Creating and Using Action Links and Actions

Enabling BI Navigation
In this topic you add an inline action link to a column in an analysis which navigates to another analysis in Oracle BI. Because the
action link is set as a property of the column itself, the action is available from Table, Pivot Table, Graph, and ap views. !fter
testing the inline action link and saving the analysis, you save the action link as a named action link in the Presentation "atalog.
To automate BI navigation and create a named action link, you perform the following steps#
$og in to Oracle BI %% and create an analysis
!dd an action link to the analysis
Test the action link
&ave the action in the Presentation "atalog
Log in to Oracle BI EE and Create an Analysis
1. Open a browser or a new browser tab and enter the following '($ to navigate to Oracle Business Intelligence#
http://<machine name:!"#$/analytics
In this tutorial the '($ is http#))localhost#*+,-)analytics

%. &ign in to Oracle BI. .or this e/ample, log in using the &ample !pplication user I0 and password, which
isa&ell/Admin1%'.
'. In the left navigation pane, under "reate... !nalysis and Interactive (eporting, select Analysis.

$. &elect the (ample (ales sub1ect area.

). 0ouble2click the following column names in the &ub1ect !reas pane to add them to the analysis#
Time.Time Hierarchy
Offices.D4 Company
Base Facts. ! "even#e
Base Facts.$ ! Bille% &#ality
Calc#late% Facts.'imple Calc#lations.$( )ct#al *nit +rice

*. "lick the +es,lts tab to view the analysis results. The analysis results are displayed in a "ompound $ayout, which
includes a Title view and a Pivot Table view. 3erify that the Pivot Table appears as follows#

".
"lick the -e. /ie. button in the toolbar and select Graph 4 $ine2Bar 4 0efault 5&tandard6.

0.
"lick the Edit /ie. button for the Graph view.

!. In the Graph editor7s $ayout pane, drag 1ime 2ierarchy to the &ections drop target and select 3isplay as (lider.

1#. "lick 3one to close the Graph %ditor.

11. In the graph7s slider, e/pand the 1ime 2ierarchy to view the 8ears level in the slider values.
The slider should appear as follows#

1%.
"lick the (a4e button to save your analysis.

1'.
In the &ave !s dialog bo/, navigate to y .olders and click the -e. 5older button . 9ote that if you already have a
(evenue folder in y .olders, you do not need to recreate it.

1$. In the 9ew .older dialog bo/, enter +e4en,e and click O6.

1). 9ame the analysis +e4en,e &y Company and click O6.

Add an Action Link to the Analysis
1. "lick the Criteria tab.

%.
"lick 7ore Options button for the 0- "ompany column and select Col,mn 8roperties.
'. In the "olumn Properties dialog bo/, click the Interaction tab, then click the drop2down list in the 3alue section to view
the available interaction settings. In the Interaction tab, you can specify interactions for column headings and values. The
default interaction is to drill in any associated hierarchy. Other options are to send aster20etail events, which allow user
actions in a column in a aster analysis to reflect in child analyses, and to initiate an action using !ction links.

$. &elect Action Links from the drop2down list. In the !ction $inks list, you can view, add, edit, and delete actions
associated with the column. 9otice that you can have multiple action links associated with a column. By default, actions
available for a column appear in a popup when a user clicks the column value or heading in an analysis. 8ou can use the
:0o not display in a popup if only one action is available at runtime: option to reset this so that in the event only one
action is available for a value or heading, the action is e/ecuted upon the user interaction. $eave this option unchecked.

).
"lick the Add Action Link button .

*.
In the 9ew !ction $ink dialog bo/, click the Create -e. Action button and select -a4igate to BI Content. This
new action is an inline action, in that it is created as part of the analysis it is saved in. $ater, you will build and use named
actions, which are saved in the Presentation catalog for reuse.

". In the &elect BI "ontent for !ction dialog bo/, navigate to &hared .olders);. .unctional %/amples)0emo, select the
Order 3etails analysis, and click O6.

0. In the "reate 9ew !ction dialog bo/, click O6.

!. In the 9ew !ction dialog bo/, click O6, then click O6 to close the "olumn Properties dialog bo/.

1est the Action Link
1. "lick the +es,lts tab.

%. In the Pivot Table view, click the (tockpl,s Inc. value in the 0- "ompany column. In the !ction link pop2up list, select Order
3etails.
'. The Order 0etails analysis opens, with &tockplus Inc. "ompany passed automatically by the inline action.

$. "lose the Order 0etails analysis browser window or tab.

