Dynamic Environment Switching in Oracle Reports (Doc ID 231051.1)

Last updated on JANUARY 17, 2024

Applies to:

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to document and demonstrate how Oracle Reports can dynamically use different environment variables, without having to have a separate Reports Server for each set of environment variables.

Dynamically Setting Reports Environment Variables.

Previously, when the Reports Server was started it read the registry (Windows) or current environment variables (Unix) and any reports executed via the Reports Server would use these. Therefore, when you wanted to set two different values for an environment variable (like REPORTS_PATH) and use a specific setting at runtime, this could not be achieved. For example, a developer might want to use one Reports Server but have the REPORTS_PATH pointing to a 'Development Area' and a 'Test Area'. This meant you had to have multiple Reports Servers running for each setting, which can be costly in terms of administration.

However, starting from Oracle Reports 10g 'Dynamic Environment Switching' has been implemented so you can use one Reports Server, but override certain current settings by using a configuration file.

Scope

This article is written for Developers and DBA's alike, or anyone that has an interest in Web Reports.

Details