Creating an advanced report template using BIRT in Integration Studio

Creating an empty report

Before you develop a new report, you need to create a new BIRT Report Project in Integration Studio. To do so, perform the following steps:

1. Open Integration Studio.
2. From the Integration Studio menu, select File > New, and click Project.
3. In the New Project dialog-box, expand the Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools node, select Report Project, and click Next.
4. In the New Report Project dialog-box, do the following:
   1. Enter a new name for your report project
   2. Select the Use default location check-box if you want to use the default location for report creation, else clear it, and enter a location of your choice.
5. Click Finish to create the project.
    The IDE switches to the Report Design perspective.

To create a new report within a Report Project

After you create a new Report Project, you need to create a new report within it. To do this, perform the following task:

1. In the Navigator view, right-click your report project, select New, and click Report.
2. In the New Report dialog box, enter a file name (default: new_report.rptdesign) for your new report, and click Next.
3. In the Report type dialog box, from the Report templates list, select TrueSight Capacity Optimization Template; the template preview appears in the Preview pane.
4. Select the Show Report Creation Cheat Sheet check-box to display a tutorial box in the Report Design perspective to help you with report development.
5. Click Finish to create your new report.
    Your new report is now displayed in the Edit area in Layout mode.
   
   Report Project: Designing a new report template
   

To configure additional data sources, see Configuring-data-sources.

Creating a new dataset

The next step is to create a new dataset associated with the configured data source. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Select the Data Explorer view.
2. Right-click Data Sets, and click New Data Set.
3. In the New Data Set dialog-box, select a data source from the Data Source Selection tree view, then select the dataset type from the Data Set Type list, enter a name for the new dataset, and click Next.
4. In the Query dialog-box, define an SQL query using filters, and other available items.
   
   Defining an SQL query to populate the dataset
   
5. Click Finish.
    At this point, the Edit Data Set dialog box is displayed. Here you can edit output columns, modify queries, add parameters, add filters, and perform other operations on your data set.
6. Select the Previews Results item from this dialog box to preview the resulting dataset.
    You can continue editing the query until its output is as per your requirement.
7. Click OK to create the dataset.
    Your new dataset is now ready to be used.

Adding graphical elements to the report

The Palette view tab in the report perspective provides useful graphical elements that you can add to the report in an easy and interactive way. The following graphic shows an example of a basic Palette tab.

Adding elements to the report from the Palette view

To add a particular element to the report, double-click the element from the Palette view or simply drag and drop it onto the report. You can then move it around to the desired position, re-size it, and customize its settings from the Property Editor view. If the Property Editor view for your selected element is not already displayed, follow these steps to display it:

1. Select your element from the report layout.
2. From the Integration Studio menu, select Window > Show View, and click Property Editor.
    The Property Editor view is now displayed next to the Palette view.

Viewing the report

To view (execute) a report, click the View Report button (shown in the figure) and select a format to preview the output. You can view the report in Web Viewer to use advanced browsing function.

Viewing the report

Preparing the report template before uploading it

Before you upload the newly created report template to TrueSight Capacity Optimization, it is highly recommended that you complete the following tasks:

• Parameterize your report, in particular the data source, so that your report supports future database changes.
  The user, password, and jdbcurl parameters are already configured; the default data source is therefore automatically parameterized.
• If you preview the report in Integration Studio: 
  1. Navigate to the directory that includes the XML file in which the report parameters are stored. 
  2. Open the XML file in Edit mode and remove the default values of the following report parameters: user, password, jdbcurl   
     These parameters are stored as plain text (unencrypted) in the XML file, and hence, need to be removed.

To add a parameter to the report

To add a parameter to the report, follow these steps:

1. Select the Data Explorer view.
2. Right-click Report Parameters, and select New Parameter.
3. In the New Parameter dialog box, specify the parameter name, its type, and other required properties.
   
   Adding a new report parameter
   
4. Click OK to add the parameter.

To add parameters to datasets

To add parameters to datasets, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the selected dataset and click Edit.
2. In the Edit Data Set dialog box, select Parameters from the menu list.
3. Click New to define the new dataset parameter.
4. In the New Parameter dialog box, enter all necessary information.

5. From the Linked To Report Parameter list, select the report parameter to be linked to the dataset parameter.

   Note

   If a particular report parameter is used in a query 4 times, you must define 4 separate parameters linked to it.

    

   Click OK to add the parameter to the dataset.
   
   Adding a parameter to the dataset
   

   Note

   If you want to use other report runtime parameters, you must define them (with the same name used in the report) when uploading the report template to TrueSight Capacity Optimization; for more information, see Viewing-the-details-of-Report-templates.

Uploading the report

After developing a new report, you have to upload it to TrueSight Capacity Optimization. See, Viewing-the-details-of-Report-templates.