Create or Manipulate directly the SQL produced by Discoverer User Edition

In Discoverer User Edition (Desktop, Plus, Viewer) it is not possible to alter directly the SQL produced. The query is dynamically created from Discoverer, depending on items, joins, condition, calculation ... selected during the workbook creation.

The only chance I see here is to create a custom folder in Discoverer Administrator and then create a workbook based on it:

"Custom folders are folders based on a SQL statement which could include SET operators (e.g. UNION, CONNECT BY, MINUS, INTERSECT) or a synonym that you type directly into a dialog.

By defining a custom folder, you can quickly create a folder that represents a complicated result set. When you save the custom folder, Discoverer Administrator creates items using the 'Select' part of the SQL statement you have entered.

In Discoverer Plus, there is no distinction between a custom folder and a simple folder. A Discoverer end user can use a custom folder to build queries in the same way as any other type of folder."

Extracted from :
Oracle® Business Intelligence Discoverer Administration Guide
10g Release 2 (10.1.2.1)
Chapt. 6 Creating and maintaining folders
-- What are custom folders?
(http://download.oracle.com/docs/html/B13916_04/folders.htm#sthref318)

How to change CSV Delimiter in Discoverer

Discoverer does not have the feature to change the delimiter when you export CSV format from it. This has been rejected by Development with the enhancement request :
Bug 3179364 ENH EXPORT CSV FORMAT SHOULD BE ABLE TO SPECIFY THE SEPARATOR
So, Discoverer will always use the comma as delimiter when you export to .CSV format.

Now, to complete the picture, the delimiter is defined on Microsoft Operating System in the Control Panel >> Regional Settings => Numbers tab => List Separator and this is taken for example from Excel, so if you save from excel in .csv the delimiter will be the one defined in the List Separator. In any case, this is not a standard, so the point that it is working this way on Excel does not means that it should works the same on all other softwares, like Oracle Discoverer, this is not a bug in functionality. Generally .csv delimiter is always associated with comma :

http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180
http://www.creativyst.com/Doc/Articles/CSV/CSV01.htm

How to Maintain Alignment for Collapsed Items through Sessions ?

Some questions arrived on why if items which are part of an hierarchy are collapsed, they loose the format definition like alignment ?

Well, this is expected behavior. Indeed, every time an item is removed from the layout and added back in a different session it's treated as completely new item and doesn't matter whether it is part of an hierarchy or not. Indeed, this is because the format layout of items is defaulted in the EUL, and in Discoverer Desktop one can maintain control of the format only on the session not on the default properties like alignment.

So, to make alignment persistent on Discoverer Desktop, the default properties for that item should be changed in Discoverer Administrator :

1.) Open the business area on Discoverer Administrator ;
2.) Expand the folder where the item reside ;
3.) Right Click on that item and select Properties ;
4.) On properties dialog box, select the wanted alignment