This section contains instructions for creating a simple report and and an overview of basic Report Designer features. For more information about the Report Designer, .
Important: There have been some important changes to the Report Designer user interface recently. These changes are reflected in the content in this document."
System Requirements
- Windows XP Professional, Mac OSX 10.4.6, Linux SUSE, RedHat Linux
...
The columns can by identified by an unique column name with a certain datatypedata type. In the sample aboe, FIRST_NAME is a column identifier and String is the datatype data type of this column. For convenience, there is a database embedded in the Report Designer that contains some useful data with which to test.
Adding the Sample
...
Data Source
Follow the instructions below to configure a sample datasetdatasource:
- In the Structure panel, right-click Data SetSource and select Add Data Source (formerly Add Pentaho Dataset). A window opens where you can configure the query used in the datasetdata source.
- 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 loaded. From this window, you can select the tables/views to be included in the datasetdata source.
- Select the PRODUCTS table by clicking PREVIEW. This allows you to quickly visualize the data currently in the table quickly.
- Click OK to close both windows.
The dataset data source is added to the report. The Properties tool window displays the available columns and the datatype data type of each column. You can click Click Configure to change the configuration of a datasetdata source. The dataset data souce is now set up and installed correctly. You must now define the look of the report.
...
The report definition is what you compose in the main area of the graphical Report Designer. This definition provide provides the reporting engine 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
...
If you adjusted a band to be really very small, chances are high it may be possible that you can not cannot read the descriptive label anymore. In this case, hover over the label and a tool tip displays the text.
...
To start, we are going to add a static title label to our report which should be printed once on the first page of the report. To accomplish that, we are going to add this label to the report header band. This label does not depend on the data delivered by our sample datasetdata source, hence it's also called a static label.
...
After the reporting engine has been started up, you are presented with a preview that looks the same as the final report, but is limited to a certain amount of data rows you can configure in the datasetdata source. The booting process is only done once, subsequent invocations of the preview are almost instantaneous. You can go back to the design view by pressing the Design button.
Now we are going to add textfields that will finally contain data from our sample datasetdata source. Report elements which are dynamically filled with data will have the suffix field.
Drag&drop four Text Fields from the palette to the item band. The report definition should look like the following screenshot:
...
The Messages toolwindow now shows several warnings about undefined fields. Each textfield should display a column from our sample dataset data souce hence we need to set each textfields "Field Name" property in the Properties toolwindow to match a column from the datasetdata source.
You can now preview the report and customize the report definition by using different fonts, background colors, lines and additional static labels as you like.
...
A function is a custom program that can return a value depending on other values available in the report. A function can use values available in a dataset data source or use the value returned by another function. This can be used to calculate a total sum, average, minimum, maximum or can be used to hide a label or to hide a rectangle for every second line. Functions can also collect values used to create charts or to format/convert a value from a dataset data source into another datatypedata type. Functions are very flexible and make almost everything possible.
...