Troubleshooting Merged Rows in Oracle BI Publisher Reports
When designing reports in Oracle BI Publisher, one common formatting issue arises when rows in the Excel output file appear merged together into a single block instead of displaying as distinct lines.
Understanding the Root Cause
The issue is caused by Line Breaks in the data. This results in data being merged into one block, often making the report harder to filter and analyse the results.
Merged rows can quickly degrade the usability and clarity of BI Publisher reports. By maintaining a clear and consistent template design, you can ensure that each transaction or line displays clearly and professionally, producing high-quality reports ready for analysis and distribution.
The Solution
With most things BI, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Let’s dive into some solutions.
01.
In the RTF Template
<?xdofx:replace(FIELD_NAME,chr(10),' ')?>
This syntax replaces line breaks with a blank space.
02.
In the Data Model
SELECT REPLACE(REPLACE(ExtTrxn.REFERENCE_TEXT, CHR(13), ' '),CHR(10), ' ') AS REFERENCE_TEXT
, ExtTrxn.TRANSACTION_ID
FROM CE_EXTERNAL_TRANSACTIONS ExtTrxn
This example replaces carriage returns and line feeds with a blank space from the reference text on the bank statement.
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