1. Quick Start
This section contains instructions for creating a report and and an overview of basic Report Designer features. See Report Design Wizard to create a report using Report Designer quickly and easily.
Important: The Report Designer interface has changed. Report Designer documentation has been updated to reflect recent changes.
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, SUSE Linux 10.1, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.
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.
Note: Version checker is available for all components of the Pentaho BI Platform.
When you first install the Report Designer, the following dialog box appears prompting you to enable the version checker:
If you enable the version checker, you receive periodic update notices as shown below. These notices appear when there is a major General Availability (GA) release. Click the version you want, then click Update to begin downloading.
You can enable automatic version checker in Report Designer if you did not enable it during installation. Go to File -> Settings and click Enable Version Checker:
By enabling the Notify me when (unsupported) development releases are available option, you receive update notification when there are development releases. These too will be in the list of available downloads. Keep in mind, however, that unsupported development releases may not have the full functionality and features available in General Availability releases.
If you opt out of the version checker, you can still check for updates manually. In Report Designer, go to Help -> Check for Updates:
Disabling Automatic Version Checker
If you enabled automatic version checker when you installed Report Designer, you can disable it by following the instructions below:
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
Warning: Reports created with WAQR will not properly open in Pentaho Report Designer because of an XML syntax error. WAQR creates reports with <cdata> tags around each line, but Report Designer is expecting only one <cdata> tag around the entire file. If you want to open a WAQR-created report in Report Designer, you will have to edit the .xaction file by hand using a text or XML editor and remove all of the superfluous <cdata> tags, leaving only one tag around the entire file.
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.
Table 1.1. Sample Data FIRST_NAME (String) | LAST_NAME (String) | PRODUCT_NAME (String) | PRICE (Number) |
|---|---|---|---|
Erik | Brown | Electra | 9.65 |
Erik | Brown | Harry Potter | 6.95 |
Erik | Brown | Electra | 9.65 |
Hans | Meiser | Electra | 9.65 |
Hans | Meiser | Martix | 15.98 |
Hans | Meiser | Mogli | 23.98 |
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.