Printing - Oracle APEX Best Practices - page 127

How to bypass the 32K limit
One issue, which will be addressed in the next version of Application Express, is the
32K limit on report columns. This means that only fairly small images are currently
supported when using the technique with report queries or report regions. If the
XML data is generated some other way, and the PDF rendering is done using the
Print API, the use of larger images would be possible as well.
The 32K limit on report columns can be bypassed by using the Print APIs— apex_
util.download_print_document and apex_util.get_print_document .
With these APIs, you can generate PDF and other documents through a simple
PL/SQL API call. These APIs take care of all the communication with BI Publisher
or Apache FOP.
The apex_util.get_print_document API can be called to generate and retrieve the
print document as a BLOB in the database for further processing, such as storing the
document in tables, and so on.
The apex_util.download_print_document API can be called in an Oracle
Application Express page process to generate and download the print document
straight to your client.
An example of this mechanism can be downloaded from http://marcsewtz.
blogspot.com/2012/02/dynamic-images-in-pdf-what-32k-limit.html .
Alternatives to use for PDF printing
Beside the use of Apache FOP or BI Publisher, PDF documents can be created in
Oracle Application Express by making use of alternative methods such as calling
Oracle Reports, using plugins, and so on.
Integration with Oracle Reports
Oracle Reports, a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, is a high-idelity
enterprise reporting tool. It enables businesses to provide instant access to
information to all levels within and outside of the organization in a scalable and
secure environment.
More information about Oracle Reports can be found on the Oracle Technology
Network website ( http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/reports/
overview/index.html ).