Appendix

Reference material — keyboard shortcuts, file types, and a glossary of terms used throughout this guide.

Keyboard shortcuts

All current shortcuts, in one place:

Shortcut	Action
F5	Run query
Ctrl+Enter	Run query (from inside the editor)
Shift+Alt+F	Format SQL
Ctrl+S	Save (writes back to the file backing the active tab — .sql or .dcanalysis)
Ctrl+Shift+S	Save As
Ctrl+O	Open a file (.sql or .dcanalysis)
Ctrl+T	New tab
Ctrl+B	Toggle the activity sidebar
Ctrl+,	Open Settings

File types

Data Collage uses two file types for your work on disk:

.sql

Plain SQL text. The same format you’d get from any SQL editor. Use these for:

• Sharing a raw query with a colleague who doesn’t have Data Collage
• Version-controlling your SQL in Git
• Backing up a working draft

Open in Data Collage with Ctrl+O, or in any text editor for inspection.

.dcanalysis

A Data Collage Saved Analysis — captures the full workspace state for a query: SQL text, formula columns, column formats, hidden columns, column order, and bind variable defaults.

Open through Data Collage (Ctrl+O, the folder icon in the Analyses panel, or via the Analyses panel listing). The format is a Data Collage artifact and isn’t intended to be edited by hand.

Glossary

Short reference for acronyms and terms you’ll encounter in this guide and in the app itself.

Term	Definition
Analyses panel	The activity-bar panel that lists your Saved Analyses, grouped by module and searchable by name, description, or tag.
Bind variable	A :name placeholder in SQL that prompts you for a value at run time. Data Collage substitutes the value before sending the query to Fusion.
BIP	BI Publisher — Oracle Fusion’s reporting layer. Data Collage runs your SQL through BIP rather than connecting to Fusion’s database directly.
CTE	Common Table Expression — the WITH name AS (SELECT …) form of SQL. Data Collage’s read-only validator accepts both SELECT and WITH statements.
DDL / DML	Data Definition Language (CREATE, ALTER, DROP — schema changes) and Data Manipulation Language (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE — row changes). Data Collage blocks both — it’s read-only by design.
DUAL	A built-in single-row table in Oracle, used for trivial queries like SELECT 1 FROM DUAL (Data Collage uses this for its connectivity check).
.dcanalysis	The Data Collage Saved Analysis file format. Captures SQL + full workspace state for a query.
Fusion	Oracle Fusion SaaS — the cloud ERP/HCM platform Data Collage queries.
HDL	HCM Data Loader — Oracle’s bulk-load tool for HCM data. Uses pipe-delimited .dat files. Data Collage exports to HDL format via the Export menu.
JWT	JSON Web Token — the token-based authentication used by Fusion SSO. Data Collage captures one during the SSO Verify flow and reuses it for the session.
Machine ID	A unique identifier for your computer, used during license activation. Visible on the activation screen and (after activation) in Settings → About → License.
Module (Fusion)	A Fusion functional area: AP (Accounts Payable), AR (Accounts Receivable), GL (General Ledger), HCM (Human Capital Management), FA (Fixed Assets), INV (Inventory), and so on.
NULL propagation	The SQL behavior where any NULL value in an arithmetic expression produces a NULL result. Distinct from Excel, where blanks are treated as zero. See §8.
NVL	An Oracle SQL function — NVL(x, fallback) returns x if x is not NULL, otherwise fallback. Used in formula columns to opt out of NULL propagation.
Overlay (metadata)	Custom tables and columns imported on top of Data Collage’s bundled metadata catalog. Purely additive — bundled metadata is never overwritten. See §13.
Pinned connection	The connection marked as the session default (via the pin icon on the row). Used automatically for new tabs, opened .sql files, and opened .dcanalysis files. See §5.
Saved Analysis	A .dcanalysis file capturing your full workspace state for a query. See §10.
SmartScreen	The Windows security warning shown when opening installers from outside the Microsoft Store. Click More info → Run anyway to proceed when installing Data Collage during the V1 test phase.
SOAP	The XML-based web service protocol BI Publisher exposes for running reports. Data Collage’s communication with Fusion goes over SOAP — when you see a “SOAP timeout” or “SOAP fault” error, it’s from this layer.