Customized Links on the Header OBIEE 11.1.1.6

In this blog, I will explain on the steps required to configure the custom links on the header portal. This option is only available with 11.1.1.6 version.

Global Header contains different links/menus like "New, Catalog,Help,etc". With OBIEE 11.1.1.6 version, we can customize the global header and the Get Started section of the Home page for better accessibility and good user experience. These changes do not affect the other links/menu in the global header.

This feature will be very helpful for navigation from OBIEE application to other applications. Examples include, sharepoint link, similar project application related to OBIEE application, Custom Help link (project specific help), Contact Us, FAQ,etc.

For custom links, you can specify various attributes, including the following:

• The text for the link (either a static string or a message name to use for localization).
• A URL to access.
• Whether the page from the URL replaces the current page or opens in a new tab or window that you can name.
• The relative ordering of links in the header.
• An optional icon to use with the link.
• Link access/display privilege.

Steps required to configuration :-

1. Update customscripts.xml located at $OBIEE_Home\bifoundation\OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent\coreapplication_obips

2. Insert relevent element details and save the file at same location or other physical location.

3. If file is stored in custom location, update Instanceconfig file to provide location of custom file path.

4. Restart the services.

Example :-

Here is the sample tags which could be added in customscripts.xml file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<customLinks xmlns="com.siebel.analytics.web/customlinks/v1">

<link id="l1" name="SharePoint" description="Application SharePoint Link open in new window" src="http://www.microsoft.com" target="blank" >
   <locations>
      <location name="header"/>
   </locations>
</link>

<link id="l2" name="Google Search" description="Google open in named window" src="http://www.google.com/" target="google" iconSmall="common/info_ena.png" >
   <locations>
      <location name="header" insertBefore="advanced" />
   </locations>
</link>

<link id="l3" name="Yahoo" description="Yahoo" src="http://www.yahoo.com" target="yahoo" iconLarge="common/helptopics_lg_qualifier.png">
   <locations>
      <location name="getstarted"/>
   </locations>
</link>

<link id="14" name="Finance Details" description="Navigates to Reuters" src="http://www.reuters.com" target="blank" iconSmall="res/s_blafp/images/report_bankAccount.jpg" >
   <locations>
      <location name="header" insertBefore="catalog" />
   </locations>
</link>

</customLinks>

As shown in above script, following links should get added in global header/Get Started page.

1. Sharepoint link (11) on the global header.

2. Google Search link (12) on the global header which is required to be shown before "advanced" link on the header.

3. Yahoo link (13) which needs to be shown in GetStarted links.

4. Finance portal (14) will navigate to Reuters and this will be shown before "catalog" file.

Link ID is used as a unique ID that specifies the position of the link. We must include IDs for custom links to position them relative to default links.These IDs should not get repeated.

InsertBefore can accept following entries :

Navigation Bar
    catalog
    dashboard
    favorites
    home
    new
    open
    user
Search Bar
    admin
    advanced
    help
    logout

 

Please note that, it is not possible to put InsertBefore for GetStarted links as these can be customized. 

Path of the customscripts.xml file:

According to Oracle documentation, OBIEE should be able to read this file from the same location ($OBIEE_Home\bifoundation\OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent\coreapplication_obips). But this did not work for me. (Any suggestions?)

Now, I kept this file on custom location and updated InstanceConfig files as shown below. (before end of ServerInstance.)

Instanceconfig.xml located at $OBIEE_HOME\instances\instance1\config\OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent\coreapplication_obips1

<ServerInstance>
     <CustomLinks>
          <filePath>C:/Custom_OBIEE/customscripts.xml</filePath>
     </CustomLinks>    
</ServerInstance>

Save Instanceconfig.xml and restart the services. Clear browser cache.

We can see all the links added and displayed in the portal under GetStated/Header.

Cheers...