Connecting Oracle Cloud EPM Planning to Oracle Apex with Rest API – Part 1: GET Substitution Variables

Introduction

Oracle Apex and Oracle Cloud EPM Planning should be a match made in heaven, both are Cloud based and full of API possibilities. You can even get a free trial of Oracle Apex here to see if these features would prove useful for you, or your organisation.

Our Objective

Here I will be outlining how to create a table in Oracle Apex that dynamically pulls through the substitution variables from an Oracle Cloud EPM Planning application. In a follow-up blog post I will try and outline how to then push changes made to the substitution variables in Oracle Apex back into Oracle Cloud EPM Planning.

Let’s Begin:

We start off this process in the “Shared Components” area of the application you want to add the substitution variables table to.

Then to “Web Source Modules” within the “Data Sources” tab.

From here we click “Create”, then select the “From Scratch” option.

Then here we select “Simple HTTP”, name the module anything of your choice; I’ve named mine “Planning_Substitution_Variables”, and insert the URL Endpoint, this is the REST API URL for the environment you wish to access, you can copy mine shown below and simply insert the applicable ID Domain and data centre for you, but all we’re essentially doing here is appending the normal Oracle Cloud EPM Planning URL with “HyperionPlanning/rest/”.

Then in the next screen you need to insert your “Service URL Path”, this is essentially choosing the artifact in Oracle Cloud EPM Planning you wish to interact with, the application that it applies to, and the latest version of the API, which is currently V3.

All you need to do here is take the same Service URL path as mine, but replace APPNAME with the name of your application, this is where the process would vary if we were to be pulling something else from Oracle Cloud EPM Planning.

Next you need to add in your user credentials, this will save your credentials, so if you already have a link with Oracle Cloud EPM Planning setup you can select those credentials from the drop down list, otherwise select “Enter new credentials” and authentication type “Basic Authentication”.

Your username will be a combination of your ID Domain and Username as shown above (IDDomain.Username), and your password which will be unchanged.

 

Provided you didn’t make any spelling mistakes or syntax errors, once you hit “Discover” you should reach the “Web Source Discovery” panel which will preview the substitution variables from your chosen application.

As GET is the default API action here, we don’t really need to do anything else, as Oracle APEX has found the substitution variable table on its own. This is where it will get more complex however when we try to POST changes in APEX back to Planning.

Now head to a sheet within the app you made the Web Source Module for, and insert an Interactive Report, and under “Location” select “Web Source” and under “Module” choose the web module you created earlier.

Click save and run the page, and you should have a direct link between your Planning Environment and your Apex App through Rest API for your substitution variables.

Thank you for reading and please let me know of any other possible APEX-Planning Integrations via our contacts page HERE

Richard

You can read more of Richard’s blogs on his site HERE