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The latest distribution for Report Designer is available on SourceForge at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=140317. Download the Report Designer as part of the Pentaho Open BI Suite (pentaho_demo_hsqldb-1.6.0.GA.863.zip), if you plan to publish your reports using the BI Platform provided by Pentaho. To download the Report Designer as a standalone application, go to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=140317&package_id=192362. To follow the instructions and tutorials included in the Report Designer documentation, you must install the Hypersonic distribution of Sample Data (pentaho_sample_data-1.6.0.GA.863.zip).
System Requirements
- Windows XP Professional, Mac OSX 10.4.6, Linux SUSE, RedHat Linux
- Requires the 1.5.0_06 Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
Installing Report Designer
After you download the contents follow the instructions below to install Report Designer (these instructions are for the standalone download):
- Extract contents of the zip file into a folder.
- Read the Readme for important updates.
- In the Report Designer folder, click the file that is most appropriate for your operating system.
- Windows - ReportDesigner.exe
- Linux - startdesigner_linux.sh
- Mac OS X - Report Designer.app
The Pentaho Report Designer Version Checker
Pentaho Report Designer includes a version checker that prompts you when new versions of Report Designer are available. When performing a version check, the server makes an HTTP call to Pentaho Report Designer and exchanges information. This information is used to determine if an update is available and to analyze Report Designer usage in different environments. The version checker helps Pentaho to plan and prioritize platform certifications, testing plans, and localization plans.
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- Go to USER_HOME/.Report
- Find the file workspaceSettings.xml.
- Find the element, <property name="useVersionChecker">false</property>.
- Change the property value from "true" to false.
Report Designer Start Up
The Report Designer displays a Welcome page and a default workspace at start up. The Welcome page provides you with a brief introduction of the Report Designer and some instructions for getting started. The Welcome page also provides access to sample reports and recently opened reports. Click Design to open the report workspace.
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 the 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.
The Data Model
A report generally consists of data supplied by a database in the form of a table and a report definition that defines how the report must be formatted or printed.
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The columns can by identified by an unique column name with a certain data type. In the sample above, FIRST_NAME is a column identifier and String is the 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 data source. See Data Sources for additional information about the different types of data sources.
- In the Structure panel, right-click Data Sources and select Add Data Source (formerly Add Pentaho Dataset). A window opens where you can configure the query used in the data 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 data source.
- Select the PRODUCTS table by clicking PREVIEW. This allows you to visualize the data in the table quickly.
- Click OK to close both windows.
The data source is added to the report. The Properties tool window displays the available columns and the data type of each column. Click Configure to change the configuration of a data source. The data source is now set up and installed correctly. You must now define the look of the report.
The Report Definition
The report definition is what you compose in the main area of the graphical Report Designer. This definition 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
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There can also be multiple group header and group footer bands.
Creating the Report Definition
To start, we are going to add a static title label to our report that should be printed once on the first page of the report. We are going to add this label to the report header band. This label does not depend on the data delivered by our sample data source; therefore, it is also called a static label.
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The next segment contains instructions for creating the total sum of all sales by introducing functions.
Functions
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 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 in every second line. Functions can also collect values used to create charts or to format/convert a value from a data source into another data type. Functions are very flexible and make almost everything possible.
The next section demonstrates how to calculate the total sum of all sold items.
Adding the Total Sum
Functions can be added through the Structure panel by selecting the Reporting Functions node. All available functions are listed in the Properties tool window with a short description in a tool tip.
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The sum is printed after the last item is printed. You can adjust the report definition as needed.
Report Groups
The structure of the report definition is all right, but you may want to merge the items for each customer and calculate the sum for each customer separately. This is called "grouping." The next segment demonstrates how to group the data by customer.
Adding the Customer Group
Groups can be added in the Structure tool window by selecting the Groups node and selecting Add Group.
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