OBIEE Mobile Application Designer: Features, Issues, Limitations

by Imtiyaz Basha

Generic Features of the Oracle BI Mobile Application Designer (MAD)

• Drag and Drop
  The easiest way to create UI is to drag and drop. MAD has beautifully incorporated this feature where one can build the entire BI Mobile Application just by dragging and dropping components and data fields as required.

• Interactive 
  MAD is based on the “gestures” principal of touch and swipe. As most mobile apps use this technology for interaction, MAD has followed suit to adapt gesture interactivity for all the components in its libraries.
   
• App Library
  Users can share their new mobile apps across organizations using the publish feature. They can subscribe to these apps and receive updates when changes are being propagated to their subscribed apps.
   
• Security
  As MAD is integrated with Oracle BI Foundation Suite, the BI content has proven enterprise level security and performance capabilities.
   
• It’s HTML5
  The complete BI Mobile Application Designer output is generated in HTML5 including the data visualization charts. It can run on any platform device or operating system without any glitches. MAD follows the philosophy of “Build once, distribute anywhere.”

Known Issues With The Oracle BI Mobile Application Designer (MAD)

• When Updating App in Apps Library, Cover Image Is Not Updated
  When a new version of a preexisting app in the Apps Library is published and a new cover image for the app is added, the cover image does not get updated. To update, delete the original app from the Apps Library and publish it as a new app.

• Count & Count Distinct Not Supported for Non-Numeric Fields When Applying Stoplight Formatting 
  When stoplight formatting is applied to a component and a measure field is selected that is non-numeric, and Count or Count Distinct Formula is applied to it, you will receive the error “Invalid parameter data type, please contact the system admin.” There are no solutions at this time.

• Canceling Apps Creation? Incomplete Draft Apps Remain in the My Folders/Drafts Folder 
  When you cancel the App Creation process from within the Mobile App Creation wizard, a draft app remains in your “My Folders/Drafts” folder. These drafts appear in the recent list on the BI Home page. To address this, manually delete the drafts in the “Drafts” folder.
   
• Apps Library Published Date Reflects Server Time Zone Setting Instead of User Preference Time Zone Setting
  When you view an app in the Apps Library, the published date reflects the server time zone setting and locale rather than the user’s preference setting for time zone and locale. This may cause inconsistencies with the time stamps shown in the catalog for the app. There are no solutions at this time.
   
• Parameter Type Check Box Does Not Allow Select All
  Parameters that display as checkboxes do not allow the “Select All” option. To fix this, manually check all boxes when you want to “Select All.”

• Cascading Parameters Not Supported for BI Subject Area Data Sources
  When you define parameters for apps that use a BI Subject Area as a data source, the parameter dialog includes an option to “Refresh other parameters on change.”  This feature is not supported in this release.

More MAD Features

• Supports drill down charts.
• MAD comes with a separate filter component.
• Multiple types of data visualization supported such as; Line, Bar, Area, Bubble, Pie, 3D graphs, Circular and Funnel.
• Simple tables as well as complex pivot tables can be built.
• Images can be added by uploading them, using the URL link, or inserting them from a database field.
• MAD’s greatest strength is its repeater components! (ex: Tile and Accordion.)
• Complex frame sets can be created by including frames for laying out the components to make them aesthetically appealing.
• Choice of many Black and White themes.
• MAD applications can be built using three types of data sources: subject area, data sources, and external excel files.
• Drag and drop feature of the data fields from data source into the visual components.
• Clean layout, perfectly aligned component sets and toolbars help in building complex dashboards using few clicks.

Limitations Of The Oracle BI Mobile Application Designer (MAD)

• Have to build support dashboards for Mobile and Tablet devices.
• Theme change effect is not being applied to all the properties of components (you can see the black text on chart labels in the black theme). These kinds of glitches can also be seen on the tables.
• Backspace does not work. Oracle is trying to appease Apple users!
• Deleting a column from a table is not user friendly.
• Cannot add columns if there is no space. 

Imtiyaz Basha is a Business Intelligence Consultant at KPI Partners and works with the expert team within the KPI Partners Offshore Technology Center. He is an Oracle Certified Professional whose areas of professional focus also include Hadoop, Java, and Data Science. Check out Imtiyaz’s blog at KPIPartners.com.