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!Report Designer^DesignerFolder.jpg\
The Report Designer
The The Report Designer displays a default workspace at start up. In the center of the workspace a large white area represents the main working area where you build a report.
On the left side of the Report Designer workspace is a panel called Palette that lists the graphical elements of the report. On the right side of the workspace, the Structure panel allows you to see a hierarchical representation of the report. The Properties panel allows you to adjust the settings of the currently available selection. In the lower portion of the workspace, the Messages panel displays useful information, hints, warnings, and errors that apply to your current report definition.
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Follow the instructions below to configure a sample dataset:
- In the Structure panel, right-click Data Set and select Add Pentaho Dataset.
A window opens where you can configure the query used in the dataset.
- Select SampleData and click the Query Designer. Make sure your Hypersonic database is running before doing so.
- Select PUBLIC from the Choose Schema list box. The SQLeonardo window is lodadedloaded. From this window, you can select the tables/views to be included in the dataset.
- Select the Products PRODUCTS table by clicking Preview PREVIEW. This allows you to quickly visualize the data currently in the table.
- Click OK to close both windows.
The dataset is added to the report. The Properties tool window displays the available columns and the datatype of each column. You can click Configure to change the configuration of a dataset. The dataset is now set up and installed correctly. You must now define the look of the report.
The Report Definition
The report definiton definition is what you compose in the main area of the graphical Report Designer. This definition tells provide the reporting engine where to place with the location of each field on the report. The report definition consist of several sections called bands, such bands may include a report header, a page header, the item band and others.
The following image represents a schematic report as it may appear on the page:
The standard bands available in all reports are marked with different colors in the following image.
Red: the page header band. This band is usually printed at the top of each page
Green: the report header band. This band is printed once when the report starts
Blue: the item band. This band is printed for each row available in the data table
Turquoise: the report footer band. This band is printed once at the end of the report
Orange: the page footer band. This band is printed once at the bottom of each page
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If you adjusted a band to be really small, chances are high that you can not read the descriptive label anymore. In this case you can hover with the mouse over the label and a tooltip appears with tool tip displays the text.
Note
There can also be multiple group header and group footer bands.
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