). In the Graph view, click the (tockpl,s Inc. value in the 0- "ompany column. In the !ction link pop2up list, selectOrder
3etails. 8ou can access action links from multiple views in an analysis once they are added in the column properties for a
column in the analysis.

*. %/amine the Order 0etails analysis and then "lose the Order 0etails analysis browser window or tab.

(a4e the Action in the 8resentation Catalog
1. "lick the Criteria tab.

%. Open the column properties for the 0- "ompany column.
'. In the "olumn Properties dialog bo/, click the Interaction tab. In the !ction $inks list, select the Order 3etails
action link and click the Edit Action Link button .

$.
In the %dit !ction $ink dialog bo/, click the 7ore button and select (a4e Action As. 9otice that the action you
are saving is inline, or part of the Order 0etails !ction link, which is currently associated with the analysis in the
catalog. <hen you save the action as a named action in the Presentation "atalog, it can be secured independently
and reused with other action links in other analyses.
9otice in the ore drop2down list that you can edit the action from within the action link or remove the action from
the action link as well as saving it.

). In the &ave !ction !s dialog bo/, save the action as Order 3etails Action in y .olders)(evenue. 9otice you
also have the option to replace the current action in the action link with a reference to the named action, so that
any subse=uent changes to the named action will be referenced in the action link. $eave this option unchecked, so
that for the current analysis, the action remains an inline action, independent of the version you are saving in the
catalog. "lick O6 to save the action.

*. "lick Cancel to close the %dit !ction $ink dialog bo/.

". "lick O6 to close the "olumn Properties dialog bo/.

0. &ave the analysis and navigate to the >ome page to verify in the (ecent section that the action has been saved in
the catalog.

!. "lick the Edit link for the(evenue by "ompany analysis to open it in the !nalysis %ditor.


Enabling ,eb Navigation an% +assing +arameters
In this topic you add an e/isting named action to a column, enabling navigation to a <eb page from Oracle BI and passing
conte/tual information from Oracle BI. !ctions stored in the catalog can be secured independently and re2used across multiple
analyses, dashboards, and agents. !fter adding the action, you set the action link it is associated with to display conditionally.
To enable <eb navigation and pass parameters, you perform the following steps#
!dd a named action to the analysis
&et the action link to display conditionally
Test the action link
Add a -amed Action to the Analysis
1. Open the column properties for the (evenue column.

%. In the "olumn Properties dialog bo/, click the Interaction tab, select Action Links from the drop2down list for the column values,
and click the Add Action Link button .
'.
In the 9ew !ction $ink dialog bo/, click the (elect E9isting Action button .

$. In the &elect !ction dialog bo/, navigate to &hared .olders)-. !ctionable Intelligence)!ctions)!ctions to 9avigate to a <eb Page,
select the -a4igate to :oogle action, and click O6.

). In the %dit Parameter apping dialog bo/, you can specify a conte/tual value, passing a specified value or a session or repository
variable or a column value. .or this tutorial, you pass a column value from the analysis as a parameter for the navigation to the
search engine. "lick the Change 1ype o; /al,e drop2down list and select Col,mn /al,e.

*. "lick the Col,mn /al,e drop2down list and select the 3$ Company column to map the company information from the analysis to
the search string when the 9avigate to Google action is e/ecuted. !lso notice that you can set the .i/ed and >idden options,
which control whether a user can change or view the parameter at runtime. $eave these options set to the default, which allows
the most control on the part of the user.

". "lick O6.

(et the Action Link to 3isplay Conditionally
1. In the 9ew !ction $ink dialog bo/, notice that since you selected a named action, the &how link options are now
enabled, allowing you to determine whether the !ction link is displayed whenever the interaction is performed or
based on a condition. .or this tutorial, you set the !ction link to display for companies with revenue greater than
?@,,,,,,,,. &elect the Conditionally radio button.

%.
"lick the -e. Condition button and select 1< +e4en,e from the drop2down list.

'. In the 9ew "ondition dialog bo/, create a conditon that specifies revenue greater than ?@,,,,,,,,. "heck your work
against the screenshot below and click O6.

$. In the 9ew !ction $ink dialog bo/, enter (earch Company In;ormation as the $ink Te/t to specify what appears in
the link when a user initiates the interaction, and then click O6.

). 9otice in the !ction $inks list, the &how $ink column indicates whether an !ction $ink is displayed always or
conditionally. "lick O6.

*. "lick O6 to close the "olumn Properties dialog bo/.

1est the Action Link
1. "lick the +es,lts tab.

%. In the Pivot Table view, hover over the (evenue value for the &tockplus Inc. company, which falls below ?@,,,,,,,,. 9otice
that the no interaction is available for the value because it does not meet the condition.
'. "lick the (evenue value for Genmind "orp, which e/ceeds ?@,,,,,,,,. In the !ction $ink drop2down, select the
conditional (earch Company In;ormation action link to e/ecute its action.
$. 9otice in the 9avigate to Google dialog bo/ that the &earch Term parameter that is being passed as conte/t for the action is
displayed to the user and is editable, due to the .i/ed and >idden settings you retained when specifying the parameter
mapping for the 9avigate to Google action. "lick E9ec,te.
). 3erify that the value is passed as a search term to Google.
%/periment with (evenue values in the Graph view as well to verify that the action link is pervasive through different views#

Creating a Ne- )ction
8ou have created an inline action as part of an analysis and added an e/isting named action. 9ow, you will create a new named
action and define action options that affect its presentation to users. Once saved, this action can be referenced throughout Oracle
BI.
To create a new action, you perform the following steps#
"reate a new action
%/ecute the action
Create a -e. Action
1. "lick the >ome link to navigate to the >ome page.

%. In the "reate &ection click the Action link under !ctionable Intelligence.
'. !ctions can be of two types, either navigating to related content, be it within BI or on a web page or a transactional system, or
invoking target functionality in an e/ternal system, for e/ample a web service, Aava method, or script. .or this e/ercise,
click -a4igate to a =e& 8age to create another web navigation action..
$. The re=uirements for the 9ew !ction dialog bo/ are dictated by the type of action you are creating. To enter the '($ for the web page, open
another browser tab and navigate to http://....nasda>.com and get a stock =uote for Oracle 5search on O("$6. &elect the '($ and copy it.
). In the 9ew !ction dialog bo/, paste the '($ for the web page.
*. "lick the 3e;ine 8arameters button.
". "lick the 3e;ine 8arameters button. 9otice that the parameters are e/tracted into two respective parameters automatically.
(etain the default parameter names and settings. 9otice also that the names of the parameters are populated in the synta/ of
the '($ so that any user changes to the parameters initiated at time of action e/ecution are automatically referenced in the
'($.
In the Parameters list, the parameters are automatically populated#
9ote that by default these parameters are set to be optional. (etain these settings.
0 . "lick the Options button to set options for the action.
!. In the !ction Options dialog bo/, you can set options for the action7s behavior and display. &elect the 3ialog 1itleoption and
set the title to :et (tock ?,ote. !lso select the E9ec,te B,tton 1e9t option and change the te/t to-a4igate. "lick O6 to
save your changes and close the dialog bo/.
1#. "lick (a4e Action.
11. In the &ave !ction !s dialog bo/, save the action as :et (tock ?,ote in y .olders.

E9ec,te the Action

1. On the >ome page, click the E9ec,te link under the Get &tock Buote action in the (ecent section.

%. 9otice that your settings for the action options are reflected in the e/ecute dialog bo/, in the title and in the 9avigate
button. "lick -a4igate.
'. "onfirm that the e/ecution of the action has navigated to the O("$ =uote in a new browser tab.

Creating a ,eb 'ervice )ction
8ou have finished building a navigation action. 9e/t you will build an action that invokes a <eb &ervice. Invoke actions allow you to
initiate target operations, functions, processes and workflows in e/ternal systems.
To create a new action, you perform the following steps#
"reate a new action
%/ecute the action
Create a -e. Action
1. "lick the >ome link to navigate to the >ome page.

%. In the "reate &ection click the Action link under !ctionable Intelligence.
'. "lick In4oke a =e& (er4ice.
$ . In the &elect <eb &ervice dialog bo/, e/pand as shown in the screenshot below to navigate to and select theprocess+ating operation in the
"redit(ating&ervicethat is already registered with the !ction .ramework. 9otice that you can also specify a '($ to a <&0$ document that
describes a web service to make it available to the framework. "lick O6.

). In the 9ew !ction dialog bo/, notice that by default, the e/pected prompt value re=uired by the web service is populated in the
parameters. "lick Options.

*. In the action options, reset the 0ialog Title to :et Credit +ating.

". "lick the Action +es,lts tab. .or actions that invoke web services, there are additional options to provide feedback to the
user based on the result from the web service. <hen a web service is invoked, it responds with an C$ message. 'sing the
options in the !ction (esults tab, you can customiDe what information from this response is presented to the user. In the case
of this web service, the response includes the customer credit rating. To reference this, in the 0ialog Te/t field, enter Credit
+ating o; this C,stomer is: @A1B
The ? in the synta/ above represents a named e/pression that is e/tracted from the message response from the web service.
8ou still need to build a value to map these results so that they will appear in the results dialog bo/ to the user.

