Page number specific content on the XML/BI Publisher template

Question

I have a requirement to show page number specific data on the template.

For example,

1. I need to fix header table data on second half portion of page# 1 only.

2. The remaining first half page will have detail table data and which will be a lot and hence will extend to multiple pages.

3. Detail table data as mentioned in point 2, will be printed on all pages except 2nd page since the 2nd page has another fixed image to be shown.

It seems like unique requirement unless I know how to control page number specific content.

Any help/input will be appreciated.

Answer 1

• What version of BI Publisher are you using?
• I assume by the rtf tag that your template is an RTF file?
• Are you using the BI Publisher add-in for Microsoft Word?
• What output(s) (e.g. PDF, XLSX) are you aiming for? (Some code/functions are only available for certain output types.)
• By "header" do you mean page header or table header? (If you mean table header, you might still be able to manipulate the use of page headers to your advantage.)
• Is your fixed image on Page 2 static & embedded in the template, or is it somehow dynamic?
• Could you supply an example or mock-up of your desired output?

Not knowing the answers to those (and other) questions makes it harder to attempt to answer you're original questions; but to try give you something that might work, here is a shot....

The following excerpts are from the Oracle Fusion Middleware Report Designer's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher - 11g Release 1 (11.1.1):

From Section 4.5.3 Creating Multiple or Complex Headers and Footers:

If the template requires multiple headers and footers, then create them by using BI Publisher tags to define the body area of the report. You may also want to use this method if the header and footer contain complex objects that you want to place in form fields. When you define the body area, the elements occurring before the beginning of the body area compose the header. The elements occurring after the body area compose the footer.

Use the following tags to enclose the body area of the report:

<?start:body?>

<?end body?>

From Section 4.9.3 Specifying Last Page Only Content:

To specify last page only content:

1. Create a section break in the template to ensure the content of the final page is separated from the rest of the report.

2. Insert the following syntax on the final page:

   <?start@last-page:body?>

   <?end body?>

I have never used this last page functionality; but I assume that if you have an amount data on this last page that would normally cause it to go across multiple pages, that it still will.

If you use this last page functionality, there are special things that need to be done regarding headers, footers and continuous page numbering.

If you are using Microsoft Word to create your template, BI Publisher output will recognize much of the settings you might make in Word's Page Setup > Layout.