[OBIEE 11g] Using Compound Layouts In A View Selector

 

Using Compound Layouts in a View Selector (OBIEE 11g)

It seems that with release 11.1.1.5 of OBIEE that we are able to nest a Compound Layout within a View Selector. This allows the view selector to be used to switch between multiple complex layouts, each comprising multiple views. Previously it was possible to reproduce this effect by hacking the report XML but it’s now standard functionality. It seems that Oracle quietly enabled this feature without telling anyone – or if they did I missed it!

Here you can see how it’s done:

First create a simple request. On the results tab I’ve added 2 additional Compound Layouts. For layout 2 I add some content and set the background colour for ease of identification.

For layout 3 I do a similar thing but use a different colour.

Back on the original (default) Compound Layout I add a view selector. Within the view selector properties we can now choose the other Compound Layouts as well as ‘None’ to show nothing, which I guess people might want as the initial view when arriving on the dashboard page.

Here we can see the result of switching between the views using the view selector: