has a huge importance.

So "Column C" has to be the first one in the "Sections" definition of your view otherwise the tool does precisely what you ask it to do: break by C - the third column in the sequence - and you'll get loads and loads of breaks.

I am new to OBIEE, so it's entirely possible that I've misunderstood the functionality of the "break by section column" option in the section properties. If so, I'm trying to find a solution (if it's even possible) that can achieve this behavior. Any insight into this is greatly appreciated.

Being new has no bearing. Being precise has. EXACT version. EXACT use case.

Again I built that in a couple of seconds and it works precisely as expected

3478384

Something totally different than what you stated earlier. You said "Column C" was your section separator. Not "all three".

I said that I have a report with a section that includes columns "A", "B", "C", etc. I intended this to imply that it is sectioned off by columns "A", "B", "C", etc. I'll be sure to be more careful with my wording.

Also: Sort order! Basically what you're saying is that the data set should be sorted by "Column C" and not first column, second column, third column...big difference. Because that's just not how things work in an analytical tool. It's not Excel. We're aggregating and calculating stuff. So column sequence, sorting etc has a huge importance.So "Column C" has to be the first one in the "Sections" definition of your view otherwise the tool does precisely what you ask it to do: break by C - the third column in the sequence - and you'll get loads and loads of breaks.

I didn't want to overload the post with too much detail, but now I will. Allow me to be as specific as possible:

The report is being built for a client, and the goal is to convert the report from their previous tool to OBIEE.

I personally don't have control over the version I'm using, but I'll definitely send the up the chain of command that updates are available.

Layout is important; I need the report to look a certain way, have section columns in a certain order, match sorting order, etc. There are limitations in OBIEE that prevent me from meeting all of the criteria, but I'm trying to get it as close as possible. Since layout is important, we could probably do this in BI publisher, but we're trying to avoid this if it can be done in OBIEE.

I have about 6 columns in my section: A, B, C, ..., F. These values appear in a specific order on the report, and I need them to stay that way if possible.

Column A is the same value for every section. When I choose the "insert page break by column 'A' ", here is the behavior I see (using the same example in my previous reply):

(0, 0, 0)

<page break>

(0, 1, 0)

<page break>

(0, 0, 1)

<page break>

(0, 0, 1)

<page break>

(0, 0, 2)

In this case, since the value for column A does NOT change, I would expect to see no page breaks. Why would I include 'A' in the section/report if the value doesn't change? I have no clue, but the client wants it, so I have no say in the matter.

Am I misunderstanding this behavior? Given this example and choosing the break by column 'A', why would it insert a break for every section when the value is the same for all sections?

You said its doing exactly what I've asked: "breaking by the 3rd column". How is this example "breaking by the 3rd column"/why is this the expected behavior?:

(0, 0, 0)

<page break>

(0, 1, 0)

<page break>

(0, 0, 1)

<page break>

(0, 0, 1)

<page break>

(0, 0, 2)

As a work around to needing to preserve the layout of columns "A", "B", etc., I've duplicated column "C", moved the duplicated column to the first column position, and marked it as hidden. I thought this might have worked, since sorting order is important as you mentioned. This gives me the same behavior: page break at every section.

I've also attempted other "page break" options, all of which give me unexpected results. For instance, suppose I had the following sections/values:

(A, B, ..., E, F)

(0, 0, ..., 0, 2)

(0, 0, ..., 1, 3)

If I choose to break by column "F", I see no page breaks. If I choose to break by column "E", I do see page breaks. This actually happened with my data and I don't understand why. The values are different for both sections for each column, yet it only added a page break when breaking by column "E". This behavior isn't straight forward to me.

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

[Deleted User]

3478384 wrote:Why would I include 'A' in the section/report if the value doesn't change? I have no clue, but the client wants it, so I have no say in the matter.

Too long, didn't read. Your problem in a nutshell is THIS ---^^

And THIS --vv

The report is being built for a client, and the goal is to convert the report from their previous tool to OBIEE.

It's an ANALYTICS tool. Not a pixel-perfect, report-drawing, Excel-like, cell-calculating, row-embellishing whatever. That's what that other tool called "BI Publisher" is for. Oracle has these distinct products for a reason...

And if the stuff has to look like before....why did they change? Pointless. Change from a Lada to an Aston Martin but still use it to pull dead deer out of the Tundra would be just as stupid.

3478384

I totally agree. And we keep fighting back that it is in fact an Analytics tool.

But OBIEE has a certain built in functionality for page breaks, and based on the details I provided above, this functionality does not seem to behave as expected, even when following your suggestions with sort order, etc. It's okay if a solution doesn't actually exist. I'm only trying to understand why/how it's behaving as is.

Any thoughts/comments/possible explanations for the behavior I'm seeing would be much appreciated.

[Deleted User]

3478384 wrote:Any thoughts/comments/possible explanations for the behavior I'm seeing would be much appreciated.

I have given that: You can't expect the tool to behave as you think it should. It works as designed. If you don't like that then use BI Publisher.

Ana GH

Apart from what @Christian Berg is stating, which I agree, and unfortunately I've been still struggling in the past to workaround it and do my best to make OBIEE work for other things, you said:

3478384 wrote:
 Column A is the same value for every section. When I choose the "insert page break by column 'A' ", here is the behavior I see (using the same example in my previous reply):(0, 0, 0)<page break>(0, 1, 0)<page break>(0, 0, 1)<page break>(0, 0, 1)<page break>(0, 0, 2)In this case, since the value for column A does NOT change, I would expect to see no page breaks. Why would I include 'A' in the section/report if the value doesn't change? I have no clue, but the client wants it, so I have no say in the matter.Am I misunderstanding this behavior? Given this example and choosing the break by column 'A', why would it insert a break for every section when the value is the same for all sections?

Yes, you are misundertanding this behavior, if the three columns are part of the section, then a change in one of the columns is a new section, 0-0-0 is different than 0-1-0, hence the new section. From what you are expecting I would say that you want the report ordered by these three columns but only column A as your section.

And again, if you need pixel-perfect layout, consider BI Publisher, extract the data needed with an analysis, but then work with a report: https://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/2017/02/financial-reports-which-tool-to-use-part-1/

Regards