About Creating Custom Layouts for Printing and Exporting Dashboard Pages

You can create custom layouts for printing and exporting dashboard pages, if allowed at your organization:

Custom print layouts allow your end users to produce high-quality printed dashboard content. For more information on printing dashboard pages, see "Printing Dashboard Pages."
Custom export layouts allow your end users to export dashboard content customized for Excel. For more information on exporting dashboard pages, see "Exporting Dashboards and Dashboard Pages."

When you create a custom layout:

The dashboard page is exported to BI Publisher and the following items are generated automatically:
- A BI Publisher Report with a layout based on the exported dashboard layout
- A data model to retrieve data for the dashboard page components

BI Publisher Report Editor opens in a new browser window with the autogenerated layout displayed as a thumbnail. The report editor allows you to edit or delete the layout, or add a new layout.

Once you have saved the custom layouts in BI Publisher, they are available for that dashboard page and appear in the Custom Print & Export Layouts area of the "Print & Export Options dialog."

You then make the custom layouts that you have created available to end users (on the Print menu or Export to Excel menu of a dashboard page) by selecting them in the Custom Print & Export Layouts area of the Print & Export Options dialog.

You then make the custom layouts that you have created available to end users using the following options in the Custom Print & Export Layouts area of the Print & Export Options dialog:

PDF — Selecting this option makes the custom layout available in the Print menu of a dashboard page.
Excel — Selecting this option makes the custom layout available in the Export to Excel menu of a dashboard page.

Note:

If you delete the data model or the layout manually from the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog, then the associated BI Publisher report will no longer work and the custom layouts will no longer be available. If you delete an analysis, then the data model and layout will be available but will fail when run.

Note:

As you create custom layouts, be aware that some customizations and some views may not be supported in BI Publisher. Among some of the items that are not supported are hierarchical columns, performance tiles, map views, trellis views, and dashboard prompts. If an item is not supported, it will be removed from the layout and a message will be displayed as to the reason it is unsupported.

For how to create a custom layout, see "Creating Custom Layouts for Printing and Exporting Dashboard Pages."

Items Not Supported When Using Custom Print Layouts

The following items are not supported in BI Publisher when using a custom print layout to print a dashboard page:

Column Selector views.
Create Segment views.
Create Target List views.
Funnel graph views.
Legend views.
Logical SQL views.
Map views.
Narrative views.
Performance Tile views.
Ticker views.
Trellis views, including microcharts.
View Selector views.
These types of gauge views:
- Bulb.
- Vertical Bar.
- Horizontal Bar.
These types of graph views:
- Pie graphs with multiple measures; instead a separate pie is displayed for each measure.
- Time Series Line graphs.
- Scatter graphs.
- Waterfall graphs.
These graph settings in the Graph Properties dialog:
- In the General tab: Zoom and Scroll.
- In the Style tab: conditional formatting settings.
- In the Scale tab: all settings.
- In the Titles and Labels tab, the following formatting settings:
  - Truncate in the "Font Format: Item dialog: Display Options tab" for the graph title and axis titles.
  - Treat Numbers As, Negative Format, and Use 1000's Separator in the "Format: Item dialog: Number Format tab" for vertical axis labels and data markers and Decimal Places in the Format Item dialog: Number Format tab for vertical axis labels.
  - Label Orientation in the Format: Item dialog: Display Options tab for vertical axis labels and horizontal axis labels and Abbreviate in the Format: Item dialog: Display Options tab for vertical axis labels.
Hierarchical columns.
Dashboard column formatting.
Dashboard prompts.
Pivot table or table prompts.
Prompt edge on a view.
Dashboard columns that have been frozen.

You use the Freeze Column option in the Column Properties menu to freeze a column at an edge (top or left) of a dashboard layout. For more information, see "Properties Buttons for Objects."
A fixed size specified for a dashboard column or section.

You specify a fixed size by setting the Size option in the Additional Formatting Options area of the "Section Properties dialog" and the "Column Properties dialog.".
Fixed headers of rows and columns in a table or pivot table.

You specify fixed headers by selecting Fixed headers with scrolling content as the method to use to browse data. For more information, see "Table Properties dialog: Style tab," "Pivot Table Properties dialog," and "Trellis Properties dialog: General tab."
The grouping functionality for bubble graphs (achieved by the Bubbles drop target), scatter graphs (achieved by the Points drop target), and pie graphs (achieved by the Pies drop target).

You also need to be aware of the following expected object behavior in BI Publisher: pivot tables are expanded.