0. In the CPath (esults list, use the default value, ?, and in its CPath %/pression field, enter Body//C.

!. "hange the 0ialog Title to C,stomer Credit +ating.

1#. "lick (ho. 8re4ie. to validate the results your users will see.

11. The preview should appear as follows. There is no value as yet from the web service.

1%. "lick O6 to close the preview dialog bo/.

1'. "lick O6 to save the options and close the !ction Options dialog bo/.

1$. In the 9ew !ction dialog bo/, click (a4e Action.

1). &ave the action as :et C,stomer Credit +ating in the (evenue folder and click O6.

E9ec,te the Action
1. On the >ome page, click the E9ec,te link under the Get "ustomer "redit (ating action in the (ecent
section.

%. %nter 1%'$ as the customer number and click E9ec,te.
The web service is invoked by the action#
'. The information from the web service response appears in the response dialog bo/ with your settings.
"lick O6.


Cons#ming )ctions
In the first topic, you added action links to an analysis. In this topic you e/plore other ways to reference and consume actions and
action links within Oracle BI, including dashboards and agents. <here you can add an action depends on its type. .or e/ample, you
can add invoke actions to agents, to automate a business process, with the e/ception of Invoke Browser &cripts actions. 8ou can
add navigate actions to dashboard pages, scorecards, and Eey Performance Indicators.
To e/plore where you can add and use actions, you perform the following steps
!dd an action to a dashboard
"all an action from an agent
Add an Action to a 3ash&oard
1. In the Global >eader, click 3ash&oards and select 7y 3ash&oard.

%.
"lick the 8age Options button and select Edit 3ash&oard.

'. 0rag an Action Link from the 0ashboard Ob1ects pane and drop it in the 0ashboard Builder workspace. 9otice that you
can also add an !ction $ink enu ob1ect if you wish to include a drop2down menu including multiple action links to the
dashboard.

$. >over on the !ction $ink and click the 8roperties button .

). In the !ction $ink Properties dialog bo/, enter :et C,stomer Credit +ating as the $ink Te/t, and Credit +ating &y
C,stomer I3: as the "aption.

*. "lick the (elect Action button to add a named action to the link. 9otice the other options in the dialog bo/, which allow
you to specify that the link opens in another window and to specify a condition to determine whether the action link is
shown on the dashboard.

". In the &elect !ction dialog bo/, select the :et C,stomer +ating action you 1ust created and click O6.

0. In the %dit Parameter apping dialog bo/, accept the defaults and click O6. The user will be prompted for the "ustomer
I0 re=uired as a parameter for the web service.

!. 9otice the other options in the dialog bo/, which allow you to specify that the link opens in another window and to specify
a condition to determine whether the action link is shown on the dashboard. "lick O6 to save your !ction $ink Properties

1#. In the 0ashboard Builder, verify that the Get "ustomer "redit (ating action link appeards.

11.
"lick the (a4e button to save the dashboard, then click +,n.

1%. 3erify the link appears on the dashboard. "lick the action link.

1'. %nter 1%'$ as the customer number and click E9ec,te.
The web service is invoked by the action#
1$. The information from the web service response appears in the response dialog bo/ with your settings. "lick O6.

Call an Action ;rom an Agent
1. In the Global >eader, click -e. and select Agent.

%. "lick the Actions tab. 9otice that there are two sections that can be used to specify actions to be called when
an agent completes. By adding actions to the first section, you specify that the action runs in the case that no
condition e/ists on the agent and in the case that a condition e/ists and is evaluated to true. In the second
section, you can set an action to run if the condition evaluates to false for the agent.

'. "lick the !dd %/isting !ction button in the first section. 9otice that the buttons for adding actions are
unavailable in the second section. This is because there are no conditions specified for the agent in the
"ondition tab. The Invoke per (ow option is available for actions that are based on a condition, and is used to
e/ecute the action for each row returned by the condition.
8ou now can specify available actions, depending on their type, using the same steps as above. .or the
purposes of this tutorial, you will not run the agent.

(,mmary
In this tutorial you learned how to use Oracle BI actions to provide guided analysis, navigate to e/ternal applications and content,
and invoke <eb &ervices.
In this tutorial, you have learned how to#
%nable BI navigation using actions and action links
%nable web navigation and pass parameters
"reate a new navigation action
"reate a new invoke action
"onsume actions in analyses, dashboards, and agents